The Untimely Death Box Set

by James Kipling

  “Whatever sicko is doing this...they're going to kill again.”

  The first question that needed to be answered was why the boys were being chosen in particular. Why were they being put to death and then displayed for everyone to see? What could they have in common that ignited such a fury in the killer? It was far from a normal murder. Most would put a bullet or a blade in someone and then make a run for it...not take the time to string up body. It was clearly about more than just a kill.

  Aunt Rose had told him that she knew the boy in the wheat field, Lamont Duffield, so she was probably a good place to start.

  Rose Russell was a not-so-elderly woman who always kept an impeccable house. She had always been one of Dominos’ favorite relatives. She was easy-going and even a little bit eccentric, always fun to talk to when he was a kid.

  Stepping up to her house, it was clear to Damianos that she had remained just as odd and her house just as nice.

  “Andre!” She said, strolling into Dominos’ arms. “You have no idea how good it is to see you!” She was understandably trembling and her words were laced with a contradictory mix of fear and relief. “Please, have a seat, have a seat.”

  “Aunt Rose, this is my partner, Detective John Avers.” Damianos said warmly.

  “Thank you! Thank you!” Rose said, with tears in her eyes. “Have a seat! Please have a seat! What a day it's been. What a day...!”

  The two detectives sat down in her living room while Aunt Rose busied herself by getting a strong coffee ready for them. A few minutes later, they were sipping on an excellent brew while they listened to Aunt Rose's story.

  Sitting down listening to his aunt's stories, Damianos almost felt like a kid again...if it weren't for the very adult subject matter.

  “Lamont Duffield...poor Lamont...he was an extraordinary child! Truly. He was extraordinary. Always so gifted...he used to be so bored with school because he learned more in a month than all of his friends would in a year. Did you know he finished high school at fourteen?”

  Damianos shook his head. Honestly, her story so far was all he really knew about the victim.

  “Very large IQ, from what I heard. A very smart boy. He was planning on going to USC next fall to get a degree in applied mathematics. Can you believe it!? Like I said, extraordinary.”

  Extraordinary, indeed. There it was. The connection between the two human scarecrows. They were both going to the university in the fall—but that was hardly reason to kill them.

  “Did you know the other victim? Eric Bosch?” John asked.

  “Oh yes, Eric was a lot like Lamont,” Rose said. “They were both so smart. So young.”

  Damianos suddenly had a thought.

  “Aunt Rose, is there anyone else you know who is kind of like Eric and Lamont? Smart, young, maybe going to the university?”

  “Oh yes, Peter Barrow! He's also extremely intelligent for his age. Lives in town, though...one of the suburbs, I believe.”

  “You seem to know everything,” Damianos laughed. “How is it you seem to know so much about these boys?”

  “I always find myself interested in local prodigies like them. So I know them all in different ways, well, Peter wants to become an ornithologist,” Rose explained. “He comes to our bird watching weekends whenever he can get away for a day. Darla—that's my friend—and I take him with us and bring him home. A nice boy, that one.”

  Damianos glanced over to John who nodded in understanding. They didn't want to alarm Aunt Rose but they needed to find Peter Barrow as soon and as quickly as possible.

  Aunt Rose was happy to give them Peter's address, wanting to be able to help in any way she could. That was the aunt Damianos remembered—always helping out.

  “Andre, if Peter needs to hide from this maniac, he's welcome to stay with me. Please let him know that. It will be a very scary time for him.”

  “I'll pass it along, Aunt Rose. Thank you for all of your help.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma'am.” John said with a bow of his head.

  “Anytime, hun. Anytime.” She said with a wink.

  With that, Damianos and John Avers took leave of Rose Russell's house and Damianos felt the first cracks in the mystery of the case begin to open.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Quite a feisty lady, your aunt.” John said while they returned to the car.

  It was getting late in the day but Damianos refused to call it a night before making sure that Peter Barrow was safe and sound. They followed the address that Aunt Rose had given them but when they arrived at the address, they stumbled across two worried faces.

  “Peter! Peter!” They yelled repeatedly.

  “His parents?” John asked from the driver's seat.

  “Seems so,” Damianos nodded. “Let's check, shall we?”

  They rushed to park the car by the curb and then ran to the worried parents.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Barrow?” John asked, pulling out his badge, which was greeted by two nods. “I'm Detective John Avers. This is Detective Andrew Russell. We were here to have a word with your son.”

  “Well as you have probably noticed, we can't find Peter.” Mr. Barrow said, rubbing sweat off of his forehead.

  “Peter was just dropping the garbage out and then going to the all-night market to pick up some milk...it wasn't supposed to be a long wait. It's not that far. He's sixteen—tall for his age—he can be distracted at times.” Mrs. Barrow said, holding back her tears.

  “That was an hour ago...he still hasn't come back.” Mr. Barrow added.

  “It's too early to file a missing person's report...but I'll tell you what, Detective Avers and I will comb the neighborhood to see if Peter might have stopped anywhere or if anyone's seen him. That's where we have to start...best we can do right now.” Damianos explained.

  **

  Half-an-hour of driving around the neighborhood produced no leads for the detectives. It made Damianos cringe to think about the worst possible scenarios. It was likely that Peter was a target, just like Lamont and Eric had been. Peter going missing was most definitely not a coincidence.

  Just as they were about to turn back to the Barrow house, Dominos’ attention fell to some men gathered at the nearby park's entrance.

  Slowing down, they stop by the police officer among the men. Damianos made sure to flash his badge so the officer would come running.

  “Detectives,” the officer said respectfully. “You better look inside the public washroom. Something very bad might be going on.”

  The officer led them toward the washroom, trying to fill them in with necessary information as they walked.

  “The cleaning crew,” the officer pointed to the two men behind him. “They were about to start their chores when they saw...”

  Damianos didn't even listen to the rest of the explanation and rushed toward the restroom. For all he knew, they had just found Peter's body. They had just found another mutilated corpse, flesh peeled off of its bones for no adamant reason. They had just let another young man down.

  No.

  Bloody rags littered the floor—thankfully, Peter Barrow was nowhere to be seen.

  **

  Damianos would have preferred if Alan Davros could come down and work his forensic magic but he was still tied up at the “scarecrow” sites. He was wrapping up his evidence collection with his team but was willing to wait for Damianos to drop off the evidence bag at the lab. So instead, Damianos pulled on a pair of latex gloves and put the rags into an evidence bag.

  Once Damianos got some of Peter's DNA from a toothbrush or clothing, he would have Alan compare the DNA from the blood on the rags with something of Peter's.

  “We're not sure of anything yet so there's absolutely still hope.” John Avers said to Peter Barrow's parents.

  “We're worried, detective,” Mrs. Barrow said. “Peter is a bit gullible sometimes. He would have followed anyone if they were promising to show him rare birds somewhere.” />
  That's concerning. Damianos thought but remained silent, leaving to duty to help keep the parents calm to his partner.

  **

  It was early the following morning when Damianos was awakened by a phone call from Alan Davros. His voice sounded as chipper as it usually did. Damianos wasn't exactly sure how Alan always remained so upbeat but it was always appreciated.

  “So I've got some new info for you, pal.” Alan's voice sang.

  “Lay it one me.” Damianos said with a yawn.

  “Well—to be blunt—the DNA on the rags definitely belongs to Peter Barrow.”

  Any tiredness Damianos had been feeling was exorcised from his body and he was up like a shot. With lightning speed, Damianos took a shower, got dressed, and called Sheriff Anderson. The sheriff was already at his desk. After hearing Dominos’ report about Peter Barrow's disappearance, he did nothing but nod.

  “I'll go around the farms this morning,” Sheriff Anderson said. “We'll call you back if we see anything like a scarecrow that shouldn't be there.”

  Damianos couldn't wait for the sheriff's report. He was far too anxious and used that energy to go to the north of town where the first two boys were found.

  While he and John drove the fifteen miles it took to reach the first farm, Damianos couldn't help his mind from falling back on previous thoughts. The cruelty and brutality of the killings was still difficult to wrap his head around.

  There must have been some kind of jealousy between the perp and the victims. So many possibilities to consider.

  The one he was leading toward was that they may have gone to school with whoever was responsible for the killings.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Damianos knew it was a bad sign when Sheriff Anderson asked them to meet him at a nearby farm. Sure enough, from where he now stood on the porch of the farm house, he could see the third human scarecrow strung up in the field—Peter Barrow had been found.

  “The owners of this property are gone on a trip to visit their daughter in Arizona before harvest times comes around. Sounded like they were having a good time when I told them the bad news.” Sheriff Anderson said solemnly.

  “Nothing like a murder to put a damper on a vacation.” Damianos said, his attention still drawn to the scarecrow.

  “They're on their way home as we speak.”

  Damianos decided to take a walk out into the field, making some necessary phone calls as he approached the scarecrow.

  The first on his list was Dr. James Darby and as expected, Dr. Darby wasn't too happy to have to make another trip out to the farmland.

  “Another body, then?” Darby's voice sounded tired. “This makes three, detective. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to get up close and personal with human bird food after the second.”

  “I know, doc,” Damianos looked up at the horrifying scarecrow. “They say living in a nice quiet area is a lot safer than in the big city...clearly that's not exactly one hundred percent true.”

  “This killer has to be stopped,” Darby said, anger piercing through his sighs. “These are just young men—boys, really—had their whole lives ahead of them. I'll be there as soon as possible and will work round the clock on this one if I have to.”

  “Thanks, doc.”

  Damianos hung up the call and then dialed Alan Davros' number. He wasn't surprised that Alan had been expecting the call and was already in the area, just to be prepared in case the third murder did become a reality. He wanted to be on the scene as quickly as possible and Damianos really appreciated that. He may have been a little happy-go-lucky, but Alan was undeniably good at his job.

  While Damianos had been making his calls, John and Sheriff Anderson had come out into the field to also take another look at the victim. They stood beside Damianos silently staring up at the mutilated body of Peter Barrow.

  The “scarecrow” was set up just as the first two had been—attached to the comb gibbet with a pitchfork impaled into his chest. It was a sight none of them would probably ever forget for the rest of their lives. Peter Barrow's flesh hadn't been quite as picked apart yet as his predecessors but it was haunting thinking that the scarecrow was once a living person. Nobody deserved to have their bodies desecrated and left out for animals to feast upon.

  Damianos looked beneath the body to the wooden gibbet that protruded from the ground.

  “The gibbets...they're not already a part of the fields, are they?” Damianos asked. “It's not as if the killer is replacing an actual scarecrow with the bodies, right?”

  “The fields have had no actual scarecrows put up so the killer must be putting the gibbets up.” John said.

  Damianos stretched his arms over his head in thought. Where would someone find the wood and be skilled enough to construct a gibbet? It was simple construction but the builder would need the tools and equipment to assemble it and a truck to transport it to the field, since it was doubtful they carried it out there on their back.

  In fact, to hoist the body to the gibbet or even to raise it after they'd attached the body to it—it couldn't be done alone.

  “Our killer isn't alone.”

  The words felt right when leaving Dominos’ mouth. It was a chilling theory but it was the only thing that made sense. It wasn't possible for one person to deal with so much heavy lifting at once to put the crime scenes together.

  “Whoever they are, it has to be personal for them. Personal enough to make these big displays for everyone to see...” Damianos said.

  “So, we're looking for at least two perps, probably strong men, bent on killing intelligent boys then.” John Avers concluded.

  “Most likely.” Damianos said with a nod.

  However, there had to be more to it than that. The two killers were very clearly not amateurs. To be able to not only kill, but then set up the bodies without being noticed was actually rather impressive. They may have even done something like this before.

  The choice of using a gibbet was interesting, for one thing. It separated them from a great majority of the population, even, since not everyone knew about a “comb gibbet”. Even those who did, didn't know how deep such a gibbet would need to be planted for it not to fall forward once a body was attached to it.

  Another thought suddenly came to Damianos and he looked down at the foot of the gibbet where it had pierced into the solid earth below. Once the crime lab boys arrived and took the gibbet out of the ground, he would want to know if an auger had drilled the hole to plant the gibbet.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The end of the day came with Alan's report: “an auger was used to drill all three gibbet holes.”

  It was good to hear a new potential lead and Damianos began planning how to find a couple of men who would have access to that sort of equipment. It wasn't something that would usually be found any common man's tool shed.

  The precision and efficiency with which the murders had been carried out worried Damianos. The killings were far from sloppy so he called Captain Wallace with a somewhat unusual request.

  “I'd like your permission to call the Feds, captain.”

  “Never thought I'd hear you say those words, Russell. Didn't know the great 'tamer' ever needed help on any case, especially not from those S.O.B.'s.” Captain Wallace said through the phone.

  “I usually wouldn't,” Damianos said. “I have a bad feeling, though. This case may be a whole lot bigger than us. I just have to make sure this isn't something that has happened anywhere else. The killings seem smart, as if the killers have had practice.”

  “That's a scary thought. What exactly will you be asking the feds?”

  “If there have been any cases were similar comb gibbets have been used throughout the country. For some reason, these killers are targeting boys with high IQ's. It's been the same method with all three. We're going from pattern killers to serial killers and who knows if it's only been around here.”

  “Understood,” Captain Wallace said calmly. �
��You have my permission to contact the Feds. Their assistance could definitely help get this case solved...but promise me this, Russell...I don't want them taking over. This case is ours. Make that very clear to them. They won't be getting any accolades when all is said and done. This is our case and our detectives leading it.”

  “We're not giving up the case, understood.” Damianos said though crossed his fingers just a little as he did.

  It wasn't that he wanted to hand the case over to the Feds, absolutely not...but unlike the captain, Damianos was willing to bargain a little bit. He was willing to give the Feds some bread crumbs as long as they gave him any helpful information in return.

  The killings reeked of experience and he was determined to find out just where that came from.

  **

  As expected, the Feds tried desperately to wiggle their way into taking the lead in the case but Damianos wouldn't have it. They tried vetting him for whatever he had and he was willing to give them some information, but left it relatively vague.

  “This case is important to us,” Special Agent Silverstone said from the other end of the phone. “I don't see why we should give you anything if you aren't willing to work with us.”

  “I know what 'work with us' means, agent,” Damianos said defiantly at his phone. “I'm willing to actually work with you but as far as the most recent killings go, I'm in charge of the investigation until you get the authority to dictate otherwise. Now we can keep playing this tug of war over who's in charge or you can tell me what I need to know and maybe save more lives!”

  John Avers and Sheriff Anderson stood nearby and couldn't help but smile at Dominos’ defiance.

  There was silence for a moment on the other end of the phone that was followed by an audible groan of annoyance.

  “Detective, let's make a deal.”

  That was a lot closer to what Damianos wanted to hear.