“ENOUGH!” Taylor shouted throwing her fist down on the table.
Nadine and Lester drew back, startled.
“What’s the matter, Taylor?” Lester asked.
“Yeah, Taylor,” Nadine chimed in. “Are you feeling okay?”
Taylor wasn’t feeling okay.
She wasn’t okay at all.
CHAPTER 37
The days came and went. Each of them anticipated to varying degrees. Then held up close to the fire. Eventually the flames took them, and before long the once ever large sounds and visuals succumbed like ashes into the ground. Most were not remembered. If they were, their remains blurred into the remains of others like them, so they couldn’t be told apart. A day remembered, fully. Properly. Like it was still yesterday years later. Days like that were rare.
Taylor could still see herself standing there in the school corridor. This was the year 2000, her final year of high school. A couple of her friends that wouldn’t last the long term were inside the girls’ bathroom, and she was waiting for them. Science. Math. English. Something horrible was lurking around the corner no doubt.
But it was fellow student Megan Brinkley who took her spontaneously by the arm and turned the day into another kind of horror entirely.
“You coming to Kieran and Emma’s joint tonight?” she launched at Taylor.
“No, why.”
“Yeah, they’re having a party or something. Don’t know if it’s going to be official, just that someone’s parents are going away for a couple of days and we’re going to fuck the place up.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
Megan suddenly jerked them to a stop as a group of teachers appeared from the adjacent corridor, walking in front of them. They waited a moment and then Megan turned to her.
“Taylor, lighten up. Seriously. I don’t mean we’re going to literally vandalize the place or anything. At least not to my knowledge.”
The coast was clear.
They pressed on.
“I don’t know if I’m up for another party,” Taylor said. “I have way too much on my plate at the moment –”
“Come on Taylor, don’t be such a bore,” Megan snapped. “You’re coming. I already said you were.”
Taylor nodded.
Bent to submission.
She didn’t have a lot of willpower to fight back. She wanted to believe that the school work was important and that she was going places, but there were other voices in the back of her mind that said this was it. The right here and now was all that mattered.
Around the corner they bumped in to Megan’s boyfriend Marcus who was saying goodbye to his friends. “Megan! Hey babe, glad I found you.”
“What’s going on?” Megan asked.
“I just got another connection for tonight. We gotta follow it up.”
“Who?”
“It’s Jamie’s little cousin. The stuff is at his house but I don’t know for how much longer. We gotta get some wheels and drive down there.”
“You mean now?”
“I mean now. Can you call your sister?”
“Oh no,” Megan said. “She’s at work. She wouldn’t –”
“Well, we have to find someone with a set of wheels.”
“Yeah and everyone’s in class. Which is where we should be.”
“No, screw that. We’re blowing this day off. Just need someone who’s driving on our team and we’re set.” Marcus turned to Taylor. “Is there anyone in your circle who can help us?”
Taylor swallowed.
She inwardly flipped through her small pamphlet of friends.
“What about Lester?” Megan suggested.
“Oh no,” Taylor murmured.
“Lester? Who is that?” Marcus said. He snapped his fingers. “Oh you mean Limpy. Limpy Les.”
“Taylor,” Megan said. “Can you ask him?”
Taylor hesitated.
“Well?” Marcus pressed.
“I’ll see what I can do…”
CHAPTER 38
There was weight in his eyes. There was depth. Lester had no problem remembering things and situations that involved Taylor she’d rather have forgotten.
She looked up to the table’s reflection in the coffee shop window, and she felt drained. Both Lester and Nadine had one of her legs, pulling her down into the darkness of the past – the darkness she didn’t want to face. And they knew it. They knew exactly how uncomfortable she was, and they fed on her discomfort.
Taylor had had enough.
The memory died, freeze frame.
“Do you have a phone on you, Lester?”
He blinked. “Uh. Sure.”
“Can I have it?”
He put his hand in his jacket and produced the cell.
Taylor took it from him and dialed the precinct’s number, asking for Rose. She was put on hold for a minute and then after confirming her identity, she got Rose’s cell number. A minute later she was on the phone with her.
“Taylor!” Rose McGuiness exclaimed. “Please tell me you still have Nadine with you.”
Taylor looked up to the cheerful shell of her former partner. “Affirmative.”
“And what is your location?”
“Rose. You need to listen to me for a moment. Okay?”
A pause. “What’s going on?”
“I know what I did was … well, I know there’ll be consequences.”
“Not if you let me know where you are right now. I can make it all go away. Soon, though you’ll have other people looking for you. And then you’re finished.”
Taylor shifted uncomfortably. “I’m chasing down a lead with her. And we’re really close. I’ll give you updates. But this isn’t about that. I’ve got someone else with me –”
“Who?”
“Just an old friend. Apparently he’s run into the husband of the latest Spider Jack victim or something –”
“Oh yeah?”
“Well, he has a story for you.”
“And where is he then?”
“We’re at Rye’s Café on Ridgewood Avenue, near Central Station –”
“Don’t move. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“I need to finish up with Nadine. But Lester will still be here.”
“Don’t move, Taylor. I swear for the love of –”
Taylor hung up. She handed the phone back to Lester. “Just my Captain. She’ll hear what you have to say about Marcus.”
Lester pursed his lips. “Where are you going?”
“Police Business,” Nadine said, giving him a playful shove.
They both stood up.
Lester awkwardly joined them. “What are you – kicking down some doors or –?”
Taylor brushed past Nadine’s gaze. “Something like that. Yes.”
CHAPTER 39
Back there, back at the house, back twenty minutes ago. Erin had covered herself from the cold with one of the male agent’s heavy jackets, standing right where she’d been told to.
“Director Feirstein will be here any minute,” one of the regular duty cops confirmed with his fellow officers.
“Oh God,” Erin said anxiously. “He will?”
They ignored her. She expected as much.
Darper was still in the house dealing with the crime scene presumably. She went over what happened in her mind again and again, and even though she’d done the wrong thing, it seemed like a situation a lot of people would have messed up in.
But it was her choice to go into the house alone.
Her choice to move away from the crime scene.
Her choice to step into the dark.
Erin felt so ashamed.
“Agent Leeds?”
A gruff voice spoke up behind her.
Erin turned to see a tall man in early fifties standing over her. He was unshaven, his dark silver hair strewn about over his ears. His eyes were large and green.
“Special Agent Darper asked me to escort you back to head office. Car’s parked on th
e other side. Follow me, please.”
“Um, uh…”
She hurried to catch up with him.
They were walking to the left of the house.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Director Feirstein?”
The Agent glared at her. “Director Feirstein’s number one priority revolves around the detection and capture of Spider Jack. Same goes for Darper. You’re going to be stuck with me a while till they’re finished.”
“And who are you exactly?”
“Special Agent John Smith. Come on now, round the corner here.”
They moved around the side of the house.
The hill continued to ascend.
“John Smith? That’s your name? Really?”
“Yes, we exist. Pick up your pace now. Keep with me.”
His hand glanced her back.
Something didn’t feel right.
“You’re all the way up here?”
“Yes, over the fence, on the other side of the road.”
“Why?”
“Back of the house needed to be secure. So that’s the way we came. It’s better you stay silent for now. We’ll talk when we get in the car. Think about what you’re going to say.”
Erin was still walking with him, moving further and further away from the house and its lights.
She wasn’t sure.
Her feet had been collected from under her.
“Wait a second,” she whispered. “Just wait…”
The Agent stopped. Turned to face her properly.
Erin glanced over her shoulder.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You’re not Spider Jack, are you?”
The Agent’s head went back. His lips parted slowly, forming a smile.
He laughed.
Erin laughed in return.
The Agent pulled a gun from his pocket. He held it by his side.
In the air.
“You don’t want to ask me that again, do you Agent Leeds?”
Erin’s lips quivered. She exhaled. “No, I –”
The Agent grabbed her arm and forced her forward.
CHAPTER 40
As stated, that was twenty minutes ago. Now it had just gone seven pm and Erin was in the back of the car with her hands cuffed, at the mercy of the Agent driver, formerly identified as John Smith, but soon to be identified as someone else.
Erin shifted along the seat, looking out the window. They weren’t at the city yet. She couldn’t even see the city. She had no idea where they were. She’d seen a sign a few minutes ago but the car was going so fast there wasn’t much time to read it.
The day was gone. Obliterated.
A screaming night stretched out over the darkened roads, promising nothing but misery ahead. Eventually the trees grew thicker and the roads grew narrower. The realization smacked her in the face like sledgehammer.
She was running out of time.
“Agent Smith…?” Erin manage once more.
He’d refused to talk to her up to this point.
“My name’s not Agent Smith,” he replied. “Don’t be alarmed though. I am still law enforcement.”
Erin’s face turned away helplessly. She felt sick to her stomach.
“You really are him, aren’t you…?” she said. “Oh God…”
The Agent laughed.
Here they were then. High Country. The Forest Mountains. The roads became a maze she had no way of tracing. No way of finding her way back. How foolish she’d been to go with this man. It really was adding up for her, wasn’t it?
The car was slowing. They made a left up a pebbly road and then the car veered off across a grass clearing.
Mud sprayed out from the tires.
“What are we doing here?” Erin tried again. “Are you going to hurt me? When I didn’t even do anything to you?”
“Sit tight, beautiful. All shall be revealed in a few moments. Just wait it out.”
The car drifted.
One plain stretch.
One straight line.
When the car stopped, they were in the centre of a grass paddock.
The Agent shut off the ignition.
He got out of his side of the car, the headlights going dead.
He opened Erin’s door and pulled her out and down into the mud.
“No,” Erin moaned. “Please no…”
CHAPTER 41
“You asked me what my name was,” the Agent said lighting a cigarette. “You asked me … if I was Spider Jack…”
Erin lay across the ground, trembling. “Don’t hurt me. I beg you.”
“Only a dumbass newbie would ask questions like that,” he continued. “Which is what you are. A dumbass. Newbie. Me, I’m the opposite. I’m the motherfucker whose job you were stealing today. I’m the motherfucker whose partner you accidently killed. I know. I know you didn’t mean it. But you’re stupid, and that’s why you’re ruining my life.”
Erin tried to sit up. “You must be Ross then.”
Ross nodded. “You know why they’re replacing me?”
“Uh … You – Uh –”
“It’s because I’m old. They’re fucking ageist. They think my work is done training up Darper. And now he passes on the torch by training up you.”
“There were complaints made against you.”
“Yeah. Falsified. Load of bullshit.”
“You sure?”
“Honey, do you think I’m stupid enough to leave anyone alive who would rat me out?”
Erin shrugged.
“You might look at me, think I’m not capable. I don’t know.” Ross took out his gun. “To paint you a picture, it would be nothing to me to kill you right now. Hell, over the last six months I’ve probably taken out three or four folk in this friendly clearing alone. Won’t mean nothing for me to add you to the pile. And I owe Max, so…”
“You can’t kill me,” Erin said.
His gun lifted.
“I mean, you can. Physically. I don’t doubt your proclivity for senseless murder.”
“There’s sense behind it, you just don’t understand it.”
He aimed the gun at her.
“Wait!” Erin shouted. “You can’t kill me because you need me!”
“Why’s that?”
“I know things. About Spider Jack.”
“Oh really? You were accusing me of being Spider Jack half a minute ago.”
“Well, I don’t know if you are or if you aren’t, but if you aren’t – then you need to listen to me. Because I know where he might be. I know where you can find him.”
Ross shook his head. “Where?”
“There’s a Spider Convention in town tonight. I know it sounds weird but, well, when Special Agent Darper was at the hospital this afternoon, and I was briefing myself on the Spider Jack case, I noticed there was this Arachnid Lovers Festival showing in the city. It’s invitation only, but measures can be taken to get one of us inside.”
“I’m listening,” Ross said.
“I have it all worked out,” Erin said, standing up. “I’m prepared to go in. Put my body on the line, pretend to be one of these spider freaks. I’ll get miked up with a camera or something and we’ll take a look at each person there like they’re a potential suspect.”
“Okay…”
“We run them through the system. We make sure they’re on the level. And then we build and go from there. What do you think?”
“You see, Max and I, we had another theory,” Ross said. “It appears that the house we just visited – well the dead woman’s husband has been caught ordering thousands of spiders from some store in the city. Not really a credible coincidence. So that’s where the investigation is now.”
Erin winced. “You really think it’s going to be that easy?”
“Why not?”
“Because Spider Jack was able to fool the police for all these years –”
“Spider Jack is dead.”
Erin’s mouth dropped. “What?”
“H
e was a traffic cop. Forty-five years old. Wife and three kids. He abducted and killed a bunch of kids in the nineties then started on with women and his spider fetish in the early 2000s. Eventually he slipped up. A witness took his license plate fleeing one of the crime scenes. It went straight to me before it got run in the computer. And then you know the rest of the story.”
“No,” Erin said shaking her head. “That doesn’t make sense. Who is killing –”
“The woman and the bus today and the family last night? Copycat killer. Or a hitman paid to make it look like Spider Jack. Like I said, our main suspect is the husband. Marcus Branchay. It’s not complicated. Max and I were gonna take him out the same way we got rid of the original Spider Jack. But then you and Scott fucked things up…”
Erin licked her lips. Her heart was racing.
She could see her breath in the air in front of her.
“Ross,” she whispered.
“What?”
“I know you’re not as bad as they are.”
“As who?”
“The original Spider Jack. The copycats. Whoever is killing those defenseless innocent people. I know you’re not as bad as they are…”
“So I should spare you?”
She nodded.
Ross took a step towards her.
Their eyes moved in sync.
“Honey…”
Erin swallowed. “Yes?”
“I’m worse.”
“No,” Erin gasped.
“I’m much, much, much, much … worse…”
CHAPTER 42
Scott Darper felt it. At the back of his neck. At the bottom of his throat. The air wasn’t cold or warm, but it had a certain wrongful presence about it. He stumbled on through the lobby area in the middle of the precinct where Erin Leeds was supposed to have been taken. An indescribable cloud hung over him. And the surroundings…
“Uh…” Darper said approaching the front desk. “I’m Special Agent Darper.”
“Are you with Director Feirstein?”
“He’s here?” Darper asked.
Spider Jack (Guess The Killer Book 2) Page 9
