“Do you think the guy was right?” she whispered.
“What?” Cathy responded, astonished.
“About Xander doing it.”
“No way! It’s Xander we’re talking about.”
“Yeah, but if you did it, wouldn’t you kill only the guy who thought you did it?”
Cathy acknowledged this. “Still. Sorry, Sara, it’s just not in him.”
Sara sighed. “You’re right,” she admitted, sounding less then sure.
“Autopsy report, Coral Beach Morgue. Thursday, the 22nd. Second report of this nature in three days. First of three victims, beginning autopsy now.”
Harry Ford had lost his patented sense of humor. Some would call the jokes he made while dissecting the victims of horrendous acts of man disgusting. The truth was he had to joke just to keep from vomiting.
Lance Berkshire had a much stronger stomach, but a much softer heart. He handed the scalpel over to Harry, then realized it really wasn’t necessary in the case of Carl Dent. His torso had a square hole cut into the centre of it, revealing cracked bones and a barrage of vital organs. “This time the killer took lungs, heart, intestinal tracks.... geez.”
“Yeah, I know, Lance. I’ve been afraid to let my kids outside the house at all, let alone at night.” He took a small pause before returning to business. “Serial killer?”
“That’d be my best guess. I hear the police are exercising the possibility of gang and cult killings.”
“God, what is wrong with this world,” he murmured, but it wasn’t a question so much as a general statement towards the plight of their town.
“It was definitely the same guy though. He took the lungs he didn’t get the first time. Also the heart, small and large intestines...”
“Anything our creep hasn’t got yet?”
“Well, muscle tissue, brain matter... he got kidneys and livers from the old couple...”
“Why? Wouldn’t he want a younger one?”
“It appears our Mr. Dent had a bit of a drinking problem. But there’s something even stranger.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“In every case, even that poor kid who wasn’t killed... the appendixes were completely removed. But in the first case it was smooth, cut edges. Like one of us did it. This time... it’s like it was done in anger.”
6:00.
Dusk.
Tim parted two sections of his venetian blind and peered out into the street, making striped shadows across his face. The body count was now four, with a possibility of it rising within the next eight hours. He let the blinds fall back into place and paced back to his desk. On it were Carl Dent’s files, both those he kept at the precinct and those found scattered near the murder scene. The only lead or suspect that actually made any sense at all was the Xander Drew file. A dark loner of a kid who hung around with the same people all of the time. It fit, but it wasn’t enough to put anything on the kid. There were probably a hundred kids like that in this city. But then Dent went to that Grendel kid and that pushed the focus of this case in Dent’s favor. And now Dent’s dead, but that may help the case, god forgive me for thinking it. All they needed now was something solid. Some actual evidence...
“Sir?” the skinny blonde secretary called out, popping in her head from outside the door.
“Yes, Felicia. What is it?”
“There’s a young girl here. I believe Carl Dent questioned her briefly in the hospital. She says she has some information which may be helpful. I think her name is Johnson.”
“Send her in.”
Darkness covered Coral Beach that night. And when it came, the city closed its doors. Roadblocks were set up. Police were even borrowed from nearby towns to patrol the streets, which were like vacant lots, giving the entire town a ghostly tranquility. Everything was silent and still.
The only place still open was, naturally, the Factory.
The musicians had gone home and many of its workers wouldn’t have stayed there for a million dollars, but the four owners and three of the customers still remained. Sud, Tommy and Derek.
Sud sat on the pool table opposite the one that Tommy and Derek were playing at. Derek leaned over the table and easily sank the eight ball into the corner pocket.
“Damn man. How’d you learn to play like that?” Tommy chided, shaking his head as he looked at the massive amount of balls he still had on the table.
“I just learned. That’s all,” Derek shrugged.
“You going to Gren’s party tomorrow night?”
“Who isn’t? Something tells me it’s gonna be a wild time.”
“Yeah,” Sud grunted in agreement.
“Alright boys,” Roxanne, one of the ladies that owned the Factory, called out from behind a desk. “We’re closin’ down. Pack it up and get out.”
The three of them grabbed their coats from the rack and started out the door. They all lived in opposite directions. Derek was right across the street from the Factory, so they walked him to his door.
“You guys could come in a while if you wanted,” Derek offered. “Call your ‘rents, ask them to come and pick you up.”
“Naw, man,” Tommy shrugged. “We’ll be fine.”
Sud nodded in agreement.
“You sure?” Derek pushed, taking a quick glance around the street. “It’s not safe out there, man.”
Tommy just chuckled a little at that. “I don’t think there’s anybody stupid enough to try to take on us... not even lil’ Xander Drew.”
Sud laughed, but it seemed forced.
Derek smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Take it easy, boys.”
“You too,” Tommy said, as the duo started walking home.
The street was cold. It wasn’t winter yet by any means, but Tommy had noticed that ever since school started the temperature around town had become a fickle thing - warm one moment and then freezing cold the next.
The cold left an odd crispness on the street they walked on, like stepping into one of those walk-in freezers in the back of a restaurant. It sent sparks of life up through his calves and created swirls of dancing white mist that could only been seen in the direct light of the street lamps.
The rest of the street was covered in a sort of soft stillness. It felt like he imagined the inside of a snow globe would feel between shakes.
All of the storefronts were closed and the street was deserted, so much so that neither of them had ever seen the like before. Typically, Tommy found that every time he found himself noticing that the town was vacant, some car would pull out from behind a corner or some classmate would reveal himself from a doorway to prove him wrong. Tonight it was just the street... although the street itself seemed alive.
There was an energy to the street that came from the cold and the moon, that sort of electric vibrance that animated everything. The buildings seemed to loom high above the street lights until they were impossibly high and looking down on them. The houses they passed had dim lights in their windows and looked like jack-o-lanterns, their malformed and disfigured scowls glaring out at them.
Tommy pulled his shirt closer around him.
After a moment of silent walking he realized that it was up to him to initiate a conversation, because his near-mute partner never would. “Lookin’ forward to the party?”
Sud nodded.
“Yea,” he smirked. “I can’t wait. It’s gonna be a hell of a time. Julie told me she’s gonna show, and Greer and Liz should too. Those girls...” He paused, throwing a smile at his compatriot. “Know how to party, if you catch my drift.”
Again Sud nodded, this time adding a sly smile.
Then Tommy stopped.
Sud stopped too, more so to copy Tommy then for any other reason.
“You hear something?” Tommy said, swallowing hard.
“No. Why, did you?” Sud asked, his eyes starting to wander from side to side.
“Shh. Listen.”
They did. And for a moment, there was nothing. Then it came.
&nb
sp; -click-
Metal. The unmistakable sound of metal on metal sliced through the foggy air. They waited still.
-click-
Again, louder now, followed by a quick scuff like a boot or sneaker against the gravel. Sud and Tommy glanced at each other briefly, then broke into a run.
They crossed the street at the next intersection, ignoring the ‘Don’t walk’ sign, then turned and ran up the next avenue toward Tommy’s house. They could hear the metal scrape getting louder behind them. Louder and faster. Whoever was following them was also picking up speed. Then Sud tripped, falling onto the sidewalk and scraping his knee.
“Fuck!” he yelped.
“Clumsy bastard!” Tommy yelled, stopping to help him up.
They looked back and he was there. A large, dark man looming over them, raising a long, curved blade. They both closed their eyes and prayed to god, waiting for the inevitable to happen... but it didn’t. They opened their eyes and there was nobody there.
“Boys? You okay?” came a voice from behind them.
They both turned simultaneously to see Tim White standing by his patrol car about ten feet behind them.
They ran to him despite how their legs begging for them to stop, so fast that they slammed into the side of the car.
Tommy laid his head against the metal roof, sweat dripping from his nose and chin as he tried desperately to catch his breath in worn, wet gasps.
Sud fumbled with the door handle of the cruiser.
“Hey!” Tim protested.
“You gotta help us man, you gotta get us out of here!” Tommy cried, near literal tears.
Sud got in the car and just laid his head back on the cushion, trying hard to catch his breath. Tommy shoved him to one side and followed him in.
“Easy boys. It’s okay now. You’re safe,” Tim said, trying to calm the boys. He turned around and looked at them, shaking his head.
Almost lost another two.
He turned the keys to start the engine. It started for a moment, then revved and went dead.
The boys looked at each other in the backseat. White looked up and down the street to make sure nobody was coming, then turned back to the boys with fire in his eyes.
“Get out,” he told them flatly.
They looked at him oddly, then got out.
“Run. To the Factory. It shouldn’t take us too long.”
They obeyed and broke into a slow jog, trying to conserve their energy. But as they turned the first corner, Sud and Tommy both buckled over in pain.
“What?” Tim exclaimed, stopping to help them up. “What’s wrong?”
“My... side,” Tommy replied, clutching his right side and clenching his teeth.
“The appendix,” Tim whispered, realizing something else all of the victims had in common. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he nearly fell over in pain himself, Sud catching him.
Tim glanced around nervously. “We’ve got to keep moving.”
They began moving slowly through the streets on their way to the Factory. They crossed the next corner and it was in their sights, but the pain grew with each and every step. Sud had to ward off vomiting each time the heel of his shoe scratched against the cold pavement. Then, from behind them, came the sound that they had all knew was coming yet dreaded the arrival of.
-clink-
Metal, dragging against stone walkways. Then again: -clink-. Much sharper this time than the last. When the sound happened again, Tim noticed that the gap was narrower then the first. Whoever he is, he’s running.
They were on the home stretch now, running up the Factory’s long driveway. They reached the door and began to thump on it loudly, trying to draw the attention of those inside.
“It’s no use,” Tommy sighed, motioning toward the driveway. “There’s no cars. They’ve left.”
“Damn,” Tim muttered to himself. For a moment, all was quiet.
-clink-
They all glanced up in the direction that the sound had been coming from. Sud started banging on the door once more, followed by the others, this time in an effort to break it down. After a few moments, Tim motioned for the boys to stand back and gave the door a hard kick, knocking it off its hinges.
They entered. The lights were out, but the multiple arcade game screens created an eerie glow as their shadows flickered and danced on the wall. Tim made an effort to make the door look like it had been untouched, so that the killer might not suspect they had entered. Then, from behind them, they heard a loud thump. They all jumped around, staring into the gaping darkness.
“Roxanne?” Tommy called into the darkness. There was no response except for a sudden, sharp -clink-.
Tim pulled his gun out of its holster, stepping toward the entrance to the back room. He looked at the boys, then at the front door. “On three,” he whispered.
They nodded.
“Three!”
The three of them bolted for the door and across to Derek’s house. They looked behind them, seeing nothing. Derek’s driveway was only a few feet away.
Tommy tripped on the sidewalk and fell to the ground, hitting the side of his face and drawing blood. White helped him up, looking around again. Nothing to be seen but cold, damp streets. They walked up to the front door and burst in. Derek’s father came rushing in from the dining room, and Tim just held up his badge and tried to catch his breath.
Friday.
That was the first thought on Xander Drew’s mind when he woke up the next morning. Every Friday was like a thousand years for him, with the boring drudgery of schoolwork to contend with. Each minute dragged on as if it were an hour and it was nearly impossible to get any work done because he couldn’t stop thinking about the weekend if he had wanted to. More specifically, tonight. This was the night of Grendel’s big party. It was to be (how did Sara put it?) the social event of the season.
The next thought to cross his mind was: school.
He brought his watch up to his face and pressed a button on its side, illuminating it in indigo light. The black numbers on the little screen read 8:50. The homeroom bell rang in five minutes. He jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of tattered jeans, running down the stairs. His hair and skin were sticky, wet and more than a little warm. He made a mental note to take some of the covers off of his bed before he went to sleep tonight.
Halfway down he saw Sara, who was completely out of breath.
“School,” she managed to stammer. Apparently she had slept in too.
“Yeah, I... Why didn’t my computer’s alarm clock wake me?” he thought out loud.
Sara stood up straight. “Yeah, mine didn’t either.”
They both pondered it for a moment, until Xander flicked on the hall light. Nothing happened. “Power’s out.”
Sara flicked the light off and on. “You’re right. It’s probably off at my place too.”
Moreover, my CPU’s fried, Xander remembered. But I can’t tell you that.
They both thought about that a minute more, before they realized that they were already late for school. Xander grabbed his book bag and opened the door for Sara, then followed her out and started to run.
When she didn’t run he stopped, figuring that she was tired from running to his house. She didn’t say anything, merely nodding at him for waiting.
He motioned to put his arm around her, but she jerked away quickly.
He looked at her awkwardly for a minute, then started walking next to her. As they walked down the same road that they often had before, she noticed a growing pain in her side and bit her lip to steel herself against it.
She remembered that day, all those years ago. It was her sixth birthday. When most little girls turn six they have a party with all their wild friends and eat cake until they puke, but not Cathy Kennessy. She spent her sixth grade birthday in an old, musty car with her parents driving to Coral Beach. It didn’t matter to her where she was going at the time. All she knew was that all of her friends were back home in Pittsburgh and she was i
n the car. Because they were moving to a new place where her Daddy could get a job and make lots and lots of money.
They arrived at her new home at eight o’clock in the night and it was almost her bedtime. But she didn’t have a bed yet, so she would have to sleep on a mattress on the cold floor.
From across the street came a little boy. He was about her height, his face covered in freckles. They looked at each other for a minute, almost wondering exactly what to think of one another.
The boy broke the silence. “Wanna play?”
She looked at him for a minute, then replied, “Okay. What’s your name?”
“Michael David Harris. What’s yours?”
“Cathy Elizabeth Kennessy. Do you know how to jump rope?”
“That’s for girls...”
Cathy smiled at Mike from across the classroom. He winked at her briefly, then went back to finishing his question sheet. Not exactly love at first sight, she thought calmly as she went back to her own sheet. But it’ll do for a story our kids‘ll hear until they want to strangle us with it.
Fourteen years old. That’s when Sara Johnson thought it was all over. She was riding in the back seat of her boyfriend Justin’s new car. He had just gotten his license and they were celebrating. In the car with her was Grendel in the back, and Cathy up front. She hadn’t been dating Mike for very long then. They had just come from one of Derek’s parties and Justin was about to bring them home, but he’d had a few too many drinks at the party. The car hit a bump in the road and started to swerve. The next thing she knew, she was being thrown from the car and onto the sidewalk. She didn’t know how long she was out, but when she woke up there were red and blue lights flashing.
Police.
God, Mom is gonna kill me, she remembered thinking. That was when it struck her that she had almost died. She opened her eyes and there was a blurry image of a man looking down on her.
“Justin?” she murmured. Her eyes cleared and she saw the face she’d never forget. Xander Drew, her next door neighbour. She hadn’t seen him much these last couple years; they’d drifted apart. But now, she jumped into his arms and cried on his shoulder.
Habeas Corpus: Black Womb (Black Womb Collection Book 1) Page 9