by K. J. Dahlen
Sable Quinn Trilogy
K. J. Dahlen
Published by Rogue Phoenix Press
Copyright © 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62420-255-1
Electronic rights reserved by Rogue Phoenix Press, all other rights reserved by the author. The reproduction or other use of any part of this publication without the prior written consent of the rights holder is an infringement of the copyright law. This is a work of fiction. People and locations, even those with real names, have been fictionalized for the purposes of this story.
The Darkness Within
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Legacy of Murder
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
The Unknown Son
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
The Darkness Within
Chapter One
I am just a simple man, living the American dream;
I might be just like you except for the fact that
I am also a serial killer. At first I hated that part of myself, I tried to deny the truth for a long time but I couldn’t deny the excitement that I felt when I began hunting an innocent woman only to end her life. The more I hunted the better I became at hiding from the world my dark secret. Over the years I began to crave the rush I got when the raging beast inside me reared its ugly head. The obsession grew until all I could think about was the next kill, the next young woman whose life I would cut short.
Sable’s hand gripped the pages of what she had just read as she looked up at her boss. “Nick,” she wet her parched lips with the tip of her tongue.
Nick glanced over at her and frowned. Sable’s face was pale and there was a quickness to her breathing that wasn’t normal. “What is it?”
Sable held out the pages to him and sat down at her desk carefully. She put her hands to either side of her head and slowly closed her eyes against the shock she felt. She rubbed her aching temples in an effort to calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the plain manila envelope lying on her desk. The envelope had her full first name Sabella scrawled in ink on the outside of it. This was the envelope she had opened moments ago. Sable frowned as she reread the name on the front of the envelope. It wasn’t a name she used and no one other than her mother ever called her by that name.
Sable opened her desk drawer and pulled out a large clear plastic bag and carefully tucked the envelope inside. Looking up she saw concern on the faces in front of her. Without saying a word she handed the envelope to her boss, Nicholas Ramer.
Nick glanced at the envelope and compared the writing to that of the letters. Sable’s name was written by the same hand as the pages. He was surprised to find there was no return address on the envelope, and it hadn’t been run through the post office. It had been hand delivered. “What the hell? How did this get in here undetected?”
Nick looked over at the other members of his team and handed the envelope to Quentin Parks. “Run this over to fingerprinting and see who besides us has handled it.”
Nick glanced at Brandi Nichols. “Get a board in here and set it up with the pages. Let’s get a handle on what exactly we’re dealing with.”
He looked over at Max. “See if you can find anything on the surveillance tapes from last night. I don’t like the fact that this guy just walked into our offices without being stopped along the way. This is supposed to be a secure FBI office.”
Max nodded and left the room.
Nick pulled a chair up beside Sable and sat down. “Do you know anything about the pages? How they got into the office or who wrote them?”
“No,” Sable replied. “I found the envelope sitting on my desk and I opened it. I guess I really didn’t think about it.” She looked at Nick and had to ask, “What’s going on here?”
Nick shrugged. “That’s one of the things we need to find out. We also need to find out if this is real or a hoax; and if it is a hoax, we still need to find out who is responsible. I’m not sure I like the fact that someone can just walk in here off the streets and leave a package on one of our desks then walk out again undetected. If it's real, we need to find out who this killer is and how to stop him.” He stood up and held out his hand to her, “Let’s find out what this guy has to say. Let’s do our job and get him off the streets.”
Sable nodded and gripped Nick’s hand. Following him over to the board Brandy set up, she took the time to read each of the seven pages the killer had sent to her.
“They seem to be pages of a diary.” Sable spoke out loud. “The writing seems to suggest that the killer is writing down his feelings and experiences so as not to forget them. Much the same as a young girl would write down what she feels is important. I think this is definitely for real.”
Brandi shook her head. “I can think of other things to write about than that trash.” She pointed to the letters. “But I don’t think his motive was so he wouldn’t forget his feelings, but more so that he could relive what he’d done when he reread his own words.”
Sable turned her attention back to the letters. “I wonder how old these pages are.”
“What difference would that make?” Max asked.
“It might make a difference in how many victims we have to look up,” Sable said quietly, as she continued to read the pages.
Nick watched her expression change. “What’s the matter?”
Sable looked up at him. “I think this bastard has been around for awhile.”
“What makes you say that?” he wanted to know.
“The pages are yellowed with age and some of his expressions are things that just aren’t said these days.” She pointed out something on the second page. “See here, our author thinks it's cool to hunt down a living human being. How long has it been since cool was used in everyday expressions?”
She walked over and stood in front of page four. “And over here he’s so jazzed about the thrill of the killing.” Sable shook her head. “I think these pages were written about twenty years ago, maybe even longer.”
“I think you’re right. What else do they tell you?” Nick asked the group.
“He’s been killing long enough to become very skilled at his craft. He’s a very organized hunter by now, in both the hunting and hiding his prey when he’s done,” Sable told them.
“How do you figure that?” Nick frowned as he looked over the pages.
“If he wasn’t, we would have known about him long before now,” Sable concluded.
“Maybe he hasn’t wanted to be found before now,” Brandi suggested.
“But why now and why did he leave the pages on Sable’s desk?” Nick wondered out loud.
Nick looked at the others and said, “Let’s see what else we can find out about our mystery man.”
At the end of the day everyone was tired and more than a little frustrated as they gathered in the conference room to review. Nick sighed deeply before asking, “Well people, what did we find out about our mystery man today?”
“That he’s still a mystery man,” Max replied. As he threw down a photograph he said, “This is the only person on the surveillance tapes that doesn’t belong, but as you can see his face is hidden.”
Nick picked up the photo and shook his head. All it showed was a blurry image at best and there was no way to clearly see his face. He wore a hat with the brim pulled down and the collar of his jacket was pulled up. He threw the photo back on the table and looked at them. “Is there anything else?”
“I ran the fingerprint we found on the envelope through the system and found the same print in at least three different crime scenes. One of them was an unsolved murder from 15 years ago in Seattle,” Quentin acknowledged. “The other two were Phoenix two years ago and San Antonio five years ago.”
“That means he likes to move around. That’s going to make him that much harder to find.” Nick said.
Brandi sat back in her chair and looked hard at Sable. “That may not be the case.” She spoke quietly.
“What does that mean?” Nick asked as he looked from one to the other.
“I mean, what if he wants to be found, and this is his way of letting us know he’s here. He has to know this is a law enforcement office. It says so on the front door. He had to have a reason to come in here.” Brandi spoke out loud.
“What does that have to do with Sable though?” Max wanted to know.
Brandi shrugged her shoulders. “We’re not dealing with a stupid man. He’s organized and very intelligent. He reached out to her for a reason. We just have to figure out what his reason was.”
“I’m wondering how this guy knew my real name.” Sable drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “I mean it’s not the one I use everyday, in fact I’m not even sure if it is my real name.”
“What do you mean by that?” Brandi asked.
Sable inhaled a deep breath. The story of her past was more than a little strange; most people would have a problem understanding it. It was something she didn’t like to share with everyone, but she knew her coworkers needed to hear it.
“I was found wandering the street down by the Navy Pier when I was around four years old, at least that’s how old it was determined I was. People said I’d been down there for days before anyone alerted the authorities. By then I was in a state of shock and didn’t speak to anyone for almost a year. Everyone called me Sabella because of a tattoo I have on my shoulder,” Sable paused to roll her shirt sleeve up to show them the tattoo. “No one knew if it was my real name or someone else’s name.”
“What happened next?” Brandi asked.
Sable shrugged. “When I was released from the hospital, I was put in the foster system and eventually I was adopted by a family. I took their last name but I was never able to find out who I really was. Grace and Gene Quinn became my family.”
“Maybe this is a long lost relative,” Max teased.
“Maybe this is a killer looking for yet another target,” Nick reminded them. The same thought Max spoke of had entered his mind as well. Sable looked at him and Nick could see the worry in her eyes. He hesitated but he had to ask, “Do you have any memories of the time before you were adopted?”
Sable straightened, squaring her shoulders. “I think the doctors told Grace and Gene that sometimes the brain shuts off the bad memories. The more you push to regain them the deeper they go. They were worried about my past too, only I think they wanted to protect me from the monsters.”
“Maybe we should call it a day and get a fresh start in the morning,” Brandi suggested.
“Perhaps tomorrow we’ll find something we missed today to help us find this guy.” Nick watched as everyone began gathering their stuff before he walked over to Sable. “I don’t think you should stay at home tonight.”
Sable frowned, “What do you mean?”
“If this guy is after you, you can bet he knows where you live. He’s already found where you work,” Nick reminded her.
“I won’t let him run me out of my own home. If I give into the fear, I’m giving him the power and I won’t do that.” Sable said.
Nick could see the determination in the set of her jaw. He knew he wouldn’t win this battle. “Ok, but at the first sign of trouble you call one of us and we’ll be there for you.”
Sable nodded. If only she was as sure as she let them believe she was, maybe the knot in her stomach wouldn't hurt so much.
Chapter Two
Sable lay in bed later that night waiting for sleep to come. Her mind was busy replaying the events of the day and try as she might she couldn’t make it stop. She couldn’t help but wonder who he was or why he had picked her. What did he want? Was he going to try to murder her or did he really want her to find him? He had to know what she did for a living. Brandi had pointed out earlier he had to have seen the signs on the door that proclaimed her to be an officer of law enforcement. She glanced at the bedside clock and was surprised to find it was only 11:30. It seemed much later than that.
She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. She didn’t realize she had drifted off until the phone rang. Sable groaned at the intrusion and reached out to answer it. “Hello?” she whispered into the mouthpiece.
“Did I wake you, Sabella?” a voice she didn’t recognize whispered back.
Sable frowned and sat up. Snapping on the bedside lamp she glanced at the alarm clock and noted the time. It was close to 3 a.m. “Who is this?” she murmured.
“I think you know who I am,” The voice told her.
“What do you want?” Sable asked as she gripped the phone. She could feel the fear and panic growing inside her, but she knew she couldn’t give into it or she would be lost.
She heard him hesitate before he announced, “I got tired of playing the same old game and decided I needed a new and exciting challenge.”
“What game?” Sable wanted to know.
“I think you know very well which game I’m referring to.”
“Spell it out for me so there is no mistake.”
He chuckled softly. “Okay, for the sake of clarification, let me make myself very clear. Not only is my own life at stake but now so is yours.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
He chuckled again. “No not a threat, more like a promise, if you will. But as I have an advantage…”
“What advantage?” Sable asked.
“I have to let you know that I’ve been watching you for the last few weeks, and I’ll bet you didn’t know I was even there, did you?” He taunted her. “You didn’t notice me at all.”
“You sound like that’s something to be proud of. Is that part of your M.O., following your victims for awhile to learn what you can by learning their movements?” Sable asked, trying to keep her mind on the task as she felt panic welling up inside her.
“Perhaps…” he told her quietly. “Do you know how hard it is to go undetected by someone you don’t want to know that you’re there? It’s harder than you think.”
“Why did you choose to come after me?”
He hesitated then told her bluntly, “Why not you? What makes you think you’re special? You are just one of a million women I could have singled out.”
“What do you mean singled out?” Sable was curious.
“Most of my victims, if not all of them, have left me wanting…” He began.
“Wanting? Wanting what?” She interrupted.
“I think I’m to the point of wanting more of a challenge. The element of risk behind the hunt has grown stale.”
“How many women have you killed over the yea
rs?” Sable asked her pulse racing.
“Why does that matter to you?”
“I was just wondering if it ever bothered you. The act of killing another human being would bother most people.”
He snorted. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not like most people. Oh, by the way, just so you know, the act of killing another human being doesn’t
bother me at all. I don’t get a sexual thrill from the act of killing them either. I wouldn’t want you to get that impression.”
“Then why do you kill?”
“I wish I knew. I’ve always had this beast inside me, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Then one day I cut myself and when I saw the blood running down my arm, it sparked something deep inside and suddenly I knew how to quiet the lust growing inside my head. It doesn’t make any sense I know but that’s how it began for me.”
“That makes you one very sick individual.”
“Perhaps. Do you think I’m the only one that has these feelings? Do you think that I am the only one that kills for the sake of ending someone else’s life?” He paused. “Look around you lady. This whole world is sick. More and more people are giving into the basic urge, sometimes to just feel some emotion other than despair.”
“Don’t try to justify what you do. Most people are decent law abiding people.” She couldn’t stand the way this conversation was going or the man on the other end of the phone line. She wanted to hang up but there was one more thing she had to know. “Why did you leave the pages where you knew I would find them? Didn’t you realize that I work with the FBI?”
He chuckled. “Of course I knew. That’s all part of the game.”
Sable gripped the phone. “You mentioned this game before. What kind of game are you playing?”
“One where you find me before I get bored and go on the hunt. You work with four other people. Anyone of you can be my next target. That means only I know which of you will die.” He paused and then told her, “The clock is ticking and you never know when it will stop. Tick tock, tick tock.”