by KJ Dahlen
“Uncle Charlie,” Demon called out. “I think you need to see this.”
Charlie and Billy turned to see Demon standing at the door to the bathroom. The look on his face wasn’t what Charlie expected to see. Demon looked a little ashen. When they joined him and looked inside, they saw what he had seen. There was a body in the bathtub. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform and Cooper had covered her in cat litter to keep down the smell of decomposing flesh.
“Fuck a duck,” Charlie swore under his breath. “I wondered when we would find her.”
Billy watched a few minutes later as Charlie and his companion drove back to Whiskey Bend. He reached for his phone to call the state police.
Chapter Nineteen
Cooper opened his eyes. He tried to move but was stiff and sore from spending the night in his car. His late night phone call to Luna weighed heavy on his mind. He spent hours after the call trying to figure out what she meant. Mike had been the closest thing Cooper had to a friend. When Mike betrayed him, Cooper never tried again to have a friend.
He glanced down at the face on his wrist. Her likeness haunted him yet today. Every time he looked at her, he remembered the day she died. He had asked her who his father was and she had laughed at him. It was a question he’d asked before and she always refused to tell him. Her words that day were shouted in anger and they echoed in his mind as a reminder of what a mother shouldn’t be. She had told him she wished he had never been born. He was a constant reminder of a time in her life she was ashamed of, but her father made her have the baby that resulted from an affair and he made her become a mother to show the world her sin.
His rage had grown that day beyond anything he’d experienced before. When he demanded again she tell him who his father was and she screamed at him that he would never know who fathered him. That was one secret she would take to her grave. Cooper didn’t remember grabbing the knife and didn’t really remember stabbing her with it 14 times. When he came out of his rage, she was on the floor, the blood pooling around her. He remembered dropping to his knees and pulling her into his arms.
He looked at her face and saw a trickle of blood from her mouth. Wiping it away, the blood kept coming. Cooper remembered whispering he was sorry and he remembered the last thing his mother said to him before she died. She whispered, “You are a bastard and now you’re a killer.” Then she tried to spit at him but died before she could. Her face was twisted in horror and pain.
Cooper remembered sitting on the kitchen floor holding her dead body for hours. It had been almost dark before he finally let her go. Getting up off the floor, he realized his clothes were soaked in her blood. He showered, changed, and was packing when his grandfather came home.
Cooper remembered grabbing the knife he’d used earlier and walking up behind his grandfather. Daniel Candles had found his daughter lying on the kitchen floor. When he heard his grandson behind him Daniel turned and stared at him. On his face was a look of terror. He whispered, “What have you done boy?”
He remembered taking a step toward the older man and saying, “You murdered any chance of happiness I ever had and now I’m taking my revenge.” Cooper lifted the knife and sliced it deep into Daniel’s throat. He watched the old man drop to the ground as he realized something in those few minutes. Cooper had felt nothing as he watched them die, no remorse, no pain, nothing.
He had simply walked back to his bedroom and finished packing. Then he went to his grandfather’s safe and grabbed whatever he had in there for cash and walked away. He would start over somewhere else and he would build the life he wanted. The boy he was then had been thinking about this opportunity for some time while he grew up and now he would put his dreams in motion.
Now here he sat in the cold stark morning light staring at the face on his hand. He wondered what his life would have been, could have been, should have been if she had been a different kind of person. Cooper got out of his car and walked around the parking lot to limber up. His mind was racing as he thought about where he would go from here, once he took care of Luna.
He got back into his car and started the engine. He was hungry and needed a cup of coffee. He drove a few blocks and got in line for the drive through at McDonalds. While he waited for his turn, he spotted a newspaper kiosk at the corner. Luna had hinted at something last night, and he thought it might have something to do with her being a reporter.
When he picked up his food, he drove down the block and got a paper. He glanced around the neighborhood briefly before he looked at the headlines. He gasped at what he saw in bold print. There, for all the world to see was his picture in a wanted poster. Above his face were the words “Wanted, Dead or Alive and below his likeness were the words, For Murder.
The article read,
If you know this man, you only know what he wants you to know. This man is a killer and if you cross him, he won’t hesitate to kill you. Your life means nothing to him and he won’t think anything of taking it away from you...
Cooper hurried back to his car and drove back to the parking lot. Once there, he read the article in full.
He likes to hide his lawless activities behind the badge of respectability. He’s been a cop, a parole officer, a Certified Public Accountant, in fact he searches for jobs that most people hold to a higher standard. But don’t let him fool you. He likes to kill and won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Moments later, he crushed the paper. Luna had connected him to the string of murders in Whiskey Bend, and had hinted he was responsible for many more murders in more than one state. She had told the world who and what he was.
Cooper felt stunned for the first time in his life. For a time, his whole mind went blank and he couldn’t even think. He picked up the paper, smoothed out the wrinkles, and reread the story. Each damming word sparked the rage to grow inside him.
Luna had taken his life and exposed him to the world. He hadn’t felt this raw in a long time. His first thought was to leave town in a hurry. Take what he could and get away, but he knew he couldn’t do that. She hadn’t discovered everything about him and he could still do some damage control. First, he had to find her but before he did that, he had to be ready to leave town.
He started his car and drove toward Minnesota. He had to pick up enough money to get started somewhere else. Driving to Albertville, he had time to think. His mind began to clear and he knew what he had to do.
When he got to Albertville, he turned and drove to the warehouse. Coming in the back way he knew he would avoid most of the town knowing he was even there. As he turned the last corner, he could see the warehouse a block away. His eyes widened, at the same time his foot slammed on the brakes and he cursed under his breath.
From where he sat, he could see several police cars with their red and blue lights flashing. From the color of the police cars, he knew they were state police. He watched for a few minutes and saw police coming and going from the warehouse.
This was his one last secret and now he knew it was gone. His whole life was gone and there was nothing he could do to get it back. Then he saw Billy Shire walk out of the warehouse and his rage grew.
Billy was someone from his past he knew could connect the dots for the police and Cooper knew he had done just that. Now the police knew everything about him, including his real name.
Cooper was shaking as he backed his car up and drove back to Whiskey Bend. All the way back, he thought about his life and how it was crashing down around him. He hadn’t felt this helpless since he was sixteen.
He knew he shouldn’t think about that time in his life but for some reason, he couldn’t help it. That’s when his real life began. He left Albertville and never looked back. Three years later, he bought his grandfather’s warehouse, and over the years, it had become his base. He didn’t get back to it very often but when he did, it was like coming home for him.
Now he would never be able to come home again. Cooper slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. He sat there think
ing about something for a moment. There had been one thing he always wanted to know about his past. He hadn’t thought about it for a long time, in fact he almost forgot about it until now.
He turned around and headed back to Albertville. There was one man that might be able to answer the only question he had left to answer.
Cooper knew he would go back to Whiskey Bend but he needed to get the answer he desired all these years first. Billy Shire would be able to give him what he wanted. Coming in the back way, he made his way to Billy’s house. Parking in the back, he walked to the back door and turned the knob. It was locked but that didn’t sway him. He broke a small pane of glass and reaching through the broken pane, he unlocked the door.
Slipping inside the house, Cooper made his way into the kitchen. He went through the rest of the house but didn’t find Billy at home. Cooper sat down to wait and hoped Billy wouldn’t be gone long. He still had to take care of Luna and her friends.
About an hour later, Cooper heard a car pull up outside. He got up, moved to the window, and peeked outside. He watched as Billy got out of his car and walked up the sidewalk to the front door.
Cooper moved quickly to stand behind the door. When it opened, Cooper drew his gun and waited for Billy to close the door. When he did, Cooper brought the gun down on his head. Billy groaned and dropped to the floor.
Cooper locked the door and dragged Billy’s body out to the kitchen. Tying him to a chair, he got a glass of water and splashed it in his face.
Billy opened his eyes and stared at Cooper. Water dripped down his face but Billy didn’t take his eyes off the man in front of him. “Hello Jeff.”
Cooper smiled. “I almost forgot that was my name. I haven’t used it since I left here eighteen years ago.” He hesitated then added, “I’ll bet you never thought you would ever see me again.”
“That’s not much of a bet.” Billy shook his head. “I take that back. When Charlie Boone came to see me today, I knew I’d be seeing you again.”
“What made you think I’d come back here?”
“You need closure. We all need that at some point in our lives.”
Cooper crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you think I need closure for?”
“You need closure for what you did to your mother,” Billy said quietly.
Cooper began pacing back and forth. “Man, you don’t know what you’re talking about. My mother died in my arms and before she died, she cursed me. She never wanted to be a mother in the first place but her father wouldn’t let her abort me. I was supposed to be her penance for sinning.”
“Daniel Candles was a strict man and maybe he wasn’t always right but he tried. He was there for you when you needed him.”
Cooper snarled, “He made my life a living hell. I watched him laugh and smile at everyone but me. Outside the walls of our house, he would be a totally different person than he was inside the walls.” Cooper began to pace again. After a moment or so, he stopped and glared at Billy, “But that’s not why I came back here. I don’t need closure old man. I had closure all those years ago. I do need some answers though.”
“Answers to what?”
“I need to know who my father was,” Cooper explained. “My mother would never tell me and I need to know. I’m thinking you might know because you knew my mother and my grandfather.”
Billy cocked his head to one side and looked at Cooper. “Daniel was a good friend but he never confided in me. I don’t think Sherry ever told him who your father was.”
Cooper nodded. “I know, that was the one thing they used to fight about. So you don’t know either.”
Billy didn’t say anything but Cooper must have seen something in his face that told him different. “What do you think you know old man?”
“If your mother wanted you to know, she would have told you a long time ago.”
“I won’t ask you more than once,” Cooper warned him.
“I know that,” Billy replied, “But even if I did know I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?” Cooper asked. “Don’t you think I have the right to know?”
“Let me ask you something boy,” Billy said. “Would it make a difference at this point in your life to know who your father is?”
“No, not really.”
“Then I think I’ll keep my peace,” Billy stated.
“Damn you, old man, tell me what I want to know!” Cooper’s rage exploded.
“What’s the point? I’m a dead man either way.”
Cooper pulled the knife from his side. “You got that right.” He pressed the cold steel blade against Billy’s throat. “I can make it quick or I can take my time. The choice is yours.”
Billy didn’t even try to pull out of harm’s way not that Cooper would have allowed it. The sharp knife cut into his skin. Billy winced but didn’t say anything.
Cooper moved the position of the blade and cut him again. “Tell me what you know, old man,” he demanded.
“I don’t know anything for sure.”
“What do you think you know, then?”
“Your grandfather used to travel a lot for his business and when he was gone your mother would stay with me. I would take your mom fishing with me and we would sit on the dock and drink beer and talk about life. Then one night after we got back, we sat outside and drank a couple more beers. I got up to go to bed but your mom sat outside for a while longer. I guess she had a couple more beers then she came up to the house to go to bed. I couldn’t sleep so I went outside and sat down by the river for a while. An hour later, I went past the room she was using and I heard a noise. I knocked on the door and I heard someone scrambling around. A few minutes later Sherry came to the door alone. When I went in her room to check things out the window was open.”
“What happened next?”
“When your mother found out about you, she swore me to secrecy. She told me Daniel would kill me if I told him about what happened. She said he would never believe that I didn’t take advantage of her. Then she said if I told anyone she would ruin me. I was just appointed Sheriff and she would tell everyone I raped her. Both of us knew it wasn’t true but she would tell everyone lie after lie and I would be arrested.” Billy shook his head. “Dan would have killed me and I didn’t want to ruin a friendship.”
“You didn’t want her lies to ruin a friendship?” Cooper growled.
“You don’t understand something,” Billy tried to explain.
“No, you don’t understand,” Cooper interrupted. He began to pace in front of Billy. “My mother made my life a living hell. She told me nothing about you or any other man in her life. She blamed me for everything that went wrong in her life. She used to tell me she wished I’d never been born. She would get drunk and beat me, the whole time calling me names.”
“God,” Billy swore. “I never knew, maybe if I had, things would have been different. Dan never said anything was wrong.”
“Grandfather never knew,” Cooper admitted. “It was only when he was gone Mom would drink. She couldn’t ignore me when he was home. It got to the point I didn’t want him to leave, but I couldn’t say anything. I could never say anything about how she acted when he wasn’t around.” Cooper put the knife against Billy’s throat. “I almost believe you old man. I almost believe if you had known you might have stopped it. Almost,” he repeated as he pushed the edge of the knife through Billy’s throat. He watched for a minute or two then when the blood stopped bubbling at the site of the cut, he turned and went to the back door.
Cooper drove back to Whiskey Bend. The total day didn’t yield much and he wasn’t very happy about it. His secret was no longer secret and his whole life was laid out there for anyone to read about. The rage he had earlier was gone now, replaced by a void he couldn’t get his head around.
Everyone in his life had at one point, lied to him or beat him down and right now, he felt like he was drowning. The blackness was surrounding him and he felt powerless to stop it from overcoming him. As har
d as he tried, he couldn’t get free and that frightened him. He knew if he couldn’t break free of the nothingness his life had suddenly become, he wouldn’t be able to continue.
He sat there trying to figure out how to get to where Luna would be. He knew he was running out of time. He reached out and turned his police scanner on. As he listened for a few minutes, he realized there was an extra amount of chatter. Then he realized the extra chatter was about him. Every cop in the city was looking for him and he knew before long, they would find him.
Cooper swore and reached down to start his car. He knew if he were going to stay free, he would need a different car. His tires squealed as he pulled out of the parking lot. He had to stay one step ahead of the police until he could determine where Luna and the others were. He knew if he was going down...he was taking them with him.
Chapter Twenty
Luna stood to the side of the windows and looked out over the woods behind the clubhouse. From here, all she could see was the shadows deepening as the sun sank further behind the hills. Sam and Molly were here as well, along with Charlie and a couple of his deputies. Everyone was waiting for Cooper’s next move.
Luna glanced up to find Sam coming to join her. “How are you doing?” he asked.
Luna shrugged. “I guess I’m doing okay. I wish this was over though.”
“Me too.” Sam nodded. “I guess we both know it won’t be over until Cooper is in custody.”
Luna started to shake her head. “Do you really think he would allow himself to be caught? I don’t think Cooper will give up that easily.” Luna rubbed her hands over her upper arms.
“You think he’s still coming after you, don’t you?”
Luna looked at her friend and nodded. “I know he is coming. I exposed his entire life this morning and while I don’t want to die and Cooper can’t let me live. It’s as simple as that.” She sighed. “Besides, I told him I knew who his father was. That is something he’s been looking for all his life. He’ll come.”
