by A. D. Duling
“And what was the problem?” she asked him.
“Learn a little about your “victims” Evie and what they represent and then decide.” He challenged her.
She nodded her head. “Ok, I will then…” she declared as his eyes looked up above her. Evie turned her head to look and found Nathan at the door.
“You’re still with that Vampire, I see.” He spat behind her.
She looked back at him. “And I see you still have this notion in your head that I belong to you.” She shot back. She could see the restraint on his face, he wanted to say something back, but stood up instead and walked towards the door. Evie watched him leave; waiting for a confrontation, but Nathan only stepped aside to let him pass. Their eyes, she was sure remained on the others. The werewolf brushed his shoulder roughly against the vampires as he exited the deli. Nathan walked over and sat down at her table.
“Where did you disappear to?” she asked him.
“What were you two talking about?” he asked her.
“Just bothering me again…” She gave for her answer.
“I’m disappearing for a couple of days...” he started. “We are headed up north to visit with some old friends. They’ve encountered werewolves before and know a great deal about them.” He finished.
She nodded.
“Evie, do me a favor and don’t walk home anymore. Don’t leave your house at night either.” He told her.
She nodded.
“You’re still going to, aren’t you?” he confirmed more than asked.
Chapter six
A dress and an investigation…
Evie walked out and showed her friend the next dress and the girl immediately scrunched her face and shook her head in disapproval.
“Come on Cass! I’ve tried on a million dresses already. They all can’t be horrible!” She complained to her.
“Do you want him to notice you or do you want him to remember you?” Cass asked her.
Evie rolled her eyes. “It’s just a dance…” she complained again.
Her friend shook her head. “No Evie…it’s a memory!” She protested dramatically.
Evie laughed at her, but Cass stared back at her; serious. “Fine…” Evie surrendered and returned to her dressing room. Four dresses hung on the hook inside, waiting for her to try on; one of which Cass had picked out and had proclaimed would be the one. It was pink, it wouldn’t.
“There are three left….after these, I refuse to try on anymore.” She hollered out to her friend.
“There are four left, you’re forgetting the pink one.” Cass corrected her, knowing her all too well.
“You know I hate pink…” Evie moaned. “It’s bad enough I have to tramp around town in the pink puffer my mom bought me!” she whined out to her.
“Nice wordage!” Cass yelled back. “Tramp around town…” She heard her friend playfully repeating her words.
“Hey! Don’t be jealous!” she teased back.
“Of what..? Tramping around town…?” Cass poked back. “We’ll tramp around together! Me in my beautiful dress with you in your pink one wearing the pink puffer … tramping…tramping…tramping…” she dug.
Evie laughed as she reached up for the dreaded pink chiffon dress, deciding to try it on first to get it over with; maybe even making the ones to follow look better. The dress was long, reaching down to her ankles, but she liked the bodice and overall it was modest. Evie liked modest; she needed that since her chest was lacking. The sleeves were short and sheer and it had a built in belt with a little diamond buckle. The pink was a “seashell” pink as Cass had labeled it and a zipper that went up the side, which she liked as well. Evie looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head, the dress flattered her. She twirled in it and laughed, this would be the dress.
The irony of it! She proclaimed in her head. Evie knew she would never hear the end of it from Cass, once she admitted it to her. Evie turned and pulled the curtain aside and walked out to her awaiting critic.
Her friend perked up as soon as she came out. “You tried it on and it looks great!” she announced, giddily. “See… I told you it would!” she started in.
Evie couldn’t help but smile and nodded. “Ok you were right. I like it, so there!” she confessed. “So now that we’ve found my dress, we’re done.” She told her and turned for the dressing room to change back.
“Wait! You have to accessorize…” her friend spoke up behind her.
“I can wear my diamonds.” Evie put that to an end, dreading another hour of torture.
“I guess… but what about a bag to match and what about shoes Evie… You need shoes!” Her friend called out to her.
“Fine, but no heels!” she demanded.
“You cannot wear flats Evangeline… that’s just lame!” Cass argued. Evie knew she had lost; her friend used her full name.
“Ok, but little heel.” She compromised. Silence followed. “Cass…?” she called out to her, but her friend didn’t answer. Evie finished dressing and grabbed the pink dress. The chair where her friend had sat outside the dressing room was empty. Evie knew where she was and by the time she had paid for her dress, Cass had returned with a pair of heels in a box.
“Here!” She handed it to her.
Evie opened the lid and looked inside. The heels were one inch and the shoe was a sandal type with chiffon ruffles on the top. They looked as if they were made to go with her dress. Her friend even got the size right, but then again she should, since they’ve both worn the same size seven for the past two years and Evie was always giving her the shoes her mother had bought that were never her type.
Evie handed the box over to the cashier and the woman rung them up for her. After the dress and shoes, Evie had spent a total of one hundred and forty two dollars. She was eight dollars under budget and treated her friend to some cookies to celebrate the end of a “torture” as she labeled it.
It was a few minutes after four when Cass dropped her off at the library. Evie left her dress and shoes with her and headed inside to start her investigation. She started first searching the newspaper articles on the ones of the attacks, to get the names of the victims. Ronald Parker was the first victim; he was a local paramedic, husband and a step-father. Tabitha Rebalt came next; she was in her late forties and the wife of their retired police captain. The last one was a man named Thomas Meyer; he was the youngest, engaged and worked in construction.
With the fire station a walk up the hill, Evie decided to investigate Ronald Parker first. When she got there, she told his former coworkers she was doing research for a class report and they were happy to oblige. It seemed everybody there had something nice to say about Ronald and the words “how awful it was the way he went” came up a lot. When she asked about his family, a tension formed in the air and conversation seemed short in that and she found herself always redirected back to how great he was at his job. It was past six when she thanked her last interviewee and headed out of the station. So far an explanation for his attack had not come to light. As she left, she recognized the face of a teenager walking in and approached him. His face lit up as she walked up and a smile formed across his attractive face. She couldn’t remember his name and he told her it was Brian and reminded her he shared her math class.
As soon as she asked about Ronald Parker, his face immediately did the same as the others and he directed her outside around to the side of the building to talk.
“You know my dad’s the chief here, Evie.” He reminded her.
“Your name won’t be mentioned.” She assured him.
He nodded, but said nothing.
“So what’s the big deal about your dad being the chief?” she asked him.
“We had reporters snooping around here right after the attack; they got ahold of some information about his arrest over rape accusations.” He shared with her, his blue eyes watching heavily on the corner behind her. “They got on my dad’s nerves.” He added.
“Did he do it?” she asked hi
m.
His eyes flicked quickly to her and back at the corner. “Yeah he did, everybody knew he did, but he still got away with it.” He spat out with venom in his voice. “If he hadn’t gotten attacked, he probably would’ve been killed eventually by her father.” He told her.
“Who’d he rape?” she pried.
“You don’t know? Man! You need to start reading the papers!” he laughed at her.
Evie scowled back at him, slightly offended, “Anyway…. Who was it?” She asked him again.
“His step-daughter…” His words sliced through the air.
“Who’s his step-daughter?”
“Sabrina Barnes.” He answered.
Evie knew Sabrina; the girl had been in a few of her classes last year. She was always quiet, shy and kept to herself. She read a lot. Evie remembered sometime near the end of last year, the girl disappeared from school. The rumors of her getting pregnant came flowing back to her and she remembered someone once talking about her moving out of state to live with her dad. Evie had been wrapped up in her own problems and didn’t pay too much attention to them; and besides, she hated rumors. The girl never did return and Evie never cared, until now. She could not help to feel incredibly sad for her.
To be raped by her step- father and then to be pregnant with his child seemed like bigger problems than her own. She made a mental note to herself on being less of a whiner in the future regarding her mother. As horrible as this was, Evie still did not think it made good enough reason to kill someone. She dreaded to think of what she would find out about the others.
“Was she pregnant?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “Nah, she never got pregnant, but she died, Evie.” He told her.
“How..?” she asked him, surprised.
He looked around again. “I’m not supposed to be talking about this, so If I tell you… please, please do not repeat this…” he begged her.
She shook her head. “I won’t! I promise you that.” She promised him.
He believed her and continued, he told her about the girl’s mother and Ronald fighting a lot and about him beating on the woman. He apparently did this often and after a while, it must have taken a toll on poor Sabrina.
“So one day she snapped…” Brian told her.
He then proceeded to tell her about how Ronald loved his truck, even more than anything. So one night when he came home drunk again and beat on her mother…again…Sabrina snapped. She waited until he passed out and then went to the hall closet and got his baseball bat out. She then went outside and beat up his truck….as bad as he did on her mother.
“That girl had balls!” He shamelessly praised, then excused his vulgarity, thinking he embarrassed her. Evie smiled and assured him he had not.
Brian then went on to tell her about the girl being woken up a few hours later and being dragged out of the house and into the nearby woods, where Ronald proceeded to beat her as much as she did to his truck. But the man didn’t stop there; right after he then raped her and threatened to kill her mother if she didn’t keep quiet, so poor Sabrina did. And she did every time thereafter.
“Apparently after that night, the man found something else he liked just as much as his truck; raping girls.” The teenager spat and Evie couldn’t help to think him a gentleman. She told him that and he grinned, making his freckles brighter.
So after many months of this happening, poor Sabrina once again had enough and on one of her visits out east to her father, she took the chance and confessed to him. Her father immediately contacted the local authorities and had him arrested.
“Those jerks inside are his buddies and they know it’s all true, but there is more of a chance of me being the school quarterback than for any of them to admit it!” His voice raised in anger and he looked around again. Brian was a tall and lanky guy; he was also not on the football team.
“The prosecutors were unable to get enough evidence and no one would step forward to testify about his abuse. So with no reports and no testimonies, they had nothing. So the jerk walked free. That stupid cow of a mother, wouldn’t even testify for her daughter!” The disapproval showed strongly on his face and Evie wondered if he had liked the girl.
“So how did she die?” She asked him.
“Suicide…”
Both stood quiet for a minute.
. “You’re not really doing this for a class assignment are you?” He asked her, skeptical.
She shook her head. “No; this is more for personal curiosity. I’m investigating the attacks.” She confessed to him.
“So you probably know nothing yet on the other two then do you?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “No, but I’m thinking you do.” She sweet talked him and he grinned. “So how do you know so much about this?” she asked him.
“My brother Ken, he’s on the police force.” He revealed. Evie nodded, remembering his brother Kenny.
“Hey Brian, where are you boy?!” a deep male voice called out for him. Brian jumped and stepped around her. “Be right there, Dad!” he called out and looked back at her. “Meet me at the bowling alley after school tomorrow, I’ll tell you more there.” he spoke quickly and jetted off, not waiting for her answer. Evie left the fire station and walked up the hill towards her neighborhood; it was already getting dark and what Nathan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him…
Chapter seven
Bad skeletons…
“Tabitha Rebalt… her story’s a short one, but still sucks,” Brian started, “This one was an alcoholic, she had even gotten arrested a few times for DUI’s. What she did ten years ago, is the story you’re looking for. I only know this one because of my brother…” He told her and stopped to thank the waitress who delivered their sodas. Evie thanked her in suite.
“She was a full blown alcoholic even then and drove home drunk all the time, makes you sick to think she only has a few DUI’s under her belt,” He threw in, “So one night she left the bar she always hung out in and drove home. Between there and home, she ran a woman off the road and took out a light pole. Being the wife of the local captain, the officer at the scene conveniently let her off with a warning, leaving the woman she hit not too happy about that. So she got an attorney and to make a long story short, not only did the woman get her vehicle repaired, she also got a few grand out of the couple as well.” He paused and took a drink of his Mountain Dew.
“You would think after that, old Tabitha would have gone to AA, but she didn’t!” his eyebrows shot up and Evie grinned at his enthusiasm. “Nope! She just kept on drinking. And when you’re drunk and bitter, getting sued doesn’t make your mood any better. What makes this story even better is that woman… she was their neighbor!” he nodded for emphasis and took another sip of his soda.
“This woman went on daily walks, and old Tabitha knew about this. So she watched her, every day, seething; until one day, bitter Mrs. Tabitha got into her car and plowed her down!” his voice raised and Evie couldn’t help herself and laughed at his storytelling. He grinned and continued, “The woman of course died and left a widower and two motherless kids behind…So her widowed husband sued the captain and his wife; they even sued the police department for their leniency on old Tabitha. But they lost because of her clean history; somehow she had no record of any DUI’s! And with only word of mouth to go by, the Police Department got off. Old Mrs. Tabitha of course didn’t, but her sentence was light, all she got slapped with was five years in prison for drunken endangerment and manslaughter!” He paused, bringing those eyebrows up again.
“What sucks even more… is once she got out she went right back to drinking again and the police department picked right up on their bad habit as well. I guess they thought since the widower and his family moved away, no one else would complain.” he finished and waited for her reaction.
“Wow! That is so messed up!” she exclaimed.
He nodded and stood up, “Be right back, I’m gonna order some wings.” He told her and walked away, but sto
pped himself and came back, “Sorry, that was rude of me…would you like something Evie?” he gentlemanly asked her.
She smiled at his chivalry, “No, but thank you.”
He nodded and headed back to the counter to make his order. Evie watched him and wondered why she had never paid Brian any attention before. He was attractive and now she found, very sweet. She knew already he was smart, he did well in math and was the kid always called on for an answer, which he always got correct. His attire went along with the trend and his hair was even styled similar to his fellow male peers.
He had always seemed reserved and perhaps that was why he went unnoticed, upon talking to him however, Brian seemed to be a very good conversationalist and a likeable guy. She watched him pay the cashier, but quickly looked away when he turned to walk back.
“Ok now this next one is almost as messed up as the first, but short like the second.” He jumped right in as he sat down. “The last one, this Thomas Meyer…now that guy is a psycho!” He began.
Thomas Meyer turned out to be a good looking guy engaged to a very pretty girl, who it turns out he beat on a lot. He was also very possessive and very controlling. His troubles started when he got a job at this big construction company that was out of state; leaving his fiancée alone during the week with plenty of time to do a lot of thinking.
A few weeks went by and a lot of that thinking went on and his fiancée had realized she could do better. So when she met this great guy at the laundry mat, who reminded her of her self-worth, how could she not leave? So when the following weekend came around and Thomas returned home, instead of finding his fiancée happily waiting for him, he found her and her things gone and a long letter rolled up inside her engagement ring explaining why.
He of course didn’t take that very well, so he went looking for her; finding her with her new guy, looking happy, a lot happier than she ever was with him. So he got angry, very angry; if he couldn’t have her, then this guy wouldn’t either. And so he stalked them.
“Did this for a few weeks; waiting for the right moment I guess…” he explained.