Kentucky Murders: A Small Town Murder Mystery

by Larry Parrott

  “Have no idea. What’s his name? I’ve had a lot of cellmates in 6 years.”

  “Lee Dunlap.”

  “Shit. Lee? Did you catch him?”

  “He’s dead.”

  “No shit. Who’d he kill?”

  “If you’re involved, you should know.”

  “No idea. By the way, how’s that bride of yours? Or has she dumped you by now?”

  “Tommy, if you had anything to do with this, we will find out sooner or later.”

  “I have no clue why my old friend Lee would be out there killing people. Wasn’t that why he was in here in the first place? Killed some fat ass he caught doing his wife. Guess once you kill it comes naturally to you.”

  Zack began to stand and Tommy reached out for him, using the slack in the handcuffs to grab his right wrist in a steal grip. The guard hurried toward them.

  “Say hi to Kate for me, and that boy of yours, too.” He released Zack’s arm.

  Zack motioned to the guard that he was okay and the officer stopped his advance.

  “You’d better hope you don’t see me again, Tommy.”

  “What’re you gonna do, put me in jail?”

  Zack turned and left. He heard Tommy laughing from behind him as he walked away and left the room.

  On the ride home he kept thinking about Tommy’s mention of his “boy.” He must be keeping tabs on Zack and Kate somehow. But who was feeding him the information?

  Tommy had gotten very few visitors over the years. The visitor’s log showed his mother had come to see him monthly until she died, according to one of the guards. His father had signed in several times a year, usually accompanying Tommy’s mother. He too had stopped visiting almost six months earlier. The guard remembered Tommy and his father just sitting across the table from one and other and barely speaking. The guard figured Tommy’s father couldn’t take seeing his son in prison. It happened with a lot with family members. At first they felt obligated to visit, but eventually, they couldn’t stand coming anymore. You could count Tommy’s other visitors on one hand. He had had no visitors in months.

  Now Zack’s only theory went back to his cellmate, Lee, who had gotten out recently and went on a killing spree. What other explanation could there be other than he was working for Tommy to get revenge on his former prosecutor? Then again, it all seemed too simple if that was the whole story. Well, Tommy wasn’t going to be any help. And now his friend Lee wouldn’t be telling any stories either. Could he have killed himself in that barn? But why burn down the barn? That didn’t make sense. Or was someone else out there? Instead of answering questions Zack just kept coming up with more.

  Chapter 25

  As he drove along the road searching for the girl he wondered if he’d guessed right by turning toward town. Or was she even out on the road? Maybe she was wandering through the woods, helplessly lost. That wouldn’t be so bad as long as no one found her in the next twenty-four hours. In fact, that might even be better. He wouldn’t have to deal with her while he completed his plan; but he knew he couldn’t take the chance that she would be found. He would lose his advantage and the bait he needed to draw out his most precious prey. This would only work if he had the girl, or at least they thought he did.

  Rounding the next curve answered his question. There she was. Only woods lined the road. He spotted no cars ahead or in his rearview mirror. He had to hurry before someone came along to witness him grabbing the girl for the second time.

  As he pulled up behind her, she turned at the sound of his car. A look of terror filled her face. She began running away, then turned and crossed the grass toward the woods.

  He put the car into park and bailed out, chasing after her. Her tiny strides were easily overtaken and he caught her before she reached the trees. Grabbing her at the waist from behind, he scooped her up and under his arm as she squirmed to break free.

  Back at the car he slid her onto the back seat and struggled to hold her with one arm while he felt around for the case with the syringe. A few minutes later she was out cold again. He debated on whether giving her another injection would kill her. After all, he didn’t really know how much of a dose to give her, since he had no medical training. Anyway, this would ensure she wouldn’t be bothering him for the next eight hours or so. He wasn’t really worried about giving her too much since he couldn’t give a shit what happened to her. She was just a pawn in his game. He’d come this far, and so many had died, that he knew this whole thing would probably not turn out well for him in the end. Even if he got away clean, the FBI would eventually figure this all out and come looking for him. But he didn’t really care about any of that anymore. His only chance of success was to keep going and see what happened.

  He turned the car around and headed back to the shack. He was hungry and thought about the food he had stashed in the cooler in the trunk. He wondered when the girl had eaten last, then dismissed the thought since that didn’t matter.

  ---

  Tina Simpson had been awake for an hour. She’d eaten breakfast and was sitting in her bed thinking. She’d told her guard to go eat something, too, and he’d left her alone. She wondered what the status was of the case. What about the girl? Tina hadn’t been updated recently. Looking around the room she saw a phone on a table. She couldn’t reach it from the bed so she lifted her legs and slid them to the side. She imagined how painful this would be on her bandaged leg without drugs suppressing the pain.

  Carefully she worked her way to the edge and slid off the bed. When her feet hit the floor. The pain killers worked to prevent her wounded leg from erupting with pain. She had gritted her teeth in anticipation but felt almost no pain. She limped to the small table, sitting in the chair next to it. Again, sitting and bending the leg had hurt slightly.

  She dialed the sheriff’s office. Zack would let her know what was going on.

  When a deputy answered, she asked for Sheriff Taylor.

  “He’s not back yet, Agent Simpson.”

  She hadn’t told him who she was but he’d remembered. He must be the young one who’d always been smiling at her.

  “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

  “Not sure. It takes more than an hour each way to and from the prison, plus whatever time he spends there. Since he left more than three hours ago, he could be back within the next hour or so, maybe a little longer, depends.”

  “Prison? Do you know why he was going there?”

  “He just said he was following a lead. Sorry.”

  “Thanks, tell him I called when he returns.” She hung up. Looking around the room, she didn’t see her personal belongings. Zack’s cellular number was programmed into her phone.

  She grabbed the metal pole IV stand that she’d rolled over from the bed with her, and used it to help herself get up.

  ---

  He pulled back down the road leading to the shack. He needed to set the trap before making his phone call. At least the girl wouldn’t give him any more trouble. She would be sleeping the rest of the day.

  ---

  Jenny turned the corner and didn’t find Daddy’s truck parked along the road as expected. She walked up to their place and removed her back pack, setting it on the grass next to the bushes. She took the doll from under her arm and looked at it. “We’ll just wait. Daddy will be here soon.” She sat on the grass holding her doll.

  Chapter 26

  Zack was thirty minutes from home when he received a call on his cell phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Listen to what I have to say and follow my instructions exactly.”

  “Who is this?”

  “Shut the hell up and listen if you want the girl back alive.”

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  “You come alone. Don’t call anyone, and don’t bring backup or she dies. You remember that shack where that retard Max lived…”

  Zack listened to the instructions for another minute before speaking. “What do you want, money?” After listening again, “I don
’t understand. You just want me to come out there and pick her up?” The phone went dead.

  Zack looked at his phone and it had saved the caller’s number. He wondered if it could be traced to a person and how this person had gotten his cellular phone number. Now he had to decide what to do. Should he follow the instructions and not contact anyone? Was this the same killer? Why was the truck left behind at the farm? This surely confirmed his suspicion that Tommy Ray had to be involved in this somehow. Why else would the kidnapper be using Max’s old place? The place where Tommy had …

  Zack shook his head. This was it. He was about to die. This couldn’t be real. It had to be another dream. He desperately wished that he would wake up and find himself in his room at the hotel.

  Tommy’s words shook him back from his thoughts. “Lay the first layer of grass over there, and then pile the rest here.”

  Zack started to dig. His hands shook as he held the shovel. This wasn’t happening, he told himself. He was digging his own grave.

  Zack snapped back to the present when he felt a front tire drop off the edge of the road, and he jerked the steering wheel to recover.

  He couldn’t just follow the instructions and face this crazy person. What did he want? If it wasn’t money it had to be something else. If Tommy was involved, and obviously he was since the kidnapper was using Max’s place, he could be there to murder Zack for revenge. He would be walking into a trap.

  What should he do?

  Then his phone rang again and he scooped it up.

  “Zack…ah…Sheriff Taylor, it’s Tina Simpson.”

  “Tina?”

  “Yeah, how’s it going? I wanted to check on the case.”

  Zack didn’t know what to say. Should he tell her? Would he be risking the girl’s life, Sharnita’s life? He hesitated before answering.

  “Ah, Agent Simpson. I, ah, I guess things are okay.”

  “Tell me about the case?”

  “Well, ah. Tina, actually I just got a call from the kidnapper and probably the killer of at least one of the original perps. He wants me to meet him at a small shack in the woods. It’s a place where I have a past history.” He felt better that he’d told her.

  Tina sat up. “So there is some connection between you and this killer?”

  “Well, there’s a connection between me, my wife and that shack in the woods. A friend of mine used to live there. He was murdered. The guy told me not to tell anyone and to come alone.”

  “Zack, they always say that. Where are you now?”

  “On the expressway about twenty minutes away from Michaeltown.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Zack, you have to let me help. You can’t just give into him. You could be killed.”

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “I’ll call you back within five minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  When Tina hung up her cell phone she turned to find a woman standing there in the doorway of her hospital room. She hadn’t noticed her and she had probably been listening to Tina’s conversation with Zack.

  “Agent Simpson? I’m Kate Taylor, Zack’s wife.”

  “Ah, Mrs. Taylor. This is a surprise. I didn’t expect… I didn’t hear you come in.” She had guessed correctly. Zack’s wife was beautiful.

  “I’m worried about Zack and this case you two have been working on. I saw what you did at my office and wanted to thank you for risking your life to stop those men. Are you okay?

  “It’s not as bad as it looked.”

  After a few seconds of awkward silence, Kate said, “Was that Zack on the phone? What’s going on?”

  Chapter 27

  He’d been sitting in the car in front of the shack for at least ten minutes, thinking, before finally making the phone call.

  Now that that was done, he dragged the unconscious girl out of the car. He thought about how things had not gone so well and had gotten sloppy. He hadn’t planned for the death of the two morons he’d hired to do the job. If they had only followed his instructions and then brought him the girl as planned, they would have been out of it by now and alive. They had caused the events leading to their own deaths. Too bad for them.

  At least he had the girl and he would soon fulfill his final objective. Even though he’d warned him, he knew Zack would call in the troops. Every cop and FBI agent in the county would converge on this shack in the next hour. He would bet that Taylor was too proud to ask for help, but in the end he would know it was the right thing to do. He would come to the shack alone, but his backup would be nearby. And that’s exactly what he wanted. This would be the last scene in his sick play and Taylor was in for a big surprise. The bastard would finally pay.

  He laid the girl on the floor inside the dilapidated building and found an old wooden chair that seemed to be intact lying on its side in a grassy corner of the room. Picking it up, dusting it off, he inspected it and it appeared to be usable. He laid his .45 caliber revolver down on the floor nearby. Bending over, he picked up the girl and sat her in the chair. He used the duct tape he’d gotten from the car to tape her arms and legs securely to the chair. The tape was really all for show. It wasn’t like she needed to be secured since she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. She was only the bait in his trap.

  ---

  Agent Simpson explained the call she’d just gotten from Zack to his wife. After all, she wouldn’t be able to hide it from her now after she had overheard the conversation. She might also be able to provide valuable information on this shack Zack had been talking about which would save time.

  “What shack was Zack talking about?”

  “It happened six years ago when Zack and I first met. My ex-boyfriend tried to kill Zack. It’s a long story, but Tommy went to prison. The shack is a few miles out of town near the factory. That’s where it all happened.”

  “Can you show me?”

  “Yeah, I think so…it’s been a while since I’ve been out there. But why?”

  “We’re going to catch this guy and make sure your husband doesn’t get killed.”

  Just then the other FBI agent returned from eating.

  “Jones, call the team leader. We’ve got a lead on the suspect. And have the nurse bring me my stuff right away. I need my gun, too. I’m coming along. Hurry!”

  Zack’s phone rang for the third time on his drive back to Michaeltown.

  He looked at the small screen before answering. “Agent Simpson?”

  “Yes, Sheriff. We’re mobilizing to the scene and will meet you there. Don’t worry; we’ll stay out of sight.”

  “But how do you know where…”

  “Your wife helped us out there. Where are you now?”

  “About five minutes from the exit. Then about ten more minutes to the location. My wife is there?”

  “Yes. She’s described the area, so we know what to expect. We’ll have snipers in the woods when you arrive. Just play it cool. They have orders to take down the suspect if you or the girl is threatened. My guys should be moving into position as we speak. Kate and I are on our way there. We’ll wait for you at the factory parking lot.”

  “Ah, okay. Can I speak to Kate?” Briefly, the line went silent.

  “Zack?”

  “Kate. Are you okay? Where’s Jimmy?”

  “I’m fine. Jimmy’s with my mom. Zack, I’m scared.”

  “Don’t worry, honey. It’ll be okay. I’ll see you soon.”

  ---

  Birds sang from somewhere in the nearby woods. All else was quiet. The girl slept silently, held captive on the wooden chair in the dingy shack. No car sat parked out front. The scene was calm, eerie.

  ---

  Zack exited the expressway and turned toward the box factory where he had once worked.

  ---

  Agents Simpson, Jones, and the Sheriff’s wife pulled into the factory parking lot and parked near the back corner of the building, out of sight.

  Chapter 28
>
  Jimmy sat on the couch in Grandma’s living room. The TV played one of his favorite cartoons but he had a hard time concentrating on the show.

  Where was his Mom and what had happened to Sharnita? He hadn’t seen her since… Then he remembered the men with guns. Now he remembered coming to Grandma’s. Mom was here before. Then she had told him to stay with Grandma because she “had something to do,” whatever that meant. He’d fallen asleep while watching TV.

  He decided to be good and stay with grandma. He could hear her in the kitchen. She was probably fixing him a snack. She made really good snacks.

  ---

  Zack turned into the factory parking lot and spotted the FBI car as he approached the far end of the factory. As he pulled up, Agent Simpson and Kate got out of the back seat.

  “Kate.”

  “Zack, I can’t believe we’re back here again.”

  “Yeah, kind of strange isn’t it? I’m not sure exactly what Tommy’s involvement is here, but he’s either pulling the strings or at least knows what’s going on.”

  “Sheriff, our people are in position. One agent was able to get a view inside the building with his rifle scope and reports that he sees the girl. She’s taped to a chair and appears to be unconscious. There is no movement or sign of the assailant. They can’t see any vehicles.”

  “He’s probably hiding inside.”

  Kate had her arm around Zack’s waist. “Isn’t this too dangerous, Zack? You could be killed.”

  “I don’t have much of a choice. Odds are that he had second thoughts about hurting a child, left the girl for us, and is long gone by now. Why else wouldn’t he ask for money or something?”

  “If you’re ready, you can go ahead now. Here’s your earpiece. You’ll be able to hear us but not talk back. Just draw him out and my snipers will take him down if he makes a move against you. Once he’s in the open, arrest him. We’ll deal with him if he resists.” Tina Simpson limped a few steps closer and Zack took the small earpiece from her.