“Why?”
“I need some help.”
“Tell me where you are, and I’ll send the police to help you.”
He laughed. “You’re funny. No, I need real help. You’ve gotten so much better. I need to get even better so that I can stay a few steps ahead of you.”
“What?”
“You’ve grown so much. Someday you’re going to be a star. I know it. And I’ll be so happy for you.”
“What? Is that what this is all about? Do you think you’re making me some kind of star? Well, screw you! I don’t need you. And I’m not going to play your sick games.”
“You’ve already shown what you’ll do for someone you love. And have I ever asked you to do anything but your job? Have I? Now we both know you’ll do your job, Sandra. It’s in your blood. Hasta la vista, baby. Until next time.”
The killer turned off Abby’s old cell phone and threw it away in a nearby trash can on lower Fourth Street. He pulled out his own Android phone to check the time. The screen wallpaper showed a photo of Sandra and Abby, taken years earlier at a journalism school social, with him in the background – greasy, shoulder-length hair and two fingers flashing a peace sign.
He smiled at the photo, put a hand to his newly shaved scalp, and turned to watch another patrol car roar past on Morgan Street.
Sandra, meanwhile, put away her iPhone. She went inside the waiting area for the emergency room, curled up on a black plastic chair and let the tears fall. She waited an hour before calling Doug. “The doctors say Abby’s going to be OK,” she told him. “Can you bring a laptop to Memorial? I need to write some stuff down. You won’t believe this story.”
To be continued…
Press Democrat Staff Writer Robert Digitale conceived and edited the “Sonoma Squares Murder Mystery.” He is the host of the online blog “Digitale Stories” and the author of the fantasy novel, HORSE STALKER. Learn more/see the video at www.horsestalker.com.
About This Story
Sonoma Squares Murder Mystery first appeared on the Digitale Stories blog (www.digitalestories.com) starting in April 2012. It began publication in print in The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif. in late May.
Robert Digitale conceived the idea and assembled a team of 14 other local journalists, bloggers and authors. He gave the writers an outline of the 16 chapters and a few basic ideas about what had to happen in their portion of the story. Some writers benefitted from reading preceding chapters. Others had little to guide them but their imaginations.
Once the online chapters began to run, we gave readers the chance to submit their own version of Chapter 13, “Death Watch.” From those submissions, we selected the version of Santa Rosa attorney John Hendrickson to run as part of the story.
To see photos of all 16 writers, go to: www.pressdemocrat.com/mystery.
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