by John Sullins
Keith could see a tiny smirk appear on her lips as she continued.
“The second man that I ……………………..took care of, was named Ron Jones, he was a serial rapist who was never prosecuted because his father was a big time attorney and kept getting the kid out of trouble. I got close to Ronnie boy and slipped him the roofie he thought he had given to me. When he passed out, I suffocated him with a pillow from his couch. They ruled his death accidental due to drugs. I figure I saved other girls a lot of misery by doing the right thing to him.” She smiled into the camera.
Keith continued to watch, not knowing what she would say next. He was beginning to understand the meaning of those four words in the Will.
“The next man died in a ditch near Chicago. He was an ex-con named Thomas Parker. He abandoned his wife and two sons, leaving them homeless. Later, when the wife won the lottery, that ass hole hired an attorney to try to get half of her lotto winnings. Before he could get his hands on her money, I found him in Chicago at a halfway house. I shot him in the face as he leaned in my car window. I put drugs on him and dumped him in the ditch like the dead rat he was. The police ruled his death a drug related homicide. As far as I know his wife and sons lived happily ever after. There is no doubt that was the right thing.”
The video ended and he clicked back to the window showing the list of numbered videos. He wanted to hear more, but he was having trouble processing what he was seeing and hearing. He was finally looking at an ancestor, and she was a killer. He turned off the lap top, put on his coat, and went out the back door into the snow. He breathed in the cold air and began walking along the edge of the frozen lake through the trees to clear his mind and help him understand what he had just learned.
The snow hanging on the brush and tree limbs seemed to deaden all sound. He thought he had never been anyplace this quiet in his life. As he made his way between the pines and hardwoods he continued to analyze the video. One thing in particular stood out in his mind. She said she had cut off Massey’s balls and hung them on a tree where they had found her husband’s grandfather’s body. Ed Roy had said his grandfather had placed a headstone at that spot and that he knew where it was. Keith brushed the snow from a fallen log and sat down. He wanted Ed Roy to take him there. He wanted to see that spot, the head stone, and maybe the nail if it was still in the tree.
Another thing that would not leave his thoughts were the words, “the right thing”. She had repeated those words several times. Those words were also part of that special paragraph of the Will.
He repeated those words aloud, “The right thing.”
Chapter 68
The cold wind was blowing directly in his face during the walk back to the house. After fixing himself something to eat, he built a fire in the fireplace and laid down on the floor, on his belly, with the lap top in front of him.
When the screen opened, he double clicked on video number #2.
In this video his great grandmother was sitting at the console of a pontoon boat. The image was rocking slightly indicating the boat was adrift. He turned up the volume and watched his great grandmother speak.
“It is summer here in Maine, 2013. My wounds have healed and I am feeling good. I left off with the shooting of Thomas Parker in Chicago. Not long after that, I learned that a friend of mine from high school fell from a mountain in Colorado and died. His parents believed that his wife, also from the same high school, was responsible for his death. They were sure she pushed him over a cliff because she was having an affair and wanted him out of the picture. The depression and anxiety had returned and I needed some relief, a distraction, so I went to Colorado to investigate the death myself. It did not take long for me to become convinced that his parents were correct, she had killed him. I sat on the side of a mountain watching her house until I developed a plan. I used her devious nature to lure her back onto the same mountain trail where she had killed her husband. I confronted her there, we struggled, and she went over the same cliff. The police ruled her death a suicide after finding a suicide note I had forged on her computer. I felt very good after doing that, it was the right thing too.”
Keith closed his eyes and rubbed his face hard with both palms. He lowered his hands, blinked three or four times and continued to listen.
“The next bad guy was different. He was Al York, a domestic terrorist who set off a bomb in Washington killing a few Congressmen. When they offered a huge reward, my cousin David, who had just lost his job, helped me track York to a mountain cabin in the North Carolina mountains. I shot and wounded him as he was about to kill David. We got the reward and he went to prison, but escaped about a year later. Another reward was offered so David and I hunted him down again. This time we caught up with him in North Dakota. I shot him with my FN 57 after he ran from his cabin that was on fire. Killing that man was definitely the right thing. Two other good things happened during the hunt for York. We got the second reward, and I met Napoleon Hill, an FBI agent who was also looking for York.”
Keith saw her face brighten when she said Napoleon.
“People at the FBI had given Napoleon the nickname Einstein because he was so smart. But he was not only smart, he was gorgeously handsome”
Her head lowered, she stopped talking, and appeared to wipe tears from her face. When she looked up her lips were tight until she began speaking again.
“The next man, Francis Fagan, was a serial killer, a hunter who killed people who wandered into his hunting area. David first alerted me to him after a man was found killed by an arrow in Missouri, and then a second man was found killed the same way in Ohio. The more we dug into the situation the more victims we found. After he also killed in Alabama, we caught up with him in Mississippi. He was about to shoot a sheriff’s deputy when I shot him. He didn’t die, but he went to prison for life. Under the circumstances, only wounding him was not the right thing to do, I should have killed him too.”
She continued.
“I know this probably sounds awful to whoever is seeing it, but at the time, I had no choice. My depression continued to come and go and some of the anxiety attacks were horrible. The only relief came when I was hunting the bad guys and delivering justice. Anyhow, whatever you think, what you are hearing is the truth.”
She reached to her right, Keith watched her drink from a Coke can.
“The next three happened in 2008, all at about the same time. I read a story about a man named Sailor who had raped and murdered two woman, one in Virginia and one across the state line in N. Carolina. The evidence was clear he was guilty, but his attorney got him off, he was set free. He was easy to find because of all of the publicity. He was living in an apartment in Virginia and I was able to rent the apartment across the hall. I used my feminine charms to get an invitation into his apartment. I used roofies again to make him pass out, put a rope around his neck, and shoved him over the rail of the balcony on the outside of his apartment. The police ruled his death a suicide. They were happy to see him dead. I am sure they would agree it was the right thing. While I was getting close to Sailor I became aware of another bad guy, not far away, who beat up his pregnant girlfriend who lost the child. It was another case of no prosecution so as soon as I finished with Sailor, I went after the guy, Gus Winters. I was acting as a hitchhiker and let him pick me up. When he exposed his little dick for a blow job in return for the ride, I used a pair of snips to cut the damn thing off. He bled to death. Then I headed west to find a school teacher in N. Dakota who had went to prison for molesting one of his students, but a stupid judge let him out, and he did it again, but prosecution failed on the second case. Everyone hated the guy so he disappeared. I found him near Hungry Horse Montana, in a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. I hid in the trees overlooking his place and watched the fool drink himself into a stupor every night. One night after he passed out, I snuck into the cabin, loosened a fitting on his propane heater, and ran like hell. When the propane filled the place, the flames from his fireplace caused the propan
e to explode. His death was ruled accidental due to a propane leak. Both of these were also the right thing.
Keith was beginning to understand why she had done what she had, and also knew now where she had gotten some of her money.
The view behind her over the front of the pontoon boat gradually changed as the boat was drifting closer to the tree lined shore. She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.
“Back that way a mile or so through the forest, is where Brad and I found his grandfather’s remains. He had went into the woods to hunt but never returned. His body was out there for several months before we found him. Maybe I will take the camera in there and film the spot where we found him, also the spot where I nailed Massey’s balls to the tree.
The video ended. Keith raised up from the floor and threw two more logs onto the fire. He was smiling, he was becoming proud of his great grandmother.
Chapter 69
He clicked opend video #3, pulled a pillow from the couch, folded it double, and rested his chin on it as he watched the computer screen.
“I mentioned Napoleon in the last video. Maybe it was because we had become too close, lovers actually, he became suspicious of my activities. While I was never sure, I believe he and his team of FBI agents tried to catch me when I went after the next bad guy. I saw a story on the internet about a young female deputy in Kentucky who was killed by a hit and run driver, a drunk. This is another case where everyone knew the man did it, but he was not convicted. I surveilled the man and was able to sneak up behind him while he was alone shooting a pistol at a gravel pit. I took his gun away from him and used it to shoot him in the temple. The police ruled his death a suicide. As in the other cases, watching him drop dead made me feel good. It was the right thing.”
His great grandmother looked away from the camera and he heard the sound of a passing boat. When the sound of the boat’s motor faded, she continued.
“The next case was in the fall of 2009, it was maybe the most unusual. When I read about a mother and very young daughter not coming home from a hike in a Vermont forest. I went there the help find them. A small reward was being offered, but I went there with David only to help find them, not for the reward. David grew up in the forest and was an excellent tracker. Together we were able to find them being held by a mentally disturbed giant of a man. His wife and daughter died in a house fire and he lost his mind over their loss. Somehow, he came across the mother and daughter during their hike and abducted them thinking they were his wife and daughter. When the girl escaped, she was spotted by a school bus driver and we were lucky enough to be there. We followed the girl’s directions to the man’s house and when we went in the door, he ran out, me chasing after him. He had a rope over a tree limb and was about to hang himself when I shot the rope in half, saving his life. We gave the reward to the bus driver, and the man was taken to a mental hospital, which were both the right thing.”
Keith watched her lick her small lips with the tip of her tongue as if tasting something on her lips. He studied her beautiful face, her high cheekbones, small nose and beautiful blue eyes. He asked himself how many people would have ever understood how such a beautiful young woman could do what she had done. But he could, after watching her tell the stories, knowing what she said, he could understand.
“In 2009, everything fell apart again. Napoleon and I were getting serious, and I was going stop my escapades and marry him. But all that changed when some of Al York’s terrorist friends planted a bomb in the lake house as revenge for York’s death. Napoleon was killed, I went to the hospital with broken legs and other injuries. Because of Napoleon being killed, the FBi offered another large reward. As I laid in the hospital bed the depression and anxiety returned along with a tremendous desire for revenge. When I recovered, David, along with his girlfriend Morgan and I, went after them and found them in Wyoming. I don’t remember their names or even how many there were, but some were shot and some died when I blew up the old lodge where they were hiding. All of them dying was the right thing.”
The video ended and when he clicked on video #4 she was sitting in front of a fireplace wearing a pair of faded jeans and a checkered flannel shirt, like a lumberjack’s shirt. Keith studied the background and the fireplace and recognized it as the one four feet in front of him. She was sitting about where he was laying on his belly. It somehow made him feel close to her.
“I only assisted in the next one. David’s lover Morgan’s father was a divorce attorney. Several years before we met her, he was shot dead outside the county courthouse by the husband of a woman who was his client. There were witnesses to the shooting and there was no doubt who did it, but the man escaped and the police could not locate him. When Morgan told us the story, we decided to try to find the man. Well, I was getting very good at tracking people down, and with David and Morgan’s help, we located him living in Florida, earning a living as a golf instructor. We joined the club where he worked and kept track of his activities. Morgan wanted revenge herself, and after he was given a roofie and passed out, she positioned his car on a local boat ramp with him behind the wheel, and allowed it to roll into the water. His death was ruled accidental due to drug usage. I can assure you Morgan believed it was the right thing.”
She twisted around and threw a log onto the fire behind her.
“That brings us to the point where I began talking in video #1, when I was in the hospital. The kid who shot me, Jessie Hicks, was a teenager, but he had shot and killed two Pennsylvania State Troopers. He hid in the trees near their station house and used a sniper rifle to gun them down at the end of their shift. This is another case of an award being offered which we got. But this came at a price, I was shot, David’s dog was shot and killed, and David had part of his left ear shot off by the kid. He was after the Troopers because of something they did to his father years ago. If any of the things came close to not being the right thing, this would have been it. I did not want to kill the boy, but I had to shoot him to keep from being killed, so I guess it was the right thing.
Keith heard his cell phone ringing and got up to answer it. He heard Ed Roy’s voice, it sound as if he was frightened.
“I’m sorry to bother you Keith, but I might need help. I think Richard is sneaking around outside. I tried to call the sheriff but the recording said due to the cut backs there were no deputies on duty until tomorrow morning so I hung up.”
“Do you have a gun?”
“No, I don’t want to shoot him, I just don’t want him messing with my new truck.”
David did not hesitate. “Get in the truck and come over here. He won’t bother the truck here.”
“I thought about that but I have five little kittens here. I am worried he might do something to them.”
“Kittens? You think he would kill kittens?”
“I don’t know, probably not, but he is mean.”
“Can you bring the kittens with you?”
“No, their momma is so protective, I can’t move them around too much.”
“Well, I still think you need to come over here. You can go home in the morning and check on the kittens.”
Ed Roy agreed and was about to hang up when Keith said, “How old is this guy anyhow?”
“About my age, late thirties.”
“What in the hell is wrong with him, almost forty and still acting like a kid. Pack your toothbrush and get in the truck. If you aren’t here in thirty minutes I will come looking for you.”
Chapter 70
When Keith heard the truck door slam twenty seven minutes later, he was in the kitchen making coffee. Ed Roy came through the kitchen door carrying only a plastic grocery bag. Keith could see a pair of striped pajama bottoms wadded at the top of the bag.
He jokingly said, “I don’t have much room in this house, but I’m sure we can find you a place to sleep.”
Ed Roy put his bag on the table and hopped up onto a chair, his feet again tangling a foot off the floor.
“I’m real sorry to have t
o come over like this. I also hate to leave my little kittens. They are the cutest little things you’ve ever seen. I’m not afraid of the guy, I just don’t trust him to stay away from the truck.”
“Do you happen to have a picture of the guy, in case I see him around town?”
“No, but if we get onto the internet, his picture is on there.”
Keith smiled, “Is his picture there as man of the year?”
Ed Roy laughed in response but quickly moved his hand to his face because of the pain.
“Not man of the year. I can show you his picture from the county police files, when he was arrested.”
“What was he arrested for?”
“A couple of bar fights, domestic abuse, and for non- payment of child support, I think.”
“It sounds like he is a violent kind of guy.”
Ed Roy nodded and twisted around in the chair to look at the coffee pot.
Keith took two cups from the cupboard and filled them with the coffee. He handed one to Ed Roy and sat the other on the table. He left the kitchen and returned in a half minute with the laptop. The flashdrive was in his pocket. He sat the laptop on the table in front of Ed Roy.
“Do your thing, find his picture for me.”
As Ed Roy typed on the keyboard he asked, “You are not going to go looking for him are you? I don’t want you fighting my battles or getting yourself into trouble.”
“I never go looking for trouble, I’m just curious if his head really looks like a dick.”
Ed Roy had Richard’s mug shot on the screen before Keith could take a second drink from his cup. Keith looked over his shoulder and studied the face. Rickard’s eyes were closer together than most. His eyebrows were dark and thick. They looked out of place with his shaved head. His ears were huge and stuck out like an airplanes wings.
