by K. J. Dahlen
“No I didn’t,” Jesse said quietly. “All I did was play with her when you didn’t. I was glad that you had her.”
“What happened next?” Sebastian asked. He sensed that Tucker was getting too caught up in the drama unfolding to think about his hostage, Wyatt.
“Tucker got so mad at me that he killed the dog,” Jesse took over telling the story. “He called her over to him and she went willingly. Then he twisted her neck so hard, he broke it. Then he told me, ‘Now, play with that.’ “
Tucker took the storytelling back, “My mother came in just about that time. When she saw the dog, she asked what happened. I told her that Jesse killed Lady but she didn’t believe me. She never believed me. She turned to Jesse for the explanation. At first, Jesse wouldn’t tell her what happened. He wouldn’t say a word, but then his mother came in and asked what happened and he little whiner told them what I’d done. He betrayed me.”
“You just killed a dog in front of me! We were only six at the time but I knew why you did it. Did you think you were the only one to feel the pressure of being an only child in a family of twins?” Jesse asked. “I had those feeling too. The fact that we looked so much alike didn’t help. People were always mistaking us for twins, but that day I was glad we weren’t. I hated you for killing Lady and a part of me was glad when you got in trouble for it.”
Tucker looked at Jesse in a new light. “You told them that I killed Lady because I didn’t want her anymore. You told them that I told you that she was too much trouble.”
“I was mad at you and only six years old. I was a kid. What you did traumatized me. I had nightmares about what you did for the longest time,” Jesse defended himself.
“So was I, cousin.” Tucker reminded him. “You knew I really did love that dog. You, of all people knew how I felt about her.”
“How could you kill her just because I was playing with her?” Jesse asked. “She was so happy to see you. She came to you willingly.”
“That didn’t stop you from getting a dog a few years later. My Dad would never let me have another pet, but when you could, you got a dog,” Tucker reminded him.
Jesse nodded. “Yes I did, and as I recall I never once denied you access to him. I wanted to share him with you, whereas you never wanted me near Lady.”
“It wasn’t because of your feelings for me that you let me play with Rufus; it was your guilt about Lady,” Tucker admonished Jesse.
Jesse shook his head. “Only in your mind. You changed that day. I saw it but didn’t recognize the change for quite a few years. It was like you shut off part of your brain. You weren’t the same after that.” Jesse paused and had to ask, “Did you cause the accident that broke grandpa’s back and made your Mom lose her babies on purpose?”
Tucker frowned and then remembered the incident. “What do you think?”
Jesse shook his head. “I always thought it was an accident but now I’m not so sure.”
“There was a lot going on in my life at the time. Everyone was laughing at me and telling me how having new babies in the house would really suck. John was the worst but I got even with him that day in chemistry. I could feel the rage building inside me and then I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to hurt somebody, so I grabbed the rope and pulled as hard as I could.” That one incident had been the first steps toward what he had become.
“Now what?” Jesse asked. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Tucker was blaming him all this time for something he’d done himself. His cousin was more screwed up than he thought.
“I won’t let you take me in,” Tucker told them. “With my history, there isn’t a jury in the world that would let me go, and I won’t spend the rest of my life in prison.”
“You need help,” Jesse started to tell him.
Tucker laughed out loud. “You think I’m crazy? Is that what you’ve been telling yourself all these years?” He grabbed Wyatt’s shirt and pulled him closer. Lifting him up off the ground, Tucker whispered loudly in his ear, “Is that what you think boy? That I’m crazy? Huh? Am I a crazy man?”
Wyatt shook his head. His eyes were round with fear and his feet were looking for something solid to rest on. Sweat beaded his forehead and Sebastian grew alarmed. “No sir.” Wyatt whispered.
“Please don’t hurt him. He’s just a kid,” Sebastian begged, as tension was mounting in the hay loft. Tucker was holding all the cards. Sebastian and Jesse knew it. Sebastian could tell from the look in his eyes that Tucker wouldn’t hesitate to kill his son.
“Why did you carve a headstone in their backs?” Jesse asked. His question was a diversion to cut through the tension.
Tucker looked away from Sebastian to answer his cousin’s question. “I knew that was the one thing you and only you would know about. How long did it take you to figure out what the design meant?”
“I figured out what the design was on your third victim, Sarah Gold,” Jesse told him.
Tucker nodded. He remembered Sarah. He remembered them all. “You know what you have to do to stop me, don’t you?”
Jesse shook his head. “I won’t kill you.”
Tucker smiled as he looked at Sebastian. “How about you Dad? Are you going to kill me or let me walk away with your kid again?”
Sebastian looked at his gun and looked back at Tucker.
Tucker could see the want on Sebastian’s face. “If you don’t, I’ll use this boy as a shield to get away from you and I will kill again.”
Tucker paused in his tirade.
Sebastian and Jesse watched as he became the monster they vowed to stop.
“It bothered me at first, killing them I mean. Whenever I felt empty inside, I would go on the hunt. I remember the lesson our fathers taught us about stalking our prey and that’s what I did. I would stalk my prey, only this prey was the human kind. I would pick someone I felt had nothing left to lose and after I watched her for a day or two, I would just slit her throat. Then something happened. Around the fourth or fifth homeless person I killed, I started to enjoy the whole process. It all became something I craved, like a junkie craves a hit of heroin. I needed to feel the excitement of looking for my next victim. As a challenge, I stepped up my choice of the type of person I wanted next. It gave me something to look forward to. I would find just the right one and even then, I watched them go about their lives like they had nothing waiting for them. The waiting for me was the best part because I grew to appreciate what I was waiting for. I waited until the rage inside me was so strong I needed to feel the release only her death could bring. I loved to hear them scream as I carved their own headstone into their skin. I can still hear them scream when I think about the way they all died. That’s why I carved the headstone into their skin while they were still alive. Hell, maybe I am crazy after all.”
Sebastian shook his head. “How many victims didn’t we find?”
Tucker just smiled. “Well now, that would all depend on when you started looking wouldn’t it?”
From out of nowhere came a gunshot.
Jesse stared at his cousin. He had an odd look on his face.
Sebastian turned around with his gun drawn.
At the top of the loft, steps stood Ethan Cooper. The gun in his hand was pointed at where his oldest son stood.
Chapter Thirteen
Sebastian and Jesse turned to see Tucker crumple to the ground. He had let Wyatt go and had fallen on top of the boy.
Sebastian scrambled over to them. He pushed Tucker’s body off his son and pulled Wyatt into his arms. Wyatt was crying and Sebastian grabbed the knife from Tucker’s dead hand. He used it to cut through the tape that bound Wyatt’s hands.
Wyatt threw his arms around his dad’s neck and Sebastian’s arms went around his son’s body. Lifting him away from Tucker, he carried the boy over to where Ethan was helping to free Jesse and Kelly.
Ethan stared at his son and shook his head. Tears were running down his weathered cheeks as he stared at the man who was his son. “I had to put
an end to this madness. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. That monster wasn’t the son I raised. I loved him once, I guess a part of me still does, but I couldn’t let him go free. I couldn’t let you allow him to escape with the boy. God knows, he would have murdered that boy just like he did with all the others.”
Jesse reached out to his uncle. “I’m sorry, Uncle Ethan. I don’t think he wanted to escape this time. He chose the place and he knew in his heart that he wasn’t going to get out of here alive.” He pulled his girl Kelly close to him and looked thankful she was still alive.
Ethan looked at Jesse. “Did he really mean all those awful things he said? About how he enjoyed killing all those people?”
Jesse nodded as he glanced over at his cousin’s body. “I don’t know. I can’t imagine anyone enjoying something like that.”
Ethan shook his head. “I always knew there was something wrong with Tucker but I never imagined anything like this.”
Ethan and Jesse paused to gaze at Tucker one last time.
Tucker lay sprawled out on the hay. His life was ended, as was his need for killing. The world wouldn’t miss him, but Jesse knew he would. He would miss the man Tucker could have been, not the man he let himself become.
They all joined the rest of Ethan’s family outside the barn. Joyce and the boys were glad to see Jesse and the others but Joyce was looking for the one person that was missing. She looked at her husband and when he shook his head, she turned away and began crying. She knew that her oldest son was dead.
Sebastian felt relief for the first time in weeks. He had his son back and the killer was dead. He reached for his phone and dialed 911. He spoke to the operator and asked that the nearest police department be dispatched to the farm. Then he looked at his son.
Wyatt peered up at his dad and smiled.
Sebastian picked him up and held him close. The worry he’d felt for so long just melted away as his son’s arms reached around his neck. He felt almost whole again and he knew he never wanted to be apart from his son again.
Jesse watched the reunion and smiled. “Uh, Sebastian, what did you do with my parents?”
Sebastian tossed him the phone. “I called the local cop shop, they should be here any time now.”
Jesse grinned when he heard the first of the sirens wailing in the distance. His parents were on their way back and this mess was finally over. He looked down at Kelly and found her looking back. She smiled and his day just got a whole lot better. Jesse smiled back.
Joyce stood in Ethan’s arms, her tears were drying and when she saw Jesse join them, she didn’t know what to say. “I’m so sorry.”
Jesse shook his head. “Sorry for what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Joyce closed her eyes. “He was still my son. I heard some of what he said up there. I couldn’t believe it but I know it was true.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what he did. Tucker chose his own path in life. You had nothing to do with what he became any more than I did.”
They all turned their attention to the front of the yard as several police cars pulled into the driveway. With their lights flashing and sirens wailing, the noise was overwhelming for a few minutes. One by one the sirens died but the lights were left on as the police officers joined the small group.
One officer introduced himself as John Sanders.
Sebastian stepped forward to handle any questions. “I’m Detective Sebastian Sandstone from New Orleans.”
John Sanders held out his hand and as they shook, he said, “You’re kind of a long ways from home aren’t you Mr. Sandstone.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “We were trailing a serial killer and this is where he brought us.”
John Sanders looked around at the sheer number of people all sporting bruises and dried blood. “What happened here today?” he finally asked.
Sebastian didn’t like the other man’s attitude. He seemed more put out about being called out to the farm rather than interested in the events that had just taken place. “Tucker Briggs kidnapped his parents, my son, a woman from New Orleans and his own cousin then brought them here to kill them. I’ve been following him for a week after he kidnapped my son and murdered several other people including three police officers in Louisiana.”
John raised an eyebrow. “And where exactly is Tucker Briggs right now?”
Sebastian nodded toward the barn. “His body is up in the hay loft. You’ll find a bullet in his chest.”
John called out to one of the others cops standing in the yard. He told him to go check out the barn loft for a dead body. Turning back to Sebastian he asked, “Who shot him?”
Ethan took a step forward and said, “I did.”
John looked at Sebastian for a long minute and then turned to Ethan. “And you are?”
“I’m Tucker’s father. I shot him before he could hurt anyone else.” Ethan acknowledged.
“Sir, you are aware that you just admitted to murdering someone don’t you? And that as an officer of the law I could arrest you for that crime?” John asked Ethan.
Sebastian couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He considered what Ethan did as a service to everyone, not a crime.
Before he could comment, John was called to the barn door by the officer he’s sent in to find the body. They talked for a few minutes then John rejoined the group. He was looking at Sebastian when he asked, “What the hell is going on here?”
Sebastian frowned. “What are you talking about?”
John looked back at the barn. “There is no dead body in that hay loft. The barn is empty. I’ll ask you again, what the hell is going on here?”
Sebastian looked at Jesse and Jesse returned the look. Fear and dread filled them both. Sebastian turned to Ethan, “Keep Wyatt with you and stay here. Don’t leave or wander away from the lights.”
“What do you think you’re doing? I’m not through talking to you yet!” John stated as he tried to stop Sebastian. He reached out and grabbed Sebastian’s arm.
Sebastian jerked his arm of the grasp and turned around to head for the barn. He glared at the other man. He was about to give him a piece of his mind when Ethan interrupted him.
“What’s going on?” Ethan asked.
Sebastian glared at the other officer for a moment then he turned to look at the barn. Glancing back to Ethan, he informed him, “They can’t find Tucker’s body.”
“What?” Ethan called out shaken. He too, stared at the barn. “But I saw him fall after I shot him. He has to be there.”
Sebastian didn’t say anything. Ignoring John’s frown, he and Jesse headed for the barn. They slowly climbed the ladder to the loft. They both had their guns ready for anything but when they peeked over the top of the ladder they found the hayloft empty. Sebastian scrambled over the top of the ladder and walked over to where Tucker’s body had fallen. He pushed the hay around and couldn’t even find a blood stain.
Jesse was moving around the perimeter of the loft looking for any sign of disturbance. He didn’t find any. He rejoined Sebastian. “What do you think happened?”
Sebastian looked at the spot where he’d last seen Tucker. “I think your cousin is a very clever man.”
“What are you talking about?” Jesse asked.
Sebastian stared at Jesse. “He was counting on one of us shooting him. A cop shoots for the heart, nine times out of ten. Tucker was counting on that. He wasn’t expecting his own father to shoot him, but lucky for him, Ethan took a chest shot.”
“How was that lucky? It killed him didn’t it?” Jesse surmised.
Sebastian shook his head and squatted down to pick up a piece of link out of the hay. He held it up for Jesse to see. “Not if he was wearing a vest, it didn’t. He may be hurting like hell but he isn’t dead. He isn’t here is he?” Sebastian stated the obvious. “Tucker was wearing a vest. The bullet Ethan shot him with only stunned him. After we left, he just got up and walked away. Damn him anyway.”
“Now what do we do?
” Jesse was frustrated. “I’m fresh out of ideas as to where he’ll go next.”
Sebastian walked over to the double wide window at the end of the loft. Looking out at the scene below him, he thought for a moment. Turning back to Jesse he said, “He’s still here. He hasn’t had time enough to get too far away. We have to find him before he gets away.”
“Where do we look?” Jesse asked.
“First, we have to get everyone else out of here. I won’t put them in danger,” Sebastian said as his mind was busy formulating a plan.
Jesse nodded and headed for the ladder.
When they joined the others Jesse found his parents had joined the group.
Ethan looked at them and asked, “Well, what did you find?”
Sebastian looked at him and stated, “He’s alive and he’s out there somewhere, hiding.”
Ethan shook his head. “But I shot him. I saw him fall.” Tears of regret welled in his eyes. This whole affair had left him befuddled and bewildered.
“He was wearing a bullet proof vest. He waited until we were gone and then he just got up and walked away.” Sebastian told them. He looked at John Sanders. “I need you and your people to leave. Jesse and I will look for Tucker and try to bring him in, but I want all the unnecessary police and civilian personnel to get out of harms’ way.”
“Nobody is going anywhere until I get some answers,” John Sanders told them.
Sebastian gritted his teeth. Time was of the essence here and this stubborn fool was wasting it. “Tucker Briggs is a serial killer on the run. He’s responsible for several murders and he’s running for his very life right now. He’s somewhere on this farm and he needs to get away. He will kill anyone that tries to stop him and he doesn’t care who that person is. We thought we’d stopped him but we were wrong.”
