Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins

by Allen Gates

  Almost immediately a group of people came out laughing and one or more appeared to be intoxicated. He watched them exchange final goodbyes amidst singing and laughter as they headed for their individual cars. Three were in one vehicle. A man and woman got into another. The remaining two women lingered behind, talking and laughing loudly. His hunger peaked as he watched them hug goodbye and could hear their plans to meet again the next night. The blond was working her way to the car next to him looking through her purse for her keys. Keeping his urges in check, he lowered the window. She pushed the door opener and as she opened the door, she looked across the car top and saw him smiling at her.

  “Hey,” she said. “Waiting for someone to drive you home?”

  He laughed. “No, actually I just arrived. I had to work a little later than usual. Would you let me buy you a drink?”

  “No, I have had too many already.”

  “How about just rolling down your window and talking to me for a while. It has been a long day and I feel like talking to someone.”

  “Look, you look like a nice guy, move over here to my car and we can talk for a short time.”

  Perfect, he thought and opened her passenger door and slid in beside her.

  “I’m Rob.”

  Holding his hand out to her she took it in hers and said, “I’m Sherry.”

  “It is a pleasure to meet you Sherry, and I thank you for taking pity on a wayfaring stranger. I don’t think I could sleep tonight. I lost my best friend today.” But before she could respond he clarified the statement. “My best friend was my dog.”

  “Oh, I love dogs! I understand your being distraught over your loss.”

  “Thank you, Sherry! What about you? Tell me some things about your life. Are you married?”

  “I have been divorced for two years now. I date once in a while or hang out with friends, like tonight.”

  “Do you have children?” he inquired.

  “No, I wanted them, but I am glad we didn’t have them.”

  “What’s your story?”

  “I’ve never been married and I pretty much avoided the dating scene. Once in a while people insist on fixing me up with friends or even worse a family member.”

  That brought an understanding laugh from her and he liked her laugh. He could feel her getting comfortable with him. Now she was getting closer to the right spot.

  “Say Rob, as long as we are sitting and talking why don’t we go have a burger? There’s a drive up place just down the road.”

  “I would like that lots, Sherry and I’ll even treat. If it’s okay with you we‘ll drive my car and come back for your car later?”

  Sherry quickly agreed and as they moved over to his car. He followed her, opened the passenger side door for her, and with a friendly smile told her to buckle up. They drove slowly out of the bar parking lot and onto the highway, as Sherry gave directions.

  Sherry thought to herself, He’s nice, polite, and attractive. What more can a girl ask for?

  34

  FUNERAL SERVICES FOR Marie Radford were held in Santa Barbra’s largest church. An overflowing crowd of friends, family, and many people from the senator’s district were there to show their respect. The attendee’s included the governor and several state dignitaries.

  Stephanie was among the crowd and was amazed at the outpouring of emotion from such a large gathering of people. Most, she surmised, had never met or even seen the deceased but were merely showing respect to their state senator. The service was made available to the outside crowd over large screen and loud speakers. She listened as several friends gave brief accounts on Marie’s life and the way she had touched their lives.

  There was a pause in the service as Senator Radford stood and walked to the dais to give the final eulogy. It was extremely warm and filled with loving praise for his dead wife. Stephany felt his deep love for his wife, but he managed to maintain his composure. As if in concert with her thoughts, she heard a man standing in front of her ask his wife, “How can he remain so calm?”

  At the conclusion of the service, Stephanie felt sad for the senator and waited at the bottom of the steps hoping for a glimpse of him. Perhaps he would notice her. She decided to leave, due to the large crowd pushing against her making it difficult to maintain her location. She stepped up on the next step turned to chart a way out and could not believe the number of cars lined up for the procession to the gravesite. A murmuring in the crowd caused her to turn back to the front. William was exiting and leading what appeared to be an elderly lady in a black dress with a veil covering her face.

  Her heart jumped, as he looked right at her and smiled. Her expression of sympathy brought his nod of recognition and appreciation for her being there. When they passed she continued to watch them until they were near the limo, then she began to walk to her car.

  She was sure that he had felt her sincere concern for his loss, but she felt that it would be too much for her to attend the very personal graveside ceremony.

  What if he looks for me? she thought. Get with it girl. Why would he search for you in a crowd like this? Still, he might she reasoned.”

  Several minutes later her little sports car was in the very long procession moving slowly to the grave site.

  35

  LON AND ANNE made their way to the front of the large graveside gathering by Lon periodically flashing his gold badge and strategically stood directly across from the family sitting under the graveside canopy. He had insisted that they leave the church service immediately after the senator’s remarks to secure an early arrival parking location that would give them a direct view of the immediate family as they arrived. Lon’s intent was to concentrate on the demeanor of the senator at the grave site and compare it to a truly caring and grieving husband.

  He looked over at Anne, and questioned why she was so caught up in the emotion of the event. He wanted to say, “Anne, get a grip.” But he thought it best to let it be. Looking back in the direction of the casket, he found himself looking directly into the eyes of Senator Radford. It caught him by surprise, so he nodded and received a nod in return, but caught a questioning look of, why are you two here?

  There was little or no change in the senator’s facial expression during the service and after laying a rose on the casket he returned to his chair and waited for the crowd to disperse.

  Against the disapproval of Anne, Lon insisted that they take their time leaving and coordinate their walk for a chance meeting with the senator.

  “Come on Lon, can’t you soften that hard heart of yours and show a little compassion? Put your suspicions aside for the moment and remember that the man’s wife was recently murdered.”

  “Oh yes, I remember, but it seems he has forgotten. You were there to witness him in the church service. How many men could stand up there and eulogize their beloved wife and get through it without a single emotional pause? I know that has to concern you a little bit too.”

  “He’s a high ranking political celebrity and he’s required to maintain a certain dignity.”

  “Dignity is one thing. A complete lack of emotion is another.”

  “Lon, you’re totally hung up on proving the guilt of this guy and I don’t understand why. So far we have nothing to connect him to her death.”

  “It’s an internal thing with me and that gut feeling is seldom wrong. Let’s get back to the station.”

  As they turned to leave they heard, “Thank you for coming detectives. How’s the investigation going?”

  They were both caught off guard at the voice turned and looked into the face of Senator Radford who smiled at them and asked another pointed question.

  “Any new leads, yet?”

  “No, nothing new, Senator, but we are confident that we’ll get our man. He’ll make a mistake, they always do. And when he does we’ll be there to put him away forever.”

  “That is reassuring. This sick man has to be stopped. Well, I have people waiting. Let me know if I can be of any further assis
tance.”

  “We’ll do that, Senator. Once again, we’re sorry for your loss.”

  “One more thing detectives, there is a wake at my home and I would welcome you both to attend.”

  “Thanks, Senator, but we have a killer to catch and a stack of new clues waiting for us, so we had better get back to work.” Walking slowly, Lon broke their silence by saying;

  “If he is guilty that will make him think about what we might know. Now we need to review every question and the answers given at the motel session again. Then we’ll revisit the demeanor of the senator. There is something in one of them that we may have missed or just ignored. Let’s start with the motel crew and their answers. I’ll drive partner, I need to think and I would have trouble doing that with your compulsion for lane changing and heavy foot.”

  “That is out and out harassment, and I think it is time to put it to rest once and for all. The next time I hear anything about my driving, I will have no other choice but to put you down both verbally and physically.”

  “Sounds great Anne, especially the physical part.”

  They laughed. Followed by silence as there was little more to say during the remaining run to the station.

  At the grave site Stephanie was planning to remain out of the senator’s vision, but after watching him move among the guests she changed her mind and instead decided to make him aware of her presence without appearing overly anxious. She could sense the unpleasantness he was feeling by the painful expression on his face as he approached a man and woman who appeared to be sympathetic toward his grief. His demeanor suggested it was a greeting of necessity rather than one of mutual friendship and then he turned and as he walked away he seemed troubled.

  Hoping to catch his eye, she slowly walked in his direction trying to time her movement just right as he was walking back toward the main group of guests. Several people stepped in between her line of vision and she slowed her pace even more until just the right time and started her walk past him.

  “Hello, Stephanie. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your being here. I know the trouble you must have had to go through.”

  He asked her to remain while he thanked a group of friends for coming and then turned back to her and invited her to his home for a luncheon for a selected few guests. She agreed and with his very easy to follow directions she thanked him and left.

  “What business do you have going to a funeral luncheon for invited friends only? What is wrong with you? You’re nothing but a party crasher,” she said to herself.

  As she reached her car, she determined right or wrong, she was going.

  36

  THE DINER SHERRY referred to turned out to be a little drive in with only in-car ordering just a few miles away in the direction of town. He was relieved to see the small amount of cars parked. There were only three to be exact and he pulled into one of the more obscure ordering posts away from any of the other cars. Sherry learned over him to make her selection from the posted menu board on the driver side. He felt uneasy, but stayed calm avoiding his urges.

  “I’ll have a burger and fries and a vanilla shake, she said. When a man offers to treat, I like to take advantage of the situation.”

  He smiled, but did not appreciate the comment, and lost a little of the warmness he felt for her. Nevertheless, he pushed the button and placed the order. He turned to look deep into her eyes and deeper into her soul and then asked her a very personal question.

  “Did you ever cheat on your husband, Sherry?”

  “Wow, Rob, you get right to the heart of the matter. Why don’t we start with you? Did you ever cheat on your wife?”

  Her question brought an immediate rush of anger, but before he could vent his feelings and remind her he never married, he heard a loud voice calling “Sherry.” He recognized the couple from the group back at the bar walking toward the car and watched her lean her head into the window and the two of them exchanged quick witty remarks, before Sherry could make introductions.

  Blackness clouded his mind and he missed all that was being said knowing that all was lost. He knew that he was confronted with another failure. That was all he could think about. He gathered his thoughts together and greeted them politely trying to remain shielded from direct view.

  He caught the gesture of approval by the lady to Sherry. His thoughts remained saddened by another night wasted, and the hunger was growing. He convinced himself that it was probably best it was delayed for a night as his morning would begin very early to complete what was to be a very busy day.

  “Well, we had better hit the road and leave these two alone, the man said.”

  “It was nice to meet you Rob the woman called back as she retreated. Maybe we’ll see you at our next gathering at the Roadside.”

  He merely shook his head and smiled.

  “Good night, Sherry,” she said with a big smile and a thumbs up followed as she walked away with her companion.

  A waitress came to the car with the ordered items. He ate in silence listening to Sherry go on and on how wonderful her friends were. He smiled at her and periodically nodded, but his mind was far away thinking, you’ll never know little lady how lucky you are that your friends were here.

  “We’d better get you back to your car, Sherry. Like I said, I have a big day tomorrow.”

  The trip back to the bar where he had picked her up took no time at all and the urge did not appear. He drove to the rear and parked next to her car turned slightly toward her and told her he had enjoyed her company. Sherry grabbed the door handle, but suddenly turned and kissed him, catching him off guard. He responded, returning her kiss with a very warm embrace.

  “Thank you for a pleasant evening, Sherry.”

  With a disappointed look on her face, she opened the door and stepped out.

  “Will I see you again?”

  “I am sure you will,” he responded and watched her enter her car, then waved as she drove off.

  “You have more of a chance of that now than you did an hour ago,” he said as he followed her car out of the lot.

  37

  ANNE OPENED THE Radford file and was speed reading though several interesting documents when Lon returned from his meeting with the mayor and the chief. She could read in his face he had been subjected to some heavy criticism, which she knew early on in their partnership he did not take very well.

  “I‘m ready now Anne; I brought the big shots up to date on everything we know and it calmed things down a little bit, but they want some big time results soon.”

  He sat across from Anne and grabbed one of the interview sheets. “Let’s start by discussing the clerk at the motel and the description he gave on the man in room 12.” He glanced up at Anne who had not responded to his remarks.

  “Hey wait a minute, partner, where’s your, ‘I’m in lust look’? You’re looking good these days, but your face has lost that sexy glow brought on by late night activities, if you get my drift.”

  Anne ignored the comment and continued reading through the notes taken from the motel clerk.

  “The young man was pretty explicit on his description of the man. He described him as having blond hair wearing dark rimmed glasses and slightly over-weight, about six feet tall. Oh yes, he was Caucasian. You then asked the clerk to describe him with one word which I thought was very clever on your part and he responded with ‘strange’.”

  “Read me the reasons he felt he was strange.”

  “He was emphatic about his hair not seeming right, and he was also troubled by the guy’s glasses. Horn rims, he called them; black horn rimmed glasses. He described him as taking them off to sign the registration slip and accidently knocked them off the counter and didn’t seem to care one way or another. Here is a detail that I think is important.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We wrote down that the man parked near the office and seemed to create an attraction to his coming and goings to be sure he was seen every time he got in or out of the car. He would
actually wave to him each time. The clerk jokingly said, ‘Our clientele usually try to avoid any contact with the office.’ ”

  Lon sat listening shaking his head affirmatively as he pictured the young man describing the killer.

  “He appears a bit duplicitous wouldn’t you agree Anne?”

  “Is there anything more from this witness?”

  “No, that seems to be everything we have on his description of the man.”

  “Alright, now let’s go over each remark and break it down and see if we can make something meaningful out of it.”

  Lon started with, “He said his hair seemed odd.”

  Anne immediately said, “He must have been wearing a wig.”

  Lon did not hesitate in writing in capital letters WIG as a potential disguise under description of killer.

  “He obviously did not need his glasses. Another apparent part of his disguise it seems.”

  Anne was digesting the earlier comments on the man seeking attention and asked, “Why, would he insist on being seen? I bet it was because he was being duplicitous.”

  He laughed at her attempt to humiliate him and did not respond to her question, then posed: “Do you remember that little voice in my stomach, partner? It’s telling me that this is not our guy. This is a killer who wants us to think it’s the same guy. No murderer, with a successful avoidance of discovery record like our man, suddenly insists on calling attention to his movements. This guy wanted to be seen and described in detail.”

  “You could be wrong, or that little voice you so often refer to could be wrong. If it's not our main man, then our main guy could be fantasizing as we speak about his next victim.”

  38

  STEPHANIE ARRIVED AT the senator’s residence prior to the family limo still questioning why she had decided to accept his invitation. She could see several cars being directed where to park inside the gate, but she felt more at ease parking on the street in case she decided to leave in a hurry. She walked around the circle drive to the front entrance and was greeted by a servant who escorted her to the rear area of the house. Timidly she ventured in trying to avoid the crowd gathering around the pool.