Evil only lurks in the dark.

The windows of the sliver-gray Audi were halfway down. The
car was parked in the campus parking lot. A comfortable 73 degrees
on a pleasant Spring day, a slight breeze, coming from the west,
played in his short spiked, salt and pepper hair.

He waited patiently for his next mission. There was a time, he
recalled, when he’d been so nervous and anxious that the palms of his
hands sweated as he waited. It was not that way anymore. Oh sure,
each hunt was exciting, but nothing like it had been in the beginning.
Now it mimicked, Just another day at the office. He smiled and
winked the long lashes of his right eye. For an instant a sunbeam
flashed in the windshield, and reflected itself in ice blue irises so pale
they nearly faded into the whites: ‘Killer eyes’. His mother smiled
when she said it to him as a boy, but in later life, he began to wonder
if she knew.

Occasionally, a person came to the parking lot, got in their
car, and drove away. He saw them, often they were women, but none
interested him. He waited patiently for a certain young, attractive
woman. He’d know her the moment he saw her. She’d be petite, preferably brunette, slim and nicely developed.

The radio dial was set to a classic rock station. He popped the
tab on a Coke, took a deep drink, and then lit a Camel. The Moody
Blues were playing Nights In White Satin as he took a drag from his
cigarette. It was a pleasant way to spend the time.

It was near three o’clock, when he saw her. She left building
C and her dark-brown hair bobbed as she pranced across the asphalt.
“Yes, yes, yes,” he whispered. She was perfection. He wasn’t going
to strike out today. Tight faded cutoff jeans hugged her slender hips
and a snug blue knit shirt emphasized her shapely breasts. As the shirt
pulled up and down with her motion, he caught glimpses of lightly
tanned flesh.

She yanked open her car door and parked her delightful
bottom on the seat, so he engaged the Audi’s ignition. When she
settled behind the steering wheel and closed the door, he slipped the
Audi into drive. Her car was some kind of white Japanese import that looked
like the typical box with wheels. Her engine coughed a bit and the wheels started to
turn. Her backup lights came on. He let up on the brake, and prepared for the chase.
He stayed three-quarters of a block behind her, trying to keep
at least one car between them. It wouldn’t do to allow her to spot
the tail. After a fifteen-minute drive, she pulled into an apartment
complex. Luck was with him; there was a parking spot on the street in
front. In a few seconds he was out of the Audi and into the lot of the
complex in time to see his quarry enter apartment 115 on the ground
floor.

Unhurried, back he went to his car, drove around the block,
and entered the parking lot on a north side lane. He circled around and
parked close to his prey’s entrance. 3:15 pm made it the perfect time
of day. The majority of people were still at work and older children were
prisoners of school buses. His mouth creased in a snide grin. It was
daylight and evil only lurks in the dark.

Now it didn’t matter if she saw his car. He left it and walked
openly to her door, rapping on its wooden surface.

Without any hesitation, she pulled open the unlatched door.
“Yes? What can I do for you?”

Up close, she smelled of mint and lingering lemon, perhaps
from an earlier shower. There was a small brown and white terrier
leaping at her side. A bigger, more unruly dog would have changed
the plan, but fortunately for him, this was not the barking kind of
mutt. Instead, the little fellow licked his shoe.

With his left hand he grabbed the small dog’s collar and lifted
him in the air. While the fingers of his right hand grabbed the front
of the girl’s shirt, his bent knee came up into her belly, shoving her
back into the apartment. Stepping in quickly, he kicked the door shut
behind him.

Panic raced across her brown eyes as she squealed, “Why?What?” like it was one word.

“Shut up!” He held the struggling mutt in the air; it
was too frightened to breathe while he shook it. “You scream and I’ll
break the dog’s neck.”

“No, please! Don’t hurt him!”

“That depends on you—little girl—depends on you.” He
slurred the words suggestively. “Just how bad do you want ta live?”
He let loose of the dog’s collar and the terrier fell injury-hard against
the floor, yipped, and scurried under a couch. He still held the girl’s
shirt. An easy hundred pounds heavier, he twisted the shirt and pulled
her closer. His free hand grabbed the back of her hair.