Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2)

by Kline, Addison

  ***

  “Pick up the goddamn phone!” Liam yelled as he tried to get DiNolfo on her cell phone again. He had been trying to get a hold of her all day long, but once again, she wasn’t picking up.

  “Shit!” Liam complained as he slammed his desk phone down.

  Liam re-read the contents of the fax again, stunned by what he was reading. Words stuck out on the page that served as an eerie reminder of just how twisted this case really was. The killer was a sociopath with a long disturbing history of severe mental disease and psychosis. They had killed Jeremy Macklon along with his feline friend, Nan in a most brutal manner and left them to rot in an abandoned apartment. The very thought sent chills up Liam’s spine. Suddenly the front door of the Elkhart Police Station slammed open as a haggard looking Sergeant DiNolfo walked through.

  “I know who it is. Let’s go.”

  “Finally! You need to see this!”

  “It’s not important.”

  “It is, though! She killed her husband!”

  “How did you find out?”

  “Seattle faxed us over all the details.”

  “We need to go now.”

  As the watch on his wrist ticked the seconds off to midnight, Adam raced after Liam and Sergeant DiNolfo out to patrol car E5.

  ***

  Angie’s lips curled into a malicious smile as the first strand of hair fell to the floor. The buzz of the hair clipper masked her quiet laughter. Chunks of blonde hair fell to the floor but Angie’s eyes did not move from her reflection. She was fixated on her likeness in the mirror as she transformed before her own eyes. Everyone told her what a beauty she was. Now her outside would mirror the contents of her heart. She knew the mirror would soon strip her of her outward beauty and show her for what she really was. A ravenous lion in sheep’s clothing. A monster under the guise of a damsel in distress. A killer hiding as a victim. She was bad to her core; as sick and twisted as they come. Bernard Kendricks had taken a sick and confused little girl and turned her into a monster.

  ***

  The hideous stench of Angie’s bedroom caused Felix’s eyes to burn. He closed his eyes tight, but opened them again once he had grown more accustomed to the smell.

  Swarms of flies buzzed around his head. There had to be hundreds of them in the room. As the swarm cleared, Felix had to adjust his eyes. The queen sized bed was covered with documents; all scattered about in the messiest of ways. Medical records and doctors notes, court orders and court summons covered the bed from foot to head. It looked as if someone was looking for something of great importance, and then just gave up. Felix’s eyes wandered to the floor where he saw the unmistakable trail of blood on the cream carpet. On the opposite side of the room beside Angie’s queen size bed, Felix could see a pale leg sticking out, bare and bloody.

  “Angie!” Felix yelled as he tried to get to the body on the floor, but when he reached the body, it wasn’t Angie.

  Jeremy Macklon lie dead on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest. To his right, in a puddle of her own blood, Angie’s cat Nan lay dead, savagely destroyed at close range by a barrage of bullets. Felix felt the blood rush to his head as he tried to get out as fast as he could.

  “Oh my God…” Felix whispered as his emotions got the best of him.

  He repeated the phrase over and over again as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Jeremy Macklon was dead and Felix had a feeling he knew who was responsible. A train of thoughts entered Felix’s mind:

  Did she know that I would come?

  My fingerprints are now all over the apartment. On the front door handle, on the bedroom door handle, on several of the prescription bottles in the kitchen…

  Had she known?

  His breathing intensified as he hurtled himself towards the front door. Felix clambered over the laundry in the hall, skidded on an empty pill container, and finally as he made it to the front door of the apartment he bolted down the stairs and out the front door. As he crashed into the hard brownstone exterior of 2423 Mariner Avenue, rage poured from his body and tears burned from his eyes.

  In a heavy voice full of emotion and infliction, Felix said aloud, “Oh, my God, Angie… What have you done?”

  ***

  Angie was happy with what she saw. Her smile grew wide as her teeth bared at her reflection. She ran her bony hand over her bald head as a chill ran up her spine. It was time to finish what she had set out to do. She pulled on Tommy Morrow’s black hoodie, laced his hiking boots tightly over her size nine feet and crossed the room with a fuming vengeance. As she threw the window open, she gave the room one last glance.

  She didn’t plan to ever see it again.

  ***

  “I don’t know why I do the things I do,” said Angie from under her black hood.

  Tommy Morrow’s hiking books cloaked her tiny feet perfectly as she trudged loudly on the roof of Gwen and Roger O’Mara’s kitchen. Angie’s feet stood precariously close to the edge of the roof. It would only take one false step to send her falling to her death. A gentle breeze blew westward, gracing over Angie’s body. She dropped her hood and let it flow over her closely-shaved head. For a moment, Angie closed her eyes to try to find the calm she needed to prevent herself from causing further bloodshed. She breathed in and out, again and again. Her lungs rasped as the sickness within consumed her. When she opened her eyes again, there was only bitter contempt, hostile depravity, and evil disdain lingering in the pools of her eyes. The monster had taken over again.

  As a strange smile curled from her lips, Angie whispered into the night, “I’m not sorry for what I’ve done. Remorse is a foreign emotion to me. Where was his emotion when he left me bereft of my innocence? I won’t run this time. I won’t stop. The animal that Bernard awoke in me has come to devour those who stand in my way. No one can stop me. Not even myself.”

  As the cool breeze came to a sudden halt, Angie jumped from the kitchen roof to the dirt below. As she ran down Caribou Road in the dark of night, Angie whispered, “It all ends tonight.”

  ***

  June 20, 1980

  Kendricks Residence

  9 Barn Owl Road

  Shephard’s Grove, PA

  After Midnight

  Bernard Kendricks sat in the dark dim of his bedroom which was illuminated by the light of a candle. The burning flame danced in the darkness and grew more wild and impassioned with each passing moment. The candle illuminated Bernard’s face in a sickly glow as he poured himself over his “work.” A photograph of a young Catherine Morrow sat in a bronze frame on his desk. Her dark hair cascaded over her bare shoulder and her beautiful smile was certainly meant for another man other than Bernard. Bernard liked to imagine that Catherine was staring at him as he wrote a letter to her; his one-hundredth letter this month. A bang from the opposite side of his bedroom door jarred Bernard’s concentration. His eyes perked up as a dangerous mood overcame him. He didn’t like interruptions when he was writing his letters to Catherine. It was their only time together.

  “Bernard,” called Bernard’s aging mother Dorothy, “You have a visitor.”

  “Mother, I thought I said no guests tonight?!” snapped Bernard at his frail mother.

  “Bernard, be nice!” she sweetly encouraged.

  “We had such a wonderful time on vacation, didn’t we?”

  “Yes, mother. It was a nice escape.”

  “Such a shame we had to come home early. Now be nice to your guest,” said Dorothy.

  Mrs. Kendricks made way for Bernard’s visitor and closed the door behind her as she went back down the hall to her bedroom. When Bernard turned around, he was not surprised to see his Cousin Angela standing in the doorway. Angela hoped that he had finally returned home from Maine. She had something important to share with him.

  “I’ve asked you countless times to leave me alone at home, Angela,” Bernard said in a bored tone. His eyes changed suddenly when he saw Angie’s appearance. Her prom dress was torn above her
knees, she had scrapes on her face and legs, her hair was a disheveled mess and her eyes were in a wild frenzy.

  “Has someone touched you?!” Bernard yelled in fury. “If anyone has touched you, I’ll kill them myself!”

  Angie ignored Bernard’s questions and rushed to him with a jubilant smile.

  “I did it, Bernard! Just like you said to!” Angie exclaimed manically.

  Bernard’s eyes went wide.

  “What did you do?!” asked Bernard in a horrified voice.

  “I did what you said. You said to remove the obstacles from my path and I did it! She’s gone!”

  Bernard’s eyes raged with anger.

  “Stupid girl!”

  “What? Why are you angry?” Angie asked sweetly.

  “I meant better yourself. Not kill your sister!”

  “But you said-“

  “I know what I said!”

  “Bernard, it’s over now…”

  “You must go…” Bernard said sternly as he turned back to his desk to finish his letter.

  “And you must come,” said Angie alluringly.

  But before Bernard could respond, Angie encroached upon his work space.

  “What’s this?!” yelled Angie as she grabbed the letter.

  “Are you still obsessed with Mrs. Morrow?!”

  “Don’t call her that!”

  “Her name is not and will never be Catherine Kendricks!”

  Angie ripped the letter into tiny pieces and threw them into the air. They fell to the floor like confetti. Bernard sped across the room as fury seeped from his skin. His hand gripped Angie’s neck as a devious smile grew across her face. The tighter he squeezed, the wider she smiled. Her lips curled until nearly all of her teeth were bared back at Bernard. Bernard’s face morphed from an expression of relentless anger to one of uncontrollable fear.

  “She will be your undoing, Bernard,” said Angie slyly as she slithered out of Bernard’s hold.

  Bernard grabbed Angie and pushed her to the floor as he pinned his knees on her arms. He lowered himself to within an inch of Angie’s face and barked, “And I will be the one who unravels you to your wicked core.”

  An evil smile spread across Angie’s face.

  “Oh, Bernard, we all know how you like to unravel teenage girls,” said Angie in nothing more than a whisper.

  Bernard looked down at Angie with a contemptible glare. His eyes grazed over her bare shoulders, her slender neck, and the bird pendant that he had given her just months prior.

  “What would Catherine think of a man who takes advantage of teenage girls?”

  “Stop! I told you it was a one-time thing. It was a mistake!”

  “It happened twenty-seven times!”

  “It was a mistake!”

  “I wonder what your mother would think. A 28-year old man with his 16-year old cousin. You are a sick, sick man, Bernard.”

  Tears began to flood Bernard’s eyes as he held his head with both hands in an attempt to stop the mental anguish that was now ridiculing him.

  He screamed, “Oh, my God! What a monster I’ve created!”

  “Yes, created and out of your control. You don’t like our little game now that you’re not in control? Pity.”

  “What is to stop me from calling the police right now?”

  “Oh, Bernard. You’ve shown me all your secrets. Don’t you remember? I can easily show the police the bone yard that you created down in the mine, just under the Bone Tree. I can even expose our biggest secret.”

  “You wouldn’t…” said Bernard in a fearful voice.

  “Oh, but I would.”

  As Angie glared at Bernard with a vicious glare, Bernard swallowed the saliva that had pooled in his mouth.

  “Speak a word of this, and I’ll undo you before Catherine has the chance,” threatened Angie as she stormed out of Bernard Kendricks’ bedroom and life forever.

  Chapter 25

  June 20, 2000

  Morrow Manor

  Fox Hollow, PA

  10:45 P.M.

  Tristan woke to the sound of static. The harsh white noise was coming from the television and assaulting her ear drums with firm aggression. She rose from her pillow on the couch groggily, where she had fallen asleep while her father and boyfriend were watching Rocky III; a movie that she had watched more times than she would like to count. Tristan rubbed her eyes as her vision slowly returned after her cat nap. Jack and Cole lay sprawled out on their respective couches. The others had not returned yet. Aunt Bridgette was still at work. Uncle Frank was at the movies with Tommy, Blake and Shane. Liam and Adam had gone back to the precinct. Angus and Moira had left earlier that day for an evening in New York. Moira wanted to escape the heavy state of affairs in Elkhart and enjoy a nice dinner and a show with Angus. Meanwhile, Natalie was still at the diner. The house was eerily quiet and Tristan was the only one who was awake. She rose from the sofa and stretched her limbs which were sore from lying in one position for too long. It had gotten really dark and Tristan wondered what time it was. As she glanced at the wall clock, panic nearly struck her.

  10:45… Cole should’ve left a half hour ago to pick up Aunt Bridgette and Natalie.

  “Cole…” Tristan called as she shook her boyfriend’s foot. Cole groaned in protest and fell back asleep.

  “Cole… Wake up…” Cole snored loudly as Tristan stared at him and rolled her eyes. She felt bad having to wake him up. After all, Jack and Joe were having him do a lot of pickups and drop-offs. It seemed unfair.

  Surely I can manage a quick pick-up. Right? He probably won’t even notice I’m gone. I can’t just leave the girls stranded on Mountain Road. Not with a killer on the loose.

  Jack would be furious when he found out that Tristan went to get Bridgette and Natalie on her own, but Tristan was sure that, with time, he would get over it. Tristan’s thoughts raced a mile a minute as she went into Frank’s gun cabinet and pulled out a revolver.

  Just in case.

  Tristan decided to bite the bullet and do what she felt was right. Poor Cole had been running all around, and Jack was exhausted himself. She was an adult now and she decided to make a last minute judgment call. As Tristan crossed the threshold of Morrow Manor, she glanced back at Cole and Jack’s sleeping faces and smiled.

  ***

  “Where the hell is he?!” fumed Bridgette as she looked at her wrist watch. The time was 11:20 P.M. and Cole had not arrived yet. She was waiting in the lobby of Grier Mountain Medical Center with a worried look on her face. Cole was usually so dependable. Bridgette hoped that nothing was wrong.

  Carla, a nurse from the Pediatric unit, said to Bridgette, “Hey, isn’t that your brother’s truck?”

  Bridgette’s eyes perked up to the parking lot and sure enough it was Jack’s truck pulling up. She looked perplexed as she looked at the driver though, because it definitely wasn’t Jack or Cole behind the wheel.

  “Alright, Carla… Have a good night. Be safe,” Bridgette urged as she bid her colleague adieu.

  Bridgette swung the passenger side door of Jack’s truck open as she gave Tristan a look that was peppered with both bewilderment and amusement.

  “How on earth did you get past your old man?” asked Bridgette with a bewildered look on her face.

  “Both him and Cole fell asleep. Uncle Frank is still out with the boys… It was either I come or you spend the night here.”

  “I appreciate it. Let’s go grab Natalie and get back before he notices.”

  “And let’s get out of Elkhart before anyone gets any ideas,” said Tristan darkly. She knew who was responsible, and she wasn’t thrilled being in such close vicinity to where that person was living.

  “Want me to drive?” asked Bridgette, detecting a hint of nervousness in her niece’s usually steady voice.

  “Yeah.”

  Bridgette slid over into the driver’s seat as Tristan walked around the truck to climb into the passenger seat. As she was about to get into the truck she noticed that Natali
e was walking up Mountain Road towards the hospital parking lot.

  “Natalie’s coming…” said Tristan as she boosted herself into the passenger seat and strapped her seat belt across her lap and chest.

  Bridgette glared nervously out the windshield as she watched Natalie approach. She was only about one hundred feet away; she’d be in the truck in a matter of minutes. Suddenly, something dark interrupted her view. A black van had pulled up right in front of where Natalie was walking. It had come to a complete stop. Tristan saw it first, and her blood ran cold. Bridgette rolled down the driver’s side window.