The Tangerine Killer

by Claire Svendsen

  The rain grew heavier. It rolled in like a gray wave on the horizon, the sound of the downpour reaching me before the rain did. In seconds the world blacked out around me. I was lost in nothingness and I let out a scream as sobs wracked my body. Everything I’d been holding in since the beginning came pouring out of me. The pain. The fear. The God awful truth that I was going to die. It ripped out from inside me and I let it. I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. The truth had been pushed in my face over and over and I finally saw how it was all going to end.

  I don’t know how long I sat there in the rain, soaked to the bone and sobbing. But by the time the rain began to ease I knew I had no more tears left. From the minute I stepped foot in Tangerine, my fate had been sealed. I’d known something had been wrong from the beginning. I just had no idea how bad things were going to get. Now I knew and I wanted nothing more than to forget. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not now.

  The rain subsided but a cold wind took its place. Soaked to the bone I wrapped my arms around my shivering body and left the bench. I walked along the path that wound around the lake, a trail I knew like the back of my hand. My mind was blank. I just walked on and on and when I finally stopped, I was in front of my mother’s house.

  FIFTY NINE

  It’s a weird feeling to want comfort from someone who’s never really been there for you. Standing out by the gate, hiding in plain sight behind a dripping tree, I couldn’t help the way I felt. I wanted to run to her and cry. For her to hold me and tell me everything was going to be all right the way she never had when I was little. I knew she’d never be the person I wanted her to be but that didn’t stop me from wanting that.

  The lights were on and a shadow was sitting by the window reading. It was her. I clutched the tree and fought back the tears. I’d cried enough. Tears wouldn’t bring my mother’s love back to me or Parker back to Olin. Only I could do that now.

  The shadow stood up and came closer to the window. Shit. I ducked back behind the tree but I was pretty sure she’d seen me. Run away or stay and face her? The choice sounded simple enough but it wasn’t. As the front door opened I started to walk away.

  “Sam.”

  She called after me but I didn’t look back. Then I heard footsteps. She was running after me. Something I didn’t think she’d ever do. She didn’t grab my arm or tell me to stop walking away from her. She just fell in step beside me.

  “You’re soaked,” she said.

  “I got caught in the rain.”

  “I see that.”

  I stole a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. Her face was pale, hands wrapped around her thin body in the cool air. If I didn’t know any better I’d say she looked worried. Or scared.

  “So what are you doing here?”

  I’d wanted to see her. To say goodbye. But now I couldn’t find the words to tell her. We walked on in silence.

  “I’m sorry,” she finally said.

  “For what?”

  I stopped walking and looked at her.

  “For everything.”

  At a loss for words I just stood there with my mouth open. She was sorry? That was rich.

  “You’re sorry? Do you even know what you’re sorry for?” I said.

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yes. It matters to me.”

  But did it? The horrible childhood I’d endured at the hands of my stepfather and the son he brought into our family. The lies. The hatred. The torture. All the reasons I’d run away. It seemed insignificant now that I was facing my death and I just felt sorry for the woman who stood in front of me.

  “I just want my daughter back,” she whispered.

  “Too late.”

  “I know.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to blink them back but they spilled out and ran down her cheeks. My own mother was crying. I couldn’t believe it. That was something I didn’t think I’d see before I died.

  “It’s my fault,” she said. “I let you down then and I’m letting you down now.”

  She briskly wiped the tears away and stepped closer to me. I took a step back, not sure what she was about to do, my legs now pressed against the fence. The horrible urge to run away from her was building up in my chest.

  “You have to leave town,” she whispered. “I told you before and you didn’t listen. Now you have to. If you don’t leave, you’re going to die.”

  I put my hands on her arms and pushed her gently away from me.

  “No one can change that now. It’s too late. If you really want to help me, tell me what you know.”

  “I can’t.” She looked back at the house. “He could be watching me.”

  “Who? Derek? Is that who’s behind all this?”

  She shook her head, then turned to leave.

  “Please Mom,” I called out to her. “Help me.”

  It shocked the hell out of me when she actually stopped. Then she came back and stood next to me, leaning against the fence, our bodies so close they were almost touching. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and slipped it into mine.

  “Go to this address and I think you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

  She paused for a moment and I realized I was holding my breath.

  “I don’t have proof, I don’t know for sure but I think the answers might be there. Get that detective who’s always following you around to go. You need to get somewhere safe. Someplace far away and stay there.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” I said. “And Detective Olin? His four year old son has been kidnapped. It doesn’t matter about me anymore. All I care about is seeing that little boy reunited with his father.”

  “Then your fate is already sealed,” she said.

  “I know.”

  She slipped her hand into mine and this time I didn’t pull away. I felt the nervous energy she had bottled up flowing through her fingertips. I had none of that now. A strange sense of calm and purpose had washed over me back in the rain storm. I had a job to do and I would see it through. Sacrificing your life for that of a child wasn’t a bad way to go and besides, I was going to put up one hell of a fight. I’d go down kicking and screaming and take that sick bastard with me.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Who knows, maybe you won’t.”

  I let her hand fall and walked away. I only looked back once and wished I hadn’t. Her face was covered with her hands, giant sobs wracking her body. It wasn’t something I wanted to see.

  I pulled the crumpled paper out of my pocket. Two words were scrawled across in black ink. Digiteck Labs. I’d never heard of them but maybe Olin had. I dialed his number as I walked.

  He answered breathlessly. “You okay?”

  “Fine. Look, I’m sorry.”

  “So am I.”

  “Good. Listen, I have no idea what this has to do with anything but I have a lead. Ever heard of Digiteck Labs?”

  I heard Olin suck in his breath before he answered.

  “Not until a few minutes ago. Remember they got the results back on the maggots?”

  Of course not. I’d forgotten all about them but I lied and said yes anyway.

  “Well, they came from Digiteck Labs. I was just about to head over there.”

  “Wait for me. I’ll meet you back at the station.”

  SIXTY

  Olin actually waited for me. I didn’t think he would. He stood in the squad room looking at the test results that had been added to the giant board. His clothes looked rumpled and he’d taken off his tie. He was frowning as he read.

  “Hey,” I said.

  He looked up and a smile played in the corner of his mouth.

  “Hey yourself.”

  “So what’s the verdict?”

  “No idea. I’m still waiting for some techno geek to come explain all this to me.”

  He pointed at the board and I stepped closer to get a better look. The photographs of the crime scenes reminde
d me of something out of a horror movie. With all the evidence and speculation displayed it was hard to believe that we were no closer to finding our killer. The new additions showed that the oranges and the maggots had gone through extensive testing including various scans and a chemical analysis.

  In one photograph someone had painstakingly removed the skin of one of the more robust oranges and laid it flat so that the design carved into its skin was displayed. I recognized it as the same design that had been sliced from Jill’s skin and suddenly a ton of bricks were sitting in my stomach.

  “That’s a dream catcher,” I pointed at the picture. “The same one that was carved into Jill’s skin.”

  I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. Why hadn’t I recognized it before?

  “It is? Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t see that,” Olin took a closer look.

  “I know. Me either. I have one just like it hanging over the bed in my apartment.”

  All the blood drained from Olin’s face.

  “So it is someone you know? Someone who’s been in your apartment? Who is it?” his voice rose.

  “I don’t know.” I racked my brain, desperately trying to put the pieces together.

  “You must know. Think harder.”

  From the look on Olin’s face, I was pretty sure I’d just lost whatever credibility I had left with him.

  “All this time and you didn’t see it?” he shouted.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know why it didn’t click before.”

  I wanted him to stop yelling at me. I’d already offered to trade my life for Parker’s. I couldn’t do much more than that.

  “So it’s been one of your boyfriends all along,” he said sarcastically.

  “I don’t have boyfriends,” I said quietly.

  “I know. That’s why I said it like that. I meant it’s one of the men you fucked and then told to get lost.”

  “How dare you. Who do you think you are?”

  “You know who I am. I’m the latest in a long line of men you’ve screwed over. How many men have you fucked? Fifty? A hundred? How many guys like Joe are out there planning their revenge against you?”

  “You think I’m a whore?” I whispered.

  “I know you are,” he yelled. “You slept with me didn’t you?”

  “Because I felt sorry for you,” I shouted back.

  “Hey! Break it up you two.”

  It was Captain Bright. He’d no doubt heard the shouting from his office, as had everyone else in the building. Detectives and officers alike gathered in the doorway to watch as Olin and I tore each other verbally to shreds.

  “She knows the piece of shit.” Olin hit the nearest desk with his fist. I was glad it wasn’t my face. “He’s been in her apartment.”

  “Is this true?” Captain Bright asked.

  “I guess,” I said. “I have a dream catcher exactly like that hanging above my bed back home. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

  Captain Bright rubbed his day old stubble thoughtfully.

  “We’re going to need a list of any acquaintances that have been in your bedroom.”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “But there are none.”

  Olin rolled his eyes. “Yeah right.”

  I ignored him and faced the captain instead.

  “I don’t invite men back to my place. I go to theirs or we get a hotel room. I like my privacy. I don’t like people touching my things.”

  “You’re telling me that no guy’s ever fucked you in your own bed while looking up at that very same dream catcher?” Olin pointed at the photo of Jill’s sliced up back. “Who do you think you’re kidding? We’re not that stupid.”

  “It’s the truth,” I shouted. “I don’t care if you believe me or not.”

  “All right, all right,” Captain Bright said. “It doesn’t have to be a lover, it could be anyone. A repair man. Someone your landlord sent in. Even your landlord himself. I need a list of names and we’ll have to send a team to your apartment. I hope you understand.”

  I nodded. Naples was a good four hour drive. By the time a crime scene team got there to dust for prints and search for hairs and fibers, I’d already be dead or at least at the mercy of the Tangerine killer. It didn’t matter now.

  “Good. Now can I count on you two to play nice if I send you both to Digiteck Labs? Or are you going to kill each other on the way over?”

  Olin looked at his feet and didn’t answer.

  “Fine. Whatever,” I said. “What about the trade? Me for Parker remember?”

  “Yes,” Captain Bright said. “I agree that it may well be our only option but I’m not just going to sacrifice you to this lunatic. I’m trying to set it up so that we can get the bastard when he shows up. I’m just waiting on the sniper team. Don’t worry, we won’t let him get you.”

  Captain Bright patted my shoulder. He seemed certain this exchange would end with everything in our favor. I wasn’t so sure.

  “You mean a sniper team’s going to have guns pointed in the direction of my son?” Olin’s voice was hoarse.

  “He’ll be safe. Don’t worry,” Captain Bright patted Olin on the arm just like he’d done to me.

  “Would you like guns pointed at your son?” he asked.

  “They won’t be pointed at Parker. We’ll only take him out after Parker is safe.”

  That meant the guns would be pointed at me. Parker would be safe when I had been traded. I imagined a trigger happy sniper getting caught up in the action and squeezing one off in my direction. At least it seemed a better death than the one the killer had planned for me.

  Olin looked at me and then turned away. If he was worried about the fact that now I was going to be the one with guns pointed at my head he didn’t say.

  “So what’s the deal with the maggots?” I asked.

  SIXTY ONE

  One of the techs who had worked on the oranges arrived and began pointing out numbers and formula. I wasn’t listening. Olin’s words rolled over and over in my head. The way he called me a whore. I knew I deserved a lot of things but I didn’t deserve that. I stole a sideways glance at him but he didn’t look apologetic and he wasn’t looking in my direction. Instead he was focused on a jar filled with maggots.

  “So these are medical maggots and as it turns out we can trace them back to the lab that created them,” the tech said.

  “Are you serious?” Olin asked.

  The lab tech gave him a withering look that implied he was never anything but.

  “Can we find out who purchased them and from where?” I said.

  “Just what exactly are medical maggots?” Olin interrupted.

  I bit my lip and stopped myself from pointing out he was being a rude asshole. The lab tech seemed oblivious to the tension in the room. He continued to waffle on about the maggots.

  “They use sterilized maggots in wound therapy, especially in cases where all conventional treatment has failed and the patient is facing amputation,” he said.

  “Are you serious?” Olin asked. “People actually let maggots eat them alive, on purpose?”

  “They have a very high success rate,” the tech said. “They eat up all the dead and infected tissue so that the wound can heal.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” someone behind us muttered.

  Captain Bright stepped in front of the jar of maggots that no one seemed to be able to take their eyes off and broke the focus.

  “We need to go through the labs records and see if we can find out when these maggots were purchased and by who. It looks a little unlikely that we’ll find the exact purchaser but from the age of the maggots we should be able to narrow down when they were bought and get a list of everyone who took orders during that time.”

  “So we might have him then?” I asked hopefully.

  “It’s a start but don’t get too excited. He’s not stupid. He’s played us every step of the way. This could just be another game.”

&nbs
p; “But what if he didn’t get them directly from the lab? What if they came from a hospital or clinic?” I asked.

  “Well it’s the only lead we have,” Captain Bright crossed his arms. “You two, go to the lab. I want to know who handles the maggots, how they are processed and where these nasty little things were sent to.”

  He handed the jar of writhing maggots to Olin who hesitated before taking it. His face turned a slightly pale shade of green.

  “Don’t you need these for more tests?” Olin asked the tech hopefully.

  “That’s not the only jar, sorry,” the tech apologized.

  Olin tried to hand it off to me in a sideways pass but I drew the line at maggots. They gave me the serious creeps and I already felt like I was going to throw up. And after the way he’d just treated me, I certainly wasn’t going to hold a jar of maggots for him.

  SIXTY TWO

  The drive was awkward. What do you say to someone who just called you a whore? Under normal circumstances I would have resorted to physical violence. A good head slap, perhaps a knee to the groin. Not something that would inflict permanent damage but enough to make the asshole think twice before he called any woman a whore again. Now I had all that pent up rage inside me and no way to vent it. Olin had better watch it or he’d end up with a pencil in his eye.

  Digiteck Lab was a long low building made up of strange white domes. It looked like a lunar module or some rather large marshmallows. The surrounding palm trees looked completely out of place. Whoever did their landscaping should have just put out giant boulders and red sand. A large neon sign flanked the road inviting people to stop by and check out their amazing advances in maggot technology.

  “This place gives me the creeps.”

  Olin broke his silence just as the electric doors swished open. They welcomed us into a blindingly white reception area and his whisper suddenly didn’t seem so silent. It reverberated off the shiny walls and multiplied loudly but the smiling receptionist seemed unfazed.