by Tony Urban
There was no wolf, just a crazy man living in a fantasy world. And a man could be killed.
Carolina readied the pipe wrench, wishing she had her gun instead. He was injured and she had the training, but he was still big, still strong, and still mad.
A glint of moonlight reflected off something in his hand, and with a sinking feeling in her gut Carolina saw it was her pistol. It had been knocked from Gina’s hand and into the darkness. And Mitch had rolled onto it.
“Lucky motherfucker,” Carolina muttered.
“Drop it,” Mitch said, holding the gun awkwardly in his left hand.
Carolina did as commanded, letting the wrench fall to the ground.
“They’re coming for you,” Carolina said. “There’s no getting out of this.”
“Perhaps,” he said, slowly bringing his stump to the side of his head, feeling his fresh wound. He winced in pain. “But that won’t matter for you.”
“In the end, you couldn’t do it, could you?” Carolina asked.
“What?”
“Kill us like a wolf would. That might have worked with scared, defenseless women. Ones you chose because they were weak. Then hunted them on land you knew like the back of your hand.” She laughed sarcastically and held up her palms, rubbing it in. “Such a tough guy. And that’s all you are. A guy.”
He growled. “You know nothing. I’ve seen the inside of the beast. I know what I am.”
“I’ve seen half a dozen like you. You’re all the same. Actually, they were better than you. They didn’t devolve into some fantasy land to justify their craziness.”
“I’ll rip off your head and eat your ugly face,” Mitch bellowed.
“Go ahead and try,” Carolina demanded.
“I will,” he said with a bloody smile, holding the gun steady on her.
Then Mitch seemed to will himself to become the wolf. His chest heaved. The muscles in his neck stretched tight. He pulled back his shoulders, puffing out his chest. It was like a man in a movie transforming into a werewolf, only nothing was happening. It was just an ordinary, albeit large and hairy, man preening and putting on a bad show.
But Mitch believed it. Carolina saw that in his wild, insane eyes. He believed he was becoming the Wolf. He was so focused on his imaginary metamorphosis that he was blind to everything happening around him.
He never even noticed his wife rise to her feet, holding one injured arm with the other, and step toward him. Gina was crying happy tears. Tears of relief that her husband was alive.
God, what a pair, Carolina thought.
It was only when Gina broke into a quick trot that Mitch caught her movement in his peripheral vision. Then, he spun and fired the pistol.
The bullet hit Gina just above her eye, tearing off the top right quadrant of her head in an explosion of blood, brains, and shattered bone. She took another step, teetered, then fell, landing face down less than five yards from her husband’s bare feet.
Mitch yelped and dropped the gun. “No!” he screamed.
He ran to his wife and dropped next to her, grabbing her limp body, and cradling it in his arms. But she was dead. There was no undoing what had happened.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said, rocking her lifeless body. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Carolina crept cautiously to where her gun lay in the dirt. She tried to go unnoticed, but Mitch’s gaze locked on her, avid, angry. He’d lost the only person he cared about. His last vestige of humanity was gone.
He howled at the moon, then turned. He growled, dropping Gina’s body in the dirt. Then he rushed at Carolina.
Carolina was too far away from the gun, so she steadied herself, waiting for the coming attack. Prepared to accept it and fight back. To the death if that’s what it took.
But Leigh had other plans. She clutched the pipe wrench in her hand and in one fluid motion swung it with all her might. She connected with Mitch’s skull, landing the fat end of the tool against his temple. There was no sound other than the crack of metal against bone.
Mitch didn’t yelp. Didn’t howl. Didn’t cry.
He only sprawled in the dirt where she had put him down.
Leigh collapsed next to Mitch and Carolina sprinted to her. She grabbed her friend and held her in her arms. “Leigh?” she asked, her voice full of worry.
“I’m fine,” Leigh said, as if she’d simply stubbed her toe or stepped on a Lego. “Just exhausted.”
As Carolina held her, she watched Mitch’s chest rise and fall in a slow but steady rhythm. He was still alive, but unconscious. Maybe even comatose. Leigh had done a number on him.
“You’re gonna be okay,” Carolina told Leigh, though she wasn’t sure about anything right now.
And then, to her relief, sirens wailed in the distance.
Chapter 66
The rest of the night was a blur filled with questions and explanations. Hank and Billington seemed baffled, but Carolina couldn’t be too hard on them. She’d stumbled upon most of the clues herself at the last minute, barely putting it together in time.
The hows and whys didn’t seem important though. Leigh was alive. And so was she.
Aside from Leigh’s abduction, the evidence the FBI found in the cabin (clothing and personal belongings of the victims) would be enough to charge Mitch with all of the murders. When paired with the veterinarian records Max had obtained - off the record - it laid out a neat trail for any prosecutor to use.
Odie approached Carolina and Leigh with a grandfatherly smile. He hugged Leigh and told her he was glad she was all right. Tears welled from the old guy’s eyes. He may not be a great cop, but Carolina respected his willingness to show emotion. She still struggled with that part.
Curious about the day’s earlier events, Carolina asked Odie how the storming of Terrance Mitchell’s cabin had gone. Her tone was sarcastic, but Odie went along, scoffing as he spat to the side.
“We busted in and found one very confused man who was several crackers short of a platter. He had no clue what all the commotion was about but confessed straight off to growing a large amount of medical marijuana on his property.” His mustache twitched as he grinned. “Billington insisted on searching the place, but there was no evidence the man had hurt anyone. Plus, he was about five foot nothing and weighed a hundred pounds if he was lucky.”
“Skinnier than you, even?” Carolina asked.
Odie nodded. “Kinda fellow who’d fall over if you breathed on him too hard.”
The paramedics had wanted to take Carolina and Leigh to the hospital. Carolina’s head injury and Leigh’s, well, every injury she had sustained, probably warranted a trip but they had refused, promising to go in the morning. After much debate, the paramedics had shrugged, catching on that there was no reasoning with either one of the women.
Carolina smiled at Leigh, appreciating her tenacity. It reminded Carolina again of herself, but in a good way. Before she had fucked up her career and found herself out of a job and addicted to pain pills.
The camera crews showed up and started filming around two in the morning. They barked out questions and demands, hoping to get an interview. Billington had been blowing them off, but then informed them she would make a statement in a few minutes. Then she paid a visit to Carolina.
“That’s one fucking weird coincidence,” Billington lead with.
“What’s that?” Carolina asked, having no clue what the agent was referring to.
“Terrence Mitchell was the man with the criminal history, the one all signs pointed to. And the man you two brought down is Mitchell Tarker. What were the odds of not only that, but both of those assholes having cabins in the woods?”
“I only knew him as Doctor Mitch,” Carolina said, although the woman was right. It was a fucking weird coincidence. “How’d you find us up here anyway?” she asked.
“Tracked your phone,” Billington said. “When you called me and then didn’t say anything, it got my hackles up and I took a flyer. Looks like it pai
d off.”
“Yeah,” Carolina said. Then she realized how lucky they were. If Gina had a morsel of criminal savvy, she would have tossed her phone into a storm sewer or ran over it with the van. Instead, she’d been foolish enough to bring it along for the ride.
Carolina had heard a lot of talk about a higher power during her long stint in rehab and wasn’t sure how much she bought into it, but there were times like this when she was sure someone must be watching out for her.
“Regardless, I’m glad you’re both alive,” Billington said. Then she raised an eyebrow at Carolina. “I’m just amazed you made it out without any innocent people dying this time.” Of course, she had to toss in a jab.
Just as she said that one of the paramedics zipped up the body bag that Gina had been placed in. He wheeled it toward a black station wagon and the movement caught Billington’s eye.
She cleared her throat. “I stand corrected.”
And that was it. Carolina could only shake her head as Billington approached the camera crews who had their boom poles and microphones pointed toward the woman.
“I am pleased to announce that we have our suspect in custody,” Billington announced. “Hopkins County can rest easy. When the sheriff called in the FBI, we were able to take over the investigation and follow the evidence to find who was responsible for the slayings that have plagued this small town. I’m glad that I, along with other good agents, and the assistance of local law enforcement, could bring closure to this long nightmare.”
“That Billington is one first-class prick,” Hank said.
Carolina hadn’t been aware of his approach and turned toward him. He looked like death walking, but also sheepish. “Maybe you should talk to the reporters and give our side of the story,” she suggested.
Hank shook his head. “Doubt it would change anything. You, and I mean both of you,” Hank said, looking at Leigh as well. “Did a hell of a job up here. I couldn’t be more proud of you.”
Leigh gave a half-smile, but nothing like Carolina would have expected. After everything that had happened, maybe some of the luster of his approval had diminished. And that made the spiteful part of Carolina quite happy.
Hank motioned with his head for Carolina to come with him. She followed around the side of the ambulance, leaning against it, only then starting to realize how exhausted she was.
“I’m sorry, Carolina. I should have trusted you.” His earnestness shocked her into silence, and he must have taken that for disbelief because he went on. “If you hadn’t checked into those animal killings and tied it into the missing pets… Well, shit, this would have ended bad tonight. Real bad for Leigh especially.”
“I was just doing my job,” she said, not trying to sound humble, but because it was the truth.
Hank looked at her head where she’d been hit above the ear. A blood-soaked bandage covered the wound, which was going to require stitches. “Looks like you’ll be leaving Hopkins with a scar to remember us by.”
“I’ll add it to my collection,” she said.
Hank looked her up and down, shaking his head. “You really are one tough bitch.”
Carolina laughed, the first real laugh she’d uttered in a long while. “From you, Hank, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Chapter 67
Hank sipped on coffee while Odie lounged next to him. The station was mostly quiet like it used to be. If Hank were being honest, he preferred it that way. The hustle and bustle of trying to catch a serial killer was a young man’s game.
But that wasn’t what concerned him at the moment. Both he and Odie sat in front of the jail cell, watching Mitch pace back and forth on all fours. He was clothed, thank God, as the doctors had dressed him in a gown while treating his injuries.
After his wounds were all closed and scans proved there was no internal damage, they had no way of keeping him in the hospital safely. He’d almost bitten a nurse and had to be given a sedative. After that incident and confirming his physical state was stable, they shipped him back to Hank for safekeeping until transport could take him to a state facility.
Hank stared at Mitchell Tarker and saw a human, looking ridiculous as he stalked back and forth behind the bars. But when he looked in the man’s eyes, he saw an animal.
“Can’t hardly believe this guy was a veterinarian less than a week ago,” Odie said. “I bet he can’t even tie his own shoes.”
Hank knew the tying shoes remark had nothing to do with Mitch’s missing hand and everything to do with the utter lack of humanity that was evident in the thing moving back and forth, back and forth.
After taking a sip of his coffee, Hank said, “I’m no head doctor, but I got a theory about that. When Doctor Mitch accidentally killed his wife, I think he killed the last bit of sanity inside of him, too.”
Odie nodded, though Hank wasn’t sure if the old man believed it. Hell, Hank wasn’t sure he could believe it either, even though he was watching it right in front of him.
Mitch continued to pace, anxious, irritated. Obviously wanting out. It was like watching a wild animal in the zoo. A wolf that wasn’t meant to be caged.
“How the hell are they going to put this guy on trial?” Odie asked.
Hank sighed, grateful that such problems were above his pay grade. “That’s the DA’s conundrum. We’ve done our part.”
Odie looked at the clock and sighed. “I can’t believe the hospital said to give him this. Don’t seem right to me. But like you said, I’m no doctor either.”
“He won’t eat anything else,” Hank said.
Odie hopped off the desk and grabbed a package of raw ground meat, still wrapped in cellophane. He tore away the plastic, then dumped the warm, gray meat onto a tray, using a fork to cut it into smaller chunks. The smell infiltrated Hank’s nose, offending his senses.
Odie got close to the cell and set the tray on the ground, then pushed it the rest of the way with his foot. It slid under the slot and Mitch rushed over to it, sinking his face into the food, eating greedily. The sounds of his wet tongue on the tray as he inhaled the food made Hank want to lose his own lunch.
Chapter 68
Carolina finished packing her things in the motel room. It had served its purpose and she hadn’t noticed any bedbug bites, but she wouldn’t miss it. At the same time, she wasn’t ready to go home either. Burying herself in a case helped her put off facing her own demons. And she had yet to meet any killer as terrifying as the thoughts inside her own head.
The hospital had diagnosed her with only a mild concussion and used fourteen sutures to close the wound by her ear. An eager hospitalist had offered to prescribe painkillers. She declined.
Leigh required more attention and minor surgery to close the wound on her calf. Carolina hoped to get out of town before Leigh came by, not having the energy to face the girl and offer up a meaningful farewell.
Those plans came to a halt when someone knocked at her door. Carolina sighed, already knowing she’d see Leigh when she looked through the peephole. She was a mosaic of bruises and cuts and scratches.
“They cleared you to leave?” Carolina asked as she opened the door, disbelieving.
Leigh smiled, then stopped suddenly, a hand going to her mouth as she winced in pain. “Sorry, still sore. They wanted to keep me for the day, but I told them I had better ways to spend my time. Maybe they saw what I did to Mitch because they didn’t fight me about it.”
Carolina smiled but couldn’t add anything.
“You’re leaving?” Leigh asked, more than a hint of disappointment in her voice.
Carolina nodded. “I’ve seen most of the sights in Hopkins and have had my fill of wilderness.”
“Good call,” Leigh said.
An awkward silence, their first awkward silence, lingered. Then Carolina said, “I’m so sorry.”
“For what? You’re the only one that figured everything out. If you hadn’t, I’d be kibble right about now,” Leigh said.
“I should have pieced it toge
ther quicker. Before he grabbed you,” Carolina said.
“You can’t blame yourself. You know better. Besides, I’m just glad that you took care of Jelly Jam,” Leigh said with a smirk.
It wasn’t just Carolina’s phone and gun that Gina Tarker had taken along on the drive to her husband’s cabin. She’d loaded the cat into the back of the van as well. One of the agents had found Jelly Jam while collecting evidence later that night. Despite Carolina’s fears, the cat was nowhere close to disemboweling herself. A dab of liquid stitches and everything was fine.
“That’s such a stupid fucking name for a cat,” Carolina said.
“I know. I know.”
Leigh shifted side to side on her feet and Carolina thought she should invite the deputy into the room and tell her to have a seat, but she couldn’t. Bringing her in would just drag this out longer and delay her escape.
“Thank you for everything, Carolina,” Leigh said. “You’re the first person to show me what I’m capable of when it comes to this job. And why I’m doing it.”
“You’re good police,” Carolina said. “Don’t let Hank get in the way of that. You have more potential than you realize.”
Leigh wrapped her arms around Carolina suddenly, catching her off guard. She put her own arms around the girl and squeezed.
That went on for a long moment and Carolina realized she hadn’t felt love like that in a long time. In the moment she felt a little like crying but refused to allow it.
“Alright, I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea here,” Carolina said, dropping her arms.
Leigh held on, looking into her eyes, into her soul. “I don’t know what baggage you’re struggling with, but I know it’s there. When you go home, I hope you can find peace with whatever it is. You deserve it.”
With that Leigh kissed her, but on the cheek. Then she ended the embrace and returned to a waiting rideshare, climbing inside. Carolina sent her off with a wave, then retreated back into the room, closing the door.
She pulled open the drawer in the nightstand. The little white oxy pills sat there. Waiting for her. They’d be there when she needed them. They were the friends she could always count on.
