Rod simply told Evelyn that he was going to use every resource he had until he figured out what happened.
-
After Rod’s most unfortunate meeting with Evelyn Parker, Rod knew it was time to start investigating.
But, where to start?
Rod had no real evidence, other than the body of course, which was now on its way to Peoria for an autopsy. He had no murder weapon, he had no witnesses; he really had nothing. It reminded him of the murder that took place five years earlier, so much so that it was beginning to drive him crazy. The way Gabrielle’s body looked, and the way it had been left, like nothing more than worthless scraps from a savage, primal feast. It was certainly a vile scene.
Rod sat in his office thinking about young Gabrielle. Then he remembered the boy Evelyn had mentioned, Owen Kelly. He seemed like a good place to start.
He began searching through several different files looking for any sort of details about this Owen Kelly character. Fortunately Deputy Dolgen walked into the police station at that very moment. Rod did not hesitate to ask him if he knew anything about Owen Kelly.
Thomas ran his left hand through his bushy black hair as he explained to Rod who Owen Kelly was. “He is a bit of an odd ball, chief. I think he is around eighteen, graduated this year. He lives down in the Penn Apartment complex on the east side of town.”
There was then a brief pause as Rod stood up from his desk and began shuffling through papers to put them in the correct spots.
“What is it chief?” Thomas asked.
“Oh, I just have to find him and ask him a few questions.”
“This got anything to do with the Parker girl?”
Oh god, she is now nothing more than just the Parker girl. She is just another name for a file in an investigation, Rod thought to himself.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go down and handle it?” Thomas asked.
Thomas Dolgen always knew when it was a good time for him to step in and be an example. In other words, he enjoyed police work that got his name in the newspaper.
“No, I think I can handle this one on my own.” Rod replied.
Thomas nodded in agreement and Rod was almost out the door when he suddenly turned around.
“Hey Thomas, what did you mean when you said this kid was an odd ball?” Rod asked.
“He is just an odd duck. I don’t know how to exactly put a finger on it.” Thomas replied.
With that said, Rod was out the door and on his way to the Penn Apartment complex.
-
It had been two or three years since Rod was last at the Penn Apartments. The last time he was there, it was for a drug bust. He and his deputies took down a local punk named Ronnie Van Witzen. He had been dealing cocaine and pot out of his apartment for about four years, and had gained a reputation for being a tough guy. When Rod pulled him out of that apartment Ronnie Van Witzen, (Mr. Badass) was almost in tears.
Rod smiled as he reminisced.
Before getting out of his truck Rod noticed a couple of shady individuals watching him closely. They moved across the narrow parking lot, studying every move that he made. Then once they realized that he had noticed them, they turned and began to walk away. Oh well, I can’t arrest someone for not liking the presence of authority. Rod thought to himself, still unsure of their intentions.
After exiting his vehicle, Rod went to the door to the apartment complex. It appeared that if Rod pulled even the slightest bit too hard on the handle the entire thing might come right off of the hinges.
As Rod carefully climbed up the dirty withered stairs, he had a strange feeling emerge in the back of his mind. It was the feeling that he had been through all this before.
Yes, he had investigated crimes at the Penn apartment complex in the past, but never before had Rod been there to investigate a murder. Still something inside of him was trying to make him aware of danger. This was something he could not understand, and would have to ignore.
When he came to the top of the narrow stairs, he started down the long hallway looking for apartment twenty-seven.
On the way over Rod had placed a call to the Medusa Water Department and asked them if they would give him the apartment number of a one Owen Kelly residing in the Penn Apartment complex. It only took them two or three minutes to find the number for him. This might not have been very professional of the staff at the water department, but to them it wasn’t like they were giving out social security numbers or anything like that. Plus, the information was going to the Sheriff, not a drug dealer.
As he continued his search for apartment twenty-seven, he heard loud noises coming from the other apartments. He heard a televangelist praising the all mighty, coming from a television set. Someone else had their rap music playing way too loud; and a couple was having an argument over who washed the dishes last. Rod didn’t think the argument was leading to domestic violence at all, and ignored them. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of one of them stepping out in a rage to see him standing there. I bet that would surprise them a little bit.
Rod did not like this neighborhood, partly because of the condition of the building, and the illegal activities he assumed went on here.
“Maybe I need to have a few of the boys comb through this area more often.” He thought out loud.
Apartment twenty-seven, he had finally found it. He balled up his fist and pounded on the door.
There would be no response.
Rod repeated his previous actions...there was no answer.
“Medusa police. Open up.” Rod shouted out but still there was no response. Either Owen was inside the apartment hiding, or he really was not there. he glanced around the hallway, all of a sudden she felt wary. With a fast motion of his arm he placed his left hand against the wall to suspend himself up. He was becoming light headed, he gazed down the hallway again, for a moment he thought he saw a figure further down the hall. He closed his eyes in an attempt to gain his composure, he looked back and the figure was gone. Now all that was there was the same dingy looking apartment complex that had always been there. Rod had no choice but to give up and head back to the police station. He would just have to come back later, and try again. If on his second attempt to find Owen Kelly here did not work, he would have to send one of the overnight Officers here to track him down.
He went back through the hallway, down the withering narrow stairs, and out the door. Just as he was about to get into his truck his phone began to ring. Rod hoped that maybe it was one of his deputies calling to tell him that they had located Owen Kelly. The name that lit up Rod’s cell phone was none other than John Austin. It had seemed that the news of Gabrielle Parker’s death had gotten to the Medusa news machine.
“Rod, here.” His tone was crisp.
“Hey Rodney. I’ve got a pot of coffee and some fresh doughnuts down here for you if you want to come have a chat with me.” John said with certain sarcasm in his voice.
“Doughnuts? Boy you sure do know how to treat your local police!” He said with fake excitement. “Yeah, I’ll be down in fifteen minutes.”
Rod got off the phone and called Deputy Dolgen.
“Thomas, do you want to track down Owen Kelly after all? I have to go down and talk to John at the papers.”
Thomas accepted the task, and Rod explained that he had already tried Owen’s apartment, but he might want to try again this afternoon. Thomas told Rod he might have a few other places to look, and thanked him for the information.
Deputy Dolgen knew Owen Kelly to be friends with Brandon Miles, a young man who was also considered a trouble maker. Thomas had made several traffic stops that had involved the two of them. He had also received several noise complaints involving Owen Kelly at Brandon Miles’ home. They were part of a large group of young men who seemed to cause mischief just for the sake of doing so. At one point or another, each one of these young men always seemed to end up at Brandon Miles' house. This was probably because
he had the nicest house of all of them. Brandon Miles lived in a blue two story house on Randolph Street. It was honestly a nice house, but Brandon never spent a dime to get it. Brandon’s parents had come into money not long before he graduated. They moved out to the country, and into a nice ranch house. They then simply gave their house in town to Brandon.
As he wandered up the stairs to the porch, he couldn’t help but notice a mountain of beer cans tucked in the corner. Dolgen knew very well that none of these young men were old enough to buy alcohol. It might not be enough to hold any of them for very long, but it might be enough to apprehend Owen Kelly if needed. Thomas would have to make that decision on his own, but first he needed to talk to Kelly.
Deputy Dolgen then loudly knocked on the door.
A particularly angry looking Daniel Montvale answered the door. Thomas was not sure how to respond, he knew very well of Daniel’s troublesome behavior.
“Daniel, I’m looking for Owen Kelly.”
“So?”
“So, have you seen him?” Thomas brusquely asked.
“What is it to ya?”
“Listen, I have a few questions for him. Do you know where he is?”
“Actually yeah, I think he’s cooking breakfast, I think he’s making a big batch of bacon. You like bacon?” Daniel Montvale asked as his jaw tightened up aggressively.
This was obviously some sort of attempt at baiting, in order to get a rise out of him. Daniel apparently wanted to get Dolgen riled up by associating him with a pig.
“If Owen is here I need to talk to him.” Thomas said while still remaining calm.
“Sheriff Truex send you over here?” Daniel asked.
“No, and I don’t see what the Sheriff has to do with any of this.”
Daniel then walked away as mad as ever. After a moment, a very pitiful looking Owen Kelly arrived at the door. Large bags had formed under his eyes, and his skin was pale. He appeared to be completely exhausted.
“Owen I have got a few questions for you.”
“What is this about, Officer?”
“Gabrielle Parker.”
“What about her?” Owen asked.
Thomas was not sure if this was the set up for an alibi or if Owen genuinely did not know.
“She was killed last night.” Thomas said firm and direct.
The pitiful hung-over look on Owen’s face then turned to one of shock and disbelief.
“She was killed?” Owen asked.
“Yeah, she was found early this morning.”
“Who the hell did it?”
“We don’t know son. That is what I am trying to figure out.” Thomas said calmly, but still with plenty of authority.
“You don’t think I did it?”
“I am only trying to figure out what happened.” Thomas answered without giving out his own opinion. “Where were you last night?”
“I was here all night long.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
“Yeah, Brandon and Daniel both can.”
As Thomas took notes he jotted down the names, even though he knew they weren’t good witnesses.
“So, did you see Gabrielle Parker at all last night?”
“Yeah, she was here for about five minutes. Then she left when we got into a fight.” Owen realized what he had said too late.
Thomas was not sure what to make of Owen’s statement.
“I mean…we got into a yelling match. Not like a real fight. We just yelled at each other.” He then said as sweat began to form on his temples.
“What was the fight about?”
“It was about seeing other people. I told her we needed to see other people and she didn’t think so.” Owen lied.
“I see, and what time do you think it was when she left?”
“It was probably getting close to midnight. I am really not sure.”
“Midnight? That is awful late for a school night.”
“Yeah, it is.” Owen answered, he had been out of high school for a year already.
Thomas then said he had no further questions. At that time he had no reason to apprehend Owen. He apologized to Owen for giving him the awful news. Then he left to go back to the police station. There would be more than enough paperwork to fill out now.
When Rod parked his F-150 out front of The Medusa Gazette building, it was obvious that John had been waiting for him. He was standing right in front of the entrance door with a puzzled look on his face.
“Waiting on someone, John?”
“Indeed…” John’s voice trailed off.
Inside it was more or less the same as the last time Rod had been there. The office area was filled with cubical after cubical, but Rod was pretty sure that the Gazette only employed seven or so people. That would be including John as well.
In John’s office the two men sat to talk over a few doughnuts and some coffee.
“So what can you tell me about the Parker girl?” John asked.
“You didn’t want to waste any more time did you? Here this whole time I thought you just wanted to visit with me.” Rod said sarcastically.
“Seriously, what do you know Rod?”
“Alright, she was found at six o’clock this morning by a man jogging through the park. Of course he should be left out of your story for privacy reasons.” Rod said and then took a large bite out of a glazed doughnut.
“What was the cause of death Rod?”
“Not sure yet, of course we won’t have the autopsy report back for at least another month or two.”
“I know that Rod. I already spoke to Wilson.” John rudely replied.
Evan Wilson was the coroner, and had been for the last twenty years.
“So what did he have to say?”
“He said that it was a lot like something he had seen five years ago. What did you think?”
“No comment.” Rod said sternly.
John shook his head in disappointment and explained to Rod that he would not be printing anything at this time. He was only interested if Rod personally thought there could be a connection.
“Off the record, I do not think there could be any connection. We are investigating all our leads, and we are going to get to the bottom of it.” Rod said in defense.
“I really hope you are right Rod. If you are wrong and there is some sort of connection, there are going to be a lot of very disappointed people. I just don’t want all the blame being pointed at you bud.” John said as he tapped his fingers on his desk in a brisk fashion.
“All I have to say is that I am not surprised that you aren’t printing anything as of yet. I know you wouldn’t want to jump the gun or anything.” Rod said obviously referring to his article about the so-called Moonlight Murderer, five years ago.
After hearing what John had to say, Rod made an abrupt exit. He was not enjoying his conversation with John, and did not care if John knew it. Rod understood what John was saying, people wanted to believe that Rod’s becoming Sheriff had something with the peace and quiet they enjoyed. The murder of Maxwell Hester had been so terrible; everyone was terrified that it might happen again. Most people were just happy that it didn’t happen again, and they wanted someone to thank for this. This honor was bestowed upon Sheriff Rodney Truex of course. Rod accepted this even if he wasn’t responsible.
-
When Rod arrived back at the station he was surprised to see Deputy Dolgen. He assumed that Dolgen would have just as much trouble locating Owen Kelly as he did. But Thomas explained that he had already known about the association between Brandon Miles and Owen.
“I guess I just don’t keep up on those kids these days.” Rod said as if he were an old timer.
“Yeah, well I think one of the young kids keeps up on you.” Thomas said sarcastically.
“Oh yeah, and who might that be?”
“Daniel Montvale, Chief.”
Rod shook his head and acted as if he was not interested in the topic.
“He seems to have it out for you.” Thoma
s said with a grin.
“I think you might have it wrong. I think he has it out for anyone with a badge.”
“I don’t know Chief, he mentioned you personally.”
“Oh well.” Rod said although he was actually very curious to know why Daniel Montvale had such an interest in him. He had arrested him once or twice, but could Daniel be dumb enough to try and retaliate against him? Rod brushed it off again, Daniel couldn’t possibly be smart enough to do something that would actually hurt him.
“So, what did Owen Kelly have to say?” Rod asked.
“He said he and Gabrielle had gotten into a fight about breaking up or something. Saw her around midnight and hadn’t seen her since.”
“And this all checked out with you?”
“I had no reason to think that it wasn’t true.” Thomas answered.
As much as Rod wished he had someone to hold responsible and calm the town’s nerves, he had to go by Thomas’ word. If Thomas said that Owen seemed innocent, he must have seemed innocent.
Officer Knox then walked through the door and asked if either Rod or Dolgen wanted to go to the Main Street Café for lunch. Knox indicated that he would like to go, but Rod declined. He explained that he simply had too much work to do. When the two Deputies left, Rod dug up the files from the old Maxwell Hester murder and began to read.
The next few days went on without any serious incident. The people of the town of course gossiped and spoke amongst one another. These conversations contained phrases like “I heard the Parker girl did this, and I heard the Parker girl did that.” The most interesting conversations were the ones that speculated on who committed the awful act. Most people believed that this was the return of Medusa’s own little personal murderer “The Killer Wolf.” Others thought that it might have been committed by a copy-cat killer. It seemed everyone believed that there was a connection between this murder, and the murder from five years ago.
The Chronicles of Beast and Man Page 4
