Friday Night Frights (Jack and Ashley Detective series Book 1)

by R. D. Sherrill

  “Anyway, I want you in my office first thing Monday morning and we’ll go over a new strategy for catching this guy,” Cowell said as he turned to leave. “I’m sorry it has to be this way, Ashley. I know you gave it your best, you and Agent Looper.”

  Cowell left the room to talk to the doctor while Agent Rivera paused to take a call.

  “Agent Rivera,” Ashley began, intent on cutting to the chase since her boss was just outside. “Did your people ever find out the name of the next victim?’

  Glancing toward the major outside the door, the young agent squinted at Ashley. He was obviously uncomfortable.

  “Yes. I believe they did,” Rivera confirmed. “They shut down the site, too, so that our killer couldn’t use it to generate any more victims. But, I’m not at liberty to reveal that information.”

  Ashley looked helplessly at Rivera, her eyes pleading for the answer.

  “You heard what your boss just said,” Rivera noted. “Besides, when there are leaks in the bureau, then there are investigations, and I don’t feel like being investigated. I like my job.”

  “Let me lay the cards out here,” Ashley began in a passionate tone. “If one of those games that Major Cowell said are being played tonight happens to be one our killer has targeted, I’ll bet you twenty bucks he makes a bid tonight. But, without a name or a location, there’s no way I can find out. And, there’s no guarantee Jack will wake up in time. Quite simply, if my hunch is right, Monday will come too late for some kid.”

  “I can’t, and even if I wanted to, I don’t know the answer,” Rivera said. “But - and you didn’t hear this from me - I do know they called Agent Looper last night with that information”

  “So, he does know?” Ashley said excitedly.

  “Actually, he didn’t answer from what I’m told,” Rivera said. “However - and I have no idea how you got this information - but if you were to check his messages, I would wager what you’re looking for would be on there.”

  Giving Ashley a wink, Rivera stepped outside to speak with Jack’s doctors even as she was looking for Jack’s phone.

  She rifled through his personal effects which had been left with Ashley when he was brought up to his room. They had locked his sidearm in the safe and had given Ashley the rest of his personal belongings, including his back up gun since it was technically not “official equipment.” The small gun gave one of the nurses a start when she found it under his pant leg the night before.

  “There it is,” Ashley said under her breath as she pulled out his phone.

  It powered right up. The phone survived its hard lick on the pavement just like its owner. However, now came the second problem. Like any good phone owner, he had a passcode leaving Ashley locked out of the phone.

  Ashley began the usual suspects 1,2,3,4 – nothing. 0,9,8,7 – Nothing. 1,1,1,1 – Nothing.

  Think, Ashley, think. What would Jack use for his passcode? He’s full of himself, self-assured, a real egotist. What would he use?

  “No way,” Ashley mumbled to herself as she keyed in the numbers 5,2,2,5 – open!

  Ashley chuckled to herself as she looked outside, still seeing the pair talking to the doctor. The passcode confirmed that Jack had to be the most self-absorbed man she’d ever met. She quickly entered his mailbox.

  “You have one saved message,” the computer-generated woman’s voice said. “The message was received at 7:30 p.m., Thursday.”

  Before Ashley could fast-forward over the message it began to play. A woman’s voice left the message.

  “Jack, this is Laura,” the woman said.

  Ashley immediately realized the woman speaking was Laura Granderson, mother of Jimmy Granderson.

  “I wish you’d answered because I wanted to tell you this personally, but I guess that won’t happen," she began.

  Ashley thought about fast-forwarding the message. She felt guilty about listening to his private message, but something wouldn’t let her push the button.

  “We can’t see each other anymore,” Laura stated through sobs. “I just can’t bear it, with losing Jimmy and all. I thought I could, but things just really hit me hard after the funeral.”

  Ashley almost choked up hearing the raw emotion in Laura’s voice. She had just lost a son and was now saying farewell to his father.

  “The thing is Jack, I know that every time I see you I’d remember him,” Laura continued through tears. “I just can’t take that. I hope you’ll understand.”

  Ashley was about to hit the forward button when Laura finished her message.

  “I think you would have made a great father,” Laura sobbed. “I just want you to know that.”

  Ashley sighed deeply. She felt sad for Jack while also feeling guilty that she had listened to the message.

  The next message, however, was what she was looking for.

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” the woman’s voice started. “The last potential target we’ve discovered lives over in Red Boiling Springs, about fifty miles from where you’re at.”

  Ashley’s heart raced. Was this one of the games that was postponed?

  “The kid’s name is Chance Roberts, a senior there,” she continued. “It all lines up. The name of the team is the Red Boiling Springs Red Demons.”

  “Bingo,” Ashley mouthed to herself as she looked up to see Rivera looking through the door at her, a wry smile on his face as he could tell she found what she was looking for.

  “And, now this will knock your socks off, the kid, well, he’s the mascot!” she revealed. “He’s the Red Demon.”

  Ashley hung up the phone and quickly opened the web browser, checking the local sporting news. Scrolling down the scheduled games, she found it near the bottom of the list – Colville Academy versus Red Boiling Springs. The game was scheduled for make up at seven o’clock.

  Ashley thrust the phone behind her as Major Cowell walked back in the room, hiding it much like a kid hides a cookie stolen from the cookie jar.

  “I know the answer to this already, but do you want a ride on the helicopter back to Austin?” Cowell asked. “We have room.”

  “No,” she responded. “I think I’ll stay here until Jack wakes up and then I’ll get a ride back home.”

  “Suit yourself then,” the major said as he began to leave.

  “How about your son?” Ashley called out after him. “Are you planning to re-instate him?”

  Cowell paused and gave her an irritated look.

  “Well, that’s a personnel matter, Agent Reynolds,” Cowell began. “But, if you must know, he will be placed back on active duty but he will be part of this case in no way, shape or form.”

  The major closed the door behind him as Ashley settled back down in her seat. She looked at her partner, hoping against hope he would wake up soon. She sat there, amidst the sounds of the monitors, formulating a plan, one that might just be just crazy enough to work. That’s when she felt a hand cup her mouth as she was grabbed from behind!

  “Don’t scream,” a voice growled in her ear as she felt the strong grip tighten over her mouth and nose.

  STICK TO THE PLAN

  Ashley grabbed at one of her assailant’s fingers, instinctively pulling it back to point of breaking it. The man howled from behind. It was Randy.

  “I ought to break it,” Ashley hissed as she saw his face twisted in pain, looking at her as if begging for mercy. “Where did you come from?”

  “I was in the closet,” Randy choked out as he pushed his finger back into place. “You’re a dangerous woman.”

  “What were you doing hiding in the closet?” Ashley wondered as she looked at the small clothes closet he had emerged from with incredible stealth.

  “What do you think I was doing?” Randy said as he continued trying to get his finger back into place. “I was hiding from dear old Dad. I could hear him coming from way down the hall. He has a loud voice if you haven’t noticed. I was sitting in here with you watching television, Sports Center to be exact. Wel
l, I was watching, you were sleeping. I couldn’t get out and I sure enough couldn’t let him find me here, unless I wanted to be flipping burgers, so I hid out the only place I could.”

  “So you heard everything?” Ashley quizzed.

  “Yeah, I’m going to be re-instated,” Randy proclaimed. “I didn’t think you cared. That was sweet of you to go to bat for me. You snore, by the way.”

  “Don’t thank me too much there, fellow ranger,” Ashley retorted, not pleased with Randy confirming she had a snoring problem. “I’m not as noble as you think.”

  Randy cocked his head, not understanding what she meant. He was about to find out.

  “Our killer is going to try again tonight,” Ashley declared. “And, I intend to be there when he does. Are you with me?”

  “How do you know?” Randy wondered. “I mean, am I missing something?”

  “Trust me, I know,” Ashley countered. “All I need to know right now is if you’re with me.”

  Randy wasted no time responding despite overhearing his father’s warning that he not be involved in the case.

  “You know I am,” Randy said. “I’ll do anything to get this guy.”

  “In that case, we leave here at high noon,” Ashley said, immediately realizing she sounded melodramatic. “In the meantime, I can fill you in. Have you heard of a place called Red Boiling Springs?”

  Their vigil over Jack’s bedside continued until a few minutes after noon. Realizing they could wait no longer, Ashley scrawled a note and left it by Jack’s bedside. She told the nurse to give it to him the moment he woke up. With that, the pair was off, Randy driving them toward Red Boiling Springs as they continued laying their plans.

  “One thing that bothers me is something my dad, I mean, Major Cowell said,” Randy noted as he drove down the two-lane rural road. “He told you it might look like we were using the students for bait to catch the killer if we continue this undercover work. Frankly, I’d have to agree. I don’t know if we can risk the killer getting to him. I mean, things can happen.”

  Ashley gave Randy a grin, his naiveté almost comical.

  “Don’t worry, our killer will never get anywhere near him,” Ashley assured.

  “How can we guarantee that?” Randy asked as he continued speeding toward their destination.

  “Because our boy won’t be in the mascot uniform,” Ashley responded as her grin got broader.

  “But if he’s not in the outfit, who …” Randy trailed off as the realization hit him.

  Randy stomped the brakes on his car, sliding to a stop on the shoulder of the road, dust enveloping the vehicle.

  “You’re going to use me as bait?” Randy said incredulously as he stared in disbelief at Ashley.

  “Bait is such a strong word,” Ashley responded. “Let’s just say, you’re going undercover. I’d do it but I’m scared to death of those costumes. I’d hyperventilate before I even got the thing on. Besides, you’re a trained officer and I’ll never let you out of my sight.”

  Randy snarled and hit the gas, spinning rocks and dust as he headed back onto the highway.

  “Plus, if I’m right, you might even get a chance to … you know … if you get to him before I do then that’ll be up to you,” Ashley said, remembering Randy’s motives for first becoming involved in her case. “And last, you can even have deniability that you were even there. After all, you’ll be hidden under a suit. No one will be the wiser. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

  UNDER THE BRIGHT LIGHTS

  Randy’s silence told Ashley he had bought into her plan as they entered the town of Red Boiling Springs.

  The pair went for a quick tour around the town, familiarizing themselves with the layout of the rural hamlet. The school and stadium lay on the outskirts of town, the campus carved out of a large wooded area. A middle-class housing development stood on the other side of the forest. They conducted a quick drive around the streets of the subdivision before looping back around to town where they sought out police headquarters.

  The afternoon brought a summit between Police Chief Josh Summers, the Principal of Red Boiling Springs High, Chance Roberts and his family. The group sat in silence as Ashley laid out her plans. The revelation of a killer stalking the football fields of Texas chilled them all. While they had heard of the incident at nearby Seymour High the night before, news that their school may be the site of the next attack was a bit overwhelming, especially in such a close-knit community.

  “Why is he trying to hurt my boy?” asked Chance’s mother, oblivious to the killer’s motives.

  Ashley knew complete disclosure was important if she was going to convince them to go along with her plan. However, she stopped short of telling Chance’s parents that he was probably selected by the killer because of his reputation as a bully.

  By the end of her briefing, everyone present had bought in to her plan. This was especially true for Chance, who looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Ashley imagined they couldn’t stuff him into the demon outfit even if they wanted to after he found out he was to be the killer’s next victim. He would stay under guard at police headquarters while Randy secretly replaced him in the suit as an added bit of security. Given the clandestine nature of their operation, Ashley couldn’t risk something going wrong and the killer zeroing in on his intended victim.

  With the plan set for the evening, Ashley made a quick call to the hospital from police headquarters. She learned Jack was just coming out of his long sleep. However, given the preparations she had to make, she couldn’t afford to wait any longer before heading to the school. For some reason she couldn’t find where she had laid her phone, meaning she would be out of contact once she went to the stadium. It was a bad habit. She had lost two phones in the past - within the same week.

  Fortunately, she had remembered to bring the wireless communication devices she and Jack used the night before and she wired up Randy before they left the police station. Communication between Randy and her would be key since she would be his eyes since his vision would be restricted inside the costume. Unlike Seymour, where Ashley and Jack were pretty well alone on their mission, they would have several back up lawmen. The police chief agreed to position several plain clothes officers around the stadium, giving them even more eyes to scan the area. They would mark Randy’s suit by a novel method. He would wear a Demon’s hat over the left horn of the costume. The hat would make it easy to differentiate Randy from any poser who could be lurking about. Ashley figured the last-second costume modification might catch the killer by surprise, provided he stayed with his same method of operation and came dressed as a mascot. If he were to discard his normal procedure, then it would be imperative all eyes were on the undercover officer. The plan was almost too good. However, Ashley had learned over the years that criminals, like this one, rarely deviated from their habits, leaning upon them almost like a crutch. She was convinced that if their suspect were going to strike, he would literally be dressed to kill.

  “Would you hurry up in there?” Ashley called out as Randy put on the demon suit in the boy’s locker room. “We need to get you out there so, if our guy is here, he can see you.”

  “Yeah, I’d hate to be late for our killer,” Randy retorted. He was motivated to get a chance at avenging Jana but not keen on serving as bait to lure out the murderer.

  Ashley jumped as Randy emerged from the locker room. The demon's red eyes sent chills down her spine even though she knew it was Randy inside.

  “How do they breathe in these things?” Randy asked as he adjusted the head, his voice muted by the costume. “I’m sure glad it’s not hot out tonight or I’d be dying of heat stroke.”

  Ashley looked at the costume for a minute, making sure everything looked normal. Randy noticed she kept her distance the entire time, even as she inspected the outfit.

  “Why are you so scared of costumes?” Randy wondered out loud. “I mean, you know it’s me under here.”

  “I don’t know,” Ashley admitted, extending
her arm to show goose bumps, evidencing her involuntary fear. “I’ve just always been this way. I can’t help it. Something about these outfits makes my skin crawl. I think it’s a trust thing. I’m always afraid there will be something evil hidden inside there, something that is going to get me. If I can’t see your eyes then I’ve got issues.”

  “That’s messed up,” Randy said as he ripped off the head piece and grabbed a few gulps of fresh air. His face was already flushed from his short time under the hood. “It’s all hot in there and smells like teen sweat. Too bad we didn’t have time to get it laundered.”

  Ashley motioned for the headpiece, extending her hand with a sense of apprehension.

  “Give me the head. I’m going to pin the hat to it,” Ashley said, putting the head piece down on a bench to attach the team hat. “Make sure to keep this hat on. This is how we will tell you apart from him. I’d hate to shoot you by accident.”

  “Yeah, I’d hate that too,” Randy replied, giving her a weak smile as he placed the head piece back on.

  “And remember, you’re a mascot so you’ve got to act like one,” Ashley reminded him. “No one except a handful of us knows you’re not the real demon and you need to keep it that way.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Randy responded. “Is there anything else, madam director?”

  “Yes, keep your mouth shut under there,” Ashley said. “Mascots don’t talk for any reason. If you’ve got anything to say to me, say it softly into your microphone and make sure no one overhears you. For all we know the killer may try to get very close to you, close enough to hear what you say.”

  “Oh, that’s comforting,” Randy noted as he got a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach, worrying the killer may get the drop on him just as he had Jana. “You just make sure to keep your eyes peeled.”

  Randy reached in his pocket and pulled out his gun, holding it up to where Ashley could see it.

  “I’m locked and loaded so you just tell me where he is and I’ll take care of it,” Randy nervously pledged as he slid the gun back beneath the demon costume.