by K. J. Dahlen
Jessie sat up and scowled at him. “Excuse me?”
Lucifer frowned at her attitude.
“I do not belong to you.” She crossed her arms over breasts.
“The fuck you say.” He turned to fully glare at her. “You do belong to me now, get used to it. I’ll be damned if any other man will get close to you.”
“Just because we slept together?” She looked astounded. “Do you guys claim every woman you sleep with?”
“That’s only part of it, so no they don’t,” he grumbled. “You gave me more than just a fuck, you gave me something special. Something a woman can only give once. That gives me certain rights to you and I’m claiming you.”
Jessie just stared at him and shook her head “You’re for real with this?”
Lucifer ignored her question and reached down for his pants, then tugged them up his legs. “My men and I will protect you from this psycho and get those women back to their families.”
“And afterward? What happens after that?” she wanted to know.
Lucifer didn’t answer her question…instead, he left the room.
*
Michael was growing impatient. It’d been two days since he’d come here and in those two days he hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. Since Whiskey Bend was a small town, he expected a lot more gossip. But he’d forgotten Whiskey Bend was a tourist town, so people came and went on a daily basis. That contributed to the fact he couldn’t find out any information on someone new in town. He spent a lot of time in the local police station but there was no information to be gained there either.
He’d known Charlie Boone a very long time and if he knew anything about something as big as finding a missing body, he was sure he would have heard about it by now. He was sure Charlie would have called in the state police by this time if a body had turned up. Either no body had been recovered yet or Charlie was better than he thought. That could only mean one of two things‒ either the girl never found his journals ‒or she was being very careful.
All he did know for sure was the fact someone found his journals. He forced himself to stay away from the farm. He didn’t want to bring any attention to himself even though the effort was driving him crazy. He so wanted to find out what was going on out there.
He watched from the shadows as night blanketed the city. By this time of night most of the town was already shut down. Surprisingly, the main street was still full of cars however but that could have been due to the fact there was four bars located at various points along main street.
He went back to the B&B where he had a room and laid down on his bed for a while. Maudie Sayer had told him she had an unexpected vacancy as a girl who was supposed to stay a week had only stayed here for only a day or so. In fact, she gave him the same room as the girl, Jessie Grant had.
When he asked why the girl only stayed a day, Maudie couldn’t say why. Michael didn’t say anything but he thought he knew why. Was this Jessie the girl he was looking for? If she was, where had she gone? Was it her locket he found beside the stone bench? The initials were the same.
He couldn’t just sit here waiting damnit…he had to do something. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before he made up his mind. Suddenly, he got up and went over to the dresser where his bag was. He dug into the bag and brought out some of his things. He holstered his weapon even though he wasn’t in uniform. He changed his shirt into a long sleeve dark shirt.
He grabbed his flashlight and his phone. He also added a small hand trowel he bought yesterday. He didn’t know if he’d need it or not but he grabbed it anyway.
Leaving the room, he quietly made his way down the hall and out the back door. He didn’t want anyone to know he was leaving. Keeping to the shadows, he made his way down the street and finally up the hill behind the town.
The moon was almost full in the sky as he made his way up the hillside to the barbed wire fence separating the farm from the rest of the town. Lifting his leg over the wires, he made his way to the stone bench.
He stood there in the darkness but didn’t see anything amiss. He moved in closer without making a sound. Kneeling down, he aimed his flashlight at the base of the bench.
Brushing away the top layer of leaves, he looked carefully at the ground. Then he swore.
He saw signs the ground had been disturbed. What should have been hard parked ground wasn’t. The ground under the bench had been dug up. It had been carefully replaced but it was disturbed.
Taking the trowel, he began lifting layer after layer of the disturbed dirt. He dug down deep enough to know Michelle was no longer there. If she wasn’t here, had his other ladies been disturbed after all this time?
He carefully patted the dirt back and covered the disturbance with a layer of leaves and other debris. Getting to his feet, he scowled at the rock bench. Now he had to step up his game and find this girl, Jessie Grant. When he found her, he would take his time and she would tell him what he wanted to know, where his journals were and then he would make her part of his collection and this time, no one would find her body…ever.
Chapter Eight
It was the middle of the night when Charlie was awoken by a phone call. His eyes snapped open. He turned over on his side groaning as he moved. Picking up the receiver he growled, “Yeah,” into the mouthpiece.
“Uncle Charlie, we need to see you. We got something you need to see,” Aaron’s voice rumbled in his ear.
“Can’t this wait until morning, when I’m actually awake?” Charlie grunted.
“No, this can’t wait nor can we afford to have someone see you come out here. You need to come now. This won’t wait.”
Charlie peeked over at the clock and noted the time. He groaned. “Aaron, it’s two in the morning.”
“I know Charlie and I wouldn’t call you in if it wasn’t important.”
Charlie sighed. “Ok kid I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Charlie, you can’t tell anyone where you’re going or who you’re coming to see. It has to be just you for now,” Aaron warned his uncle.
Charlie paused and frowned. “What the hell is going on out there Aaron?”
“Just get here as fast as you can and come alone.”
Then Charlie heard buzzing on the line as Aaron had hung up. Slowly, he sat up and pushed the covers off his legs.
“What is it? Where are you going at this time of night?” His wife Tina asked as she turned his way.
“Just go back to sleep honey. Gotta make a run. I’ll tell you about it when I get back.”
Tina sat up. Reaching out she touched his bare back. “Is everything ok hun?”
“I don’t know yet,” Charlie told her as he reached for his pants. “All Aaron would tell me is he wanted to see me and I couldn’t tell anyone where I was going.”
“Lord, I hope that boy isn’t in trouble again,” Tina muttered under her breath.
“I don’t think he is.” Charlie sighed heavily. He pushed up from the bed and finished pulling his pants up around his waist. Tightening his belt, he slipped his shirt on and grabbed his boots.
Before he left, he leaned over the bed and brushed his lisp over his wife’s forehead. “I’ll see you later baby.”
“Be careful out there, Charlie. You never know what you’re walking into with that group,” Tina whispered.
Charlie smiled. “They aren’t bad guys you know. They’re vets.”
Tina snorted. “They may be vets but their still men and most of them have that PTSD stuff. That can get bad.”
“I’ll be careful,” Charlie assured her.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the farmhouse. He noted all the outside lights were on and some of the guys that lived there were standing around. Charlie noticed them as he walked up the steps to the front door.
He knocked once before the door was wretched open and he saw his nephew standing on the other side.
Aaron, otherwise known as Demon to this group stepped back and Charlie came inside
.
The rest of the men were standing around the room in groups of one or two. The main table held the man they called Lucifer along with the girl he visited earlier for the wellness check, Jessie Grant.
As he stepped inside, he noted the room was relatively quiet but the men seemed on edge. Charlie wondered what the reason for the tension was but he figured he’d find out in a few minutes. Demon walked at his side over to the main table.
When they stopped at the table, Charlie looked from Lucifer to Demon and back to Lucifer again. He did look over to Jessie briefly but his eyes were on Lucifer when he asked, “What’s all this about?”
Lucifer nodded to a chair and told the other man to have a seat. “We need to tell you a story.” He pushed a pile of papers toward the other man. “These are part of a journal Jessie found at her grandmother’s farm. But only a small part of the journals.”
Charlie looked back at Jessie then at the pages in front of him. “And your grandmother would be?”
“Emma Bennish,” Jessie told him.
“And this has to do with what exactly?” Charlie asked feeling confused.
“With what we found earlier today,” Lucifer told him.
“And what would that be?”
“I think you need to read those pages first.” Lucifer nodded toward the pages.
Charlie looked at the pages and shook his head. “You got me out of bed for this? Just tell me why all the secrecy? And why I can’t tell anyone I came out here?”
“Sheriff,” Jessie began. “Three days ago, I went out to my grandmother’s farm for the first time. I never knew her when she was alive but she left the farm to me and when I was walking around the house, I found some hidden journals. They were written by a man who called himself Michael.” She paused and wet her dry lips. “Michael claimed to have murdered nine women and he claims he buried their bodies on this farm. I came here to find out if his claim was real or not.” Jessie looked at him with tears in her eyes. “They were true. That’s what those pages are all about. Those are the words he wrote about the murders.”
Charlie frowned. “Are you saying this guy is for real? That he buried bodies here on this farm?”
“Yes Sheriff, that’s what they’re saying.” Jessie nodded.
Charlie snapped his head around to glare at his nephew. “And did you find one of the bodies?”
“Yeah Uncle Charlie, we found one of the bodies and you know her.” He nodded.
“Who?” Charlie whispered as dread creeped into his voice.
“Michelle Wymen.”
Charlie closed his eyes slowly. “Are you sure it’s Michelle?”
“All we found was her bones, but she was where this Michael said she would be buried,” Demon assured him.
“Damn.” Charlie shook his head then glanced at the pages on the table in front of him. Then he looked over at Jessie. “Do you still have the original journals?”
“Yes, I still have them. I hid them before I came here. I couldn’t leave them where I found them in case Michael came back to get them. But I didn’t want to let anyone know his secrets until I could verify if what Michael said was true. These men had nothing to do with the murders, but they said the police would blame them anyway.”
“We might have another problem Charlie.” Demon sat down next to his uncle. Nodding at Jessie he added, “Jessie thinks Michael may not be this killer’s real name. If that’s the case, we have no idea who he is, he could be anybody. She also thinks he knows the journals are gone and that he’s coming after her to protect his secret. If he finds out she’s here, she thinks he won’t stop killing until he gets his hands on everyone that knows his secret.”
Charlie thought about what Demon said for a moment then he nodded. “She has a point. He would have to keep what he did a secret and if he knows she’s in the area, he won’t stop until he silences her.” Charlie looked around the room. “And yes, everyone who knows what he’s done.”
Just then, one of the men rushed from the room. Going down the hall, he slammed the door shut and no one else moved for a moment.
Then Charlie looked over at Demon. “Did you find more than one body?”
Demon shook his head. “We weren’t really even looking to find that one but Lucifer wanted us to verify the pages.”
“If there was one body,” Lucifer stated. “There could be more. Michael wrote he buried nine bodies on this farm. I imagine he thought this place was abandoned. No one had lived here for a long time before we came here almost four years ago.” He sat forward in his chair and placed his hands on top of the table. “I tried to give these men a home of their own after the military kicked us out for being too damaged to serve our country anymore. Most of us have no other family and no place else to go where we can feel safe. We have that here.” He gazed into Charlies eyes. “I’m not willing to risk that. I don’t want to be accused of these murders or bring the police or reporters here, but I don’t have a choice. These women deserve to be found and their murders accounted for. But we need to catch this Michael to do that.”
“I agree with you there.” Charlie nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“Work with us, not against us.” Lucifer stared at him. “That’s all I ask. Just give us the benefit of the doubt.”
Demon spoke now, “When word gets out about what’s been buried here all this time, people are going to talk. They’re going to point fingers and speculate about what kind of men we are. And until we catch this Michael we don’t want anyone to know what’s going on out here. We don’t need everybody and his brother walking in the woods looking for something they’ll never find or taking pot shots at us, thinking we’re dangerous killers.”
Charlie nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that would not be a good thing.” He sat there for a moment lost in thought. “There is a man in town at the moment, he’s a specialist who’s been coming around every once in a while. He’s a police profiler. He works with the FBI and the State police on criminal cases of this kind. He might be able to give us some insight on what behavior to look for.”
Demon frowned and looked over at Lucifer. “What’s this guy’s name?”
“Jordan Tate.”
Jessie frowned and shifted in her chair.
“Jessie,” Lucifer called out. “What’s wrong? Do you know this guy or what?”
She looked over at him and shrugged. “I don’t know but that name is familiar to me. It’s like I read it somewhere or something. But if I’d met him, I would have remembered his name.”
Just then, the man that ran out earlier returned and he came over to Lucifer and whispered something in his ear. Lucifer growled and got to his feet. “You all better come with me.” He reached out to Jessie and took her hand. Leading them all down the hall, he went into one of the bedrooms.
“Stinger found something on one of the cameras in the woods,” Lucifer announced.
They all watched the monitor as the woods surrounding the property came into focus. The screen looked weird as it was bathed in a green light. The guys all watched carefully as the camera picked up movement.
It was a man walking in the shadows. The darkness hid his face, but they wall watched as he made his way to the rock bench. Still watching they saw him kneel and begin digging in the dirt at the base of the bench.
Then they saw the man react to what was no longer there. His rage was visible when he realized Michelle’s body was no longer where he’d placed it years ago. That was the only conclusion they could come to, as that was the spot they dug her up at.
Lucifer glanced at Demon and the rest of his men standing there. Then he looked at Charlie Boone. “That man is your killer. He knew exactly where to go to find Michelle. Only Michelle isn’t there anymore. We moved her earlier today. He just realized his secret isn’t a secret anymore.”
Jessie trembled and gasped. Looking up at Lucifer she whispered, “He’ll come after me now. As well as all of you.”
Lucifer hauled her into his arms and hel
d her close for a moment before he whispered, “I’ll see him dead before he hurts you the way he hurt those other women.”
Stinger tapped the screen, “This is all I can see well enough to identify this guy.” He hit a key and the screen paused. All they could see was the man’s hand as he turned away from the low pointing camera. The man’s hand was dirty from digging in the dirt but he was wearing a ring on his finger. You could barely see the shape of the stone but nothing else as dirty and debris covered the rest of his hand. It was the shape of the stone itself that was unique, it was kidney shape but that was all you could see of it.
It wasn’t much but it was all they had. It told them what they needed to know. Michael was here and he’d been in the woods just a little while ago. He also knew that the body he buried was gone and that someone else knew his deepest darkest secrets.
“Well, I guess there’s no hiding it now,” Charlie told them. “At least one person knows what you found.”
“Question is what’s he going to do with that knowledge? Is he going to get out of town as fast as he can or is he going to stop his secret from being revealed but trying to kill all of us?” Lucifer stated what they were all thinking.
Chapter Nine
Charlie followed the others back out to the main room. He was watching Lucifer and Jessie carefully. He hadn’t known they were an item until just now. He remembered what Aaron had told him about the man he called his friend. One of the bigger things he said was that Lucifer didn’t like to be touched or touch anyone else. Charlie guessed he’d gotten over that hang up.
“So, what do you want me to do?” Charlie finally asked as they all gathered at the table again.
“There isn’t anything we can do now,” Lucifer replied with a glare. “Until we find out who this man is we can’t bring in anyone else. If Michael isn’t this guy’s real name, we don’t know who Michael really is.”
“Why don’t you let me call a friend of mine from the FBI. He can work away from here to try and find out who this Michael really is. I’ll keep track of what’s going on in town and you guys can watch your backs until we know more,” Charlie suggested.
