Free Deviation by A.J. Maguire

find the will to open the door further. Not yet. Sneaking closer to the doorway, she peered through the crack. Kate's suitcase kept it lodged open just enough that she could see part of the front room.
    Two men were getting to their feet, but they were hard to see given the lighting from the window. Kate flopped limply in a third man's arms and Reesa's heart twisted at the sight. Kate was too strong for something like that, too stubborn, so Reesa knew her friend had put up a good fight. By the way the man held her, Reesa thought she was probably still alive. Standard procedure after killing someone was normally to release the body, or so Reesa imagined. That wasn't counting serial killers and the real sick people, but as far as she could remember, serial killers and such didn't normally work in three's.
    She spotted the gun and her mind jump-started into action. With one hand she fumbled through her purse, hunting for her cell phone while keeping her eyes on the scene in her living room.
    "What did you give her?" She heard the shorter man ask.
    "Ketamine."
    The man grunted in disapproval.
    "Well it worked, didn't it? I could have watched her beat the shite out of the two of you instead." The cadence of the voice, the language, he sounded very familiar. "How's your nose, Captain?"
    Reesa's fingers closed around her cell phone at last and she yanked it out of her purse. But her pinky finger caught on the wrist strap of her camera, which went flying to the ground before she could catch it. Her heart lurched and she reached for it, but it clattered against the floor and she hurried away from her apartment. Her back hit widow Bergum's door and she stumbled through, surprised that it had been opened just before she landed half on top of a bony, awkward body.
    Widow Bergum was little more than a lump of baby blue shawl and skirt, sprawled out on her own threshold. A knobby hand lay stretched out from the lump of shall, one gold band on one finger. The same gold band that Reesa knew the woman had worn for sixty-seven years. A scream caught in Reesa's throat just before someone grabbed her by the scruff and dragged her roughly to her feet.
    In the light of the hallway she could see them clearly and her rational thought faltered. Her phone dropped, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that was bad. She needed her phone. She needed to call for help. She needed to do something other than stare at the men in front of her.
    But she was looking at Hedric Prosser and she knew it.
    The character that had made her famous stared back at her while the other man - Jellison if she wasn't mistaken - leveled the gun at her.
    "Are you Caresse Zimmerman?" Hedric demanded.
    Her mind continued to stumble.
    "Caresse Zimmerman?" He repeated.
    "Yes," she whispered.
    She'd finally lost her mind.
    Reesa had known a mental breakdown was coming for her, which was why she'd gone sailing. She just hadn't expected this. In fact, she doubted anything could have prepared her for this.
    "Bring her with us," Hedric turned back into her apartment.
    Jellison gestured with his weapon for her to follow and she did, automatically regretting the move, but at a loss for what to do. She watched as Hedric inspected Kate's wobbly form. Reesa thought that his hand shook just a little as he brushed the hair from Kate's face. It hit her then, as she watched the hard man in front of her that he thought he was looking at his dead wife. It was written on his face, in the reverent and frightened expression that passed his jackal-like features.
    "I'd say your mother has a bit of explaining to do, Boss." Freeman nodded toward Reesa. "Should I dose her too?"
    Back to reality, Reesa, she coached herself. She wanted to close her eyes and count to ten, but somehow couldn't. All three men in front of her were perfect copies of the characters in her book. She knew Freeman on sight because he had that distinctive scar running from his left cheek. It disappeared under his hairline,