Just before exiting the highway, Amber began wailing. She had been desperately trying to get her mother’s attention over the past half an hour. Unnerved by her mother’s anxiety, she was hungry, tired, irritable and had expended her last ounce of patience. There was just one thing left to do: bawl loudly.
“Quiet, Amby,” Patty chided. “We’ll be there soon.”
The little girl continued her siren-like howling. Patty was highly agitated by the time she drove up to the Morrisons’ driveway.
“We’re here now,” she said anxiously. “Please stop crying.”
Patty’s heart began pounding heavily within her chest.
“I’m sorry, Amby,” she soothed her saddened, confused little girl after she had opened the back door and fumbled to release the seatbelt.
“Mooom-meeeeee,” Amber sobbed as she flung herself into Patty’s arms.
“It’s okay, baby. We’re going to get Daddy then we’ll get something to eat, okay?”
Amber continued to weep in her mother’s arms but nodded slowly. Patty was still feeling shaky and wanted to put Amber down, but she knew her daughter would not have it. She slowly carried the little girl up the walkway and to the front door. She pressed the doorbell and waited. After a long pause, she pressed it again then knocked on the door.
“Patrick? Monica?” she called out. “Jake?”
When it was apparent that no one was going to open the door, Patty reached for the door knob and let herself in. She needed to find out what was going on. Jake had to be there still. His car was parked beside hers.
Closing the door behind her, Patty walked past the foyer and toward the family room. Her footsteps seemed to echo within the silent house.
“What’s that smell?” Amber asked, crinkling her nose.
Patty caught a whiff of it too. It wasn’t overpowering, but repugnant just the same. She had a bad feeling that she knew what the smell was. She walked over to the sofa and placed Amber upon it.
“Stay here, honey,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure why she was whispering.
“No!” Amber protested, stretching her arms out toward her mother. “I wanna go with you!”
“You want me to find Daddy, don’t you?”
Amber nodded, her arms still outstretched as tears slid down her chubby cheeks.
“Then, please baby, let me go get him. I’ll turn on the TV for you, okay?”
Ignoring Amber’s continuous protests, Patty located the remote control and turned on the television. She felt odd, first letting herself in, now making herself at home, but she knew the situation called for such irregular actions. She changed the channel so that “Dora the Explorer” was now on a mission on the screen. Amber loved Dora. Patty hoped that it would hold her attention long enough for her to find out what was going on.
Amber settled down and focused on Dora. Moments later, Patty quietly slipped away. She tiptoed silently down the hall toward Patrick’s office. She didn’t dare call out to anyone for fear of distracting Amber and reviving her whining fit. As she slowly stepped down the corridor, the rancid smell hit her suddenly and she froze in place, quickly cupping her hand over her nose. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to turn back, get Amber and leave the house. She knew that she should follow her gut feeling. Instead she trudged forward slowly.
As she inched her way toward the room on the left, just before Patrick’s office, the smell intensified. The potent stew plagued her olfactory senses despite her covered nostrils. Unable to resist her curiosity, she slowly entered the room, froze at the doorway and screamed at the horrors polluting her eyes. There was blood everywhere. She could see a woman’s body on the floor directly across from her and a man’s body on the bed in the center of the room. Her heart hammered and she gasped sharply. Was that Jake?
Patty could hear Amber calling for her but she could not respond. She had to find out if it was Jake’s corpse on the bed. Shaking vigorously, she forced her legs to move into the room, toward the bed. She once again froze when she noticed the thick, blood and mucous-slimed serpentine mass stretching from the body on the floor over to the body on the bed. She knew instantly what it was and she lurched forward and threw up, adding to the already-existing mix of blood, vomit, urine and other bodily fluids on the floor.
“Mommy, it stinks in here,” Amber wailed as she came running into the room. “What’s that...that...aaahhhhhhhh.”
Amber slid on the smelly wet sludge on the floor and fell face-down into it. Her high-pitched scream broke Patty’s spell. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned to Amber. She quickly leaned forward, scooped her hysterical daughter up in her arms and ran from the room. Instinctively, she ran straight to Patrick’s office intending to use his telephone to dial 9-1-1.
Amber’s head rested precariously on Patty’s shoulder. Her sobs wracked her slimy little body and made her slippery to hold within her mother’s trembling hands and body.
“Hush, Amby,” she tried to soothe her child, with an unsteady, quavering voice. “Everything’s okay.”
As Patty entered Patrick’s office a moment later, she proved herself wrong. She saw the man slumped over on the desk in front of her. This time there was no question. It was her husband Jake.
“Oh God,” she cried out, as she rushed over to him.
Amber lifted her head to see what had caused her mother such distress.
“Daddy?” She cried, fresh new tears streaking down her dirty face.
Patty lowered Amber onto Patrick’s desk. Amber’s arms remained fastened around her mother’s neck and she wrapped her legs around her mother’s waist.
“Nooooo,” she cried, “hold meeeee.”
“I have to check on Daddy,” Patty yelled nervously, roughly wrenching her daughter free and dropping her onto the desk while the child fidgeted and complained. Normally she would be fearful that Amber would fall and hurt herself. But at the moment, there were far more pressing concerns. She sprinted around to where Jake’s lifeless body was.
Please let there be a pulse, she prayed as she frantically checked his wrist. Feeling nothing, Patty began weeping heavily. She grabbed his head with both hands, lifted it gently and kissed his bloodied face. She buried her head within the nook between his jaw and shoulder blade and sobbed piteously. It was then that she felt the pulse on his neck. Disbelieving it at first, she jerked away and checked with her two fingers. It was faint—dangerously weak—but there nonetheless.
Patty let out a sharp cry of joy and relief. She pulled away from Jake and reached for the nearby telephone. She quickly dialed 9-1-1 and anxiously awaited the dispatcher’s voice.
“9-1-1, what’s the nature of your emergency?”
“I need an ambulance...and, and the police too...I...I...there are dead bodies here and my husband’s dying,” Patty rapidly blurted out.
“Slow down, ma’am, did you say dead bodies?”
“Yes, I saw two bodies, and my—Amby, shut up! My husband is dying, he needs help right away, please, please....”
Being told to shut up only increased the intensity of Amber’s wailing. With the cordless phone to her ear, Patty walked to the other side of the office.
“Ma’am, what’s the address there?”
“1713 Seascape Drive in Bellefluer.”
“Okay, help is on the way. What is your name, ma’am?”
“Patty, Patty Bentley.”
“What happened to your husband, Patty? What are his injuries?”
“I don’t know, I just found him slumped over our friend’s desk. But...but....” Patty gasped as she raced over to Jake’s side.
“It was Hillary Greyson,” she shouted nervously. “She did this to him...to them.”
It dawned on her that the two other bodies must belong to Monica and Patrick Morrison.
“Patty, did you say Hillary Greyson?”
It was clear from her tone that the dispatcher didn’t believe her.
“I saw her with my
own eyes,” Patty said anxiously. “In fact....”
Patty gasped loudly as she thought about the rage and hatred in Hillary’s murderous eyes. She was so angry and she had tried to get the cab driver to follow them. What if she were on her way here?
“She might be on her way,” Patty screamed hysterically. “She could be here any minute!”
“Please calm down, Patty, help should arrive shortly. Are you speaking of that young girl, Hillary Greyson, from Maple Trails?”
“Yes, yes, Hillary Greyson, the murderer,” Patty replied anxiously.
“Okay, well there’s no need to worry. Hillary’s dead, she’s—”
“She’s alive...I’ve seen her with my own eyes. She killed my friends, their bodies are in the other room and my husband, he’s...he’s....”
Patty broke down and began to weep.
“Alright, Patty, someone will be there soon. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine,” she sobbed.
“What about the child? Who is that crying in the background?”
“My daughter Amber. She’s fine, just scared. Please help us...please....”
“Did you witness the murders?”
“No, I just got here. My husband called me from here. He’s the one who warned me about Hillary. She was at my house. Hillary was at my house.”
“Was it someone dressed like Hillary?”
“No, damn you! It was Hillary, Hillary herself...Hillary Greyson!” Patty shouted in frustration, “And now she might be headed this way. She could be here any second. Don’t you understand? We could be in danger!”
Just as she spoke the last word, she heard the sirens and exhaled deeply in relief. She dropped the phone, stepped over to Amber and cradled the frightened, confused girl in her arms. She could faintly hear the dispatcher’s voice coming through the cordless phone but she no longer cared to speak with her or answer her questions. She only cared that help was on its way. She prayed that it wasn’t too late for Jake.
She dodged Amber’s sorrowful questions about her father with soothing sounds, kisses to her dampened cheeks, and dubious promises that her father was going to be just fine.
Minutes later, she heard emergency workers announce their arrival as they let themselves into the house.
“In here!” she shouted impatiently as she held Amber close within her right arm. She had her left hand over Jake’s.
She could hear the voices of several men drawing closer. She could hear them commenting on the smell then cursing when they noticed the bodies.
“In here, please,” she begged. “My husband needs help.”
Three men quickly stepped into the room and rushed over to Jake.
“Are you injured at all?” One of the men asked Patty and she shook her head as she moved aside to give them enough room to work on Jake.
“We’re both okay, we just got here and found...found....” Patty broke down again and began sobbing.
A female cop made her way over to Patty.
“I’m Officer Dunn,” she said warmly. “Why don’t you follow me outside and we’ll have a little talk.”
“But...Jake...?”
Patty stared back at her husband’s motionless body while one of the paramedics began taking his vitals.
“He’s in good hands,” Officer Dunn assured her. “Besides, I think your daughter needs some fresh air, don’t you?”
Patty nodded as Officer Dunn gently guided her trembling body out of the room. They stood against the wall as two other paramedics carried a gurney past them, toward Patrick’s office. A group of officers who had just arrived entered the room where the bodies were. Patty was careful not to look into the room as she passed it by. Patty and Officer Dunn walked out to the front porch without exchanging any words. Officer Dunn broke the silence several minutes later, after giving Patty a chance to calm down a bit.
“I know this must be extremely hard for you,” she said and Patty slowly nodded in response. “What a beautiful girl you are,” she continued, this time addressing Amber. “How old are you, sweetie?”
Officer Dunn couldn’t help but notice the blood and smelly sludge covering the front of the girl’s shirt, streaked upon her face and splattered within her hair.
Amber turned her head and continued whimpering.
“Mrs. Bentley, I need you to tell me exactly what happened, from the beginning.”
Patty sighed before starting.
“I was at home with my daughter. I called my husband and this lady answered. She said that she was my husband’s lover. I got angry, challenged her, told her to come over and face me. I didn’t know what to believe. While I was waiting, my husband called. He was frantic, he warned me to get out of the house. He kept saying that Hillary Greyson was coming, that she was going to kill us if we didn’t leave. I got mad. I thought he was just trying to save himself from getting caught. But it didn’t make sense...it just didn’t make sense. He was so afraid. There was terror in his voice. I’ve never heard him so fearful....”
“Go on, Patty, what happened next?”
“I didn’t take him seriously, but then I started getting worried. Finally I decided to leave. I put Amber in the car and just as I was about to drive off, a cab pulls into my driveway. I watched a young girl get out. She was wearing my friend’s dress—Monica—she’s, she’s...she’s dead now...she’s one of the bodies in that room,” Patty sobbed loudly.
“I’m real sorry about your friend, Patty. Help us find who did this to her. Tell me what happened.”
Patty sniffled loudly then wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
“It was Hillary Greyson,” she blurted out. “I don’t care if you believe it or not, but I know what I saw.”
“But Patty, Hillary Greyson is dead. She died months ago after resisting arrest.”
Patty shook her head adamantly.
“It was Hillary, I swear it was, just like my husband said. That’s who killed Monica and Patrick and maybe...maybe Jake too.”
Patty’s eyes filled with tears and she took a moment to weep for her husband. Officer Dunn placed her hand on Patty’s shoulder and gave her time to regain her composure.
“It was Hillary Greyson,” Patty said softly, but insistently.
“Okay, Patty, I believe you,” Officer Dunn said, though it was obvious that she didn’t. “What happened after that?”
“I was scared,” Patty said. “I sped off. I could tell that Hillary was trying to get the cab driver to follow me. I just drove here as fast as I could. I saw Jake’s car in the driveway and let myself in when no one answered the door. I knew by the smell that something was wrong. I left Amber on the couch and walked down the hall toward Patrick’s office. But then...the smell got so bad. It was coming from the room right before office. I went in and....”
Patty shut her eyes as if trying her best to erase the images she had seen. When she opened them, fresh new tears escaped her wide, horrified eyes.
“I thought the man on the bed was Jake,” she cried aloud. “There was blood everywhere and...oh God, his body was mutilated...and...oh my God, Monica’s intestines, her intestines were stretched across to Patrick’s body, she was—”
“It’s okay,” Officer Dunn interrupted, consoling her. “You don’t have to think about what you saw, just tell me what you did next.”
“I was puking up when Amber came running in and slipped on all the blood and nasty mess. I just picked her up and ran to the office to call for help. That’s when I saw Jake. I thought he was dead, but he has a pulse...he still has a pulse.”
The paramedics carried the gurney holding Jake’s body out of the house. Patty ran up to them as Officer Dunn reached for her.
“How is he?” She asked desperately.
It was a good sign that there wasn’t a sheet covering his body. Patty knew that he was still alive, at least for the time being.
“Ma’am, please let us pass,” the first paramedic snapped.
Ted Nimmons was ordinarily a very pl
easant man—courteous and polite—but after what he had just seen, he wanted to get the hell out of there and fast.
“But—” Officer Dunn yanked Patty back.
“They’re trying to save your husband,” she said bluntly.
The second paramedic turned back and grimly said, “He’s alive, but he needs to get to a hospital ASAP.”
They quickly placed the gurney into the ambulance and were gone within seconds.
Patty felt dizzy. Too much had happened in a short period of time. She had felt such horror, such terror…such revulsion. Now she was worried sick, hoping and praying that her husband would survive Hillary’s attack. She didn’t even know the nature of his injuries. It didn’t look as if he’d been stabbed or anything. Then again, she had only seen his upper body—the part of him that was slumped over the desk.
“Do you want to get your daughter washed up a bit?” Officer Dunn asked in a way that was more like a suggestion.
The sickening smell from the nasty slime on little Amber’s body surely must be adding to her misery.
Picking up on the look of dread all over Patty’s face, Officer Dunn added, “I’ll just run in and get a wet towel.”
“No!” Patty exclaimed. “Don’t leave me out here alone.”
“You’ll be fine, Patty. Whoever did this is long gone and won’t dare come close to the house with all of these police cars parked here.”
Feeling weak and apprehensive, Patty whispered, “Please...can you just stay with me?”
“It’ll be okay,” Officer Dunn assured her. “There’s blood on her and God knows what else and it stinks something awful. You don’t want that nasty stuff on her.”
Now that she thought about it, Patty couldn’t wait to clean that filth off Amber. The blood alone was bad enough, but the other things she had seen were far worse. She nodded in agreement and stared in dismay as Officer Dunn walked back into the Morrison house.
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