The Campus Killer (Detective Ali Ryan Series Book 1)

by Andrew Hess

  I looked away in disgust. “We need the crime team here and have to find out where he fell from.”

  “Tell me you’re joking.” Rodney glanced up the mountain and stared at me in disbelief. “There’s too much ground to cover. There’s no way they’ll be able to pull anything useful.”

  I thought about what he said. Of course it was a stupid thought. It was an insane request. It would take weeks to cover the entire mountain just to find where Kevin fell from. And then a thought occurred to me.

  “We need to find Marty and Marie. They were on the trip with Kevin and Christina. They might be able to help us narrow down the search.” I looked down at the body one more time and saw his skull had a gash on the back of his head. “Rodney, make sure Dr. Wu takes a look at this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Nick messed up. He used a weapon to do his dirty work. He might’ve left evidence for us.”

  Chapter 99

  Mark cautiously walked around campus. He had unfinished business to tend to despite crossing the last name off his hit list. There were too many people that could pick him out of a lineup. There were two that could tie him to the Outdoors Club and their trip, and another that he let get too close.

  He approached the back door of a long rectangular building that students only went to for science classes and the computer labs. Mark knew his next victim was inside. He’d seen her go inside every Friday since the trip to Mohonk Mountain. It was routine for him to check. It helped him keep up appearances so he didn’t cause suspicion.

  He entered the automatic door and felt the warmth of the hot air hit him as he entered the stairwell. His hand reached for the door, but something or rather someone caught his eye.

  The attractive blond he had grown accustomed to seeing every Friday was accompanied by a tall beautiful curly haired woman; the same woman that had investigated every crime scene of his three victims.

  Mark started walking up the stairs as the door opened; keeping his back to the detective as she escorted Marie from the building. What the fuck is she doing here? The words ran through his mind; racing around; clouding his judgment. Mark knew what he had to do. He had to find out why she was there; what she wanted with Marie and why Detective Ryan wasn’t at his latest crime scene.

  He followed the two women; keeping a few feet away but close enough to listen intently to their conversation.

  “I need you to tell me everything you know about Mark Thompson,” Detective Ryan said. Her voice was stern; forceful but something was different about her. There was a hint of fear and panic in her voice as if she was grasping at straws to uncover everything she could about Mark.

  “I don’t know anything. I only met him a few times at the meetings and during our camping trip to the mountain.”

  “Do you remember if he was acting strange during the trip?”

  “I don’t think so. I mean I wasn’t paying close attention to everyone. I think he mostly stayed to himself.”

  The Detective held out three pictures; showing one of Nick DeFalco, one of Christina and one of Kevin. “Was this man anywhere near these two?”

  Marie stopped and stared at Nick’s picture and nodded her head. “He came up to the lighthouse with us. He was the one who helped Christina get to the top of the lemon squeeze.”

  “I need you to come with me and show me the path you took including where you camped, the lemon squeeze and the lighthouse.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No, the killer struck again.”

  “Who died?”

  “Kevin was found at the bottom of Mohonk Mountain.” The Detective paused as she read the horrified look on Marie’s face. “That’s why I need you to come with me now.”

  The detective hurried Marie down a flight of stairs to a waiting squad car and sped away; leaving Mark maliciously staring at them as they made their getaway.

  “Looks like someone is getting too close. Maybe I need to speed things up a bit.”

  Chapter 100

  I spent hours with Rodney and a handful of crime scene analysts following Marie through Mohonk Mountain as she showed us where the Outdoors Club stayed during their weekend camping trip. We searched for over an hour for any sign of a weapon or any evidence Kevin or the killer left behind, but couldn’t find anything.

  We moved on to the next location; the lemon squeeze and then the lighthouse. Nothing seemed out of place as we looked over the edge of the cliff. I could see Ulster County in its purest and most serene form. But I knew better. It was tainted with a broken lifeless body at the foot of the mountain.

  “Ali, I think we have something over here,” Rodney shouted.

  I casually walked back; watching Rodney examine a patch of dirt that led from the lighthouse into the grass. “What do ya got?”

  “Drag marks” an analyst replied. “It’s possible the victim was dragged from here and brought to the edge of the cliff over there.” He pointed a few feet from where I was standing.

  “Okay, we need to process the lighthouse and check the path extensively for any evidence.” I was convinced Nick left something behind; something that he didn’t intend to. I was hoping it was the murder weapon; maybe he left his prints on it; maybe we’d get lucky and get Kevin’s DNA and Nick’s prints.

  Rodney bent over and moved a piece of ply wood from the side of the lighthouse; exposing a heavy piece of stone that had broken off the base of the building. He called us over before touching the stone; letting the analysts dust for prints. They shook their heads from side to side.

  “What about blood,” I asked.

  They reached into their kits and sprayed the stone with a clear liquid before placing a UV light over it. “Sorry Detective,” they replied. The stone was spotless; nothing more that droplets of water from the morning dew.

  “What do we do now,” Rodney asked.

  “Regroup and wait for Dr. Wu to give us some good news.”

  Chapter 101

  I finally came home around eight that night; wiped from a long day of combing through another crime scene. “Hi honey, I’m,” I mockingly shouted, but knew no one could hear me. The house was empty. Matthew had been gone for nearly a week. My only contact with him was a game of tag we played with each other’s voicemails. To be honest I think he purposely avoided my calls to show me how it felt to come second to the job.

  I walked in the door with a small stack of paperwork clutched in my right hand as I fumbled to kick off my dusty dirty sneakers that I wore to climb the trail to the lemon squeeze.

  I looked down at the papers in my hand. “Looks like it’s just you, me and some beer tonight my friend.”

  I placed the papers on the table beside the couch while I got a beer, re-entered the room and reclined the seat so I could rest a bit while reading. I took the top page from the file. It was the one I was most eager to read; so eager that I stayed longer than I should have at the station just to get the report listing the contents of everything Kevin Graham had on him, in the tent and in his car.

  The tent’s contents were the shortest list. Two fluffy pink pillows, a pink sleeping bag, two tent poles, and four tent stakes with traces of blood on them. I found it odd that the tent stakes were found loose inside the tent. If Kevin had set up the tent, he would have tried to secure it to the ground not leave them inside. But it made much more sense that this was a setup designed by the killer all along. The stakes must’ve been left inside to cause more damage to Kevin as he tumbled down the mountain; maybe even kill him when he landed in case the fall didn’t get the job done.

  But something else caught my attention. The tent, the pillows and the sleeping bag were all magenta. It was highly unlikely that Kevin bought it and doubtful the killer would either. So whose was it?

  I flipped through several pages until I found a list of items recovered from Christina’s room as well as pictures of how it looked when we entered.

  “There’s no tent,” I shouted. “Her tent’s missing.”

&
nbsp; It hit me like a ton of bricks. The killer planned it; he planned everything. He stole Christina’s tent the night he killed her knowing he was going to set Kevin up. How much more has he planned; I wondered.

  I flipped back to the first page and skimmed through the contents found in Kevin’s pockets as well as his car. He had a black and red lighter in his car and another cracked green one found in his pocket; a pack of cigarettes in the car and a crushed pack in his pocket. Then I found what I was looking for. A black leather wallet containing a driver’s license belonging to one Kevin Graham, an insurance card, two credit cards, a car registration, car insurance, and finally a small picture of Kevin Graham and Christina Tyler.

  “There’s no New Paltz ID,” I whispered. “How the fuck did he get it?” It was impossible to snatch the ID after he hurled Kevin’s body over the cliff and sent him plummeting hundreds of feet to his death. So there had to be some way he did it.

  I jumped to my feet and pulled out my cell to call Rodney. I stabbed the dial pad until I heard a ringing. “Rodney, it’s me. We need to…”

  I couldn’t finish my thought as a pair of headlights blinded me. I was frozen with the thought of an out of control car rushing towards my house; expecting it to come crashing through my window any second. My instincts took over and jumped towards the couch as I heard screeching tires and the sound of shattering glass as small fragments of my living room window exploded from a small object blasting through it.

  The whole incident lasted a few short seconds but felt like everything happened in slow motion. It was another minute or two to realize I was fine and that whatever came crashing through my window wasn’t a car.

  Rodney’s voice broke the silence shouting, “Ali…Ali, you there?” It took me a minute to respond, but Rodney was relieved to hear my voice when I did. “What the fuck just happened?”

  I released my gun from its holder and checked the window; making sure no one was around. By the time I opened the door, the car was long gone; leaving black skid marks right in front of my house.

  “Talk to me Ali,” Rodney shouted again as I pressed the phone back to my ear. “What the hell happened?”

  “Just some stupid kids,” I mumbled. “Just a stupid little prank.” It bothered me more than I let on. I doubt anyone would be happy to have their window bashed in by a rock all because some stupid kid thought it’d be funny to see.

  But as I looked down, I noticed the rock wasn’t a rock at all. It was a small red brick with a piece of paper wrapped around it with a rubber band. I knew protocol. I knew I shouldn’t touch it; not without gloves and not until it had been dusted for prints, but I couldn’t help myself. I used the stem of my fingers to pick up the brick and carefully removed the rubber band; making sure the tips of my fingers didn’t touch anything. The ends of the note coiled together and fell to the floor. The only words I saw were typed in black ink; saying hello detective.

  I grabbed my phone instantly. “Rodney, you need to get over here now, and bring whoever’s on call as a crime scene analyst.”

  “Why; what happened?”

  “He was here. The killer was here.”

  Chapter 102

  Rodney’s car came to a screeching halt in front of my house. A small team of analysts were there minutes after the call. It was as if Rodney called them from the road and told them to haul ass over to my house; no stops till they got there and that it pertained to the campus killings. Their faces were relieved and annoyed when they saw me standing there visibly shaken but unharmed. They got to work dusting the brick, the paper and the window for prints while another analyst examined the tire marks on the street.

  Rodney burst through the door; sweat poured down his face as he threw his massive arms around my neck; draping them across the top of my shoulders and took up the better part of my upper back.

  “You okay Ali?”

  “I’ll be fine once you stop smothering me.”

  Rodney released me from his tree trunk-like arms. “Thank god you’re okay.” He looked around my living room in disgust. “Were you able to get a look at him or his car?”

  I shook my head in disappointment. “He had his car pointed at my house and blinded me. I couldn’t see anything but his brights.”

  “Did you call it in to anyone other than me?”

  “You mean did I call the Lieutenant?” His eyes met mine with concern. “No, I don’t want him involved in this; not now; not tonight.”

  “Ali, we can’t keep this from him.”

  “I’ll tell him tomorrow. Right now I just wanna know what that letter says; board up my window and get some sleep.”

  “Fine, but I’m calling in a favor and getting an officer to keep watch over your house in case that creep comes back.”

  “I don’t need protection.”

  Rodney scowled at me as he paced the room. “You might think you don’t, but that sicko was here tonight. He knows where you live and he could come back here at any time.”

  “This wasn’t some attack. He wanted to scare me; to set us back and push us off his trail.”

  “And what if it wasn’t? What if this was his way of telling you you’re next? We can’t afford to lose you. I can’t afford to lose you.”

  “Don’t start getting all sappy and sentimental on me.”

  Rodney pushed the tears from his eyes making it look like he was clearing sweat instead. “Hey I just don’t wanna break in a new partner.”

  “You love me and you know it.” I watched Rodney look away. I placed my hand on his shoulder; leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I know you’re just looking out for me.” I thought about Rodney’s request to have someone watch over my house and gave a brief sigh. “Fine, send someone over, but they better not get in my way.”

  He gave a satisfied smile and light chuckle before turning to face me. “I’ll make the call.”

  As Rodney pulled away to reach for his cell, one of the analysts called me over; telling us we were allowed to look at the note.

  Hello Detective Ryan

  Did you miss me? I see you got my present. Such a shame Kevin had that accident by the lighthouse; maybe that’s why you’re not supposed to camp out up there. I don’t want to bore you with why I did what I did, but rather offer you a peace offering. Since Kevin was my last victim, I plan on walking away and living my life peacefully away from this place. You won’t hear from me or about me again; that is as long as you stop investigating these terrible accidents.

  I looked up from the note to see the analysts had packed up their equipment and stuffed their findings into a large brown paper bag.

  “I think we got everything. We’ll put a rush on everything and start working on matching the tire tracks once we get back to the lab.”

  I thanked them and walked them out to their truck. “You going home too,” I asked Rodney.

  “Not until your babysitter gets here.” Rodney laughed and accompanied me back inside my house to help me close up the hole in my window. Despite the drama, it was nice to have someone to talk to; someone to laugh with. It made me miss what I had with Matthew that much more.

  Chapter 103

  Mark followed Marie from campus back to a small house on Church Street; a house he’d never noticed before. It was a small two floor baby blue house hidden by a large tree that sat in the front yard. Mark parked and sat idly by in his black Civic watching the house until the sun set and camouflaged him and his car.

  The sky darkened and the orange glow of nearby streetlamps lit the street. Mark pushed himself into the passenger seat and pulled out an old pair of black plastic binoculars. The smaller circles fit over his eyes as he spied on his unsuspecting victims; watching them as they cuddled on the couch; flipping through the channels until they found something they both liked. Marie had a small orange plastic bowl sitting in her lap with white popcorn cornels spilling over the edges as she and Marty dug their hands inside the bowl.

  Mark checked the clock on the dashboard. “Fuck it’s only n
ine,” he quietly shouted in his car.

  He peered through the binoculars again; seeing a shadow move from the couch and cross the living room. Instantly a bright blue light flashed on the TV illuminating the living room. He put down the binoculars and shut his eyes.

  “Fucking assholes,” he spat as he rubbed his eyelids and opened them to adjust to the light. He continued watching the house intently until he heard a vibration from the center console. He turned his attention to it, picked up the phone and read the text message.

  Setting up a place for you now. Get back to you in a few days.

  Mark let his sadistic smile linger as he looked back at the house. The bright blue light had been extinguished; replaced by darkness.

  “It’s show time folks.”

  Mark reached over and popped the trunk of his car and pulled out two five gallon containers of gasoline. He carried them to the side of the house in a hurry. His head snapped side to side with every quick stride; ensuring there weren’t any nosey neighbors watching his every move. He placed the first can next to the siding and hurled the other through the living room window.

  The sound of shattering glass disrupted the silence that once filled Church Street. Mark knew someone was bound to look out their window and see him. If not, Marie’s high pitched scream was surely noticeable. But Mark didn’t care. It was worth the risk to rid himself of the last few people that could accurately pick him out of a lineup as Mark Thompson. They needed to die.

  The living room lights sprung alive as Mark hid underneath the windowsill. “Stay back,” Marty shouted to Marie as he entered the room. His eyes darted from side to side looking for the intruder.

  Marie hid behind Marty as he searched the room with an aluminum baseball bat gripped tightly in his hands. “What the hell was that,” Marie whimpered.

  Marty held up a hand to push her back and used the baseball bat to check around the couch before his eyes rested on the dark red container that sat in the middle of the room.