Piper

by Zena Jae

  Then he saw the shock in her eyes as though she’d had a revelation—but not the good kind. “Marcus, the troll knows what each member of our critique group is writing for our next book.”

  He immediately knew what she was getting at.

  “How could they know unless—”

  “They were there at the meeting,” he cut in, finishing her sentence for her.

  “I can’t believe either Lloyd or Joe could do this.” She sat with a thump, staring ahead, stupefied, the same way she did when first told the news of the accident.

  “Is there any way else someone other than the group would know what went on at the meetings?”

  Piper broke out of her stupor and stared up at him as she gave this some thought.

  “Unless someone from the group discussed it with anyone outside the group, I don’t think so.”

  “Where did you hold the meetings at?”

  “Whistlers Park.”

  “Were there other people at the park sitting close-by? Somebody could’ve been eavesdropping.”

  “That’s always a possibility. There were people scattered around us.”

  Piper jumped to her feet. “We need to talk to Lloyd and Joe.”

  * * *

  After dropping Cotton off at the dog sitter, they stopped by the station. Marcus talked to his chief and they contacted the FBI to ask for assistance.

  Once Marcus was done at the station, they headed to Lloyd Gardner’s place. His car wasn’t there but they decided to check around anyway.

  “Lloyd,” Piper called out as her knuckles rapped the door.

  There was no answer.

  She knocked again.

  Still no answer.

  With Lloyd’s car gone, they would’ve been surprised if he answered.

  Piper cupped her hands to block out the glare as she peeked in the front window to the left of the door. The inside of the cabin was dark and still.

  They moved around to the back of the cabin. The backyard was still also—no sign of any life rummaging around back there, not even a butterfly or squirrel.

  “I’m going to head over to that shed,” Marcus said to Piper.

  Piper didn’t follow; instead, she peeked into the windows on the back porch. From that vantage point, there still wasn’t anything of interest to see.

  Seems Marcus hadn’t found anything either because he was already walking back towards her.

  “Let’s head on to Joe’s,” he said. They’d visit Lloyd again later.

  To see Joe Mendez, they had to head over to where he worked. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to quit his day job to write fulltime, but he was working on it.

  Linden’s Fishing & Tackle stood in-between Mabel’s Diner and Dave’s Repair Shop straight off the main road. Joe worked 20 years for Linden’s, managing their inventory and taking care of the books.

  The jingling of a bell sounded when Marcus pushed open the shop door. He held it open for Piper as she entered.

  “Hey, Gordon, is Joe in?” Marcus said to the man in his early fifties with a bulging belly and a scalp as smooth as a bowling ball, standing behind the counter.

  “No, he took off today.”

  “Did he say if he was staying home or going somewhere?”

  “Nope, he didn’t say and I didn’t ask.”

  Marcus and Piper looked at each other.

  “Marcus, what the hell’s going on here? Margie told me she heard there’s a murderer on the loose and he’s killed four Rosiville citizens already.” Gordon’s eyebrows squeezed together in concern. Margie was Gordon’s wife.

  “It’s not four, it’s three,” Marcus corrected. Seems the rumors had been going around already, distorting the facts, unless another murder had happened that he didn’t know about. Nah, he would’ve gotten the call about a new victim.

  But yet, there were three potential targets whose whereabouts were unknown at this moment. Did Gina make it to her sister’s house last night? Where was Lloyd? And until they find Joe safe at home, he was still unaccounted for. But Marcus didn’t want to believe there was a fourth victim already. He was sure it was just a case of townfolk morphing rumors as they passed them down the grapevine.

  “The chief will be talking to the press at noon, so check the news. I don’t have time to explain it all right now,” Marcus added as he and Piper turned to leave.

  “Find and kill the asshole,” Gordon yelled out as he watched them leave.

  Piper didn’t have to ask Marcus where their next stop would be—she knew they were on their way to Joe’s house.

  Chapter 19

  “Where is everybody?” Piper asked after she and Marcus didn’t find Joe at home.

  “Let’s hope they’re safe,” Marcus replied.

  Well, there wasn’t much they could do at Joe’s place since his wife and kids weren’t home either.

  When they climbed back into Marcus’ SUV, Piper said, “I’m going to check the forums to see if the troll posted anything.” Her fingers scrolled over her cell phone.

  Marcus sat quietly in his seat watching her. When she finally looked up, the expression in her eyes conveyed there was news.

  “He’s posted.”

  TheTroll: ‘(Piper wrote: Please help me understand your motive)—Now why should I do that? Your understanding of my motives is not my problem.

  (Piper wrote: have you published anything where your villain didn’t have a motive?)—Every murderer has a motive even if it’s just for pure pleasure and no other reason. That in itself is a motive. So, the answer to your question is no.

  Now it’s my turn to ask you a question, or rather, I’ll present you a riddle that contains a clue that may lead you to my identity. Let’s see if you’re smart enough to figure it out. Which of the twelve zodiac signs do I have in common (and I’m not talking about the one correlating to my birth date)? While you’re trying to figure that out, I’ll be working on my next video to post for you very soon.’

  Piper passed Marcus her cell after she finished reading it. “He’s given us a riddle to solve as a clue.”

  As Marcus read the post, Piper continued, “Do you think his last sentence means he’s already kidnapped his next victim?” She was beginning to feel nauseous again.

  “Hang on, let me finish reading,” Marcus replied.

  “We need to get a hold of Lloyd, Joe, and even Gina. Even if she’s at her sister’s, what if the troll knows about it?”

  Having finished, Marcus said, “Do you have their cell numbers?”

  “I have Gina’s but not Lloyd’s or Joe’s. We had two meetings, so we hadn’t gotten to the point where we exchanged phone numbers with everyone that we weren’t already friends with.”

  “While you call Gina, I’ll call the station and have them get me the other numbers.” As Marcus stepped outside his SUV so his phone call wouldn’t disrupt hers, Piper dialed Gina’s cell.

  Two rings went by and she gripped her cell phone tighter.

  “Hello?”

  “Thank God, you’re okay!” Piper exclaimed.

  “Yes, I’m fine. But there isn’t a moment that goes by where I’m not looking over my shoulder and my heart starts racing.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  “Piper,” Gina paused for a moment, “A friend of mine from Rosiville called about an hour ago and told me that four people have been murdered. Who’s the fourth person?” Her voice was on the verge of tears.

  “We’re trying to find Lloyd and Joe, but so far there are only three. The police haven’t found any bodies yet, so there could still be a possibility that the videos are fake. Maybe the troll is just trying to scare us and he’s holding them hostage but hasn’t actually killed them.” She was trying to convince herself of that as much as she was Gina. But in her heart, those videos looked too damn real.

  “Do you really believe that?” Gina sounded hopeful.

  “I don’t know, Gina. I really don’t know.” She knew she wasn’t fooling anybody. Piper heard sobs on t
he other end, and tears fell from her own eyes again. Her fingers wiped them away.

  “I’ve got to go, but will call you again to check up on you. Okay?”

  Gina sniffed. “Okay. Thanks, Piper. Please, please be careful yourself.”

  “I will. Take care.”

  “You too.”

  Piper looked out through the windshield to see Marcus pacing around as he talked on his cell. After a few more paces, he hung up his phone and walked back to the SUV.

  “Any luck with Gina?” he asked, once he was back in his seat.

  “Yes, she’s safe. And you?”

  “Someone’s tracking down their cell numbers for me and will text them over.”

  She turned more comfortably in her seat so she could face him. “We need to figure out his riddle,” she said.

  “Well, there are twelve zodiac signs.” Marcus took out his pad and pen. “Do you know them by calendar order?”

  “No, I don’t. Let’s just list them alphabetically. That’ll be easier,” she replied.

  “Cancer,” he said aloud as he wrote it down.

  “No, Aquarius is first, then Aries.” She gave him a smirk. “Ask first before you list things down so confidently,” she scolded with a chuckle.

  “Sorry, One-Who-Knows-Her-Astrology-Far-Too-Well,” he jested as he jotted in his notes. “You read that horoscope stuff?”

  “Capricorn is after Cancer,” she said, ignoring his smartass remarks. “D ... E ... F ... G ... Gemini ... H ... I ... J ... K ... L ...then Leo ... M ... N ... O ... P ... Pisces ... Q—”

  “Wait a minute, what happened to Libra?” he corrected.

  “Oops, you’re right.”

  “Humph,” he uttered smugly. That was his zodiac sign.

  “Okay, don’t get cocky.”

  “I’m just saying,” he said with a taunting smile. “Who’s the one who just chewed my ass off for spouting words off too confidently?”

  She laughed. “Okay, what’s next one then?”

  “Q, R, S ... Sagittarius.”

  “Very good. I didn’t think you’d get that one.”

  “Hey, I know a thing or two about the constellations. What do you think I was doing with that telescope as a kid?”

  “I thought you were peeking into Mrs. Saunders’ bedroom window.”

  “What? Are you kidding me? I wasn’t a pervert, I was twelve years old.”

  “Oh? Twelve is just the age boys start puberty. Don’t tell me you never had interest in catching Mrs. Saunders undressing. It sure looked to me like you would adjust your bearings to point into her bedroom.”

  “No way! I was pointing it at Venus! Geez, Piper, you thought I was sneaking a peek at Mrs. Saunders? You’ve got to be kidding me?” He let out a hearty laugh.

  “I don’t know...it sure looked that way to me.” Now she felt embarrassed—her cheeks turned a rosy pink. “Okay, enough of that, back to the list. Write Scorpio.” She was sorry she said anything.

  Marcus couldn’t help but keep that smile on his face, amused to know that’s what she thought all these years.

  “Okay, I know the next one. That bull one...Taurus,” he said.

  “U ... V ... Virgo ... W ... X ... Y ... Z. I think that’s it. How many do we have?” she asked.

  He mumbled the count under his breath as his pen followed down the line. “Yup, we have twelve.”

  She gave him a triumphant smile, thinking they’d make a good team—well, when they weren’t embarrassing each other, anyways.

  “You do know we could’ve just Googled to find the list in alphabetical order, right?” she said.

  “Eh? Why didn’t you stop and say something earlier?”

  “We were on a roll and I had only thought of it towards the end.”

  He scrunched his brows as he looked at her.

  She shrugged and shot him a sheepish grin.

  He held the list out between them. “What the hell does he mean?” he said then tapped the backend of his pen to his lips.

  As Piper’s eyes focused on the list, she said, “There could be so many possibilities here.”

  “Well, let’s start by listing them,” Marcus replied, turning to look at her.

  With her eyes meeting his, she said, “You might need a bigger pad.”

  Chapter 20

  “Hello?” Joe answered.

  “Joe, this is Detective Marcus Peters. I’m calling about the incidents happening with your critique group.”

  “Is Piper okay?” Joe’s voice intoned up a notch. Joe knew that Piper and Marcus were friends.

  “Yes, she’s fine, she’s with me.”

  “Whew, good to hear. You had me worried there for a second. What can I do for you?”

  “We’d like to talk with you. Can we meet somewhere?”

  “We’re out of town already. I wasn’t about to stay in Rosiville after what happened to the three people from our critique group. I’m taking my family elsewhere until you catch this maniac. If it were just me, I’d stay and blow the bastard’s head off if he came for me, but I’m not taking any chances that he wouldn’t use or hurt my family to get to me.”

  “I understand. Just to let you know, Gordon thinks you’re only out for the day.”

  “Yeah, I had to handle it that way just for security measures. I didn’t want the killer to find out I was headed out of town and then try to come for me before I left. I was going to call Gordon later to let him know.”

  “Before we hang up, can you put your wife on the line?”

  “What do you want to talk to her for?”

  “I need to verify your story. Sorry, Joe, but everyone’s a suspect...even you.”

  “Okay, sure, hang on. We’re at a rest stop and she’s just coming out of the restroom.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Marcus hears Joe yell out, “Honey, Detective Marcus Peters needs to talk to you.”

  After a few seconds, a soft-spoken woman with a high voice said, “Hello?”

  “Mrs. Mendez, I need to verify that you and your family are no longer in Rosiville.”

  “Yes, that’s correct. We left about two hours ago. We’re heading to my parent’s house. We’re going to stay with them until you catch the killer. You will catch him, won’t you?”

  “We’re doing our best.”

  “We want to come back home, so please catch him.”

  “Okay, Mrs. Mendez. Thank you. Can you put your husband back on?”

  “Hello?” Joe’s husky voice sounded in Marcus’ ear.

  “Thanks, Joe. You and your family stay safe now.”

  “And you take care of Piper. Keep her safe.”

  “I will.”

  “Sounds like Joe’s left town too,” Piper said after Marcus hung up.

  “Yup. He’s one less person to worry about. Now, if only we can get in touch with Lloyd.”

  “They couldn’t find a number for him?”

  “Not yet. The FBI’s gonna help us out with that. We’ve got a landline number but not his cell.”

  “So the FBI’s already gotten back to you guys?”

  “Yeah, the Feds are sending two agents over.”

  “That’s great!”

  Marcus gave her a solemn look.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “If Lloyd’s left town too, that means you’re the only one left.”

  Great, she didn’t need to be reminded of that.

  “From here on, you’re attached to my hip, and no arguments.”

  She took his command in stride and didn’t let it rile her. Instead, to take off the jitters with being next on the hit list, she joked, “I don’t have to follow you into the bathroom, do I?”

  “Only if you want to,” he jested back.

  “No thanks. I don’t need to stand beside you while you pee, much less do your other business.”

  “I can get you a gas mask if you like.”

  “Well, you better make it a capsule, because I don’t want to be seeing it, nor hearing i
t, neither.”

  “Killjoy.”

  Marcus’ cell rang. It was Mara.

  “There’s another video,” she said.

  Marcus’ eyes met Piper’s. “Okay, thanks, Mara.”

  Click.

  “What is it?” Piper asked, sensing Mara had given him some bad news.

  “Access your forum. He’s already put up another video.”

  Her heart felt as though it had stopped beating. “Lloyd?”

  “She didn’t say, but who else would it be since you talked to Gina and I just talked to Joe?”

  “How could he have gotten Lloyd? Lloyd would’ve been cautious with anyone approaching him.”

  “The perp may be using a stun gun or something that can be shot at a distance to render his victims helpless.” Marcus couldn’t believe the perp could’ve taken Lloyd any other way.

  “Wait a minute. Lloyd’s car wasn’t home. He had to have bumped into the troll somewhere else. How could the troll have accomplished this without being seen by someone?”

  “Maybe Lloyd went fishing or hunting by himself,” Marcus said.

  “Why in the world would he risk it after all that’s happened? He should’ve been cautious about being out alone.” Piper couldn’t believe Lloyd would be that stupid.

  “People don’t always think it’ll happen to them, especially when they feel they’re well armed.”

  Piper shook her head. “Men, more like it. Women wouldn’t be so macho.”

  “Oh, you think women always use their common sense?” he challenged, raising an eyebrow.

  “We don’t need to prove our machismo, that’s all I’m saying.”

  “Well, I hope you remember you said that.”

  She prayed to God that they’d catch the troll before he’d put her machismo to the test.

  “We best get to viewing that video,” he told her.

  Oh, right. She had wanted to forget. Unfortunately, viewing it was inevitable. At least they hadn’t eaten lunch yet.

  Chapter 21

  Piper and Marcus watched in horror and sadness as Lloyd—in only boxers and a black t-shirt, with hands behind his back, bare feet taped together at the ankles, sitting leaned against a gray concrete wall—screamed muffled noises through the duct tape affixed over his mouth.