by Jenn Vakey
“What, you weren’t a sorority girl, spending your college days drinking and going to frat parties? I find that shocking.” He wasn’t even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
“Hey! I did my share of partying,” she stated defensively. “I even dated a frat guy. I just didn’t lose myself in the parties like a lot of people do. I knew how to have fun but still focus on my priorities.”
“I wish I could stay the same. I spent most of my first year getting drunk and blowing off my classes. I’m lucky I didn’t screw up my grade point average, actually. I probably would have if…” he trailed of, pulling his beer back up to mouth.
Rilynne did not say anything. She knew if he wanted to finish his thought he would, but it wouldn’t be right to ask him to. After several seconds of tense silence, he finally spoke again.
“The day I moved in with my brother after my parents died, this cute little blonde girl walked up and introduced herself. She lived next door, and had been watching me unload my stuff. It was right as school was getting out for the year, so we spent the entire summer together, and we were soon inseparable. She really helped me work through my parents’ death, and stuck by my side even when I started acting out and getting in trouble. The truth is, she was one of the main things that pulled me back. Shortly after that, we started dating and everything was perfect. She got me motivated to go to college, and we even got accepted together. On our third anniversary, I decided to take the big step and proposed to her.
“For the first time in a long time, I was at the top of the world, and it didn’t seem like anything could go wrong. Then…” Rilynne noticed the catch in his throat, but waited for him to continue. “We went to Florida for spring break, and I admittedly got too drunk our first night there. To this day I still don’t remember anything that happened after dinner, but when I woke up the next morning she wasn’t there.
“I tried to call her, but my phone wasn’t anywhere to be found, and she had just gotten a new number which I hadn’t memorized yet. At first I didn’t think much of it, but after an hour when she didn’t return I started to get worried. I was on my way out the door to look for her when I was met by the police.” Rilynne could tell he wanted to stop there, but he didn’t.
“They, uh… found her body in the dumpster behind our hotel.” His eyes seemed to be glued to the empty bottle in his hand. “They found my phone and wallet with her. Telling the detectives you don’t remember anything that happened isn’t a great line of defense, so by the end of the day, I was their prime suspect. If it hadn’t been for some skin that was under her fingernails, I would have been charged with her murder. It turns out that a guy in one of her classes had had a thing for her and had become obsessed. After putting me in bed, she went out to get some ice and he cornered her to confess his love. When she turned him down he snapped and strangled her. He then went back to our room and took my phone and wallet to try and frame me for it. Forensics saved my life, and helped me get justice for Laney.”
Rilynne said the only thing she could think of. “I’m so sorry.”
“I was lucky to have her for the time I did. She truly was my best friend, and I owe her more than she ever knew. I just wish she could have seen the man I turned into.”
“She would have been proud of you,” Rilynne said confidently. “Not only are you amazing at what you do, but you are a genuinely great guy.”
Ben looked up from the bottle, and stared Rilynne in the eyes. “Why detective,” he said with a grin, “you’re going to make me blush.”
Rilynne opened her mouth to respond, but quickly decided against it, and just grinned back. He seemed to sense what she was about to say, and his ears did start to redden. Rilynne glanced over at Nicole, and pretended she hadn’t noticed.
Nicole had started snoring softly, and there was even a little stream of drool running down her chin.
“I should probably get her back to her apartment,” Ben said, standing up. “Or she will end up spending the entire night on your couch.”
“Do you want me to help you get her down?” Rilynne asked, knowing very well that Ben would not step foot in Nicole’s bedroom.
“No,” he said, picking her up. “She can just sleep on her couch instead of yours. I’m thinking she will be a little confused when she wakes up in the morning. I’m actually a little sorry I will miss it.”
Rilynne followed him as he carried Nicole to the door. She was actually impressed at how easily he was able to do so. He seemed to carry her as if she weighed nothing more than a sleeping toddler.
“Thanks for coming over tonight,” she said as she pulled the door open. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Ben was halfway down the hall before she closed the door. After taking all of the empty bottles to the buildings recycling bin, she decided to call it a night and climbed in bed. She knew that, in addition to hoping for a call from the public with information that could lead them to the suspect, there was also going to be a reverse effect. The public, as helpful as they were hoping to be, would inevitably inundate the lines with calls about every shadow that struck them wrong.
Chapter Eleven
Rilynne found herself in a large, stone room. Everything in sight was some shade of gray, leaving no color to be seen. If she hadn’t looked down to see her hands their normal color, she would have thought the world had changed to black and white.
She walked the walls of the room, looking for a door, but there wasn’t one. The only windows in the room were set at the top of the ten-foot walls. Even if she had been able to reach them, there were bars that would have prevented her from getting through.
Just as panic was starting to set in, she turned to find a door standing freely in the middle of the room.
When she crossed the room and pulled it open, a gentle mist sprayed her face. She could smell the salt in the air as she stepped through the door, and felt her toes sink in the warm sand.
The sand itself was almost white, and softly slid over her feet as she walked. She heard crashing from ahead, and looked up to see an ocean that was just a shade lighter than the vibrant blue, cloud-free sky.
She slowly walked down the beach until she came upon a group of large rocks in the shadow of magnificent palm trees, and began to climb. She reached the top of the larger one and sat down to take in the view. She honestly had never seen anything as beautiful.
The colors all around her seemed to be so deep, and almost alive. Even the patch of dense vegetation growing around the base of the palm trees was a shade of green she would not have thought existed in nature.
So this is paradise, she said to herself.
Suddenly, she heard a voice calling out to her. She looked out to see a figure standing at the other end of the beach. She tried to make out who it was, but they were too far away. With one last look at the waves rolling against the base of the rocks, she climbed down and started towards the mysterious person.
As she drew closer to the unknown figure, the scene around her started to darken. She looked up to see thick black clouds rolling in from above the stranger.
They better take cover before they get caught in the storm, she thought to herself. The figure did not seem to share her concern, though, as they did not move at all. As the sounds of thunder filled the air, Rilynne began to run. Are they crazy, she asked herself? They are going to get struck by lightning standing out in the open like that.
No sooner had she thought it, than a bright blue blot struck no more than two feet to the left of the person. Still, they made no motion towards moving.
Rilynne was now running as fast as she could, though it seemed she was moving at a pace no more than a brisk walk.
It felt like an hour passed before she finally reached the end of the beach. The storm clouds yelling violently above left the area in almost complete darkness, but she could still make out Nicole standing in front of her.
“Hurry up. It’s time to start getting r
eady,” she expressed excitedly.
Rilynne looked around, but could not see anything that would explain what she was talking about. “Ready for what?” she finally asked.
“The wedding of course! We can’t be late,” she stated as she turned and walked towards the trees.
Nicole had already vanished through the tree line when Rilynne finally started to follow. As soon as she stepped through herself, the sounds of the beach vanished and were replaced by shouts, dinks, and loud music. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward and found herself on a crowded fair ground.
“I never really liked carnivals,” a voice came from just over her right shoulder. Ben was standing behind her, holding a dozen red balloons in his hand. “I think it’s the clowns. They always kind of freaked me out.”
“I would have to agree with you there,” she said as two clowns walked past them. “If you don’t like carnivals, what are you doing here?” But when she turned back around, Ben wasn’t anywhere to be found.
She started to push her way through the swarm of people when again she heard a familiar voice. This one left her shocked, as the voice she heard was her own.
She followed it to a crowded booth set up at the end. As she grew closer, she could just make out what the group of people walking towards her were saying. “I can’t believe they let anyone like that on our police force. It is completely outrageous. Something should be done.”
The two men just behind them were having a similar conversation. “Doesn’t that violate our rights?”
She forced her way to the front, and almost cried out at what she saw.
On top of a platform was her desk from the station, with her seated behind it. Just then, the chief of police walked up and took the microphone.
“Citizens of Addison Valley. I want to reassure all of you that your concerns have not gone unheard.
“The mayor contacted me as soon as it was revealed that Ms. Evans had this so called gift. I want to guarantee you that this department does not support this kind of behavior. Ms. Evans will be immediately removed from duty, and transferred to the state hospital for the help that she needs.
“Furthermore, all of the cases Ms. Evans has been involved are being overturned, and those charged will be released shortly.
“I want to apologize to all of you personally for the gross negligence on my part in hiring such an unstable individual. Our officers are handing out eggs and rotten fruit, and we encourage you to throw them at Ms. Evans. If we are lucky, we can knock this nonsense out of her.”
Rilynne backed out of the crowd as they began to throw the rotting food at the stage. It was all she could do to fight off the tears when she came upon Ben again.
He seemed to have added another dozen balloons to the ones he already had in his hand. “I really don’t want to go to this thing. It’s just too much to take. I don’t think I can do it.”
“What thing?” she asked.
“The wedding. You can’t honestly expect me to do this. You have to know it’s a mistake.” He did not look at all like his normal, optimistic self. Instead, it looked like he was facing something that would tear him apart. Before she could ask anything else, he turned and walked away.
“Why wouldn’t he want to go to a wedding?” she asked herself aloud.
Before she could even try to think of a good answer, a loud bang rang our across the grounds. She turned in the direction of the shot to find the crowds had all vanished. She ran through the maze of tents, and finally found the source of the heart stopping sound.
Nicole was standing over someone on the ground, wearing a long, white dress. It would have looked heavenly, had it not been for the bright red splatter covering the front. When she saw Rilynne, she stepped aside revealing a man on the ground at her feet.
Rilynne ran forward to find Ben barely conscious, with blood flowing freely out of his chest.
“What happened?” she asked as she frantically tried to stop the bleeding. She put pressure on the wound, but it did not seem to be doing anything to help.
“I said that I refused to go, that I refused to have any part of it. Apparently it was the wrong choice, because the clown shot me. I’m sorry,” he said as he closed his eyes and let out his last breath.
Rilynne stood up, hands covered in blood, and ran. She didn’t know how she knew which direction to go, but she was positive it was that way. Sure enough, she rounded the corner and found herself face to face with the clown. His face was painted black with silver diamonds, and his clothes were set to match. His eyes had a look of something that chilled her to the bone, pure evil. In one hand he held the two-dozen balloons, and in the other he had Rilynne’s gun.
“How could you do that?” she yelled at him. “What did he ever do to you?”
She charged at the clown, not caring that she was unarmed. She had him cornered, so the only way he was going to get away was through her. He just let out a wicked laugh and said, “You will never catch me. I’m right here in front of you, and you can’t even see me.”
With that, he dropped the balloons in his hand, which floated to the ground. When the balloons cleared, the clown was nowhere to be found.
What a strange dream, Rilynne thought as she opened her eyes.
Chapter Twelve
The phones were already ringing off the hook when Rilynne walked into the station the next morning. Judging by the look on the officers’ faces, there hadn’t been anything promising. She even heard two officers talking about a man refusing arrest when they pulled him over for driving intoxicated, because he thought the officer was trying to lure him to his police car to abduct him. While she did find it slightly amusing, she knew this would only be the beginning.
There was a stack of call reports waiting for her on her desk when she sat down. Because of the high call volume, the police department was forced to concentrate their attention to the calls that required immediate assistance. The remaining reports were being logged and given to the detective squad to look into.
Luckily, most of the reports were easy to rule as false alarms. An eighty-six year old man reported one such case when a teenage boy offered to help him cross the street. He apparently yelled, ‘You will not take me, devil spawn,’ before running as fast as his legs would carry him.
“Evans, Matthews,” Detective Wilcome called out just before nine. “The bomb squad cleared the cabin, so the scene is ours. The crime scene technicians are meeting us there.”
The cabin was almost completely destroyed. The back wall, which had been made of stone instead of wood, was the only one still standing. Because the cabin had been so deep in the woods, it had been nearly impossible for the fire department to do anything other than keep the fire from spreading.
“Begin with the house. I want everything that looks like it could have any connection to the case collected and taken back to the lab. Then I want the woods searched,” Wilcome said. “Look for sheds, caves, or hidden bunkers. Let’s get started.”
The majority of the floor had collapsed, leaving the basement full of burnt debris. It was not hard to find where the hidden room was, though. “Good call on the basement,” Matthews told her as he stared at the burnt bed in the corner.
“What’s that under the bed?” she asked.
“Where? I don’t see anything,” he responded.
She hadn’t either, but she knew it must still be there. “I don’t know, I just thought I saw something.”
Matthews leaned down and started pulling the burnt boards away from the bed. “Give me a hand with this,” he called to a tech as he handed them off. “I think you’re right. I see something… got it.”
He stood back up holding the charred bedpan. “This looks like blood here on the edge. We’ll have it tested,” he said as the tech held out an evidence bag. “There’s a good chance it belongs to one of the victims, though.”
They found the cause of the fire in what was left of the kitchen upstairs. “It is some kind of rudimentary device th
at caused an explosion just big enough to spark the gasoline that was spread around the house. The generator was left running, powering the devise so it could be put on a timer,” the arson investigator explained.
The cabin did not provide them much more to go on. Even the surfaces that did not burn appeared to have been wiped clean.
The woods around the cabin did not give them anything either. Although there were several caves in the area, the only thing they had accomplished by searching them was discovering where the local kids liked to go to party. Judging by the amount of empty beer and liquor bottles, they were actually fairly popular hangouts.
“We are going to have fun trying to pull the prints off of all these bottles,” Ben said as he was bagging the last of them. “You are welcome to help if you would like,” he shot Rilynne a playful smile.
“You know, I think I’m going to be busy later. I’m going to have to… wash my hair, or something. Next time, though,” she said.
Ben laughed, “Oh come on, detective. Dust and a little brush. What could possibly be more fun than that?”
“You are right, that’s how I have always dreamed of spending my afternoon. It’s too bad I have all that other stuff to do.” Rilynne tried hard for her best-disappointed look, but it quickly turned into a smirk.
Ben picked up the two filled boxes and led Rilynne out of the cave. “You know, some of these bottles are so old that I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of my finger prints on them. I used to come out here with my friends when we were in high school. We used to drink and wander around the woods having scavenger hunts.”
“So, what you are telling me is you were participating in underage drinking,” she pulled her notebook out and started scribbling something down. “And when did you say this happened?”
“Let’s see, somewhere between sophomore year and graduating. I was drinking, though, so I wouldn’t be able to be more specific.”
She wrote a few more things down, before tearing the page out. “You are aware underage drinking is a crime, aren’t you Mr. Davis? I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you a ticket.” She handed him the piece of paper. “I noted the fine down there at the bottom.”