Heartbeats of a Killer

by Michael Merson

  They may very well cancel the game if it doesn’t clear up.

  For a moment, he thought that Amanda might not come over if she knew it was raining in Denver. His attention was redirected from the weather and the game as he rounded the corner of the aisle. There, he saw an item sitting on the shelf; an item that he had not even thought about. The package of condoms was there in the personal hygiene area. He stood in front of it, looking around to see if anyone was watching him. He wondered if he would need it tonight.

  If he bought it, he would undoubtedly have to look at the store clerk, and of course, there would be a line filled with women and children watching him.

  The clerk would also be a girl probably sixteen, and she too would look at him.

  Axel pushed the cart further and decided that if he needed something like that tonight, he would simply go over to a gas station and use fifty cents to buy it from a machine.

  How romantic. Just be an adult…buy them now.

  The rain fell harder as Axel ran into his garage carrying supplies that were needed to bake pizza. He went to the kitchen and prepared the dough. Finally, Axel placed the dough with all the toppings into the preheated oven. He then set the timer and decided he had just enough time for a shower. Before he headed for the bathroom, he looked out the garage door to ensure his garage was open so that if Amanda did arrive, she could come inside.

  Axel quickly undressed and jumped into the shower. He ran the soap over his body, the shampoo through his hair, and he was in and out in less than five minutes. He then stood in front of his mirror, brushed his teeth, flossed, and rinsed his mouth out. When Axel walked out of his bedroom, he looked out his living room window and saw Amanda’s car in his driveway.

  Damn.

  Axel hurriedly opened the door to his garage and saw Jill, his neighbor, standing there wet, talking to Amanda. He stood there without a word to say, looking at the two of them laughing as they looked back at him. Amanda was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. She was slightly wet from the rain.

  “Amanda, this is my neighbor Jill. She and her husband, Matt, live next door,” Axel managed to say as he moved toward them.

  His eyes met hers, and he leaned forward and kissed her cheek awkwardly.

  “Sorry. I was in the shower, and I thought I’d be done before you got here.”

  “That’s all right, Axel. Jill here kept me company while I waited.”

  “I noticed, and now I’m worried,” Axel said as he looked at Jill suspiciously.

  “I saw your garage open and thought maybe you were gone. I was going to be a good neighbor and shut it for you,” Jill explained.

  “Amanda works for the local news here in town,” Axel explained.

  “Yes, I know. She’s on our television almost every night,” Jill said, frankly.

  “Yes, I guess she is.”

  “Well, I’ll go for now, but you’ll hear from Matt and me later. Bye for now. It was nice meeting, you Amanda.”

  “It was nice meeting you as well,” Amanda said.

  Jill walked out of the garage but quickly began to run as the falling rain had started to become heavier.

  “Let’s go inside and see if the game is going to be played,” Axel said as he motioned his hand and arm toward the inside of his home.

  So does the single detective buy his pizza in a box and call it his own, or does he really bake it from scratch,” Amanda asked as she slowly moved around the kitchen counter.

  “I bake it from scratch, living alone gives a guy a lot of time to experiment in the kitchen. Why don’t you have a seat there in the living room, and I’ll see to the pizza and grab you something to drink,” Axel said as he walked toward the refrigerator.

  “Okay,” Amanda said as she sat down on the sofa in front of the television.

  “Wow! This is a big television.”

  “Yeah, it is. I got a terrific deal on it about a year ago. I had a smaller television in there, but with that large wall it looked weird; tiny, you know? So, I saw that one on sale and I bought it,” Axel explained as he reached into the oven to take the pizza out.

  Amanda looked around at the décor of the home. She quickly decided that she liked it. She noticed a few paintings on the walls, along with some family photos. On the coffee table, there was a photo of an older couple smiling and sitting in a swing on a front porch surrounded by azalea bushes.

  Somewhere in the south, I think, she thought to herself.

  She presumed that the couple was Axel’s parents. The couch that she was sitting on, surprisingly, didn’t have one single stain on it. It was brown and made of leather as were the love seat and recliner. The home was big, much too big, for a single man. For a moment Amanda had the idea that Axel may have bought the house for someone he intended to settle down with or maybe had.

  “Did you do all the decorating yourself?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes, I did,” Axel replied as he walked into the living room carrying two beers.

  “The house is too big for one person, but I like the openness of it. I decided to buy it when I was driving through the neighborhood, looking for a stolen car. I was in the motor vehicle theft unit at the time, and I was told by an informant that a car I was looking for was dumped in this neighborhood. When I got here, I saw the sign out front and knew I had to have it.”

  “Spontaneous…”

  “Yeah, maybe a little. It was kind of funny, Jill was out front getting onto Matt about something, and their girls were running around the yard chasing each other. I pulled up and asked them some questions about the previous owner, and how long it had been on the market. They were both really friendly, and I decided to call this retired cop who’s in the real-estate business, and before you know it, Gary and I were unloading my furniture into the house.” Axel explained.

  “Well it’s very nice, but from the outside, I would have expected to see a suburban parked out front that got a lot of use out of it from the large family living here,” Amanda remarked as she reached for her beer and looked around the room some more.

  “Maybe one day there’ll be a family living here!” Axel said with a grin.

  “Maybe.” She responded.

  The two talked about anything and everything and flirted in between as the rain continued to fall. Eventually, Axel served the pizza to his guest. The game was delayed, but the two found many things to talk about while they waited. The exchange of flirtatious smiles eventually escalated to slight touching of the hands and knees. The butterflies in Axel’s stomach started for their flight once more. Axel began to think about what the two were leading towards.

  Amanda put her drink down on the table and placed her right hand onto his hand and began to stroke it as she looked into his blue eyes and friendly smile. Axel was feeling comfortable but excited as he stared into her green eyes. He leaned in toward her face hoping she would do the same and she did. Before he knew it, his lips were touching her lips, he smelled her perfume and her hair as he held the back of her head in his hand. The butterflies continued to circle faster and faster in his stomach. He moved his arm under hers and pulled her closer. She reciprocated by reaching around him and pulling him closer to her.

  The two sat on the couch in each other’s arms, making out like two teenage kids. Axel reached under her arm with his hand slowly moving toward her breast.

  “Would she allow me to or am I moving too fast?” He asked himself.

  Axel stopped his hand short of his target. “Too fast. Slow down!” He thought.

  Suddenly Amanda moved over on top of him, straddling him with her legs as she held his face in her hands. The two looked at each other. Axel slid his hands under her shirt and followed her waist upward. Amanda moaned out loud and kissed him deeply.

  Chapter 20

  The rain continued to fall as Jeramiah pulled his SUV to the side of the road… He only waited a few minutes before he got out and walked into the woods next to the roadway. There were no neighbors around. The house was a light
brown stucco rancher that was set back on a dirt road in the woods of an area called Black Forest.

  The homes in the area were built on five-acre lots with many tall pines between them that would provide privacy and concealment. The sun was falling further in the West, and the dark thunder clouds concealed what would typically be a bright moon. Jeramiah knew that he needed to move under cover of darkness.

  Patiently he waited and watched from the cover of the tree line until the car pulled out from the driveway, carrying two passengers. He saw on social media that the people in the car had to be at a fourth of July fundraiser later in the evening and that’s when she would be alone.

  The evening grew darker, and the rain began to fall heavier. Jeramiah carefully made his way through the dark timber and across the lawn toward the house. The outside lights cast shadows out toward the front of the home, allowing the occupants full view of visitors approaching from the front or back.

  Jeramiah used the shadows of the trees to cover his movements toward the side of the house. When he reached the window to the garage, he paused, squatted down, and then surveyed the inside with the use of a mirror he had brought with him.

  Once he was satisfied that no one was inside the garage, he stood in front of the window and tried to open it, hoping it was unlocked. The window moved slightly, and a smile appeared on Jeramiah’s face. He lifted the window without any resistance, and without making a sound.

  Jeramiah first looked left and then right to ensure that he wasn’t being watched. He then placed one leg inside and pulled himself through. The three-car garage was occupied with one expensive car parked in the end bay, which was next to the window he was climbing into. The other two spaces were empty. Jeramiah walked over to the door leading into the house. He placed his hand on the knob while he put his ear to the door. Standing there quietly, he listened for any possible sound or movement coming from the other side.

  Slowly, he began to turn the knob and open the door. Suddenly, the garage light came on. Jeramiah ran across the concrete floor and hid between the car and the outside wall under the window. He ducked down out of sight and sat there quietly listening to the garage door opening. A moment later, he heard the sound of a car pulling up to the house. When the engine turned off, he listened to a girl’s voice call out from the door that he had been standing in front of just a few seconds ago.

  “I thought you’d never get here,” Shannon yelled to Tony, her boyfriend, as he parked his car in the driveway.

  The car door opened, and Jeramiah heard a male voice. He sat quietly beside the car listening to the two of them talk.

  “I saw your parents drive away and gave them a few minutes to get out of the area. You never know, they may have forgotten something and had to come back. That wouldn’t have been good,” Tony said as he entered the house and reached for Shannon and pulled her close to him.

  “I missed you!” Shannon said as she leaned in and kissed his lips. She then shut the garage door, and pulled her boyfriend inside.

  After the door shut, Jeramiah waited for a few minutes to ensure that no one would come out again.

  “Play some music, and I’ll fix us a sandwich, Tony,” Shannon said as she walked into the kitchen.

  “You don’t mind that we are staying in and not going to watch the fireworks show tonight, do you?” Tony asked.

  “No. We’ll make our own fireworks,” Shannon answered.

  “That sounds good. Hey, I downloaded that song last night onto my phone. Shit! I left my phone in the car. I was listening to it on the way over. I’ll go out and get it,” Tony said as he moved toward the garage door while Shannon continued to make the sandwiches.

  Jeramiah finally decided to get up and leave. He stood up and opened the window to make an early exit. He was upset and angry that once again, his plans had been ruined. He bit his lip as he looked out the window through the rain toward the tall pines in the distance. He shook his head and reached up to pull himself out of the window when he heard the door open. He quickly turned and watched as the overhead light illuminated the garage.

  ***

  “Axel, this feels really good,” Amanda said as she took a deep breath. She really enjoyed his touch and thought about letting him go further.

  If I sleep with him will he think I’m easy? If I stop him, will he think I’m a tease?

  Those two thoughts kept running through her mind, but she was feeling too good, and deep down, she knew what she wanted. She was with a man who was holding her and wanting her just as much as she wanted him.

  ***

  Jeramiah turned as the light overhead filled the garage.

  “What the hell are you doing here?!” Tony yelled from the door.

  Jeramiah moved quickly as he pulled the gun from his waist and faced his target. Tony never saw the gun, nor did he hear the shots, and before he knew it, he was on the ground. He reached for the wall and tried to pull himself up but couldn’t. He looked up from the cold concrete at the intruder who was now standing over him.

  “Why?” Tony asked.

  Jeramiah didn’t answer. He just raised the gun up from his side and pointed it at Tony’s head. Tony closed his eyes and waited for the impact.

  The concrete under Tony turned bright red as parts of his brain exited the back of his skull. The gun recoiled in Jeramiah’s hand. He stood there looking down at his victim and watched, fascinated, as the blood pooled around Tony’s head. Jeramiah was momentarily hypnotized by the ordeal. It was the screams from Shannon that redirected Jeramiah’s attention toward the direction of the door and toward her.

  “No, no, not me, please don’t!” Shannon begged as she moved back toward the kitchen.

  Jeramiah placed the gun under his shirt, smiled, and walked toward her. He then slowly pulled the knife from behind his back. Shannon continued to scream, but Jeramiah couldn’t hear her. His attention was on the reflection of light from his blade as he turned it back and forth. Jeremiah moved slowly toward her. Then he reached out, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her head upward violently. He then placed the knife against her throat just as Shannon screamed louder.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” She asked and cried out loud.

  Jeramiah slowly pulled the knife across her throat. Blood began to run from under the knife, down her neck, and onto her chest. She tried to stop the knife with her right hand, but Jeramiah pulled her further up off the floor, forcing her to lose her balance. She coughed and began gagging. Suddenly and without warning, he released her. Shannon dropped to the floor and laid there on the cold white porcelain tile, fighting to stay alive. She tried to stop the blood that shot from her neck. Jeramiah watched as she violently twisted from side to side, knocking over a stool that was next to her as she struggled to breathe.

  After she stopped moving Jeramiah squatted next to her and reached under her shirt to run his hand over her body. He watched and felt the life leaving her. He then bent over and kissed her lips while he continued to fondle the other parts of her body over and under her clothes. As his excitement built, he quickly removed her shirt and bra, looked into her eyes, and slowly pushed his knife into her stomach. He twisted it back and forth before pulling it out to change the knife blade.

  With the hookbill blade securely attached to the handle, he inserted it just under the skin and then pulled it upward toward her neck. Her eyes were still open, and Jeramiah felt that she was looking at him, …judging him.

  “Stop it!” He screamed at her lifeless body.

  He then changed blades once more and cut through her breastbone with the short bone saw.

  I’ll have your heart! We will be together forever now! Jeramiah thought as he reached into her chest and pulled her heart from her body.

  “I’m sorry, Shannon. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I had planned for us to be alone. I wanted to drive you up to the mountains where we could've had some privacy. The mountain air is wonderful this time of year, and it’s so much cooler there,” Jera
miah said as he stood over her.

  He stood there for a few minutes taking it all in before collecting himself. He found a bag on the kitchen table and placed his trophy in it before exiting the home through the door leading back out to the garage.

  As he stepped into the garage bay, the garage door leading to the driveway opened, and the headlights of a car shined onto the lifeless body of Tony. Jeramiah quickly covered his face with his hand and ran out the open door, directly in front of the oncoming car.

  By covering his face, Jeramiah blinded himself, and he did not see the car coming at him fast. Suddenly, his right leg was knocked out from under him, and he soon found himself flying into the air. Jeramiah landed hard on his shoulder. His knife flew just past his head and stuck into the ground next to his bag. Without hesitation, Jeramiah pulled his gun from his pants and fired at the now parked car. The bullets struck the roof and windshield, causing the two occupants inside to duck down.

  Jeramiah stood up on his now injured leg and ran for the concealment of darkness that the woods afforded him. As he entered the foliage, he sprinted as best as he could for his SUV parked a short distance away. The pain in his leg intensified, it felt as if a nail was being driven further and further into his thigh muscle with each step he took.

  The rain was falling much harder, lightning flashed in the sky, and cracks of thunder boomed above him as he ran. He stopped to catch his breath, and for a moment, he found himself disoriented. A brief flash of light across the night sky allowed the road to appear a few yards away and just beyond the tree line, he saw the silhouette of his SUV. He felt slightly rejuvenated, and he began to run once more.

  When he reached the SUV, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He leaned against the door for balance, wincing in pain. He sat down in the driver seat, used his hand, and wiped the water from his forehead. He took a moment to catch his breath. The pain in his leg and shoulder was getting worse with each breath. He closed his eyes and turned the ignition to the start position and flipped on the windshield wipers. He then opened his eyes and surveyed the area around him.