A Winter for Killing

by Jason Mason

  “Hi Sam, can I ask you a question?”

  “You just did,” Sam replied. “But I suppose since you’re nice I’ll let you ask me a second one.”

  “Thanks,” Baker said taking the seat across from Sam in the office. As he looked at Sam’s laptop he could swear that Sam was playing minesweeper before he closed the screen to hide it from Baker.

  “What can I do you for?” he asked.

  “I need some help from one of our juniors, Sam,” Baker said a little sheepishly.

  “Wait? Who told you we had junior associates?” Sam laughed. “No, if you start using them they won’t have enough time to do all of my work for me! I refuse to do it!”

  Baker laughed. Sam was a very good lawyer, and he certainly did most of his own work but the ability to delegate work was a skill that Baker didn’t have. Sam, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any problems with it at all. He showed Sam the list of tasks he had to get done who skimmed them over looking overly engrossed in them. It was for show of course, these were standard tasks.

  “Baker, you’re in luck today,” Sam said still staring intently at the list. “Nicole Peterson’s trial that was supposed to be going on next week just got adjourned. Turns out it’s pretty hard to run a trial when the accused snuck out of the country to go to Disneyland. Who would have thought it?”

  “So… what do I do?” Baker asked.

  “What do you mean, what do you do?” Sam replied.

  “I mean, do I just give the list to Nicole’s assistant and she’ll get it done for me or…?”

  Sam laughed.

  “No Baker, you actually have to go talk to her and tell her what needs to be done. She’s a really sharp kid, won an award for criminal procedure at the U of A so don’t worry, your precious files will be in good hands,” Sam used his best Gollum impression when he said ‘precious.’ It was pretty damn spot on.

  “Ok, Desjardins. Go back to your office, I’ll send Nicole to see you in a couple of minutes and you can tell her what needs to be done. I might have to draw her a map though, I’m not sure any of the juniors here know where your office is.”

  Baker laughed and went back to his office where he started drafting needlessly detailed and complicated instructions for Nicole to follow when she gets the files. Once those were finished he took out the document production he received for Mac – ignoring the new document production he received today – and spread it out on his desk. He was going to find this killer. Mary’s life means at least that much to him.

  ◆◆◆

  Connie was waiting patiently at the burger restaurant for Baker who said he’d meet her for dinner fifteen minutes ago. When he eventually walked in he was carrying a large envelope filled with work stuff. She wasn’t sure if it was about Mary or for one of his other files. Knowing Baker it was likely for a hearing he had the next day he didn’t tell her about.

  “Baker,” she said defensively but calmly. “I told you I didn’t want to look anymore.”

  “I know,” he said pouring the pictures out of the file and onto the table, spreading them out to take up the entire surface. There was also a map of the downtown area that he unfolded so it faced Connie. “And I said you didn’t have to look because I would look for you. But you’ll never believe this… I found him!”

  “You found him?” she asked confused.

  “Well I didn’t necessarily find ‘him’ but I found his route.” Baker said unfurling searching the map and then pointing at an intersection on Whyte Avenue marked with a red ‘X’. “Look right here? See this intersection where Whyte meets Bridge Street? The police gave me the surveillance tape from that intersection and I’ve been watching it and every night at about ten PM a black Toyota Corolla drives through this intersection coming from the north and turning left here. Towards where all the bars are.”

  “Did you see the licence plate?” Connie asked.

  “No, the resolution isn’t good enough to be able to make it out but hopefully the police will be able to go through some red light cameras or speed traps and see if they can get a better shot of it. But that’s not all…” Baker said with a mischievous smile.

  “What now?”

  “On the very next block after the car turns right there’s a bar called the Craze. It’s one of your typical dance and party bars… you’ve probably never been to it. But that’s likely his first stop when he’s searching for his victims.” Baker said excitedly.

  “Did you tell this to the police?” Connie asked.

  “I left a voicemail on Detective Jones’ phone but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I don’t think we can wait, there’s been a lot of reporting on these missing women lately, so he’s going to be spooked eventually and change his route. Tonight might be our only chance to find him so we need to go tonight!”

  “We aren’t doing anything, Baker,” Connie angrily replied. “I told you, I’m not looking anymore.”

  “But we have to find Mary…”

  “You never listen!” Connie interrupted. “I told you, I don’t want to look and find my sister’s dead body. The police can do that and they’ll let me know when they do.”

  “She might still be alive, Connie,” Baker said as compassionately as he could.

  “Mary is dead, you got the same call as I did, Baker,” Connie torn into him. “And let’s not forget, Detective Jones is a police detective. Not you. You’re just a lawyer, and not just any lawyer but the lawyer that everyone on the police force hates. You’re just going to get in the way.”

  “Connie, I’m just trying to help…” Baker said confused.

  “Help? You want to help?” Connie cried. “When I first came to you and told you my sister was missing she was probably still alive. That was when we should have been looking for her, but you had to work.”

  “But you asked me to help,” Baker replied sadly.

  “I knew you had connections with the police and I thought you could get them to look for Mary,” Connie said as she wiped away her tears. “I needed you, Baker. I needed you to be there for me, but you worked all night when I was so scared and needed somebody. You worked the entire next day because of some trial you had to do. I know other lawyers, you can have these things adjourned.”

  “I’m here now, and I’m not going to leave you Connie. I just transferred all of my work to the new girl at the office and…”

  “It’s too late for that, Baker. It’s too late. Mary is dead,” Connie was now in tears, so Baker put his arm around her but she shook it off. “I’m going home now Baker, if you want to help, you can tell the police what you found. If anyone is going to solve this it’s going to be them. Not you thinking you can do anything.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Baker it’s our anniversary!”

  “I know but I have a three day trial starting tomorrow and I have to prepare for it. I’ll make it up to you this weekend, I promise!”

  With that Baker hung up the phone without listening to another word Connie had to say. She put down the phone and turned off the TV, deep in thought. Was he always going to be like this… putting work ahead of her? She had brought up the idea of marriage earlier that week again and like always he shrugged it off without any kind of commitment.

  At this time Connie and Baker were together five year exactly to the date he asked her out. He was a lawyer, not quite junior but not quite senior and doing really well at his firm while she was working at a research lab for a pharmaceutical company. She enjoyed her job and was proud of the work Baker did but she wanted more. She wanted to be married, have kids, and raise a family. But Baker didn’t. He just wanted to become a partner at the law firm he was working at. It was all business, and nothing else for him. She picked up the phone and called her sister.

  “Hello?”

  “Mary, it’s me, Connie. Do you mind if I came over tonight?”

  “Sure! But isn’t today your and Baker’s anniversary?” Mary asked.

  “It is, but I still want to come over anyway
s. I… I might stay for a couple of days if that’s alright.”

  “Of course, sis. You know my house is your house. I’m so sorry though.”

  “Thanks, I’ll see you soon.” Connie replied putting down the phone.

  As she went through the house packing her things her heart was breaking. She loved Baker, but she finally realized he would never love her the same way that she loved him. For her own happiness she would have to move on and find someone that may love her in the same way that she loved him. And hopefully she would eventually love that person as much (or more) as she loved Baker. She cried while she penned the note to him, ending it all. Sealing it in an envelope and leaving it on the kitchen table where they used to make love she left the condo forever.

  Baker didn’t end up coming home that night as he fell asleep at the office preparing for the trial. When he stopped in for breakfast and a change of clothes he saw the letter on the table with his name on it, and Connie was nowhere to be seen. He changed clothes, had a quick bowl of cereal and made himself a coffee for the road. He never bothered to open the letter – he already knew what it would say – and his texts that whole day went unanswered. It was over with Connie.

  He was heartbroken but instead of acknowledging it, he drove himself further into his work, working late every day for the next year and taking on every trial he could. It worked wonders for his career as when the previous named partner took on a judgeship Sam Allen went to him to be his next partner. It was what he had always dreamed of, but ever since he began looking for Mary with Connie he realized the costs of achieving his dreams were too great. Giving up love for success was never something that Baker factored into the equation, but by neglecting one to achieve the other he lost more than he would ever gain.

  ◆◆◆

  Connie stormed out of the restaurant without ordering anything to eat, grabbing her purse and not even bothering to throw on her coat before she left. Baker hurriedly packed up all of his stuff and checked his watch… he still had a few hours before he had to get to Whyte Avenue. While he considered that Connie might have not wanted to come with him to track down the kidnapper, he really didn’t expect that reaction. They kissed last night, so why would she react like that today, running out on him? He hadn’t even spoken to her after he drove her home until a few hours ago so it couldn’t have been something he said.

  It’s been three years and he still doesn’t understand that woman.

  Chapter 17

  A Wrong Made Worse

  “The dress looks so good on you,” the man smiled as Sophie walked out of the bedroom wearing her favourite blue dress. It was old, dusty and smelled like mildew but…

  “It is right,” Sophie said twisting around and spinning the dress like Marilyn Monroe. She had no concern about the smell or the appearance of the dress. It just felt right on her.

  The man smiled. She still needed the chain around her neck just in case but he no longer had to hold the end of it. If she wanted to escape she could have snuck out the window, but of course she had nowhere to go and he would have caught her and brought her back. But she didn’t try anymore, and that made the man happy.

  “Is there any more of the old woman in you?” the man asked.

  “I don’t know, there might be,” she responded honestly.

  This didn’t sit well with the man. Sophie is on her way to being right but she might not quite be there yet. She’s now wearing the right clothes, but her hair isn’t right yet. But he obviously couldn’t let her go out to the hairdresser’s just yet. He still had to kill that Mary girl who was taking up room inside of Sophie’s head.

  “We’ll fix that Sophie,” the man said trying to be reassuring.

  He was going to fix her. She finally was going to be right and soon he could stop his hunt. But soon wasn’t just yet, and she still wasn’t quite right. He could tell by the way she moved, by the things she said, and by her reactions to the things he said. But the eyes, well the eyes were right and you can always build off of that. You can eventually, through hard work and love, make the rest of her right.

  Normally the man’s conscience would be talking to him now about going to get another one or questioning whether Sophie was right but he didn’t hear anything. He even paused and put a hand out to silence Sophie just to hear what it had to say but for once it didn’t say a word. For once it was only him in his own head. He smiled.

  “I’m going to go back out again,” the man told her as she was admiring herself in the mirror.

  “Where are you going to go?” she asked slightly confused.

  “I have to get rid of the old girl that was inside of you. I have to get rid of Mary.”

  “Good riddance,” Sophie said with an evil grin. “I hope to never see her again.”

  The man stared down at her sternly.

  “She’s still inside of you deep down. We have to kill her together. I need your help Sophie.”

  “I know,” Sophie looked sad. “We have to kill her… but then I will be right, won’t I?”

  “Yes, then you will be right.”

  He brought Sophie to the living room and considered locking her on the brass anchor again but decided that would be too risky. Instead he took her to the basement and locked her in her regular location, but came back downstairs carrying the TV, placing it just out of her reach. Now, she would be able to watch television for the couple of hours he was gone. She could watch her and his favourite show again to remind her of who she is.

  It was the little things. Step by step she was becoming Sophie and she was becoming right.

  Right.

  ◆◆◆

  Putting the frozen corpse of Stacey in the back of his pick-up truck wasn’t hard, however, now that he’s killed a cop the police would be looking for him with even more vigor than they had ever been before. He had heard on the radio that the police were looking for a black Toyota Corolla so he was not going to be using that vehicle again anytime soon. He had spent the afternoon meticulously cleaning his old Ford F-150 to make it presentable as an Uber ride and put the sign in the window when he thought it was close enough to pass.

  Tonight was going to be his last girl, he had already decided. He would take one last one to kill in front of Sophie, maybe even have her help him do it, and then that would be it. That would be the end of his winter of killing.

  Since Sophie died he took out the life insurance payout from the bank in cash every week and took it back to his home. Even after paying for his meager bills and expenses he was putting away almost a thousand dollars a week in pure cash into a lockbox in his basement. There was over a quarter of a million dollars in it at this point and he would need every last dime for what he was planning on doing.

  He and Sophie were moving away from Edmonton. They would start a new life together. He and Sophie would stay the same, but their lives would be different and all the problems they used to have would have gone away.

  The plan was already made, long before he even picked up Sophie from that bar around a week ago. He had a friend that owned a house in the city of Yellowknife up in the Northwest Territories but his friend was now getting up in years and never left Edmonton to see it anymore. The man visited this house before and knew where the keys were and how everything worked, though the place would be pretty derelict by the time he got there. That was no matter, he had always been good with his hands so he could fix up everything that was broken over time. It wouldn’t be too hard to get the bills put into his name and then the house would be up and running again. He could pay one of his connections a couple of grand and they would hook him and Sophie up with new identities and the plan would be complete. He wouldn’t have to kill again in Yellowknife. Things would be right and it would be done. He and Sophie would live peacefully together the rest of their lives.

  As he drove he turned the radio to an oldies station, which was playing Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer. He liked that song so he cranked it up, he would be driving at least an hour to get to
where he wanted to dispose of the body so he needed something to keep his mind occupied as he was on the dark back-country road. In one of the small farming towns outside of Edmonton he went through a drive thru and picked up a coffee for the ride to keep himself awake. Even if someone looked into the cabbed back of his truck they would only see something wrapped in a blue tarp and a toboggan, so he doubted anyone in this area would be suspicious. He could be going out ice fishing for all they knew.

  After he drove for a little over an hour he finally got to the right spot. He turned the car down a small logging trail and got out over a small froze brook on top of a little wooden bridge. He would have to do this in a few steps in order to cover his tracks, but he already knew his plan. The first thing he did was strap the snowshoes he brought onto his feet.

  Next, he opened the tailgate and grabbed the body, slinging it over his shoulder. He walked the body down the brook about a hundred meters or so before hiding it behind an evergreen tree then went back to the truck and grabbed the toboggan. He brought the toboggan to where the body was and then broke a branch off of the evergreen tree and retraced his steps to the truck. As he went from the truck back to the body, he dragged the branch behind him, disturbing the snow enough so that it just looked windswept and not like someone had walked on it. The current snowfall would mean whatever was left wouldn’t last more than a few hours and once he could no longer see the truck from where he was walking he stopped dragging the stick behind him.

  Dropping the body onto the toboggan, he dragged the corpse and sled up beside the brook for at least another twenty minutes until he got to a small, frozen, rocky lake. This was exactly what he was looking for and there were no trails for snowmobiles anywhere nearby. He dragged the toboggan to the edge of the lake where the shores were about three or four feet higher than the ice. Taking off a snowshoe to use as a shovel he dug a hole in the side against the frozen mud and pushed the body as close to the shore as he could. Next he hid the toboggan on top of it and then using the snowshoe covered it in a few inches of snowy powder, again hoping the current blizzard would hide the evidence until he was long gone. This was not perfect, but it was the best he was going to get.