Whisper in the Night: An absolutely heart-stopping serial killer thriller

by D. K. Hood

  A breaking-news banner flashed on the screen, catching his attention. He stared at the TV with interest. Have they found Julie?

  The blonde newsreader was waving a microphone in front of the sheriff’s face. The sheriff looked dusty and had dark circles under her eyes.

  “Sheriff Alton, you look dead on your feet. Can you give me an update on the Shadow Man Case?”

  “The Shadow Man is a name you’ve used.” Alton frowned. “The name romanticizes the seriousness of the crimes of an ignorant coward who believes killing young girls is a game.”

  Unperturbed, the interviewer pressed on. “We understand Julie Wolfe has gone missing. What are you doing to find her?”

  “We’ve had volunteers assisting us all afternoon. The search and rescue helicopter is out, plus we’ve ground teams in action.” Alton stared into the camera. “We’ve deputies from other towns on their way to assist and with their help we’ll be working around the clock in teams to keep the command post open. The search will not stop because it’s dark, nor will the investigation into this brutal killer.”

  “Have you stepped up the investigation since the medical examiner’s daughter became a victim?” The interviewer’s eyes flashed as if in private triumph. “It looks like all hands on deck right now.”

  “We’ve been following the same procedure since Lindy Rosen went missing.” Alton waved a deputy forward. “As I said, as none of us have gotten a break since Monday, we need help. My team will be splitting up and working in shifts with the other deputies.” She motioned to the deputy. “This is Deputy Kane and his team will be taking over now. I’ll be back around ten to relieve him, and so on.” She cleared her throat. “You can be assured a Black Rock Falls deputy will be on duty all night directing the search for Julie and leading the investigation to catch the murderer of Lindy, Amanda and Sara.”

  As the interview wound up, his anger simmered just below the surface. She called me a coward. He cut a slice of bloody steak, pushed it between his lips and chewed slowly. There was nothing cowardly in walking into a house and taking a girl from her bed with her parents sleeping in the next room, or abducting one off the street where anyone could’ve seen him. Like most women of her type, the sheriff figured she was above men. Heck, he’d given her a chance and if she’d found Julie, he might’ve walked away. Maybe he could’ve waited a few months, acting the innocent, and then started up again in another town, but now she’d gone and made it personal. He stared at the image of Sheriff Alton on the TV screen. Oh, I’m so going to enjoy killing you.

  Sixty-Two

  Jenna waited in her office until four deputies from Blackwater arrived. Not long after, Kane and Wolfe left the sheriff’s department, roaring through town with lights flashing and sirens blaring. She glanced at her watch; Walters had recovered and would arrive in a few minutes and she could leave. She leaned back in her seat. In the time since they’d rescued Julie, Wolfe had taken his daughter to the ER for an examination. She’d come through her ordeal amazingly unscathed but Jenna had first-hand experience of how easily PTSD could creep up on a person. No doubt, Wolfe would be keeping a close eye on her.

  “Evening, Sheriff.” Walters’ gray head poked around her office door. “Glad to see young Julie home safe and well.”

  Jenna pushed to her feet. She’d been ready to leave for the last hour. “So am I but don’t tell anyone, will you? Thanks for coming in on such short notice.”

  “No worries, ma’am.” Walters moved to one side to allow her to pass. “Like me to walk you out to your vehicle?”

  Jenna shook her head. “I figure I’ll be safe enough with a news crew parked outside. I’ll be back soon.” She hurried out the door, ignored the questions from the press and slid into her cruiser.

  The drive home seemed darker and more ominous than usual and her heart pounded in her chest as she drove through the gate into her ranch. Coming home alone with a lunatic on the loose wasn’t her idea of fun. The security system recognized the device in her vehicle and by the time she reached the house the place was flooded with light. She slid out from behind the wheel when she heard a sound. Spinning around, weapon drawn, she aimed in the direction of Kane’s cottage. A dark flash bounded out of the shadows and an excited yelp broke the silence. Jenna laughed as Duke almost knocked her over. He jumped around her, his backside wagging and tail whipping the air. She holstered her weapon, then bent and scratched his ears. “Is this your happy dance?” She straightened and headed for the steps. “You should be asleep by now. Come on, I’ll find you a snack.” Well, Kane hasn’t been here. He’d have locked him in the cottage.

  Once inside, she reactivated the alarm, removed her coat and weapon belt, and then placed her Glock on the nightstand in her room. She glanced down at the ring containing her spare tracker resting beside her weapon and slid it on before heading into the kitchen. She filled Duke’s bowl although Kane had a doggy feeder in the cottage and Duke never went without. After filling the coffee maker, she headed for the shower but couldn’t push the idea from her mind that a killer could be watching the house. Sure, Wolfe had grandiose plans to catch the killer and get evidence against him in one sting but keeping her out of the loop was unforgivable. Kane’s insistence that she trust him and act natural wasn’t helping her nerves either. She flipped the lock on the bathroom door and took a shower.

  * * *

  Dressed in a bathrobe and slippers, she headed back to the kitchen. “Where are you, Duke?”

  She heard a whine, then loud barking. It was coming from behind the laundry door. She frowned. How had Duke gotten stuck in there? She took a few steps toward the door – and caught sight of a movement in her periphery.

  “Nice to see you again, Sheriff.”

  Every hair on her body stood to attention as she spun around and took in the grinning face of Charlie Anderson. I knew it was you.

  Dressed in coveralls with a woolen cap pulled down over his hair, her attention shifted to the pistol gripped in his gloved palm. She clasped her hands before her and pressed the stone in the ring to activate the tracker and one-way connection to Kane’s cellphone. “Mr. Anderson, why are you pointing a weapon at me?”

  “Because tonight is a good time for you to die.” He glanced at the laundry door. “But I’ll put a bullet in the mutt first if you don’t shut him up.”

  Jenna glanced toward the door then raised her voice. “Lie down, Duke. Lie down.” The barking eased to a whine and she could see the dog’s nose pushed hard against the crack at the bottom of the door.

  “You told me you didn’t own a dog.” Anderson waved the gun at her but his index finger was above the trigger.

  Jenna buttoned the front of her bathrobe to the neck and tightened the cord around her waist. “He belongs to Kane.” She frowned. “How did you get past my security?”

  “It was a little more complicated than I’d imagined but no security system is safe.” He shrugged. “Didn’t I tell you to upgrade?”

  How did he breach a military-installed system? “I didn’t have time to arrange an upgrade this afternoon and now it’s too late.” Jenna sighed. “Why do you want to kill me so bad, Mr. Anderson – or should I call you Charlie?”

  “Man, you’re the dumbest women I’ve ever met.” Anderson shook his head, his face holding an incredulous expression. “You spend your days ordering men around and can’t figure out a simple game. Hell, woman, I gave you enough clues.”

  As Kane’s insistence to trust him filtered through the shock of knowing she’d been right about Anderson, she didn’t break eye contact and shifted her position to place the kitchen table between them. Not that a table could prevent instant death if he decided to fire at close range, but after seeing images of the other women he’d killed, a bullet would be way too fast to satisfy his needs. She shrugged nonchalantly. “What game are you talking about?”

  “The game where I gave you a certain time to find a girl before I killed her.” Anderson narrowed his gaze at her. “Come on now, I k
now you figured out it was me but you couldn’t prove it, could you? Now here you are, alone with me, and all your men are out searching for Julie. When you go missing they’ll say, ‘How did he abduct the sheriff, he left no evidence.’ He chuckled. “I had it all planned. They’ll never find your body.”

  Trying to recall everything Kane had mentioned in his profile of the Shadow Man, Jenna pushed down her rising terror. Allowing Anderson to see her fear would give him a high and he’d escalate. Agree with him and praise him. She nodded and tried to keep her bottom lip from trembling. “Yeah, you sure outsmarted me. I guess you’re behind the nightmares the girls are having in Glacial Heights. Is that how you lured Lindy and Amanda out of their homes?”

  “I didn’t lure Lindy out of her home. I projected a holographic image of the Grim Reaper into her bedroom, same as the others. Over time, the parents grew weary of their kids’ complaints and stopped checking their rooms. You should have been there. I hid in the shadows and when Lindy ran out to call her dad, I slipped behind the drapes. He was so pissed he didn’t as much as look my way. I heard his door shut then sedated Lindy and carried her outside.” He grinned. “You know the rest, I sent you the pictures.”

  Jenna feigned interest. “You’re good. How did you slip away from work without anyone noticing? The manager checked the footage and confirmed you were there all night both times.”

  “I created a film of me in the office and fed it through the machine in a loop.” Anderson snapped his fingers. “Just like that, I had everyone fooled.”

  Hoping Kane would come crashing through the door anytime soon, Jenna steeled herself and tried to portray an image of a woman resigned to her fate. “I’d have never figured that out but Amanda was different to the others – she didn’t have nightmares, she welcomed the ghost of her grandma.”

  “She was easy, I snapped a copy of her grandma’s photo in the family room and Amanda followed the projected image out the bedroom. I swiveled the projector and placed the hologram at the edge of the woods on the path. She walked straight to me, it was pure genius.”

  “So was the IED. You almost killed me.” Jenna moved so her back was against the counter, the bubbling coffee pot within reach. “That takes skill setting up and you did it in a few hours.”

  “I had that baby set up for days.” Anderson chuckled. “All I had to do was dump the body, and then attach the tripwire.” He dropped the hand holding the weapon to his side as if his bragging had overtaken his common sense. “The tree and spear took longer. I took one hell of a chance there using a pulley but I did take it from a packet I’d purchased at Walmart. I bet Sara sailed right up there. Did you hear her neck break?”

  A wave of nausea rushed over Jenna at the memory and she swallowed hard. “Yeah, it was quite… er, spectacular.” She glanced at her ring, hoping Kane was getting all the proof they needed to arrest this animal, and then looked back at him. “Why did you leave the shawl and other items belonging to Christine Pullman and Joy Coran? Did you kill them as well?”

  “Oh, boy – really? They’re nothing. I’ve another twenty-five bodies out there.” Anderson moved closer and placed his gun on the table, leaned on both hands and stared at her. “I wanted to show you who you’re dealing with and make the game of catching me more exciting – but you failed miserably. You’re a failure, a useless piece of shit.” He snorted. “Those girls were a distraction, is all, but I still couldn’t get to you. I mean, what normal woman has a deputy living in their yard?” He gave her a long look. “Frightened yet? No? Well, you soon will be.” He pulled zip-ties out of his pocket and dangled them in front of her. “Turn around.”

  “I don’t think so.” Heart thumping, Jenna tried to keep her eyes on Anderson as Kane, and Wolfe slid silently into the room behind him.

  She glanced down at Anderson’s gun. Did her deputies know he had a weapon? On a rush of adrenaline, she grabbed the coffee pot and swung it at Anderson’s face, spilling the coffee in a steaming stream. When he screamed and turned away, Wolfe hit him with a right cross that dropped him to the floor. Jenna snatched up the weapon, dropped out the clip and tossed it into the sink.

  “Get up, you sack of shit.” Kane grabbed Anderson by the shirtfront and lifted him to his feet as if he weighed nothing and shoved him against the wall. “You have the right to remain silent.” He continued to read him his rights. “Do you understand your rights, Mr. Anderson?”

  “Yeah. Oh God, it hurts so bad. I’m burned, call 911.” Tears from a swelling black eye spilled down Anderson’s red cheeks. “You have a duty of care.”

  Jenna shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to get to that, later.”

  “Dammit.” Wolfe walked to Jenna’s refrigerator, pulled an ice bag from the freezer and shoved it at him. “Duty of care satisfied and that’s more kindness than you offered your victims.” He turned to Jenna. “Maybe we should forget taking him in and bury him alive. No one would know.”

  Jenna smiled at Anderson’s terrified expression. “I’d love to but I figure he’s going to be buried in prison.” She bent to look into Anderson’s eyes. “Game over.”

  Epilogue

  Saturday

  “Hey, sleepyhead.” Kane’s voice penetrated Jenna’s dreams. She dragged herself away from the sun-drenched beach and sparkling ocean to open her eyes. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee curled around her nose and she looked up at Kane’s smiling face. He was dressed casual in blue jeans and a black jumper. “I figured you wouldn’t want to sleep through the visit to the art show.”

  Jenna pushed her hair from her eyes. It had taken hours to process Anderson, have him formally charged, do the paperwork then have him shipped off to the county jail. She’d fallen into bed around 4 a.m. “What time is it?”

  “Almost noon.” Kane placed two cups of coffee on the bedside table and sat on the edge of her bed. “I’ve removed all the recording devices from the house. We’d set them up in just about every room.”

  “So I didn’t need my tracker?” Jenna sat up and reached for her cup. “You should’ve told me.”

  “Nah, it was better you didn’t know. For a while there you believed you were alone and it showed.” Kane shook his head at her. “You should’ve cleared the rooms when you arrived home. You knew Anderson was out to get you. He could’ve been inside already.”

  Jenna sipped the hot brew, and then shook her head. “No need, I had Duke with me.” She stroked the head of the bloodhound, who was resting his chin close to her hand. The dog hadn’t left her side all night.

  “Yeah, he nearly gave the game away. If you’d looked before you took a shower, you’d have found us hiding in the spare bedroom. I knew you’d use the tracker, so I turned off my cellphone.” He chuckled. “We could see Anderson heading down the driveway and I had to sneak out and lock Duke in the laundry. It was closer than you think.”

  Jenna smiled at him and squeezed his arm. “I knew you wouldn’t put me in danger but when he came in with a weapon aimed at my head, I did have second thoughts.” She bit her bottom lip. “How did he get through my security? The front and back doors don’t even use keys anymore. Without the code, there’s no way he should’ve been able to get inside.”

  “Wolfe.” Kane shrugged. “He disconnected a few things but they’re up and running again now. We had to make Anderson believe he’d won, so we made it easier for him to walk right in.”

  Jenna shuddered. “I wonder if they’ll ever find the other twenty-five women he claims to have murdered.”

  “That will depend if he talks.” Kane finished his coffee and stood. “But I doubt the DA will cut a deal with him. We’ve enough on tape to put him away. He’ll never be free.” He glanced down at her. “I’ll make a few sandwiches. We’ll have to hurry if you plan to see the end of the judging.”

  Jenna threw back the blankets. “Yeah, I promised Julie we’d be there.” She dashed into the shower.

  * * *

  The number of townsfolk who came up to Jenna and shook her hand i
n gratitude for placing herself in danger to catch a serial killer surprised her, but she was even more so when Mayor Petersham stood up in front of the entire crowd and thanked her and her deputies. Seeing Wolfe and his three daughters chatting to Agent Martin, she eased through the crowd to join them. She squeezed Julie’s arm. “Are you excited?”

  “I don’t expect to win a ribbon.” Julie smiled. “It’s wonderful just having my work in the town hall gallery.” She pointed to three landscapes some ways down from hers. “Those are Mr. Anderson’s. I’m surprised they allowed him to compete considering he tried to kill me.”

  Jenna stared at the pictures, then grabbed Kane’s arm and dragged him closer. “That place is familiar and yet it doesn’t resemble Black Rock Falls.”

  “I recognize it as well, especially the broken windmill.” Kane moved closer, then turned and beckoned Wolfe. “We recognize this place, do you?”

  “Yeah.” Wolfe pulled out his cellphone and scanned his files. “Look, it’s from the crime scene photographs of Christine Pullman.” He moved to the next picture. “This is where he murdered Joy Coran.”

  Jenna noticed a long hair curled in the paint in the right-hand corner of each canvas. Shocked by the implications, she swallowed hard, and then lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “Shane, look here.” She pointed. “Is that a hair?”

  “It sure looks like it and from what I can see they’re different colors.” He leaned closer. “There’s a red flower on each of these three paintings and they resemble dried blood but I’d need to test it to be sure.”

  Astonished, Jenna eased her way to Agent Martin’s side and explained. “He has pictures all over his walls. If he used the paintings as reminders of where he murdered or buried his victims and left blood and hair on each one, you’ll be able to tie him to all of them.”