by Rusk, Day
Her Daddy had taught her well, but would he approve of her latest course of action. Last night’s killing had been as well thought out as her usual kills; that was what had kept her free all these years, her ability to be careful; her Daddy wasn’t always careful, sometimes he planned out his kills, and other times he acted on emotion, and that had been his eventual downfall. She hadn’t known Leslie was following Harry...or her...but it had been lucky that he was, or that big brute of a guy would have choked the life out of her. She hadn’t expected the two she saw Harry talking with at the bar would show up; it was only now she realized that Harry had been setting her up for something terrible; he had a surprise for her and hadn’t expected she had one for him first. Her Daddy could forgive her the poor planning; as they say, every now and then shit happens. What her Daddy probably wouldn’t approve of was Leslie.
Gail knew Leslie wouldn’t exactly be the kind of man her Daddy would approve of; he was too refined and upper class; her Daddy would have probably considered him a pansy. She’d always been warned that she couldn’t trust anyone; it was her and her Daddy against the world. Those had been good times and she dearly missed him, but he was gone. Why shouldn’t she find someone? Why did she have to be alone in life, when her Daddy hadn’t been? He wouldn’t be able to understand how it felt to be alone; she’d been lonely for a long time and it felt good to have someone with whom she didn’t have to pretend.
Another thing her Daddy probably wouldn’t have approved of was the fact she had let Leslie into her pleasure palace; that was something special only the two of them had shared. Her Daddy had often told her it was off limits to anyone else. Well Daddy was gone and his Daddy juice had failed to put a baby in her, even though they had tried for years. It had been frustrating; finally her Daddy had simply explained that her pleasure palace must be broken or defective. That had hurt, although she had kept that hurt to herself. She knew her Daddy didn’t mean it in a bad way; he was just pointing out the facts. Maybe her pleasure palace was broken; she had no idea. If it was, it still didn’t stop her Daddy from trying to make it work; she didn’t mind, there had always been something reassuring about the weight of her Daddy on top of her and the feel of his thingy sliding in and out of her and depositing his stuff in her, some of it always leaking out and making her sticky as it slowly dried; that was her Daddy’s special gift to her, but he was gone, and had been for some time. So why couldn’t she find someone else she could care about to give her that same gift? Fucking Leslie had been different; he didn’t have the same animalistic way of making love that her Daddy did, but his weight on her body and the feel of him sliding in and out of her, was still somehow familiar and reassuring; maybe if her pleasure palace had enough time to rest, it might have fixed itself, and Leslie could put a baby in her. Daddy might not approve, but she had to take command of her life, seeing how he was gone.
As Gail looked out at the city, a small smile crossed her face. Enough time had passed. If Leslie was going to call the Police and report her, he would have done it by now; instead of enjoying the view, she would have been in handcuffs, the Police having kicked in her hotel door a long time ago.
He hadn’t reported her. Her Daddy would have been wrong about him. Maybe Leslie understood; maybe she had found the escape from loneliness she had hoped for all these years.
Gail moved to the table in her hotel suite and poured herself a civilized cup of tea; it had been delivered ten minutes ago and was still piping hot, just the way she liked it. She sat down on a chair and allowed herself the opportunity to remember.
It had been time for her to participate; for far too long she had only witnessed her Daddy taking care of the evil ones; the ones that needed discipline and removal from the realm of the living. She was sixteen-years-old, a young woman. Her Daddy didn’t want to push her before she was ready; he was kind that way, but she was sure she was ready and had told him so. She could still remember the broad smile that played across his face when she had told him that; he was so damned proud of her.
Gail didn’t remember the name of the town they were in, just that it was larger than most, but not yet quite a city; they’d been living there after having moved on after her Daddy’s last kill in some other city. He’d always punish enough women and then move on, so as not to get caught. Her Daddy was working in construction or contracting at that time; he was good with his hands and with tools, and that kind of work always seemed to be available wherever they went; in the cities he could find work with non-union construction crews and in the small towns, well, everyone was always looking for a good handyman to repair something or the other. Her Daddy had found a good job, a decent enough place for them to hole up, and had picked out his next victim, a woman he had seen in a grocery store they had randomly gone into while out.
As to how and why her Daddy picked specific victims she was unsure; she never asked him. She just figured that like she had found a way to see the evil that resided in people, he had also found a way, and picked his victims based on the evil he saw.
This particular victim was posing as a young mother with what they figured was a two-year-old little boy; the perfect cover for evil. Her Daddy, having picked her, went about following her and doing his research; it was only by doing his research that he’d find the right time to punish her; doing the right thing took a lot of patience and work.
He watched the woman for a week before he’d decided it was time to make his move; it appeared she was a stay-at-home mom, alone all day with just her baby. Her husband left the house each weekday at 8:15 a.m. like clockwork. Her Daddy proposed they take care of her one morning after her husband had left; they could take their time with her and the boy, as he never seemed to get home until well after seven in the evening. They had a nice place, so it would also provide them with a nice place to hang out all day.
Gaining access to the house had been simple; even though she was older now, whenever she knocked on anyone’s door and told them she was in trouble that someone was after her and could they help, they always let her in. In the rush for the phone to call the police or 911, no one ever thought to take the time to re-lock the door, leaving it open for her Daddy to follow through. There was always that moment of realization that crossed their faces when her Daddy rushed them before they could dial the phone; in some cases it almost looked comical. After that it was just a matter of subduing them, which wasn’t all that hard for her Daddy; there’d be some screaming, but her Daddy would always take care of that. As she said, he always did his research, and when he knew there was a young child in the home, it was always just a matter of threatening the safety of that young child if they kept screaming to get them to quiet down.
Her Daddy went to work tying up the woman. He’d brought the tools of his trade with him. He liked to use duct tape, he felt it secured these evil women more efficiently than rope; so far no one had ever broken free.
The woman’s son was in his room still napping. Before he could start screaming, as a child tends to do, her Daddy had slapped some duct tape across his mouth, muffling his surprised screams. He also quickly secured his arms and feet with duct tape and carried him into the living room. It was always a good idea to keep a child in view if you wanted one of these women to cooperate. If they started putting up a fight, a simple knife cut across the cheek of their young son or daughter, and the sight of that blood would make things move along easier once again.
There wasn’t much she could do at this point; her Daddy had to punish and discipline this woman, so it was all him. She merely watched; she watched as he stripped her down and punished her with his hard thingy. She was ready to kill, but her Daddy wasn’t going to let her participate in the killing of any of his women. Once he’d finished punishing them with his thingy, he liked to take his knife and finish them off; he seemed to have a lot of energy at that moment and loved to just vent it by stabbing them again and again and again; she didn’t know why; she suspected that was what he’d been instructed to do by God
. He said voices spoke to him in his head; it only seemed logical that that voice was the voice of God; after all, her Daddy was special. She just sat there and watched as her Daddy punished the woman, until she stopped moving. Her Daddy pulled up his pants and looked in her direction.
“Are you ready?” he asked her. “Are you ready to punish?”
“Yes Daddy,” she said.
“Good,” he said, bringing his bloodied knife over to her on the couch. The little boy, who was lying bound on the couch beside her, had stopped struggling; he’d been watching what was happening to his mother and simply gone silent. Maybe he knew his mother was evil and that finally her time had come; it made what happened easier to accept.
He stood before her and handed her the knife. “Finish off the kid,” he said. “He’s the spawn of evil.”
Gail looked over at the little boy; he had a vacant, faraway look in his eyes. He didn’t look right.
“This one is yours,” said her Daddy. “Kill him.”
Gail got off the couch and knelt down beside it, hovering over the silent boy. Her Daddy had explained everything to her; he had to find her a younger victim for her first kill. Adults were tougher, but little kids softer and easier to sink a knife into; it would be easier for her; it was important to take baby steps; once again, he was looking after her.
The child still had a blank stare. Maybe that was what evil did when it was finally caught; retreat into itself.
“Do it, honey,” her Daddy said; she could hear the love in his voice.
Gail held the knife over the little boy and lowered it; it stabbed into him, awakening him from his vacant thoughts; he immediately started screaming and crying, although the duct tape kept everything muffled. He also started struggling, but her Daddy had moved to the end of the couch and he immediately reached over and held the boy still, grabbing him by his shoulders.
“You need to put more force behind it, honey,” he said to her.
He was right. She’d played with various corpses, and knew it wasn’t always easy to stick a knife into them, but she’d thought that was because they were corpses. She figured living sinners were easier to stab; she hadn’t realized it could be the same.
Not wanting to disappoint her Daddy, Gail lifted the knife once again, and this time with more effort, brought it down hard, into the little boy’s body; this time it sunk down deep within him; it was satisfying; her Daddy looked proud. The little boy started squirming some more.
“Don’t stop, honey,” her Daddy said. “It’s only fair that you kill them quickly and fast; clean their evil with the blade of your knife. The more you stab the more they’re saved.”
She understood. Without further hesitation, she began stabbing the little boy over and over again, even after he stopped squirming all together. It was tiring work; she had actually worked up a sweat; she had kept stabbing and stabbing until her Daddy had reached out and stopped her from stabbing some more.
“That was good, honey,” her Daddy said, a satisfied look on his face.
She looked down at her work; she had done good.
Not all situations allowed them to hang around after a kill, but this one did; she was lucky, because she had made her first kill and they had time to celebrate that fact. Both were covered in blood, so the obvious next move was to take a shower. Her Daddy explained to her that it was a special day and a special moment. He was sure this time God, whose bidding they were doing, would allow them to make a baby, so after they’d showered they’d made love; her Daddy had explained to her that what they did was making love; he’d explained to her the difference between that and fucking. She hoped this time it worked.
They spent the day at that house; it was rare they could stop and enjoy a meal after a kill, but the fridge was well stocked, they knew no one was probably coming over, so they could take the time they needed and enjoy the rest of the day. Her Daddy had also said it would be rude of them not to hang around and take care of the man who’d be coming home. He’d married an evil bitch, so it only stood to reason he was evil as well. Her Daddy always thought these things through; he was smart like that. Not only was the man probably evil, but in killing him it would give them more time to put some distance between them and the discipline house. If they left before he got home, he’d find the woman and child and call the police and they’d start investigating right away; probably not a problem, as they were just passing through anyway, but why take the chance. If they stayed and killed the man, not only could they have a fun relaxing day in a nice home, but when they did leave they’d probably have more time to pull off their disappearing act. The bodies could even lay there for days before they were discovered, based on his research, giving them lots of time to get out of town and far away. It seemed like the only prudent thing to do.
Her Daddy had overwhelmed the man easily. He walked through the door calling out to the woman that he was home; her Daddy let him walk down the front hallway towards the living room, when he stepped out of a dining room and plunged his knife into the man’s back, sending him falling to his knees and the ground. Her Daddy rolled him over quickly and stabbed him a few more times in the stomach. The man had let out an initial scream, but the swiftness of the attack had pretty much kept him silent – bewildered.
“You finish him off, honey,” her Daddy said to her, holding out the bloody knife for her to take. She had come out of the living room to watch her Daddy at work.
“You mean it?” she asked.
Her Daddy nodded his head, Yes. She rushed to him and took the knife from his hands. Two kills in one day; he was spoiling her. Without hesitation, because she really wanted to please her Daddy, she went to work enthusiastically stabbing the man; stabbing and stabbing and stabbing, until he lay still. She looked up at her Daddy and he smiled down at her; she had done good.
A smile played across Gail’s face as she sipped her tea and sat in her hotel room. Memories of her Daddy were all she had left; they always brought a smile to her face.
chapter SEVENTEEN
it’d BEEN a long day for Detectives Ray Michaels and Bryan Stork. Forensics went over Harry Madwin’s house with a fine-tooth comb and came up with a lot of hits; Ray hadn’t expected anything less. Seeing how the crime scene belonged to one of the city’s long time criminals and killers, he anticipated there’d be prints from a lot of guys and gals who had been through the system before. Degenerates liked to hang out with other degenerates.
Ray and Bryan, along with some uniformed officers, had tried to canvas the street for information, but as Detective Carroll had warned them, a wall of silence had gone up and stayed up. The police force was doing everything it could to investigate this triple homicide, but were fighting against long held prejudices; Ray couldn’t help wondering how Morgan was doing in regards to information. It’d be a sad reflection on law and order if he had in fact garnered more information than them at this time.
“This is strange,” said Bryan, almost to himself; he was sitting across from Ray and going over a copy of the forensics report.
“What’ve you got?” asked Ray.
Bryan looked up at him, realizing he had spoken out loud.
“C’mon, share it,” said Ray.
“It’s one of the fingerprints at the house, the crime scene. They belong to a reporter for the Lakeview Examiner. Leslie Marshall.”
“Leslie Marshall,” said Ray, “the guy that writes those Brannigan novels?”
Bryan looked at him, puzzled.
“Yeah, I know, I read,” said Ray. “It’s a Detective series. Crime novels. What, he’s got priors?”
“No, he’s clean.”
“Then how in the hell do we have his fingerprints?”
“We have them from way back,” said Bryan. “Seems when he was in college here, he had a job working security at the airport. That required his needing to be bonded, security clearances, and all employees were required to provide fingerprints on file; back then they were sharing those fingerprints with
us; with the individual’s permission, of course.”
“So what do you think? Maybe he’s into drugs. Harry’s supplying him? Rich guy like him has the money to indulge his demons.”
“Or maybe he and Harry belong to the same book club,” said Bryan with a shit-eating grin.
“Up yours,” said Ray.
“Let’s not speculate,” said Bryan getting out of his seat. “I say we head over to the Examiner and talk to our author; see what he has to say.”
Leslie had settled into his day; the distraction of work helped a little but he still couldn’t get himself out of his own head. He was still troubled knowing the true nature of Gail, and the fact he had done nothing about it. Her explanation for the murder of the two men who worked in finance hadn’t been convincing; they were evil she’d said, her usual refrain, but she couldn’t explain how they were evil, and hadn’t bothered trying; for all he knew they were just two chumps who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and paid the ultimate price for that. They also probably left behind a lot of loved ones who also didn’t deserve to be touched by the horrors of murder. She was a killer; it was as simple as that. He knew that and he wasn’t saying anything to the authorities, so what did that make him? If she killed again, some innocent, not a goon in Morgan’s crew, would it be on his head? Could he live with himself? There were no answers and he knew sitting there obsessing about her wasn’t going to accomplish anything.
She’d said she had done him a favor. Had she? She’d killed Harry and he wasn’t going to lose any sleep over his death. Deep down he knew, as a civilized man in the 21st Century, he should be ashamed of that. Once you started believing life was cheap and expendable, what did that say about you? Was his obsession destroying his humanity? Possibly. At the same time, Gail’s killing Harry had been a favor – the strangest favor he’d ever received – and turning her in just wouldn’t be right. Letting her live and continue to kill was wrong, but so was the alternative.