The Complete Troy Bodean Tropical Thriller Collection

by David F. Berens

  “Uh huh. And that’s where all the cuts come from on your hands?”

  Barry looked at his hands and his expression froze. It was an odd look and Sam thought he saw a flash of guilt pass over the young man’s face…but only briefly.

  “Yeah.”

  “I suppose you won’t mind if we just take a quick swab? Get your DNA profile. Ya know, to exclude you from the scene.”

  For a second, Sam thought the kid was going to take off running. He became noticeably paler and trembled slightly. He knew something…but what?”

  “Sure. No problem.” He held out his hands.

  Sam peeled open the long swab and dabbed it liberally all over the wounds on Barry’s hands. The tip became brown with blood. He stuffed it in a plastic bag, sealed it, and made a note on the outside with a Sharpie.

  “You should get those looked at, young man.”

  “Nah, I get ‘em all the time.”

  “I hope you wear gloves when you do your thing,” Sam said studying the boy’s reaction to this.

  Barry opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he nodded and stood up. Sam could tell by his stretching that the chair had indeed become nearly unbearable to sit it.

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good luck with the cuttin’ today.”

  Barry walked out of his office. He pushed a button on his phone.

  “Hey, Darla?”

  “Ya, chief?”

  “Got a sample for you.”

  “Be right in.”

  He took a deep breath and clicked the button again.

  “And Darla, have Officer Duffy follow that boy. Discreetly.”

  “You bet, chief.”

  For one of the only times in his life, Barry was excited to get to the pier. The meeting down at the police station was bullshit in his mind and he was glad to be through with it. Stupid chief didn’t suspect anything. He did his work at the pier that day with a borrowed knife from the store. It was dull as hell, but he was good at what he did. He cleared forty-seven bucks and scored five nice filets. Not a bad days work, but by the end of it, he was exhausted, sweaty, and disgusting. He thought about buying a six-pack to take home, they never carded him at the bait shop. A few Buds and a little time on Bladehammer tonight would have him right back to—

  His thoughts about the game suddenly turned to Riley. Maybe she would be online. He felt the itching sensation start burning his arms. He needed her. Not for sex or companionship…no, she would be his next. His phone pinged.

  YOUR PACKAGE HAS BEEN DELIVERED.

  “Hot damn!” he called out startling a few nearby fishermen.

  Everything was falling into place. He had the girl picked out. He had his blade. He had his plan. Tryon the Tyrannical was about to kill again.

  11

  Butterflies

  Riley Carr tapped a few buttons and logged on. She hadn’t planned on playing the game today, but Barry was insistent. He texted her every few minutes until she’d relented. Her mom was out for another jog, which she thought was stupid considering the fact that she’d just had those really bad cramps a few days ago. Even so, her mother had told her to be sure that her phone was on, just in case she had another running incident. And if she left the house, she’d be grounded forever and lose her phone and her laptop for a year.

  “Blah, blah, blah, mom,” Riley murmured as she adjusted her headset.

  She was already bored with the whole fantasy world thing and she had talked him into going online in a different way. Oculus had recently updated their experience by giving users the ability to decorate their home screen or starting room to reflect their personality. They also introduced the ability to invite other users into their room. She sent an invite to Barry. At first, he’d refused, demanding to meet her as Tyron, his orc personality from Bladehammer.

  “Nope. You come here, or I’m logging off.”

  He’d grumbled about it, but finally, he’d given in. This made Riley feel good, as she’d successfully wooed her first boy into doing what she wanted. She had decorated her Oculus home screen to look like a beach house complete with light blue walls above board and batten wood paneling. Pictures of her mom and her at the beach hung on every wall and sat on every table. The furniture was all whitewashed and rough-hewn. The sofa was more like a futon with a royal blue cushion. Seashell pillows were strewn about lazily and conch shells were stacked in a massive bowl on the coffee table. All of this sat on a bleached wood floor that actually creaked when you walked on it. It was beautiful and Riley loved coming here.

  “This sucks,” Barry croaked when he entered.

  His avatar was a rough digital representation of what he looked like in real life, red-headed, freckled, a little pale, and tall. Even though his Orc persona was a fake, it was still a little intimidating to interact with him that way. She much preferred this.

  “You suck,” she grinned as she said it.

  For a second he just stood there looking around, taking in all of her decorating. The odd thing about it was that there weren’t any windows. It had the bright, airy look of a room in a beach house that could have easily been down in someone’s basement. After a minute, his gaze settled on her avatar – again a loose representation of what she really looked like.

  “Okay, it’s not so bad if you’re here.”

  She smiled and felt her cheeks flush in real life. Her avatar’s cheeks matched it as best they could.

  “You want to sit?”

  “Sure.”

  He plopped down on the futon and kicked up his feet on the coffee table. They flickered through the bowl of conch shells and he slid them over so they wouldn’t interfere with the image.

  “Something to drink?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.”

  “Do you drink beer?”

  “Haha, yeah. How ‘bout you?”

  “No.”

  “You should try one.”

  Riley made a hand motion and two frosty glasses appeared on the coffee table. He grabbed one and took a long sip.

  “Eh, not bad, but they’re much better in real life. You get the buzz.”

  Riley shrugged and sat down on the far end of the futon. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. She picked up the other glass and took a sip. She tried hard not to let her face twist into a grimace, but the beer tasted awful. She whisked it away and made a glass of water appear. He laughed and chugged the rest of his in one gulp. Setting the glass on the table, he shuffled closer to her on the futon and put his virtual arm around her.

  In real life, she couldn’t feel it, but it was amazing how much the brain filled in the sensations of touch, smell, and sound to match what her eyes saw. She trembled under his touch, but he likely didn’t feel it. Suddenly, he grabbed her avatar’s face and jerked it toward him. He pressed his lips against hers…virtually. She smacked him and pulled away, but he just smiled.

  “Now, that’s more like it.”

  “Stop it right now or I’ll log you out.”

  “Hey, hey, hey, now. No need to get all pissy. I know you been wantin’ to kiss me since we got in here. Why else would you invite me in?”

  Riley almost clicked the button to send him away, but then she realized she had maybe…just maybe wanted to kiss him. He was a lot older and not exactly good looking, but he seemed to like her. And this was the first time a boy had paid any attention to her. So, she let him stay, but she pushed him away from her on the futon.

  “You know I can’t really feel that, right?” his grin was back as he said it.

  “Yeah.”

  “So, wouldn’t it be more fun to do this in the real world? You can feel it out there…not like in here.”

  He motioned around the virtual room with his arm.

  “Yeah, but I can’t go out again, my mom’ll kill me.”

  “She doesn’t have to know. Does she come in and check on you at night like a little baby?”

  “No.”

  “Then sneak
out after you go to bed. You can come to my place.”

  “What about your mom and dad?”

  He didn’t say anything for a long moment and for some reason, she felt a little fear trickle into her mind.

  “They’re gone. We won’t have to worry about them. C’mon, it’ll be fun and I have some real beer.”

  She didn’t give a rat’s ass about the beer, but something about sneaking out and hanging out with a boy gave her a thrill she didn’t quite recognize. She thought about it for a second.

  “Maybe.”

  “Yeah.” His avatar’s smile broadened further. “It’ll be fun. You’ll be back before she ever knows you’re gone.”

  “Okay, okay. But let me get off here and I’ll clean the house up real good…score some bonus points so she won’t think anything’s up.”

  “Alright. Text me later when you can get out.”

  “I will.”

  Riley clicked the button that logged her out of her Oculus room. She bounded up off her bed and for the first time ever, turned on the vacuum cleaner without her mom asking her to. Her heart beat fast and she wondered if this is what a crush was supposed to feel like. She actually started humming as she went about cleaning their small house.

  Meira Carr felt butterflies pop up in her stomach when she recognized Troy’s number on her phone. She had just crossed the halfway point in her run and was staring out at the Avalon Pier. She hadn’t planned to run the whole way there, but she felt fantastic and had decided to keep going. A runner’s high had set in and she was going to milk it for all it was worth. She stopped at the next road and tapped her phone to connect.

  “Well, well, well,” she said as she smirked. “If it isn’t the mysterious disappearing Troy Bodean.”

  “Disappearing?”

  “I tried to text you a few times this morning, but you never responded.”

  “Oh, I was out on the water with a buddy doing some fishing. You’ll never believe what we caught.”

  “Is that right?”

  “I’m serious. Might have some bearin’ on the case with the girls. Did Darla show you my file?”

  “She did.”

  “And?”

  “I’m not one-hundred percent sure you’re innocent,” Meira lied. “But I’d need to interview you to be sure.”

  “Well, that, ma’am, could easily be arranged.”

  She could almost hear him smiling on the other end of the line. More butterflies.

  “What time are you thinkin’ to schedule this…interview?”

  “Hmm, here’s the thing,” she glanced down at her watch, “I’m halfway out on my run. If I had to guess, I’ll be back in a few hours. Give me a chance to get cleaned up and we can grab a bite and I’ll go over the file with you.”

  The line went quiet.

  “Troy?”

  “Yeah, about grabbin’ a bite. I still ain’t fully recovered from the Thai food yet.”

  She laughed and said, “How about something simple at my place? Maybe a burger on the grill?”

  “If you say you’ll throw in some home fries, I’m there.”

  “Now that’s a bargain, Mister Bodean.”

  “Call me Troy. All my friends do.”

  “I haven’t quite decided about that yet.”

  “ ‘Bout what?”

  “If we’re friends or not.”

  He chuckled. She imagined his broad smile behind the dark beard. She shooed away more butterflies threatening to fill her stomach.

  “Fair enough,” he said. “What time should I head over? Oh, and where do you live?”

  “Let’s call it seven o’clock. I’ll text you the address.”

  “Roger that.”

  She hung up and tucked the phone back into the armband carrier on her bicep. She bounded up to the pier and ran full speed to the end and grabbed the rail. Looking out at the ocean she felt alive. It was past time that she had a man come calling. Riley’s father had been the last and what a humongous douche he’d turned out to be. Spent all his time playing video games and quit every decent job he ever had. It had been like living with a frat boy from college. When they finally began the divorce proceedings, all he’d demanded was that the PlayStation went with him. Ugh, super douche, she thought. She figured Riley’s obsession with all things gaming had been genetically passed down to her from him. She wished she could convince her daughter that she was a beautiful young woman now and there was so much to do outside the weird world of…she paused, not able to remember what she’d called the virtual world she played in.

  She pulled her phone out and tapped a message to her.

  -What are you up to hun?

  The reply came lightning fast…faster than she ever remembered Riley answering.

  -Cleaning. You almost done running?

  Meira almost dropped her phone in shock.

  -About halfway. Um…cleaning?

  -Yeah, just vacuumed. Gonna dust next.

  Meira didn’t even bother to suggest that maybe she should’ve dusted first. A date with Troy and now her daughter had spontaneously decided to clean house. She felt like she should pinch herself to be sure she wasn’t dreaming.

  -So, I have a guest coming for dinner. Do we have ground beef?

  A few seconds passed.

  -Yup. 2 pounds. Who?

  -A client.

  Meira typed the white lie in and then added.

  -I’m interviewing him about the case.

  -Cool. I’ll be upstairs playing my game.

  She tapped in several replies about how she wanted Riley to stay downstairs and meet him, but it was too soon for that. She deleted them all and decided to keep it simple.

  -Ok. Put the ground beef in the fridge for me. I’ll be home soon. Love you.

  -Will do. Love U 2

  Meira shook her head in disbelief as she started jogging again. The afternoon sun was starting to sink and the sky was taking on the colors of what looked to be an incredible sunset forming. She couldn’t help but smile as she ran and wondered if the passing cars thought she was crazy.

  Troy Bodean felt just a little crazy as he studied himself in the tiny mirror in his cabin. The boat rocked gently and the cool evening air began to settle around him. He’d spent the better part of last night trying on all of his best T-shirts and then flung them all back into the drawer in favor of his best linen button down. He put on his one pair of shorts that weren’t khaki and thought the navy looked good with his eyes.

  “Now, that’s good second date material right there,” he grinned as he spoke to the mirror.

  His phone pinged and he grinned.

  “She just can’t wait, can she?”

  He looked at the message, expecting to see something from Meira. Instead, it was a long, rambling, un-punctuated text from Trixie Cameron.

  -I don’t know who you think you are but you done messed up my toilet so bad I can’t stay here no more I don’t think you understand how bad my place stinks after what you done in there I hope you are happy with yourself you son of a bitch I had to get a damn plumber over here to get that toilet out and get rid of it now I have to go in the neighbor’s place I’ll be bringing you a bill to the store so you better get your damn wallet out and pay for it when I see you.

  “Dang,” Troy muttered as he read the message.

  He started to reply and then thought better of it.

  A new message popped up and he was relieved it wasn’t from Trixie, until he saw that it was from Barry.

  -Dude. I’m sick. You gotta cover my shift tonight at the store.

  -Can’t. Busy.

  -You owe me one for the other night.

  Dangit.

  -What time?

  -Just until 9

  -Okay. I’m there.

  -Cool.

  Troy took off his linen shirt and navy shorts and folded them neatly on his bed. He pulled out his work T-shirt and khaki shorts and pulled them on. After that, he dialed Meira – she didn’t answer. He left her a voicemail ex
plaining that he had to run into work and that he’d be by her place after if that was okay. He hung up and hopped into his dingy to row to shore after carefully tucking his second-date clothes into a grocery bag and tying them tight to keep them dry.

  He cursed Barry’s name all the way to the beach and even some more while he tied up his rowboat. The saving grace was the incredible sunset that started flaming across the sky. He found himself thinking about Meira and hoping the time would pass quickly so he could see her soon. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. It felt dang good.

  Riley had just finished the last of the dishes when her mom finally strolled through the door. She was covered in sweat as usual. She ran to the fridge and grabbed a Gatorade.

  “Here ya go, mom. Don’t want to get those cramps like last time.”

  Her mother stood in the doorway, dripping sweat, mouth gaping. She was turning her head from side to side and staring in amazement. Riley knew it was because the house looked better than it had in months. She felt proud that her mom was so pleased.

  “Riley, I can’t believe this. The house looks—.”

  “Amazing. I know.” She interrupted her mom and then added, “I hope you don’t mind, but I put the burgers in some Worcestershire and sprinkled on some salt and pepper. They should be marinated pretty well by the time your client gets here.”

  “I…I um…Riley…thank you so much.”

  “No prob.”

  Meira unscrewed the cap and took a long drink of the Gatorade and stepped into the house.

  “Uh, mom,” Riley stopped her and pointed to her dirty running shoes. “In the basket please.”

  Her mom smiled and shook her head.

  “Of course, dear.”

  She took off the shoes and tossed them into a basket by the front door.

  “And if you’ll toss your clothes into the hamper, I’ll run a load real quick before I go up.”

  “Okay, who are you and what have you done with my daughter?” Meira laughed.

  “I just thought it would be nice if I helped out,” Riley started. “And that way I could stay up late and play my game tonight?”