I parked the jeep and said good-bye to him. I watched him walking toward the high school with his Walkman blaring. Mrs. Milton, the town’s busybody, was sitting outside her flower shop watching him closely, shaking her head in obvious disapproval. Justin gave her the finger and I put my head down and walked into the station. I’d have a talk with him when I got home about respecting his elders, even if they were a pain in the ass.
People around here didn’t trust Justin. About a year ago, some local pets came up missing. We eventually found them dead and mutilated out near the edge of my property. This didn’t prove much to me, since I owned over one hundred acres of woodland that surrounded my home. This, however, was proof positive that Justin was into the occult and a Devil worshipper in their eyes. It didn’t matter that Justin was a state away, visiting Karen’s parents when it happened. No, I still had to go down to town hall and talk them out of their witch-hunt. Beth had been a huge help in that matter, which had shocked the hell out of me. She had done some research and found that animal killings had been going on throughout the surrounding counties as well, and unless Justin was in the habit of stealing cars or flying planes, he couldn’t have possibly been in all those places at one time.
The station was quiet most of the morning. Most of my men looked like they needed some sleep and a shower. In truth, they probably did. I’d told Braun and a few of the other responding officers to take some personal days. I needed to put a call in to Dr. Singer to see if he could make some time to talk with my guys. They’d seen enough carnage to drive them insane, and it was my job to prevent that from happening.
I sat by my computer with a half-eaten turkey sandwich staring me in the face. I’d looked through every database I could get my hands on. I had a few leads, but none were serious. One dated back fifteen years. Bakersville, two towns over, had a body turn up with a similar MO The identity of the victim remained a mystery, they knew that it was a female in her early twenties, but that was it. No missing person’s reports had been filed and no clues had turned up. It sounded a bit strange to me so I put a call in to the sheriff over there to see if I could look over their records.
"Umm...Chief, there’s a man lookin’ for you. Say’s he’s with the FBI. Should I show him in, or...?"
I looked up to see Officer Finch standing in my doorway. The man was a buck o’ five soaking wet. I still don’t know how he ever made up his mind to enter law enforcement. He’d been with the department since before I came aboard and had always been a hard worker. Still, after ten years he seemed shy around me. The man acted as if I were liable to deck him at the drop of a hat.
"Sure, Finch. Thanks."
"No problem, Sir."
I waited as Finch showed a tall man into my office. The man wore dark gray slacks and a white dress shirt and tie. I suddenly felt underdressed in my tan slacks and navy polo shirt. I stood and extended my hand out to him.
"I’m Chief Adam Sisel. Make yourself comfortable." I motioned for him to have a seat. "Coffee?"
"Yes, please." He and I both looked up at Finch. He took the hint and went to fetch some fresh coffee. "I’m Agent Rudolph."
I nodded at him and pulled the case files from my upper desk drawer. "This is all I have, Agent Rudolph."
He leaned forward and put his hand out to open one of the files. "Rudy’s fine. Has Forensics gotten everything back to you on the first body?"
"Becca’s info is not all in yet." He gave me an odd look of surprise. "We don’t have that kind of technology and resources around here. I’ve had to have everything sent down to Perrysburg." He let out a small "hmm" and thumbed through the files.
He stopped on the crime scene photos. Finch came in with our coffee and Agent Rudy looked like he wasn’t in the mood for caffeine any longer. I’d have thought big-time federal agents were used to blood and gore. Guess I was wrong. I watched him loosen his collar, and bent down to finish the rest of my lunch. Agent Rudy took one look at me biting into my turkey sandwich and high tailed it out of my office in search of the men’s room.
I used my napkin to not only wipe the mustard from my lip, but to wipe the smile from my face. As much as I hated to be petty, this was my case. I tried not to stoop so low as to point that out, but I was considering it until I heard Finch talking to someone in the lobby. A woman’s voice rose above the bulletproof glass and sounded remarkably close.
"I know who did it. That there boy of his...he’s protectin’ him. I know he’s got the devil in him. Thinks cause he’s the Chief that no one will look in his boy’s direction, but I do."
Damn. I recognized Mrs. Milton’s voice and I knew the boy in question was Justin. She’d been point man in the attempt to get him put away for the animal mutilations. I headed out to see what she was rambling on about now.
The woman was in her early sixties and stood maybe five feet tall. Her hair looked bluish white, and her skin was a weathered light tan. From the outside, she looked like a sweet, innocent grandmother. On the inside, she was as mean as a rabid dog. She saw me coming and pointed at me.
"See, here he comes. He’s gonna try and smooth things over. In my day, we beat the bad out of the children. We didn’t sweep it under the rug and let ’em run around looking like the devil."
Finch looked at me as he tried in vain to hold little Mrs. Milton back. I nodded to him and he stepped out of her way. She came barreling at me with her tiny finger stuck out.
"I know what he is. I’ve got a cousin down in Rivers Edge, she told me about that boy’s momma. She was up to no good, too. They say that the devil came collectin’ her years ago too."
I felt like I’d been slapped. Mentioning Karen was more than I needed to hear today. I wondered who Mrs. Milton’s cousin was in Rivers Edge. I knew what people there thought about Karen. They’d thought that Karen’s parents had gotten a bad one when they adopted her. Karen was a wild child. We grew up in the days of spiked hair and punk music. Karen had symbolized every aspect of that. Her rebellion is what attracted me to her in the first place, and it was the main reason she’d abandoned her son and husband. She was a free bird and no one would change that.
"Good morning to you, too, Mrs. Milton. What can I help you with this fine day?" I asked.
She stopped and looked up at me. Her tiny brown eyes locked in, ready to strike. "That boy of yours, he’s the one who’s doin’ all this. He’s the one that called the Devil up from the ground. God can’t help the child now. He’s a bad seed, just like his momma...making them obscene hand gestures at me for no reason...that boy..."
I wanted to flip her off myself. "Now, Mrs. Milton, you came in here to accuse my son of being the one behind the...crimes." I couldn’t bring myself to say murders. Justin would never be capable of such heinous acts, and I was ready to throw Mrs. Milton out on her plump ass.
"That’s right. He’s the one you ought to be lookin’ at. The way he runs around here in all those chains and that black hair of his."
My hand ran through my hair instinctively. He’d gotten his black hair from me. That hardly made him the Antichrist. I took a step toward her. She backed away quickly.
"Don’t touch me! The Devil’s your boy. You’ll do anything to protect him," she cried out.
Finch reappeared. "Chief, line two is for you. It’s the school. They need you to come down. Something about Justin and his art class."
I gave him a nasty look. He could have at least waited until the religious fanatic was out of the station to mention Justin. Mrs. Milton had a look of great satisfaction on her face as Shelly, the dispatcher, led her into another room.
I turned to take the call and ran into Agent Rudy. He’d heard the whole thing. He had his game face on but it spoke volumes. He’d be watching Justin now. I didn’t bother to stop and try to explain. The damage was done. I headed out to grab the phone.
Chapter 3
Four hours later I sat across from Justin at the dinner table. He hadn’t said a word to me since I’d picked him up. He didn’t have to.
His sketchpad lay next to me, unopened. When his principal had shown me what was in it, I had to fight to keep my shock from showing. I opened the black cover reluctantly and watched Justin for a response. He gave none. He sat with his head downward, eating his spaghetti.
I looked at the image of the fur-covered monster coming out of the ground in front of a very naked woman. The naked woman wasn’t what bothered me, what bothered me was her incredible likeness to Becca Townsend. Justin had captured her features to a tee. He’d shown her lying on the ground, one hand welcoming the furred demon, while the other was planted between her legs as she readied herself, stroking her clit with a look of sheer joy on her face.
I turned the page, the next sketch showed the beast deep within the woman. Her head was tipped back, a look of pleasure graced her features. I looked at Justin. I’d never before wondered what went through his mind. Seeing this made me start to.
The third sketch was, by far, the worst. It showed the beast clawing away at the woman’s stomach, tearing her to shreds. This hit a little too close to home with Becca’s murder investigation and the school had thought it disturbing enough to call me. I was thankful that the principal was a friend of mine. He could have gone around me and the whole town would be on Mrs. Milton’s crusade to blame Justin for the crimes.
"Justin, I can understand that you have a lot of feelings, concerning the...crimes, but Justin, drawing these? What in God’s name possessed you to do that?" I had to fight to maintain an even tone. I was upset with him for feeding into the stereotype of him.
Justin looked at me, then the sketchpad, and shrugged his shoulders. I wanted to smack him off his chair. He had no idea how serious this was. People were scared and they were looking for a quick fix to the problem. They could sleep better at night if someone was locked away, it didn’t matter if that someone was guilty or not.
"You’ve lost friends. It’s hard, but..."
He stood up. The table rocked. I caught my glass of water before it tipped over.
"They weren’t my friends," he said, as he stormed out the front door.
It was getting dark and I didn’t need him roaming around alone. I went to grab my jacket and headed out the front door. I was shocked to see Beth Murray standing there looking out into my side yard.
"What can I help you with Beth?" I wasn’t in the mood to deal with an interview, but I was polite nonetheless. She looked over at me. She was dressed in a pink sweater and a pair of gray slacks. Her blond hair hung loose around her shoulders. She looked gorgeous.
"Is he alright?" she asked, again looking off into the side yard.
"Oh, Justin...er...yeah...I guess so."
She turned and came toward me. "That’s why I came out. I heard about Mrs. Milton’s little display at the station and I heard about Justin’s drawings."
Shit, Beth’s career was getting information out to the public. This was the last thing I wanted running in the paper. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. My blood pressure rose quickly.
"Adam, I didn’t come here for a story. I came for you."
I looked up at her. I didn’t know what to say to that. She gave me a weak smile and looked in the direction Justin had run off.
"I thought you could use some moral support, but it looks like you could use some help finding him."
I checked my watch. Sunset was in another hour. As far as we’d been able to determine, the murders had all taken place sometime around three a.m. Justin was a smart boy and would be back long before then. It was obvious that he was dealing with a lot and he needed some time. I’d give him an hour. Maybe two.
"You want some coffee?" I asked, silently hoping she’d say yes.
"No, but I’d love a beer."
Even better.
I laughed and opened the door for her. I smelled the vanilla scented shampoo she’d used as she walked past. I leaned into it, careful to avoid actually touching her. I knew that she didn’t have a clue how much I wanted to run my fingers through her hair, to touch her soft milky white skin, and to feel what it would be like to be buried deep within the recesses of her body. Her attitude toward me did seem to be improving, but I wasn’t sure that it’d last.
Chapter 4
After the initial awkwardness of having a woman in my house, I grew comfortable with Beth’s presence. We made small talk at first, then moved into more serious issues. She told me about Eric, the guy she’d been dating. He was an aspiring actor who was just here visiting. She’d met him in college and they’d been trying to have a long distance relationship for a few years. His unexpected arrival two weeks ago made her realize how they weren’t right for each other. I didn’t press the issue with her, but it sounded like Eric had been sent packing.
I was surprised to hear myself talking so openly about Karen to her. My estranged wife wasn’t exactly a topic I would have picked to talk about with her, but it felt right.
"Do you miss her?" she asked.
"No, I think that I’m happy she left. I just wish I knew that she was safe. Her own family hasn’t heard from her in fifteen years. Justin goes and stays with them for a few weeks every summer. They’re good people."
I glanced up at the clock. It was pushing ten. Justin still hadn’t returned home. I looked over at Beth. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol. "You want me to drive you home?"
She tried to stand up. "No," she said, as she swayed just a bit. She hadn’t had that much to drink so I was guessing that the stress of losing her cousin had weighed heavily on her. I stood and steadied her.
"Beth, I can’t let you drive yourself...now, I’m not saying that you’re drunk, it just wouldn’t be very responsible of me to send you out on the roads right now."
She turned into my body and pressed her head to my chest. "I don’t want to sleep alone tonight, Adam."
I found myself in the same ‘about to be mugged’ stance and looked down at her. "Beth...I...umm..." Her tiny fingers ran up and stopped on my lips. She held them there and gave me a stern look.
"Adam, don’t stand here and pretend like you don’t feel it too." Her voice was strong, yet low. "I tried to fight the way I feel about you, I did. Hell, I even tried to hate you. I’m no good at that, so I was left with ignoring you. It was my only defense, but when I saw you looking at me at the crime scene, I knew...or at least I thought I knew that you felt the same for me." She let out a tiny nervous laugh following her last statement.
I touched her shoulder and let my fingers brush through her long hair. "Beth, I..." I couldn’t find the words to tell her that I felt the same for her. My heart was in my throat and I had to swallow hard just to be able to breathe. I did what seemed natural. I bent my head down and kissed her. My gut was tied tight, fully expecting her to reject my advances. Instead, her tongue met mine and circled it with a fiery passion. My fingers laced through her long blond hair, and our bodies pulled closer together. Her tiny hands slid up and under my shirt. I sucked in at first, not expecting them to be as cold as they were.
"Sorry...nerves," she whispered to me.
I lifted her off the ground so that I could reach her mouth better. She was at least a foot shorter than me and I’d end up with a hell of a crick in my neck if I didn’t do something. I thought about laying her on the couch, but I didn’t want her to think I was moving too fast. She pulled back from me and was able to look me in the eye. I stared into the rich blue of her eyes and felt butterflies in my stomach.
"Adam..." It was all she said before her mouth flew against mine and she yanked hard at my hair. I went at her with equal force and found my hands under her sweater, cupping her bare breasts. I would have pulled away, but her hands moved lower, trying to unbuckle my pants. It was hard to pull away from her soft lips, but I did.
"Beth, we shouldn’t. I don’t want you to regret this in the morning. I..." I whispered. Her finger flew up to my lips.
"You talk too much Chief. How about you just shut-up and fuck me."
I didn’t need to be told twice.
I moved her tiny frame toward my room. I would have dropped and took her on the damn floor but with my luck Justin would walk in and find me banging the local reporter. I didn’t need that.
I pushed the door open with Beth’s help. She let out a tiny laugh as I tossed her gingerly onto my bed. I thought she was going to spring up and yell "just kidding," but she unbuttoned her pants instead. I dropped to my knees before her and helped her slide them off. Light blue silk panties were all that remained. I nuzzled my face close to them and Beth’s hands move to the sides of my face. I looked up into her face to find her eyes fixed on me.
"Adam..." My name fell from her lips so softly that at first I wasn’t even sure she’d uttered it.
I slid my fingers into the top of her panties and inched them down her body. I leaned forward and caught the sweet scent of her cunt, revealing her neatly trimmed blond curls in the process. My fingers moved separate from my brain and spread her legs apart before I could even think about it. Soft pink, plush folds stared back at me, welcoming me. I gave her one long lick, savoring the taste of her luscious cream before I moved my fingers over to pull back the layers of her beauty. She writhed under my touch. Every time my tongue ran over her swollen mound she let out a gasp and her inner thighs quivered. I drew her clit into my mouth gently and moved it around with my tongue varying between sucks and licks. She wriggled on the bed with such force that I had to slide my hands under her legs and cup her firm ass to hold her still. She pulled at the sides of my hair as she cried out my name.
Misfit in Middle America Page 2
