by C. C. Wall
Sue was listening. “And, someone who might have a bit of a score to settle with him,” Sue said.
Lukas’s face turned red. “Then Gus should have come after me!” Lukas yelled.
“He did, in a way,” Reagan said. “Chaney is your partner. Hurt him, hurt you. Plus, you don’t have anyone close to you, Lukas. The closet person to you is Chaney and he was with you all day after you released Gus. Sara was next down the list.”
Lukas kicked a chair and pulled his hair. “Dyer, Reed, get in here!”
Deputy Dyer and Deputy Reed ran in from out front. They are both younger men, in their twenties. Only been with the department for a little over a year. They had both grown up in town and knew everyone. Dyer, especially, knew the more unsavory citizens of Black Star Canyon.
Lukas continued, “Get out there and find Gus.”
“Did he do this?” Dyer asked.
Lukas walked up to Dyer and got an inch away from his face. “I know he used to be a friend of yours, and you might not believe that he could do this, but regardless, someone else thinks he did it and that person, when he finds Gus, isn’t going to question him.” Lukas looked around and felt the eyes of everyone in the room on him. “We have to find him first.”
“On it,” Dyer said as he and Reed ran out.
“Chaney is going to get to the Driggers’, maybe even Bekka,” Sue said.
“Go. Find them and make sure they know to call us,” Lukas said. “I don’t know if he would…”
“Torture people?” Reagan asked. “Never put anything past a man who has suffered a loss like this.”
“I’ll check in,” Sue said and ran out of the house.
“I’ll drive around and just keep an eye out,” Reagan said, “Stay here until this is done. I don’t want anyone screwing the crime scene up.” Reagan looked Lukas in the eyes and whispered, “Unless it’s me or you and only if we have to.” Reagan patted Lukas on the shoulder.
Lukas nodded in agreement.
Reagan left Lukas standing in the living room. Lukas rubbed his ears. He still heard a faint cry but knew it wasn’t real.
45 - Things Go Missing
There was a different sound in Chaney’s house. This sound wasn’t anything that had been there all day. Lukas tilted his head as soon as he heard it. His ears pricked and he knew who it was. The sound of high heel shoes on a hardwood floor. He jumped over Sarah’s corpse that was covered up on the kitchen floor and ran into the living room. He was right.
“Hello, Dr. Clive,” Lukas said.
“Hello, Detective,” Dr. Clive replied. “I’m very sorry about this situation here. I know this family was very close to you.”
“Yeah, well what can I do for you?” Lukas said.
Dr. Clive had a long face that was unusual for her. It wasn’t very becoming of her. Her long beautiful hair even looked troubled. “It’s about your Jane Doe.”
“What about her?” Lukas asked.
“She’s missing,” Dr. Clive said.
Lukas looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
Dr. Clive pulled Lukas into the corner of the living room in the hope of gaining a little privacy. “Some men from the FBI came and took possession of the corpse. They never arrived at their destination.”
Lukas processed the information. “When did this happen?”
“I just found out myself on my way over here,” Dr. Clive said.
“So what do we do?” Lukas asked.
“We don’t do anything,” Dr. Clive said. “This is a problem for the FBI, you should know that. I just thought you would want to know since she was your case.”
Lukas was somewhere else inside his head. “Yeah, yeah. Thank you.”
“How is everything here?” she said.
“As good as could be expected I guess,” Lukas said.
“I will put a rush on the autopsy, but you guys have been keeping me very busy this week,” she said.
Lukas smirked. “Yeah. Sorry about that.” He saw that they were moving the body. “Pete, get me those DNA results as soon as you get them. My eyes first, got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Pete answered.
Lukas turned back to Dr. Clive. “Looks like we both have work to do.”
“It does,” Dr. Clive said. “Speak to you soon.”
Lukas turns to the rest of the team. “Come on guys, lets wrap it up here. We all have a ton of crap to be doing at the station. Move it!” Lukas wanted to be the last one there to lock up Chaney’s house.
Once everyone had left and the last person had gone out, Lukas made one more sweep through. He kept thinking he was hearing faint cries but he knew it was his mind playing a trick on him. He walked into the living room and looked up at the ceiling and spoke aloud, “Chaney? Where the hell did you go?”
“So, it is true.”
Lukas spun around quickly to see who was behind him.
“Detective Chaney is missing,” Jack Hart said. He then snapped a picture of Lukas looking shocked. “That one is a keeper for sure.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Lukas said.
“My job,” Jack said with a smirk. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to hold myself back from bashing your head in,” Lukas said.
“I hope you’re better at that job than playing detective,” Jack said. “For my sake you know?” Jack snapped another picture.
“Dammit, man!” Lukas yelled.
“It’s cool, man. I don’t work at the paper anymore,” Jack said and snapped another picture.
“Then what’s this for?” Lukas asked.
“I’m freelance now,” Jack said.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Lukas said.
“Of course not, this is Black Star,” chuckled Jack.
“What about that concert at Cook’s?” Lukas said.
Jack nodded, “Yeah, I’m going to that but I have an hour or so.”
Lukas closed the gap between them, heading closer to Jack. “You know, you are not a very popular guy at the station right now.”
“And your station isn’t very popular in Black Star right now,” Jack said.
“Touche,” Lukas said.
“So,” Jack said, “tell me what happened here.”
“Really?” Lukas said. “Are we really going to do this?” Lukas took a deep breath. “No comment.”
“Has there been another murder?”
“No comment.”
“Is Detective Chaney a suspect in the killings?”
Lukas was having a hard time holding back his anger. “I’m about to take you in as a suspect, considering I have seen you at every crime scene.”
“I have a police scanner,” Jack said.
“That’s illegal,” Lukas said.
Jack smiled, “I don’t think that’s true.”
“It really wouldn’t take much to lock you up,” Lukas said.
“I think you have slightly more pressing matters, but if you really want to, I would love to spend a night in the Black Star Bed and Breakfast. I could write a first hand account of your station’s corrupt behavior,” Jack said.
Lukas was adding things up in his head. “Why do you have such a hang up about Chaney?” Lukas asked.
“To be honest with you, Detective,” Jack said, “there is another corrupt piece of shit in this town that supersedes you and your station at the present. Don’t worry though, you’re a strong second still and it shouldn’t take me long to destroy my number one.”
Lukas finally got Jack to backpedal out of the house.
“I’ll tell you what,” Jack said. “If I get any leads on this, I’ll send them your way. But I need the same cooperation from you, Detective.”
“Just stay the hell away from my crime scenes,” Lukas said.
46 - Jimmy Kent
“We are just kissing right now, okay? No funny business,” Jen said.
Eric laughed. “Of course. Your parents are in the next room and your moody ass s
ister is storming around.”
“Don’t act like it’s out of the ordinary for you to try in those circumstances,” Jen smiled.
“I know,” Eric said. “Let’s stop talking then and get back to just kissing.”
They fell back on her bed and the two little lovebirds kissed each other with a young innocence that they would both soon lose.
“By the way,” Jen interrupted, “Michelle is coming over before we leave so I could do her hair and make-up.”
Eric fell back on the bed in disappointment. “Why does a girl need a girl to do things that the girl can do on her own?” Eric asked.
“Don’t be rude about it,” Jen said. “She is doing my hair and make-up too.”
“I don’t get you girls at all,” Eric said. “Well, we are leaving in an hour so text her and tell her to hurry up.”
The doorbell rang. Jen and Eric shared a wide-eyed stare. “Creepy!” they both said, then laughed.
Bekka answered the door. “Oh, it’s you.” Bekka left the door open and walked back to her room.
“Hi Bekka,” Michelle said. “Good to see you too.” Michelle walked by the living room but didn’t look in at Jen’s parents because they freaked her out. She didn’t understand how they just sat there and never took their eyes off the television. She couldn’t even remember a time when she saw their parents speak, hug, wave or even yell at Jen or Bekka.
Michelle went into Jen’s room. “Hi guys,” Michelle smiled.
“I was just coming to answer the door,” Jen said.
“No, your sister let me in,” Michelle said. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Of course you’re not, silly,” Jen said.
Michelle saw the look on Eric’s face and knew that that wasn’t true. “Well, let’s get ready,” Michelle said to break the tension. She didn’t want Eric to be upset with her and was hoping if they at least got out of there on time, he wouldn’t be too upset.
Jen pulled out a chair in front of her vanity table. “Sit,” she said to Michelle.
Michelle did and no one was talking. She felt like she had to break the ice. “Did you guys hear about Liz Kensington?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Jen said sadly.
“Yep,” Eric chimed in. “Pretty screwed up.”
“I know,” Michelle said. “She was the most beautiful girl at school. It’s scary.”
“Watch it!” Jen said. “I’m gonna have a hot curling iron, next to your head in a few minutes.” She smiled.
Michelle laughed. “I don’t mean you’re not pretty, Jen. I just mean that she is gorgeous.”
“It’s horrible,” Jen said.
“I heard she got gang raped and set on fire. Left for dead,” Michelle said.
“That’s not what happened,” Eric said.
“Well, it’s the most believable story I heard,” Michelle said.
“You heard worse stories than that?” Jen asked
“Yeah,” Michelle said. “Jimmy Kent told me that a cannibal boiled her and ate her arms and legs and now she is just a body and head. I thought that sounded fake.”
“Jimmy is a jerk,” Jen said
“He is closer to the truth than you might think,” Eric said.
“No, it’s not Eric,” Jen said. “Quit trying to scare her.”
“I’m not trying to scare her,” Eric said.
“Is your mom working that case?” Michelle asked.
“Yeah,” Eric said.
“Well?” Michelle waited impatiently for details.
“Michelle, knock it off. He can get in trouble for saying anything,” Jen said.
“I’m just saying that if there was any information that would keep us safe, we have a right to know it,” Michelle said.
Jen thought about it for a moment. “You’re right. Eric, spill it. I don’t want to end up like her. What happened? What should we look out for?”
Eric laughed and felt kind of special that he had the inside scoop and that the information he may share might help them. It made him feel important, like some kind of protector. “She has boils all over her body, I guess. She’s been in a coma.”
“That’s it?” Jen said.
“What do you mean?” Eric asked.
“That’s not anything that can help protect us,” Jen said.
“Just stay away from guys who start talking about boils I guess.” Michelle looked at Jen and started laughing. “Thank you Eric. I know that was hard for you to do. To share that information with us. I appreciate it.”
Jen and Michelle laughed loudly for next few minutes while Eric turned red with embarrassment.
“Just hurry up I want to get there early,” Eric said. He cleared his throat. “I gotta piss.”
After about an hour of curling, straightening, coloring, tweezing, and many other things that girls did that Eric knew nothing about, they were ready to leave. They all walked towards the front door, passing the living room in doing so. Jen stopped and gave her parents a sad look.
“I’m just gonna wait outside,” Michelle said.
“I think I will too,” Eric said, “Take your time.” He smiled and walked out of the house.
Jen stood there and longed for her parents. Her parents seemed to be frozen in a joyous state as they sat in a dark room that was illuminated only by the warm, green glow of the television.
Bekka came out and tried to just leave before Jen noticed.
“We have to say bye to mom and dad,” Jen said.
“What’s the point?” Bekka said.
Jen walked over to them and knelt down in front of them, even though her existence was completely ignored by her parents. She took them by the hands. “We will be home later,” Jen said. “Don’t stay up too late.” Jen leaned over and kissed them both on their heads while making sure to not block their view of the television.
Jen walked by Bekka and left her standing there. Bekka stared at her parents and it was hard to tell if she was wishing they were dead or if she was hoping they would come back.
47 - I Love Watching You Leave
Her hands were shaking so it was a little harder than usual to button her blouse up. “Doing it on a motorcycle isn’t as fun as it should be,” Bekka said.
“Yeah, trying to keep the thing balanced kind of sucks,” Colt agreed. He leaned in and gave her a kiss, a little kiss turned into a deeper, much more passionate kiss, very quickly. They both knew that they didn’t have time for another romp on the bike. Bekka was the one to put the brakes on.
“Come on,” Bekka said. “I have to be at work in ten minutes.”
Colt smiled. “I can get you there in six.”
“I need to get there safely, so please, no speeding,” Bekka asked.
“Honestly, I’m tired of how safe we have been,” Colt said.
“What do you mean?” Bekka asked.
“I mean, I’m tired of hiding from Dakota. I want you. I want you to want me too,” Colt said.
“I do want you,” Bekka said. She went in for a kiss.
“I need you to want me in public. I need you to want to be seen with me. I’m tired of hiding,” Colt said. “You love me, right?”
Bekka looked him in the eyes. “Of course I love you, Colt.”
“Prove it then. I’m done hiding,” Colt said.
“Honestly, I haven’t talked to him since he hit me with his truck, he might just dump me tonight.” Bekka smiled. “Wouldn’t that be just great?” She laughed.
“I’m just ready for the next step,” Colt said.
“Really?” Bekka said with suspicion. “And what next step are you talking about?”
“I mean, I got a solid gig with a big company,” Colt said.
Bekka got excited. “Really? What company?”
“I can’t tell you yet. I’m waiting for some dust to settle,” Colt said. “But soon, baby. Soon.”
Bekka looked at her phone. “Ok, now I have six minutes to get there.” They stared at each other and traded thoughtful
glances. “Okay,” Bekka said, “get me there fast. Let’s stop being safe.”
Colt smiled and kissed her before they jumped onto his bike and sped off towards Cook’s.
That ride through the canyon that Bekka and Colt shared, was very different than any other they had shared. They felt free, for once, together. They had never felt like that before. They both felt a happiness that they didn’t think they could with one another. Before it was just the thrill, the heart racing, the thought of how evil they were being. That ride however, was the first time that they felt like they had a future.
Colt made it to Cook’s in record time. Five minutes and forty-three seconds.
“Thanks,” Bekka said. “I love you.”
Colt smiled, “I love you too, babydoll.” He gave her a kiss. “I’ll pick you up after the show. Text me if Dakota gives you shit.”
“I will,” Bekka said. She gave him one last kiss then turned and ran into Cook’s.
Colt watched her run inside because he loved watching her go anywhere, from behind. But, Colt wasn’t the only person watching someone from behind. Across the street, there was a man in a truck watching the two of them. As Colt sped off back into the canyon, it was the man’s turn to watch someone from behind. The man floored it and followed him into the canyon, screaming at the top of his lungs.
48 - Sadness of What If’s
A few minutes after the Colt disappeared into the canyon, Deputy Sue Callahan walked into Cook’s. She wasn’t there for the concert, she was there to find people. First on her list, was Gus. Second was Bekka, because she wanted her to stay away from both Dakota and Colt, for fear that Gus would be with them, which meant Chaney would be following them and she didn’t know what Chaney would do. She honestly didn’t want to find out.
She found Bekka wiping down the bar and making sure that the kegs were ready for the show, later.
“What’s good?” Sue asked.
Bekka was feeling awful about the way she treated Sue at the Burger Stand. “Hey, Sue. I am really, really sorry…”
