The Skin Worshipper

by RB Schalin

Chapter 35

  Kerry can't sleep, it happens sometimes. He lies awake in his bed, ompletely still and looking up at the ceiling. He glances at the clock on the bedside table, only 6.30A.M. He can hear the first birds outside and there is light coming in from behind the drawn curtains. He has been awake all-night, but doesn't feel tired. He can hear Becky sleeping beside him and her breaths are shallow. He carefully pulls the sheet from his body and gets out of bed.

  In the kitchen, he makes a cup of coffee and a sandwich. He takes it out on the front porch and settles down in one of the chairs. Looking out over the clearing he can see the morning fog coming off the grass. The sun hasn't cleared the treetops yet leaving a slight chill in the air. He hears a sound and looks up. The same deer as the other day is coming out of the woods, at least he thinks it's the same. He watches it as it slowly lowers its head and eats something from the ground.

  "Ready?" asks Hawk.

  "Yes, lead the way," says Holmes.

  They have parked his car at the end of the trail next to a big truck. Holmes walks around it and looks inside.

  "Whose do you think it is?"

  "It's John Kerry's," says Hawk, without looking at it.

  "You mean the weirdo who was lost in the Amazon."

  "Yes him. He told me he had a cabin up here somewhere; he takes his kid and wife to it once in a while."

  "Shit, so this could be a waste of time. I mean, if it's Kerry's cabin I found then there is no point in going looking."

  Hawk mulls it over, and he remembers what Mrs. Walker said. He takes a deep breath and tells Holmes what he knows.

  "Interesting, but it doesn't prove he is our killer," she says, leaning against the truck.

  She looks good jeans and a flannel shirt. She is wearing a baseball cap and her hair is inside keeping it away from her face and shoulders. She is not wearing any makeup, but her skin has a healthy pink color to it.

  "You are right, but it makes it worth taking a closer look at him and his cabin. If we move in slowly we can hide and do some surveillance on him."

  They begin to push through the undergrowth trying to make as little noise as possible.

  "What do you expect to see, Kerry, carving up bodies? He might have his wife and kid with him," asks Holmes.

  Hawk turns around and looks at her, "I just want to have a peek at how he is around his family. Whenever I see him, he is all smiles and friendly words, but he might be different around his family."

  She nods her head and they continue. They have to walk slowly, but she notices that what first looked like just regular undergrowth has been cut back a little. She can see clear marks on some branches where they have been either sawed or cut to make it easier to get through.

  Finally, they reach the trail again and they stop.

  "How far is it to the cabin from here, did you say?" ask Hawk.

  "A few hundred yards, the trail is pretty much straight from here on, just a couple of small bends."

  "OK, let's get off the trail and move into the woods." He looks to his right and the sloping hill. "We can go up here and with some luck find a place where we can hide and look down at the clearing and the cabin."

  They slowly and carefully walk up the hill making sure they don't step on any dry branches. They reach a place where a big pine tree has fallen and the roots are a tangled mess sticking up in the air. Hawk moves closer and looks down the hill, "perfect, from here we can see the cabin. And if I'm not mistaken Kerry is on the porch."

  Holmes walks, hunkered down, up beside him and takes out a pair of binoculars from her backpack. After focusing them, she says, "that's him, he has a cup with coffee I think. I can't see anyone else around, they must be sleeping. He is only wearing a pair of boxer shorts."

  They settle in with their backs against the roots and continue to watch the man below them. He doesn't do anything exciting, just sits and sips his coffee. The sun comes up from behind the treetops and begins to warm their bodies.

  "He is getting up," says Holmes.

  Hawk sees how Kerry stands up and stretches his arms above his head, "I wonder where he works out? Maybe he has a gym at home?"

  "Must have, it would take months to get a body like that, " says Holmes, looking through the binoculars.

  Kerry turns around and picks up his cup from the table, and as he walks inside Hawk hears Holmes gasp.

  "What?"

  "Did you see that?"

  "See what?"

  "The line on his back," she says and lowers the binoculars.

  "What line, what are you talking about?"

  He has a black line, like a tattoo along his spine. It starts at the nape of his neck and disappears into his boxers. It's about an inch wide, the oddity is it looks like stitches."

  "So? He has a tattoo, many people do, and it doesn't make him a serial killer."

  "True, but most people have pictures or texts, not just a thick black line down their spine," she says, watching the door Kerry went through.

  Kerry fills his cup again and walks out on the porch, and just as he is sitting down there is a bright light to his left. He doesn't turn his head, just keeps watching the area where he thought it came from. There it is again, a quick flash of light. Binoculars reflecting the sun, someone is watching me, thinks Kerry. He drinks some of his coffee and wonders who it could be. Police? Possible, but why? He has done nothing that would make them suspicious? Maybe hunters? It's not hunting season, maybe lost tourists, having a peak at the local man having his morning coffee? It's one possibility.

  He finishes his coffee and walks inside, closing the door behind him. In the living room he opens the windows and turns on the TV and then mutes it, not to wake up Becky and Danny. He is worried that the smell has come back during the night and Becky will make an issue out of it.

  He is restless. He walks around the cabin without doing anything, just walking back and forth. What he needs is another sacrifice; he needs to have a body hanging and him skinning it. His thoughts go back to the woman he saw outside the police station, her skin seemed flawless, so soft and beautiful. He knows the god would like it. The problem is how to get her. He could stalk her and find out where she lives, but in the small town there is always a risk of being seen, and he has worked hard to preserve an image of a responsible member of society. He sighs and realizes he can't take her, but that doesn't stop him from wanting, actually needing another victim. He decides to send Becky and Danny home early. It's Sunday and there are always people driving back and forth on the I25.

  He stops walking and looks out the window and wonders if the people who were watching him are still there. Walking back to the hall where he takes a pair of binoculars from a shelf and goes back to the middle of the living room. From here he can see the entire hillside, and starting from where he remembered the flashing light coming from, he begins scanning the trees. It takes him less than five minutes to locate them. They are sitting and leaning against a fallen tree, and there is some undergrowth covering them, but not enough.

  "Ah, Chief Hawk, how nice of you to come for a visit, and you have brought that lovely lady with you, " he says to no one special.

  "Who are you talking too?"

  Kerry turns around and finds Becky standing there in her pajama.

  "Oh, no one special, to myself, I guess," he says lowering the binoculars.

  "But I thought I heard you mention Chief Hawk."

  "Nonsense, you just woke up. Listen, I'll make you and Danny some breakfast, and then you should head back to town. I'll clean up around here and come down a little later."

  Becky might still be sleepy, but she knows what she heard, and she is sure Kerry said something about Chief Hawk and a lady. But, she doesn't want to argue with him. She had made that mistake before and his anger scares her. He used to get angry like normal people do, but since he came back from Brazil his anger has changed, it's deeper, she can't really explain it, but when she looks into his eyes when he is angry she feels like she is looking into pure
evil, and it scares her.

  "They are leaving," says Hawk.

  Holmes sits up straighter; she had dozed off in the warm sun. Looking down at the cabin she can see Kerry and his wife and kid carrying bags to a Quad parked outside.

  "Where did the Quad come from?" she asks.

  "Kerry brought it out from behind the house just a few minutes ago."

  They watch as Kerry puts a couple of bags on it and then he and his family gets on it. When they disappear into the trees Hawk lowers the binoculars and looks at Holmes, "should we have a peek?"

  "Let's wait a while to make sure they are gone."

  She smiles when, a little while later, Kerry comes back alone on the Qaud. He parks it by the garden and walks inside.

  "I guess he sent them home. I wonder why he didn't go with them?"

  "Maybe the kid has school work and he stayed behind to clean up."

  Hawk nods his head.

  Kerry is down in the cellar caressing Katie's cheek and adjusting her hair a little. Then he goes from one mannequin to the next touching them and making sure they are OK.

  "I'm sorry I can’t bring you upstairs, but it's not safe. I will be leaving now, but I will be back soon, and I will bring a new member," he says, standing in front of the silent group leaning against the wall.

  He turns off the lights, and locks the doors. Upstairs he walks through all the rooms, making sure all the windows are closed and locked. Outside he gets on his Quad and drives into the woods. He will have to take the Quad home since Becky took the truck. On his next visit he will bring it back on the truck bed.