Too Close to Home (The Forensic Files)

by Tressa Messenger

  She slowly closed the door again and began to gather up her things and put them in her bag. She put her cell phone in her back pocket and slung the bag over her shoulder, then walked down the stairs, passing a few people in various states of stupor. As she put her hand on the glass door that led to the backyard, she stopped and let her hand linger on the knob.

  She looked over her shoulder at her bag and sighed, “I am not going to lug this thing around all night.”

  She let her hand drop to her side and turned around and walked back through the living room and out the front door. She walked down the long dirt driveway to Rob’s truck and threw her bag in the passenger seat. She wasn’t worried the door would be locked because being in Pamlico County, doors never were. Nothing ever happened in that little county except for minor stuff, at least until the murders. But everyone knew her dad was the murderer, and he was dead now, so why worry anymore? Everyone had gone back to their normal lives as if it never happened, except Kristen. Her life would never go back to normal again. That horrific year had affected her more than anyone else. A chill ran down Kristen’s body, causing goose bumps to flare up on her skin. She looked around as if someone was watching her. There shouldn’t be anyone out here. Between the music and the sound of chatter and laughter in the distance drowning out the sounds of nature, everyone should be out back partying.

  Not really in a partying mood anymore, Kristen sat in the passenger side seat of the truck and laid her head back on the head rest and closed her eyes.

  Through the open window, the sound of the party around her mixed with a cool winter breeze blowing salty scents from the Neuse River and smoke from the bonfire behind the house caused Kristen to doze off into a fitful sleep. Moments later she was startled awake and gasped when a hand grabbed her arm through the window.

  “Jesus Christ, Marshall! You scared me to death.”

  Marshall threw his hands up in surrender. “Sorry! I was just walking around when decided to check on you. What are you doing out here?”

  Kristen ran a hand through her hair. “I came out to put my bag in the truck and decided I liked the quiet. I must have fallen asleep.”

  “I guess so. Are you okay?”

  Kristen ran a hand through her hair again and leaned back against the seat. She didn’t answer for a minute but slowly turned to him and smiled sadly. “As okay as I’m going to be, I guess.”

  Marshall leaned against the truck and took a sip from his beer. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “What’s to say? My father was sleeping with my best friend, then killed her and the only other person who knew about it in order to hide his secret, only to take his own life once he got busted. There’s no coming back from that. All I want to do is forget about it.”

  “Is that even possible? Sounds like it would be some pretty trippy stuff to get over.”

  “I really don’t know if it is. It’s not something easily forgotten, especially not around here. The gossip mill has been in full force all year. I feel like people stare at me and I hear my name in hushed whispers everywhere I go.” Kristen sat up and leaned her head out the window. “Can I tell you something without you saying anything to anyone else, especially not Rob?”

  “Of course. You and I have been friends for a long time, Kristen. Way longer than me and Rob.”

  “I haven’t mentioned it to anyone yet, not even Rob, but I think I want to go away to college.”

  “Really? Where?”

  “Missy and I always talked about going to New York State University. We were going to leave right after graduation. But after she died, I couldn’t imagine going there without her. But lately I’ve really been considering it. Is that stupid?”

  “Not at all. I think it would be good for you to get out of here. And really, there are not many people we hang out with who don’t plan to go away to some big university. A few already have their acceptance letters.”

  “Really? How about you? Where are you going?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.” He smiled. “I only applied to all of the fun schools. So far, New York is in the mix, as well as UCLA and Florida State. But I still don’t know.”

  Kristen’s face lit up. “Can you imagine us being in New York together? It’d be so cool to know at least one person.”

  “I like that idea, too.” He looked down and kicked a small rock on the ground. “Where’s Rob going?”

  Kristen leaned her head on the side of the window. “I don’t know. He’s had offers, but I don’t think he’s made up his mind yet.”

  “Is he a deciding factor for you?”

  “Not really. I mean, I love Rob and I have wanted to be with him for a long time, like a real relationship. But like everything else around here, he holds too many painful memories. I’m kinda hoping to be free of that when I leave.”

  Marshall looked around and leaned in close to her. “Be careful with him, Kristen. He and I have known each other for a long time. He’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, if you know what I mean. You never know what side you’re going to get from him.”

  Kristen stared at Marshall silently with wide eyes and whispered, “I know.”

  ***

  From around the side of the house, buried deep in the shadows, Rob watched as Kristen leaned in toward Marshall, looking beautiful and laughing as if they were sharing a secret joke. Although he was too far away, Rob tried to make out what they were talking about. But between the noisy people at the party and the music blaring, it was impossible to hear what they were saying. The longer he watched her, the angrier he got, until his blood was boiling in his veins. He bit down and clenched his jaw and rapidly pumped his fists open and closed.

  “She hasn’t laughed that way with me in a long time,” he said to himself. “Marshall is supposed to be my friend, but look at him. His eyes are staring her down and he is leaning in too close for comfort, like he wants to screw her or something. Damn whores will screw anyone!”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Marshall walked back up the long driveway and disappeared through the dark to rejoin the party, leaving Kristen alone in the truck with thoughts of college running wild in her mind. For the first time all year, something finally felt right to her. With this newfound excitement of the possibilities to come, Kristen became restless in the truck, as if the cabin was too small to contain her any longer. She grabbed her coat off the seat, got out and looked around. Her first instinct was to go back to the party to rejoin her friends, mainly Rob. But for the first time, she really didn’t want to. She turned her back on the massive house and started walking down the long driveway away from it all. She didn’t have a specific destination in mind, but with every step she took, the more she wanted to keep moving, not backwards toward the party with the same old people doing the same old thing, but forward toward a new life beyond this one.

  She smiled to herself as the night enveloped her in a calm serenity as she casually strolled down the quiet river road. The noise from the people and music had been replaced by crickets chirping and bullfrogs croaking. Occasionally in the distance, when the wind picked up, she could also hear the trees rustling in the air and small waves in the short distance slapping the shore. Even though it was early January, the night air was still mild enough to keep the shivers at bay under the security of her thick coat.

  She stopped walking to look around when she heard a strange sound not likely made by nature. She stood completely still and listened, but all was quiet again. She looked ahead and continued to walk and within a few seconds she heard the sound again.

  Are those footsteps? She stopped walking and quickly turned around. Her gaze darted wildly, but still saw nothing in the dark.

  “Hello? Is someone there?”

  Nothing.

  She turned back around and slowly took a step forward, but paranoia had already set in, changing her peaceful walk into a frenzy of nerves. She seriously thought about turning around and going back to the party where the people were, but she was too af
raid.

  When she heard the noise again, she quickly spun around again and looked around wildly. “Who’s there?”

  With her heart pounding, feeling braver than she had in a long time, she took a step toward the direction she heard the footsteps, then another. It was too dark to see the path she just walked, but it didn’t stop her from trying. She craned her neck from left to right, straining her eyes to see. Suddenly she heard footsteps again coming toward her and within seconds a form appeared on the darkened country road a few feet in front of her. Kristen stopped walking and her heart leaped in her chest. Her breathing quickened. The person continued walking towards her in an easy stride.

  Her brain screamed at her to run but her legs were planted where they were like roots on a tree in the pavement as she stared at the person getting closer to her. She exhaled sharply, not realizing she had been holding her breath since seeing the figure, which triggered her body to respond to its panicked state. She turned around and took off running in the opposite direction, her legs moving faster than they had ever moved before. Pushing through the burning pain in her muscles and lungs, she looked over her shoulder to see her progress, but her confidence faltered when she saw the person still behind her.

  In a desperate attempt to hide, she veered off the exposed road into the shadows of the trees along the road. She ducked her head and threw her arms out in front of her to minimize the damage that the sharp branches were making as they painfully tore into her skin as she ran. Just a few feet away she spotted an old round tree and ducked behind it. She held her breath and peeked around the side. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly when she realized she was all alone. She turned around and slid her back down the rough exterior of the tree to the moist ground. Shaking uncontrollably, she put her face in her bloody, cut-up hands and cried.

  She lifted her head up when she heard a branch crunch somewhere nearby, then leaves shuffle on the ground. Staying seated, she peeked around the tree again and saw the dark figure not too far in the distance.

  She bent over and crawled close to the muddy ground, staying as low as possible. She slithered her body over a fallen pine tree like a snake and sunk herself deep down in the grove between the trees’ fluffy branches and the ground. She felt something hard digging into her butt uncomfortably. She reached around her body to move the object, expecting to pull up a branch or a rock, but instead felt her phone in her back pocket. She fished it out and stared at it blankly for a long second. She buried her face close to the ground to shield the light from giving away her position and with shaking hands she punched in a short message on the screen “HELP!” and pushed send.

  Awaiting a reply, she heard a chirping sound echo close to her. She lifted her head up to take a look and saw a small dim light a few feet away. Confused, she sunk back down and was startled when her phone vibrated in her tight grip. She buried her face close to the ground again and flipped the phone open. Her heart thumped one hard punch in her chest before it completely stopped as she stared at the words on the screen.

  “Where are you?”

  After her mind processed the implications, she responded to the message,

  “I’m at Marshall’s. Where are you?”

  She pushed send and lifted her head up to confirm her fears, and just as she had feared, the dim light appeared again, but quickly faded away as the person turned and left the dark woods.

  “Hello. Carma Jones.”

  Kristen heard the voice, but in her shocked state she had a hard time making out what the woman was saying, let alone respond to her.

  Carma looked over at the bedside clock and groaned, “Great! Midnight. Hello? Is anyone there?” she asked.

  Silence.

  “I hear you breathing.”

  “It’s Rob,” Kristen whispered.

  “What? What’s Rob? Who is this?”

  Kristen started to cry again. “It wasn’t my Dad. It was Rob. Oh, my God! Rob killed Missy.”

  On the other end of the phone, Carma sat up straight in her bed. “Kristen, is that you?”

  “I need help,” she sobbed.

  Carma jumped to her feet, forgetting that only seconds ago she was sound asleep. “Kristen, where are you?”

  “I’m in Florence. I was at Marshall Parker’s house. He chased me down the road. I’m hiding in the woods now. I think he went back to Marshall’s.”

  “Okay, good. Are there any houses close by?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What road are you on?”

  “Marshall lives on Sea Foam Drive.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way now. Stay where you are. Turn your phone on vibrate and I will call you when I turn on that road. Kristen, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I hear you.”

  “I am on my way.”

  Carma hung up and punched in Harold’s phone number.

  “Harold here.”

  “Harold, I need you.”

  “Carma?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Get dressed and meet me at the sheriff’s department as fast as you can. Look up a kid by the name of Marshall Parker as soon as you get there.”

  Carma hung up without an explanation and grabbed her coat and holster off the back of the dining room chair, stormed out of the house and floored the old Crown Victoria, slinging rocks as she went. With her blue and red lights flashing, she drove as fast as she safely could down Lee Landing Road toward Bayboro.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Carma, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on, or at the very least who this Marshall Parker kid is?” Harold asked sitting in the passenger seat.

  Carma only glared into the night in front of her.

  “Where are we going in such a rush?” he asked, staring at her dumbfounded.

  “We’re going to Florence,” she finally said through clenched teeth.

  “Why? What’s in Florence?”

  Carma didn’t answer.

  “Damn it! What the hell is going on?”

  “I got a disturbing phone call from Kristen tonight.”

  “Kristen Jenkins?”

  “Yeah. She said it wasn’t her dad. It was Robert Lee.”

  “What? Who committed the murders?”

  Carma looked over at Harold and stared into his eyes. It was all the answer he needed.

  “Dang, that’s some hard stuff. Wait! How does she know?” he asked.

  “She said he chased her into the woods where she hid. She said she thinks he went back to the house they were at.”

  “So, who is Marshall Parker then?”

  “His parents own the house they were at.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “She’s still in the woods. I told her to stay where she is, that I would call her when it’s safe.”

  “Do you think we need backup?”

  “No, it’s just one kid. I think the two of us can handle him.”

  Carma knocked on the front door while Harold stood a few feet behind her, keeping guard over their surroundings. When no one answered after a few minutes, Carma reached out and turned the knob to find the door unlocked. She popped the button holding her gun in its holster on her hip and rested a hand on the smooth surface for a quick release if necessary. Once in the house, she stood in the foyer and scanned the wide open living room which led all the way to the other side of the massive house to the dining room and the kitchen just beyond that. She slowly walked into the living room, leaving Harold standing on the porch and noticed a body lying haphazardly on the couch. She saw right away that the boy was not Robert Lee. She kept her distance while reaching down and placed two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse. She exhaled a deep breath when she felt the steady throbbing in his neck.

  Thank God, she thought to herself, relieved that her fear of another dead kid was unfounded.

  The boy shifted on the couch and cracked his red unfocused eyes open and looked at her. It took a minute, but once the fog cleared, he sat up quickly and looked around confused, his ey
es darting from her face to her hand resting on a gun strapped to her hip.

  “What’s going on? Who are you?” he asked, confused with a tinge of terror for good measure.

  “My name is Detective Carma Jones,” she whispered.

  “Detective?”

  “Yeah, what’s your name?”

  “Marshall Parker.”

  “So, this is your house?”

  “Yes, did I do something wrong?”

  “No, I’m looking for Robert Lee. Have you seen him?”

  Marshall leaned over and ran a hand through his messy brown hair, trying to get his brain to work. “He was here earlier, but I passed out at some point.” He glanced around the empty room, then stood up and walked to the wall of windows looking out at the picturesque backyard. He ran his hand through his hair again before turning back to Carma. “I guess everyone left. What’s going on? Why are you here looking for Rob?”

  “How many exits do you have in the house?” Carma asked, ignoring his question.

  Marshall looked around while thinking. “Three.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Well, the front door, this door right here leads to the backyard,” he said, pointing to the glass door behind him, “and the garage, but that can only be used if the garage door is open.”

  “Marshall, I need you to help me. Can you do that?”

  Marshall narrowed his eyes at her as he silently stared at her before nodding his head “yes.”

  “Okay, I need you to stay right here by this door and if you see Robert Lee, do not tell him anything. Act as casual as you can, but you need to signal me while doing it.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “I don’t know.” Carma looked around the wide space, walked to the nearest table and gave it a good shake. “You could accidentally bump into this end table right here hard enough to knock the lamp off. That should make a loud enough noise for me to hear.”

  “Detective, what did he do?” Marshall whispered in a steadier voice then he thought he could muster.