by Andrew Hess
Marty sighed a relief as he picked up the gas can. “Someone threw a gas can through the window.”
Marie looked at Marty holding the red container and turned from her pleasantly peach colored face to a ghostly white. “Who-who did it? Who’d throw that through the window?”
“Probably some stupid kids with nothing better to do.”
“What if it’s him?”
“Will you stop? No one’s out to get us.” Marty walked towards the broken window and examined the glass fragments and gaping hole that was letting the cold air in.
“I’m calling the cops anyway. Someone needs to pay for this and it won’t be us.”
“Whatever Marie; do what you want. But for now I gotta find something to put here so we don’t freeze our asses off.” Marty popped his head through the window to look at the break and see how big it really was.
But Mark was waiting for him; waiting for Marty to do something that stupid. He sat there with a small red brick in his hand and smashed it over Marty’s head. He could see the body go limp as Marty’s legs collapsed against the floor and his head dropped onto the jagged edges of the broken window.
Marie saw Marty drop to his knees with his head still in the hole of the broken window. “Marty…Marty are you okay?” She rushed to his side and shook his shoulders. “Stop playing around; this isn’t funny. She shook him again; this time harder almost harder than she ever shook anyone before. Her eyes welled up with tears as her hand stretched over Marty’s lifeless body; searching for his pulse.
Mark closed his hand on her wrist and violently pulled Marie towards him; smashing her forehead on the broken glass. A crimson stream poured from her face; dropping droplets of blood on the back of Marty’s head. She moaned loudly and used her left hand to clutch her bleeding wound.
“Still alive huh,” Mark laughed. He picked up the brick and repeatedly smashed it against the side of Marie’s head until her body was lifeless and collapsed onto Marty’s back.
Blood dripped down the broken glass leaving a pool of crimson liquid on the grass. Mark leaned in and pressed two fingers to Marie’s throat.
“Looks like we’re all set for the finale.”
He struck it against the side of the house and threw it on the living room floor. He watched the carpet catch fire; burning the happy home as the flames inched closer to the can of gasoline. He quickly took the other can; poured it over the windowsill and on the dead couple and let the last gallon leak onto the grass where he stood before running back to the car.
Mark jumped in the driver’s seat of his Civic and took off as lights clicked on at the nearby houses. They woke up just in time for the fireworks, he thought as the baby blue house erupted in flames.
Chapter 104
The call came in the middle of the night. The sound of the phone ringing and incessantly buzzing on the bedside table ripped me from the peaceful dream I had where Matthew took us away on vacation. We were away from everyone; no friends; no family; no jobs interrupting us at every passing moment and no killer to hunt down. But the constant sound of the phone vibrating on the table top made sure I knew it was only a dream.
The phone went silent momentarily and began ringing again seconds later. In a sleep depraved fog, I reached for my cell and answered it.
“Ali,” Rodney’s voice said in a panic. “A call just came in. There’s a fire at a house on Church Street in New Paltz. We need to get down there now.”
“A fire,” I questioned as I rubbed my eyes. “Isn’t that something for the arson department to handle?”
“Normally it would. But considering it’s in New Paltz and involves two students that live there, the Lieutenant wanted us to go down there to find out what we can.”
“You think DeFalco did it? Wait, who were the students?”
Rodney went silent. It was almost as if he was afraid to tell me who it was, like I would come unglued at the seams the moment he said their names. I could hear him take a deep breath over the speaker of the phone.
“It was Marty and Marie from the Outdoors Club.”
Their names were like daggers, but they weren’t stabbing me. They were cutting up and poking holes in our case against Nick DeFalco. It was his way of covering everything up. He got rid of his two former housemates; the only people around town that knew who he used to be. And now he got rid of the two people that knew who he was masquerading as. There was no one left that could accurately connect Nick DeFalco and Mark Thompson together.
“Give me a half hour; forty-five minutes to get down there. I want a shot at that crime scene before anyone contaminates it any further.”
Chapter 105
Thick black smoke filled the cold New Paltz sky and left charred remains of what appeared to have once been a pretty two story house midway down Church Street. Another two lives lost; families torn apart and just another way for Nick DeFalco to keep a town in fear that they could be the next victim.
I parked at the end of the block and jogged down to the noisy crowded street; pushing past the nosey neighbors and snuck around the squad cars sectioning off the fire trucks. The charred house had smoke billowing from the firefighters extinguishing the flames. There wasn’t much left of the building.
“Ali,” Rodney’s voice shouted. “Ali, over here.”
I kept a finger to my lips; trying to quiet Rodney down. I didn’t need the crowd to notice the cop in charge of catching this sick bastard was among them; the same cop that let another two innocent victims die.
I hurried over to a group consisting of two crime scene analysts, Rodney, Dr. Fred Wu and a woman I had never met before but somehow seemed strikingly familiar.
Fred stepped aside and let me enter their circle. “Hey Ali, I mean Detective.” He looked back at the house as firefighters emerged from the smoke filled doorway. “We should get the all clear to go in any minute.”
I eyed up the unknown woman; wondering who she was. The woman was pretty with her long soft black as night hair tied back exposing her breathtakingly piercing light green eyes. I didn’t know if she was a new tech or a higher ranked official that took interest in the case because they weren’t seeing the results they wanted.
Rodney placed his hand on the small of my back. “Ali, I wanna introduce you to Mallory O’Hara from arson.”
We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries before turning our attention to the house. One of the firefighters walked over to us. His face was ashen with sweat dripping down his cheeks.
“We got the fire out and cleared the building. You should be good to go, but we’ll send one of our men in with you in a few minutes.”
“Thanks Luke,” Mallory replied. She turned back to the group. Her smile quickly faded and was replaced by a stern business like expression. “I’ll go in with the C.S.U. team and conduct the arson investigation. Once I have everything, then I’ll let you do what you need to do.”
Mallory raised her eyebrow and walked off with the analysts behind her. I could see the satisfied smile on her face.
“Is it just me or did she just get off on being a bitch?”
Rodney shrugged his shoulders. “I think she’s just annoyed that we’re here. Once the Lieutenant heard about this, he made the call and sent instructions that no one touches the bodies until after we look at them.”
“I’ve worked with her before,” Fred interrupted. “She’s nice, but very cold and strictly professional. She probably looked at this as stepping on her toes.”
“Do I really look like I wanna be here right now? I’d rather be back in my warm cozy bed; not standing outside in the freezing cold waiting to go inside a burned down house.”
“I know, but the Lieutenant only wants us working the case.”
“Did you tell him about what happened earlier?”
Fred craned his neck to look at me. “What happened?”
“Nothing; don’t worry about it,” I snapped.
“The killer sent Ali a message tonight by throwing a brick through her l
iving room window.”
“He did what? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I replied. “It’s not a big deal.” I thought about the note and was reminded that the killer said he was going to leave town and that we’d never hear from him again. I reminded Rodney and told Fred about the letter that was wrapped around the brick.
“So much for him leaving town,” Rodney chuckled.
“Maybe this was his going away present to us,” I replied. Marty and Marie were the last two students standing in his way of freedom and he eliminated them. I had to wonder if he meant what he said in the letter. Would the killer strike again or was he planning on leaving town?
Chapter 106
We leaned on one of the squad cars sipping hot coffee that was rapidly losing its heat. It had been nearly an hour and a half since Mallory O’Hara went into the burned down house with her team of analysts.
I took a big gulp from my cup; nearly spilling the hot liquid on my top. “You think she found something or is she making us wait out here to be spiteful?”
“Or maybe she’s just being thorough with the crime scene,” a woman’s voice said. We turned and saw Mallory standing there with clothes covered with ash and soot while her hair was messy and dripping with sweat.
Shit, way to make a great first impression Ali, I thought but quickly covered my mistake by apologizing and telling her the cold was just getting to us.
“Did you find anything,” Rodney asked.
“I found lots of stuff,” Mallory replied. “Both bodies were found in the broken living room window. Their bodies were doused in gas as well as the side of the house and the ground underneath the window. Whoever this killer is, they wanted to make sure everything burned.”
“What about inside the house,” I asked. “What caused the fire?”
“There was a burned container of gas found in the middle of the living room. Its contents spilled onto the floor which caused enough of an explosion to engulf the house in flames but not blow it up. We also found a splinter of a match on the carpet near the window. My guess is the killer lit the match and threw it through the window.”
I glanced at the house and thought DeFalco stopped at nothing to cover up his tracks. He even went as far as to risk burning down the neighbors’ houses just to ensure no one found footprints or any evidence he was there.
“Are we cleared to enter,” Fred asked.
“Yeah, you can go in; just be careful. The building is unstable. The fire severely damaged the support beams.”
“Thanks,” I replied while waiving the others to follow. We had a limited amount of time to look over the crime scene before everything was lost.
Chapter 107
The alarm went off at six thirty the next morning. The loud obnoxious chorus of music blasted in my ear. My head had a pulsating violent ache which felt like someone was beating a drum on the back of my head. Damn and I didn’t even drink last night.
I didn’t get back to my house until three in the morning and now I was being maliciously summoned by my alarm clock to get up and get back to work. I regretfully tore myself from the bed, slipped on my running clothes and headed out the door for my morning run.
I pulled onto the dirt path and left my car sitting across from an old clunker that had the black paint chipping off the sides and dark tinted windows. I cautiously moved towards it. I didn’t know if it was left there by someone going for a run, someone ditching their car or someone pulling it off the road to sleep for the night.
I knocked on the tinted windows. “Anyone in there?” I couldn’t see any movement. I was lucky to even see an outline of anything at all through the tinted glass. I knocked again, but found no reply. I wanted to call it in, but didn’t see the harm in letting someone knock off another hour of sleep first.
As I stretched at the fence, I felt like someone was there. I turned my head quickly, but found no one; not one person near me. I started to stretch again and felt the eerie presence as if someone was gawking at me, Maybe it was just the man in the car waking up, I thought. I couldn’t blame the vagrant. After all, I was only on a few hours of sleep myself and could’ve used some extra time bonding with my pillow and comforter.
I decided it was best to just start my run and worry about the black car later. I started with a brisk walk to get the blood pumping and turned it into a jog moments later. Within minutes I could feel the adrenaline kick in as my feet pounding the pavement of the bridge; pushing myself harder; faster than I have in the past.
Everything from the last few months swirled in my head. So many innocent lives were lost; killed by some murderous bastard seeking revenge and for what? Because they didn’t like him; because they didn’t invite him out or because they were giving his ex some advice on how she deserved to be treated. And in his last acts of cowardice, the killer had taken two more lives and told us he was leaving town.
I was filled with rage that had been building up for weeks finally unleashing it on my own body as I pushed myself past the point of exhaustion. It took me ten minutes to realize how hard I was running and how far I had already gone. I was halfway down the bridge; just over a mile before I slowed it down to a walk. My heart was beating too fast, my lungs were working too hard and I was gasping for breath.
My vision started to blur as I hunched over clutching the pain in my chest. I felt a hand touch my shoulder.
“Miss, are you okay,” the man asked.
“I-I think so,” I replied. “I just need to rest.”
“You need to stand up so the air can get through your body. If you hunch over, it’s going to be harder to breathe.”
I didn’t need his help. I already knew I needed to stand upright, but my body was telling me otherwise. I continued ignoring the man until he put a hand on the small of my back and the other on my shoulder. He pushed me into the upright position and then took my hands and placed them on my head.
“There isn’t that better?”
I could feel the cold air hit my body and I gulped down as much as I could as I tried to control my breathing. I nodded my head in agreement.
“Thanks,” I muttered through gasping breaths.
“No, problem,” he said with a sly grin. “Here let me help you to the rails and I’ll go grab you some water.”
My head bobbed up and down signaling yes and let him guide my jelly legs to the side of the bridge. It felt weird putting my trust in some guy I just met. Even weirder was the fact that I had still not been able to see his face. My vision was still a bit blurry but saw everything coming back into focus.
I was relieved that this man was there to help me; that was until his hand slipped down back and cupped one of my cheeks with it.
“I appreciate the help, but I don’t think my ass needs you groping it.” I tried to move my hand from the top of my head to swat his away, but was held firmly in place by my wrists. “Hey let go.” I struggled to get free, but felt his left hand grab me tighter this time in my inner thigh and hoisted my body off the ground. He leaned me over the rails and shoved me over.
“Nice knowing you Detective,” he shouted as I hit the water with a big splash.
It was like my body was being pierced by a thousand knives at once. The frigid waves slammed into my body forcing me under multiple times. I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t see where I was. I couldn’t do anything to save my life. I thought I was going to die. I thought I’d never see any of my friends; my family or Matthew ever again. I was about to be the Campus Killer’s final victim.
Chapter 108
Matthew took a cab ride from the airport back to his house and found several missed calls from Ali. Each one told him how much she missed him and how sorry she was for the way they left things.
Matthew paced around his living room several times before grabbing his car keys and running out the door. Hearing Ali’s voice made him forget all about their fight. In fact, he felt horrible that he ignored her calls while he was away and wanted desperately to sweep
her off her feet and tell her he loved her.
Matthew sped to Ali’s house finding her car missing from the driveway. He looked at the time and realized she must’ve gone out for her morning run. He sat in the car wondering if he should wait for her or if he should do something more romantic.
He stopped at a nearby florist and picked up a bouquet of flowers and hurried to where Ali went for her morning run. He found her car sitting in the dirt lot.
Maybe I’d better leave these for her on the car. He walked back to the car and indecisively paced around it until he decided to wait for her by the gate.
He watched her sprinting down the bridge until she hunched over gasping for breath. Matthew took a step towards the bridge but stopped when he saw a tall man with slicked back hair dressed in all black standing behind her. He was helping her to the rail.
Matthew’s jaw clenched. I’ve been gone only a few days and she’s already moving on to some shmuck. He was ready to walk away; rip the flowers off her car and speed off. He was ready to give up and walk away from Ali forever, but decided he wanted to give them a piece of his mind first.
As Matthew stepped back onto the bridge, he saw the man picking Ali up and pushing her onto the rails of the bridge.
“Ali lookout,” he shouted but was too late. Ali Ryan’s body plummeted to the icy cold water below and smacked into it with a painful splash.
Matthew ran down the bridge; chasing the man in black away from where Ali was thrown over the side. He pulled out his phone and dialed 9-1-1.
“Hello-hello; yes I need help. I’m down by the walkway across from the Mid-Hudson Bridge and saw a woman get thrown over the side.”
“Sir, you need to calm down,” the operator said casually into the phone. “I’m dispatching you to rescue and should have someone there in about fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes; are you insane? She’ll be dead by then.”
