“What could be worse than being attacked by the murderer like those other poor women?”
“It’s true, you are right.”
Then, Andrew realized that the blinds were halfway open and that the sun came through, like hot lava-shaped tongues that slid around the floor. It was very bright.
“That means I’ll stay here till the end. I want to see how this nightmare ends.”
Andrew pushed his seat back with his boots and leaning on the armrest he got up complaining. His nerves were shot which wasn’t like him. He was moving slowly towards Clarice with heavy feet and from one of the drawers in the closet, he grabbed a red marker he had used a few hours back. He was about to cross out Zoe. He did it in front of Clarice’s attentive eyes. Emily was also crossed out. He had done that already, in due time. He looked up at the clock on the wall and he realized, surprised, that it was noon.
He suddenly got an aching headache. He took his hands to his head trying to hold it tight as if his face was about to fall like a ball. Clarice extended her arm and put it on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong Andrew?” She asked with a caring voice. His eyes kept receiving surprises.
“I have a few things to tell you,” Andrew said with a blank stare. He was hunched over like an old man like losing his back’s elasticity due to the passing of time.
“But first sit, Andrew. You could fall.”
She took him to his chair. It was waiting for him like an open mouth. His ass crushed the pillow that was very soft.
Andrew howled like a tired dog and without taking his tongue out, he began to explain everything.
“I have the gift of precognition and I can see certain things in the future. Just like I’ve been seeing all these poor women before the phone would ring to tell me they found them. But I can’t see the murderer. It’s a gift I inherited from my mother. I’ve been practicing this for years.” Andrew began to smile. Clarice’s eyes were stunned but she kept listening carefully. “I can even see things in real time, like a remote vision. That’s what gives me these awful headaches. Well, now you know why. Information comes to me in a strange way and I can see those poor women’s abandoned cars. It’s always the same. The murderer is trying to send me a message or he is just playing with me. I don’t know how to put this whole thing together, it’s monotonous and ridiculous.” Andrew took a deep breath as Clarice kept her eye on him while grabbing his hand.
After that, there was a silent pause.
Neither one of them smiled or took their eyes off each other.
Finally, Clarice said:
“It’s ok. It sounds strange, but I do have an open mind and I believe you, you aren’t strange to me.”
Andrew was in Awe.
“Sheriff Landon thinks I’m crazy.”
“I’m neither Sheriff Landon nor Grayson, your shrink.”
“What did you just say? Did that asshole call here?”
Clarice shook her head as if saying no, almost smiling.
“I had a lot of spare time and I saw a bunch of appointments on the table, you could be more organized.” Now you could see Clarice’s perfect white teeth behind that smile. Her green eyes were shining again.
“I should’ve never have revealed my secret,” Andrew said while sweat ran down his face.
“You did fine, Andrew. Trust me.”
Clarice softly squeezed his hand giving him warmth and affection.
86
“It hasn’t been three hours and there has been another dead body that showed up by Tom’s cabin,” Landon complained almost yelling. Even though his office door was closed, Kevin, his assistant, heard the scream and shrugged his shoulders.
Owen was on the other side of the phone and he was explaining that during his daily walk he found Tom, out of it, walking in the middle of the road that led to the lake. He looked scared and with his eyes injected with blood. He explained that the man was trembling from head to toe and that he swore to God that he just stepped out to take a piss when he realized he was urinating on the blue-haired woman’s face. He admitted that he was drunk but he said he was innocent.
“They all show up on the shoreline, sir. Tom has been through this three times already.” Owen explained with a paused and calm voice as if whispering.
“Don’t you find it suspicious that it’s been three times already?”
“I don’t think Tom is the killer. He is always too drunk for that. Just by looking at him you can tell. I don’t think he is the murderer.”
But Owen’s words didn’t convince Landon off who was now almost furious.
“It seems like a fucking race. We have to catch this son of a bitch or they will all appear dead before the day is done!” Landon yelled while his feet, on the table, moved nervously.
How did he know?
Setting conjectures aside, Own kept slowly speaking with his characteristic voice.
“Sir, we can’t get him. There are no clues or fingerprints. This doesn’t make any sense. I think this is the work of art of a psycho. And you know how these minds can do.”
Landon hung up the phone. He knew where the fifth victim was. At the place simply known as Tom’s lake. But he kept thinking that this was the third time that Tom was mixed up in all this.
He was going to tell his officers to be aware.
Including Andrew.
87
“Emily’s car was abandoned by Short Sands in York, New England. How do I tell this to Landon?” Andrew’s face was like poetry the heat was starting to choke him and he couldn’t breathe.
“You tell him just like that,” Clarice replied. She had her back turned to him and her arms folded as she was lost in the pictures. It was as if she were interested in the world of investigation and being a detective for a day.
“Just like that?”
“You can lie if you want.” She said without turning around.
“I’ve done that many times, not just now but on other occasions. Years ago.” He remained silent. Breathing slowly while sitting on the chair, he added: “I don’t want them to know anything about me or what I revealed to you.”
“Maybe he will understand you as I do.”
Andrew let out a laugh that made him cough like an old man with lung cancer.
“Landon is stubborn. He would laugh in my face showing all his teeth. It’s as if I could see it happening. He’s a prick.”
“And that’s what you are worried about? Don’t you ever wonder why he leaves all the victims’ cars abandoned? Or why they all have blue hair?” Clarice asked as if she were a detective.
Andrew’s mouth was wide open.
Was he acting like a child?
Her doubts made him dizzy and her security shocked him.
88
Tom was leaning against the patrol car as if he wanted to vomit. His skinny hands where open like a salamander watching with a close eye. It was as if Tom’s fingertips were suction pads. The sun was hotter than a forest on fire, and the sweat was dripping on to the hood like raindrops.
Landon was walking down the trail towards the victim with the paper in hand. He recognized her. It was Zoe Green. He made a face and said that he had seen that scenario too many times already, that there was no point in filling the report. He just thought it was better to copy and paste all that was there and just changing the victim’s name would be enough. He was sure of one thing, though: there were only two girls left.
Of course, he knew they would look just like all the other victims. Her blue hair spread out, her makeup done and the eyelids glued shut. There was no point in thinking about something new. It was so repetitive that it disgusted him. Why would he bother to check their eyes if he already knew they were down their throat?
It was time to call Andrew.
In Augusta, Hebert’s hands opened up Emily’s throat.
89
“We can’t get a break. They are the seven kidnapped women and I know we are going to find two more dead bodies, just like the others, with
makeup and that ridiculous blue hair. We are running out of time, this is a sick person.” Landon was speaking loudly, almost yelling because there was a breeze in the air that brushed against the ears making a horrible like the sound, like that of a microphone from a cell phone. Their walkie-talkies had been left behind and were only used for internal communications. Landon and his men were only ten feet away from each other.
“Wow, I hadn’t really noticed.” Andrew’s voice sounded hoarse before Clarice’s eyes. She was still holding his hand. Holding him for so long? Indeed.
“Huh?” Landon turned around with a stupefied look when he heard Andrew’s answer. They had their backs towards the fifth victim. “Andrew this isn’t the time for jokes. This is getting ugly.”
“Look, there are only two more left and there probably won’t be anyone else after that.” Andrew interrupted not knowing why he said something like that. He was as interested as Landon in finding the killer and finding the other women alive. But they were running around in circles. Everything was like it was at the beginning.
“Mr. Detective.” Landon stopped in an attempt to breathe deeply and added: “This is serious. Very serious.”
Several petals had been dragged in the air as if colorful butterflies were flying in the sky.
“Mr. Landon,” Andrew answered with his hoarse voice. “I have to tell you something.” There was a silence in the air that was only disturbed by the sound of the wind caressing the cellphone. He finally spoke: “I think I know where the car is.”
Landon took off his sunglasses and looked at Andrew with his eyes wide open and his mouth as well.
“Are you getting information from your secret contacts again?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, shoot, then,” Landon exclaimed grabbing his hat with his left hand. Kevin also heard the conversation and was looking at him. He wanted to know more.
“I’ve been informed that her car isn’t too far from here. I think it’s at Sea point Beach in Kittery, New England.”
“And you think that’s near?”
“Well, it can be two people. I don’t know, don’t pay attention to what I’m saying. The cars have me wondering, though. Doesn’t make sense that they appear now. And so well looked after.
“Well, we finally agree on something.”
Landon’s watch struck almost twelve thirty.
They had both forgotten to order to check for the fingerprints from the vehicle. They knew they would get the same results. Landon didn’t ask him anything else that morning.
90
“Clarice, I have to go. Stay here and lock yourself in. I don’t think anyone will visit me with money in hand so, please make sure you have a knife in your hand.” Clarice’s eyes suddenly opened up. Did he just mention a knife?
“Isn’t it enough to have all the windows and doors closed?” Her heart started to beat really fast like Andrew’s blue Ford Mustang engine. It was as if it were complaining like an old lady and hitting an anvil somewhere.
While his cell went from his ear to his trench coat pocket he said:
“It’s just a slip. You’ll be safe here. I doubt the killer is interested in you, I already told you that. Plus he is focused on those unfortunate ones. You were just a rock in the road.”
Clarice began to breathe easy again. As if a ball was being deflated.
“There’s another woman right?” Clarice’s lips were pressed together.
“Yes. There are five of them already.” Andrew leaned over to touch her with his cold fingers and added: “There’s only two left. This is madness. It’s been only seventy-two hours and five have fallen. All the same, this doesn’t make sense. There are no winners or losers. Well, at the moment he is the one winning.”
“Parker is dead.” She said knowing it for certain.
“That’s the bad part. That Parker Atkinson is dead.”
“Be careful,” She said holding his hand. “The killer can be near.”
Andrew looked into her green eyes and arched an eyebrow.
“Now I realize the one thing they all had in common.”
“What’s that?”
“They all had beautiful eyes like yours.”
“Green?”
“I have to go Clarice. Take care.”
He softly took his hand away from hers.
“I will.” She assured him with her teary eyes. Neither fear nor uneasiness was present in her face.
Twenty seconds later, the door shut behind Andrew. He disappeared behind the big sun that covered his big body. The door made a sound like a carpenter bird as it closed.
91
“It’s your turn now, Kilye.” The sicko said. His hands were extended like Frankenstein as he got closer to her.
Kilye was sitting on her bed and slid back. Her back was against the headboard. Her heart began to race like in a marathon and her face started to get numb. Audrey was looking at her and saw how pale she was getting despite all the makeup she had on.
“You’re going to reunite you with your friends. You’ll be free again.”
“Didn’t you say one time that they were in the room next door?”
“That’s what you imagined. I give you freedom.” His demented face had a sad look as if he felt sorry for them. Like saying goodbye to someone who had shared with him many years of friendship, memories and great moments.
“I don’t believe anything you say,” Audrey yelled from her bed. She was sitting there with her legs crossed. Her ass was caving the mattress in after four years.
“It’s normal. I understand.” The sicko said while getting closer to Kilye who was getting closer and closer to the bed’s headboard. She put her hand under the pillow and touched it. She knew what it was.
They were up to something and they would carry it out. Whether right or wrong, they were going to do it.
They were going to confront him. With each step he made he looked as if he were dancing with the loud song in the background, the same music over and over.
“You are lying,” Kilye said. Her fingers touching the cold metal fork she had hidden.
The sicko didn’t answer and kept getting closer to Kilye. In one hand he had something that had a distinctive smell. They didn’t know what it was. As he was getting closer to the bed, before Kilye’s eyes, he carefully put out his right hand with its palm up. The light of the room didn’t even cover the paleness of his skin.
“Kilye. Don’t listen to him.” Audrey said watching from a distance. Leaving her legs open on the edge of her bed like the pendulum of a wall clock.
“Give me your hand.” The sicko said as he moved his fingers.
Kilye was holding on to the fork that was hiding under the pillow. She bit her lip as if she was nervous. Her heart racing and the sweat running down her forehead betrayed her. Her lips were almost as white as the bed sheets. Then, in a fast and unexpected move, she grabbed the fork like a knife and stabbed the sicko in the hand. It didn’t do much, it neither penetrated the skin nor did it scratch it. He just felt a little pain. He looked at his hand and hid it after making sure there was no physical damage. His eyes were injected with blood and in them, an immense madness was shown.
“Get out of here!” Kylie yelled putting her hand in the air as if she were cutting it with a knife but her fork was just caressing the air instead.
Audrey, who usually flew off the handle, stayed still. Her nerves, adrenaline, and mood were not enough to even fight. Her eyes were tired, shaken in their sockets while she was watching the fight. She was terrified. That reminded her of the first time she entered that fucking room with the other six women. All of them with sad faces.
The sicko grabbed a handkerchief, from his left hand to the right one, showing it to Kilye like a tamer.
“Don’t be mean.” He whispered while it looked as if he was smiling.
“Get out of here. Leave!”
The fork kept scratching the air. Suddenly, the sicko’s left hand hit Kilye’s wris
t and the fork flew across the room like a projectile. It made a loud sound as it hit the floor. Audrey awoke from the state she was in and set her feet on the floor. The sicko extended his right hand and covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief filled with chloroform. That was the smell they were trying to discover. Her eyes went blank as her screams went dry until she finally passed out like a purring kitty.
Audrey walked slowly behind the sicko, going for the fork. She picked it up and went towards the sicko. It was already too late.
Kilye fell on the pillow hitting her head on the bed’s headboard. There was no sound of bones breaking or any traces of blood. Audrey was getting closer to the sicko with her arm held high, her eyes wide open and her heart beating like a drum. She was terrified. She didn’t think she could do it and when her arm came down upon him, he hit it making it divert. The fork was still in her hand, yet, the sicko snatched it in his next move.
A lacerating pain on her right shoulder went up to Audrey’s brain who was acting confused and stumbling. Blood flowed like a broken tap onto her long nightgown. It was like a long red river that made the air thick dense and sweet.
Kilye was asleep and the fork was dripping blood.
Audrey had fainted.
92
Andrew saw Zoe’s face and at the same time, he had a vision: The face of another woman. That had certainly messed him up. She was just like the rest of the victims. The seconds were eternal but the killer was fast. They kept appearing with less time between one and the other. Hebert wouldn’t be able to keep up with the autopsies and it was always the same. Why do the same again? Andrew thought. As he was looking at Zoe, he recognized Kilye Griffin, he knew it was her. He knew it. He had memorized each name and each face. He knew he was losing the battle and the whole war. Yet, he still had hope that he could find Audrey Hanson alive. She was the very last of them.
“This has gone to shit,” Andrew said with his hoarse voice and with his hands in his pockets. The sun and wind hovering over his bald head.
“Forget it! This is normal in Castle Lake Hill.” Landon said with a smirk on his face.
Eyes that do not Open Page 19