Skellyman

by Rie Sheridan Rose

  “Okay, Mama.” The swift acquiescence made Brenda nervous.

  “Let me talk to Grammy again, okay?”

  “Okay. Bye, Mama, I love you.”

  “I love you too, baby,” Brenda breathed into the phone. She heard the rattle of the receiver changing hands, and then Mary came back on the line.

  “I really think you should at least come over and see the girl, Brenda. Fuss over her dog a little and make her think her mother cares what’s going on with her.”

  “I was over there not two hours ago, Mother. From the sound of things, you have it all well in hand. If I come running over there again, she’ll be more agitated than she is now.”

  Besides, she thought to herself, I just really can’t deal with this right now. Not on top of everything else.

  Mary sniffed—audible even through the phone line. “Whatever you think best, Brenda Elaine. I surely hope this doesn’t traumatize the poor dear for life.”

  “It might’ve if the dog’d been killed, Mother, but I’m sure she’ll be fine under the circumstances. I bet you wouldn’t even have called me if she hadn’t talked you into it, right?”

  “That’s beside the point, Brenda. It’s not the way I would handle the situation,” Mary grumbled. “It isn’t right. If you ask me—”

  “I didn’t. Now really, Mother, I need to go and get this incident added to the file. The police will want to know about it.”

  “Or is it just an excuse to talk to that Sanchez person again? Really, Brenda—a policeman?”

  Brenda felt her cheeks warming, and rolled her eyes at Phillip.

  “I’ve got to go, Mother.”

  “Well, at least tell me where you’re staying. You were supposed to call.”

  “I was about to when you called me,” Brenda lied. “I’m staying at the Castillo Casa Bed and Breakfast on Sloan Street. Tell Daisy I’ll see her at school tomorrow.”

  “That’s something, I suppose,” Mary murmured. “I won’t let you neglect this little angel, Brenda Elaine.”

  “And yet, you were the one who refused to let her come with me. Goodbye, Mother.”

  She hit disconnect before Mary could reply.

  “What’s going on?” Phillip asked softly.

  “Bones—the puppy—was hit by a car this afternoon. Apparently, his injuries are minor, but Daisy insists the skellyman was driving the car that hit him. Either she imagined it, or this lunatic is escalating his attacks. I hate to think he got that close to my child with a deadly weapon like an automobile. He’s got to be stopped, Phillip.”

  “I agree,” he replied, his face grim. “If he’s gone from threats to physical altercations, there’s no telling what he’ll do next. I’ll call the station and let them know about these latest incidents.”

  “Incidents…? Oh—you think he really was the one who wrote the message too?”

  “I don’t really see how. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it should still go in the file, just in case.”

  She moved the sleeping kitten from her lap to the bed and stood up, stretching stiff muscles.

  “Why don’t we drop by the station on the way to get some dinner? I think I owe you one. I know Penny was planning on a big dinner, but I just feel so restless right now. I need to get out of the house.”

  “If you insist,” he answered, rising to his feet. “What’s this, our third date now?” He winked.

  “Does it count as more than one if we haven’t really been apart for most of the last twenty-four hours?” she replied, wrinkling her nose.

  “I guess it depends on how you want to look at it. Are you really ready for dinner right now?” he asked, glancing at his watch. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still kinda stuffed from Penny’s lunch.”

  “It was great,” Brenda acknowledged. “But I just can’t sit here right now. This guy is driving me crazy. It doesn’t seem possible for him to be responsible for everything that’s happened. How is he making the time? It’s as if he can be in two places halfway across town at the same moment.”

  “Tell you what. Let’s go and check in at the station, and then we can go catch a movie or something before coming back here for dinner. Gives us time to work up a little appetite—and keeps us on Penny’s good side.”

  “Good compromise,” she replied with a grin.

  How did this man get to be so important to me so fast? she wondered. It’s like we have known each other forever. Is it fair to let him get so close? Fair to him…?

  She checked to make sure the kitten had food and water and that the litter box was where Mask would find it. Sticking her phone back into her purse, she slung it over her shoulder.

  “There. Should be good to go.”

  “Alright, then. Let’s so see what trouble we can get into.” Phillip opened the door, to find Penny standing on the other side, hand raised to knock.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you,” she murmured, “but someone dropped this off for you earlier, Mrs.—Brenda. He said it was important. I should’ve brought it up right away, but I knew you were going to try and get some rest, and by lunchtime, I’d forgotten all about it.”

  She started to hand Brenda a thick manila envelope.

  Phillip intercepted it quickly, his hand wrapped in the tail of his shirt. “When did you say this was dropped off?” he asked.

  Penny looked puzzled. “Oh, it must’ve been about eleven or so. Right after you called. But…come to think of it…before you two got here this afternoon. How weird is that…?”

  Phillip frowned. “Very weird. Let’s take this down to the station, Brenda. It might be another contact from this skellyman of yours. Do you have a plastic bag we can transport this in, Pen?”

  “Sure.” She left the room and returned minutes later with a large grocery bag.

  “We’ll try to be back in time for dinner, Penny,” Phillip promised.

  “Don’t worry if you aren’t. It’ll be okay.” Her face was sympathetic as she stood at the front door waving them off.

  The ride to the station was silent. Brenda couldn’t imagine what might be in the envelope. If it was from the skellyman, what on earth could he be sending her? And how did he know where to send it. She hadn’t even known where Phillip was taking her until they arrived.

  Is he trying to reveal himself?

  It hurt her head to think about it.

  When they reached the station, Phillip slipped on a pair of latex evidence gloves and took the envelope out of its bag. “Of course, Penny may’ve compromised any fingerprints on the outside, but if we’re lucky, there may be something on the contents—a fingerprint or other marker that can help us identify this skellyman once and for all.”

  He took a letter opener and slipped it under the flap of the envelope. It’d been sealed with a piece of packing tape across the mouth, as if the sender had had second thoughts or added something to the message after it’d been sealed.

  He shook the contents of the package out onto a desk.

  Brenda took one look and bolted for the station bathroom, barely making it in time to vomit into the toilet bowl. By the time she felt able to return to the squad room, she found Phillip looking down at the glossy eight by ten black and white photos on the desk with grim distaste.

  Brenda peeked over his shoulder and gasped. It was worse than she’d thought from the initial glance.

  The photos were autopsy pictures of burned corpses, so charred it was hard to believe they were actually human. Written in red across one of the photos was the caption, “How can you be sure I’m really dead?”

  “Who would do something so cruel?” Brenda murmured, her eyes filling with tears. “It’s inhumane.”

  Phillip nodded, as he replaced the photos in the envelope.

  “Are you gonna be okay?”

  She could barely choke out an answer, her chest tight, heart pounding a mile a minute.

  “Yeah. I’ll live. I think.”

  “I’ll get someone checking these for fingerprints as soon as
possible. We’ll get this guy. I promise.”

  He held up two fingers in a Boy Scout salute, and she found a smile tugging her lips, despite the circumstances.

  It wasn’t the kind of promise he should be making, and she knew it, but it still made her feel better. She knew he’d try, and that was enough for now.

  Chapter 38

  The skellyman was ensconced in the leafy canopy of one of the trees across the street from the station house, a pair of high-powered binoculars trained to see the reaction to his latest gift. It was foolish and risky to be so close to cop-central, but the mere proximity sent his blood singing through his veins as if it were electrified. This was the rush he was living for these days.

  He had expected her to open it at the B&B, and getting here instead wasn’t easy. Thank goodness, he hadn’t dumped the sedan yet. Luckily, the area was relatively empty on a Sunday and he’d been able to climb the tree right under the noses of the entire police force.

  Stupid pigs.

  It hadn’t been easy to obtain the photos—or the binoculars, for that matter—but it was worth it. The look of horror on the Bitch’s face as she gazed down at the pictures the Spic emptied onto the desk was even better than he’d hoped.

  She looked like she’d seen…well, dead relatives, which was exactly what she was seeing—or was it?

  He chuckled to himself. At least he’d got her wondering.

  But he was annoyed to see the policeman sticking so close to her. What are they doing together? Is the Bitch spreading her legs for this guy?

  He growled deep in his throat. How dare she? Less than a year after her husband’s death and she was running around with another man. What kind of example does that set for the Angel? A Bitch indeed.

  Several minutes later, the Bitch and the cop came out of the station house and headed for his car. The skellyman waited until they were in the car, and then scurried down the tree and back to his own stolen vehicle. He’d have to dump it soon, but it was still proving useful for now.

  As he followed Phillip’s car through the tree-lined streets, he considered pulling up stakes and moving on to new hunting grounds. After all, there was nothing to keep him here in this rundown little cesspool but the Angel…and there was no way the Bitch would allow him to get close to her. Maybe he should cut his losses and start over somewhere else without completing his plan.

  Nah, that’s crazy talk. I’m having way too much fun.

  He followed Phillip and Brenda to the town multi-plex theater. Is this a real date, then? What, dinner and a movie? How cliché.

  He wondered again if she’d spread her legs for the cop yet. If not, he bet the Spic would be very disappointed when he finally got to home plate. The Bitch was dull as a dishrag in bed. Inexperience would do that to you. And he knew for a fact how inexperienced she was.

  He watched them enter the theater hand in hand. It made his blood boil.

  What right does she have to be happy? She should be in mourning. A devoted widow would be.

  The skellyman turned off the car and stepped out of it, leaving it parked in the shadows of the lot. As good a place to abandon it as any.

  He crossed to Phillip’s car. He had a lipstick in his pocket that he’d taken from Caroline’s purse. Glancing around to make sure the parking lot was deserted, he scrawled WHORE across the hood of the car.

  Still angry, he found a chunk of rock and slammed it into a headlight until it shattered with a satisfying crash. There was something to be said for a Sunday matinee.

  That’s better.

  Some of his anger trickled away. He took a deep breath, tossing the rock off into the trees bordering the parking lot. Thrusting the lipstick back in his pocket, he strolled off to find some entertainment of his own.

  He really needed to find someone to play with. Caroline had been unsatisfactory, spoiling everything like she did by jumping from the car.

  He needed more. And today, he felt like a little foreplay.

  He slunk through the streets, eyes peeled for just the right prey. Today, he needed something more than a mere murder. Today, he needed art.

  Strippers were too tawdry, like tarnished silver when he wanted gold. The homeless alley dwellers were mostly men—not equipped for what he had in mind. It wasn’t that he’d never had a male ass. But it wasn’t what he wanted today.

  He drifted through the streets like smoke. He’d know her when he saw her—and he was the last thing she’d ever see.

  Chapter 39

  Phillip pulled up to the multiplex theater, and they sat scanning titles. There were two comedies playing, both of which she’d thought sounded interesting and fun. Strolling up to the ticket window, they found one of the films had just started and the other was about to begin. They opted for the latter, and Phillip bought the tickets.

  “Popcorn or something more substantial?” he asked her as they waited at the concession counter.

  Brenda scanned the menu. Movie theaters had come a long way from her childhood. Now, as well as the traditional popcorn and candy offerings, you could get nachos and pizza.

  “I’d love something to drink,” she murmured shyly. “Food is the last thing on my mind right now.”

  With Phillip insisting on paying for everything, this really did feel like a date, and she was nervous about how good that felt.

  “Sounds great,” he grinned, and ordered two. “I’ll take care of these until we get inside.

  Go on ahead and find us a seat. I’m right behind you.”

  She stepped into the dimly lit theater. Quiet conversations were going on from several clumps of people, but the space was comparatively empty. She remembered this particular film had been out for several weeks already, so the mad rush to see it had died down. Another point in its favor.

  She worked her way to the center of a row about halfway up the bank of seats and sat down. Phillip set one of the drinks into the cup holder in the arm of her seat, and then did the same.

  Just as he got settled, the theater darkened further and a public service slide flashed up on the screen asking all patrons to turn off their cell phones during the movie. Brenda dug in her purse and turned off her phone. She saw Phillip take a unit from his pocket and do the same. She must remember to ask for his number…the thought sent a surge of pleasure through her.

  It was a relief to think she would be unreachable for the next couple of hours. It would be just like Mary to call and berate her again for something she had no control over—like the dog getting loose, or Daisy spilling her milk at dinner. With the phone turned off, she could pretend all her troubles were imaginary and focus on Phillip. Which sounded like a really good idea.

  She settled back into the seat. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone to an adult movie in adult company. It was always something Daisy would like, and before Daisy, Robbie. The kids had ruled so much of her recreational life. Ethan had never been much of a film buff, so they’d never gone on movie dates alone. It was kind of nice not to have the incessant whispered questions besieging her.

  The trailers began to roll, and there were several upcoming films that sounded like they would be fun. She found herself leaning over to say as much on most of the offered movies and, if she didn’t say something first, Phillip was filling the void. They seemed to have very similar tastes in style and stars.

  Finally, the lights in the theater dimmed from the glow left for stragglers during the previews to complete dark as the main feature began. Brenda was soon completely wrapped up in the story—another contrived boy meets girl and chaos ensues plot, but with an engaging cast and witty script. She laughed harder than she’d laughed in longer than she cared to remember.

  Somehow, at some point during the movie Phillip’s arm wound up across her shoulders. At first, she was startled…but then she realized how good it felt, and snuggled back against him as much as the theater seats would allow. So she’d only known him a few days—they’d been through more together in those few days than some pe
ople went through in a lifetime.

  Phillip leaned over to whisper, “I’d very much like to kiss you right now.”

  Brenda could feel her cheeks heating, and thanked her lucky stars for the darkened theater.

  “I would like that,” she murmured back, surprised by her own temerity.

  He suited actions to words, and she let herself melt into the kiss. It was gentle, and yet forceful, awakening a need she hadn’t even missed. And now that the hunger was awake, it demanded appeasement for its neglect.

  Although the movie wasn’t as entertaining as it had been five minutes ago, she forced herself to break away from him and return her attention to the screen with an audible sigh. There was a time and a place for such things, and she was no teenager to make out in a movie theater.

  Phillip seemed to discover the film suddenly fascinating as well, and there was no attempt to repeat the experiment. But his arm continued to encircle her shoulders, and she got the feeling the subject would be broached again—at length—later, and she couldn’t wait.

  When the final credits began to roll and the theater brightened, Phillip collected their trash.

  “Ready to go?”

  She usually stayed until the final credits had scrolled off the screen, but somehow, she was in no mood to wait for them today.

  “Sure.”

  “I thought we’d grab some dinner to go and take it to my place,” he said over his shoulder. “Unless you’re in a hurry to get back to the B&B…?”

  “Won’t Penny be expecting us for dinner?” she answered regretfully.

  “I’ll call her and fix things. Promise.”

  “In that case…it sounds lovely.” She found herself tingling with anticipation. “I told Penny I’d go to the school and help out tomorrow, but I don’t think I need to hurry back just yet. If you’re sure you can square it with her about dinner.”