The Uninvited

by mike Evans

  “Fine, you do your part and I’ll do mine.”

  The footsteps were getting closer and closer. The two women each hid behind a tree breathing heavy and trying to keep their hands unsuccessfully from shaking. Brandi mouthed, don’t miss. Katy gave her a sarcastic thumbs up trying to calm herself. They did not have to wait long and when feet appeared, Katy slid the branch in-between them.

  Chapter 19

  Hardin looked around the clearing, trying to guess best where to go. It was almost impossible to tell where they should head to look. Bynum sat watching the seasoned detective and said, “So are you going to track them, sir?”

  Hardin looked back at him. “I’m a detective, rook, not a fucking Navajo. There’s a reason why we get dogs to come out here." He looked for the men that were standing around in the field looking for any signs. “Hey, Johnson, did you find anyone with a set of dogs we could use?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it’s going to be a few hours unfortunately, but there is a K-9 squad that is going to come this way and help us out. It’s the best we could do.”

  Hardin threw up his hand and Lambert could see the frustration on his face. He wasn’t sure if he was so hell bent on it because of the killer out there or because it was something personal to himself. Lambert didn’t like putting stress like this on people, because he knew that nine out of ten times, especially when it came down to missing person cases, that they were already doing everything that they could to try and help. When Hardin had come from Colorado with the highest recommendations he’d actually felt bad for the man when another killer arose. He had told him that he didn’t have to take lead on the case if he didn’t want to and that maybe he could just consult with the other detectives. Hardin had told him that his personal needs were second when it came to needing to try and save the lives of innocent people. The chief could tell that the man truly had a knack for the job and he hated the criminals with the same hate that Lambert himself had felt towards the enemy in Vietnam.

  Lambert walked close to him as he walked around kicking in frustration at the long grass. “You doing okay there, Hardin?”

  Hardin, who was usually pretty well reserved, especially with superiors, said, “Fuck no I'm not okay. There could be people out there still alive and the best thing we have is a few hours to get a dog. That’s fucking ridiculous. Don’t they know how precious two hours is? Shit, I'd take a halfway intelligent hunting dog at this point if it meant getting a lead on something quicker.”

  Lambert said, “If this would have happened closer to home that probably would’ve been something I could have helped you out with. I don’t know anyone in these parts, I honestly don’t think me and the family have ever came out to this park before. Can’t say that I have a lot of desire to ever come back here again after what we’ve seen today.”

  Lambert was barely being listened to. Hardin was peering around the wood’s edge. He said, “Yeah, I can see how something like this-”

  When he trailed off Lambert watched him seeing he’d stopped moving around the field glasses and said, “You find something?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but it looks like it’d be worth a look at. You want to head up there with me to have a look around?”

  “With my bum knee, no way. Take one of the boys with you. They can still jump fences and chase people down and still get out of bed in the morning.”

  Hardin nodded. “Yeah, you know it isn’t getting any easier as we get older. You got a preference on who I take with me?”

  “No, but if you want to take the most seasoned with you take Nulty. If you want a runner grab Bynum, that little fucker works a ten-hour shift and he still goes to the gym. There’s something wrong about that. When I used to get off work I didn’t go to the gym, but then again no one went to the gym back then. We kept ourselves busy enough to keep from getting fat without it.”

  Hardin left the chief still reminiscing on the good ol’ days and headed over to Bynum. “Hey, rook, let’s go. I might have seen something over there, and I don’t want to wait for those dogs. There’s no reason wasting time when we don’t have it to waste.”

  He nodded unsurely and looked back at the Chief, who was paying no attention to him at all. Hardin said “Bynum, let’s go, shake a leg. The Chief was the one who already gave me permission to head out and take you with.”

  “Why, did he say you could take me?”

  “Simple…..I hate to run, and he said that you were a hell of a lot more physically fit than Nulty or DeBryan.”

  Bynum smiled at this, nodding, and realizing being fatter would mean he could be walking lazily through the field looking for impossible to find clues. But that he would be surrounded totally by police and further being safe. He didn’t want to come off badly so he just nodded his head uneasily and checked his gun was secure. Hardin pointed to Bynum’s chest. “You got your bullet right?” When Bynum stared blankly, missing the Andy Griffith reference, Hardin said, “Never mind. You are probably too young to even know what the Griffith show is.”

  The two walked into the woods and it did not take long for them to smell the body. Bynum said, “What in the hell is that smell?”

  Hardin said, “If I had to guess I’d say that it is another victim.”

  Bynum pulled out his pistol and Hardin said, “Are you going to shoot the victim, rookie? Put that stupid thing away. If you need it I’ll let you know.”

  They walked around a pile of brush and saw Jack’s foot sticking out. His shirt had turned brown from the dried blood and his neck could not have been more mangled from the machete. They walked around looking at him and heard a crack in the distance. Hardin said, “Okay, rookie, now you can pull your weapon.”

  Bynum said, “What about the victim?”

  “You mean the dead body? He isn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon. You know how long I’ve been working on this? If that sick fuck is still out here we aren’t going to pussy foot around and loose him. Now get your ass moving and let’s go.”

  Bynum was walking on Hardin’s feet practically. He said, “Grow some balls, boy. You go that way and I’ll go this way. We don’t want crossfire to be an issue. If you see him I want you to take him alive if you can. There are a lot of dead bodies I feel that still need to be discovered unfortunately. If we take him or her out then we will never be able to give their families any sense of finality to their feelings.”

  Bynum nodded and started running lightly in his direction. Bynum stopped every twenty to thirty feet listening for the sounds again. He wiped at his brow. The heat was turning into a scorcher and the humidity did nothing to help. His shirt was sticking to his back and making him uncomfortable, not helping to make it easy to concentrate on the task at hand.

  Bynum slid his gun in its holster, then pulled out his dip can and, as quietly as he could, slapped his thumb on it, getting the amount ready to stick in, under his lip. When he did, he almost felt an immediate relief from the nicotine that made its way in through his blood stream. A crack came from behind him and he jumped, spinning around and trying to pull his gun. The man with the mask stared for only a moment before gripping his arm. Bynum opened his mouth to yell but the man used his other hand to slam the blade into one of his lungs and then the other. Bynum quivered, letting go of the pistol and trying to keep his balance.

  When he tried to yell again the man shook his head slowly no and placed a finger up to the officer’s lips, then to his own, making it clear that no was the answer when it came to screaming aloud. The man dipped a finger in Bynum’s chest injury and made a smiley face on Bynum’s cheeks. When Bynum was just ready to pass out, the man slammed his head into a branch protruding from the tree sending it into his brain and leaving Bynum standing there suspended in air, dripping blood down his shirt and onto his legs.

  *****

  Lambert watched with the field glasses as the two men disappeared, not liking that they didn’t have more available bodies for such a task. He hit his radio twenty minutes into it and said
, “Hardin, Bynum, I want you to check in. I don’t like having everyone split up like this. It isn’t smart work.”

  Just as he was about to start assembling men, Hardin answered. “Hey, Chief, there was a noise out here so we split up hoping to gain more ground and to see if we could catch up to it. We weren’t sure what made it, but didn’t want to take a chance on losing our opportunity if it was him.”

  Lambert came back. “Yeah, I can appreciate that. You didn’t find anything then, I assume?”

  “We found a body. I didn’t want a bunch of people rushing up here if that son of a bitch was standing near watching and scare him off. I fear that he’s gone though.”

  “It was probably just a damn deer. Bynum, did you not hear me when I said to check back in, damn it?”

  When no one came back over the radio Hardin said, “Let me circle back around, we’ve not been at this too long he can’t be too-"

  Lambert waited impatiently. “Hey, Hardin, I think you cut out there son. Were you saying that you were going to go and find him?”

  Hardin spoke but there was nothing in his voice that spoke of compassion. He said it as if he was repeating it off of a card. “Sir, I need you to get two gurneys out here to get people out of here on.”

  “What do you mean two…..oh my god, don’t tell me that you found Traci out there? Don’t you tell me that, damn it!”

  “No, no that isn’t it, it's…..it is Bynum. I don’t know what the fuck happened but the son of a bitch must be out here. He killed him. The son of a bitch killed him, god damn it. If I’d have gone this way and had him go the other I would have finally been able to catch up to him. Fuck!”

  “He got Bynum? Son of a bitch, he’s just a kid. Fire off a couple shots. I want him to make sure we aren’t dicking around out here. I’ll have the men out here follow you and catch up. I don’t want anyone else alone the rest of the day out here. You hang tight and don’t do anything stupid. I’m not going to lose any more men today. I mean that, god damn it!”

  Hardin walked towards the edge of the woods to wait for the rest of the men, keeping a pistol by his side. He hit his radio and said, “I can’t waste an opportunity like this. There looks to be a house in the distance; there is a smoke trail coming from it at the least. You guys meet me there. I'm going in to see what is going on. I won’t do anything stupid, I promise."

  Lambert came back on his radio, “Hey, it isn’t your fault, you remember that. I’m sorry that I sent you in without more backup. I don’t know what I was thinking. There wasn’t anything so important in the field going on that the rest of the men couldn't have split up and assisted you.”

  “We all make decisions, sir, and it is something that we have got to live with, we just don't have to like it every time we make a decision we aren’t in love with afterwards. I’ll tell his parents if you want? I don’t think you are going to find her, the killer usually doesn’t hang around the kill scene. Once they move on they are usually gone.”

  “Do you think that he might be changing his kill pattern?”

  “I sure as hell hope not, Chief. Before we get to Bynum you are going to see another man. He looks like he has multiple stab wounds and a laceration across his neck. It is a pretty deep cut and there isn’t a lot leaving his neck attached to his head.”

  “You look at the house and that is it. You don’t do anything else, you understand me, Hardin?”

  “Unless I see them walking around, then I'm not going to go anywhere, I promise.”

  “Like I said, we aren’t going to lose anyone else today. You sit on that house and stay there!”

  “Yes, sir, Chief, will do. I had my wife probably tell me the same thing that yours told you before you left.”

  “What, that you are a pain in the ass?”

  “Yeah, you know it was something like that, sir.”

  Chapter 20

  Traci flew forward, screaming as she hit the ground, and slid painfully through a thorn bush, twigs, and rocks. Brandi was trying to bring the stick down, she had her eyes shut and Katy jumped across the battered Traci and tackled her around her stomach. Brandi hit hard, letting out a good deal of air. She said, “What the fuck is wrong with you, Katy?”

  “Well, if you would have been paying attention you would have seen you probably didn’t want to kill the person beneath you.”

  Brandi moved to the side so that she could see and took in Traci trying to push up from the ground failing at first and falling back to the ground. Katy moved over and helped her up, slowly. She winced as she extended her arms. There was a bloody leaf angel beneath her. Her short shirt and tank top did little to protect her as she had slid. Katy said, “Fuck, me I'm so sorry. Are you okay, Traci?”

  Traci was still in shock. “I didn’t think that I had any chance of catching up to you two. Isaac stayed behind-”

  “What, why, what was he thinking?" Brandi asked.

  “He was thinking that his best friend was about to be murdered right in front of him and the idea of it was more than he obviously could handle.”

  Katy stared at Brandi coldly. “Hmm, sounds like I'm not the only one that was trying to use morals. I knew that I should have stayed with him but someone bitch slapped me and then pulled me into the woods, leaving my husband behind.”

  Traci tried lifting her legs and rotated her arms to see what range of motion she had in them. She could have been more pleased with the results but wasn’t ignorant and knew sitting there complaining about things that couldn’t be changed would do no one, including herself, any good. Traci looked at the two of them and said, “Get me a stick too. I am done being a victim. If that son of a bitch comes after me again I'm going to stab him through that stupid fucking mask of his and call the cops long after he’s dead.”

  Brandi said, “Wow, this isn’t how you act at the office.”

  “Really, Brandi? I also don’t have a psychotic piece of shit running crazy in the office trying to kill me. Because I'd fucking kill them too.”

  Brandi held out a stick for her and the three of them headed to the wood’s edge, peering out to see if there was anyone or thing that they needed to be wary of or about. Katy said, “So once we call the cops did you want to go back and try and find Isaac?”

  “If they have a gun or something we can borrow, or maybe knives, I don’t know. There’s a good chance that sick fuck could probably take all three of us out, but it is my man and I love him. Christ, I just got engaged today and I have to worry about losing him already. Do you know how much bullshit that is?”

  Katy said, “Well, in a year when we are all somewhere tropical celebrating the wedding of you two we will be feeling extra thankful for the love that we all have for each other.”

  Brandi said, “You guys think that we could maybe talk about this later and get a move on? If things are so important sitting here and talking about it isn’t doing anyone any good at all."

  “She’s right,” Katy said. “There’s about a million nicer ways she could have said it, but what are you going to do with some people’s kids?”

  Brandi went to say something but the two of them walked ahead, leaving her standing by herself open mouthed. She ran to catch up to them, not wanting for one second to be by herself in the woods filled with killers. The girls walked to the edge of the timber looking around, waiting, and deeming it looked safe to go and venture out to. They walked out into the gravel driveway that covered most of the property along the edge of the barn. Katy was in the lead when she walked to the edge of barn. She looked both ways quickly to make sure that the monster wasn’t lurking around the corner. A scream tried to pour from her but Traci was there instantly, pulling her backwards and hushing her as she covered her mouth. She let go and said, “What…..what is it?”

  Katy turned around her to face her, face void of all color. “It’s a man. He’s dead. That son of a bitch must have come here first. He doesn’t look all that fresh either.”

  Traci peered around the corner, wishing she had
n’t; the visual she received wasn’t anything that she needed to have in her memory bank. “Could this day get any weirder?”

  The three of them avoided Steven and made their way across to the house. When they made it there they listened, hearing a screaming whistling sound coming from inside. Brandi said, “Who the fuck makes tea when a dead man is hanging outside?”

  “Maybe someone who was expecting a normal day yesterday or the day before? Maybe the killer put it on there before he left because he’s all kinds of effed up.” Traci said.

  Katy gripped the handle to the door, checking the lock. When it opened, she pushed the old wood door open slowly, seeing the horror show before her. They looked down at the antique wood with the long blood trail heading outside and one heading up the stairs. They made their way in slowly and cautiously. Brandi opened her mouth to say something and Katy shook her head no holding a finger up to her mouth. They walked the first floor of the house, checking doors. The home had no basement and they were thankful as hell for that. When they made it to the kitchen, they removed the teapot and looked around; the new silence was almost deafening.

  Katy said, “Okay, so where’s the fucking phone?”

  Brandi pointed, almost laughing, at the wall-mounted line. “Oh my god, they have a home phone. Who even has a home phone?”

  Traci walked to it quickly, avoiding the blood marks everywhere on the floor. “Really, you are making fun of the one thing besides a gun that could potentially save our lives?” She picked the receiver up off of the wall and listened for the dial tone. “It’s dead, damn it. Let’s check the rest of the house. Maybe there’s something else up there that we can use. Maybe we can find a cell phone up there.”

  Brandi said, “Yeah, that or we are going to find another dead body. This place just screams that good things happened here.”

  Katy said, “Well, maybe we’ll find some car keys and we can just drive on out of here. I know it wouldn’t break my heart if we put some distance between us and this place. Maybe we could find the boys on the way out. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Let the cops send like a thousand guys here and find that son of a bitch and kill him.”