The Dark Places

by R. S. Whitfield

  “What the hell are you two talking about?” she asked carefully.

  “Surin!” her mother scolded.

  “Ma! ‘Hell’ is not a curse word!”

  Both Michael and Parker laughed.

  “Nothing important, baby,” Michael answered. “Guy stuff.”

  Surin shook her head and sat next to Parker on the couch. She immediately felt his leg brush against hers, and a wave of heat flooded her body. She sat forward too quickly, spilling coffee on the floor.

  “Surin!” her mother said, grabbing a tea towel off the bench and wiping it up.

  “Sorry!” she said, feeling embarrassed. Erin must have sensed her awkwardness and instantly changed the subject.

  “So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” she asked with a smile.

  Surin glanced at Parker, who was looking down at the coffee cup in his hands. “We’re on a serial case, and it led us here,” she answered carefully.

  Michael sat forward. “Here?” he echoed, “North East?”

  Parker interjected, “The geographic profile we have so far, points to this town or one close by.”

  Michael looked at Surin, who avoided his gaze.

  “So, Surin suggested we stop in for a visit,” Parker added.

  Both Erin and Michael laughed as Surin shook her head.

  “Now we know you’re pulling our legs, Parker,” Erin said. “Surin avoids this place like the plague.” She patted her leg affectionately. “We understand, it’s an ongoing case, you can’t talk about it blah, blah, blah.” Erin stood and wiped her hands on her dress. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re both here.” With that, she left the room, and Michael sat back to continue watching the football.

  “Come with me, Rhodes, I’ll show you to the guest room.” Surin stood and gestured for him to move. She led him up a set of stairs lined with mismatched photo frames like you would see in a movie. Surin and Mason as babies; first day of school, with bags bigger than their bodies; first day of high school, head cheerleader, graduation, college years; Surin in her dress blues, with a young fresh rookie expression on her face; Mason’s wedding, and a million other happy family memories. Parker shook his head and chuckled.

  Surin reached the top and turned to look at him. He was on the step below her, which bought them both to eye level and closer than she intended. Parker stopped and waited, Surin didn’t move.

  A loud noise from downstairs instantly broke the spell. “What was that?” Parker asked.

  Surin smiled. “My dad,” she replied, “he is not a fan of the referees.” Parker nodded understandingly. “What were you laughing about just now?” she asked him, trying to regain some composure.

  He gestured to the wall of photos. “I don’t understand why you don’t come here every chance you get.”

  Surin tilted her head to the side. “It’s not them, Parker, it’s everyone else.” She turned and continued down the hall to her brother’s bedroom and opened the door. “You can stay in here — that is if you can sleep with all these terrible musicians staring down at you all night.” She gestured to one of the Creed posters on the wall. “Ma keeps them up to embarrass him every time he comes home.” She smiled. “You should see my room.” Parker looked back at her, and she blushed. “Lots of pink, layers of ruffles and pom-pom’s — it’s a true nightmare!”

  Parker chuckled.

  “Get settled, then we can go get some lunch and have a look around,” Surin continued.

  He nodded and watched as she closed the door behind her. He lay back on the squeaky double bed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Get a grip on yourself,” he said quietly. Sitting up, he stared out the window and saw the majestic towering pines in the distance. This is a truly beautiful place, he thought. What in the world could make her detest it so much?

  29

  Surin was sitting on the couch, chatting quietly to Michael when Parker made his way downstairs.

  “Hey!” She smiled up at him. “I’m starving. Let’s go eat.” She stood up and kissed her dad affectionately on his head. Parker nodded towards Michael as they walked out the front door.

  Outside, the sun was sparkling, bright and warm. Parker looked around, taking in the scene that had been Surin’s life.

  The street was lined with large homes much like hers, perfectly green manicured lawns, and the distant sound of children’s laughter echoed through the tall pines. A young boy of about six sped past Surin on his shiny red pushbike, and she had to jump back out of the way to avoid getting hit.

  “Hey, watch it!” she yelled after him as he rang his bell. “Little shit,” she mumbled, and Parker chuckled. “I hope you don’t mind, but I cancelled the Comfort Inn,” she stated.

  Parker looked sideways at her as she opened the car door and slid in.

  “Ma had an absolute breakdown when I told her we weren’t going to stay the night.” Parker smiled. “Trust me,” Surin continued, “it’s easier this way.”

  “That sounds fine by me,” Parker replied, shrugging his shoulders with indifference. “Now, where to first?” he added and reached over to retrieve the gas station map from beside the passenger seat. Surin looked over at him and grinned.

  “You won’t find anything on that map I can’t get you to,” she said.

  “Then let’s start with something to eat,” he continued.

  “Fast Eddies Pit Beef, it is then.” She pulled out onto the road. “It’s the best feed you will ever have.”

  Parker watched the scenery flash past as they sat in silence. North East had a population of three thousand five hundred and seventy-two, and he felt like he had already seen at least three thousand, of them. The town was truly alive — families walking down the street with their dogs, bike riders ringing their bells, everyone smiling and soaking up the amazing sun. He glanced at Surin, noticing the fine lines of tension increase around her eyes as she drove.

  “So, your thoughts on where to begin?” he asked casually. Surin shrugged.

  “Well, I guess we’ll need to start with what led us here.”

  Parker shifted in his seat. “Your ex-boyfriend then?” he suggested innocently, trying to masquerade his curiosity.

  Surin snorted. “Geez, you make it sound like we just broke up.” She signalled to turn off the main road and pulled into a parking lot surrounded by well-maintained gardens. “I was eighteen and a totally different person. It was literally a lifetime ago,” she finished and turned off the engine. They sat in silence for a few minutes. “It didn’t end well, Parker.” She reached behind him and grabbed the files off the back seat to look at over lunch.

  “I broke up with him and basically left town. I haven’t seen or heard from him or his family since.”

  Parker nodded.

  “They probably won’t even remember who I am,” she mumbled, and he smirked.

  “I find that hard to believe, Elliott,” he said.

  Surin looked over and smiled shyly. “You’re thinking of me in the cheerleading outfit again, aren’t you?”

  Parker laughed. “Yes, yes, I am.”

  Surin shook her head. “I am never going to live that down.”

  They got out of the car and walked together into the restaurant. Surin chose a table in the far back corner that faced the entrance. She sat down and laid the files out in order. Parker took the seat directly across from her and took out his notebook.

  “Let’s review the order chronologically,” he began, “starting with when you and your jock split.”

  Surin looked up at him. “Eamon Sutherland,” she said. “His name was Eamon Sutherland.”

  “E,” Parker confirmed. Surin nodded without reply.

  The waitress approached them with an open smile. They ordered burgers and beers and waited for her to leave before continuing.

  “We split right at the end of senior year,” she began and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “So that would be 1998.”

  Parker made notes. “Then, if it began like we
think, Emma Silverman was his first,” he said.

  “She was his first,” Surin confirmed. She was, without a doubt. “She was a nineteen-year-old waitress from Annapolis.” She took a swig of her beer as soon as the chirpy waitress set them on the table. Parker did the same, resting his pen on the side plate.

  “That was in 2007?” he asked, even though he knew the answer.

  “Yes,” Surin mumbled, preoccupied with her own thoughts.

  Parker pushed on. “What were you doing then?”

  Surin’s head tilted as she looked at him questionably. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “We’re trying to establish if you’re connected to this, Elliott.” She looked away again. “I’m not trying to be a nosy bastard,” he added with a grin.

  She shook her head. “Fuck, I know, sorry, Rhodes,” she said, running her hands through her hair, sighing. “This is just, I mean this has to be impossible, right?” she added, a hint of desperation in her voice.

  “I hope so,” Parker replied, “but humour me, OK?”

  Surin nodded. “OK, 2007? The only thing that stands out is my brother’s wedding,” she said.

  Parker picked his pen up and nodded for her to go on.

  “It was the first time I had come home since taking off to college after high school.” She sat back in her chair, looking at Parker.

  “It’s possible that was the first time Eamon had seen you since you broke up with him nine years earlier?”

  Surin threw her hands in the air., “This is fucking ridiculous,” but she continued, “Yes, it was the first time I had come home. I stayed here for literally seven hours and then left. I can’t even remember if I saw him.” Parker began scribbling into his book. Surin reached over and grabbed his hand.

  “Talk to me please, you know I can’t stand it when you do that.” Parker stopped writing and tried not to notice that she was still touching him.

  “Sorry,” he said meekly. She withdrew her hand immediately, but his skin felt like it was on fire.

  Surin continued, “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  Parker took a deep breath. “OK, I think that maybe seeing you after all that time was what started it all.”

  Surin just stared at him, not saying a word. She opened her mouth and then closed it again. “You can’t be serious,” she said finally. “That’s a major leap you’ve taken there, Parker,” she added, as two ginormous burgers were placed in front of them.

  “Y’all enjoy,” the waitress chirped as she walked away, her shapely hips swaying from side to side.

  Parker picked his up with two hands and forced an impossibly large bite into his mouth. “This is pretty good!” he managed, looking at Surin, who hadn’t touched her grilled chicken. “Eat,” he said sternly. Surin rolled her eyes and had a small bite.

  “I used to eat here with my friends on a Friday night,” she said. “It was like, you know, the place to be.” Her hands made invisible quotation signs in the air. Parker nodded and washed his final bite down with a swig of beer.

  “You eat, I’ll write,” he said. “I think it might be easier if I call out the dates of the murders and then you say the first thing that pops into your head from your own life at the same time.” Surin nodded and had another bite of her burger. “If there is a pattern, it’ll show itself soon enough.”

  She wiped her mouth on a napkin. “OK, let’s do it,” she said.

  Parker smiled at her renewed vigour. “Lilly Jackson, nineteen, from Delaware, murdered in 2009.” He looked up, Surin didn’t hesitate.

  “It’s the year I got my detective shield,” she replied soberly. Parker nodded but said nothing.

  “Kara Pettiman, twenty, from Salisbury, murdered in 2011.”

  Again, Surin answered within a second. “I met Grayson, and we started dating.”

  “Jessica Moroe, Ocean City, twenty-two, murdered in 2013.”

  “I closed the Renaissance Man serial case. There were pictures in the media of me, courtesy of our new friend.” She rolled her eyes as the image of Madison flashed unwillingly into her mind. Parker didn’t deter.

  “Eva Leigh, nurse, from Lexington Park, found early this year.”

  Surin looked out the window, watching as a passing Buick backfired loudly. “Broke off my engagement with Grayson,” she replied, her monotone voice filled with exhaustion.

  “Isabelle Lacross, Baltimore City.”

  Surin looked at Parker with a sad smile. “Well, I got myself a brand-new partner.”

  Parker nodded. “Lastly, the one that got away, Lana Beau.”

  Surin ran her hands through her hair. “The only thing that comes to mind is that we had just started officially investigating this as a serial case.”

  Parker rested his pen on the table. “Surin,” he said quietly.

  She took the last pull of her beer, put it down with a thud, then looked up to meet his gaze. “It’s me.”

  30

  1998, Town of North East, Cheltenham County, Maryland

  “God, what’s wrong with me?” Surin whispered into the bathroom mirror. Her face was flushed, and strands of her long ebony hair had been loosened from her high ponytail. She turned on the tap and flushed the toilet just to create noise. A soft knock made her turn.

  “Surin?” Eamon’s gentle voice asked quietly, “Are you OK?”

  Surin quickly wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. Oh my God, you’re an idiot, girl, she thought and opened the door back into Eamon’s bedroom.

  “I’m fine,” she lied and kissed him chastely on the lips. “We are supposed to be studying, you know,” she teased and sat back down on the bed, pretending to care about the law textbook in front of her. Eamon sauntered over and lifted her chin with his finger. She could feel her heartbeat triple and the heat begin to creep up her neck and face.

  “I don’t need to study anything but you,” he whispered. His eyes were twinkling mischievously. In that moment, she found him almost physically impossible to resist. He laid back on the bed and pulled her alongside him. “Now, where were we?” he asked, leaning in and kissing her, gently at first, then deep, long and greedily. Surin moaned and ran her fingers through his hair. She stilled as he skilfully unbuttoned her shirt and slipped his hand inside. “So beautiful,” he mumbled, pulling her bra up and cupping her breast gently. She gasped, tilting her head back. Eamon took the opportunity and moved his mouth over her nipple.

  “Eamon!” she whispered urgently.

  He ignored her pleas and continued to nuzzle and suck at her, all the while working his hand down under her panties.

  “Surin, doesn’t this feel good?” he asked as he teased a finger inside her.

  “Yes,” she gasped.

  “I love you,” he replied and increased the speed of his torture.

  Surin arched her back off the bed. “Eamon, please,” she whimpered, knowing that she wasn’t ready for this but finding it impossible to stop.

  “It’s OK, let go,” he continued and opened her legs further, bent down and let his tongue find her most intimate spot.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned and finally unravelled under him, her eyes closing tight.

  “How can this be wrong?” he moaned, and she felt him move on top of her quickly.

  She opened her eyes just as he had put a condom on. “Eamon! No!” she said, louder than intended, sitting up unexpectedly causing him to slide off the bed.

  “Fuck, Surin!” he said exasperated.

  She fell down beside him, her panties twisting around her ankles. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered, tears threatening the corner of her eyes.

  He turned away from her, mumbling.

  “What?” she asked, grabbing his strong shoulder to force him to turn so that he was facing her.

  “I said at least one of us got off.” He stared at her, almost pouting.

  He was right, she thought. What the hell is my problem!

  Eamon went to get up, and Surin touched his knee gently. “I didn’t say I w
as finished,” she said with a shy smile. The way he looked at her was almost a challenge.

  “Really?” he added snidely. “And what exactly do you have planned?”

  She smiled again as her eyes travelled down to his erection. “Maybe I can help with that after all.”

  Twenty minutes later, Surin reached on her tippy-toes and kissed Eamon goodbye on the front step of his parent’s home. She could feel that he was still distant.

  “I’m sorry about, you know,” she said, shyly gesturing towards his bedroom. Eamon gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and wrapped his fingers tenderly around the back of her neck.

  “Last time, you promised,” he added sullenly.

  Surin looked at the ground and shuffled her feet. “I just don’t know if I’m ready, Eamon,” she replied, looking this time into his beautiful eyes.

  “Ready?” he scoffed, dropping his hand. “Surin, we’ve been together almost a year.” His voice raised a level. “I have been more than fucking patient here. I haven’t cheated on you. I haven’t pressured you.”

  Surin’s look in that instant stopped him in his tracks.

  “You think I pressure you?” he asked incredulously.

  She looked down at the ground, embarrassed.

  “You didn’t seem overly pressured when your legs were around my head an hour ago!” he added and she turned beet red.

  “Eamon Sutherland!” she said scoldingly.

  “Every other part of me has been in you, Surin, what’s the difference?” he said finally and turned away, shaking his head.

  “OK,” she yelled back at him, and he pivoted back immediately to face her.

  “What?” he asked, knowing full well what she had just agreed to.

  Surin smiled a smile that she didn’t feel. “I said OK, next time, I promise.”

  With that, Eamon grabbed her under the arms and lifted her to eye level. She wrapped her legs around his waist to steady herself as he kissed her full on her lips.

  “Then, let’s not wait too long for our next study date, hey,” he whispered with a perfect smile, setting her back on the ground.