Chapter 14
Jon started to lower the phone as he heard Detective Parsons repeating,
“Jon? Jon? What is happening? Is everything okay?”
Steven motioned the knife towards Jon again. He was also holding a pistol as he said,
“Hang up, now!”
Jon hit end on his cellphone. Steven smiled and said,
“Toss it.”
Jon threw the phone out in front of him. He side stepped back out into the driveway as Steven suggested. Steven chuckled and said,
“Start walking to the front porch.”
Jon watched intently as Steven pulled the hammer back on the gun. His throat became dry. He did as instructed and walked around to the front of the house. Jon looked upon the back yard in horror. There was bodies of the officers lying on the ground. Their throats were sliced open, with their heads almost decapitated. Large amounts of blood were sprayed along the doors of the shed. Jon shook his head and said,
“How did you get free Steven?”
Steven snarled and said,
“I TOLD YOU I AM NOT STEVEN!”
Jon nodded and said,
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry Shawn.”
They walked up onto the steps of the porch as Jon saw the swinging porch door covered in blood. He shook his head and said,
“Are they all dead?”
The porch door swung open as another person who looked exactly like Steven stepped out grinning. Jon looked bewildered as he stared at his face. He was laughing as he said,
“I was wondering if you got him. Bring him inside. Let’s finish this.”
Jon was shoved into the living room. He had his hands still in the air as he looked at the two standing in front him. They had the same exact faces, the same hair and the same build. Everything about the two were identical. They circled around Jon, stalking him, toying with him like two cats with a mouse. Jon spun around looking at them in disbelief as he muttered,
“So it’s true. There really is a Shawn Campbell.”
Shawn wiped the blood from his mouth. He looked down at one of the officer’s corpses, still going into convulsions where he bit into the man’s jugular. A sickening gurgling sound was coming from the flopping body. Steven Willis jumped up and down in joy saying,
“Oh you’re going to get it. I told you Shawn doesn’t like PIGS!”
Shawn started laughing while he was licking his lips and hands stained in blood and said,
“He’s right, I really don’t.”
Shawn then turned to Steven and said,
“Go pick the lupines out of the back yard.”
Steven stopped hopping and said,
“Right here? In the house? Shawn I don’t think that dad would…..”
Shawn screamed at his brother,
“WELL DADDY ISN’T HERE NO MORE IS HE?!”
Steven started hyperventilating as he stammered,
“Nnnnnooo, nnnooo, noooo, nnnnnoooo he isn’t.”
He then broke off into a trance like state. Shawn rolled his eyes and pointed the knife back at Detective Cratick letting out a groaning moan as he said,
“Awwww look what you made me do Jonny Boy! See Steven doesn’t like to be yelled at. Brings on too much stress. Well anything to him really brings on too much stress. Sometimes he zones out like that time to time. I had to protect him. I was the one who made sure he never fell victim ever again! ME! I taught him to be strong. I taught him to be like me. Then you had to come along and jeopardize that. I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you on the television all those years ago!”
Jon looked at Steven in shock. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was like Steven wasn’t even standing in the room. His eyes were vacant and dull, as if nobody was inside. Jon perplexed looked up at Shawn and said,
“What are you talking about?”
Shawn became agitated again pointing the knife back at Jon and said,
“You know exactly what I mean! You just had to keep going over our family business. Sticking your damn nose where it didn’t belong. You couldn’t just let it go!”
Jon shook his head and said,
“I don’t know what you are talking about? You mean the murders you boys committed?”
Steven then felt his brother’s hand touch his shoulder as he said,
“It’s okay, everything’s okay. I’m here bro, I’m still here.”
Steven broke out of his trance like state. Jon’s eyes rose, remembering the police report and what Detective Parsons told him of picking up Steven that night in Veronica Stanfield’s garage. He looked at Shawn astonished and said,
“You left him there didn’t you?”
Shawn looked at Jon and said,
“What?”
Jon shook his head looking back at Steven and said,
“When your brother was loading Veronica Stanfield’s body in the trunk of the car. It was too much stress for him. He snapped and went into that catatonic state, just like now didn’t he?”
Shawn angrily lifted the knife and yelled,
“Shut your mouth Jon!”
Jon shook his head and continued,
“You were trying to wake him back up weren’t you? You were sloppy though weren’t you Shawn? You left the garage door open. You saw the woman across the street on the phone. You knew the police were coming didn’t you? You couldn’t wake him up, could you?!”
Shawn lifted his gun towards Jon. Steven looked confused back at Jon and then back at his brother. He said,
“What’s he talking about Shawn?”
Shawn yelled,
“Shut your fucking mouth pig!”
Jon shook his head and continued,
“You left him there, didn’t you Shawn? You fled knowing the police were on their way to save your own hide. You left Steven at Veronica Stanfield’s garage, with the bloody corpse in the trunk. Leaving your brother Steven behind, literally red handed, covered in her blood. Ready to take the blame, didn’t you?”
Steven shook his head with tears coming down his face. He looked back at his twin brother and said,
“No, he wouldn’t do that to me! No it was our plan! It was the plan!”
Jon shook his head as he slowly raised his hands and said,
“No Steven, he let you believe that. He may have wanted to take care of you in his own twisted sense; but when push came to shove, he threw you under the bus.”
Steven looked at his brother with tears streaming down his cheeks in a fury of anger. He sobbed,
“Why Shawn? You said we would always be together! You said you would always protect me?!”
Shawn rolled his eyes and started smacking his forehead with the butt of the pistol. He turned to Steven and said,
“Don’t you see? He’s just trying to trick you. Trying to trick us to turn on each other moron. Now do as I said and go pick the damn lupines!”
Steven sniffled, wiping the snot from his nose. He nodded and went out the door as his brother instructed. Shawn turned to Jon shaking his head and said,
“You piece of shit. Trying to turn my own brother against me. I am going to open you up slowly and eat your heart while you are still alive!”
Jon shook his head and said,
“I don’t get it Shawn? Why take the family name you murdered all those years ago? Why become Shawn Campbell?”
Steven came back in the door with the lupines in hand. He placed them down on the floor in front of Jon. Shawn looked at Steven with a smile and said,
“I told you I had to protect him. Dad took out his shit on us all the time when we were kids, the alcoholic bastard. When I saw that Steven started sleep walking, he would sometimes climb out of bed late at night. So I followed him. I saw what he did in the shed. I knew what he did to those animals wasn’t normal. I knew he was going to get worse.”
Jon shook his head and said,
“I think you killed Emily Clark, Shawn.”
Steven shook his head and said,
“No, Shawn said I kille
d Emily Clark.”
Jon shook his head and said,
“No, he might’ve coaxed you to be there in your catatonic Steven, but my best guess. Shawn is the one that murdered Emily Clark. He got you to help dismember her. He wanted you to be like him Steven. You could’ve gotten help before he twisted you up.”
Shawn was shaking in a rage as he screamed,
“That’s not true! I helped him!”
Steven shook his head and said,
“No, after we dismembered her and scattered her bones. Dad caught me in the shed with the animals. He almost sent me away. Shawn said that it was him. He was the one that killed and disembowelled the animals in the shed. He was sent away after that. Don’t you see? He did it for me.”
Jon looked at Shawn and said,
“Sent away to whom?”
Shawn smiled as he replied,
“Well to mom’s side of the family of course. She had started a whole new life out in British Columbia. Even went by her maiden name.”
Jon looked down at the floor in disgust as he said,
“Campbell. Shawn Campbell, who used to be Shawn Willis.”
Shawn smiled and said,
“This one catches on quick Steven. When we were separated, I longed to be with Steven. So the only way I knew how we could be together was in blood. I told Steven the only way to protect himself from dad was to kill him. I told him to wait until June, wait until the lupines were out in bloom like when we killed Emily Clarke together. That will always be connected under the same month, the same node and the same stars. So on June 21st, 2001, we both killed our parents and became unified under the same blood once again. We have been performing the same kills, under the same stars ever since; to be forever in connection, never fully apart.”
Jon looked at Shawn and said,
“You are like any other serial killer. You just propitiated a sick ritual like any other. The worst thing about you Shawn is. You convinced your brother to become just like you!”
Shawn’s eyes widened, his pupils fully dilated as he said,
“You just wouldn’t give up on my case though Jon. I watched you on the news. Tracking me all this time. I knew you were different. I had to get your mind off of me for a while. So I found out about your paranoid schizophrenic brother. I knew all I had to do was play insane, sign myself in and talk to him. Tell me Jon, what really did happen to Alexander that night?”
Jon’s eyes lowered, he looked up at the brothers as his mind drifted and began reminiscing about that night,
“I was about to head home and stopped at a gas station since I was running low on fuel. I went in picked up a pack of smokes and some late night snacks since it was pretty much the only place opened. I got a phone call July, 2001 at 2:20 am. It was my brother on the other line. I thought it was weird since he was calling so late from the asylum. They don’t give their patients privileges to call anyone that late. He was freaking out frantically on the phone and said,
“Jon, are you there Jon? Man you have to help me, I fucked up…..I fucked up really bad. Jon you have to come get me.”
I was stunned and climbed into my car turning on the ignition.
“Alex? Alex where are you? What happened?”
Some sobbing and sniffling came from my brother and then all I could hear was him crying.
“Alex calm down, where are you dude?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, some farm house outside of the city. I don’t know where I am. I just need you here now man, it’s bad really bad.”
“Okay calm down just tell me the house number and street and I’ll come get you.”
“Okay, okay, hold on a minute.”
I heard some scuffling, scratching noises coming from the phone and those couple of minutes seemed like an eternity.
“2748 River side crossing. Just please get here as quickly as possible Jon……there’s so much blood.”
“So much blood? What happened are you hurt?”
Then the phone cut out. I didn’t even think about it and raced outside of the city, past the burbs onto the highway. All I could think about was that my brother might be hurt. I kept trying to call the number he dialled from but no one would answer the phone. Twenty minutes later I pull up in this long driveway. There was this old white farm house. It was run down looking next to this big field and a barn. I quickly got out of the car and grabbed my gun from my holster. I ran onto the porch shouted my name and that I was the police but no one answered. I reached for the screen door and swung it open. I yelled once again this time for Alex but again no one responded. I checked the rooms of the house but they were all empty. I grabbed my cell phone and called the house number again and all it did was ring. I knew I had to be in the right place where my brother had called from. As I walked back outside and off of the porch I heard a sound coming from the side of the house. It was muffled but sounded like someone was screaming. I ran towards the sound and there were these shutter doors wide open illuminating a bright light leading down the steps to the basement. I yelled down for Alex and a voice responded.
“Is that you Jon? Oh god please tell me you’re here.”
I made my way down the steps and couldn’t see anything as my eyes were trying to adjust to the bright light. I placed my foot off the steps onto the floor and it felt mushy. As my eyes started to adjust it was an old farm house basement. The ground was full of mud and there were boulders for the foundation holding up the house. I had to bend my head down to get in there but I could see my brother Alex. He was sobbing in the corner with his arms crossed across his chest rocking back and forth.
“I really fucked up this time Jon. I couldn’t help it, I thought they would go away, I thought they would go away.”
“You thought what would go away Alex?”
I made my way around the corner of the basement room and in that moment of what I saw changed my life forever.
“The voices Alex, the voices would go away.”
There were two children laying on the ground, a little boy and a little girl. A pool of blood poured out of their little lifeless bodies. The red blotches of stab wounds and deep cuts were serrated into their flesh leaving a macabre of brutality. The blood seeped into their pyjamas and night gowns. I lowered my gun in tears and raised my eyes back up at Alex. In horror I screamed
“Alex what have you done!”
“The voices they still haven’t gone away!” he screamed.
I turned to him and said “I have to call this in, I have to call this in. Do you realize what you have done? Do you know what this is? They’re going to give you the chair for this Alex!”
Alex turned to me and said “I know, I know, what do I do? What do I do?”
“Well hold on a minute let me think about this. Jesus Christ man, I mean what the fuck…Jesus Christ.”
I immediately felt sick and threw up on the ground. As I was kneeling down I heard “Oh man, oh Alex what did you do? What did you do?”
Alex got up and walked towards me, I quickly lifted my pistol at him and yelled “Stay back bro, just stay the fuck back and let me think!”
Alex was in tears and held up his hands outstretched towards me “I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t go through with the rest of it. The voices kept telling me kill them, kill them all and we will stop talking to you. I went back grabbed the kids and before I knew it the voices were screaming at me so I started stabbing them to shut them up. But the voices never went away Jon. They are still screaming, they will never go away!”
I had a choice to make at that moment. Call into dispatch, report the murder which would be turning in my own brother, or cover it up. I made a choice from what I thought was right at the time.”
Shawn leaned in closer coming nose to nose with Jon. His face was statuesque as he whispered,
“What happened next Jon?”
Jon looked up at Shawn and continued,
“I put down my gun beside me. I was in shock, in a state of panic. I never saw a crime scen
e like that before, let alone one my brother was involved in. I didn’t know what to do so I panicked. I wanted to cover it up. I wanted to save my brother. I knew I needed to talk to him, get our story straight before dispatch arrived. I noticed my firearm was missing. I ran upstairs and I started screaming for my brother,
“Alex, Alex!”
I scurried out of the top of the basement steps. The sickening feeling that was in my stomach rose to my throat.
Alex had the gun up to his temple. He cocked the hammer back with his thumb and said,
“I got you.”
A cracking boom filled the air, sending scarecrows in flight from the trees as the birds cawed, startled from the blast. My brother’s body was lying on the ground. His face was half blown off. I can still see his gums and what used to be his teeth from the exit wound now just a bloody hole. My gun was still smoking in his hand. I ran to him, kneeling down, cradling his body repeating,
“Oh god, please, please, please, No, no, noooo, noooooo,nooooooooo!”
I don’t know how long I sat beside him crying. When I finally came too and comprehended the situation I dialled 911 and waited for the police to show up. Every evening when I go home I get a bottle of whiskey and pull out that case file. I sprawl those photos across the living room floor and relive every second of that horrific night.”
Jon’s whole body was shaking with tears streaming down his face. Shawn then said,
“I am envious of your ability to express feelings. It just fascinates me because I knew that you were like me the day I saw you on the news. Like I said before I am very good at reading people. I wanted to turn myself in not because of guilt but because I was tired of hiding my skeletons in the closet. When I saw that Alex was your brother I had to meet you. I could tell by your eyes that day on the news that something was different about you. Throughout the years you chased down and put away serial killers.
However my killing sprees you could never quite catch get to me. As the years passed and every time you gave another statement to the public about my victims your eyes still had that look like that first time you were on the news about your brother. I know that look because I look at it every day in the mirror. I figured you were in the same boat as me. You were tired of hiding your skeletons in the closet. I wanted to know what the difference was between you and me. I wanted to find that silver lining; show what I did for my brother, is the same you’d do for yours. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so black and white does it? No that grey area that we have swarms inside of us all. The potential that we are all capable of acting upon it is what most people are afraid of. What goes on in our deepest darkest corners of our mind is something that we dare not accept. Yet it is always there, just lingering, waiting to come out. All it takes is the right situation, the right fit of anger, the right spark to ignite the flame that we so desperately try to snuff out. Like I have stated Jon, I have been waiting for you all of my life.”
Profile of the Gemini Serial Killer Page 16