by BJ Bourg
I stood straighter. “What’d you say?”
“One of my friends—he saw the monster while we were there. No one believed him because he was drunk off his ass at the time, but I guess he was right.”
“Can you describe what he saw?”
“He said he walked to the lake to pee and was just standing there looking around when he saw it. He said he looked toward one of the boats and saw something leaning over the side. He walked closer and hollered at it. The music was loud, so the monster didn’t hear him at first. He hollered for someone to go help him, and that’s when the monster looked at him. He said it got scared and disappeared into the water. He came to get us and we searched the water, but we didn’t find anything. I figured he was just drunk and hallucinating. He was mad that we didn’t believe him.”
“Did he describe this so-called monster?”
“He said it had big eyes that were shaped like a dragonfly. He said there were these pipes or tubes coming out of the face.” He paused for a second. “He said there was a hump on his back, but he wasn’t positive about that part. He thinks he saw a hump when the monster turned to disappear.”
I asked for his friend’s name and number. As soon as I had it, I ended the call with him and punched in the number. When the kid answered, I skipped the pleasantries and went right into asking him to describe this monster he supposedly saw. It was identical to the description provided by Shelton’s son.
“Is it possible that this monster you saw could’ve simply been a man wearing scuba gear?”
There was a long pause on the other end. Finally, the kid grunted. “You know what, I think it could’ve been. That would explain the hump on his back and the pipes coming from his face.”
“Correct,” was all I said. I ended the call and turned to Amy. “Gabe Burke was absolutely stealing things from tourists.”
“Do you think he was also attacking them?”
“I’m not sure, but he certainly moved up to the number one suspect.”
“Well,” she said, pointing toward the coroner’s investigators who were loading his body into their van, “if he is the suspect, this case is as closed as that body bag.”
CHAPTER 26
When Susan arrived at the scene, she parked my truck on the shoulder of the road in front of Gabe’s boat and stepped out with bags of hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes. Melvin backed his truck close to mine and we dropped the tailgates of both trucks. Amy and Melvin sat on his tailgate to eat, while Susan and I sat on mine.
By the time the four of us finished eating, the road had been cleared and the first responders had left. That left only Mallory and Detective Lou Baker to wrap up the crime scene investigation. They walked over and joined us after they tore up the last of the yellow tape. Mallory handed Amy a small plastic evidence bag.
“I found this cell phone on the shoulder of the road,” Mallory told Amy. “I haven’t touched it because it has nothing to do with him attempting to murder you. I figured you might need it for your investigation.”
Amy nodded and peered through the clear plastic. “Does it still work?”
“It doesn’t look damaged.”
I left them to discuss the phone and retrieved my gear from Melvin’s truck. It took me two trips to transfer everything to my own truck. I was placing the last of my gear into the back seat when Lou left the others and ambled over to where I stood working. He wiped a bead of sweat from his dark forehead and sighed.
“Damn, it’s hot,” he said idly.
I nodded and shoved the door closed. I’d worked with Lou before and knew him to be a good detective. It seemed like he had something on his mind. “What’s up?”
“Hey, is Takecia single?”
I pondered the question, then glanced over my shoulder toward the others. “Hey, Sue, is Takecia single?”
“Yep,” she called.
The sound of her voice had barely faded on the breeze when Mallory began hollering at Lou.
“Louis Baker, I’d better not find out that you’re attempting to step out on Louise! That woman gave you four beautiful daughters! I swear, I’ll gut you myself if you mess around on her!”
Lou threw his hands in the air. “No, no,” he said quickly. “I’m asking for my brother!”
“Jeremiah?”
“Yeah, she stopped him for speeding the other night and let him go when he told her he was my brother,” Lou explained hurriedly. “He wanted her number.”
Mallory stomped over and glared up at Lou, her nose inches from his. After staring into his eyes for a few moments, she relaxed. “He’s telling the truth. His left eye twitches like it’s being electrocuted when he’s lying.”
We all laughed and Susan said, “Send me your brother’s number. I’ll give it to Takecia. If she’s interested, she’ll call him.”
Lou gave her the number and then he and Mallory left.
“She said it’s open and shut,” Susan said of the deadly force encounter. “The evidence supports a justifiable homicide. She said her preliminary report will be on the sheriff’s desk this afternoon. She’s on her way to notify Gabe’s family.”
I nodded and shot a thumb toward the boat. “Amy, you ready to toss this thing?”
She nodded and headed for the boat. Melvin and Susan said they would hang around in case Gabe’s family showed up in arms.
“I can’t image they’ll take the news well,” Susan said. “And his dad’s certainly a hothead.”
“You know his dad?” I asked.
“Remember the man who was talking at the town council meeting Monday night—Phillip Burke?”
I nodded.
“That’s him.”
My shoulders drooped. Although he had been vocal at the meeting, he seemed like a good man and he had worked hard in our search for Camille. I instantly felt sorry for him and felt bad about running his son down. However, while I felt bad about what had happened, I knew it had been a necessary action in order to save Amy’s life, so I was at peace with it.
“He seems like a good man.”
Susan frowned. “He is a good man, but Gabe has been in and out of trouble for years. When his mother died, he moved out of the family home because he thought his dad was too strict. As I understand it, they don’t have a great relationship.”
I hadn’t had any dealings with Gabe, but I was a transplant here and had only been in the area for six years. Thus, I still hadn’t met everyone in town.
I turned away from my wife and joined Amy on the boat.
CHAPTER 27
Gabe’s housekeeping habits matched his personal hygiene—they were awful. Empty cans of tuna, beer, and soda littered the floor in the pilot house. A stained sleeping bag was positioned in one corner of the tiny room, and it appeared to be where he slept. A five-gallon bucket in the corner served as the bathroom. A half-eaten hamburger was on the floor amongst a pile of other garbage.
Amy and I pulled on two pairs of latex gloves each and began working through the mess. I went for the sleeping bag and searched through it while Amy began sifting through the mess on the floor. We thoroughly searched the pilot house but didn’t find anything that might connect him to the attacks on the lakes.
“What if the attacks had nothing to do with him?” Amy asked. “What if he stole the gun from someone else?”
I didn’t answer, because I didn’t want to consider that possibility just yet. I moved around to the bow and opened the forward hatch, while Amy went for the wooden cover to the hold.
“Hey, this is locked,” Amy called out from the opposite side of the boat.
“I’ve got bolt cutters in my truck,” I said over my shoulder before leaning forward and trying to see inside the dark hatch. Remembering I was in my personal truck, I added, “I’ve also got a chainsaw if you need it.”
The boat swayed roughly as Amy walked across the deck and jumped to the dock. The movement caused something to fall over inside the hatch below me. I pulled out my cell phone and activated the flashlig
ht on it. Letting the light lead the way, I leaned into the hole and glanced around. I smiled to myself when I saw what had fallen—a yellow oxygen tank. We had him now!
I twisted around and dropped feet-first into the hatch. It was cramped inside the enclosure and it smelled of diesel, but it was nonetheless spotless. I would not have hesitated to eat directly off of the hull floor. I lifted the oxygen tank and examined it. The French words Diable D’eau Noire were painted on the side of the tank. I knew diable meant devil, but I didn’t know what the other words meant. I shrugged and looked around.
Also inside the space, I found a regulator, a mask, fins, a gauge, and a wetsuit. Every piece of gear was clean and in impeccable condition. I nodded as I squatted there.
“At least you understood the importance of maintaining the gear that would keep you alive,” I said aloud. The hull suddenly rocked under me and I knew Amy had boarded the boat again. When I straightened, my upper torso extended out of the hatch. I told Amy what I had found.
“Was it locked?” she asked.
“Nope, it was wide open.”
“Then it can’t be as good as what I’m about to find down in the hold.” She approached the latch and I watched as the muscles in her slender arms rippled as she worked the bolt cutters. With a snap, the lock fell free. She nodded her appreciation. She paused and glanced at me before opening it. “Want to bet that my find is better than yours?”
I shook my head and approached her. “We’re even money now and I’d like to keep it that way.”
She grunted and removed the wooden cover. After tossing it aside, she shined her flashlight into the hold.
“Well, what’s in there?” I asked impatiently.
“Miscellaneous junk that he probably stole.” She climbed through the opening and—after donning latex gloves—began removing plastic bags and placing them on the deck.
I checked the bags and shook my head. Inside, there were pieces of jewelry, loose change, one set of binoculars, fishing tackle, several miscellaneous electronic gadgets, a cell phone or two, and even some women’s panties.
“He’s a little packrat,” she said. “Most of this stuff is useless junk. Sure, he might be able to get a few dollars for some of it at a pawn shop, but none of these items are worth the risk.”
“The gun was a nice find. And if he did find any cash, we might never know it. I’m sure he would’ve spent it all by now.” I shot a thumb toward the pilot house. “Probably on all those empty beer cans we found.”
“Wait a minute.” Something had attracted Amy’s attention. “There’s a cigar box hidden under this bag.”
I watched and waited as she flipped open the box. She whistled and handed it up to me. It was filled with prescription bottles and they were all empty. I turned each bottle over, hoping we could identify the victims by the names on the labels, but we would not be that lucky today. All of the labels had been peeled off.
“Are there any more pill bottles?”
“Nah, that’s it,” she said, and then began handing me more bags of miscellaneous items. Once she’d removed the last of them from the rat’s nest, she took a good look around. “Well, that’s it. The hold is clear.”
I offered my hand and helped her out of it.
“I’ll run his name through the pawn shop database and see if he pawned any other items, but my guess is he was more interested in the pills than anything else.” She indicated the bags on the deck. “It’ll be difficult to track down the victims for much of this stuff, but I’ll try.”
I nodded. We were about to gather up the bags when I heard a vehicle approaching from the north at a high rate of speed. It was being driven way too fast to be some random speeder who was trying to get somewhere. No, this had to be someone from Gabe’s family, and I was sure they were looking for me.
Susan and Melvin were on high alert when Amy and I joined them on the shoulder of the highway. They had heard the vehicle approaching and were thinking the same thing. Melvin had reached an arm into the open window of his truck, and I knew his hand was on his AR-15.
The vehicle was an old pickup and it was now about a quarter of a mile away. It didn’t look like it was slowing.
Melvin pulled his AR-15 from the truck and took up a position on his front bumper. “If they don’t stop,” he warned, “I’m going to saw that truck in half.”
I walked to the center of the road and began waving my arms into the air, trying to summon the truck to slow down. It worked. Brakes ground and the front of the truck dipped sharply as the vehicle slowed drastically. I could hear sirens somewhere in the distance, and figured Mallory and Lou were in pursuit.
The truck continued slowing down and I stepped out of the lane of traffic just in case it didn’t stop in time. When it got to within twenty yards, I saw that Phillip Burke was driving. Even from that distance I could see that his eyes were focused like lasers. He wanted a piece of me—that much was plain to see.
CHAPTER 28
As Phillip Burke continued driving forward, I turned my head slightly so my voice would carry behind me. “I’ve got this, Melvin.”
“His hands had better be empty when he leaves his truck,” was the response I got. “Otherwise, he’ll be seeing his son real soon.”
The truck finally lurched to a stop directly beside me. Phillip was cursing me before he even got his door open, and I knew this was going to get physical.
“You killed my only boy, you piece of shit!” Phillip spat the words as he leapt from his truck, both hands swinging like windmills.
I sidestepped to my left and stuck out my foot, tripping him. He spilled onto his hands and knees, but bounced quickly to his feet. His fists were balled up and he circled me with bad intentions.
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, Mr. Burke.” I lifted my open hands for two reasons. First, I wanted to indicate that I didn’t want to fight with him. Second, I wanted my hands in position to defend myself if he attacked again. “I know you’re hurting and I’m sorry for what happened out here, but I had no choice.”
“Go to hell!” The words had barely left his mouth when Phillip lunged at me, swinging hard with a right hand.
I instinctively covered the left side of my head with my forearm and shot a swift right uppercut to the man’s ribs. It was a solid shot. I could feel my knuckles bury to the wrist in the man’s flesh. He let out a grunt as the air escaped his lungs. He collapsed to his knees. I stepped forward and caught him before he dove headfirst into the pavement.
“Easy now,” I said, holding him steady. “It’s okay, just relax and breathe.”
Phillip was wheezing as he tried to suck in a mouthful of air. His eyes burned red and although he couldn’t breathe, he reached for my face with his right hand. His fingers were bent like talons and I knew he wanted to rip my face apart.
“You need to settle down,” I said, pushing his hand away. “I’m sorry about your son, but I had no choice. He tried to kill Amy with a gun he stole from a boat on Le Diable Lake. He’s also a suspect in the murders of the people on the lake.”
Phillip’s face was twisted in pain, but his expression suddenly turned to shock. He tried to utter some words, but was unable to do so.
Susan, Amy, and Melvin were standing over us now and I could hear boots approaching. I looked up to see Mallory and Lou sprinting toward us. Beyond them, I could see that the front fender on the driver’s side of her cruiser was dragging the ground.
I glanced at Phillip’s truck and saw red paint smeared across the front bumper. There wasn’t as much as a dent on the steel, but it was clear he had crashed into Mallory’s cruiser.
Mallory skidded to a stop right in front of Phillip and she glared down at him. “You’re going to jail for attempted murder of a police officer,” she said sternly. “You’ll be locked up for a long time, you hear me?”
Phillip only stared down at the pavement.
“You’re lucky you didn’t end up dead like your son,” Lou said, his eyes flashing. “What
in the hell is wrong with you, man?”
Phillip didn’t respond to either of them, and I knew he was still considering what I’d told him. The information seemed to disturb him greatly and had stopped him in his tracks. Although he had regained his wind, he no longer wanted to fight me.
I pulled him to his feet and turned him around. I would not have arrested him for his attack on me, but he would never get away with crashing his vehicle into a police car that was occupied—and I didn’t care how distraught he was.
“Put your hands behind your back,” I said. “You’re under arrest for attempted first degree murder.”
He didn’t even argue or struggle. After I’d ratcheted my cuffs on his wrists, he asked if he could talk to me before being taken away.
I turned him around to face me. “Go ahead. Say what you need to say and then you’re going with these detectives.”
“Did you say that Gabe killed those kids on the lake?”
“He’s a suspect in their murders.”
He looked completely confused. “But I thought an alligator or something pulled them under?”
“There’s no evidence that any kind of animal drowned these kids.”
“Then it has to be an accident.”
“No, they were definitely attacked.”
“But…but why would you suspect Gabe? How on earth could he have possibly drowned anyone?”
I explained how we’d learned that Gabe had been scuba diving in Le Diable Lake and stealing from people.
“That’s a lie! Every time something goes missing around here they’re quick to accuse Gabe, only to find out later that they were wrong.”
“Well, in this case, it seems they were correct. The gun with which he attempted to murder Detective Cooke was stolen from a boat on Le Diable Lake at the beginning of the month.” I shot a thumb toward Gabe’s vessel. “And I found scuba gear in the forward hatch of his boat.”
“But he doesn’t have any scuba gear,” Phillip insisted. “He can’t afford to eat, much less buy scuba gear. I have to bring him food and water every week.”