“Sorry,” Ashley said sheepishly, “it’s just that I’d feel better about traveling together.”
“Hey, there’s no one in here with us. No one can get past the gate, much less the guard and the bars and that door where you have to get buzzed and scan at the same time.”
“Still…”
“It’s just logical, you know? It’s safe. Go to the room.”
“Don’t be too long, ok?” Ashley conceded as she backed out of the bathroom. Finally, she turns on a heel and walks out the door.
Laura shook her head incredulously and rolled her eyes, thinking that Professor Michaels wasn’t exactly into this for the intelligence in a lot of cases, especially that last one. She checked out her leg to make sure she hasn’t missed any spots before switching to the other leg and lathering up. Her concentration fully engaged, she doesn’t see the faceless figure standing back at the entry of the shower area, watching her again. Laura was oblivious to the presence of the faceless figure, but the figure walked back into a stall as the bathroom door opened again.
“You’re shaving your legs?” Mindy’s voice rang out across the bathroom. Laura paused and rolled her eyes again.
“Don’t start with me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Tracking a Killer
While the women were safely tucked away in Happy Acres – or rather, the Mental Health Facility – I did not simply take the evening off to rest on my laurels. I knew the killer was still out there, but I could not confirm whether I had locked her away in the facility, or if she would be actively trying to gain entry to it. My honest hope was that by reviewing some public records about the women involved in this whole debacle, I might light upon something that I’d not discovered already.
But after going over the records of all these women a couple of times, my eyes were strained, and I was ready to curl up under my desk and call it a night. I knew there would little point in going home at any rate. I had folders with some data, and the internet for yet more, but nothing stood out to me more than it had the first dozen times I’d reviewed it.
I sat back in my chair and looked around the station. I was the only workaholic still here at this time of night, because even though it was only nine o’clock, Bluffs rarely had anything going on that required someone to be at the police station twenty-four hours a day. Most of the time, they kept one person on the 911 line, and she has finished more books in her time here than anyone else I know. The only other person here at this time was the janitor, and he had already come by to take out my trash. I closed my eyes to try and think of everyone I’d gone through so far, but my mind was all in a fog.
I walked into the break room for some very stale coffee to try and wake up a bit. There had to be something I was missing in this whole case. Someone I had overlooked or some fact that I had just missed. It had to be staring me in the face. I looked out of the break room window into the dark street, and that’s when it hit me. In the interest of keeping you guessing because it is simply not time to reveal the killer yet, I will say that looking out the window is what led my mind down the necessary path, and I immediately walked to my computer to look up a specific piece of information that I remember seeing, but for some reason, it didn’t register. I honestly don’t know why it didn’t either.
I typed the name into my lookup database and the information loaded. As I looked at what presented itself in black and white, I cursed myself for not catching it quicker. For some reason, I hadn’t looked this up before, but I should have. Too many names and too much about too many of them had clouded my judgment, but I believe that had I noticed it sooner, I might have prevented so much tragedy.
I drove directly over to the home in question to see if anything inside might prove the case conclusively. Obviously, I didn’t expect anyone to be home, but I knocked all the same just to be sure. Getting no answer, I tried the door and found it locked. Hoping this person might be the irresponsible variety who hides a key somewhere convenient, I went ahead and checked under the doormat and above the door frame.
Naturally, that was too easy, so hoping they did not lock the deadbolt, I used my vast knowledge of opening doors and slipped a credit card in between the latch and the door jamb, and it opened. Yes, I admit it was illegal, but I let myself in.
I decided it would be best to keep the lights off as I didn’t want any neighbors to see me wandering around. It was bad enough that my car was parked outside, but it was unmarked. I used my flashlight to look around the house itself as well as looking in the bedroom and its closet, where people tend to keep their darkest secrets. In all areas, I found nothing of use, and further confirmed that no one was home.
Finally, I came across a locked door, and as anyone would know, finding a locked room inside a house is a very curious thing. After all, if you were to live alone, who exactly are you keeping out of this room, but anyone curious enough to stumble upon the door when they visit. As I’m a visitor who has an inquiring mind, I used the credit card trick again and beat the rather insignificant indoor lock.
A quick look around the room with my flashlight showed me that the windows in this room were covered not just with heavy curtains or blinds, but internal shutters that were locked to prevent anyone from the outside from having the faintest chance of sneaking into this room form the outside. As there was no chance of anyone seeing this room from the outside, I decided it would be all right to risk the light here.
Jackpot.
The only furniture in this room consisted of a single desk and a handful of ropes spanning the room. Hanging on these ropes with clothespins were photographs of Athena, Hank, the college, the Michaels’ house, the various women that were in Hank’s address book, and even their houses and inside their rooms. You read that right. This person had not only scoped out their residences, but broke into their homes and took pictures of their rooms to study them before attacking. Next to some of the pictures of the murdered women were the newspaper clippings covering the murders.
On the desk was a composition tablet packed full of writing like a diary, a wedding picture, a framed marriage license, a mug of pens and pencils, and some younger photos of Hank and the woman in the wedding photo. The woman in the photo had changed her appearance since it and the other pictures were taken, but the face was the same as the one I had already seen throughout this case. The composition table on the desk was not alone. This woman had been taking notes for some time as there was a stack of these tablets on the floor next to the desk. I found it curious that there was no computer, but someone like this would consider a computer to be too revealing of who they are and what they’re looking for. Files and photos on computers are forever whether people like it or not. Deleting something is possible, but deleting it forever takes extra effort. Most people don’t even know about the extra effort. Those who do are usually either hackers, detectives, or novelists who think they’re clever.
I picked up the current composition tablet which was on the desk and opened it to the final entry which turned out to be the day of Hank’s murder. Apparently, she felt the diary was complete at that point.
It read: “God said: ‘You shall not commit adultery’ and ‘the adulterer and adulteress shall surely be put to death.’ The time has come to act. It is time to remind him of our vows: ‘Till death do us part.’ He took that vow to me, and so his harem is as guilty as he and will reap the same fate. The time has come to purge the evil from this world. This mission begins tonight and will not end until every one of his tramps has met their fate at my hand. My Lord, I’ve done as you have asked. Happy anniversary, Hank.”
Disturbing. Very disturbing and very telling. This combined with everything else I knew meant that the women were in very real danger right now. It seemed like such a good idea, but how was to know? Well, I could have done more diligent research, that’s how.
I called the security station at the facility, but no one answered. It was already too late. My heart sank at the very thought. I was responsible
for them, and I let them down. Every death in that place would be on my head. It was supposed to have been so perfect. I hung up the call and rang up Dr. Quired. He groggily answered.
“Dr, Quired, this is Detective Thompson … Yes, I’m aware of the time, but I think we may have a problem … I called the facility, and there was no answer … I’ll be there.”
I planned on calling out everyone I could get over there on no notice, since I knew it would be hard to get in. I knew once we got in, I might not like what I found.
* * * * * * * *
At that moment, Athena was resting on one of the couches in the gathering room. She had no desire to join anyone else here in their rooms, especially not Darla, who had conspired in her own way to take Hank away from her. She knew the arrangements here was intended to keep them safe and together, but Athena couldn’t bring herself to agree. Where she was resting allowed her to view the open entry into the gathering room, and when she decided to open her eyes for a moment, she spotted the faceless figure standing in the open entry looking at her.
This immediately snapped Athena out of her limbo between asleep and awake, and she sat straight up. As she did, the figure walked away from her and down the hall. Without missing a beat, Athena immediately jumped off the couch and ran to the hall to see where the figure went, but when she arrived, the hall was empty. The figure had disappeared.
She doubted herself for a moment, but knew she had seen someone here. It could not have been her imagination. She called out a “Hello” to see if perhaps she had seen someone but imagined the outfit. After all, she was half asleep, so she was willing to accept a case of mistaken identity.
The figure had walked into Mindy’s room and stood just inside the doorway looking at Mindy curled up on her bed. She was, in fact, trying her best to sleep, but it was not coming easy. She had tried to read earlier, but could not focus at all being alone in her room. She heard Athena call out “Hello” a second time somewhere down the hall and opened her eyes. Staring at the wall away from the door, she caught sight of a shadow in the light of the hall cast on the wall before her. The shadow slowly approached her bed. Her immediate thought was that Tricia had finally returned, and she was simply approaching quietly.
“Tricia?” Mindy said rolling over to look at the friend she had in another life, but her eyes lit upon the faceless figure. She squinted in the dim light to try and confirm what her eyes were telling her: that this figure looked like a shadow with no features. “What are you doing?” he wasn’t honestly sure who she was talking to at this point, but if it were a joke, it was in very poor taste, which was par for Tricia.
“Tricia?” she said again as the figure reached her bed and stood over her. There was an awkward pause until Mindy finally moved to get out of bed, but before she got anywhere, the figure brought down her hand on Mindy’s neck, in a “karate-chop” fashion crushing her voice box.
Desperately, Mindy grasped for any sound, but with her voice gone, the best she can manage was a whisper. She attempted to yell for help, but a slight whimper that the figure herself could barely hear was the best Mindy could manage. The figure grabbed a handful of Mindy’s hair and lifted her out of bed. Mindy grabbed the figure’s hand to try and break her grip, but it was no use. She screamed in pain, but only a whisper came out. The figure dragged Mindy across the floor to the window. Although the window had a metal grate in front of the glass, the figure slammed Mindy into the grate hard enough to shatter the glass behind it.
The figure dropped Mindy to the floor and then kicked Mindy to roll her onto her back. Mindy offered little resistance as she watched the figure draw her knife, and with tears streaming out of her eyes, she sang weakly in her whisper.
“Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so–”
That was it. The figure stabbed Mindy repeatedly cutting off her song. She tore the little wooden cross from Mindy’s neck and threw it into a corner of the room. Then she turned to find Athena standing at the door, staring at her, slack-jawed. The figure stood, brandishing her knife, and walked toward Athena. Unable to escape this time, Athena backed up against the door and watched powerlessly as the figure walked to her and stood face to face with her.
“Soon, it will be over,” that female whisper uttered. Athena saw the figure move, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow. She heard a door open somewhere else in the hall. Perhaps there was a chance this person could still be caught after her death.
“Oh, my God!”
The voice belonged to Darla, and Athena opened her eyes to find Darla staring in horror at the carnage of Mindy in the room. Laura and Ashley arrived right behind her. Laura gasped. Ashley screamed. Athena fainted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Final Battle
Darla gave Athena a sharp slap across the face to bring her out of her spell. She woke up to find herself on a couch in the gathering room with Laura and Ashley standing behind Darla, looking at Athena suspiciously. Darla leaned back in a chair and crossed her arms, staring at Athena humorlessly. Athena instantly recalled what had happened.
“Did you see her?” Athena asked. “She’s here.”
“No,” Darla said flatly, “you’re here. We’re here. No one else can get in.”
“Obviously, someone got in,” Athena insisted. “Mindy’s dead.”
“She’s dead,” Darla agreed and continued, “Tricia is missing. You were the only one in Mindy’s room when I got there. I didn’t see anyone else.”
“She was in there when I showed up,” Athena pleaded with them to believe her. “She walked out before you got there.” Their faces showed not one touch of belief of Athena’s story, and even to her, it came off as very hard to believe. Just like everything else that happened since this problem started. Every time Athena tried to tell anyone what was going on with her, it was like the killer treated her different. Like she was special. She had to admit that if she were in everyone else’s shoes, she would also have trouble believing the stories she told, but that did not change the truth of it.
“She walked out?” Ashley asked in disbelief.
“You said you were standing at the door,” Laura said.
“Yeah, how could she get out if you were standing there?” Ashley asked.
“She walked past me,” Athena said. “I was at the door, not blocking it. She said it will be over soon.”
“I’ll bet it will,” Darla said, unmoving.
“Why didn’t she kill you?” Laura asked unaccusingly. It was a valid question followed by a valid observation. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know,” Athena admitted. “She looked at me.” Darla gave a large sigh and then leaned forward to recap Athena’s story like the bad cop in an interrogation.
“Seriously, Athena, do you expect us to believe that this homicidal maniac killed one girl, then just looked you in the face, spoke a few words, and just left?”
“She probably heard you coming,” Athena sputtered, barely believing herself at this point.
“Why should she care?” Darla said, raising her voice. “You’ve seen her. Why didn’t she just kill you, and let me see her?”
“I don’t know,” Athena said, dropping her head into her hands.
“Oh, you had us fooled, didn’t you?” Darla continued to accuse. “Athena probably killed Tricia, then stashed her body somewhere before doing in Mindy. She’s been playing us the whole time when she was behind it all. From the beginning. Who else would have keys to her own house? Who else would know about her husband’s address book? Who else could go through his effects daily to keep up on his affairs? Who has been the only one to see this killer? Athena. Every time.” Athena glanced up to look at Darla angrily. Darla is unphased.
“Oh, now you’re mad at me? Well, excuse me. No one else even comes close to the motive you have for doing every one of these crimes. Jealousy? Anger? Hell, I don’t even think anyone would have blamed you for Hank’s death, but the others? Mind
y had turned her life around. She was the sweetest girl I knew, and you just killed her. Maybe we aren’t all perfect. Maybe we have made the mistake of hooking up with a married man at some point. And you know, we were wrong to do it. And you actually made me feel bad for your situation. Well, Athena, now it is your turn to make me sick, and nothing you can say or do will change that.”
Athena returned her face to her hands. She knew she couldn’t say anything to what Darla had to say whether it was true or not. Once she made up her mind, it would be almost impossible to change it without some kind of dramatic event. Darla stood before Athena triumphantly.
“Well, if we have our killer, can we go home?” Laura asked, a bit shaken herself.
“I don’t see why not,” Darla said, still victoriously. “There’s an intercom on the front desk out there that the doctor said would let us talk to the guard outside. I say we call Arlene to get us out of here and leave her in.” Darla stood up and walked to the front desk situated near the entrance to the wing. She turned back to the other two, “Keep an eye on her.”
“I don’t want to be with her alone,” Ashley said nervously.
“Relax, she’s harmless,” Laura assured her. “We frisked her. Twice.”
“I still don’t like it,” Ashley said. For her part, Athena stayed still. She did not believe she had done anything, and the last thing she wanted to do was make any sudden moves that they might misconstrue.
Darla left the gathering room and walked the short distance to the front desk, which was completely empty except for the intercom installed as a part of the actual structure. Darla crossed behind the desk and pressed the intercom button to open a channel to the security desk outside.
“Hello, Arlene? Arlene are you there?” Darla said and took her finger off the button for a moment. She pressed it again. “Arlene, this is Darla Hemmingway.” She listened for a response, but none came. Darla looked concerned and wondered why their security officer wouldn’t respond. She decided, quite reasonably, that Arlene had probably gone off the pee and just hadn’t returned yet. She decided she’d try again in a few minutes and walked back to the gathering room.
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