The Halo Effect

56

The terrace off the living room was about fifteen feet long and six feet deep, and filled with heavy, wrought-iron furniture: a table and four chairs. There were also dozens of plants in terra-cotta pots.

We were both in black. It was night. Maybe he wouldn’t see us. Maybe. Maybe we could hide in the darkness. As long as he didn’t look for us here. As long as he didn’t think of the terrace.

“Lie down,” I whispered.

Cleo did.

I lay down next to her. And we waited. To hear the sirens coming up the block. To see Elias come into view after entering through the kitchen.

He looked like a victim of a violent crime. His eye was swollen shut. His face, his shirt, his neck and his hands were covered with blood. It dripped from him, sprinkling the ground.

I held my breath even though there was no way he could hear me from inside the apartment.

He was circling the room, crazed, knocking over vases and books as if somehow we were hiding there. He was almost unrecognizable, rage and blood and his injury having altered his face.

“What’s he doing?” Cleo whispered. From where I had pushed her she couldn’t see him.

“He’s looking around. Searching for us.”

“He won’t think of the terrace.”

“He won’t?”

“No, he won’t.”

Our words were prayers that I hoped would come true.

Until I heard the door handle turn.

“Stay down. Whatever happens stay down. The police will be here any minute. They have to be here. It hasn’t been more than five minutes even though it feels like hours.”

The door opened. Don’t look up, I thought. Sending the thought out to her. Hoping she would keep down, keep hidden. He didn’t love me; he wouldn’t want to kill me, but he would want to kill her.

“Dr. Snow. You hurt me.” His voice sounded childlike.

I didn’t say anything.

His feet were inches from my face when I felt him reach down and pull me up by my hair again. Even in so much pain, he was strong. He was going to break my neck, just as he had broken those other women’s necks.

Was that a police siren I heard, mixed in with the other traffic noises? Even if it was, it was too far away. He’d kill me and Cleo and still get out before the police arrived.

“Elias, if you let me go, I will talk to the police. I will convince them not to put you in jail but to get you help.”

My eyes were locked on his one good eye. He had no idea what I was saying. He couldn’t understand.

He stood me on my feet. Then one of his hands moved up to my neck. Then the other. The siren was closer but not close enough.

And then, fingers digging into my neck, he fell down and pulled me with him, so that I was on top of him. He was lying on his back and I was on my stomach. His body was hard underneath mine. I could feel his muscles and his bones. His breath was on my face. I could feel everything, despite his hands tightening around my neck. I knew it was only a matter of seconds.

Because everything was turning black.