Jack (Secret Revenge #1)

by Robin Edwards

  The door to her office opened, and Lydia walked in, Kait trailing behind her. Lydia stopped in her tracks and took in the maze of sticky notes that covered Julie’s room. Her mouth was wide open when Julie looked up and noticed they had come in the office.

  “Julie,” Kate stepped in front of Lydia. “I told her she couldn’t just barge in without an appointment.”

  “And I told her,” Lydia said nudging Kait from in front of her. “You were the coroner not the President. Besides I work for your boss, I can barge when I want to.”

  Kait opened her mouth to contest, but Julie put her hand up and smiled. Kait sighed in defeat and began walking back to her desk, giving Lydia a nasty look as she walked past. Lydia laughed arrogantly and then looked back at Julie.

  “What,” Julie asked with irritation in her voice. “What do you need?”

  “Since you put it so kindly,” Lydia said as she plopped down in the chair in front of Julie’s desk, her long black hair folding over the back of the chair. “Sheriff said he thinks you need a break, so he wants you to take off until Monday. He has a fill in from a county over coming in. And before you protest he said he would call you if anything with the case changed.”

  Julie didn’t say anything and just nodded. Lydia stood up, a lollipop from Julie’s desk hanging out of her mouth. She slapped at the flapping pieces of paper glued to the walls and chuckled.

  “Man he wasn’t kidding,” she said as she walked out. “You really are obsessed with this.”

  “Get out,” Julie said irritated as she moved from her desk and pushed Lydia forward towards the door.

  As soon as Lydia had exited the morgue Julie glanced at Kait who was giving her a pouty sympathetic look. Julie rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. Well at least for the next four days when she got stressed it wouldn’t smell like formaldehyde and death. Julie hadn’t taken a day off in three years; she had no idea what she was going to do for four days.

  She gathered the papers on her desk and set them in her bag and walked towards the door, giving Kait the “call me” sign with her hands. She threw her coat on as the brisk October Massachusetts air hit her right in the feeling, and began walking home. When she reached the corner, she glanced over at the library and had the urge to go in and just look around the area the body was found. She told herself no and began to cross the street, suddenly making a right and heading straight for the library doors. Who was she kidding? She had no resolve.

  The library was empty since it was the middle of the day on a Wednesday and Julie could hear the echo of her feet hitting the glistening marble floors. The library was timeworn, and Julie felt like she was walking the halls of Congress every time she went there. The romance section was in the back on the left, something Julie was familiar with since her mother used to spend hours in that section swooning over the pages of Harlequin Romance novels for years. Julie turned the corner and was slightly disappointed at the gleaming floor and organized books, though she wasn’t sure what she was expecting to find since the crime scene had been cleaned hours after the body was found.

  Julie ran her fingers along the books as she walked, looking at all of the paperback titles that piled at least ten feet in the air on dusty old book shelves. She bent down and glanced under the shelves to see if anything had rolled under, but nothing but dust covered the marble. Julie glanced left and right and decided she was probably wasting her time. She sighed and laughed at herself, glancing up as she began walking towards the exit. Something had caught her eye before she left the romance row and she squinted at the bright yellow paper sticking out from a book on the top shelf. It was probably nothing, just an old bookmark forgotten, but the fact that it was on the top shelf and not covered in dust made Julie grab a step stool to retrieve it.

  Julie plucked the book from its home and noticed that it was the only area that the soil had been messed with. She pulled the book down and flipped to the page that the paper was marking. There was a highlighted line that read:

  “She was a beautiful young woman, with long brown hair and breasts perkier than most 23-year-olds. I hated her. I hated that she was sleeping with my husband. How cliché could it be? The professor and his student.”

  Julie found this line very odd and she ran her fingers down the page and stopped in shock at the number at the bottom. This was page 43. Forty-three was the number etched in victim number five’s hand. Was this just some crazy coincidence? Julie’s first reaction was to call the Sheriff, but she wanted to gather more evidence before she brought him one small book from the top shelf of a bookcase. Julie pulled a zip lock bag from her work case and carefully closed the book inside. She felt like she was stealing, but she didn’t want to get any more fingerprints on it than she had to.

  Over the next four days, Julie went from place to place searching the areas where each victim had been found. Every location yielded another book, all different, all romance, and all about a woman describing the “other women.” Every page correlated with the numbers etched into the victim’s hand. Julie was excited yet mortified at her discovery, and on Monday morning she showed up at the Sheriff’s office with five zip lock bags holding five different books.

  Sheriff Bartlett looked up at Julie and then back down at the books on the table in confusion. He picked up one of the bags and flipped it over to read the back. He began to open it, and Julie reached out.

  “No,” she exclaimed, her hair frizzy and a look of over-caffeinated on her face. “That’s evidence.”

  The Sheriff sighed and motioned for Julie to have a seat, he never did take her very seriously. He watched as Julie fumbled with her bag and tried to smooth the wrinkles out of the scrubs she had grabbed from the drier before pedaling her way to work. She resembled a drunk homeless woman.

  “What are you talking about?” the Sheriff asked.

  Julie took a deep breath and rattled off all the details of what she had found over her four days off. She told him about the first book, the trips to the crime scenes, and the correlation between page numbers and victims. The Sheriff listened intently and then picked up his office phone.

  “Lydia,” he said. “Find Schroeder, tell him we have a break in the case.”

  “Good job Julie,” the Sheriff said as he hung up the phone. “That was some excellent, but sneaky, detective work. I’ll pass it to the detective. Now please go and clean all the sticky notes from your office.”

  “Sheriff,” Julie began feeling less than enthused by his response. “I thought since I found all of it, you would let me help with the investigation.”

  “Julie,” the Sheriff sighed. “We’ve had this discussion before. You know you can’t just go playing detective. You are the County Coroner; you have your job, and you are excellent at it.”

  Julie’s mood dipped immediately, and she gathered her bags and turned towards the door. The Sheriff tapped his pen on the desk and called Julie’s name before she made it out of the office. Julie turned, ready to take a lecture on doing work that wasn’t her job.

  “Look,” the Sheriff said kindly. “If we don’t find anything else before Monday, I’ll let you do some work with the detective.”

  A huge smile smeared across Julie’s face, and she ran over and threw her arms around the Sheriff’s neck. He sat rigid with a small grin on his face and watched as Julie skipped through the pit on her way back to the coroner’s office. Julie was ecstatic; she just needed to keep her nose clean for a few more days, and she would be able to help with the case. But what was she going to do for five days, without having to be part of the Halloween party planning?

  “Hey,” Kait said as Julie walked through the door. “Holy crap you look like you died and came back to life.”

  “Yea,” Julie said shyly. “I had a long weekend.”

  “I figured,” Kait said following Julie back to her office and watching her pull the little sticky notes from the walls. “You didn’t answer a single text I sent you. Anyways, I got your outfit. I need you to try it on to
night to make sure it fits. So I’ll just walk home with you tonight, K?”

  “Uh, yeah sure,” Julie said slightly distracted. “Won’t Tommy be upset?”

  “Oh,” she said brightly. “No, we are fine, besides he works tonight and I promised I would stay out of trouble.”

  “Trouble,” Julie laughed. “You haven’t been in trouble a day in your life.”

  “Yea,” Kait said. “Anyways, what were all those books you brought in this morning? I saw you stumbling towards the Sheriff’s office.”

  “Oh!” Julie was excited and sat down at her desk to tell Kait every detail of what she found. Kait listened intently, which was weird since she usually floated off into Kait world.

  “Wow,” Kait said when Julie finished. “So do you think this will help them find the guy?”

  “I don’t know,” Julie shrugged. “It's a start, but it is going to take a lot of work to find out. And when did you get so curious about this stuff? I thought it gave you nightmares.”

  “Meh,” Kait said nonchalantly. “I have nothing else better to do since Tommy works all the time and you’ve been playing detective.”

  “I’m sorry,” Julie said appreciatively. “Tonight there will be no talk of work. Just Halloween fashion. Promise.”

  Kait perked up and bounced back to her desk. Julie smiled knowing she had made her best friend’s day. Only two days until the dreaded Halloween party, and Julie couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen. This Halloween may just be the most interesting Halloween that Julie, and this town, has ever seen.

  Chapter Three

  Julie had no idea where the last two days had gone, but she found herself standing in her bedroom waiting for Kait to bring her Masquerade Costume to her. It was Halloween and Julie was uneasy about the fact that, if the serial killer stayed on schedule, it would only be a few days until they struck again. Julie stood in front of the mirror staring at herself. She was always tall and lean, but by the looks of her reflection, she thought she might need to stop skipping meals all the time. Julie’s long blonde hair was pulled back tightly into a little bun and her bra and panties actually matched for once, probably because Kait picked them out to go with her costume.

  Julie looked past her reflection and out the window that was behind her. The wind was blowing and the leaves were swirling around. She squinted into the mirror trying to make out a blurry figure standing under the tree in her yard and, as her vision cleared, she saw someone dressed in black, wearing a mask and holding a small shining knife in their hand. Julie spun around to look out the window and not through the reflection. As her body whirled around a leather gloved hand grabbed her arm and she stood nose to nose with the black masked serial killer.

  Julie gasped and sat straight up in bed looking around feverishly. She was alone and it was just a dream. Julie looked at the clock and it read six in the evening, she must have dozed off when she got home from work. It was Halloween just like her dream, except Kait wasn’t there yet with her costume. Julie laid her head back on the pillow and allowed her heart to stop beating so fast. She thought about the dream but it quickly began to recede from memory. The front door open and closed and she pulled herself out of bed assuming it was Kait with their costumes.

  “Hey sleepyhead,” Kait said as she struggled through the bedroom door carrying two garment bags, a tote bag, and a makeup case. “You really need to start sleeping at night.”

  “Yea,” Julie scoffed. “Why did you bring so much makeup when I’m going to be wearing a mask all night?”

  “Oh,” Kait said surprised as she looked down at the case. “I didn’t even think of that. Good call, it’ll save us at least an hour, and since we are already running late, I can use that time to do my hair.”

  “What about my mop,” Julie asked as she blew long blonde strands from her face. “It has a mind of its own today.”

  “Yes,” Kait answered reaching into the tote. “That’s why you are wearing a wig. I figured you’d want to be much unnoticed and with your blonde hair and five foot ten stature it's hard not to know who you are. Now, pull your hair back in a little bun, change into these, and I’ll be back in a sec to help you into your dress.”

  Kait tossed Julie a bag with panties and a bra in it and Julie’s stomach fluttered a bit since they resembled the pair in her dream, or at least she thought they did. She changed quickly and stood in front of the mirror but refusing to glance at the reflection of her yard behind her. Julie was so freaked out that her hands were shaking and she couldn’t take the suspense one more minute so she closed her eyes and slowly began turning around. When she didn’t feel the cold leather glove grasping her arm she opened her eyes and found nothing but grey skies and blowing leaves. Julie let out a breath of relief.

  “Hey,” Kait said suddenly from the door.

  “Shit!” Julie jumped at the sound of Kait’s unexpected voice.

  “Wow Julie,” Kait said shaking her head and opening one of the garment bags. “This case is really getting to you. Look, it's Halloween, we are going to an awesome party, and you never know you may just meet your future wife.”

  Julie scoffed at Kait and took the dress from her hands. She stepped into the gown and the cool silky material pressed against her curves. Kait zipped up the back but told Julie to wait just a second before she turned to look in the mirror. She opened a black satin box that she had put on Julie’s bed when she walked in and pulled a sparkling black mask from it. The cover resembled the one the Phantom wore in Phantom of the Opera except it was softer and made of black silk and sequins.

  Kait tied the mask tightly around Julie’s head and wrapped the ribbon around her bun. She then walked over, picked up the wig and pulled it tightly over Julie’s head. After a few flicks and pulls on the wig Kait stood back with an expressionless face. Julie turned around and stared at herself in the mirror, not recognizing the woman in the reflection. The dress was black with a corset style top that was flooded with black sequence. The bottom of the dress was straight and silky and landed just below the bottoms of her feet, the perfect length once she put her heels on. Julie’s wig was a black bob and the bangs were pinned to the side to avoid them covering the mask. No one would recognize her, she didn’t even recognize herself.

  “Wow,” Kait said from behind her. “You look so beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” Julie said with an air of disbelief. “At least no one will recognize me.”

  Kait did her hair in flowing tendrils and put on her dress, which was flirtier than Julies and fit Kait’s personality perfectly. The girls gave themselves one last look in the mirror and headed outside. Julie pulled a black shawl around her shoulders to fight the cold Massachusetts air and they jumped into Tommy’s car which he had parked out front while he impatiently waited for the girls.

  When they pulled up to the conference building Julie watched as men in tuxedos and woman in beautiful gowns with brilliant masks sauntered towards the door. They parked and began to walk in, their tickets in their hands. Kait winked at Julie as she dropped her keys in Julie’s purse, something she always did since Kait hated carrying a purse. Everyone looked fantastic, and Julie was impressed at how well her small town cleaned up.

  Once inside Tommy made a b-line for the bar and Julie and Kait stood next to the front door admiring the Gothic decor that the club had designed for the event. Every other event in town was usually decorated with balloons and streamers but Bushwick always made the Halloween event look like something from a Los Angeles nightclub.

  Kait smiled at Julie and walked over to Tommy’s side. Julie figured she might as well wander around. There were several different areas where you could play carnival style games and as Julie walked through the crowd something shimmering in the corner caught her eye. She turned towards the reflecting light and her eyes met a woman that momentarily sent Julie’s mind into confusion. She was petite but curvy and wore a black sequined gown that touched the floor. Her mask covered her entire face and black
feathers shot upward from the top right. The mysterious woman’s dark hair was pulled back tightly and curls fell around her shoulders.

  The woman nodded at Julie and, feeling confident behind her mask and wig, Julie grabbed two glasses of champagne from a nearby server’s tray and walked towards the masked beauty. She smiled at the woman and handed her a glass of bubbly, their eyes not breaking contact for a moment. The woman thanked her and carefully took a sip through the black masked lips.

  “Thank you,” she said, her voice was a whisper that sent chills down Julie’s spine. “I never was much of a party girl but I can’t refuse a drink from a beautiful woman.”

  “And I can’t help but offer a drink to a beautiful woman,” Julie replied.

  “It’s strange isn’t it?” the beauty asked.

  “What’s that?” Julie asked.

  “It’s strange how a mask and a beautiful dress will turn any girl into a confident woman,” the beauty replied looking around at all of the women asking men to dance.