by A P Morgan
“Hey, if you’re on our side then call me, Ryan. Detective sounds much stuffier.” He held out his hand to Agent Watson.
“Agreed, but only if you call me Gavin.”
“Done. Now to do our best to prove Agent Perez wrong.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible.” Gavin confessed.
“Ha, now you’ve given me a challenge. I may not be hopeful that we’ll catch this guy before he kills more women, but I can guarantee that we can prove Agent Perez wrong. I have a psychic on call and we can use her to our advantage.”
“Really tell me about this psychic while we drive.”
“Her name is Flora…”
-------
After searching both towns, we didn’t find any abandoned cars belonging to the dead women. That either meant that he hadn’t made it to these towns yet or he’d covered his tracks a little better.
We were just about to check into a hotel when Gavin got a message from someone at Seaside.
“They’ve found a cabin in the woods that looks to be abandoned at the moment, but would be the perfect spot for our hunter. It’s also owned by Urban Energy.” Gavin explained heading back to the car.
“Did Perez ask for us to be there?” I asked incredulous that they’d found it.
“Nope, which is what will make this much more special. I can’t wait to see her face when we get there.”
“How quickly can we get there?” I was gauging how long I could sleep for.
“We’re still two hours away. Just in time for them to get some prints and evidence. It’s the best of both worlds, we let them do all the dirty work and then we get to help nail the bastard to the wall.” Gavin had taken his confidence back.
“I’m all in. Can I buy a pillow from the hotel before we leave?” I saw both of the guys looking at me, “What can’t a girl be comfortable is she’s going to nap in a moving vehicle?”
They ignored me and I settled in to get a little rest before the inquisition started.
Evidently, Gavin had someone that was keeping him appraised of what was going on. There were spies in the FBI. It was good to know in case we needed information in the future.
While the land might have changed hands, it was the home of a long time hermit, named Tom Prings. When we pulled up there were still lots of FBI vehicles and people moving around.
A truck pulled up behind us, but didn’t have anywhere to go when he realized that we were turning around as well.
“Hey, do you know what’s going on?” He tried to play it casually, but I was pretty sure that we were looking at Tom whose home the FBI had invaded.
“We were looking for Tom Prings. Do you know him?” I asked through the open window.
“Yeah, I’m Tom. I don’t get many visitors round here. How can I help you?” He looked completely taken aback when the three of us got out of the car with guns drawn.
“Now, what’s going on?” He stuttered hands raised.
“Will you get out of the vehicle and keep your hands were we can see them?” Gavin commanded.
We were just back up and let him take the lead.
“I’m just going to mosey up to the cabin and see what Agent Perez thinks of our friend here.” I called to the boys as they put the cuffs on our find.
Everyone stopped as we got closer and reactions varied between stares and pointing at the man cuffed as they recognized him.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Agent Perez tapped a foot impatiently as we walked closer. “Who’s this you’ve got? It wouldn’t be the man we’ve been looking for the past two hours would it?”
“I didn’t have a chance to tell these lovely people before they put cuffs on me, I just went to town for groceries. I have no idea what’s going on and why the FBI is in my house.” Tom protested.
“We’ve found all sorts of hunting tools and cages out back. There’s human blood in a few spots and the only thing we don’t have is the buried women that you’ve killed.”
“Killed? I haven’t killed anyone.” Tom looked around frantically. “Was someone murdered?”
“Put him in the van and let’s get him a lawyer. We don’t want to take any chances on someone missing a step and screwing up a conviction later.” Agent Perez ordered two agents standing next to her.
She walked over to one of the cars and got inside. As she pulled up next to us she stopped, “Agent Watson are you coming to help interrogate him?”
Bewildered, Gavin looked at us confused, “Yes, ma’am.” He threw the keys to Ryan and shrugged as he got into the passenger side before she sped down the dirt road.
“I’m going to go get Tom’s truck and pull it up to the house. If he has groceries, then anything perishable will need to be put away.” I started walking down the drive trying not to breath in the cloud of dirt that Agent Perez had left behind.
“Why would you do that if he’s guilty?” Ryan asked falling in beside me.
“The verdict is still out on that. No sense in groceries going to waste. Plus, I don’t think he’s the one we’re looking for.” I opened the truck and hopped in using the keys that had been left in the ignition.
Ryan pulled the car we’d been driving down and parked it at the end of the line of cars. He hurried over to help me carry the brown paper bags of groceries inside.
It was the first that we’d seen the ‘crime’ scene and there was fingerprint dust everywhere. I found the cabinet that I’m sure Tom called the kitchen. An old fifties style fridge hummed as it kept the groceries cold. He hadn’t bought a lot of food and most of it was canned goods. If he was a hunter as he claimed then I was sure that most of what he ate was fresh.
“Ready to make sure if this is the right guy?” Ryan asked.
“Yep. I don’t think this is the killer. He didn’t buy enough groceries to last more than one person very long. There isn’t anything here that says he’s got money to travel around. I’m going to bet that he hasn’t been out of town in years.” I got in the front seat and buckled up. Ryan would try to make up for lost time so we wouldn’t miss anything that Agent Perez asked.
“What about the human blood they found?”
“I’m going to say that it was planted or someone got into a fight years ago and they weren’t worried about cleaning it up. We may have brought him in, but I can’t wait for Agent Perez to figure it out.”
“Wow, you don’t like her do you?”
“Nope. When you take your position and make those around you feel like crap just because you can. Nanuh, not cool.”
“Well, we’re here so you can go save the other agents from the big bad wolf.” Ryan teased.
“You know what? I’m glad that you’ve gotten your sense of humor back. It’s nice to be talking to someone who’s back in the game.”
“Sorry about that. I just had to get my head clear and having that near miss last night kind of shook out some of the cobwebs. It doesn’t do me any good to worry about how I might or might not have been able to save my old partner, when I need to have my current partner’s back.” He shrugged, “I’m good.”
“All right. Make sure that I don’t get any scratches because we might just have a cat fight.” I made clawing motions as I walked into the sheriff’s office.
Most of the agents and sheriff’s officers were out working at Tom Pring’s cabin. Agent Perez and Gavin were alone in the room with Tom and a quickly acquired lawyer. The sheriff was standing in the hall watching through the two-way mirror
“Where did you put the bodies?” Agent Perez slapped the pictures of missing women on the table. Mixed in were pictures of the autopsied bodies along with pictures of missing women who fit the profile.
“The only bodies I work with are the animals I hunt. I don’t kill humans and certainly not any women. If you weren’t all up in my face I wouldn’t be talking to you. I don’t like the way women twist things around and make it all your fault, just like you’re doing now.” Tom moaned in to his hands.
“Tom, you
have a record for hurting people. They kicked you out of school for it. Animals went missing and I’ll bet if we talked to people, they’d all have a story about how you were the reason. There might even be a few rumors about girls that went missing.”
“He didn’t do most of that, it was his brother.” Sheriff Turner whispered.
I bit back a laugh, he didn’t like her either.
“Does his brother live here?”
“No, he moved away years ago. I’ll bet Tom doesn’t even know where his brother it these days. Now, his cousin Sebastian didn’t do too bad for himself, but they’re the only ones left of the Spring family that aren’t tied up in the mill. At least Sebastian was able to hold down a job, Tom couldn’t find work anywhere in if he tried.”
“I thought Tom’s last name was Prings.”
“It is, but he changed it after his parents died. He didn’t want anything to do with the entire Spring family. Something happened with his parents and they were killed in a fire. His brother left the next day and we haven’t seen or heard from him again.” The sheriff banged on the glass, “If his lawyer isn’t going to stop her then I’ll have to. Tom wouldn’t hurt anyone. The only things he’s ever killed have been for food.”
“She’s not going to like that.” A wide grin spread across my face as we watched him shut it down.
“Agent Perez, either you charge him and we put him in a cell or you let him go.” Sheriff Turner stood up to face her.
She pushed a finger into his chest, “If you wanted to be in charge then you shouldn’t have called us. It’s now under our jurisdiction and I’m not done questioning him.”
“I’m going to beg to differ. Tom has been a model citizen for years. Now, if was his brother that would be a different story.”
Tom’s head came up at the mention of his brother, but he quickly lowered his eyes to the table.
“I haven’t had a problem with Tom ever. He minds his own business and even when others try to rile him up, he doesn’t stand up for himself.”
“How do you explain all of the money we found under his bed?”
Sheriff Turner pushed her out of the way and took a seat across from Tom. “Tom, where’d you get the money under your bed?”
“I make furniture. They sell it over in at Larry’s Furniture Mart.”
“You’re the mysterious wood maker. Well, living like you do I can see how you wouldn’t want people to know because they might not buy the same way. You’d never have a moment’s piece either.” The sheriff nodded in satisfaction.
“That’s it? You’re going take his word that all the money is his?” Agent Perez almost shrieked.
“Tom,” The sheriff calmly said his name, “How come the people who own that land let you stay there?”
“When they bought the property, I made that part of the deal. I get to live there until I die and then they can do whatever they want with it.” Tom answered in a clear distinct voice.
“What about your brother? Wouldn’t he have a say if you sold it?”
Tom stared off into the corner as he answered, “My brother is dead. Had him declared so years ago after Mama and Papa died in that fire. Besides he wouldn’t want anything to do with me or the land. The people that bought it made the deal and it keeps the developers from ripping up my forest until I’m gone.”
Something was bothering me about Tom’s answers. Many people would have someone declared dead if they had been missing or they’d tried to find them. Tom seemed very certain that his brother wasn’t coming back though as if he knew that his brother was dead.
“Where are you holding the girls?” Agent Watson nicely asked hoping to get a better response than the other two had.
“I’m not holding any girls. What would I want with girls?” Tom questioned.
“So you’re gay?”
“No, if I wanted to date a woman then I would, but I wouldn’t have nothing to do with girls that’s just sick man.” Tom clarified.
Sheriff Turner stood up, “Tom, I’m going to put you in one of the cells tonight. If the FBI doesn’t charge you with something in the morning I’ll let you go home. Until then, I think it will be safer if someone is guarding your cell that’s from around here.”
Agent Perez started to protest, but he stopped her. “No. My people can verify that Tom isn’t a problem. If we keep him overnight that should give you enough time to finish searching for whatever you were expecting to find in his cabin. I also want every piece of money returned to him in the morning. If any of its missing I’ll not only call your boss, but I’ll make a call to the Governor’s office.”
As they led him past I spoke up, “Tom, I put your groceries up for you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Tom looked up for only a moment and all I saw was genuine gratitude.
Looking over his shoulder, Agent Perez was shooting darts of rage at me.
“You got my back Ryan?” I turned to whisper.
“Absolutely. This is going to be fun.”
I walked past her without a word and went over to the headquarters where everyone had been working on different parts of the puzzle for the past several days.
The boards had been updated with ten confirmed bodies, but I knew that there were at least five more out there.
“How dare you?” Her voice made the few people in the room stop what they were doing immediately.
I was about to get the brunt of her anger that she couldn’t take out on the sheriff after his threats.
“Oh, were you talking to me?” I looked around the room feigning confusion.
“Yes, you. You came here and are constantly suggesting ideas about the killer. Then you go and put his groceries up for him like he’s somebody special instead of a suspect. I don’t know how you do it back in Texas, but the FBI doesn’t help suspects.”
“See that’s where I’m confused. He may be a suspect and that’s fine, but there was no sense in wasting good groceries. Where I come from it’s the neighborly thing to do, instead of letting all that money go to waste. If he is the killer then cleaning out his fridge is someone else’s problem. At least they won’t have to take the soured milk out of his front seat or move the rotten tomatoes.” I stood facing her not letting her being in my space make me back down.
“Also, you’re the one who invited me. I mean I can see how threatening it is for detectives to come in and lend a hand with a serial killer. Being petty is such a great idea when women are dying and we still don’t have the person responsible. I’ve already seen what this person is capable of and I’m not talking about the local guy.” I calmly stated and waited for her to respond.
“Well you’re going to regret this when I prove that we have the murderer locked up.” She turned and left the room with a trail of steam following her.
The past twenty four hours were catching up to me and I was in serious need of some food and sleep.
“Agent Watson, is there any way we can get our luggage out of the car? I think we’re going to stay here tonight, just in case the old fashioned form of lynch mobs makes a comeback.”
“Certainly.” He leaned in to whisper, “She going to be getting a phone call from her boss shortly. The sheriff and I are both going to be making calls tonight.”
“There’s a dinner across the street where you can get some food while I arrange for somewhere for you to stay tonight.”
“Thank you. I don’t know which is more important right now, food or sleep. I can eat while you work on the sleep.” I walked out of the temporary headquarters with my head up. I wasn’t going to let that woman beat me.
Chapter 8
Ryan
Leslie had been right the night before we needed to get some sleep, but I was still having problems and it was only seven at night. I’d made sure that she was settled in before I left the room.
The only thing that Gavin had been able to find was one lone room with queen beds. One of the news crews had been called back to L.A. leaving the room empty. Housekeeping ha
d given us new sheets and Lysol spray, but they wouldn’t be able to do a deep clean until in the morning.
Leslie hadn’t cared, she’d been asleep before her head hit the pillow. I had to admire the way she lived. All passion and go until her energy died and then she was out for the count.
Not only were my thoughts keeping me up, but I wanted to see if the sheriff had any ideas on where another local burial ground could be located.
He was taking the first shift of guarding Tom to keep the FBI from absconding with him in the middle of the night.
“Sheriff Turner, got a minute?” I knocked at the door of the cells.
“Yeah, what’s on your mind, Detective?” He closed the door between the cell and the hallway. “Have a seat.”
“I’m curious. If you don’t think that Tom’s responsible, who do you think would be capable of something like this?”
“That’s a really hard question. I don’t want to believe that anyone I know could be capable of this type of horror. I think that he’s got everyone fooled. He might be a resident that’s on the newer side, but not many people would have used those two burial sites unless you’d lived here most of your life.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“I’m starting to doubt everyone, but my mother in this thing. Since she’s a woman and doesn’t fit the profile, I think it’s safe for me to trust her.” He gave a wry grin, “Seriously, I asked the FBI to step in, but I didn’t know what I was going to get with Agent Perez.”
“I think she means well, she’s just going about it backwards.” I hated to give her credit, but she wasn’t a dumb woman.
“What would you suggest we do next to prevent him from taking more women?” He got up to glance through the small window into the cells.
“We need to think like a hunter. Where would he feel comfortable hunting even with all of this publicity going on? Someplace that he’d done it many times before right?. He might not have stayed here, but he grew up in the area. It takes years of running through the woods in dark to be able to hunt others in them. He might even live somewhere else and come back here just for this purpose.”
