Of Morality and Sin: Massacre of the Football Team (Virgil McLendon Thrillers Book 7)

by catt dahman

  “Then we have a solve on all of it. She’s a murderer,” Coach Cervantes said. “End of case, right?”

  “No,” said Fin as he paced the room. “It might have ended there with that part of the case never solved. No one was looking for the man anyway. I don't know how Jennie would have fared, but that's how time plays into this so carefully. She went for treatment and was forcing herself to go on and act normally. She didn't even tell her best friend about her abuse.”

  Several people looked bored.

  Fin felt a wave of anger. “Part of the normality was that she and Sandy went to a senior party at the Turner house. Again, up to this point, there is no connection and nothing that would further Jennie's part in this story. The party took a very bad turn and let me be clear, there were choices made, very bad choices, but again, Jennie wasn't the problem. She was the victim. Again.”

  He told them another story, and several faces paled as he explained that Jennie and Sandy were raped. He wasn't crude, but he made it clear it was forced and it was multiple times for each girl. He said that both girls had been injured and bruised by the vicious gang rape.

  “Are you serious?” Mr. Yow demanded. He looked at the others. He had liked Tommy and to think the boy had forced rape on a girl was terrible. What if he had forced Lisa Marie? Young girls had no business being manipulated like that;it never crossed his mind that his affair with a very young girl was also manipulation of power and age.

  “We are serious. We have a statement and we have physical evidence. We also have a few other admissions, although no one is willing to admit it was, in fact, rape.”

  “That’s a lie. Are you going to believe that slut, Sandy Slider? That never happened,” Mindy Jacobs said. She was shaking with fury. How dare anyone say Michael Lourdes had raped anyone. Obviously, the girls were to blame.

  “I think it did happen exactly that way, but the six boys aren’t here to tell us their side. But let’s say it did...or didn’t…let’s get to the rest. Now, we know Lisa Marie raised hell with Sandy about it because she saw Tommy having sex with Sandy.” Fin saw the girl tightened her mouth, not about to say a word.

  Lou Yow paled, “That happened? You saw that, Honey?”

  “Dad...”

  “Answer me. Did you see that?”

  “Yes. Yes, I saw that. I saw Tommy doing it with ….with that whore. It made me sick, but I knew it was her fault. I confronted her, okay?”

  Fin added, “Confronted and slapped. Assault, technically.”

  Lisa Marie glared.

  Fin went on, “So Lisa Marie told Sue. Why? We don’t know; maybe it just happened that they were around one another because you girls don’t run in the same circles. Sue confronted Jasper.”

  “I had a right to know,” Sue snapped. “How do you think I felt when miss peppy here came to me after Math class and let me know my boyfriend had fooled around with those sluts? She was just dying to share the secret with me.” She recalled when Lisa Marie caught her arm and whispered to her, running the words together quickly, in an excited tone.

  “Shut up,” Lisa Marie said.

  “She was all about letting me know and seeing how sick it made me. There's nothing better than making someone else feel like shit to make yourself feel better,” Sue finished.

  Fin rolled his head on his neck to release the tight muscle ache. “ That is just a side bar to this. The girls told the secret. Some confronted their boyfriends. Sue, you did.”

  “And he was sorry,” Sue said. “We worked it out.”

  Fin said, “I'm not keeping facts confidential...we know is that the boys had gonorrhea. In fact, so does Jean and a few more of our ladies sitting here. It has been passed around to a lot of people by now...I image a few of you may have some symptoms. You may notice burning upon urination and discharge. You may notice nothing at all.” He let a few glance around the room and shift uncomfortably.

  “This is outrageous,” said the lawyer for the Jacobs as he jumped out of his chair.

  Fin motioned for him to sit down and continued, “The girls were livid. At some point, they all got together: Mindy, Sue, Jean, Lisa Marie, Jacki, Jean, and Terri. Three are friends, but this time Jean, Sue, and Jacki were included in the talk. Lisa Marie could only say she saw the sexual conduct between Tommy and Sandy. Maybe she saw and reported more. Because of this and the sexually transmitted disease, all of you girls believed that your boyfriends cheated on you the night of the party. You also believed you ended up with an STD passed on from either Jennie or Sandy and given to your boyfriends.”

  Everyone flashed Fin looks of hatred.

  “We were left with this as motive. But for whom? I would wonder if the fathers hadn’t maybe avenged their daughters, but now, we know a girl was visiting Jennie when she was killed.” He let that sink in.

  He took a deep breath and went on, “And we know Jean was outside Jerry’s window and probably threw in a nest. We know this, right, Jean? Once we had that fact established, the rest became clear. So let’s go with the girls being mad and vindictive. Each killed her own boyfriend with a means comparable to her father’s line of work.”

  “That’s crazy,” Terri’s father shouted. He gripped his daughter's arm, shocked that she would be accused of cutting break lines and seat belts.

  “Mindy tossed in a hair dryer when she went to visit Michael as he sat in the whirlpool. She knew he would be there, and she often visited for some alone time. In went the dryer, and Michael fried right there in the tub. Mindy, when you did that, he splashed, maybe? You took his dry towel, used it to clean up, and then stuffed it in your locker. We found that this afternoon.”

  “You can’t prove it,” said Mindy as she flipped her ponytail.

  “Be quiet,” the lawyer told her. Her father’s face went ashen.

  Vivian had known the lack of a towel, in the crime scene picture, was important. She stared hard at Mindy. It would take nerves of steel to toss the dryer into the water, knowing what was about to happen right before her eyes. She watched him suffer.

  Mindy crawled out of her bedroom that night, across the roof, down the trellis and to the ground. She ran all the way to the gym. Michael. was surprised to see his girlfriend there since she never did anything against her parents' wishes. Maybe she was going to finally have sex with him; he certainly hoped so since he had been dreaming of that for years, since he had first begun dating her.

  He faintly considered the problem of the little infection she had, buthe had gone to the doctor and was taking medicine, so it had to be okay. Maybe. Sure, the doctor had warned him to not have sex for a few weeks but the old many had forgotten what it was like to be young and to have such a pretty girlfriend. Michael was unsure what to do.

  He did know, that despite other things in his life, and temptations, and yes, some side action, he did love Mindy Once they graduated and could get married, he'd be loyal and never stray. He swore that to himself.

  But the second he saw her holding the hair dryer and also saw that her eyes were bitterly dark and hard, he knew that she knew. What exactly she knew, he wasn't sure, but it was something related to sex and other females because she was furious. She was livid. He knew exactly what she was about to do even as she hesitated a split second before throwing the dryer at the tub.

  What he didn't know was that afterward, she dried her pants and face where water had splashed and walked out of the room and to her locker where she stashed the towel. Her eyes never lost the steely look, but inside, she was hurt and sad not for him, but go herself.

  She was Mindy! She was everything. She had worked so hard to be perfect and had thought she had a good boyfriend, and all because of a little thing, sex, everything was just ruined. How could she live there with Michael, married, years from then, knowing what he did and seeing that Jennie Dome and Sandy Slider who might be secretly laughing at her.

  Mindy feared little because she had worked hard to be in a place of safety, but one thing she did fear was being made a fo
ol of. She would die before having her parents look at her with pity. Damn him for ruining everything.

  But right then, she simply glared at the FBI agents, sure they could prove nothing.

  “Lisa Marie, you went and poured antifreeze in Tommy’s drink and then waited for him to drink it and die. That was very cold hearted, but then, you saw him cheating, so you were very angry. You felt enough fury to pull that off. But what is really wrong is that what you saw, was him raping that girl.”

  “He was not. She caused this, and she wanted it to happen. She’s lying. I wish she was dead, too,” Lisa Marie said.

  Glaring at Fin Carter, her mother hugged her close and said, “That is horrible to say.”

  Lou Yow looked grey. He suddenly knew the agent was correct and he felt sick.

  Lisa Marie really did felt both of those sluts should die. The ignorant agents could say anything they wanted, but Tommy never raped anyone; those wicked girls seduced him. If she could, she would burn away the images, but she had seen Tommy having sex with Sandy and it made her sick each time she replayed it in her mind. No matter what was said, it was Tommy who had been drunk and Sandy the aggressor.

  The fact was, men were stupid creatures.

  She knew this because of several examples. For instance, Lisa Marie's older brother, Joel, loved a girl names Connie, in high school and she became pregnant. Of course, Lisa Marie figured it was a way for Connie to hook Joel and marry up in the world to get out of that hot, nasty trailer on the edge of town, and have a better life. Before the pair could marry Connie gave birth, and wouldn't you know the baby was part black! Lisa Marie and her family were beyond angry.

  Connie swore she had never been with another boy, but was not believed for one second. Connie's family even angrily made remarks about Connie's maternal grandfather who had died long ago, and said he was mixed, but the Yows didn't listen. Joel told Connie to stay the hell away from him, but he moved out of town and hardly visited because of all that. Connie lived with her bastard kid in the hot trailer.

  Lisa Marie felt bad for Joel and loved him, but oh my, wasn't he a fool! He had let sex lead him right into a terrible place and almost ended up with a mixed baby. What could be worse? Things were not like that in Lisa Marie's town; despite Agent Marcus Jones, black people tended to stay in their own circles here, and if they didn't, well...they could live in squalid, hot, dirty trailers. She particularly wished agent Jones to fall into a deep well.

  And then there was her father. The idiot was screwing around with that stupid girl, Judith who was younger than she was. Lisa Marie figured that out after seeing them together once and then finding a scarp a paper with a few sweet words that failed to burn in the fire place. She would have told, but it might have messed up her own happy home, and it would either end or all come out anyway. But that was a terrible example of another stupid man led astray by his penis.

  Lately, Lisa Marie had read a lot about avenging wrongs and making the evil suffer. The Bible said to not “suffer a whore to live”. She took care of Tommy because he was wrong and if it happened once, it would again; he was the bad one, not she. She had loved him but that went away when she saw him with that whore.

  So she spiked his drink, and it was done. Because she was a smart girl she had left a sack at Judith's house that the girl would think was from Lisa Marie's father because of a few hearts she drew on it. Inside there were three do-nuts, a candy bar, and two nice big bottles of soda. The drinks might be a little sweeter, but that was fine; let Judith enjoy them. She was going the same way as Tommy had.

  Connie, the big ole cheater also had a care package at her door: she loved lemon-lime soda and there were two, a bag of salty chips, and for the toddler: a bottle of apple juice.

  Lisa Marie's Mom always said, 'In for a penny, in for a pound', and Lisa Marie was now in for a few pounds. They'd never prove she did it. And her revenge was complete....well..after Sandy drank her little care package sodas, that was.

  The they could all begin afresh. Maybe she wasn't a mastermind at this, but she was cleaning up the town's sins. That had to count for a lot and give her a little grace and luck.

  Fin noted a smug look on Lisa Marie's face and shuddered at the coolness, but he went on, “It’s true. And then there was Jasper. We have your family’s rifles and are matching ballistics. I think we’ll find a match, Sue. You went to the woods and shot Jasper in his head.”

  “He cheated on me,” she said quietly.

  “And for that he died?” Fin got no response.

  Sue was righteous in her views. Jasper's family always encouraged him to date someone else but she kept him satiated with sex: anywhere, anyway, anytime. That didn't mean she did hate the family. How funny was it that they found their precious boy shot in the head when they came home! They should have been more kind to Sus, because she was at least loyal unlike cheating, diseased Jasper.

  It was humiliating to have to the see the doctor. She could stand a lot, but not being shamed like that. The creeks weren't so perfect: Amy Creek was gay girl. That was okay but it wasn't okay that Sue was a tom-boy and less wealthy?

  “Jacki, I spoke to your drama coach, and she said that they procured the rope, and you tied the noose, something you learned from your father…knots…he was in the Navy and owns the marina. The noose was important to you because you tied it and it was fitting for a cheating boyfriend. We found a witness who thinks he saw you carrying weights to the auditorium the day before.”

  Jackie only glared. Whens he found out she had gonorrhea, she went in for treatment, and the foolish old doctor had left a file out and Jackie read it. Wayne gave her VD because he was the only one she had sex with. She knew he got it from those two sluts because he had admitted it. But Jackie was a smart girl. First, Her Science teacher had VD as well; it was in the file Jackie read. She might have figured the teacher got it from the same two girls except for the fact that Mr. Summers was gay.

  She overheard him talking to Wayne once, hugging him, and flirting when she found the men in a room alone. Wayne laughed it off as them cutting up and being silly. But Jackie saw Mr. Summer's eyes and knew better. Mr. Summers had Gonorrhea in his bottom and his throat. For two weeks, Wayne had claimed a sore throat and refused to kiss Jackie. One plus one was two. And the way Wayne doted on Mr. Summers and mooned, no it was clear what was going on.

  Wayne cheated on Jackie with two girls and a grown man! He was bisexual? Gay? Not in her world. She wasn't about to be called “the girl that turned Wayne Thomas gay”. Was he going to dump her for a man? Jackie seethed. He needed to die , and he had.

  “Jean, let’s see, we matched your footprints and have your shoes. I think we get your story and why you chose wasps, knowing Jerry’s allergy and your feeling comfortable with insects. Your father pointed out that nest to you a few days before you killed Jerry. In fact, your father told us that.”

  Jean looked at her father who stared at the floor, sobbing. The one time she was included with the popular girls and this was how it went? It would have been better to be left alone. She had mainly just wanted to fit in and be a part of something.

  She was, after all.

  Vivian said, “It took a lot to connect the dots because of all the secrets here, but once we began connecting, it was very easy to follow the lines of action...in this case...the murders.”

  “And Terri, your mother reported you missing when she couldn’t find you. But then you returned home, saying you had gone for a walk. But instead, you sneaked out and cut brake lines and seat belts. I am sure a search will turn up the knife you used for that.”

  Terri's father slumped in his chair.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say Steve loved his car the football team, and his own penis all more than he care for her, but she didn't make excuses. She had heard Steve popped through the car window and hit the tree like a giant beanbag with a loud thump. The limbs ripped away one of his arms and the bark cut away his clothes and skinned him. His face was pulveri
zed, and they found a lone foot, in its sneaker, several yards away. 'Had Terri ranked third on his list of best loves, she would have been fine, but the the rumor was the whole sexcapade was his idea, in his pool house, and that he was first to partake.

  Besides, her parents would never have accepted her dumping Steve Now, because she was so crazy with grief and shame”, they would say as much if she spent more time with someone she really cared for a lot: Amy Creek. That's who she yearned for.

  All eyes stayed on Fin.

  He sighed and said, “And that is my story. Six girls who were mad about cheating boyfriends, and mad enough to kill them. Who would think that six girls would ever agree on something, much less murder? It was near perfect because nothing matched up and there was no motive. All of you killed those boys, and now you are far worse than what they ever were.” He turned and sat down.

  Vivian stood, aware that Virgil, Marcus, and Nick watched her with surprised eyes. She addressed the girls, “It all fits perfectly. The one piece that didn’t fit was Jennie’s death. If the boys were the ones you loved, yet had to die, then the girls they cheated with also had to die. Those were Sandy and Jennie. The real shame here is that Sandy tried to tell you, Lisa Marie, but you refused to listen and hear her. She and Jennie were victims.”

  Vivian paced now. “They were raped. If you had known that, they would be alive, or maybe they wouldn’t be. I don't know anymore, since you appointed yourselves judge, jury, and executioners. You didn't care about forgiveness or culpability, you cared about revenge. In what world do people have to die for cheating? You didn't punish the boys for rape...you punished them for daring...daring to cheat on you. How selfish is that?”

  Terri huffed, “you keep saying it was rape but come on, they were good guys. Maybe they cheated...maybe...but to say they were like that? How can you even suggest they were rapists? Men who rape are dirty, vile creatures.”