Blue Moon Rising: A suspense thriller

by Lillian Francken

  Dan looked around the room. He stared at the black bear rug in front of the fireplace. Things were not looking good for Alan at that point.

  “That’s a big bear,” Dan said as he turned and walked over to it.

  Dan bent down and ran his hand across the fur with one hand while pulling out a few hairs with the other. He got up and put his hand in his pants pocket, and then turns to Alan.

  “Dad and I each took one down in ’89. You ever go hunting in Jackson Hole?”

  “That in Wyoming?” Dan asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “My old man was too busy working,” Dan said curtly.

  Alan looked curiously at Dan. “What are you really here for?”

  “I just stopped by to make sure you were okay?”

  “Thanks for your concern. I’ll see you out,” Alan said in a way that it was a clear invitation for Dan to leave.

  Alan walked to the door and motioned to Dan. It was a clear indication for Dan to follow and leave. Dan in turn obliged. He would give Alan this one, but once he had more information and if it pointed to Alan he would definitely be back, and it would be Alan leaving in handcuffs.

  CHAPTER 12

  Dan walked into his living room. He took off his gun belt and put it along with his hat on the hat rack by the door, and quickly slipped off his shoes. Dan walked over to the mantel and stared at the pictures of Kay. He reached up and touched the cool glass that separated him from the one he loved. Kelly walked in from the kitchen.

  “You miss her, too.” Kelly said walking up to her father.

  “Not a day goes by that I don’t relive that day.”

  “I think about all the things I wanted to tell her, but never took the time to.”

  Dan turned to Kelly and forced a smile. “If only I could have been there. I should have. She called, but I was too busy,” Dan stopped.

  “Don’t go there,” Kelly replied and then tried to change the subject. “I made your favorite dinner.”

  “I should have called. I won’t be eating here tonight.”

  “But,” she said with a look of disappointment.

  “I’m sorry, honey.”

  Dan glanced over at the pictures of Kay and then he put his arms around Kelly and hugged her. He felt guilty but did not want to cancel his plans just then. For the past eighteen months he had always tried to be there for Kelly when she was having one of those down days.

  “I promise to make it up to you,”

  Kelly glanced up at her father. “Who are you having dinner with?” she finally asked.

  “Oh, it’s just business,” Dan quipped, trying to make light of the dinner.

  Dan let Kelly go and walked into the kitchen. Kelly just stared at her father curiously as she followed him.

  Dan walked up to the stove. The odor enticed him but not enough for him to change his mind. He lifted the cover, took the spoon off the plate, and tasted the dish that was cooking. It was Hamburger Helper, but had a good flavor. Dan turned to Kelly.

  “You’re a good cook.”

  “You didn’t answer me,” she said, not giving up.

  “It’s a dinner meeting with the medical examiner,” he finally replied after a long silence.

  “That Nancy who called?”

  “Yeah, the same one who called yesterday,” he said and then pointed at Kelly. “It isn’t what you think.”

  Dan put the cover back on the pan and set the spoon down. He went over to the desk and took out a small envelope. Dan reached in his pocket and pulled the pocket inside out. The dust bunnies and black-bear fur fell onto the desk. Kelly looked at him with disgust.

  “Didn’t your mama teach you any manners?”

  “Hey, there’s a reason for this,” he said and then pointed. “And Grandma taught me manners.”

  “You aren’t going to save that dirt?”

  “It isn’t like that,” Dan said in his defense.

  Kelly walked up to him and then looked down at the desk. “What are those?”

  “Fur from a black bear.”

  “What are you going to do with it?”

  “Have them checked out,” Dan replied, not really wanting to explain further.

  Kelly walked over to the sink. She opened up the cupboard doors under the sink and reached in for the spray cleaner and a roll of paper towel. She walked back over to Dan and handed them to him.

  “You can clean the desk off when you’re done.”

  Dan put the black-bear fur in the small envelope and then quickly cleaned off the desk. He turned and handed the cleaner and paper towels back to Kelly.

  “Does that meet your satisfaction?” he asked and then laughed. He then turned to walk out.

  “I’m going to shower,” he said.

  Kelly just stood there, looking at her father with arms crossed and a big grin on her face.

  * * *

  Dan pulled up to the Medical Examiner’s office. The only car in the parking lot was an Outback with a parking sticker for Little Rock. Dan had been nervous and feared that maybe Nancy only was teasing him when she accepted the invitation. He was relieved now. At least she had not changed her mind.

  He got out of the squad and walked in. Nancy sat at her desk, doing paperwork. Dan was taken aback for a moment when he saw her. She was wearing a red dress, his favorite color, her hair flowing flawlessly over her shoulders. It reminded him of Kay for an instant, but then he tried not to think about that.

  Dan glanced at the table at the far end of the room. It was there the bones were assembled in approximation of where they would be in life.

  “Must be hard work trying to figure out what happened.”

  Nancy got up and walked over to the table. Dan could not take his eyes off the nicely shaped woman in front of him. Nancy finally turned to Dan and caught him looking at her.

  She cleared her throat and then quickly added. “The victim was male.”

  Dan appeared puzzled. “How can you tell?”

  Nancy calmly pointed to some bones in the center of the table. “The pelvic bone. Definitely male.” She points up at the head. “Also on the skull, the ridge on the brow confirms it.”

  Dan was curious now. “What else do you know about him,” he asks.

  “From the sutures in the skull and the closure in the epiphyses of the shoulder and the basilar synchondrosis of the spheroid, I’d say the victim was about eighteen.”

  Dan just stared at Nancy. He was never good in biology and it amazed him she could pronounce those words, and seemed confident in what she was relaying.

  “I’d ask you to repeat that, but I still wouldn’t understand what you just said.”

  Nancy laughed. “We learn things like that in school, that’s how any medical examiner can determine age when the body is in this condition. The body’s bones are constantly developing.”

  “I can tell you he’s been dead nearly twenty years.”

  “All that from a pile of bones?” Dan asked.

  “That and the class ring we found.”

  Nancy turned and walked over to the tray that was covered with a cloth. She lifted the cloth. Nancy picked up the ring and handed it to Dan.

  Dan had a cold chill go through him. It was a ring he longed to have in high school, but money was tight. His parents could not afford the extravagance of a class ring for him and his part-time job did not pay enough for such a luxurious item. He put the ring back on the tray.

  “Pine Bluff High,” was all Dan could muster up to say.

  “I talked to Mac. He told me about a Jason O’Connor, who disappeared some twenty years ago. The J and O on the class ring kind of confirms it’s him, but I still want to examine his dental records so I can do a positive identification before notifying the family.”

  The O’Connor family gave up on Jason years ago and had him legally declared dead nearly ten years now. His grave was two sites down from Kay’s so Dan saw it often.

  Dan shook his head, not believing how good Nancy was, and urged her
on.

  “Do you have a cause of death?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

  “Definitely, he was knifed.”

  Dan raised his eyebrows. “You are good.”

  Nancy reached for the tray and picked up the knife tip. She handed it to Dan.

  “Found this lodged in one of his ribs,” she said and then quickly continued. “From it’s location, I’d say it pierced the lung. He probably bled out quickly.”

  Dan just stared at the piece of metal in his hand. A cold sweat appeared on his brow but he said nothing.

  “You don’t look so good.”

  Dan wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Can we get out of here? This place gives me the willies.”

  Dan had a troubled look on his face while Nancy walked over to the coat rack. She grabbed a sweater, but Dan took it from her and put it over her shoulders. He would have to deal with what was bothering him later. Right now he wanted to enjoy the evening.

  * * *

  Dan leaned back and watched Nancy as she ate her salad. “So what brings you to our little community?” he asked.

  “I have relatives living here and it seemed like a nice town. Low crime rate.” Nancy replied and then laughed. “That was before this week.”

  Dan shook his head. “Maybe the blue moon rising has something to do with it.”

  “There are people who believe in that theory that there are more crimes committed during this moon cycle. But no real study has been able to prove it valid.”

  “After today, you have a believer in me.”

  “You only found the second victim during the moon cycle. Besides, I usually don’t mix business with pleasure.”

  Dan reached over and patted Nancy’s hand. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Promise?” she asked teasingly.

  “That reminds me,” he said, reaching into his inside pocket. He pulled out the envelope and handed it to Nancy. “Can you check this fur against the fur you found on Richie?”

  “You found the black-bear rug?”

  “You’re not the only working this case. It might not even be the same bear rug, I just thought it was worth checking.”

  “You going to tell me whose fireplace it sits in front of?”

  “Alan Maxwell,” was all Dan mustered up to say. He could tell by the look on Nancy face that this information did not surprise her.

  He was about to pursue his gut feeling, but the waiter was back at the table. All he managed to do was raise his eyebrows. The waiter took the salad plates and set their food on the table. Nancy simply smiled up at Dan.

  “So what else can you tell me about the bones?” Dan asked.

  “The bones were disturbed, so it’s hard to tell the exact position of the body. I think the hands were tied behind the back,” she said and then hesitated a moment. “Mind you, I’m not positive.”

  “You think the same person did this?” Dan asked.

  “Not exactly,” she said. But then quickly added, “There are similarities. Maybe it’s just getting the bodies so close together.” She shook her head. “Both victims were found in the same proximity of each other. Both were tied from behind possibly and the same age group. A knife was involved in both killings. You don’t run across something like that very often.”

  “You’re talking serial killer, who has been at it,” Dan studied Nancy a moment before continuing, “Twenty years or so?”

  “It’s only a theory,” she added.

  “What about the rope?”

  “There was no trace. You realize it’s hard to determine something after a person has been buried for so long, with basically no protection from the elements.”

  Dan looked at his steak a moment then leaned forward. “Jason? I can hardly believe it.”

  “You knew him?” Nancy asked.

  “It’s a small town. We graduated together. I went into the service, but my mother would send me clippings,” he added and then paused for a moment. “I just figured he ran off to Little Rock like he always talked about. He was supposed to go away to college but his parents didn’t have the money. The way I heard, they worked out some deal with the Senator to pay for his schooling.”

  “A lot of people probably figured that. But the fact remains, he never made it out of town.”

  Dan sat there, too stunned to eat. It bothered him that at every turn the Senator’s name was coming up, and if not his, then his son’s name. He was sure that somehow they were involved. In all his years as an officer of the Law he never knew a killer personally, so it was hard for him to comprehend that these two men whom he knew could be cold-blooded killers. That thought bothered him.

  CHAPTER 13

  Dan walked into the darkened house. He was careful not to make any noise, not wanting to wake Kelly. He really did not want to talk to his daughter about the date he had just been on. Somehow he just was not ready for that yet.

  Dan quickly entered his bedroom and shut the door before turning on the light. Slowly he took off his shirt. He studied his reflection in the mirror. Dan sucked in his stomach. For a middle-aged man he did not look too bad. Dan walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. He rummaged through the socks until he pulled out the pocketknife from years earlier. Dan opened it and stared at the broken blade.

  Why he kept it all these years, he did not know. It could have been to remember how vulnerable he had felt that night on the dark lonely stretch of road and the fear of the unknown. He had never again felt the kind of fear that was so intense that night.

  * * *

  The sun shone brightly, the temperature was in the high eighties already. Mac was at his desk operating the radio as he always was in the morning when Dan walked into work. Dan was curious if Mac ever went home at night. He was always the first one in in the morning and the last one to leave at night. If anyone did not have a life, it was Mac.

  Dan walked over to his desk and read the log sheet from last nights shift. Once done, he stretched while yawning, as he was still tired from a sleepless night of tossing and turning. He slowly glanced over at Mac.

  “Anything I should know about before I make my run?”

  “Had some excitement.”

  “What, pray tell?” Dan asked. Not really wanting to know because it was sounding like one of Mac’s embellished stories.

  “Maria Maxwell stopped by. She had a flat and needed help.”

  Dan appeared puzzled when he heard this because he didn’t figure Maria for being an early riser.

  “She’d be enough to excite you. Did you call the garage for her?” Dan asked.

  “No! I changed it myself,” Mac snapped. It bothered him that Dan didn’t think him capable of doing it himself.

  Dan has a concerned look on his face. “Who watched Junior?”

  “I was only gone a half-hour.”

  “Have you checked on him recently?” Dan asked. Suddenly he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  “What for? He was okay when I got in this morning,” Mac said, not understanding Dan’s concern.

  “Because he’s in protective custody. That’s what for!” Dan said irritably.

  Mac jumped to his feet as Dan rushed over for the key for the cellblock.

  Dan and Mac hurried into the cellblock and once inside they stood there in silent horror as Junior dangled from the shredded sheet attached to the ceiling light fixture. Dan just shook his head as he grabbed hold of the cell bars and screamed.

  “Oh my God,” Mac said, looking up at Junior.

  Dan quickly turned to Mac and yelled. “Get me a knife.”

  * * *

  Dan gently set Junior on the bunk and then turned to Mac.

  “You had better get Ms. Davie over here,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  Mac appeared defeated and filled with guilt. “Sheriff, I couldn’t have been gone more than twenty minutes,” he said.

  “Did you see anybody on the street?”

  “I don’t know.”

&nb
sp; Dan turned to Mac and snapped. “Think!”

  “There was so much going on. When I got back in, there was an accident on Old Mill Road. Conroy was on the other side of the county line. Billy Bob finally took the call. I never thought to check on Junior.”

  Mac hung his head and dejectedly walked to the cellblock door. “Maybe I’m too old for this job. Maybe you should…” he said, but then stopped.

  Dan looked up at Mac. “No more maybes. Just don’t let it happen again.”

  Mac shook his head while looking at the sheet tied to the light fixture. He slowly turned and walked out.

  “I better go tell Junior’s father what happened,” Dan said and then turned to the cellblock door as it closed and yelled to Mac. “Don’t mention this on the radio. I don’t want half the county knowing before I get there. And from now on, scramble the calls.”

  Mac looked through the door and nodded as he wiped his eyes.

  * * *

  Dan stood on the Senator’s porch. He rang the doorbell again and lost his patience in that moment. John Youngblood had not taken the news of his son’s death very well. Although John assumed it was suicide, Dan did not volunteer his theory on Junior’s untimely demise. Dan pressed the doorbell again.

  The door finally opened. Maria nervously tried to hide the bruise on her cheek, but it was useless. There was not enough makeup in the world to cover a bruise that size.

  “Is the Senator in?” Dan asked.

  “You just missed him,” Maria said. Gone were her usual flirtatious mannerisms.

  “Damn,” Dan said staring at the bruise. “You wouldn’t happen to know if the Senator was in town this morning?”

  Maria avoided looking at Dan and finally asked. “Why? What is this about?”

  “A simple yes or no will suffice,” Dan snapped. He had lost all patience at that point.

  Maria fidgeted a moment and then finally responded. “No.”

  But in the way she said it Dan doubted she was being truthful. He also wondered how soon after Maria’s stint in town that the Senator took out his vengeance on her.

  “He’ll be back before dark. Should I have him call you?” she quickly added.

  Dan nodded. Maria slowly turned and walked back into the house.