by PJ Fernor
The second sip tastes better.
He sidesteps to the kitchen sink and looks out to the backyard.
It’s a world of color.
So serene.
It almost looks fake.
That’s how autumn is around here.
“This is what makes me happy now,” he says.
He finishes off the glass of scotch.
Turning on his heels a second time, he pushes from the counter and reaches up on top of the refrigerator.
A tin rests on top.
A tin with an old picture of two kids playing in the snow.
He opens the tin and there are the chocolate chip cookies.
Not freshly baked, but good enough.
He takes a bite of one and laughs.
“There, I ate the cookie,” he says.
He laughs again.
He finishes the first cookie, then goes for a second.
Now he needs to wash the cookie down.
Back to the other counter, he pours a tiny bit more scotch and drinks it.
“Now I can get to work,” he says.
With heavy steps, he walks to the basement and opens the door.
How was that cookie? It had to have tasted great!
“The cookie was marvelous. So was the scotch.”
Be careful drinking though. You don’t want to slip and get into trouble.
He shakes his head. “There is no trouble to get into. That’s why I’m here right now. That’s why you’re here right now.”
The old, wooden steps turn into a dirty basement floor.
He really should get the house looked at and see if the basement could be cleaned up and finished. That would really complete everything.
We were always meant to be here, right?
“That’s right,” he says.
He walks across the floor and reaches for the chain to turn on the light.
When he does, he looks down and nods.
He crouches.
I’m okay right now. But please don’t make this my home.
“This is home,” he says. “Home is a great place. We have two homes. How lucky are we? And now we have to just let this all happen. We have to wait and see. I don’t like to wait and see, but you’ve left me no choice.”
I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble. I really tried hard this time. Please tell me you believe me.
“I do believe you,” he says. “That’s what hurts so much.”
He stands up and looks around.
The basement really isn’t all that great of a place.
It’s cool and has that musty and wet smell.
But it’s the safest place for now.
There’s really no choice.
He crouches down again. “I’m really sorry.”
I know you are. I still love you.
He smiles. He nods.
He reaches into his back pocket and takes out a roll of thick, heavy tape.
One rip and tear and there’s a large piece in his hand.
He leans forward and places the piece of tape over his brother’s mouth…
Chapter Sixty-Three
LIZZY
The town was cold.
How fitting for my name and my job, right?
My body wasn’t used to the air at night. The way it cut through the back of my throat and down into my lungs. It wasn’t the first time I experienced cold weather and it wouldn’t be the last.
Back home, summer seemed to have held on for an extra few weeks.
So my body wasn’t well equipped just yet.
I managed to get some sleep in an uncomfortable bed.
The next morning, I dressed as warm as I could and got a coffee as I walked to meet Allie.
Ironic enough, we were meeting at a place to get coffee.
I was going to throw out one cup and order another when I sat down inside the warm, little diner-style restaurant.
I found it odd the place had a regular door on it.
Just some screen door with pumpkin and witch window clings on the glass.
The witch was smiling. So cartoonish. The top of her hat had curled away from the glass so I took a second to press it back to the glass.
Allie stood up when she saw me.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re bundled up tight.”
“I’m just chilly,” I said.
“You mean… cold?”
“That’s a good one,” I said. “I never heard that before.”
“Sorry,” Allie said.
“Don’t be. Now sit.”
We sat down and ordered more coffee.
“What are you thinking?” Allie asked.
“Right now, I want to review it all. The current case. I want to see where it happened and just get an idea. The old files don’t contain much, but we will figure this out. Something has to be in there. No matter the dead end with these cases, there’s always somewhere to look. Of course, the hard part is the timing of it all. We never have enough time with these cases.”
“That’s for sure,” Allie said. “Mayor Jim won’t back down for a second from his parade idea.”
“I think that man is completely foolish,” I said.
“I agree.”
“But I also assume there’s nothing you can do about him.”
“Yes,” Allie said.
“So we work around him. Which is fine. I can ask him questions as I need to about what happened years ago. I doubt we’ll get anything from him. Just like with the sister. Such a sad situation, but what’s done is done.”
“Family is tough,” Allie said.
She looked like she had something else to add to that statement but held it back.
I told myself it was because whatever she had to say it wasn’t relevant to the case.
“I’d like to check out the crime scene now,” I said.
“Okay,” Allie said. “Let’s take our coffees and leave.”
Which we did.
I made Allie let me pay for the coffees since she was driving me around town.
Interesting enough - even though I already knew it - we ended up near Mrs. Mickels’ house.
We exited Allie’s large vehicle and she pointed to the heavily wooded area.
“Mrs. Mickels made the call,” Allie said.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I said.
“So we came and started poking around. She claimed to have seen a figure. Someone dressed in all black. She’s seen the person more than once since then. Including a time when someone broke into her house to scare her.”
“I’m trying to figure out the timeline here, Allie,” I said. “The killer must have been very young when the first murder occurred. Unless, of course, the killer kept himself in great shape to do it again. But years later…”
I heard the beep of a horn.
“Oh, no,” Allie said.
I could see the teeth through the windshield of the expensive car.
The town’s overzealous mayor was making another appearance.
He hurried out of his car and jogged toward us, waving.
“Morning, ladies,” he called out. “Hard at work?”
“Are you?” I asked.
Mayor Jim pointed and laughed. “Just wanted to check on things. See if I can help in any way. I assume you both have burned the midnight oil. And you’re burning all the candles at both ends. I just want to be there to help.”
“Jim, you can help by leaving us alone,” Allie said.
“I second that,” I said.
Mayor Jim showed his hands. “Look, I’m just trying to show a little gratitude. And in a selfish way, I was hoping for some kind of news. Good news. Something I can take with me to ease my mind as we get closer to the parade.”
“You want to ease your mind?” I asked. “Ease the mind of everyone involved? Cancel this nonsense parade.”
Mayor Jim’s face dropped. “Now I’m not exactly sure where you’re from, detective, but I assure you, this nonsense parade is important to
this town. To all of us.”
“What matters more, Mr. Mayor?” I asked, turning to face Mayor Jim. “Solving these murders? Or you waving along a parade route?”
“That’s an unfair question to ask,” Mayor Jim said.
“Hey!” Allie shouted. “We’re wasting time. Jim, that’s enough. Detective Cold and myself have to get moving here. We appreciate your concern and willingness to help. Right now, the best thing you can do is leave us alone.”
“My offer stills stands,” Mayor Jim said. “Food, drinks, anything. I want to cover the costs while you’re in town, Detective Cold.”
“We’ll let you know,” Allie said.
She then put her hand out and ushered me into the wooded area.
After a silent walk, Allie paused and pointed to the ground.
“Right here,” she said. “The other body was over there.”
“They were apart,” I said. “The first time it was one person. Now it was two. Probably not part of the plan. Probably the desire to satisfy that urge.”
I walked around, staring at the ground.
“There’s a park right up over there,” Allie said. “That’s where Claire and Candice were walking. The killer must have attacked and brought them here. That’s the best I can assume. Just like the first time… wrists, throat. Only Claire was missing a body part though.”
“Meaning the other woman was just a casualty,” I said.
“That’s right.”
I looked at Allie. “How much do you disagree with your mayor and his parade?”
“The parade? I don’t know. I think it’s… I mean, if this wasn’t going on… sure, have a parade. I’m far too busy to worry about the political side of this town.”
I looked around again.
Part of my job was to throw everyone under the bus and see who could climb out.
I, of course, did it mentally before speaking anything out loud, just to be safe.
So as I stood there, in the woods, on the cold morning, I slipped my hands into my pockets and had an interesting thought.
I owed nobody a thing and I had no loyalty to anyone.
Which meant…
What if Allie Down was the one who did this?
Chapter Sixty-Four
I could tell something was off about Lizzy.
Our day was spent walking through the woods, looking for clues. Then we stopped at Mrs. Mickels’ house, just so Lizzy could ask her a few questions.
Lizzy felt a little distant from me.
I told myself it was just her working through thoughts and theories.
Because I knew I was doing the same.
Mrs. Mickels described what happened the night Claire and Candice were killed and the night someone was in her house.
Not a single piece of her story altered for a second.
We went back to the station where Mayor Jim had lunch delivered for us.
He was keeping to his promise to make sure we were able to work. It was also nice to not have him there every five minutes, worrying about too much at once.
After we finished eating, Lizzy looked lost in thought again.
“So we can agree that whoever this is, they have to be in town, right?” I asked. “They have to be someone who’s lived here their entire life.”
“Which doesn’t narrow it down at all,” Lizzy said.
“Not even close,” I said. “I’ve been running the dates and some ages through my head too. It feels… I don’t know. You know, there was a part of me that wondered if someone got into those files and wanted to replicate it.”
“A copycat?” Lizzy asked.
“But everything was sealed.”
“Could be opened and sealed again.”
“Or it could be someone doing this based on rumors,” I said. “The town is full of stories. Some are real, some are fake. Some are complete exaggerations of the truth. Like the fish monster at the dam.”
“Fish monster?” Lizzy asked.
“There was a rumor that a worker got eaten by a fish,” I said. “When they built the dam, it made a lake that goes down very deep. A worker was sadly killed in an accident. Of course, the story twists a little here and there. Next thing you know, the lake has a monster.”
“You heard that story as a kid?”
“Yeah.”
“So you grew up here.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Why did you leave?”
“I wanted to make a life for myself,” I said. “At least that’s what I tell myself. The truth is that I was… I was confused. I wanted to be a cop. I wanted to be a detective. My high school boyfriend was no longer my high school boyfriend. He was a troublemaker.”
“You liked that though, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said with a smile. “Funny thing though… Ben was a friend of mine the entire time I was with Tommy. Tommy was my boyfriend.”
“So Ben was the friend who became more.”
“Much later in life though,” I said. “I left town and never intended on coming back. Then my sister was killed and I was put in charge of Lo. I was her guardian. We tried to make it work for a little while in the city but it wasn’t happening. It was too hard for her. So we moved back here. It’s been hectic since we’ve moved back. Seems to keep getting more and more hectic too.”
“And you just took the entire thing over here, right?”
“That’s right. After The One and Laura…”
My voice trailed off.
I suddenly got the odd feeling that Lizzy was questioning me.
I decided we needed to get out of the station so I took her to the park where Claire and Candice had been walking the night they were murdered.
The day began to come to an end.
Each sunset was a minute or two earlier than the day before.
A clear sign of winter’s slow return sooner rather than later.
I noticed again that Lizzy was drifting away from me.
Until I finally had enough …
I stepped in front of her. “I’m not dumb, Lizzy.”
“Oh?”
“What are you thinking today?” I asked. “Ever since we were in the woods, you’ve been distant. Then back at the station, you were questioning me.”
“I look to all possibilities.”
“What does that mean?”
“Do you want me to tell you the truth?”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“When it comes to chasing down these kinds of cases, I have to put everyone as a target to be guilty. Then I casually take people away. Today… you’re on my list.”
I laughed. “Me? You think… me…”
“Allie, let’s be fair,” Lizzy said. “We agree this is someone who is from this town. It happened once before, then again now. You left town and came back…”
“Lizzy…”
“Just hold on,” I said. “I look around and wonder who benefits from this kind of thing. Just to see what could happen. You’ve been under a lot of pressure and stress. You said it yourself. You really didn’t want to come back here. But you did because your sister was killed and you were now going to raise your niece. Your last case was a big one. That was scary for you. You almost died, Allie. Then the department was handed over to you. You’re going through the files and trying to make sense of the corruption. I don’t know… it’s a lot for one person. Top that off with Ben’s father and the Alzheimer’s…”
“Wow,” I said.
“I’m sorry if that offends you at all,” Lizzy said. “I just have to go with it. I have to think my way in and out of scenarios. I mean, look at you and the mayor. He’s over the top and annoying. You don’t want to be bothered by him. This parade is a stress on you. So two bodies show up dead, the parade gets cancelled, and you get a chance to breathe.”
“The parade wasn’t cancelled,” I said.
“Which worked against you,” she said.
“So I set this all up myself? I killed two women and mapped
out the perfect way to do this? I went through the old files and found a cold case and mimicked it?”
“It’s crazy.”
“Then I called you here, why?”
“Not sure yet,” Lizzy said. Then she smiled. “Everything I just said isn’t true. I know that, Allie. I just have to think it to get rid of it. You didn’t kill anyone. We both know that. If I even thought for a second that was true, I would have done something about it. I’m sorry if I’ve been quiet. I’m not used to this weather and I’m not used to how quiet it is around here. It’s sleepy. I’m tired. Yet someone out there murdered two women now, and a woman years ago. I’m thinking. A lot.”
“Okay,” I said. “I understand. Any other crazy theories, just give them to me right away. No matter who it is.”
“I’ll do that next time,” Lizzy said.
My phone began to ring.
It was Ben calling.
I figured he was calling to check up on me.
“I’m with Lizzy in the park,” I said.
“You need to get home,” Ben said. “It’s my father…”
“Ben,” I said. “Is he okay?”
“He said someone dressed in all black was just here looking for you and Lo.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
When I got to the house, Ben stood outside on the porch.
He looked tired and flustered.
I jumped out of my SUV and ran to the porch.
The first thing I did was hug Ben.
No matter what was happening - good or bad - a hug could do no harm.
My love for him was now the first thing on my mind. Everything else in life, secondary.
“Oh, Allie Down,” he sighed.
“What happened?”
I stepped back and grabbed his left hand with my right hand.
“I got a call that he was out of sorts pretty bad,” Ben said. “I guess he snuck out the kitchen door. He got the lock undone. The lock he wasn’t supposed to be able to get undone. He was walking around to the front again and he said he saw someone dressed in all black.”
“That’s not good.”
“He said the person was looking for you and Lo.”
“Our names? Specifically?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah.”
“I need to talk to him then,” I said.