The Seduction of Suki

It worked! Agent Hughes was both stunned and delighted that she was able to pull off her elaborate and risky plan. It made her feel intelligent and invincible at the same time. She wouldn’t push her luck, however. She knew things had a way of catching up with people, and she had already taken the major part of the risk needed to pull off her plan to get Suki to her house. She hadn’t expected to get the opportunity to kill Ted, but when it presented itself to her, she couldn’t pass it up. Hughes had never been one to be very superstitious, but the situation did make her wonder if something up there might be paving the way for her to finally get what she wanted in life. Well, one more thing she wanted. It wasn’t like she didn’t already have some great things in life. She was leaving work when she spotted Ted heading out ahead of her. She decided to follow the guy to his apartment. She pulled up outside his building and was thinking about what she might do next when he re-emerged from the building a minute later and jumped into his little beat-up car once again. He roared off, and she followed. Interestingly enough, he drove to and parked near a bridge that ran over a river. No cars could drive on it. Only people and bikes could cross. Taking note of how deserted the area looked, she parked a safe enough distance from the bridge. There was more dirt and less pavement in the area, and she didn’t need her tire tracks to be traceable. She reached into her glove compartment, where she always kept spare tools, including latex gloves. Snapping them on, she exited the vehicle and shoved her hands into her pants pockets. “Ted?” she called. Ted glanced all around him, confused. “Over here,” she called. “It’s Agent Hughes. Are you all right? Everybody’s concerned about you.” Ted looked at the agent with both concern and confusion. “What’s up? What are you doing here?” “I received a call about you threatening to harm yourself.” Ted frowned and gave a quick shake of his head. “What? Who would say that?” “Is it true?” Now she was just a few feet away from him. “No. No way. I just come out here to chill, man. Sometimes meet up with some buddies of mine to, you know…” He let the sentence trail off. “Yeah, I know,” she said with a conspiratorial wink. “Do a little drinking. Maybe smoke a few joints.” “Yeah, something like that,” Ted said with a nervous laugh. “Mind my asking who the hell put in the call? Do you think that girl is just trying to spite me or something? I swear I haven’t bothered her, and I’m definitely not suicidal either.” Agent Hughes laughed. “Yeah, I know. Hey, listen, buddy. You expecting any friends to show up? Because I wouldn’t mind a drink or two myself.” “No, I just came out to do some thinking.” “Oh. Well, here, let me help you.” Agent Hughes quickly pulled her gloved hands from her pockets and grabbed Ted by the neck. He was around her height but didn’t have as much muscle or body weight as she did. He was an easy kill—well, save for the fact that it was still quite a bit of work, because unlike in the movies, it actually took several minutes to strangle someone, no matter how strong you were. They didn’t just die in thirty seconds like on TV. One had to steadily squeeze without loosening their grip for about four or five minutes. As she went for his throat, she pressed her body weight against him and into the railing to keep him from scratching her. Any DNA under his fingernails, once his body was discovered, would be much more likely to be traced back to her than fiber evidence. When Ted’s body finally went limp, throwing him over the railing and into the racing water below would likely eliminate and destroy any microscopic fibers that may have transferred. She had managed to pull things off in a way that should keep any physical trace out of the picture. There was always a chance she could get extra lucky and his body would be washed out to sea and forever lost, but that was unlikely. Bodies had a way of returning to land, and that would probably happen sooner or later. She ran to her truck before Ted could hit the water and hightailed it out of the area. She hoped that no one she hadn’t noticed had noticed her and would be ready to describe her if questioned. She already knew she was going to kill him. She just hadn’t known that the guy was going to make it so easy for her. The second part of her plan would be to get Suki, but first she needed an alibi for the time shortly after Ted left his apartment. She decided to head to Mickey’s, a local hangout for law enforcement officials. She stayed there for nearly two hours, making a point of chatting with the bartenders on duty as she sipped some peanut butter–infused whiskey. “Damn, this shit is good!” she said. “Yeah, it is. Too bad you don’t have anything to celebrate at the moment,” said one of the bartenders. Agent Hughes flashed him an impish grin. “Who says I don’t?”