“But if he’s got the page,” Tricia said, “how did you know who we were?”
I explained. “I was able to make out the impressions left by Mr. Michaels’ pen from when he made those entries. The killer and I have the same list and it contains all of your names, with the exception of Mrs. Michaels.”
“So what’s this guy look like?” Laura asked.
“She wore a mask,” Athena said, absent-mindedly.
“A mask?” Mindy asked.
“She?” Laura followed up. I sighed.
“According to Mrs. Michaels,” I explained, “the killer is female and was dressed completely in black with no visible skin. Over her head, she wore a cloth, black, featureless mask of some sort. Since no one else has seen it, we can’t be sure of what it looks like.”
“This is all well and good,” Darla piped up, “but did you round us up just to warn us that one of us is getting toasted tonight, or is there another reason?”
“It’s been decided to take extreme measures to protect you,” I said.
“What kind of measures,” Tricia asked.
“Tonight, you’ll be meeting up with Dr. Randall Quired, the director of the Bluffs Mental Health Facility.”
“The loony bin?” Tricia asked. “Happy Acres Rest Asylum?” I rolled my eyes.
“The facility has a vacant wing in which you can stay until we can catch the killer. It’s very secure and you will be protected.” I tried to tell them as straight forward and logically as I could, but of course, they still complained.
“You’re locking us up?” Mindy asked. “I have church tomorrow.”
“That’s not fair!” Tricia declared. “We didn’t do anything. And it’s a Saturday night!”
“Oh, this’ll look great on my resume,” said Laura. “Straight A’s. Time in the loony bin.”
“How do we know no one else here did it?” Ashley asked, making the most logical observation. After all, I had learned that Hank had wronged nearly everyone in this room to the extent that any of them might have wanted to kill him. While his goal was always charming the pants off the next girl, Hank managed to hurt them in several other ways.
For example, Laura’s note about her straight A’s was not entirely true as she had received one C in her entire term at school. That C came from Hank Michaels’ psychology class, and at the present time, she was in the process of contesting it with the administration, but unsuccessfully. After her semester with him, she had gone to him with her grade and waved it in front of his face in anger.
“A C?!” she had yelled. “You’re giving me a C?! This is ludicrous.”
“You just didn’t make the cut,” Hank told her, his arms folded as he sat in his chair with a devil may care expression on his face.
“Is this because I wouldn’t sleep with you?” she accused.
“Well, the grade can still be changed,” he had offered while leaning towards her.
“I don’t think so,” she told him before leaving the room, losing the A, but keeping her dignity. She always planned to take the class somewhere else to bring the grade to an A, in case the administration sided with Michaels, but she had never really forgiven her Professor for cheating her out of her perfect score.
Mindy was a different and more serious story altogether. Before she had found Jesus, she was very outgoing and free with her body, giving it out to anyone, including Hank. In fact, his time with her was proportionately longer than most of the others, and used her for threesomes when he could talk others into it, based on what I’d heard. Unfortunately, she also came up with a surprise for him one month.
“You told me you were on the pill,” Hank had screamed at her.
“Hey, dude, stuff happens,” she told him in a whatever tone. “You deal with it.”
“How do you know it’s mine?” he said, thinking she’d been with someone else in the interim, but she was certain on this count. Apparently, he had kept her busy enough that she didn’t go to anyone else during this time period.
“Oh, I’m sure a paternity test will clear that right up,” she told him with a sneer. “You know, when the little bundle comes bouncing along.”
“I don’t think so,” he said and grabbed her by the arm dragging her out of his office.
“Where are we going?” she asked, a little fear coming into her voice.
“Abortion clinic,” he declared. “I’m not dealing with children. Not from my wife. Not from you. Not from anyone. Ever.”
He had driven her directly to the clinic himself and paid for the abortion. Mindy regretted that decision immediately and credited that situation to be her turning point. From what she had told me, she had not been with anyone else after that. Of course, Hank Michaels was completely done with her. However, when asked about that situation with him, she cannot disguise the disgust she had for Hank regardless of its outcome in her life.
Tricia’s time with Hank came to an abrupt end when they had found themselves post-coital in a park. They liked to meet up in random locations just to see how much they could get away with, but in this last situation, it backfired. They were off the beaten path behind some bushes next to a walking trail where they knew from experience that few people ever came by, and even when someone did, they rarely went looking in the bushes for anyone. It was generally very safe, so on this particular day when they were wrapping things up, so to speak, she was laying on the ground simply enjoying his presence before they left.
“Always a pleasure,” Hank breathed as he rested on top of her.
“So am I up to A plus yet?” she asked with a smile. He smiled back.
“Nearly.”
Shuffling near their momentary hiding place caught Hank’s attention. Tricia didn’t recognize the voices, but Hank was all of a sudden in a hurry to leave. He threw on his pants, grabbed the rest of the clothes and ran. Then Tricia made a horrifying realization. She jumped up.
“Hey, you took my clothes!”
She watched powerlessly as Hank ran through the trees to the parking lot just on the other side, jumped into his car and sped away, leaving her naked hiding behind the bushes in this public park. She knelt down and covered her bare chest, but everything else was exposed as well. She looked around in fear, not of being seen, but of what happens to girls who might end up isolated and naked. She was fortunate in that the people passing by were another Professor and his wife who were more than willing to help her get dressed. She was mostly truthful with them by telling them that her boyfriend left her out here like this, but she would not tell them his name. They had pressed, but she just acted like she didn’t want him to get into trouble, where in fact, she knew she would have been in just as much trouble if she had revealed the truth then. Like the others, she had never forgiven Hank for that act of selfishness.
“With all due respect, ladies,” Athena said, bringing them all back to the present, “you wouldn’t be here is you hadn’t slept with my husband.”
“And you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t married him,” Darla returned. “See how that works?” An awkward moment of silence followed while everyone just stared at Darla.
“What?” Athena finally responded.
“I don’t think that made sense to anyone,” Tricia said, echoing the thoughts of most everyone in the room.
“I can’t believe he put me in his address book,” Laura said, changing the subject. “I didn’t ask for that.”
“You know,” Mindy began, “they used to kill people for adultery. It was, like, the same as murder.”
“Sure, two thousand years ago,” Tricia said. “It’s not a crime anymore.”
“We’re all still suspects, aren’t we, Detective?” Darla asked. I was flattered they noticed I was still in the room. I shrugged.
“Sure, why not? If any of you runs before we meet over there, consider yourself guilty.”
Darla scoffed, saying, “You can’t do that.”
“And we have no choice in the matter?” Tricia asked.
“Is that legal,�
� Ashley said doubtfully.
“I’ve got the support I need to take care of this,” I assured them all.
“I prefer to look after my own good, thank you,” Tricia said.
“He just won’t tell us we’re all suspects to our faces, that’s all,” Darla said.
“I thought he just did,” Ashley said.
“I’m not thrilled about being put away for nothing,” Laura said.
“Okay, listen to me,” I called over them. They quieted down. “We were supposed to have one more person join us here today. Linda Allen had gotten into her car at the University this morning, and that’s where we found her with her throat cut and her engine running. In broad daylight, and no one saw anything. Which of you will be next? We’ve tried to protect you out there, but whoever this is beats our every move. I’ll be honest with you. I want to require this. I want to force every one of you into this facility, but I can’t. You’re right. It isn’t legal. I can’t force you. You caught me. Congratulations. But this killer is getting more daring with every kill. I have to leave the choice to you, but I will encourage you to take advantage of this. Unless you have some other suggestion, this is it.”
The room was silent as this soaked in. It was hard to ignore the fact that their lives were at risk, and we were just trying to help. Sometimes, people don’t want help. They want to do it by themselves and make their own way, but there comes a time when everyone must find help within their society, and for these women, this was their one shot to survive. The facility was guarded and secure. We were certain this would help us either catch the killer within or identify anyone who tried to gain access to kill them. It felt so perfect at the time. Darla was the first to break the silence.
“Well, I guess I’m sold.”
“Me too,” Tricia agreed.
“This sucks, but I have a full life ahead of me,” Laura joined. “I kind of want to live it.”
“Do I have an agreement from you all?” I asked. All six of them nodded in agreement, albeit reluctantly. The final question from Darla addressed the final elephant in the room.
“Now, if this guy doesn’t come after us tonight, and it’s none of us, then what?”
“We’re doing the best we can to protect you,” I assured them. “We’re hoping to be able to figure this out before you all think you’re living there.”
I didn’t have a good answer for it, to be honest. Our one hope was that the killer would make a move while we had them all together, and we’d catch her. We hoped that would happen tonight, so we could put this to bed. On the one hand, it worked just like that. On the other, it failed because of that.
CHAPTER TEN
Keeping It Together
The Bluffs Mental Health Facility (referred to by local residents as the Happy Acres Rest Asylum) was a complex of large, multi-storied, white buildings connected by hallways, surrounded by fields of grass, and bordered with high, electrified fences. Each of the individual wings had its own security station and two of these wings were considered “high-security” in that they were setup specifically to prevent the more violent of mental patients from escaping which made it more like a prison than a hospital.
A white van with the Bluffs Mental Health Facility logo drove through the security station at the main gate. The hospital had regular visiting hours, but any visitor at any time had to go through the security station at the gate, even if their loved one were staying in the non-secure area. This arrangement worked well for the sort of detail I needed to keep these women safe.
The van stopped under the awning in front of their wing, and an older gentleman stepped forward to open the van’s sliding passenger door. He was dressed in slacks, dress shirt, tie, and sweater vest, and his white, thinning hair gave witness to his age, though he felt he had many years left within him. He smiled as he gazed on the six anxious faces that looked at him when he opened the van door. I had told him all about their situation, and not only was he willing to make sure that the wing was available to keep them safe, but he also offered any counseling they might need once the crisis was over.
“Good evening, ladies. I’m Dr. Randall Quired,” the old man said. He bid them welcome to his facility and had them walk inside to the security station. He closed the van door, and the driver left. He walked through the automatic glass doors to the security station where Paul Wyatt, a security guard in his thirties, looked at the women as they stood nervously and waited. Paul and Dr. Quired exchanged friendly greetings as Quired indicated the bars to the right of the security station.
“Are we supposed to search them or anything?” Paul asked.
“Detective Thompson said they took care of that at the station before they got here,” Quired said, and the women nodded in agreement. “Just the door then.” He turned to the women. “You will have to put anything metal you might have on you through the machine, of course.”
Quired dropped his keys into a container and sent it through the Xray machine where Paul was able to see the contents on a monitor. Quired walked through the metal detector without incident and picked up his keys on the other side. Paul buzzed the barred door leading into the secure area open, and one by one, the women followed suit as Quired held the door open for them on the other side.
Once all six of them were inside the barred area, Quired closed the barred door, and held a key card up to a panel next to a steel door on the other side. The door opened inward to a short hallway at the end of which was another steel door. Quired spoke to them as they walked to the other door.
“This wing is constructed identically to the wing in use right now. They both are designed to hold maximum security patients. Steel doors, camera surveillance, electronic locks, the works. When a state hospital opened closer to the city, we lost a lot of our patients, but we do, however, keep it up, especially since the city council voted to use it for holding regular prisoners on a temporary basis. There are bars on all the windows and locks on the steel doors that are at every exit. This second door requires someone to be present at the security desk to buzz you in along with a keycard like I had at the other end. Not only can no one get out, but no one can get in either.”
“Feel guilty yet, anyone?” Darla asked cynically.
“I feel safe, anyway,” Ashley commented.
At the other steel door, Quired looked at the camera that stared directly at the door. Once he heard the door buzz, he used his keycard to swipe the second lock, and he held the door, which opened into the hallway, open for the women to pass through. As soon as the last one was in, he followed in behind them to show them around. The door clanged shut behind them.
He gave them a brief tour of the wing, showing the rooms’ steel doors that would latch but not lock, as they all required keys to engage the locks. He showed them the gathering room where they could sit and watch television, if they wished. He regretfully informed them that their cell phones will not work in the facility since the hills surrounding the grounds block the cell signals from reaching the towers. There are some places where a marginal signal comes through, but rarely enough to do much of anything. They’ve asked for a tower or repeater, but so far, they’ve been snubbed, so they primarily use landline phones. He showed them the phone in that area that they can use and gave them the numerical combination to attain an outside line.
The last thing he did before leaving them for the evening was an hour or so later when he introduced the night security guard to them, Arlene Johnson. She was a stocky, well-built woman with short, cropped brown hair, but a friendly enough face that would definitely shoot you if given the provocation. For the most part, the women were friendly enough, given the circumstances, and they all wished Arlene a good night.
As Paul buzzed Quired and Arlene back out, he said to her, “They shouldn’t give you any trouble, Arlene, but if anything happens, even if it seems insignificant, call me immediately.”Arlene nodded and took Paul’s seat as he exited with Dr. Quired. She stared into one of the security monitors showing the gatheri
ng room and the six women pacing, reading, or just staring at the walls, uncertain of what to do.
Tricia was one of them who was getting stir crazy quickly and pacing furiously. “Well, this is about as much fun as I can handle in one evening,” she raved. “What’re we supposed to do all night? I never go to bed this early.” Mindy scoffed and never looked up from her Bible.
“What Tricia means is she never goes to sleep this early.”
“But you’re up past your bedtime, aren’t you, God girl?”
“Please stop calling me that. I prefer the term ‘Jesus Freak’,” Mindy replied with a snide smile to Tricia. “I think the idea in a place like this is to go to bed early.”
“But I’m not tired,” Tricia whined.
“Seriously, is this a conversation worth having?” Laura asked.
“So, you’re studying to be a doctor?” Ashley asked her, looking to talk about something to pass the time.
“Yup,” Laura replied, grateful to have another topic. “General practitioner. You?”
“Journalism,” Ashley replied. “I’ll be there to report all your mistakes on national TV.” Laura chuckled.
“Hey, Doctor Laura,” Tricia said loudly. “That’s funny.”
“Oh, that’s original,” Laura rolled her eyes.
“She’s full of them,” Mindy confirmed.
“So, Ashley,” Tricia said, diverting everyone’s attention, “how did you come to be in this with Professor Michaels?” Ashley looks around nervously, like a cornered animal. She didn’t really have to answer, but everyone was looking at her, and she didn’t really know how to get out of it. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay, well, it was between semesters and I was out at a club, right?” she began. “Well, this cute guy starts dancing with me, and I didn’t know anything about him. Well, stupid kid I was–”
“Was?” Tricia interrupted, hoping for a laugh, but received nothing of the sort.
“For the love of God, Tricia, please be quiet,” Mindy sighed. Tricia scoffed as if she had been gravely insulted, but Ashley continued.
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