by Terry Hayden
“Two bits please.”
“Thanks.” William said and handed him the exact change.
Without giving the man time to make another comment, William picked up the beer and walked to the far corner of the small room. He thought that if he gave the impression that he wanted to be left alone, no one would try to bother him. His idea worked because no one even came close to his table. He drank the beer quickly and motioned to the bartender for another. Since the bar was not busy, the bartender brought the beer over to him. William paid him for the beer, plus an extra two bits as a tip.
“Thanks man.” the bartender said.
William did not bother to reply.
He drank the second beer more slowly than the first. He did not want to get intoxicated and he had a tendency to feel the effects of alcohol more easily than most people. He did not want the beer to dull his senses especially in an unfamiliar place. He could not afford to have anything interfere with his plans with Mona, and in the past he had some rather distracting experiences in bars such as this one. By the time that he had finished his second beer, the bar had almost filled up.
Although all of the faces were unfamiliar to him, several of the men had characteristics similar to Drew and the merchant marine. They smiled much too much, and acted much too friendly for their own good, or anyone elses for that matter. A lot of people called them deviants or perverts. He knew how to deal with them, and in fact he loved dealing with them. He decided to have one more beer before he left for the boarding house.
By that time the bar was too crowded to get thebartender’s attention. He decided just to get the beer himself. Several of the men watched him as he approached the bar from his table in the corner. He could tell by the look in their eyes that they were interested in him. He pretended not to notice. After he got his beer he made his way back to his corner seat. He could feel their eyes burning into him as he walked passed them. He almost thought about returning their looks, but a fleeting thought about Mona replaced his naughty idea. He did not want to start something that his gun would not have time to finish.
He must have drank the beer too fast because when he moved his head, he could feel the effects of the alcohol. His eyes seemed to move slower than his face. He realized that he was under the influence. He was in a strange bar, in an unfamiliar part of the city, and he was under the influence of alcohol. He felt like kicking his own ass. He took comfort in the fact that it was still relatively early. He could afford to stay just where he was until the effects began to wear off, and still be back at the boarding house before it was very late. It was a simple solution to his problem, so he decided to stay put.
Everything would have been fine if he would have been left alone. But as soon as one of his admirers realized that he was tipsy, he jumped at the chance to make a move on the handsome drunk. He walked over to William’s table in the corner.
“Can I sit down?” the stranger asked.
“Its a free country.” William answered.
He was thinking about his plans with Mona, and he did not want any trouble if he could avoid it.
“How about another beer?” the man asked after he pulled his chair much too close to William.
“No thanks.”
“Ah, come on. Its still early.”
“I know, but I have had my limit.”
“Just one more.” the man insisted. “I’ll see to it that you get home in one piece.”
William knew exactly which piece of him that the man wanted.
“No thanks anyway.” he replied.
The stranger would not take no for an answer. He motioned toward the bar and one of his comrades brought two beers over to the table.
“Here you go man. Enjoy yourself. You only live once you know.”
“Oh yes, I know that even more than most.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.” the mansaid.
“You just might be getting more than you bargained for.” William said with a morbid hint in his voice.
He had more or less already decided what he was going to do with the insistent stranger.
“I’m counting on it.” the man said and winked.
William sobered up quickly when the stranger put his hand high up on his thigh. Now the man had gone too far. Although William pretended not to mind, he was seething inside. He made up his mind in that instant that the pervert was going to die for his aggression and transgression. He pretended to sip from his beer while he figured out his next move. He knew that if the man moved his hand one inch higher up his leg, that he was going to shoot him right there on the spot, witnesses or not.
Finally William said, “I need to be going. I have to go to work in the morning.”
“Are you sure that you can’t stay for a little while longer. The show is about to start.” the soon to be dead man said.
“What show is that?” William asked.
“Female impersonators from New York are here for one show only at eleven.”
“You stay, I have to go.” William replied.
He knew that the dandy wanted him more than seeing a bunch of drag queens parading around on stage. William never wanted to see another drag show. The ones that he had dealt with in Wilkesboro had almost cost him his life. He lost a good friend at the hands of drag queens.
The stranger put on a gallant act.
“Oh no, I’ll go with you. I promised remember.”
William tried to act surprised. The man said his goodbyes to his friends and he and William left the bar together. William tried to act disoriented.
“And where do you live handsome?” the man asked.
“On the other side of Wilmington.”
“Shouldn’t we get a taxi?” the man asked. “By the way what’s your name?”
“William.”
“I’m Louis.”
“Nice to meet you Louis.” William lied.
They walked about three blocks before a taxi driver spotted them.
“Where to guys?” the driver asked as he pulled up along side.
Louis looked at his supposed one night stand.
“The ship yard.” said William.
“That’s way over on the other side of town. That will cost you a buck fifty from here.”
“Fine.” said Louis. “Let’s go.”
“Pay first.” the driver insisted. “I’ve been stiffed before by guys like you.”
“What do you mean by guys like us?” William asked.
“Do I have to paint you a picture honey?” the driver sneered.
“No.” Louis said. “Here, take the damned money. Now let’s go.”
He almost threw the money at the driver. William was furious and humiliated. Not only had he been groped by a pervert, but now he had been insulted by a goddamned cab driver. His anger grew more intense as they drove along the dark streets of Wilmington. Finally when Louis placed his hand directly into William’s crotch, the explosion occurred.
William snatched the pistol from his boot and placed the barrel against Louis’ cheek.
“Stop the taxi!” he screamed at the driver.
“What?” the driver shouted back.
“I said to stop this goddamned taxi!” William screamed again. “I’ve got a gun!”
The driver slammed on the brakes, almost causing William to lose his balance. All the time Louis was sobbing uncontrollably.
“Please don’t kill me.” he pleaded.
“Let me out of this goddamned cab!” William demanded.
“Ok, ok, just one second.” the driver shouted.
The taxi finally completely stopped. William opened the door to get out. When he was clear of the interior, he opened fire on the two occupants that were still inside. He shot each of them two times in the head. Their b
lood splattered all over the inside of the once clean car. He closed the door, put the pistol back inside of his boot, and walked the rest of the way to his boarding house. He whistled an unknown tune because his feelings of anger andhumiliation had been replaced with a feeling of great joy.
**********
Someone working a late shift downtown heard the gunshots and immediately called the police. When the police arrived they quickly discovered the bodies of the two murdered men. At first the police suspected that robbery was the motive for the murders, but closer examination revealed that both of the men were still carrying money. The taxi driver wore a wedding band and a watch, that were still on his body. When the bullets were recovered from their bodies, they perfectly matched the bullets from the previously unsolved murders. The police realized that the killer was back in business.
The informant in the police department leaked the fantastic story to the Wilmington newspaper. The morning edition was a couple of hours late because the murders replaced the original front page story just before printing was set to begin. The headline was bold:
“KILLER STALKS THE WATERFRONT”
The story went into detail about all of the murdersthat the authorities believed were committed by the same person. All of the victims were listed with a short biographical sketch. The police were trying to find a common link that the victims shared, but there did not appear to be one. The fact that two or three of the murdered men were homosexual was not even hinted at in the story.
William read the story with great intensity and concentration. He could almost repeat the details word for word with his eyes closed. He tried to contain his excitement because he was in a public place. Everyone at the cafe’ was talking about the gruesome crimes, and the cruel and sadistic killer who was terrorizing the waterfront. William heard one lady say that it was not even safe to be out on the streets at night. He wanted to tell her that she could just as easily be killed right there where she was sitting, but he chose to keep the words to himself. He wanted to take the credit for the headline in the newspaper, but he knew quite well that if he did, his life as he knew it would be over. He was enjoying himself to much to let that happen. He was so wrapped up in his own glorification that he forgot about his plans for Mona, at least for the time being.
Mona, on the other hand, was scared for the safety of her husband. All of the victims so far that she knew anything about, were about the same age as her Jack. She wished that she had seen the morning paper that morning before she left for work. She would have made him stay home from the docks. She realized that jobs were hard to find, and money was tight, but nothing was worth living in that kind of a nightmare. She made up her mind that before the week was out, her family was moving back to the mountains where they belonged. She was not going to tell anyone about her plan until they were on their way back home. She would send for her last paycheck and Jack could do the same.
William would have sensed that something was wrong with Mona if he had not been so wrapped up in himself. As of that day she was somewhat lower down on hislist of priorities. He was too excited to go to work but he did not want to draw attention to himself by being absent. Who knows, they might even think that he was a victim of the waterfront killer. He looked like most of the victims. Healmost laughed out loud when he thought about it.
********
On Tuesday the newspaper ran a story that infuriated William almost to the point of retaliation. He became so angry that he wanted to burn the building that housed the newspaper offices. He would have tried to do just that if he had not found another outlet for his anger.
As he was reading the newspaper at the cafe’, he spotted an article on page two entitled, ‘Profile of a Killer’. An ambitious reporter from the newspaper had interviewed a noted psychiatrist to try and understand the mind of the waterfront killer. If there were traits or characteristics that were common among multiple murderers, the public should be made aware of them.
The article had been interesting at first. William was flattered that they were trying to uncover things about him. But the psychiatrist was describing traits that were common in everyone, at least everyone that William knew. There were no earthshaking revelations about the mystery man who had everyone in the city terrified to go outdoors at night. The last paragraph however, described someone that William would never identify himself with on any kind of level.
The doctor stated that in his opinion the killer was trying to destroy himself or at least a part of himself every time that he found a victim. He sought out victims whose appearance was very similar to his own. He even went so far as to say that the killer chose men who harbored sexual tendencies that were parallel with his own. In other words he chose victims that he was attracted to in a sexual nature. When William read the last two lines of the disturbing article, he dropped the newspaper on the floor of the cafe’ and stomped it with his feet. Other patrons of the cafe’ were terrified because of his maniacal behavior.
“Bugs!” he shouted. “Bugs! This place is crawling with bugs. I saw a cockroach on my newspaper.”
He threw the money for his breakfast on the table and stormed out of the restaurant. He left the newspaper on the floor, where he thought that it belonged in the first place.
The article in the newspaper took all of the joy out of the last two shootings for him. Under normal circumstances he would have maintained his euphoric mood for days. The only thing that he could think of now was revenge. Someone would have to pay for the callous assumptions that were made about him. He was so engrossed in his anger that he almost stepped into the path of a passing truck. The truck’s driver blasted him with the horn and then proceeded to shout obscenities at him as he drove passed. Normally William would have seen to it that the truck driver was severely punished for such disrespectful behavior. This time he simply let it pass. He had much bigger fish to fry than some idiotic truck driver.
When he arrived at the docks there were policemen everywhere. He saw at least six men in uniform and several more in street clothes. It quickly became apparent that the police were talking to the dock workers one by one. William stood in the shadows observing the commotion that was taking place.
“What are they doing?” a voice from behind him said, startling him.
He turned and Jack was looking over his shoulder.
“The police are talking to the dock workers, one by one.” William replied.
William hated to be startled and now he had been twice before six a.m. Something told him that this was not going to be a good day.
“I wonder what all of this is about?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know, but let’s find out.” William added.
Of course William knew exactly why the police were there, but he decided that the best way to handle the situation was to act as dumb as a piece of driftwood. By the time that the police were through with his interview, hewould have them thinking that he had just fell off of the turnip truck.
William and Jack joined the rest of their group on the dock. The wait was not for very long because most of the other men had already been interviewed. William was close enough to hear the questions that the police were asking.
“Have you seen any suspicious looking strangers hanging around on the docks?’
“Have you noticed any suspicious behavior from your coworkers or supervisors?”
“How long have you been at this job?”
“Where were you born?”
They asked a few general background questions too.
William decided that the only way that the police would ever catch the killer was if he turned himself in. And he knew that scenario would never take place because he was having too much fun.
He told the interviewer a sad story about his poor childhood in the mountains of Virginia, and coming to Wilmington when he was fifteen to live with his grandmother. She passed away
two years ago and he had spent what little money that she left him before he got this job on the docks. He did not have any more relatives in the city and he never went out after dark except to go to church. He almost made a slip up when the interviewer asked him the name of the church. Finally he remembered a little church that was located down the street from the boarding house, and he hoped that it was Baptist because he said, ‘the little Baptist church down the street from where I live.’
That lie seemed to satisfy the interviewer because he thanked William for his time and sent him to his job. If William had ever bothered to attend the little church that was just down the street from his boarding house, he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in a sea of black fingers and hands that attended the services there.
William’s first conversation with the police was much easier than he ever thought that it would be. He had always been under the impression that if someone lied to the police,the police could tell almost instantly that the person was lying. He almost laughed out loud when he realized that the police were just as dumb and gullible as the rest of the public at large.
William was so busy on the job that he forgot about all of the trials and tribulations that he had suffered through earlier in the day. Two large ships came into the harbor just after lunch break, and his supervisor informed him that he and some of the other men might just have to work late that night. The police interviews had messed up their entire work schedule, and most of the men agreed to stay. Jack refused because he knew that his wife would be very upset. The men who agreed to stay, worked until well after dark.
Several of the men were concerned about being on the waterfront after dark. They made a pact to all leave together, because as a rule, there was safety in numbers. William stayed behind. He made the excuse of forgetting some of his tools, and he did not want to hold the rest of the men up while he went back for them. He assured the other men that he was not scared. He waited for at least ten minutes before he walked away from the pier. He was hoping that all of his coworkers were gone, but he hoped to find a stranger lurking about. He needed to replace his negative feelings that the newspaper article created in him, and he knew exactly how to do it. He spotted something up ahead that made his heart skip a beat. The flash of light from a cigarette stood out like a tiny beacon in the darkness. The closer that he got to the source of the light, the more excited that he became. Soon he was close enough to smell the delicious aroma that was permeating in the air.