Death By Candlelight (Candlelight and Candlesticks Book 1)

by Tomeka Pitts

  Death by Candlelight

  This book is dedicated to my high school English and creative writing teacher Faye. Thank you for always believing and inspiring me! Without that inspiration I never would have started putting this story to paper!

  Prelude

  In a small town, about forty miles from any big city, is the town of Redbrook Kansas. Sara Wood, a 15 year old sophomore at Redbrook High School is a lot like the other kids at her school, and yet she is a lot different from them too. Her dad, David is the local sheriff, her mom, Anna is an elementary school teacher, and her brother Luis is a senior. They live in a decent sized house off of Deep Trail Road, in what she would call the boondocks. They were seen by many in the community to be just another ordinary family. Good kids, good parents, and what else is to be expected from such a pillar of the community like Sheriff Wood.

  Chapter 1

  One October day, Sara was walking home from school, when she heard footsteps behind her. At first she thought nothing of it, after a while though it started to bother her. She turned around hoping to see who it was, only there was no one there. She decided she would tell her father about it when she got home, maybe there was something he could do.

  When Sara got home she went into her father’s study to find him. He was sitting there going over some criminal records for a case he was working on. She knocked on the door and waited for him to look up.

  “Sara, I’m in the middle of work right now sweetie. Can it wait?” he asked.

  “No dad, it can’t. I’m afraid that someone might have been following me after school. I kept hearing footstep, but whenever I would turn around there was no one there”, Sara explained.

  “It was probably the wind blowing the leaves, but I’ll have someone look into it, see if anyone else has noticed anything strange in that area”, he answered, all businesslike.

  Sarah left his study and went to her room. She sat down contemplating doing her homework, but couldn’t concentrate. She was certain someone had been following her. She decided that if her dad wasn’t going to take it serious she might have to figure out something herself. Maybe Luis could help her. She would go ask him the next morning. When she climbed into bed that night she felt much better about the situation.

  The next day Sara got up and went to find Luis. He was in the kitchen eating some breakfast, and looked mildly surprised to see her still in her pajamas.

  “You need to get in the shower and get ready, you’re going to be late to class”, he told her.

  “I will, but I really need to talk to you before you leave!” she said. “I’ll try to make it fast, but I might need your help with something. On my way home yesterday I could have sworn someone was following me. I heard footsteps, but every time I turned around there was no one there. I told dad, and he said he’d have someone look into the area, but that it was probably just the leaves. I know it wasn’t the leaves, and he isn’t going to take this seriously. I am afraid to walk anywhere now, you have to help me!”

  “What do you want me to do, drive you around? I can’t do that, our schedules are too off”, Luis said.

  “No, I want you to help me figure out if I am being followed and why. You took that forensics seminar last summer at the station, maybe there is something we can do to figure this out”, she pleaded.

  “I’ll think about it today and let you know tonight when you get home”, he told her.

  Sara agreed, and went upstairs to get ready for school. Once she was freshly showered and dressed, she sat down in front of her mirror to put her make-up on. As she stared at her reflection, she couldn’t help the uneasy feeling she had. She just knew that something was wrong, but what that something was she wasn’t sure.

  She finished getting ready, and headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab a protein bar before heading out the door. When she walked into the kitchen, she froze in horror. Still sitting in the same spot where he was eating his breakfast was Luis, only he wasn’t exactly sitting here. Luis was face down in his food with multiple stab wounds all over his body. And standing there on the table, next to Luis, was a lit candle.

  Sara couldn’t even let out a scream; she was in so much shock. She just stood there staring at Luis, not believing what she was seeing. After what seemed to her like hours, but was in reality only minuets, she reached for the phone and dialed 911. She didn’t even

  Chapter 2

  “911, what’s your emergency”, said the voice on the other line.

  “I….I….It’s my brother. He’s hurt really bad. I think he’s dead!” Sara almost whispered into the phone.

  “Please stay on the line, the police and EMS are on the way”, the operator replied. “What is your name?”

  “Sara, Sara Wood”, she replied. “Oh God, you need to make sure they send my dad, Sheriff Wood! He needs to be here!”

  “He has been dispatched and is on his way Sara. Have you checked your brother? Id he breathing, does he have a pulse?”

  “I haven’t even checked, there’s so much blood, and it looks like a lot of stab wounds. Plus he hasn’t moved since I walked into the room, not even his chest…Oh God!”

  The police and ambulance arrived very quickly. While the EMS checked Luis, the officers began processing the scene: Some were taking photos, others are dusting for fingerprints, and yet others still doing many other things. One officer, Officer Thompson, took Sara into the living room. She was just being led out of the kitchen when she saw her father enter the room, looking white as a ghost.

  “Sara, I need to process you and take your statement,” Officer Thompson told her.

  “Okay,” she said very quietly, still in shock. This simply couldn’t be happening. It was all a very bad dream and she would wake up any moment and everything would be back to normal.

  “Sara, when was the last time you say Luis?” Officer Thompson asked.

  “This morning, just before I got in the shower. He was eating breakfast and I asked him to help me with…” she stopped, thinking about the stranger who had been following her.

  “With what?” Officer Thompson prompted her to finish.

  Sheriff Wood walked into the room and over to Sara. When he reached her he scooped her up into his arms as he had done so many times when she was little and afraid. Officer Thompson waited patiently; she knew that the Sheriff and his daughter needed a moment. She would continue her questions in a few minutes, she could give them that. Although she knew that it was the best time to get Sara’s statement, while it was fresh in her memory.

  After five or so minutes Officer Thompson cleared her throat lightly. ”I’m sorry sir,” she said, “but I need to finish getting Sara’s statement. Would you like to sit with her while we talk?”

  “Sara, do you need me?” Her father asked. He was actually asking her! She couldn’t believe it. She thought about it, it would be nice to have him there for comfort, but she needed to tell Officer Thompson about the person following her and how she thought it was connected. She didn’t want her dad to get upset, as he had pretty much blown her off, so she shook her head “no”.

  “Ok, I’ll be in the kitchen. Not much I can do as it’s my house that’s a crime scene though.” And with that the sheriff walked back out of the living room and into the kitchen.

  Officer Thompson was looking after him, a puzzled expression on her face. Then she turned to Sara, noticing for the first time that she still had her backpack on her back. “Sara, why don’t you take that off? You’ll be much more comfortable. I only have a few questions, then you can go with your dad, he’ll take you out of here and away from this for a while. Ok?�
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  Not trusting herself to speak, as she had the same puzzled look watching her father leave the room, Sara simply nodded.

  “You said that you needed Luis’ help, help with what?” Officer Thompson asked again.

  Sara told her how she had thought someone followed her home from school the day before, about hearing the footsteps and how every time she turned around there was no one there. She also told her how she had gone to her father with it and he had told her it was just the wind but he would have someone check the area out. “So, I thought he was just blowing me off, you know. So I went to Luis this morning to see if he could help me figure it out, since he took that forensics seminar last summer. He said he’d think about it and let me know tonight. Then I went and got ready for school. When I came down to get something for breakfast I found him like that!”

  “Sara, this is very important, did you go into the kitchen any further than the doorway? Did you touch anything other than the phone?” the officer asked.

  No, I stopped dead. I stood there for what felt like hours before I remembered that I should call 911.”

  “Ok, one last question. Was there a burning candle on the table when you were talking to Luis?”

  “I don’t think so; I don’t think we even have candles in the house. Dad say’s they are a fire hazard.” Sara tried to think, had that candle been there? She really didn’t think so, but her memory was beginning to blur and all she could see was Luis face down in his food, stabbed and bleeding.

  “Sara, you did great. That is all for now. We may have some more questions after we process some of the evidence. In the mean time I will let your father know you’re ready” Officer Thompson got up and went into the kitchen, leaving Sara sitting on the couch.

  Chapter 3

  Sara sat on the couch waiting for her dad to come into the room. As she sat there she began to cry for the first time. She couldn’t believe that in what felt like the blink of an eye she had lost her brother. She thought about that morning’s events. Could it be her fault? Could this have to do with her asking him for help? And why hadn’t she heard anything? She was just upstairs, and she didn’t even hear him scream. The officer had never asked if she had heard anything. Should she go into the kitchen and tell Officer Thompson that she didn’t hear anything and how she thought that was so weird?

  She decided not to say anything. After all, the fact that she didn’t hear anything might make her look like a suspect in the eyes of the officer. Plus she didn’t think she could go into the kitchen, at least not for a good long while. She would talk to her dad about it. She was sure that he would listen to her now, he just had to. She waited, and waited. Her dad never came back into the living room. She decided to go upstairs and put her backpack into her room so that she wasn’t carrying it around, after all she didn’t need it.

  She walked into her room and went over to her desk. As she took her backpack off, she was aware that there was something on the mirror of her vanity. She set her backpack on the desk and walked over to the mirror. As she looked at the mirror all she could do was stand there screaming. That scream brought her father and 3 other officers, including Thompson, running into her room.

  She backed away from the mirror to let the officers see what it was. On the mirror, in what looked suspiciously like blood, was a message. It read, “Did you see me this time?” Sara was standing there, staring back and forth from her father to the message. He looked at her and asked the other officers to excuse him while he took her back downstairs.

  “Sara, come on.” He said as he led her down the stairs and back into the living room. “Did you write that on your mirror?” he asked once they were sitting back on the couch.

  “Of course not! How could you think I did that? Besides it looked like it was in blood, how could I have written it in blood? How could you think I had anything to do with any of this?””

  “Sara, I have to ask because it’s your room. This is very troubling though. It means that the suspect was still in the house when you came downstairs. They could have hidden anywhere waiting for you to leave your room. We need to figure this all out, but right now I want you out of this house. School should be out now, do you want to go to Carey’s?”

  Sara didn’t even realize it was so late. How long had she stood there before making that 911 call? How long had passed since then? She couldn’t even remember, where had the time gone? She decided that her dad was right; she needed to get out of the house. She agreed to go to Carey’s. Before leaving, her dad called Carey’s mom to let her know what was going on and that Sara was coming over. Sara thought, that has to be the hardest call to make, then realized that her mom still wasn’t home. Had anyone told her what had happened? Where was she?

  Once they were in the car, Sara thought she had the perfect time to talk to her dad. “Daddy, has anyone talked to mom yet?”

  “Yes, I went straight to the school and informed her once I got the call. That was why I was later than the other officers. I can’t work the scene since I’m personally involved, and I didn’t want to be in the way while they did what had to be done. Your mom didn’t want to come into the house just yet so she went to the church to talk to Pastor Daniel.”

  “Oh, ok... Why didn’t I hear anything? I know I was in the shower, but I still should have heard Luis scream when he was attacked. Shouldn’t I?”

  “You should have, but he didn’t scream honey.”

  “Wait, how do you know that?” Sara was thoroughly confused.

  “We know because whoever attacked him cut his throat first. We could tell by the blood spatter. He couldn’t have screamed. All those stab wounds you saw were done after. It was overkill, total overkill.” Sheriff Wood sounded thoroughly exhausted.

  Sara sat back thinking about all her dad had told her. Should she bring up the fact that she was followed the night before, that she had asked Luis to help her investigate who it could have been only a short time before he was killed? Somehow she didn’t think it was the right time. But when would be the right time? She decided to wait, at least until her father had a chance to rest and get through this a bit. She was silent for the rest of the drive to Carey’s house, and so was her father.

  *********

  Once they pulled up to Carey’s house Sara got out. She looked back into the car to tell her dad bye and realized she couldn’t. She didn’t even tell Luis bye, what if she told her dad bye and lost him too. Instead she leaned into the car and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you daddy” she said as she closed the door and turned to go to Carey’s mom, Janice, who was standing in the doorway.

  “Oh Sara”, said Janice, “I am so sorry honey! Come on in the house and get settled in. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

  “No, I don’t think I can stomach anything. Thank you though. Is Carey home yet?” Sara asked.

  “Not yet, she should be home any minuet. Why don’t you go into her room and lie down. I’ll make something for you girls to eat. I know you said you don’t want anything but you need to eat.”

  Sara couldn’t speak. She just nodded her head and went up to Carey’s room. She lay down on the bed and really began to cry. There was no point in holding it in anymore, and soon Carey would be home and she would be able to talk to her about everything. The things she knew she couldn’t talk to anyone else about because it wasn’t the right time. How she was followed, and then lost her brother. How she felt it was all connected, and didn’t know if she would ever be able to accept that Luis might have been killed because of her. No these things she couldn’t talk to anyone else about, but Carey was her best friend. Carey would listen and understand. Carey wouldn’t judge, and that was what she needed right now.

  Chapter 4

  Sara didn’t remember falling asleep. When she woke up it was dark outside, although she didn’t know what time it was. She looked around and noticed that someone had put her things up for her and made sure she was covered. She didn’t see Carey though, and this fright
ened her. Getting up she decided that she needed to make sure everyone was ok, and find something to eat as her stomach as hurting. After all she hadn’t eaten anything since supper the night before last.

  Sara went down the stairs into the living room. She heard sounds from the kitchen and figured that it was still early enough that Carey and Janice might still be awake. She started to walk into the kitchen when she heard her dad’s voice. He was there talking to Janice.

  “… just doesn’t make any sense”, he was saying “Who would have wanted to hurt Luis? He was a good kid, got good grades, wasn’t in any kind of trouble. I just can’t figure it out.”

  “I know Dave, and you probably won’t make sense of it even after the guy is found. How is Anna doing with this?”

  “She is at the hotel; she refused to even go into the house to get clothes. I had to get everything for both of us. She won’t even talk to me. Can’t say I blame her though, our only son is murdered in our own home while our daughter is upstairs and vulnerable. We’re lucky we didn’t lose them both! And I’m the sheriff, I’m supposed to protect this town and I can’t even protect my family” he sounded strange, as if he were trying to hold back tears.

  “And you’re sure this doesn’t have anything to do with someone you may have put away? I mean someone could have come after your family to get to you!”

  “I’ve thought about that, and the deputies are running through all my old files. I’ve also been wondering if this has anything to do with Sara believing she was followed the other night. If I’d just listened to her…maybe…” he trailed off.

  Sara couldn’t just stand there and listen anymore. She opened up the door and walked into the room. “Daddy”, she said, “it’s not your fault!”

  “Sara! How long have you been standing there sweetheart?” Janice asked as she jumped up from the table. She went to the counter and began to fix something for Sara to eat.