Dual Harvest

by Lori Michelle

  He wasn’t sure where to go next with his questioning. For the first time in his career, he had a serial killer sitting in front of him admitting to everything freely. It scared him a bit, especially since he knew her on such an intimate level. But it served to remind him that he really didn’t know her at all. He felt as if he was asking her the same things over and over again, but it was necessary to make sure that Joe got it all on tape and in writing.

  “You have a very interesting tale you’re telling me,” David said.

  “Thanks,” she said brightly, as if he had just told her that she was the winner of the Miss Congeniality contest. It didn’t seem to faze her that she was admitting to being the Harvester Killer. Such realities seemed not to register in her mind.

  “Let’s move on to the foursome,” David said sitting back and crossing his legs. “Tell me about them and why you took what you did.”

  “Oooh,” Amber said, her eyes growing wide, “I had so much fun with the four of them. First they all danced with me. They were pretty decent dancers. They were all smart and funny in their own individual ways. I haven’t had such a good time in what seems like forever.”

  “Why did you kill them then?” David asked.

  “They’re men,” Amber stated seriously, “and men who thought they controlled everything. Men who were looking for a good time, and nothing more. Haven’t you figured that out yet? Are you not listening to a word I’m saying?” She slammed her hands down on the table in front of her.

  “I’m beginning to see a pattern,” David said under his breath. “Let’s take them each individually, ok?”

  “Ok,” Amber said, becoming her bouncy self again. “Ask away.”

  “John Richardson,” David said consulting the notes in front of him.

  “John was the sexiest one in the bunch,” Amber said wrinkling her nose as if she was trying to recollect the evening and the men that she had killed. “He was the best dancer, and he had the most gorgeous eyes. But he was also the most arrogant of the bunch. You could tell that he was used to picking women up at bars. I couldn’t let him run loose to pick up and hurt anyone else. Besides, his name was John.”

  “And you took his eyes because … ?”

  “I didn’t want him looking at another woman like she was a piece of meat. Women are more than objects to be used. Besides, I told you already, he had the most gorgeous eyes.” It was eerie to watch Amber go from being deep and cold to being peppy and sweet.

  David cleared his throat. It was finally starting to sink in that he would never have Amber again to hold. He would never again smell her unique scent. He would never be able to make sweet passionate love to her. In front of him, he watched as his chances of a happy relationship died. He then knew a deeper sadness than he had felt before. It was different before he had anyone, but since Amber had touched his life, he knew that he would never be the same.

  David tried to keep from filling up with tears as he continued questioning this woman in front of him. “Tell me about Gary Elrod,” he managed to choke out.

  “Gary was a talker.” Amber started. “He liked to talk just to hear his own voice. He had a nice smile though. But he had to go. Too many lies passed through his soft lips. Too many lies for him to tell women. He didn’t deserve the beautiful smile that he had been given, so I took it from him.”

  David had never heard such twisted fucked up logic before in his life. But in Amber’s mind, all of the homicides were justified. It was just like any other monster. They never believed they were wrong; they were always in the right. They also usually had a strict set of guidelines they followed to a tee. With Amber, she held the delusion that all men were pigs and tried to control women. Therefore, they deserved to die. And if you listened to her reasoning, it almost made sense. But that was like saying the earth existed so the moon had something to revolve around. It just was wrong.

  “What about Adrian Russell?” David got out in a hoarse whisper. He knew he needed to sum up questioning soon before he lost his resolve. It was hard enough to interrogate the woman of his dreams, but to him the horror coming from her beautiful mouth was almost too much to bear.

  “Adrian was really sweet. He was a good listener, hung on to every word I said. I wasn’t really wanting to kill him, but he had to go.”

  “Why is that Amber? Why did he have to be killed?”

  “He was self conscious about who he was. He knew that he was a little overweight and he hid behind it. He would never have been a good man for anyone. He couldn’t be strong enough to take care of anyone. He would have been weak.”

  “And his ears?”

  “His ears were the most perfect part of him. They listened to me, really listened. I knew they had to be mine forever.”

  David sat with his head in his hands for a few minutes. This was almost too much for him to understand and handle. He knew that he had to finish asking her, but it was becoming harder and harder to get the questions out.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me about Adam?” she asked brightly. If anyone just heard the tone in her voice, they would assume that she was talking about buying a new outfit.

  David looked at her, and sighed. “Yes Amber, please tell me about Adam Moore.”

  “Adam was a good one, at first,” Amber started, letting her eyes close as she remembered the events of the evening. “He was a bit shy, and very reluctant to join in on the fun. At first he didn’t even want to dance. But after a little cajoling he soon came around. He was very sweet.”

  “So then, you didn’t have your way with him?” David asked.

  “Oh no, I did. He was very hard to convince, believe me. He told me that he didn’t want to cheat on his wife. But like every other man, he couldn’t control himself long enough to make it through. He had to have me, and he was a very gentle lover.”

  “Amber,” David interrupted. “Why did you take his right hand?”

  “Well,” Amber said. “He was really reluctant to join in at first. He was the first man I had ever had that had been concerned for his wife. I figured there must be some hope for him. I wanted both of his hands since they were so wonderful in their touch. But I only took his right hand. The left one belonged to his wife.”

  “Did you leave Adam in a suggestive pose to make a statement?”

  “Yes,” Amber said as she turned to gaze at David directly in the eyes. “It was my way of telling the world that he had fucked up his marriage. He had potential for being a decent man and he screwed that up by acting like every other man in the world. It’s pretty pathetic, really.”

  David closed his eyes for a minute to let his mind wander. He began to wonder how he had managed to make it out of his relationship with her alive. It seemed like every other man she had met became corpse material soon after. He had one more killing to ask her about. Well at least one more killing that he knew of.

  He opened his eyes and stood up. He walked the room for a minute then turned to look at her. “Did you meet up with Ted Paulson?”

  “I did and it isn’t something I am proud of,” Amber said hanging her head.

  David looked at her in puzzlement. “You mean to tell me you murdered nine men, had sex with all of them beforehand except for one, had an orgy with four, and you’re not proud of meeting up with Ted Paulson?”

  “Yeah,” Amber said. “I am not sure what I was thinking when I went with him. He seemed like easy prey and I was just needing someone to keep me occupied. He wasn’t the type I usually went for.”

  “And what type is that Amber?”

  “Rich.” Amber bit back easily. “It’s just as easy to put a rich man in his place as a poor man. I knew that Ted didn’t have much, but I still needed to control him. Seems like more rich men need to be put in their place. You know what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” David agreed, even though he really didn’t know exactly what she was talking about. How could he? The girl’s logic was as twisted as a pretzel. “So why his liver?”

  Amber shrugg
ed. “Nothing stood out to me. About the only thing I remembered was the fact that he told me he didn’t drink much. I figured that his liver would be in really good condition. So that’s what I dug out and took. I didn’t know there was so much blood in a person’s abdomen. I couldn’t very well just leave him dead completely intact, could I? It would be like hunting a deer and letting the carcass go to waste.”

  David shook his head at the apparent innocence of her statement. She was so sweet and naïve in some of the things she was saying, but so devious and calculated in what she had done. He knew that she needed mental help. He was going to make sure that she was locked up in the mental asylum rather than being sent to prison. He really felt for this girl, even if she was completely bat shit insane.

  “Amber can you tell me about the female body in your closet?”

  “Yeah.” Amber’s eyes started to tear. It was the first time she had looked saddened by what she had done. “It’s Melanie, the bartendress from the Fluff n’ Stuff. She was starting to get too close and know too much. She knew my name, she knew where I lived and she knew about the stuff in my closet. Then when I found out you pigs had been questioning the Fluff n’ Stuff staff about Carl Olberman, I knew that she might put two and two together. Who am I kidding, might? Of course she would. She wasn’t an idiot. She was beautiful … and you made me kill her. YOU made me break my rule and kill Melanie.”

  David looked at the crying girl in front of him. He felt so helpless. He wanted to love her, but he knew it could never be. He wanted to tell her that everything would be ok, but he also knew that would never happen.

  He knew that he had one more question to ask about the case. Of course, he had tons of more questions, but only one more left for this particular interviewing trial. The rest could wait for a later date, once David had had time to come to peace with the situation, as crazy as it was. “Amber, I have to ask you one more thing. Why were you collecting the body pieces of the men you had killed?”

  Amber looked up at him, all trace of tears virtually gone. Her eyes were clearer and sparkling and David knew that she didn’t think what she had done was wrong, legally or morally. When did they ever?

  “I was saving them,” she replied innocently. “I was going to use them to build the perfect man. One with wonderful features and who never used women. One that I could control. The perfect man. I knew that since there wasn’t one out there, I would have to build him myself. Piece by piece.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  David looked at Joe. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to give Amber any sort of amnesty. But he could at least make sure that she was kept out of prison. He still loved her, he realized watching her. It was pitiful he knew, but he still wanted to take care of the woman sitting in front of him.

  “Amber would you excuse Joe and I?” he asked her. “We have to go get the papers for Lila’s release.”

  “Sure,” she said buoyantly, bouncing her top leg again. “So you’re going to let her go?”

  “She isn’t going to go to prison,” David assured her.

  David motioned for Joe to meet him outside. The two men left the room and made sure the door was secure. They went into the observation room that was right next door.

  “Dude, that girl needs some serious help,” Joe told David. “That’s like Mary Shelley’s biggest fucking fan in there.”

  “I know,” David sighed. “I’m surprised that she admitted to all of the killings. But you can tell that in her mind, she’s done the right moral thing.”

  “I know,” Joe said. “And that makes her even more sick and twisted. What do you want to do next?”

  “I think we should call the state hospital,” David said thoughtfully. “We have to keep her out of the prison system, even though she killed all those men. She needs mental help, because I don’t think that any sane person would understand her logic.”

  “You still feel for her, don’t you?”

  David hung his head in shame. He took a deep breath and looked Joe square in the eyes. “Yeah,” he admitted. “There’s something about her that makes me want to take care of her. Just my luck, I finally find the woman of my dreams, and she turns out to be a psycho man killer.”

  “I’m sorry,” Joe said touching him in the arm. “But it does say something about your taste in women.”

  “Ha ha,” David said, “very funny.”

  “Hey man,” Joe said. “I am serious about being sorry. I’m just trying to lighten the mood. She is beautiful and obviously very intelligent. And it seems like she has had a very rough past. I could see how you could totally fall in love with her. I am just thankful that you weren’t one of her victims.”

  David looked at Joe quickly. “You think she would have killed me?”

  “I dunno,” Joe said. “I am just glad that she didn’t. Whether it was because she liked you, or because she didn’t have the chance, I am happy to still have you alive and as my partner. After all, who else is going to buy me my big bacon platter? That gets expensive after awhile, man.”

  David sighed, “Will you go call the state hospital for me? I don’t think I should be the one to officially book her. I am too close to the situation.”

  “Sure,” Joe said and left the room.

  David sat thinking about the situation that had unfolded over the past couple of hours. He should be elated that he had solved the Harvester case without even having jurisdiction over it. He knew this would help him with his Internal Affairs problem, as well as ensure that his job was secure. Plus it would be like giving Rosetti the middle finger. But instead he felt a loss. He felt saddened by the fact that he didn’t feel he could trust his instinct anymore. He had been completely blindsided by Amber.

  He was dying to go back into the room and ask her if she had thought about killing him. And if so, what stopped her from doing it. But he knew that he couldn’t go in there without Joe. If anything went wrong, he would lose his job, and the case would be lost completely. So he waited until Joe had come back.

  Joe returned and David looked up at him. “I know it doesn’t follow protocol,” he began, “but I have to ask Amber one more question.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Joe said. “If you didn’t want to ask her, I would be more worried.”

  Joe unhooked the camera from the side, so that what David said to Amber wouldn’t be recorded. He knew it was something personal for David and that it didn’t relate at all to the case. He also knew that the District Attorney would have a field day if they found out that David and Amber actually had a relationship. Especially considering that the case really belonged to a different detective.

  “Ok, you want to do this alone, or do you want me in there?” Joe asked David.

  “I’m a little afraid of how I might react, so please come with me,” David said, in a show of unusual unease. Normally David was very sure of himself, and didn’t mind doing things on his own.

  They went into the room, and Amber smiled up at them, “When does Lila get to go?”

  “Just have to wait for the papers to be processed,” he told her. “Amber, I have one more question to ask you.”

  She looked a little puzzled, “Ok, I thought I had answered all of your questions. I just want Lila to be set free.”

  “I promise that Lila won’t go to jail,” David told her. “But this is a personal question.”

  “Ok, ask away.”

  “Amber, did you ever think about killing me?” he asked, with concern in his voice.

  She looked up at him and he could see that the cold-hearted bitch was back. “I was going to that first night we met, but I never got a chance to drug you. Then something happened when we were in the bedroom.”

  “And what was that?”

  She looked at him square in the eye. “You made me cum,” she answered coldly. “I lost control. And it surprised me. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I fled. I thought maybe you were different than the other guys I had been with. But then Lila told me you were asking que
stions about Carl’s death. I knew then that you had lied to me about what you did for a living. You lied, just like every other guy. So I knew then that you had to be taught a lesson. I went back to your apartment with the intention of drugging you and killing you once again. I slipped the drugs in your drink, but they got switched and I ended up with the tainted glass. Then you made me orgasm again. You’re the only man to make me do that. When I woke up, I dragged myself to my house and passed out, but I knew that there was something different about you. Why were you able to make me feel like a woman, when no other man could do the same? I knew that I had to find out more about you and why you made me feel different. Maybe there is hope for men after all.”

  David took a deep swallow, starting to realize how close to death he had come. He felt as if he’d just stepped off a rollercoaster. “Amber, what part of me would you have taken?”

  “Your heart,” she answered quickly and evenly. “There must be something special about you to make me feel different. And the only man that might have a working heart.”

  “Amber,” David said softly, closing his eyes to what she might say next. “Tell me about the accident you had three years ago.”

  “I was late with dinner,” Amber started. “That’s what his excuse was that time. Before it was he didn’t like the way I was dressed, he didn’t like my hairstyle, he didn’t like the way I had cleaned the house, he didn’t like the way I talked to the newspaper boy, any reason at all was good enough for him to hit me. But this time was different. He normally used his hands and feet to punch and kick the shit out of me. This time, he brought out the bat. He had it in case of a burglar,” Amber explained, smirking depressingly. “I guess I was just target practice, huh?”

  Joe and David exchanged glances. They both knew that there wasn’t enough police involvement in domestic violence.

  Amber continued. “He hit me hard in the back, and then in the chest. I knew that he had broken my ribs because it became so hard for me to breathe. Then he did the unthinkable and he hit me in the abdomen. I was eight weeks pregnant at the time. I lost the baby. That asshole didn’t even care that he was killing his own child. He was a monster. All of them, monsters.”