by Lisa D Jones
“Everyone stay put until we check things out”, said Tucker.
“You’ll need these”, said Claudia as she handed Tucker the house keys.
He nodded and put them in his pants pocket. As a precaution, he and Kelly drew their guns then proceeded to check out the grounds before entering the house.
A few minutes later, Tucker walked out through the front door and gave us the “all clear”.
“As soon as you’re all safely inside, I want you to lock all of the doors and windows. Do not open the door for anyone other than myself, Nate, or Kelly until Nate says otherwise. No food deliveries, no store runs, absolutely NO going outside at all. Oh, and stay away from the windows”, said Tucker. “None of us will show up unannounced. We wouldn’t want to spook you and get shot or lit up like a Christmas tree with that taser thing of yours.”
I let out a small, nervous laugh and gave a half ass smile. Tucker winked with a sly smile, handed the keys back to Claudia then he and Kelly waited for us to shut the door before leaving.
“Does anyone want a beer?” asked Claudia as we entered the living room. “As soon as Nate told us what was going on, we knew we wouldn’t be able to leave after you got here, so we did some massive booze and grocery shopping.”
“I know I could use a beer”, I said.
“Me too”, said Jessica.
“Yup and I’ll help”, said Keith. “Rick? Give us a hand?”
Rick nodded and stood up.
“Beer was the first thing I put on the shopping list”, said Claudia with a smile.
The three of them disappeared into the kitchen and quickly returned with a beer in each hand.
“I’ll get supper started”, said Claudia and disappeared into the kitchen yet again.
“Anything we can help with?” asked Jessica.
Keith scrunched his nose and wobbled his head around as he silently mocked Claudia by mouthing the words as she spoke them: “You can help by staying out of my kitchen”.
An hour later, we were all gathered at the kitchen table eating a phenomenal steak dinner that was fit for kings, queens, and any other member of any royal family in the history of the planet Earth. Okay so maybe it wasn’t that good, but it was still pretty amazing. It’s damn sure a hell of a lot better than it would have tasted if I had cooked it. My cooking is usually saved for people that I don’t like (kings and queens included).
After dinner we were all too full to move, so we sat at the table for a little while, finishing off two or three more beers each.
“Claudia, that was FANTASTIC”, said Jessica. “I can’t remember the last time I was this freaking full.”
“Thank you”, I said. “Thanks for everything.”
Everyone stared at me as if I had something black, green, and purple stuck in my teeth: confused, bewildered, and full of wonder.
“Savannah, did….you…just……. say……thank you???” asked Keith.
I laughed and said, “Yeah and enjoy it while you can. Don’t get too used to polite bullshit like that coming from me. And for the record, I say thank you all the time.”
“You do not!” said all of them simultaneously.
“Okay so maybe I don’t say it out loud all of the time. It’s the thought that counts, right? Right?” I said. “Fine. I’ll give you both a raise.”
“And what about me?” asked Jessica.
“And me?” asked Wendy.
Rick cleared his throat.
“And Rick.”
“Y’all don’t technically work for me. I can’t give you a raise”, I said.
Jessica tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows.
“Okay, okay. Dinner’s on me next time”, I said.
“You’re damn right it is”, said Jessica.
Chapter 14:
“Captive Audience”
I WOKE UP MUCH earlier than I normally would on any given day and I was still the last one to get out of bed. Claudia was cooking breakfast. Keith had already made the coffee, so he, Rick, Wendy, and Jessica were sitting at the kitchen table, each with a cup in hand.
“There’s coffee when you’re ready for it”, said Keith. “Your cup is on the counter.”
“Thanks”, I said as I made my way into the kitchen. I filled up the mug and joined them at the table.
“Well good morning, Sunshine”, said Jessica. “What’s the game plan for today? Are we really going to stay put?”
Everyone briefly stopped what they were doing to look up at me and waited for my response.
“Yes, we are. I know I usually don’t do much that anyone tells me to do-“
“You never do anything that anyone tells you to do”, said Jessica.
I nodded.
“True, but this time will be the exception”, I said.
“I brought home some of the current and back logged case files yesterday. I figured we would need the distraction plus we can get some work done. Nate brought over the rest of them earlier this morning”, said Claudia.
“I can access whatever’s on our computers remotely. The only thing is that we are still limited on what work we can actually finish, since we can’t leave to take photographs, interview potential witnesses, or catch anyone in the act of whatever we were hired to catch them doing. The sooner this psycho is in jail or dead, the sooner we can get back to work and on with our lives”, said Keith.
“Dead is my vote”, said Jessica.
I couldn’t agree more.
“Okay so what cases do we have that we can work on?” I asked.
“Well, let’s see”, said Claudia as she began to flip through the files. “There’s one here from the Red Willow Insurance Company. They have a customer claiming a debilitating injury. Our client says they want more than just a doctor’s signature for proof before they cough up the pay-out.”
“How much is the pay-out?” asked Jessica.
“$150,000 personal injury pay-out in a lump sum payment”, said Claudia.
“That explains it”, I said. “What else?”
“There’s one for the whereabouts of Gregory Soloman. The client contacted Todd about finding their lost relative, Mr. Soloman, for an inheritance. Time is running out on this one. If they don’t find him soon, with no other heirs, the money will go to the state, as per the will. Another case involves phony money being laundered through Jaynie’s Cupboard. Harry Stanwick thinks his wife is cheating on him with his younger lodge brother, who is 76. Earl T. Wallace is trying to locate the muscle car he had back in high school. The last one is a missing person’s cold case. Tam Livingston was last seen bar hopping off of Main Street in Fort Worth six months ago. The rest of the cases are ones we can’t work on without being physically able to get out into the field.”
“Those will have to wait then. Everyone take a file. Read through it, jot down whatever thoughts you may have, and put it in the folder. We’ll discuss it all later”, I said.
“I’ll take the Wallace case. I can send off a title record request to the state on the car and find out the current owner”, said Keith.
“Take the Soloman case too. Maybe you can find something about him online”, said Claudia as she handed him both of the files.
“I’ll go online and find out whatever background information I can on Harry Stanwick”, said Jessica. “Maybe I can find out something on his wife and his lodge brother too.”
Claudia handed Jessica the Stanwick file then handed the Livingston case file over to me.
“I’ll work on prepping the case files for the others”, said Claudia.
We worked through the afternoon and on through part of the evening. Claudia excused herself around seven and went to the kitchen to start fixing supper. I don’t think anyone truly realized how hungry we were until the heavenly aroma of Claudia’s fried chicken made its way into the living room.
“And that’s our cue to abandon work for the evening”, said Keith as he stood up and headed for the dining room.
We all followed suit, being
careful not to go into the kitchen. No one wants to face the wrath of Claudia again for going into “her territory”. Pick your battles. Some things just aren’t worth it.
We were all too full after dinner to concentrate on work, so we opted for the alternative: beer and television. The local news was the first thing that popped up on the screen. There were three more murders…all in the name of Savannah Hartman: 52 year old Calvin Fields of Frisco, 27 year old Adriana Mardel and 23 year old Melissa Hoffman of Hopeville.
The television reporter stated that all of the victims had a note attached to them, but they did not have the details of what was written inside as of yet. They did know, however, that written on the outside of each note were the words, “For Savannah”.
Keith reached for the remote and turned off the TV. Even though it was no longer on, we were all still staring at the screen.
“I think it’s time for me to come out of hiding and get this sick son of a bitch”, I said.
“No, it’s time for US to come out of hiding and get this sick son of a bitch”, said Jessica.
We all nodded.
“I think you need to make some phone calls”, said Keith.
Chapter 15:
“roses are red”
NATE WASN’T TOO thrilled at the thought of me demanding information about the latest murders, but he didn’t put up a fight about it. He had hoped to spare us from the gory details in the headlines and on the news, but that didn’t go as well as he had planned.
“The first of the latest three victims that were found was Calvin Fields. I’m not sure yet what order that they were killed just that he was the first one found. He was a stock broker living in Frisco and worked in downtown Dallas. He was found sitting in the parking garage of the building where he worked, leaning against his car. He bled to death after his testicles had been crudely removed. The two other murders were, unfortunately, a lot closer to home: Adriana Mardel was found with her throat slit, sitting up against the dumpster behind Stacy’s BBQ, the new place across the street from Babe’s. The third was Melissa Hoffman. Her body was found on the steps of the Hope County Sheriff’s Office. She had been left naked, covered with nothing but a dark red, silk sheet, which covered up all of her “R rated” areas. She was lying on her left side in a pool of blood. Her eyes were open. Her left arm was outstretched under her head as if she were resting on it while her right arm dangled over the concrete step below. A dozen black roses were neatly placed around her body, on top of the sheet”, said Nate.
“Hiding out is only making this psycho murder more innocent people. I can’t knowingly be responsible for that, Nate”, I said.
“Don’t you dare think for one minute that this is your fault, Savannah.”
“But it is, Nate! At least, in a round-about way”, I said. “This lunatic is killing people because he or she is pissed off that I’m nowhere to be found! No more hiding for any of us. It’s time to catch this psycho mother fucker once and for all.”
Chapter 16:
“ROOKIE MISTAKES”
NATE AND I didn’t always see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. The group of us coming out of hiding was no exception. Sure, we butted heads sometimes, but we all knew he had our best interests at heart. Nate’s always been a stubborn man, but he’s no match for my hard-headed-stubborn-sarcastic-charming-and-witty-as-hell-personality. We did agree on one thing though: the six of us needed to stay close to each other at all times until this sadistic psycho was behind bars or burning in hell, whichever came first.
Nate and Agent Loughlin pulled up in the driveway a half hour after our phone conversation. We had agreed without argument that they would be our escorts.
“Todd’s expecting us”, said Nate. Jessica and I climbed into Nate’s patrol car while Agent Loughlin, Rick, and Wendy joined Keith and Claudia in their SUV.
Max was waiting for us near the front door along with another security guard that I didn’t recognize.
“Mr. Wakefield wanted me to greet the lot of you personally, so here I am”, said Max. “This here is Charlie Meadows. He’s the newest member of our security clan. Mr. Wakefield hired him directly.”
Max escorted us to a private elevator. I didn’t even know there was a private elevator until now.
“Has this elevator always been here, Max?” I asked.
Max smiled sweetly and nodded his head.
“Yes Ma’am it has”, said Max. “You’ve just never had a reason to come down this corridor before to notice it. It goes directly to Mr. Wakefield’s floor. The original partners of his law firm had it installed. You can’t use this elevator unless you have a key to activate the elevator.”
Well, that explains it.
Max opened the elevator door with his key.
“After you”, said Max.I went in with the others following behind me.
When the doors reopened on the seventh floor, two more agents were there to greet us in an overly professional manner and escorted us to Todd’s office. Agent Loughlin seemed to know them, although I’m not sure whether or not he liked them. Loughlin’s demeanor never really seems to change, so it’s kinda hard to tell.
I wonder how long Loughlin’s been so serious. I mean is it a recent thing or has he always been this big of a jackass? Maybe it’s because of his job. Maybe he was bullied as a child and never really got over it. Maybe he’s just an asshole. The world may never know.
“Miss Hartman, how much do you know?” asked one of the newer agents.
“Well that depends on the subject. Would you care to be more specific?” I said.
“There is no need for sarcasm here”, said the agent.
“I disagree”, I said, shaking my forefinger in his general direction. “There’s ALWAYS a need for sarcasm. It makes life and morons so much easier to deal with. If you don’t want sarcasm from me, I suggest that you don’t ask any more stupid questions. And while I’m at it, the tone you just used towards me indicates far more disrespect than anything that I said. You seem to suffer from severe foot in mouth disease, so, in the future, I would prefer that you just stand there, not look pretty, and let Agent Loughlin do all of the talking.”
“I don’t think you are taking this situation seriously, Savannah”, said the agent.
“Back it up, rookie. Let me tell you how this works. You are NEVER to refer to me by my first name. We are not friends. To you, I am Miss Hartman or ‘That lady that’s obviously a hell of a lot smarter than I am’. Either one, in your case, would be correct.”
“What makes you think I’m a rookie, Miss Hartman?”
“Some things are just obvious, kid, but since you’re new to this whole investigative aspect of life, I’ll explain it to you in simple terms to make it easier for you to understand. What gave you away as a rookie was, number one, you’ve dragged crap on and on and you still haven’t made your point. Loughlin made his point immediately. Secondly, you were too busy trying to push my buttons and instigate bullshit instead of getting to the point. Not only were you not bright enough to not do that in front of witnesses, but you managed to do it in front of witnesses that know me very well and have very good standing with local law enforcement, state troopers, federal marshals AND most of the judges in the State of Texas. That makes me believe that you are either: one - a complete idiot, two - a rookie, or three - both. Whether you realize it or not, you are alienating yourself from the people that will help you the most with the investigation, which doesn’t make you the sharpest crayon in the box. You tried to make it sound like I’m too stupid or inexperienced to know what is at stake here. I am fully aware of my situation. After all, I am the one being stalked by a pissed off serial killer, not you, so stop being an idiotic know-it-all prick. You’ve already made it up higher on my shithead list than anyone else this week, so you really should stop while you’re nowhere close to being ahead”, I snarled.
The rookie agent looked like he was about to spout out a few more of his less than intelligent statements towards me, stopped him
self, and turned towards Agent Loughlin instead.
“Are you going to let her speak to a federal agent like that?” asked the rookie.
“Hell yes I am”, said Loughlin. “You’re the one with the severe foot in mouth disease, not me.”
I couldn’t help but snicker.
“Okay okay. I think the rookie has had enough of an ass chewing for the moment”, said Nate, pausing briefly to glance over at the rookie agent. “You are going to shut up and listen now aren’t you, Rookie? Good, now let’s all talk about the situation at hand.”
“Agent, turn off the light, please. Thank you”, said Todd. “Now, if you’ll all turn your attention to the screen on my left - and I warn you, the pictures of these brutal crimes are extremely graphic. These are the most recent victims.”
Todd quickly flipped through all of the slides. Each one was worse than the one before. He was kind enough to leave out the photos of Isaac, at least from the slide show.
“We need to find out exactly who this psycho is and put a stop to the killings once and for all…and we need to do it as quickly as possible”, said Todd.
“There are a handful of special agents working on a profile of the killer. We should have it in hand by the end of the day”, said Agent Loughlin.
“Do y’all have any suspects yet?” I asked.
All of the men in the room fell silent for a few moments.
“Not yet”, said Todd. “You’ll be one of the first to know when we do. I promise you, Savannah. We will get him.”
Chapter 17:
“VIOLETS ARE BLUE”
Todd gave us a new stack of files to work through (larger than usual). He said he thought we could use the distraction. And he was right. Keith was less than thrilled, but Claudia pointed out to him that it was better for all of us to have more work to do than just sitting around worrying about shit that we can’t control.