Free to Kill

by Julie Mellon

  “I went out to my car, but it wouldn’t start. I remember someone knocking on my window. I jumped because it scared me. But then everything goes blank. I don’t know if I got out or why I can’t remember.” She looked to Michael to see if he had the answer.

  “There are marks on your lower back toward the left hip that indicate he used a stun gun on you.” Michael was very matter of fact without giving too much detail. He didn’t want to fill in the blanks for her, but given the location of the marks, she probably never even knew what hit her.

  Nodding, Jenny went on with her story. “When I woke up, I was tied to the posts where you found me. I was trying to get loose when I first felt the sting from the whip.” Jenny gently squeezed Betsy’s hand as the older woman gasped. Obviously Jenny had been covered up before Betsy came into the room.

  “He kept hitting me from behind for a long time. Then he came around and started on the front.” Here she paused, thinking back. “I think he said something. Hmmm… Yes, he said I had committed adultery. I tried to tell him he was wrong. See Jack is the one who was sleeping around. I got tired of it, and his drinking, and left. I’ve been talking a lot to Melissa and Tiffany, they’re Jack’s former wives. They tried to stop me from marrying him, but I was a stupid eighteen-year-old who knew everything. Anyway, he kept hitting me for a long time. I was about to pass out when he finally stopped. Then he-“ Jenny had to pause again. Taking a few sips of water and even more deep breaths, she continued.

  “He washed me off. There was something in the water. It smelled nice, but it stung a bit when it hit the areas with broken skin. Oh, and he was chanting. Something from Psalms, but he changed the words. I only remember the part about being crushed and broken. It was like he was forewarning me. I guess that doesn’t make much sense, but I had a really bad feeling about those words.”

  Right then a nurse came in to check her vital signs and change the saline bag hanging from the pole beside her bed. Once she had gone, Michael asked, “What did he do after he washed you?”

  Jenny was quiet for a while with her head laid back and her eyes closed. Finally, she looked up, “He untied me and took me over to the table in the room. Then he tied my arms and legs down. I thought for sure he would rape me, but all he did was tell me that he would be back. He said ‘we’ll try again in the morning.’ I don’t know what he wanted from me.” Tears were again running down Jenny’s face.

  “Do you need a break? We can come back later,” Michael offered.

  “I would prefer to get this over with now, if you don’t mind,” Jenny replied. “I was there for a long time. It hurt laying on that wooden table. My back was on fire from his whip and if I tried to move to get comfortable, I felt the wood dig into my skin. It’s funny, I thought maybe I would get a splinter and die from the infection before he could do anything worse to me. Then I thought of my kids. I didn’t want to die. If I die, there isn’t anyone left who would love my kids.” At this, she broke down in heaving sobs. Betsy gathered her up and murmured soft words of comfort to her, but when she tried to rub Jenny’s back, Jenny gasped and pulled away. Collecting herself, Jenny smiled her thanks at Betsy.

  “When he came back, he tied me to the posts again. I tried to fight him, but he was very strong. I did get a close up look at his eyes through the hood. They were blue and I swear they were familiar. He smelled like whiskey. He repeated the same thing as the time before. He just kept hitting me, then he would come around to the front of me and start all over. When I would begin to pass out, he would stop for a while. He would get his breath back. As he paced, he would say scripture, and then he would curse himself and me. He kept telling me that I should stop tempting him with my nakedness. That another man’s wife shouldn’t behave that way. I wanted to tell him to give my clothes back and I would cover myself, but I couldn’t talk. He never took that thing out of my mouth. I was so thirsty.” As if that were a reminder, she reached again for the cup of water. “He went through about three cycles of using the whip that time with pauses to let me recover. Once, he waved ammonia under my nose to make sure I was awake.

  “When he was done, he tied me to the table again and left. The next thing I remember was hearing the rain. I knew I wasn’t too far underground if I could hear the thunder and rain. I saw a few flashes of light from the direction where he came and went. I laid there listening to the rain and praying my boys were safe. I prayed that I would see them again. He came shortly after the rain started and tied me to the posts again. I didn’t have the energy to fight him that time. I knew what was coming and just prayed that I could take it until I was found. He had just finished his second round of beatings when I saw you come down the stairs,” her gaze shifted to Katie. “I thought I was hallucinating. And then you charged right past him. I wanted to scream at you to turn around, but he hit you on the head and you went down. I thought for sure we were both dead after that. But then I heard more footsteps on the stairs and he bolted. I suppose you know the rest.”

  Katie gently touched her foot. “You did well. You will get through this. We won’t ask you any questions for now. Get some sleep and if there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. If you remember anything else before we come back, please call us.” Katie placed her business card on the table beside the bed and the two agents left the room to let Jenny rest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  It was just after four in the morning when they finished with Jenny, and Michael insisted that they stop for something to eat. Making their way to the little diner on Church Street that had served them well over the past few days, they grabbed a corner booth. It was early yet for the breakfast crowd, but the coffee was already hot and strong. Michael ordered a breakfast that would feed an army while Katie ordered an omelet with ham and cheese and her usual sweet tea, not coffee.

  Michael wanted nothing more than to go catch a few hours of sleep, but knowing Katie couldn’t sleep with a concussion and that there was a madman out there made him push on. “By the way, you’re getting pretty good at talking with people. For someone who claims to have no social skills, I think you’re coming along fine under my tutelage.” Michael gave a rakish grin. “So what are your thoughts? I know something is going on in your mind. You had too much time to think while lying in that bed. What’s your theory?”

  Amused that he already knew her so well, Katie said, “I want to go back to the church. I didn’t get to look around in the lair. I need a better feel for this guy before I can say for sure. I think Jenny is right. This guy was familiar with her and she knows him. Does this mean that he was targeting her from the beginning, or does he know all three of our victims? From her story and the limited time Barbie spent with him, I think he has a god-complex.”

  “He definitely has difficulty with women. I mean, stripping a woman naked and then punishing her for revealing herself to him? That is definitely a problem. I’m thinking he had a wife who cheated. Maybe he looks for other women who are cheating and is punishing them,” Michael added.

  Katie carefully considered him as she thought that over. “It would seem that way if you only consider Elaine and Jenny. Elaine was having repeated dinners with a man who was not her husband. No one knew it was her brother. He accused Jenny of having an affair. I wonder where he got that notion? We need to ask Jenny that. But when you think of Barbie, that theory doesn’t hold. He accused her of killing children. Maybe it isn’t the cheating, but any fault with a woman that he needs to punish. Still doesn’t explain how he knew about Barbie’s miscarriages. If he were Father Joe, that would be plausible, but we already know it wasn’t him.” They stayed and debated the different aspects of the case as Michael finished his breakfast. After paying the check, they headed back to Christ the King church.

  Andy greeted them at the door to the back hallway. “Welcome back, Agent Freeman. Guess your head is harder than it looks, or maybe all that hair cushioned the blow?” Andy laughed at his own joke. “If you need any TLC, just let me know. My house is al
ways available.” He quickly moved on, seeing the look on Michael’s face.

  “This place is incredible. You have to come check it out. There are all sorts of internal passageways.” He led them back to the panel in the yard sale room. The weather had cleared, so the deputies had carried the tables out to the far side of the parking lot. With the events of the night before, the yard sale had almost been canceled, but, everyone agreed it could go on as long as no one was allowed into the building. The sale promised to be a huge success. The events of the previous night were sure to draw an even bigger crowd than originally expected.

  Andy continued his dialog as they went down the stairs. Katie finally held up her hand to stop him. Michael hid the smile as Andy stopped mid-sentence. Michael knew that Katie liked to form her own opinions and she was already mad that she had missed most of the evidence collection due to her own stupidity.

  The first place she headed was the wooden table to the left. Just as Barbie had said, when tied to the posts it would have been on her right. On the table, the evidence technicians had bagged all the metal items. She saw another Scavenger’s Daughter and a Pear of Anguish. The Scold’s Bridle that had been around Jenny’s head had also been bagged as evidence. The number of footprints in the dirt floor showed the amount of traffic that had passed through the space. Michael, Lucy and Andy just stood back and watched Katie work. Katie slowly made her way around the room. Lights had been set up in the corners to illuminate the room more than the oil lantern the perpetrator had used. When she had seen all that she needed to, Katie turned and headed down the tunnel.

  “We haven’t put lights in there yet. You might want to grab a flashlight,” the nearest technician said. He handed a long-handled black flashlight to her. Switching it on and saying thanks, Katie headed down toward the water she could hear rushing by at the end. Michael quickly joined her, not wanting to let her out of his sight. They didn’t speak as she directed the beam all around. She made sure to illuminate the path ahead, but she also examined the walls and floor to the left and right of them. There was nothing of interest as they emerged in the woods a few feet from the bank of the Duck River.

  “Shit, I know exactly where we are,” Katie said. “I passed here twice with two different search parties.” She turned and went back down the tunnel to see what else she had missed. “Andy, continue…please.” The last was added as she realized how harsh she sounded.

  “Oh, I would rather show you,” he said.

  “You’ve been working with perverts for far too long.” Katie muttered as she followed him up the dirt and rock stairs.

  Before they exited through the panel back into the room that once held the yard sale items, Andy pointed to his right. He turned to see the expression on Katie’s face as she saw the gap between the wall to the exterior room and the original wall of the structure. “There is about a foot of space behind every exterior wall in this part of the church. Go ahead, see for yourself.” He stepped aside and waved Katie through.

  As Katie walked through, she occasionally saw shafts of light coming from the other side. She touched one of the squares highlighted along the edges with light. There was a sliding panel that she quickly pushed aside. Looking through a space about the size of her eye, she saw into the women’s restroom. Closing it, she moved along to the next one. She slid aside each square she passed and discovered a view of the room beyond. Behind the final hidden panel, she discovered the confessional. Her eye was directly behind where the priest’s head would be when he heard someone’s confession. Katie turned to go back toward the exit when she came face-to-face with Andy. He had a smirk on his face, knowing that this discovery was very important.

  “Oh, don’t look so smug. I was the one who figured out there were hidden panels,” Katie said in a playfully snippy voice. Andy just rolled his eyes and reached past her to push another lever. A large portion of the inside of the confessional slid to the side and he made an “after you” gesture for Katie to step out first. Andy chuckled as he watched her try to hide the awe of this discovery.

  The two of them walked down the hall in the interior of the church and joined Michael and Lucy, who had come up from the basement. Father Joe and Chief Davidson were also in the back room. “Does anyone know when these walls were built?” Katie addressed Father Joe in particular.

  “The church was renovated about three years ago. The original interior was built to have exposed rock walls. This section was added on to the main church in the 1800’s. Back then it was a Baptist church. Christ the King took over in the 1940’s and as we grew, we used this back section more and more. We discovered that it wasn’t insulated well enough. The rooms were freezing in the winter, though pleasantly cool in the summer. It got so cold in here one winter that we couldn’t have our activities anymore. So my predecessor, Father Nicholas, collected the money and had the renovation done. The walls were built in a foot so that we could put sufficient insulation behind them, or so I thought.

  “We need to know who did the renovation to the church, Father. Do you have those records?”

  “Of course, come with me.” Father Joe went back down the hall and turned in to his office. It took about ten minutes of flipping through file cabinets, but he finally came up with correct folder. “It was a company called Restoration and Renovation Contractors, or R&R Contractors; their logo is a person sleeping. Rather ingenious, I think.” He handed the folder to Katie.

  Katie flipped through the folder quickly then handed it to Lucy who took digital photos and passed the original back to Father Joe. They quickly said their goodbyes, promising to be in touch with anything they discovered, and headed out. SAC Nelson waited for them by the door to the parking lot. “Agent Freeman, you’ve done enough for today. Agents Boggs and Dillon will take the information about the renovation and cross check the employee records with anyone you’ve crossed paths with in this investigation. Any connections can be followed up on later. Unless there is another abduction, you are to return home and have nothing to do with this case until Monday morning. Agent Powell, you’ve put in too many long hours as well. I’m ordering you to see that neither you nor Agent Freeman touch this case until then, understood?” He waited for Michael’s nod before he got in his car and drove off.

  Andy and Lucy wisely retreated as quickly as they could before Katie could turn her temper on anyone nearby. She was livid to be ordered home like an invalid. She had worked longer hours than this before. True, none of those hours had involved a concussion, but still, she was perfectly functional. As she turned to quickly to voice her anger at Michael, the world started spinning again and she would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her arm in time to steady her.

  “That is what he meant. You are still deathly pale and you need to eat again. I’m taking you home and you are going to rest this afternoon. Perhaps if you get some sleep, I can talk him into lifting the ban tomorrow. Right now there is nothing you can do other than run yourself ragged. And that isn’t helping anyone.” Michael dragged her to the car, opened the passenger door and gently pushed her inside.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The weekend was very quiet. They returned to the house and were served lunch in the sunroom. Katie was entertained by the kids, who were finally out of school for the year. June was quickly approaching and the weather after the rain was beautiful for sitting on the porch. At two, Carrie curled up on Katie’s lap and half an hour later Michael found them sitting in the porch swing, both fast asleep. He gently extricated Carrie from Katie’s arms and carried her upstairs. He then returned and carried Katie up to her room and laid her on the bed, covering her with the quilt.

  Katie slept until nearly noon the next day and probably would have slept longer if her stomach and bladder had held out. She made her way downstairs and found Michael sitting at the kitchen table with Caroline. Today, he was wearing dark jeans and a lime-green polo.

  Katie helped herself to a glass of sweet tea from the refrigerator. Caroline took her elbow and guided
her to a seat. “Sit down, honey, and I’ll get you something to eat.” She began bustling around the kitchen putting together a tray of deli meat and cheese. She brought them to the table with hoagie rolls and assorted condiments.

  “Have we heard from Lucy and Andy?” Katie began piling her roll with meat. Michael waited for her to finish before he began making his own sandwich.

  “Yes. We received an email from them a few hours ago. I came over to see if you had seen it yet. I was just debating with Caroline on whether or not we should wake you up. How’s your head?”

  Katie waved off his concern. “I’m fine. What’s in the email?”

  “Sorry, but you have to finish your sandwich before we talk business.” Michael smiled, but his eyes were serious. Katie rolled her eyes and took a giant bite.

  “Mom says it isn’t nice to stuff your mouth,” Tommy said. Michael nearly choked on the bite in his mouth as he laughed. Katie just smiled.

  “Okay, now that you’re fed, Lucy’s report matched three names from the payroll of R&R Construction to people who still live in Shelbyville. She sent those names along for us to investigate and is going to run quick checks on the others just to make sure we don’t miss anything. First up is John Clark. He was employed at R&R for five years, but moved on to start his own business. On paper, he seems like a great guy. Married, two kids, another on the way. No record, not even a traffic ticket. Second is Paul Dennis. I find him interesting. He still works at R&R, has for about fifteen years. He has one arrest for smoking weed. No wife or kids, but he appears to be dating Claudette. I could see how that would cause issues with women.” Michael chuckled at his own joke. “Finally, we have Timothy Owens. Background check shows two children, but no mention of a wife. He too is a long-term employee of R&R.” As he spoke, he handed each person’s sheet to Katie.