The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles)

by Jeremy Croston

  I literally wolfed (bad pun intended) down four hot dogs and the entire tray of tater tots. Elizabeth politely declined any food, saying she needed to stay on a liquid diet to keep her figure. I shrugged my shoulders and continued to eat away. After gorging myself and getting us two beers, I went over what I found.

  “I found a Bible tossed off to the side, belong to a Rev. Warren Tucker from Elephant Butte. Does the name mean anything to you?”

  “Sorry Vic, I have known many people in my life, but I can safely say I do not know a Pastor by that name.”

  I figured she wouldn’t, but it was worth a shot. Hopefully, once we met Rev. Tucker he could shed some light on the situation and give us a lead we could follow.

  “There were quite a few odd scents at the scene too. The two strongest were garlic and gasoline. I can’t make heads or tails of that odd combination. Does either of those make sense to you?”

  “Both actually make some sense. In human folklore, the smell of garlic is supposed to ward off vampires and, of course, burning us ends our lives.”

  Of course, the gasoline was going to be used to burn her. I should’ve picked up on that, but the garlic superstition was new to me. “I’m going to shoot it straight with you. I have two theories and neither is good. We either have a deranged human who discovered our little secret society or a vampire is hitting off their own and covering it up to make it look like a human.”

  “I too have been wondering if this is an inside job as they say. Some of the other territory leaders believe me to be paranoid, but you do not stay alive for so long by not watching your back.”

  “Is there anyone that would benefit from you biting the big one?”

  “Was that a pun, Vic?” She smiled wide enough to show off her fangs. Show off, bad puns were my thing.

  “I do believe it was.” I chuckled at my own vampire humor. “But in all seriousness, who would gain the most?”

  “The next in line to take over for me would, but seeing how it is my brother Jonathan, I doubt it is him.”

  Family is always a touchy subject, but here goes. “Just to cover all the bases in this investigation, why do you think he is innocent in this?”

  “He enjoys Europe too much. He spends three quarters of his time there and if he were to inherit the southwest, let us just say that it would go to hell rather quickly.”

  She seemed one hundred percent certain of that. “Fair enough, I just had to ask. That does bring an interesting point up. Could someone want you gone so he does take over?”

  That one caught her off guard a bit. She took her time before giving me an answer. “I never thought of it like that. If Jonathan was in charge, more freedoms would be had. I have a no tolerance policy on unprovoked attacks on humans. He would not be around nearly enough to enforce such measures.”

  Good enough reason in my mind for someone wanting to take her out. Privately, I was hoping it was one of hers up to this. Still I had a bad feeling nagging me that this was something worse. I changed the subject and we began talking baseball again. You never want to go to bed on sour notes, so after a spirited debate that took two hours about all-time greats (which, ironically enough for me, she had witnessed all of them playing while they were alive), we called it a night.

  I found my way to my bed, only after making sure she was comfortable in one of my spare bedrooms. I hoped the mayor’s assessment was right and no one would be stupid enough to take a crack at her while she was here. It didn’t matter though, between my state of the art alarm system and my senses I figured we were both safe enough tonight. Still, Roscoe sat on my dresser loaded and cocked.

  It was all for naught though, nothing happened during the night. I didn’t even know if she slept, but I woke up around six thirty feeling good. It didn’t hurt that the smell of eggs and bacon hit me like a ton of bricks and soon I was back at the table.

  “I assumed there would be no point in talking about our day before you had your intake of fried meats, so I took the liberty of cooking them up for you.”

  With as much dignity as one could muster with a mouthful of food, I muffled my thanks and kept going. Werewolves like to eat and we do it well. She sat there drinking her coffee with an amused look the entire time. When I was finished, it was time for business.

  “Will your people be here today then?”

  “Yes, but unlike me, they are not as energetic in the sun and will not be here until later this evening. It looks like it is just you and me today, sheriff. Can you appoint me as an honorary deputy or something?”

  “You got the something part right. Now grab your coffee and let’s go. I think we should take a drive and meet the good reverend himself.”

  “Hold on there, I cannot go out like this. Settle your horses, cowboy and give me ten minutes!” Elizabeth didn’t even give me a chance to respond and rushed out of the kitchen. I sighed and grabbed a cup of coffee myself. I must have dozed off because before I knew it she was back in all of her business attire splendor. Plus, she was as tall as me now, so I figured she was ready.

  “Now we can go. Hurry up Vic, time is wasting.” This was going to be painful.

  Out in the driveway, I sat my coffee on top of the car so I could unlock the doors. Nothing automatic about my car, she was all vintage. As I inserted the key to unlock the doors, the faint smell of smoke touched my nose.

  “Elizabeth, get down!”

  I dropped to the ground and I hoped she did too. A quick glance confirmed this as she curled up like a ball. A split second later, the sound of a high caliber rifle filled the air and my coffee cup exploded. I hopped back up with Roscoe cocked and ready. Tracing the sounds back to the origin, I saw a figure dressed in black about three hundred yards away on a side street.

  “Get in the car, quickly! I got a beat on this guy!”

  We both hopped in and the engine roared to life. I saw neighbors sticking their heads out the door from the sound of a gunshot, but I didn’t have time to quell any fears. Pushing the Mustang as fast as she’d go, we were off. Turning down the side street, I saw the shooter hop into a black SUV and it took off as well. I saw the outline of two men again. With the windows down, I could also pick up the scent and it was the same musky smell from the crime scene. If these boys wanted a good old fashion car chase, I was about to give it to them.

  Chapter 6

  I had Elizabeth call Billy and brief him on the situation as I was caught up in the moment. It had been a good long time since I was able to chase a fleeing suspect and I was enjoying it. The SUV had turned south on the old auxiliary road into town and I knew exactly where they were going. At the end of this road was the silver mine that still was in use. Little known fact about werewolves is that even though we have a silver allergy, we are pretty good at working with the metal. Some of the finest silver jewelry you’ve seen probably came from our town.

  “Just how far does this little dirt road go, Vic?”

  I looked over and my new partner was clinging for dear life to whatever she could get her hands on. “Come on, this is the fun part!” She didn’t seem to be having fun. “This road ends at the silver mine, maybe another two miles down the road. I plan to catch them before they get there.”

  In front of us was a good straight stretch that I could use to my advantage. With dirt and rocks flying all over the place, I was giving Elizabeth the real deal. All that was missing was some tumbleweed rolling across the desert.

  I pushed down on the accelerator and made my final push. We were getting close when the passenger stuck his head out the window and lowered his rifle at my car. I swerved out of the way at the last minute and the shot missed, but he succeeded in slowing us down. No matter, I knew where there were going.

  “On second thought, we are just going to tail them to the mine. We can get them inside and corner them.” I didn’t hear a response so I looked over. Her eyes were closed but she was nodding at me.

  We managed to make up some ground and got to the mine just as they were fl
eeing the SUV. The guy with the rifle fired in our direction again, but due to him trying to run at the same time, missed. I hopped out and got two shots off and clipped the driver in the leg. Not enough to put him down, but I slowed him up to a limp as they fled into the mine opening.

  Elizabeth, by this time, was walking up beside me. “Ugh, look at my shoes! Sheriff, I am charging your town for my dry cleaning and shoe polishing!”

  “If we catch this guy now, I will pay just about any bill you want. One of those asshats nearly took my head off this morning.”

  “Just how deep is this mine?”

  The old stories told us that it went almost to the center of the earth. Obviously that was a load of shit, but I figured it went on for quite a ways. “I’m sure it goes down pretty far. Did Billy say how long before back up will be here?”

  “William told me to tell you it would be twenty to thirty minutes before he and Detective Jacobs would arrive on scene. What should we do?”

  “I’m not the most patient of men. Let’s go give the visitors a proper welcome. Are you onboard with that, Ambassador?”

  Her smile scared me. For the first time since I met her, I saw her fangs in their full glory and they were blasted Bowie knives. Just as I was about to comment on it, I noticed that her eyes had turned red too. I figured it was time to keep the wit to a minimum.

  I reloaded Roscoe and put an extra handful of bullets in my pocket. Every bullet I own is silver. So it didn’t matter if these bozos were human, werewolf, or vampire; these bullets would hurt. I gave the signal and we made our want into the mine as well. I was about to curse myself for not grabbing a flashlight, when a light shined brightly behind me.

  “What in blue blazes is that?” Was she holding up her cell phone?

  “It is a flashlight app. Someone here has to be prepared.”

  Fair enough, so I nodded and we kept walking. Between the blood and the musky odor, this was almost too easy to track these guys. They were still moving quite quickly for one of them being injured, but the two of us were catching up. Within five minutes I could actually hear them breathing heavily.

  “They are right up there, maybe just a few hundred feet in front of us in the mine shaft.” I tried to whisper, but I also needed her to hear me.

  “What do you suggest we do?”

  “We should be cautious how many shots we take, or it might cause the mine to cave in on us. We need to try and get these guys talking. Maybe disarm them or if we are lucky they will slip and tell us what’s going on.”

  “I will follow your lead, Sheriff.”

  We kept walking and came to a large cavern, one of the earlier sites where they excavated the silver. I could smell both of them clearly now. They were hiding at the back of the cavern, behind an old mine cart on the makeshift track.

  “This is Sheriff Victor Inglewood of the Full Moon Police Department. You have nowhere to go, so I suggest you surrender without further violence.”

  “You shall not command us, daemon! Your kind has no place amongst the righteous!”

  Oh great, religious fanatics. “Listen up, at least one of you is injured and within five minutes, this entire mine will be surrounded. I am giving you one last chance to come out peacefully.”

  My answer was another rifle shot. Again, I was able to see the shooter pop out and grabbed cover before the shot ever got off, but I took that as his answer.

  “They do not seem to want to cooperate, Vic. What is plan B?”

  I never liked to use lethal force, but unfortunately this situation didn’t lend me much choice. “It’s not ideal, but I think we might need to use lethal force. Let us hope the autopsies can give us some information, because they aren’t.”

  Elizabeth nodded and once again her eyes went red and her fangs came into full view. I cocked Roscoe and it was time to make a move. With my gun, I pointed it at her to go to the left and I would go to the right. If I could get these two to focus on me, maybe she could incapacitate them.

  I carefully walked down the cave wall, closer to where these guys were holed up. I only caught glimpses of shadows, but I had a feeling Elizabeth was much closer than I. To give her a better chance, I took a shot at their direction. The shot ricocheted off the cart they were clutching behind and they scurried to get a better position to shoot at me. Taking the cue, I got behind a small mass of rocks and prepared myself for a shootout.

  The first rifle shot went high and I thought it was a mistake until I heard rocks falling from the ceiling. I dove out of the way but they were able to get another shot off with a smaller pistol and clipped me in the shoulder. It didn’t get too deep but it sure did sting. I fired another shot while the guy was reloading and hit him in the arm. He went down and the rifle man was about to return fire when my vampire friend made her move.

  It was over quickly. The shooter with the pistol tried to fire once more but a short quick scream told me his life was now over. The second goon with the rifle tried to make a run for it, but I put another bullet in his leg. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and I walked over to him.

  “It’s over, so drop the rifle.”

  He dropped the rifle alright and opened up his vest. This dude was strapped down with so much TNT; he could put a hole in heaven. “You are right daemon, it is over!”

  I didn’t have time to think. I put two in him before he had time to activate the bomb. I was upset that it had come to this, but I took some relief in the fact that this guy was planning on dying anyway.

  “Are you okay, Vic?”

  “Yeah, I’m just disappointed that we couldn’t get either guy out of here alive.” I looked down one last time and there was a smile on his face. The air was filled with the musky scent too. This was the guy that attacked her the other night.

  “So we killed The Cactus Killer, as your mayor dubbed him?”

  Could it really have been that easy? “We killed someone alright. I’m just not ready to call this the serial killer.”

  “Did you notice these two were human?”

  I did. Their reflexes during the brief shootout told me as much. They were able to clip me, but once they were out in the open, they never stood a chance. “Well, let’s get out here and get the medical examiner down here to collect the bodies.”

  We were about halfway back up the mine tunnel when Billy came flying around the corner. “Sheriff, Ambassador are you two okay?”

  “Yeah we are fine Billy, though I can’t say much about the guys that took a shot at us this morning. Their bodies are back a little ways in one of the mining caverns.”

  This didn’t calm him down at all. “Thank God, you are! I need you both to come with me right now!”

  I looked at him for a second. “Billy, calm down man. Just what the hell has you all riled up?”

  “You remember the Alvarez case?” I nodded for him to continue. “They just found his body about thirty minutes from here. He was shot up with silver bullets and a cactus branch was stuck to his face.”

  Chapter 7

  I made a call into town and told Chaz the situation. He said he would get Dr. Higgins and the two of them would go collect the bodies from the mine. The regular medical examiner, Dr. Donna Tello was already at the Alvarez murder scene. That is where Elizabeth and I were also heading.

  “It was a distraction, the two humans! Whoever this guy is knows what he is doing. He sent amateurs up here to stir up the hornet’s nest while he was still out there!” I was hot; someone played me good.

  “This certainly is not good. We have a confirmed dead werewolf on our hands. Whoever this is, they are expanding their modus operandi.”

  Even though she was slinging out big words, she was right. Knowledge of Full Moon wasn’t so much a give-away but now the dead werewolf? Yeah, this guy knows what he is targeting.

  As we were pulling up to the crime scene, I saw Detective Jacobs and Dr. Tello already doing a preliminary report on the body. I got out of the car and walked over to have a look. Hector Alvarez, at fi
rst glance was shot four times in and around the heart and twice more in the head. You could also see the impression that the cactus had left on his face.

  “Anything that we can use right away, doctor?”

  Dr. Tello was the best in her field in my opinion. She was middle-aged or so but she still looked good for her age. I knew Chaz held a candle for her and whenever given the chance, I would give him grief about it.

  “Sheriff, maybe; look here at his face. If the cactus was placed post mortem, there would not be this level of trauma. I think the killer placed it here first and then shot him.”

  I doubted a wolf the size of Alvarez would let someone do this without a struggle unless, “Do you think he was drugged?”

  “Yes, yes I do. Once I get the body back to the hospital and can run the tests, I will know for sure. In this instance though, that would make the most sense.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Tello. I will be most interested in reading the report.” I then turned over to Talia. “Jacobs, notice anything off when you got here?”

  “Yes sir, the victim was kneeling when I got here. It almost looked like he was praying. I thought he was still alive until I got over here.”

  “How did you even know where to look? We are in the middle of nowhere out here.”

  “A call came in on the tip line, not even five minutes after you called Deputy Westchester about the shooting at your house. A male on the other end said he saw a Silver wolf out in the desert acting weird. Based on the physical description, I figured it might be Alvarez.”

  Anonymous call my left leg. I would wager my salary it was the killer messing with us. “Is the tip line call on record?”

  “Yes it is. I will email you the audio right away.”

  “Good work Jacobs; can you and Billy escort Dr. Tello back to the hospital? I want to take no chances that we lose Alvarez’s body.”

  With Dr. Tello taken care of, Elizabeth and I could look over the scene undisturbed.

  “What are we looking for, Vic?”