by Terry Hayden
Fall and Winter came and went with no leads in the waterfront murders. It was as if the killer had vanished into thin air. As quickly as the murders began, they abruptly stopped. There were plenty of other stories to keep the newspapers occupied, so the murders were hardly ever mentioned at all. The police were relieved that the murders had stopped but they were still unsolved and the cases were very much open. They finally decided that the killer had moved on, or died, or was locked up for other crimes and misdemeanors. But for whatever the reason, at least the pressure was taken off of them to find the maniac. The files remained open but the undercover activity on the waterfront was gradually stopped.
William was not faring so well. His nerves were onedge and he was almost to the point of having to leave the city. The self destructive feeling had returned to haunt him, and the worst part of the entire ordeal was that he knew exactly what would make him feel better. The tool that gave him so much power that was hidden in the trunk along with his trophies, was all that he needed. He yearned to feel it in his hand and in his pocket, where it belonged. He began to test the waters on a gradual basis. He bought a new pair of high top boots that would easily accommodate a pistol. He could conceal it inside either of the boots and walk around with a grand persona. No one was aware of his secret, but the people who he had to deal with on a daily basis were very aware of the changes in his attitude and temperament. He became cocky and arrogant almost to the point of becoming obnoxious. His shy insecure manner was gone.
The Sunday night outings resumed shortly after he bought the boots. He was not so bold as to venture back to the piers, but he did scout out a bar or two. He almost walked into the OFFSHORE bar, but a suspicious look from a man about to enter the front door quickly changed his mind. When the man saw the bar’s owner, he told him that a character outside the bar looked strangely familiar, but he could not for the life of him remember where he had seen that face before. Only a few months earlier the same man assured everyone at the bar that he could identify the face of the man who left with Drew on that fateful Sunday night that Drew disappeared into the dark waters of the Atlantic ocean.
************
At no time during the time that William had lived in Wilmington had he shown any interest in female companionship. Whether his lack of interest was due to the bad experiences in Wilmington or his newly acquired interest in the gun, or even a combination of the two, was somewhat of a mystery. But for whatever the exact reason, he was content to be on his own. His whole life revolved around his work and his late night adventures with the gun.
His gun was his sexual organ, and after three murders and his temporary hiatus to avoid capture from the police, work was his only sustenance. There were times when the opportunity arose for him to socialize, but he always let the opportunity pass without consideration.
In his dreams his gun was a partner to his penis. The two objects were interchangeable in his wildest fantasies that happened many times when he went to sleep. His dreaded nightmares had been replaced with dreams of big adventures, where he was the hero, or the villain, or in any case, he was the star. The gun would make him a star. He would awaken after the gun had exploded, and he would have to clean himself up before he could go back to sleep.
With Spring came a renewed interest in things besides his job, his room at the boarding house, and his fantasy adventures with the gun. The weather began to draw him outdoors and back to the ocean that he loved. The warm weather also drew hordes of newcomers to the city, looking for work. Jobs were plentiful around the shipyards because of the uneasy situation in Europe as well as the rest of the world, and German aggression was the primary cause of the uneasiness.
William had become keenly interested in the news, especially since the stories about his big adventures had appeared in the newspaper what seemed to him to be ages ago. It had not really been that long ago, but he had bought a newspaper everyday for months. He could have talked to anyone about the Nazis and places like Poland and Russia. Of course he would not talk to anyone about anything. He kept his news flashes to himself.
But on one particular Saturday morning he decided to eat breakfast at a cafe’ down the street from his boarding house. He picked up a newspaper to read while he waited for his food. He was so engrossed in the paper that he failed to notice the new waitress that was working on that sunny morning. He had become so used to seeing the same old middle-aged lady every time that he ate at the cafe’, that the soft voice and pleasant smile of the new girlcompletely caught him off guard. He lost his place in the newspaper and almost spilled his water.
The nametag on her smock spelled ‘Mona’. Mona, he thought, was a very good name for a waitress. When he ever so softly pronounced her name, his face automatically wanted to smile just a little. Smiling in public, or private, or anywhere for that matter, was something that he just did not do.
“Are you ready to order sir?” she asked with a bashful southern drawl.
It was the same familiar southern dialect that he was used to hearing, but it sounded so silky and delicate when she spoke the words.
“Yes ma’am.” he replied. “I’ll have the special, eggs over easy, and coffee, please.”
“Thank you sir.” she answered.
The sound of her voice made him want to melt right into his chair. His mind flashed back to his first grade teacher that he loved so much. He watched Mona walk toward the kitchen. He had to look twice to make sure that her feet were actually touching the floor. He could not concentrate on what he was reading, but he pretended to anyway. Out of the corner of his eye he watched every move that Mona made while she went about her duties.
It seemed like only a few minutes passed before she returned with his food. He was watching her so closely that she noticed. It made her uncomfortable to be so closely scrutinized while she worked.
“Is everything all right? Did I forget to bring you something?” she asked.
“Oh no ma’am.” he replied. “I was just enjoying watching you.”
“My. My.” she said in a bashful but flirtatious manner. “I wish that my husband paid as much attention to me as you do.”
“Well, he’s crazy if he don’t.” William added for extra measure.
“Enjoy your breakfast honey.” she said as she walkedaway.
She was at the next table before he had time to say anything else to her. The words had flowed from her lovely mouth like butter over freshly popped corn. William was so lost in that voice and smile that he did not remember what he had for breakfast. The next time that she came around to his table, she freshened his coffee and left his check.
“Can I get you anything else sir?” she asked coyly.
“No and please call me William.” he replied.
“And I am Mona.” she said just as she realized that he had already read her nametag.
“Its nice to meet you Mona. I think that you will be seeing a lot of me from now on.”
“I hope so.” she added. “We open at five a.m.”
“I’ll be stopping by on my way to work.” he said.
“Where do you work?” she asked.
“On the docks just down the boardwalk.” he replied.
“My husband starts there on Monday morning, first shift. His name is Jack. Look out for him, will you?”
“Sure, I’ll be glad to.” William replied.
All the time he was thinking to himself that Jack had better be the one to look out. He had a sinking suspicion that Jack was going to be in for some rough times ahead.
For the rest of the day on Saturday and all day on Sunday, William kept himself busy, both in and out of his room. He walked to the ocean so many times that he lost count. He walked to the cafe’ on Sunday but it was closed. The sign on the front door read, ‘Sundays are for the Lord’. He wondered if Mona was in church with Jack. For some odd reason he doubted if they w
ere anywhere near a church. He knew that if she was with him, they would be anywhere else but church. But that was a whole different fantasy.
***********
It was easy to find Mona’s Jack on Monday morning. He and William practically worked side by side on the docks. In spite of his promise to Mona, William did absolutely nothing to make Jack’s first day on the job a smoothtransition. If Jack asked William any kind of work related question, William pretended not to know the answer, or would even give Jack the wrong answer. Jack actually thought that William must have been new on the job too. When Mona asked her husband that first night if he met a man named William on the job, he of course replied that he did.
“Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious. He is a customer of mine at the cafe’.” she replied.
“He is really an odd duck.” Jack added. “I don’t think that I am going to like him.”
That was the extent of their conversation about William Hill.
The next morning William returned to the cafe’. He made sure as always that he sat at one of Mona’s tables. When she came to take his order he beamed a smile at her from ear to ear. Of course she had no way of knowing that he had dreamed about her the night before, and also of her ‘late’ husband. She was so sad in his dream because her Jack was killed on his new job. But like a knight in shining armor, William had arrived just in time to brush away her tears and carry her off into the sunset. The dream had been so real that it took him several moments to realize that he had only been asleep. He took the dream to be an omen of things to come. He carried that good feeling with him to the cafe’.
The morning’s conversation was strictly business. It was not that Mona was unfriendly towards him, but she did manage to keep a safe conversational distance from him. He of course suspected that her husband had warned her against talking to him. But William did no care. He had made up his mind to see her as often as he got the chance. He did not see their relationship as businesslike at all. He had been coming to the cafe’ to see her on a social basis. The fact that he had to pay for the privilege of seeing her was not that important. Anyway he always left the cafe’ nourished in both body and spirit.
The closer that William tried to get to Mona, the more distance he tried to maintain from her husband. He even asked his closest supervisor for a transfer from one section of the dock to another, specifically for the purpose. The supervisor refused his strange request.
William was sure that all that he had to do to win Mona’s heart was to see her as often as he could. He would deal with her husband in another way if he had to, but he resolved that one way or the other, she would be his own very soon. Patience was not his strongest virtue however. He ate at the cafe’ every morning. He would have eaten supper there too but the cafe’ closed at five p.m. Mona was never there in late afternoons anyway. She only worked the breakfast and lunch shifts. William found out that bit of information from another waitress. He was sure that Mona would get suspicious if he asked her too many questions. After thinking and dreaming about her for weeks, hedecided to set a plan into motion to have her all of the time.
***********
On that particular Friday morning William ate at the cafe’ as usual. Not so much because of hunger, because he was much too excited to even be hungry. He simply wanted to make sure that Mona was working. He kept his conversation with her short and sweet. She noticed that he was acting somewhat distracted. She thought that he certainly had other things on his mind besides eating. He left the cafe’ without saying his usual goodbye, and she remembered that he had never done that before. She brushed the thought from her mind before he had gotten out of sight of the cafe’.
He was whistling an unrecognizable tune as he walked up on the docks. Jack was already there having one last cigarette before the morning whistle blew that signaled the time for a shift change. Everything had geared up to be a typical work day.
Just before lunch William began complaining about terrible stomach cramps. The supervisor finally gave him his paycheck and told him to go home for the rest of the day.
Since it was Friday anyway, and probably by Monday he would be well again. If the supervisor had only known how good that he really felt, he would have never let him leave his job.
As soon as he cleared the docks, William headed in the direction of the cafe’. But not to eat this time, he was going to wait across the street until Mona got off from work. There was an overgrown vacant lot that would make a perfect place to be inconspicuous for as long as it took for her to leave work. He had always been very good at sneaking around, obviously a trait that he inherited from his daddy. He was sure that he would be able to follow her without her knowledge, and once he found out where she lived, he would be able to go straight into the next phase of his diabolical plan. By the time that all of his phases were complete, she would be his forever, either willingly or unwillingly. The choice would of course be hers to make. Her options after that initial choice would then be his. He wanted her to be with him, and only him. If she was not willing to be his, then hers would be the next dead body that would be found floating in the ocean.
At a few minutes past two p.m., Mona left the cafe’. William’s eyes lit up when he saw her beautiful dark hair. He longed to run his fingers through it and kiss the back of her long slender neck. He was lost in the fantasy of being with her. She was almost out of sight by the time that his mind came back into focus. He came out of the thick brush of the vacant lot practically in a run. He hoped that no one at the cafe’ saw him, because he might have a hard time explaining his bizarre behavior.
She was easy to spot once he was back on the street. Her white uniform practically glowed in the afternoon sun. She moved among the people on the street as gracefully as a dancer. He thought that she even looked out of place among the dock workers and city dwellers that she had to mingle with each day. She belonged in an elegant setting far from the seamy, dirty part of the city. She belonged with him. He knew deep inside that she wanted the same things that he wanted. She was simply waiting for him to come and sweep her off of her feet.
She stepped inside a neighborhood market and she was in there for about ten minutes, maybe even a little longer. William figured that she was buying groceries for her evening meal. But when she left the store she was carrying a much bigger bag than she would need for one meal for two people. There had to be at least a week’s worth of groceries in that bag. He wanted to take that heavy bag from her delicate arms and carry it for her, but that was completely out of the question. She continued to walk for another fifteen minutes before she finally came to a residential neighborhood. He watched her go to the front door of a small weather boarded house that was not much bigger than the little shack where he grew up. Of course her house was in much better shape than the little house on Jewel Ridge Mountain.
She sat the bag down on the stoop and was rummaging through her handbag for a key to the door, when suddenly the door opened and two small boys and an old lady appeared.
My God, he thought, how many people live in that tiny house? He had assumed all along that Mona and Jack were alone in Wilmington. Seeing the rest of her family was like a bad dream come to life. Now he would have to completely change his plans. But after a few depressing moments he changed his mind again. He still loved her and he did not care if she had ten kids. He was not going to change his plans because of them. After he and his Mona were long gone, Jack and the old lady could take care of the kids.
*********
All weekend William drilled over his plans. He replayed the scenario over and over in his mind until he was sure that nothing could go wrong. He stayed in his room to avoid any distractions. He always kept plenty of snack food on hand in his room, but by Sunday afternoon his supply had dwindled away. Since he had convinced himself that his plans were foolproof, he decided to get some fresh air and a hot meal. He got dressed, combed his ha
ir, and headed for the boardwalk.
There were vendors scattered all along the boardwalk and piers on the weekends. Warm weather brought them out by the scores. William had his choices from a variety of exotic foods and fresh seafood. He dined on boiled shrimp and fried potatoes while he dangled his feet off the pier. He was very close to the spot where two of his victims lost their lives, but that bit of trivia meant nothing at all to him. Those men’s lives were no more important to him than the lives of the shrimp that he was eating. He rationalized that all things were placed upon the earth to be used one way or the other. The strongest always survived and the weak should be used to enrich the lives of the strong. He knew that he was strong and that he would survive and prosper.
After he ate he wandered around the piers and the boardwalk for the rest of the afternoon. It was starting to get dark by the time that he realized that he was almost to the other side of the city. He had never been that far away from the boarding house since he had been in Wilmington. He was looking at a whole different side of the busy city that he had called his home for many months. He got an overwhelming urge for a beer. He walked at least two more blocks before he saw the welcoming sign of a tavern. Secure in the knowledge that he was in possession of a great equalizer in his boot, he stepped through the open doorway of the GRAND ILLUSIONS BAR.
He was greeted by one of the largest women that he had ever seen. With a hairdo that reminded him of a fancy umbrella, she must have been at least six feet tall. She made him feel welcome as she led him to the bar. Counting the huge woman, the bored looking bartender, and himself, there were eight people in the small and dimly lit establishment.
“What can I get for you?” the bartender asked.
He was moving a dry cloth over the surface of thebar in a manner that suggested to William that he hated his job.
“A beer please.” William replied.
The bartender tossed the cloth into the corner and filled a glass mug from the tap. He sat the mug in front of William and held his hand out.