Running in Circles

by Laurèn Lee

  “Jim, how was your day?” Meghan tried.

  Jim grunted and took another gulp from his glass. “You mean before or after I found out my son is a fucking psycho?”

  Meghan gasped and slapped Jim’s hand which laid on the table. “Don’t you say that about our son!”

  Jim broke out in a hysterical laugh which echoed around the kitchen. Gabby cried in her highchair.

  “Jim, stop that! You’re scaring the baby!”

  “Oh, fuck the baby, Meghan. Don’t you see? Our son is a monster! He could have killed that teacher today. You know that? He could have fucking killed her!”

  “It’s not true!” Tears poured down Meghan’s cheeks. “He’s a good boy. Right, baby?”

  Kit stared down at his plate in silence.

  Jim grabbed Kit’s chin and forced him to look directly into his eyes. “You a killer, huh? Huh, boy? Are you a murderer?”

  Kit stared at his father with unmatchable contempt.

  “Luh-let go of me,” he managed to say.

  Jim slapped him across the face. Kit didn’t flinch. Instead, he took another bite of his stroganoff. Gabby screamed now, and Meghan sobbed in her hands.

  “You’re a little shit,” Jim said to Kit.

  “Fuh-fuh-fuck you,” Kit whispered.

  Jim’s ears perked up instantly. “What did you just say to me, boy?”

  “Yuh-you ha-ha-heard me,” Kit said.

  Jim stood and grabbed Kit by the collar. He threw him across the room like a throw pillow being tossed onto a couch. Kit hit the wall just under the rotary phone and slid down slowly. Meghan stood and charged toward her drunk husband. She slapped him across the face, which sent Jim into a fit of laughter once again. He raised his fist and punched Meghan squarely in the jaw. She spat blood and looked at Jim incredulously. She picked up a knife from the dirty water in the sink and pointed it toward her husband. His laughter continued, Gabby screamed, and Kit sat against the wall while his head pounded furiously.

  Kit’s vision blurred, but it wasn’t because he’d been thrown violently by his father. No, this wasn’t a concussion or some headache; this was something altogether different. Kit’s eyesight diminished until all he saw was black, and he lost complete awareness of the kitchen. His vision had disappeared, and the sounds of anger and threats around him vanished, too. Everything went dark.

  Nineteen

  Earl arrived at the station bright and early. He clocked in at eight AM sharp with a fresh cup of hot coffee in tow. He wondered if Mick had enough time throughout the night to think about what he'd say during questioning. Earl planned to have Mick pulled into the interrogation room in about an hour.

  “Morning, Ricky,” Earl said.

  “Hey, Boss. How are you feeling?”

  “Feeling just fine. Why do you ask?”

  “Just seemed like last night—Eh, never mind,” Ricky said as he shook off the lingering questions in his mind.

  He secretly wondered if Earl knew the couple from last night. After all, Stone City was a small, cozy place. Maybe he knew their parents and figured they wouldn’t approve of their kid running around and having sex in parking lots. Either way, he decided to forget about last night. He wanted to stay sharp for the interview later. Earl promised he could take the lead and question him first. He’d never taken point before and wanted to impress his boss.

  "Oh shit," Earl called out and smacked his forehead. "I was supposed to pick you up this morning, wasn't I?"

  Ricky chuckled. He'd seen how tipsy Earl was last night and figured he'd be driving himself to work this morning. It hadn't been an issue at all.

  "No worries. You can give me a ride next time, okay?"

  “Sounds good. Meet you in B2 in forty-five, okay?” Earl asked.

  “I’ll be there,” Ricky confirmed.

  In the meantime, Earl checked his voicemail and heard a message from his mother. She’d begged him to visit. She said she didn’t have much time left and wanted to see him before she passed.

  Earl deleted the message and whipped his mug across the room. It shattered against the wall, and coffee stained his carpet. The room filled with the aroma of Folgers Breakfast Blend.

  “Fuck,” Earl mumbled.

  He opened his desk drawer and felt relieved to see he had a few more mini shots behind a stack of HR paperwork. He poured them down his throat and waited for the calm to wash over him. He’d be okay. For now.

  As Earl sat at his desk, a strange feeling washed over him. He felt like something was missing, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it could have been. A little voice in his head told him to check his wallet. Earl pulled it from his back pocket and looked inside. Everything seemed to be in order, but then he quickly realized his debit card was missing. He emptied the wallet's contents onto his desk and rifled through every card; he couldn’t find it.

  Jesus Christ, he thought to himself. He made a mental note to call the bank later cancel the account. Maybe he left it at the bar?

  Ricky called Earl’s office phone and told him he was headed to the interrogation room to prepare for Mick’s questioning in a few minutes.

  “I’ll be right down, too,” Earl promised.

  Earl licked his lips and headed toward the room across the station. Earl couldn’t wait to see what Mick had to say. He hoped he'd confess to the murder of Jackie, and he'd close the case right away.

  Earl walked into the room and noticed Ricky sitting, waiting patiently for him. “Jason said he’d bring Mick back here in about five.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Earl said as he sat down beside Ricky. “You ready?”

  “Absolutely. We’re going to nail the fucker,” Ricky said with a manic smile.

  “Just remember what we talked about. Make a connection with him. Make him come to you,” Earl reminded his lieutenant.

  Ricky nodded just as Jason, another deputy, opened the door and brought Mick into the room fully handcuffed.

  “Took you guys long enough,” Mick said sourly. His five o’clock shadow and gaunt eyes made it clear he hadn’t slept much overnight.

  “Please, sit down,” Ricky instructed.

  “Like I have a choice,” Mick mumbled.

  Earl leaned back in his chair with his hands interlocked and placed behind his head. He had a pouch of chewing tobacco in his cheek. The liquor calmed him down a little bit, but it hadn’t taken the edge off completely. The tobacco gave him an extra rush of toxins which was just what he needed.

  “How was your night?” Ricky asked.

  “What do you think?” Mick sneered.

  “I’m guessing it wasn’t too comfortable.”

  “Ding, ding, ding!”

  “All right. You wanna tell me how you know the victim?” Ricky pulled out a picture of Jackie.

  Mick stared at the photo carefully. “Victim? Hmm. Well, I met Jackie at The Stolen Leaf a few nights ago. What happened to her?”

  “Why don’t you tell us, Mick?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, fellas. I met her at the bar. I bought her a few drinks, and then I went home.”

  “What time would you say you left the bar?” Ricky asked.

  “I wish I could tell ya. I do, but I was tanked.”

  “Give us a rough estimate,” Ricky urged.

  “Maybe eleven? I honestly don’t know,” Mick said.

  “And, did Jackie come home with you?”

  “Uh, no? I’m married.” Mick flashed his gold wedding band.

  “What does your wife think about you flirting with other women at the bar?”

  “Well, I guess she probably wouldn’t like it,” he said carefully.

  “Do you think she’d like it if you murdered someone?”

  “Wait? What? Murder?”

  “You and your buddies are the last known people to have seen her alive, Mick. Your friends have solid alibis. What’s yours?”

  “I went home after the bar. I promise!” Worry etched on Mick’s face. "Jackie was murdered?"<
br />
  “Can anyone confirm that to us?” Ricky asked. He ignored Mick's question about Jackie's untimely death.

  “My wife was asleep,” he answered desperately.

  “Did you make any phone calls on the way home? Stop anywhere and use your credit card?”

  “No and no. I was wasted. I just wanted to come home and go to bed.”

  “Well, I hate to break it to you, Mick, but looks like we might have enough to pin a murder charge against ya,” Earl interjected happily. “We’re going to need to take DNA samples and search your house.”

  “Search my house? For God’s sake, I didn’t touch that woman!”

  “She was sexually assaulted after she died. But, I’m sure you knew that. Her bra and panties were taken from the scene. You wouldn’t happen to know where they’d be, would you?”

  Mick cried. “I promise, Sheriff. I never laid a hand on her. I bought her a drink, and I thought she was cute. That’s all!”

  “I’m afraid that’s not enough, Mick,” Ricky said gleefully.

  The phone rang, and Earl answered it gruffly. “Yeah? What? Are you kidding me? Okay, we’ll be right there.”

  Ricky looked at Earl, alarmed. “What is it, Boss?”

  “A call just came in. Two more bodies were found a few miles outside of town.”

  Twenty

  “Back to your holding cell, my friend,” Earl instructed. He called another deputy to escort Mick out of the room.

  “But, we’re not done talking!” he cried.

  “Not my problem right now.”

  Earl and Ricky flew out of the station toward Earl’s cruiser. Earl practically dove inside the car and turned the siren on immediately.

  “Where are we going?” Ricky asked frantically.

  “The ravine,” Earl responded.

  “Did the dispatcher give any other information?”

  “No, just that a man walking his dog found the bodies. We’ve got his information, and I want to talk to him after we investigate the scene.”

  Ricky nodded, and his hands quivered. Earl glanced over and quickly shook his head. Sometimes, he wondered why Ricky had gone into law enforcement in the first place. Sure, it’s not always comfortable to chase after dead bodies, but he seemed legitimately frightened. He’d have to grow a stronger stomach if he wanted to make it in this field.

  Earl and Ricky pulled up to the lot next to the ravine. Tall evergreens blocked the view of the scene. The blackened sky threatened a storm, and Earl wanted to make sure they secured the scene and recovered any evidence before the weather had her way with it.

  “Ready?” Earl asked.

  Ricky smiled weakly and opened the passenger door.

  A few officers on site secured the vicinity with the vibrant yellow tape, which they wrapped around several trees standing above the ravine. Their hushed whispers alluded to something grizzly down there by the rushing water.

  “Sir,” Officer Gentry greeted.

  “Officer,” Earl said as he tipped his hat. “So, what’ve we got here?”

  Earl, with Ricky at his heels, carefully pulled the tape up so he could duck under it without too much difficulty.

  “Guy walking his dog found the bodies. He called the cops right away. We had someone take him back to the station because we knew you’d want to talk to him.”

  “Thank you. I do want to speak with him a little later.”

  Earl didn’t ask any other preliminary questions because he wanted to see the scene for himself. He carefully sidestepped down the ravenous, lush hill complete with tree roots, tall grass, and debris, toward the rushing stream below.

  As reported, two bodies were strewn across the stream’s bank, and an eerie wave washed over Earl; the scene looked oddly akin to the way Jackie was found. He tiptoed closer and avoided the footprints and tall foliage in case clues hid within the green.

  “Ricky, why don’t you stay back a few minutes? Okay?”

  Ricky released an audible sigh. Earl chuckled until he turned back around and gazed at the carnage before him.

  A male and a female lay next to each other. The woman’s dark hair had been placed across her face. Both the male and female had no clothing on their bare bodies. Leaves, twigs, and mud-crusted upon some parts of their skin, but Earl could easily see the man’s throat was cut from ear to ear.

  However, he couldn’t see any signs of blood around the bodies. He knew they had to have been moved to this location after death. Even though the bodies' limbs had been left at odd angles, much like Jackie’s, Jackie’s killer left her at the scene of the crime. This killer was organized enough to move the bodies in an attempt to conceal their location. Was it the same killer? If the same man who killed Jackie killed this couple, then it couldn’t be Mick. Mick had been at the station the entire night. Unless he had a copycat? Earl had no idea what to make of everything, and his temple throbbed with the notion of uncertainty and mysterious circumstances whipping through his town.

  Earl stepped closer to the bodies but turned around toward the deputies behind him. “Has anyone taken crime scene photos yet?”

  An officer nodded and raised his hand. “I worked in forensics before I became an officer, sir.”

  Earl then took a smooth stick he found next to the bodies and carefully pushed away the strands of hair from the woman’s face. Earl’s next breath caught in his chest as he noticed, like Jackie, the woman’s eyes were removed from her head.

  “What is it, Boss?” Ricky called out.

  “Missing eyes,” he shouted back.

  “Jesus Christ,” Ricky said.

  Earl saw the woman’s face had also been badly beaten beyond all recognition. He hoped for forensics’ sake her teeth hadn’t been yanked out. They might need them to identify her. Jane Doe suffered greatly; Earl knew this without needing to see a forensics report.

  He looked to the man, John Doe for now, and noticed his eyes were intact. He didn’t quite understand why he had been spared while the woman’s were removed. The entire scene, though, seemed to mirror how Jackie was discovered. A few articles of clothing were left several feet from the bodies, but no female undergarments lay within the grassy thicket. This sick fuck was keeping the bra and panties as souvenirs.

  “The forensics team coming?” Earl asked.

  “Two minutes out,” Ricky confirmed.

  “Well, fellas,” Earl began, “it seems to me that we have a serial killer on the loose.”

  The looks on the other officers’ faces indicated they had never dealt with a serial killer before. Until now.

  Twenty-One

  The morning after Kit blacked out, he woke to see Meghan sitting on the edge of his bed with a mug of steaming hot chocolate in her hand. Her beautiful brown hair rested behind her ears and out of her face.

  “Morning, sweetie,” she said. Her eye was bruised, and her bottom lip wore a deep gash which had swollen profusely.

  Kit sat up and took the mug from his mother. He smiled faintly because he’d never been allowed to have hot chocolate in the morning. He felt as though he was breaking into a bank and his mother had given him the key.

  “How did you sleep?” Meghan asked.

  Kit shrugged but smiled once he’d taken a sip of his forbidden drink.

  “I want to talk to you about what happened yesterday. Is that okay?”

  Kit nodded and set the mug on his bedside table next to his Care Bear lamp. He grabbed his teddy bear and squeezed it tightly in his grasp.

  “Do you understand that you hurt your teacher?”

  Kit nodded.

  “Do you understand we don't hurt people?”

  Kit shook his head, and Meghan sighed.

  “Why don’t you understand that, sweetie?”

  Kit pointed to his mother’s face, and this time, Meghan nodded knowingly.

  “Sometimes, people do hurt others, but that doesn’t make it right. Does that make sense?”

  Kit shook his head again. He didn’t understand why he’d gott
en into trouble for what he did to his teacher, while his father beat his Mom and suffered no consequences. Why was it okay for him to do it, but not Kit?

  “You need to promise me something,” Meghan said. “You can never do that again. Do you hear me?”

  Kit stared at his mom and thought for a moment. He didn’t want to upset her, but at the same time, he liked how it felt to punish Mrs. Spencer. She’d been mean to him, and he enjoyed doling out the pain she deserved in return. Kit didn’t want to lie to his mom, but he also couldn’t lie to himself.

  “I will ta-try,” he said faintly.

  Kit figured it wasn’t exactly a whole lie. Maybe a half lie. He would try, but he couldn’t guarantee it. This answer, though, seemed to satisfy Meghan, and she kissed him on the cheek.

  “Do you want me to finish the story we started to read last night?”

  Kit scrunched his eyebrows and couldn’t remember any story from the previous night. In fact, he couldn't recall anything at all after his father had thrown him against the wall. It was almost as if a dark sheet was pulled over his eyes until this morning.

  “Remember, sweetie? We read a little of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?”

  Kit shook his head and wondered if his mom was lying to him. He would have remembered if she’d read to him because that was his favorite part of the day.

  Meghan looked back to her son, equally confused. But she grabbed the book, which she'd tossed onto the floor once Kit fell asleep. “Well, maybe you were more tired than I thought. Should I start from the beginning?”

  Kit smiled, and Meghan opened the cover and read to her son.

  Twenty-Two

  Donning his full uniform, Earl stood at the podium front of the Stone City Sheriff’s Station. He tested the microphone a few times before the press conference began. The media had been at his throat since the discovery of the newest bodies, and he knew it was best to grab the situation by the horns and face it head on.