by BJ Wingate
Vanessa smiled and walked up behind him. “Same way I like my men, light and strong.” She ran a finger up his back.
Turning Duke grinned at her and reached out to touch her face gently. As he leaned down to kiss her, he felt something on his neck. Feeling a sharp pain, he stepped back, one hand lifting. He touched the moisture there then saw the blood on his fingers as he slid to the floor.
Glancing at the dress she was wearing, Vanessa sighed. It was ruined. She reached across and turned off the coffee pot. Then she headed back to the bedroom of the trailer and opened the closet. The first side held Duke’s clothes. The other side held an assortment of women’s dresses. She smiled as she looked them over. They even seemed to be in her size, or at least close to it. Before doing anything else though, she went back to the front door of the trailer and made sure it was locked.
After that, it was a simple matter of taking a shower and changing clothes. Vanessa found a pale pink silk dress in with the others and slipped it on. A little bigger than she was wanting but it would do for now. She redid her makeup and fixed her hair. Then she went back to the kitchen, and being careful of the blood, grabbed Duke’s wrists and dragged him back to the bedroom. It took a minute of indecision before just leaving him on the floor. She pulled the coverlet down over him and closed the door.
Back in the kitchen, Vanessa cleaned up the area a bit making sure to wipe the counter off as best she could. Then she went down the hall, wiped down the bathroom and wiped off the bedroom door. While doing that she recalled touching the closet door, slipped into the room and wiped that down as well. She hesitated at the closet again, pulled out a carry bag that she found on the upper shelf and stuffed a lot of the dresses and other things into the bag. She glanced at the clock on the side table and saw it was close to one a.m. She tossed the bag into the hall before she took Duke’s wallet from his pocket and removed all the money inside. Well over two hundred. Finally, she left the bedroom once more and used the towel in her hand to pull the door closed.
Vanessa eased out the door of the trailer and put the bag into the back seat. Going back into the trailer one last time she found the dog’s food and leash. She took the dog with her out to the car and drove off. She just couldn’t leave that dog there to starve. Plus, if she was being honest with herself, the dog’s barking might draw attention too soon. A mile or so later she pulled over, tied the dog’s leash to the gate of a house, left the bag of food and drove off. She had seen children’s toys in the yard so figured they might give Tipsy a good home. She drove the car close to where she lived, put the bag in the trunk, locked it and walked the last few blocks home.
Eight
Jessica Roberts had a day off, finally. It didn’t happen often, and she relished every day she got. Her normal routine on such days was to get up maybe half an hour later than usual, go for a run in her nice quiet rural neighborhood, and take a shower on getting home. Then, if the mood hit her, she did her grocery shopping which included cat food and treats. Once a month it included cat litter for her small calico cat named Mandy. Mandy had a mind of her own of course, as most cats did. She didn’t run to meet Jessica when she got home but could often be found sitting on the corner of the kitchen table waiting for her treats. She wasn’t supposed to be on the table of course, but it was her way of letting Jessica know she had been gone too long. Besides Jessica loved her cat and tended to let her get away with things a bit too much.
Jessica’s run had been good that morning. She had worked up a nice sweat and the shower had felt really good. Mandy had sat on the toilet seat keeping watch as usual and Jessica had talked to her cat about the case and her thoughts on it. Mandy was a good sounding board at times like this.
Twice now the killings had seemed to be either a short man which was possible or a woman which if Jessica was honest with herself, was also possible. Women didn’t usually kill savagely but considering how these were done, it was a possibility. And they were being done with the victims facing away so the killer didn’t get blood on them or not a lot anyway. That could indicate a woman. Maybe. The main thing bothering her at the moment was why kill two such different people? If it was a woman and she hated men that was one thing but the first one had been a woman. Why kill a woman if she hated men? Jessica wasn’t sure but she had things to do and right now wasn’t the time to work the case.
An hour after her run, Jessica was at the local supermarket picking out some fresh fruit and buying a few necessities. She wasn’t home that often for dinner so didn’t keep a lot in the cupboard. However, she did keep milk, bread, eggs and a few other things on hand at all times. And, of course, she had to get the cat treats for Mandy. Tossing them in the basket she started to turn a corner into another aisle of the market and ran into another customer’s cart.
The man behind the cart was close to six feet tall if not more with brown hair cut in the traditional style and brown eyes. Jessica ran her eyes over him quickly and took note that he was well built and probably worked out but not so much as to be a weightlifter or anything of that sort. When they collided, he had put out a hand as if to catch either Jessica or the cart, she wasn’t sure which.
“Sorry about that. I swear these aisles need traffic lights at the ends.” Jessica smiled as she moved to go around his cart.
The man nodded. “That or mirrors at the end so you can see if someone is coming.”
Jessica grinned. “I have a feeling that would make too much sense.” She eased past him only to hear him turn his cart to follow her.
He grinned back. “True. My name is Bryant Marshall. Figured since we had a ‘fender bender’ we should maybe exchange information.”
Jessica extended her hand. “Jessica Roberts. Nice to meet you, Mr. Marshall.” Then they shook hands.
“Ouch, when you say it that way, I expect to find my father standing behind me. Bryant, please.” He smiled and Jessica could feel herself blushing. She hadn’t blushed due to a man in quite some time.
“Then please call me Jessica or Jess as my friends do.” Jessica started to move down the aisle looking at the items on the shelves. She heard Bryant following her. A minute later his cart was next to her.
“So, we can be considered friends I take it?” Bryant reached over her to pluck an item from a shelf over her head and she ducked a bit. He chuckled. “Paranoid much?”
Jessica laughed and looked at him. “Not that you can usually see. As for friends, I’d say … casual acquaintances perhaps.” She eyed him again. “Or maybe victim and stalker?” She grinned to take the edge off.
Bryant laughed and nodded. Together they wandered the aisles for a time until he glanced at his watch, excused himself and headed for the checkout.
Briefly, Jessica found herself missing his presence. Due to her profession, she hadn’t had many steady relationships and most of those she had ended herself. But just having had him there to talk to and be teased by had been fun. She finished her shopping and returned home to her cat, a light supper of salad and fruit then settled in front of the television.
* * *
In her small apartment, Alyson found herself waiting for the news to come on. She had been seeing reports about another murder and for some reason was intrigued by it all. This time it was a young man. When they said where the body had been found, Alyson simply stared at the screen in disbelief. In the park? Where she had been a few days before? Was no place safe anymore? She thought about the man at the deli with the gun. Had he been one of the detectives that was checking into it? The news reporter had said detectives, not police so that was what she had to surmise. She closed her eyes for a few minutes thinking it over then switched off the TV, picked up a book and started to read. Better to immerse herself in a fantasy world than to live in the real one. Or was that one of her problems? Had she lived in her fantasies too much over the years? She wasn’t sure but would not worry about it for now. A few hours later found her dozing on the couch so she went, crawled into bed and fell fast asleep.
Nine
Vanessa wandered into the storage office hesitantly. It was late but not extremely so. Her black hair was short, cut into a pixie cut almost. She brushed the bangs out of her eyes for a minute and smiled at the young man standing behind the counter. He looked bored out of his mind but at sight of her in the dark blue form-fitting dress she had on and the two-inch pumps that matched, he smiled.
“Hi!” he said brightly. “Can I help you?” The very tone of his voice, not to mention the way his eyes traveled over her, made Vanessa smile even more.
“Yes, perhaps you can.” Vanessa got to the counter, reached over and lightly touched the young man’s hand. “I have never rented one of these … um … storage spaces before so I’m not sure what I need.” She assumed he was the night shift person here to do the last-minute stuff and keep an eye on things. She knew they had twenty-four-hour access, but the office had to close some time, didn’t it?
The young man straightened up and grinned. “Well, that depends on what you plan on storing. We have all sizes, even some large enough to hold cars. Those are the most expensive of course.” He reached under the counter and brought out what looked to be a brochure on all the units.
“These are the smaller ones, like if you just want to store a few boxes of stuff or whatever. Those are the cheapest. These here in the middle are of two sizes. The eight foot by eight foot can hold quite a bit, a couple rooms of furniture even. Then there are the ten-foot ones to hold a lot more. And finally, these in the back are for cars or large items of furniture. They mostly hold medium-sized cars, not trucks or limos of course. We even have a couple of guys that work out of some of them. Mostly the ten-foot ones though.” He handed Vanessa the brochure so she could see the prices. The big ones were indeed expensive. Could she manage that? Mentally she considered what she had available.
“The car ones are nice but is it possible to store a car outside of one? Like on the lot or something?” Vanessa smiled at the young man.
He scratched his head for a minute. “Well, yes we can do that for a minimum price but that means the vehicle would be in the weather and stuff. Now if that isn’t important then sure that can be done.” He reached over and wrote down the price for that and Vanessa nodded.
“Okay I can do that and one of the small units, I think. I do have a few things to store.” Vanessa smiled as the young man got out the papers she would need to sign. “Um, what if I find I need to change to a larger unit later on? Is that possible?”
The young man nodded. “Absolutely, if we have one available. Right now, we have a few of the eight by ten units but none of the ten by ten.”
Leaning over the counter, Vanessa hesitated briefly. She thought about it and finally wrote in the address of the Duke’s trailer from earlier in the week. She wrote in her first name, adding the man’s last name – she had seen some mail at the trailer – and signed it the same way. Then she passed the young man the correct amount of money and let him lead her to the unit and then to where she could park her car. She nodded as she looked it all over. She would need to get a lock, but it seemed a pretty straight forward thing to do. She left shortly after that to get the lock and whatever else she would need.
Returning to the trailer where Duke had been living was chancy, but Vanessa did it anyway. Everything looked about the same as it had before. Opening the door and going in, the smell got to her, and she coughed a bit. She quickly closed the door behind her and moved about picking up things she might be able to use and so on. She didn’t want to go into the bedroom as she knew what she would see so instead she set out a few air fresheners that she had bought when she got the lock for her storage. Those would help until someone came to check on the man. She glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall. Two more weeks before his rent would be due. After that was anyone’s guess as to when someone might come to check on him. She had worn gloves going in this time so fingerprints wouldn’t be a problem. She carried the items out to her car and put them in the back seat. Then a thought hit her, and she went back inside. Printing out a short note, she took that and hung it on the outside of the door to the trailer. She read it over and smiled.
“Gone out of town for a short time. Will be back in due course. Duke.”
Vanessa smiled. That might give her even more time. Time that she felt she needed. Getting in the car, she pulled out again and drove two blocks before pulling over and going through what she had stuffed into her purse. In searching the trailer, she had found two bank books with the debit cards tucked inside. Duke must not have trusted his memory because he had code numbers written on sticky notes attached to the cards. Two different cards, two different banks. She frowned but drove to the first one and got out of the car. She had sunglasses on and kept them on even though it was dark out. Going to the ATM machine, she inserted the card and punched in the code that was with it. For a second or two she was afraid it wouldn’t work then it did, and she requested a balance. What she saw had her eyes opening wide. There was several thousand dollars in the account. All that money and he had lived in that trailer? Without hesitating she punched the correct keys to withdraw six hundred dollars. She knew most banks didn’t allow that much but she had to try. It was rejected so she changed it to five hundred and the machine whirled. A minute later it kicked out the money and she stuffed it into her purse. Going back to the car she drove partway across town, stopped to fill the tank with gas, then went to the other bank’s ATM. There she again checked the balance and found another few thousand dollars. Duke had been hiding money for some reason. She withdrew five hundred again and drove off.
* * *
Alyson was sick for two days. She woke up with a slight fever and a light cough that gradually got worse. She went to work on Monday morning but by lunchtime she was feeling miserable so went home. For the next two days she called in sick and stayed in her apartment. Thank goodness she had sick time she could use. For the most part she slept, watched TV or read. By Thursday of that week, she was feeling better so went back to work. She got paid on Friday and went and cashed her check at the bank. As she walked to her car she glanced at the receipt and stopped dead. Blinking, she read it again. Had the bank made a mistake? Or had she in figuring up her account last time. For some reason she had an extra hundred dollars in the account. She considered going back in and telling the bank there had been an error but instead she got in her car and drove off.
Going to the grocery store, she spent some of that extra money on things she wanted but could never afford, went home and put it all away. Feeling just a little guilty, she settled on the couch with a good movie on and munched on the chips and dip that she had gotten.
Ten
Two weeks went by with no new murders, at least not that Jessica knew of. She sat at her desk and did paperwork for the case at hand and researched similar murders from the past. Nothing turned up in her research and she was getting decidedly anxious to figure out what was going on. One thing did happen however, Brandon Jacobson was released from jail. It had been determined that at the time of his wife’s murder, Brandon was indeed at a bar some distance away with a few acquaintances. He was off the hook.
In most cases, as Tony had said, murders done with a knife were committed by men. If it was a woman, it was usually in a fit of rage or self-defense. Either of those was the only way most women killed men. Unless of course you considered Lizzy Borden. She was one of the exceptions to the rule. Jessica had read that story a few times in her lifetime, so she knew it was not normal. Sociopaths were almost always men. And they displayed such tendencies early in life as well. Or at least that was what everyone thought. Maybe there were women sociopaths, but no one knew about them? Interesting thought.
Jessica did come upon one story about a woman who was raped by several men in a group at an early age who went on a murderous rampage. When she got older, she happened to see two of them and it sort of flipped a switch in her brain, or so the psychologist that testified at her trial had said. The woman had
then hunted down all four men and killed them with a knife, but it wasn’t a quick slice of the throat. No. From what Jessica read, the woman had seduced the men into bed, tied them down as if in play then proceeded to stab each of them numerous times in the chest and abdomen. Very brutal and very bloody.
But it still didn’t match what was going on now. Jessica sighed, glanced at the wall clock and got up from her desk. Lunchtime had snuck up on her as she had been working. Tony was out that day taking care of ‘personal business’ as he had called it, so she was on her own. She headed out, drove to that one deli by the park where she and Tony had stopped and had lunch there.
From what Jessica remembered, the same people were in the small deli that had been there before with one exception. There had been one rather ordinary lady sitting at a table alone reading. Briefly, she wondered if the lady was a regular or had done what she and Tony had done that first time, simply dropped by for that one day. Jessica shrugged. It had nothing to do with her case and right then that was all that really mattered. She finished out the day and simply kept to her normal routine.
* * *
Two weeks had gone by and Vanessa was getting bored. Going to the storage unit she now rented, she opened it, went inside and turned on the light within. She closed the door and proceeded to change clothes. She had gotten a small table at a thrift store to put to one side of the unit. At the back were several boxes of things that she had brought there. On the other side from the small table was a hanging rack on which she had most of the clothes she had gotten from Duke’s trailer, plus the few outfits she had gotten for herself. Jewelry and wig stands sat on the table with a mirror in the center. She chose her outfit for the evening, a tight red dress that didn’t quite reach her knees, and a long blond wig. She fastened it into place and looked at the mirror. Perfect. She sat on a folding chair she had gotten at that same thrift store and applied the correct makeup as well. She switched handbags so her shoes and bag matched, as usual, and left the unit, locking it as she did. Then she got in her car and drove off.
