A Murder State of Mind Boxed Set

by Jude Pittman

  * * *

  Back at the Hideaway Cam climbed into the cab of Old Blue and grinned. “Feels like old times,” he said, as Kelly pulled out of the driveway and headed back towards town.

  “You’ll probably be grinning out of the other side of your face if we do happen to track down that psychopath we’re after.”

  “Nah. You wouldn’t be looking so smug if you didn’t have some kind of plan in mind.”

  “Smart ass.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Remember that old fishing shack Bubba took us to out there where the Trinity dumps into Eagle Mountain Lake?”

  “Sure, but I haven’t been out there in a couple of years. Don’t even know if it’s still standing.”

  “Yeah. That’s one of the things we’re gambling on. The other is that I’m right about the doctor’s hideout.” Kelly let up on the gas and prepared to make a left turn off of Boat Club Road onto Peden.

  “You thinking the doctor might he holed up at Larry’s mother’s old place?”

  “I think it’s a possibility.”

  “But I heard the old lady gave that place over to some clinic where she left her cat.”

  “Exactly. What kind of clinic do you think a veterinarian is likely to have?”

  “Damn.” Cam slapped his hand to his forehead. “It never even occurred to me to put clinic and vet together and come up with your missing psychopath. Guess that’s why you’re the Sherlock and I’m just a Watson.”

  Kelly indulged in a good belly laugh, and then turned the conversation back to the project ahead of them.

  “First off I’ve got to get Old Blue hidden. The doctor knows me, and he knows my truck. So that’s no good.”

  “I guess that’s where I get to prove my usefulness.”

  “Only if you’re damn sure you want a part of this,” Kelly’s voice turned serious. “I can’t think of any reason why you should be in any danger if you do exactly what we discuss….”

  “I’ll be fine,” Cam interrupted, but Kelly put up his hand.

  “Wait, let me finish. This doctor’s a psychopath. He’s already killed a small boy and probably two of Gillian’s workers. We’re not going to take any chances on you becoming another victim.”

  “You worry too much.”

  Kelly shook his head and scowled. “And just who in the hell do you think is going to have to deal with that redhead if anything happened to you? I’d rather tangle with a dozen psychopaths than have that hotheaded bride of yours after my tail.”

  Cam shook with laughter. “Guess you got a point there. Okay, what’s the plan?”

  “From what I can remember that fishing shack is about a quarter mile from the old Preston place.”

  “Sounds about right,” Cam agreed. “There’s an old logging road comes off of Peden about a mile before you get to the cabin. It’s full of ruts and probably overgrown with branches, but if you don’t mind risking Old Blue’s fenders, we ought to be able to follow that far enough in to get the truck hidden. If that’s what you had in mind.”

  “Perfect. We’ll hide the truck and then hike on in the rest of the way. Never mind the dings, I won’t mind a few nicks if it’ll help us get that maniac out of circulation.”

  * * *

  A subdued Sam Taylor sat inside a small room with a table, two chairs and a one way mirror through which Gus and Miles Stanton, the homicide division supervisor, stood watching him sweat.

  “You figure him for the killings?” Stanton, a tall man with dark thinning hair was dressed in a medium brown suit. His role of cop supervisor and chief paper pusher fit him well.

  Gus shook his head. “Maybe the Preston killing. That one was probably unplanned. Preston either saw or overheard something he shouldn’t have and confronted Taylor. Maybe he threatened to tell Gillian. That would support Angelina’s story. She claims Preston intended to come clean when Gillian got back from holidays. I guess we’ll never know exactly what happened, but I’m going to try and get Taylor to admit he hit Preston over the head. The CSI’s found blood and hair on one of the shovels in the stables and we’re going on the assumption that’s the murder weapon.”

  “Sounds like you’re on the right track. What about the other boy?”

  “I’m betting on the doctor for that one. I’d say Toby was lured somewhere by the doctor, probably on the pretense that he had information about Preston’s death—everyone thinks they’re better equipped to solve a crime than the police. Once the doctor got Toby to the location, he hit him over the head—probably hoping Larry’s killer would be blamed—and dumped him in the lake.”

  “Sounds like the murder scene is somewhere around Eagle Mountain Lake.”

  “Most likely. Of course that covers a lot of territory. I’m hoping Taylor can give us a lead on the doctor’s whereabouts. He will if he wants to keep from swinging for the crime himself.”

  “I imagine if you explain to him the difference between doing time for second degree murder and ending up on death row for premeditated murder, he’ll be jumping all over himself to help you pin the tail on the doctor.”

  “No time like the present to find out,” Gus said, and leaving Miles to watch through the one way glass, he proceeded into the interrogation room.

  “So Sam,” Gus said, pulling out a chair, “you seem to have gotten yourself into quite a pickle.”

  Sam’s face flushed red to the roots of his bleached blond hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You know damn well that gang of bikers was going to skin me alive if I didn’t come with you. You ain’t got nothing to keep me here.”

  “You’ll want to drop that bullshit right fast. It’s all the same to me if I give you a break, or walk out of here and let the DA take over.”

  “What for? Nobody’s accused me of anything. I got rights.”

  “You sure do Sam. Didn’t the officers read you your rights before they brought you in here, and didn’t you agree that you understood those rights?’

  “Sure, but I already told you. I only did that to get away from them bikers.”

  “Well the bikers will be the least of your worries. Right now we have you on several counts of distributing child pornography. Plus we’re investigating your connection to human trafficking, and oh yes, I can’t forget murder. We have you down for two counts of murder, one of them premeditated. Guess the last one makes the others irrelevant since premeditated murder carriers the death penalty.”

  “Here now. I ain’t murdered nobody. You guys got the wrong man here.”

  Finish the sentence’s. “You listen to me you piece of shit slime bag. I don’t have time to mess around with you. You’re locked up tight on the child porn, so don’t even go there. We’ve opened the locker with your filthy bag of shit. Your prints are all over the contents and your pals at the White Elephant were only too happy to point to you as the mastermind behind this whole scheme. And, we’ve got your prints all over the handle of the shovel that killed Larry, so we’ve got you dead to rights on the first murder as well. The only thing we’re questioning now is the second murder. Did you lure Toby out to the murder scene? Cause if you did then it’s premeditated murder and the only question left is whether they’re going to fry you in the chair or stick you in the arm."

  “That’s crazy. I ain’t no mastermind of anything, and I didn’t kill Toby. That was the doctor. When I told him what happened with Larry and that Toby had gotten in touch with me, he said for me to forget about Toby and leave everything to him. I don’t know what happened after that, but I didn’t have nothing to do with Toby’s death.”

  “So you admit to killing Larry?”

  “Yes. No, wait, I admit to hitting him over the head with a shovel, but I wasn’t trying to kill him. I was trying to protect myself. That wasn’t no murder, that was self-defense. That asshole spied on me and got the combination to the locker. He didn’t have no business getting into that locker, but I know damn well he thought I had drugs in there. Stupid son-of-a-bitch w
as trying to rob me. Then when he found that envelope with those pictures inside, he went ballistic. Came at me like a mad man. There wasn’t anything I could do. He jumped me from behind, and started to beat the shit out of me. I grabbed the shovel and whacked him over the head and got the hell out of there. I didn’t know he was dead. I only whacked him with the shovel to save my own skin.”

  “So you hit him over the head and then left him there?”

  “Yeah. Look maybe it wasn’t very noble, but I didn’t know he was dead, and I didn’t want to stick around there and let him wake up and go after me again. He was a crazy man. Probably he’d have killed me if I hadn’t gotten the hell out of there.”

  “So you’re claiming the doctor killed Toby?”

  “I guess. Like I said, I told him what happened and that Toby wanted a meeting, and he said for me to forget about it and he’d take care of Toby. That’s all I know.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we can do something for you, and maybe not. It’ll depend on what the DA thinks of your story. About the only thing that might help swing him to your side is if I can tell him you helped us find the doctor.”

  “I don’t know where he is. What about his house? His clinic? You’ve got a better idea of where he might be than I have.”

  “If that’s the best you can do, it’s not likely the DA’s going to be too impressed.”

  “What about the murder charge? I’ve cooperated. I’m telling the truth. You need to tell them that.”

  “You haven’t given us anything to help us locate the doctor, so unless we get lucky, he’s likely on his way out of the state and the DA’s going to need to charge someone. You figure it out.” Gus started for the door, and Sam yelled for him to stop before he crossed the room.

  “I heard they found Toby’s body out at Eagle Mountain Lake. Is that right?”

  “Why, do you know something about that?”

  “I know the doctor’s got a place out there.”

  Gus walked back to the table and stood looking down at Sam. “Where?”

  “I don’t know where it is exactly, but it’s somewhere around where Indian Creek runs into Eagle Mountain Lake. I heard Larry talking about how his old lady had a house out there but she turned it over to the doctor’s clinic in exchange for lifetime care for her damn cat.”

  Gus turned and walked back to the door. “You sit tight. They’ll be along to process you in a while.”

  “That was slick,” the supervisor said when Gus joined him at the window.

  “Yeah. I’d say he’s telling the truth. Nasty piece of slime, but he hasn’t got the brains or the guts to mastermind anything. Probably happened just the way he says. We’ll book him on the child porn and leave him sweat for a few days. If I had my way I’d leak the details and throw him in with the general population.” Gus shook his head and held up his hand. “I know, don’t screw around or we’ll end up giving him a free pass.”

  “What about the doctor?”

  “We’ve got an APB out on him already. There’s a couple of detectives coming in from North Carolina this afternoon. If I’m not around would you mind giving them a run down and showing them everything we have on the doctor—which isn’t a hell of a lot, but hopefully by the time we’re done we’ll have plenty more.”

  “Be glad to. You going to check into this lake property?”

  “Kelly McWinter’s from out that way. He’ll know where the Preston’s property is located. I’ll get hold of him and we’ll take a run out there. Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch the doctor with his pants down.”

  “Keep me in the loop.”

  Before heading out Gus stopped by his desk in homicide to check messages and see if he could get Kelly on his cell. Cell phone use

  * * *

  Kelly and Cam had driven Old Blue as far as they dared along the road that led to the fishing camp, before tucking it away inside a grove of trees so thick you’d have to be looking in order to spot a truck.

  They carried on for another five hundred feet on foot and came out at a dilapidated shack. The windows had been boarded up long ago, but a board was missing in the front door and from the scat on the floor, it was clear the interior had been used by an assortment of raccoons, rats and rabbits.

  “Don’t look like any humans have been inside this place since we were kids,” Cam said, when Kelly pushed open the door and the two of them stepped inside.

  “At least it’s not likely the doctor has been down here. That’s good from our standpoint.”

  They stepped back outside and Kelly reached into the back of the truck and handed Cam his fishing pole and tackle box. “Let’s go over this one more time just to be sure we’ve got our signals straight.”

  Cam took the fishing pole and tackle box and balanced the pole on his shoulder. “I start walking toward the house, keeping up a pretty good pace, until I get within about fifty yards, and then I slow down, look around, and act a bit uncertain, like I’m not sure of my welcome.”

  “Yeah. That’s good. If a dog starts barking you better be prepared to hightail it into the trees.”

  “You think that’s likely?” A worried expression crossed Cam’s face and Kelly remembered that his friend had suffered a nasty mauling from a Doberman one night when he cut the dog’s master off in the bar.

  “It’s possible, but not likely. The doctor has to be planning to get out of the state before things get too hot for him here. He’s not going to want to be tied down with an animal that requires care and feeding.”

  “Okay, I hope you’re right.” Cam returned to his rehearsal, “So once I get within about ten yards of the house, I stop, put my rod and tackle box down on the ground and start hollering for the owner.”

  Kelly’s phone buzzed cell phone against his leg and he reached in his pocket. “Good thing I remembered to turn this damn thing on vibrate,” he said to Cam. “All we’d need is the Battle Hymn of the Republic blasting out of the woods when you’re supposed to be alone out here with no phone.”

  Cam laughed and raised his eyes skyward.

  “Hey Gus,” Kelly said into the phone, “how’d you manage with Sam? You get him to spill his guts yet?”

  Kelly listened and then laughed. “I wouldn’t have expected any less. What did you find out about the doctor?”

  More listening. “That’s a damn funny coincidence. Guess where I am right now?” Kelly grinned at Cam. “Bingo. That’s exactly where we are. Well, about three or four hundred yards from the house to be precise.

  “No, not Gillian, I’ve got Cam with me. I picked him up and we came up with a plan to sneak up on the house and see if the doctor’s in residence.”

  * * *

  Kelly listened for a few minutes, then put the cell back in his pocket.

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said to Cam. “Gus is on his way over with the SWAT team. He’s tentatively approved our plan but he wants us to hang back until he gets in position.”

  Cam looked at Kelly and frowned. “I thought you said get the show on the road.”

  “I did. Look, Gus is a terrific detective, but he’s got a cop mentality. He doesn’t want any civilians involved. I see his point, but I know from past experience that once the cops all get here it’s very unlikely we’ll be able to pull this off without somebody or something screwing it up.”

  “Gotcha there.”

  “So, I figure we go ahead as planned. Make our approach, identify the target, and then pull back. If it’s the doctor, we turn our information over to Gus and get the hell out of the way. If it’s some innocent resident who doesn’t know squat about what’s going on, we pass that information on to Gus and then get the hell out of the way. Either way, once we make our ID we’re clear and the show’s over as far as we’re concerned.”

  “Sounds good. You want me to take off now?”

  “Yes, but just before you get within sight of the house, stop and wait for my signal.” Kelly did one of the hawk calls he’d used as a kid. “When you he
ar that it means I’m in position and you can start your approach on the house.”

  Cam picked up his rod and tackle and started walking.

  Kelly took his gun out of the glove box, slipped it into the pocket of his jacket and started off slightly to the right of Cam’s pathway.

  Fifteen minutes later Kelly approached a small stand of trees that stood at the corner of a small ranch style house.

  Seen better days. Kelly noted the peeling paint and overgrown gardens, but the layout couldn’t have been better for his purposes.

  From behind the trees, he had a full view of the back door to the house, and if he inched around to the right, he could see most of the front yard.

  Crouching, he made his hawk call and waited. A minute later he spotted Cam walking out of the woods and straight towards the house.

  Good. Cam had heard the call and they were on target.

  Kelly pulled back and looked towards the back door. All was secure. He inched around the corner and watched Cam place his tackle on the ground, and then he heard his friend’s voice.

  “Hey there. Anybody home? I could sure use some help out here. All I want is to use your telephone. Could you do a favor for a stranger?”

  Silence. As Kelly watched, Cam walked closer, and repeated his request for assistance. Still no response from inside and Kelly began to wonder if they’d made a mistake. He stepped back, and looked towards the back door. No sign of life. The window closest to Kelly’s hiding place looked to be uncovered. He decided to wait until Cam called out again and then make a dash for the window. Maybe he could get a glimpse inside. Sadly it looked like they might be playing to an empty stage.

  “Hey there. Anybody home?” Cam’s voice rang out again and Kelly dashed for the window. Flattening himself against the wall, he slowly raised himself to full height and leaned to the left. That’s when he saw the doctor. Crouched beside the front window, with a pistol in his hand, there seemed little doubt of what the bastard intended. He was going to shoot Cam.