The Secrets of Taylor Creek

by Michael Merson

  She screamed out as she felt the bones break, “Don’t, Ben!” She cried out as she held her stomach.

  Ben was unstoppable, and he reached back with his right hand and punched her again, this time putting her entirely on her back. Stormie was still conscious but not completely aware of what was happening. Ben straddled her and started delivering blow after countless blow to her already broken and bleeding face. He was in a fit of rage. He screamed unrecognizable obscenities as he beat her. Stormie finally went unconscious, but Ben couldn’t and wouldn’t stop. He punched and kicked her until he had nothing left. Ben finally spilled over onto the floor next to her bloody and broken body. He laid there for some time resting and listening to her labored breathing, hoping that each one would be her last.

  ***

  Nathan looked over Bessie’s body that lay on the boat’s deck. Her body was bloated, and it had decomposed moderately during her time in the water. Nathan could still determine that her breasts had been cut off, that she was stabbed multiple times in the vaginal area, and that she had been eviscerated. He used Stormie’s camera and took some photos. This time there would be no question as to what caused the injuries to her body.

  Nathan thanked Rhett Jenkins for his help, and the two men waited until the coroner from another county arrived to take Bessie’s body away. Nathan wasn’t letting anything happen to the evidence he had, and needed, to bring down the Four Horsemen and whoever had killed the girls.

  He knew the men were involved in some way, and he was going to prove it.

  ***

  Ben went to the kitchen and got a glass of water. He washed his hands, and then he walked back over to Stormie, who was still lying on the floor. He drank the entire glass down and shook his head side to side, listening to her quietly whisper, “Nathan, Nathan.”

  He then walked back into the kitchen and placed the empty glass on the counter. He then walked back into the living room, reached down and picked Stormie off the floor and threw her limp body over his shoulder. He uncaringly carried her out the front door. He walked across the lawn, over to the dock, and dropped her into Taylor Creek. He walked away as she disappeared into the depths below.

  That wasn’t so hard!

  Chapter 44

  Ben drove over to Judge’s Revenge and told Jack to pour him a double shot of Bourbon. The others were there waiting for him to arrive. Ridge had closed the bar early and sent his employees home. He was getting drunker by the minute.

  “Now what?” Jack asked after handing Ben the drink.

  “We wait,” he answered and then quickly threw the whiskey back. He then grabbed a napkin, dipped it in a pitcher of water that was sitting next to him, and cleaned his wife’s dried blood from his shoes.

  “Wait for what?” Jack asked.

  “Hell, I imagine.”

  ***

  Rhett Jenkins took Nathan back to Stormie’s house in his boat and dropped him off on the dock. Nathan was making his way to the house when he saw an ambulance racing out of the driveway. He then saw Sissy running down toward him, screaming. Nathan heard the desperation in her voice, and he began running toward her. Sissy exhaustedly fell into his arms on the lawn.

  “My baby, my poor baby, I think he’s done killed her!” Sissy kept saying over and over again.

  “Sissy, what are you talking about? Where’s Stormie?!” Nathan screamed at her.

  “They’re taking her to the hospital!”

  “What happened?”

  “I come home, and I find a lot of blood in the house. I started running around, looking for Stormie. I couldn’t find her nowhere, so I ran out here and found her lyin’ on the bank, half in the water and half out. She was bad, Mr. Nathan. She was having trouble breathing, and her face was swollen up somethin’ awful. I didn’t recognize my baby!”

  “Let’s go!” Nathan said as he picked her up and hurried out to his car.

  Nathan and Sissy made it to the hospital shortly after the ambulance arrived. They rushed in but were stopped by the hospital staff. They were told to wait in the waiting room. At about nine o’clock, Regina and a doctor came out. She found Nathan, Sissy, and Regina’s family sitting together. Nathan quickly jumped up and walked over to them, followed by the others.

  “Is she okay?” Nathan asked.

  “She will be, but she’s had some traumatic injuries. She has multiple facial fractures that will require surgery when she’s well enough, and she has multiple broken ribs and a punctured lung. To be honest, I don’t know how she survived,” the doctor commented.

  “Can I see her?” Nathan asked as Sissy started to cry more. Preacher put his arm around her and moved her toward a chair.

  “Yes, but she’s in a lot of pain. Try not to excite her.”

  Nathan made his way down the hall and opened the door to Stormie’s room. He stood there for a minute, looking at her lying helplessly on the bed. She was unrecognizable.

  He caught himself on the wall as his legs felt weak under him. He moved closer to Stormie and saw that her left eye was completely swollen shut. Her right eye had a cut over it that ran along her eyebrow. Her forehead was swollen and bruised, and her lips were cut in two places. He sat on the edge of the bed and took her right hand and cradled it in his. She squeezed it slightly and let out a slight moan. He then leaned down toward her face and kissed her lips while a tear dropped from his face onto hers.

  “I said I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I’m so sorry,” Nathan whispered in her ear.

  “I love you,” she whispered faintly.

  “I love you too. Just lay here and think about sitting with me on a nice warm beach in California. I’ll be back,” he said.

  “Can we come in?” Preacher asked from the door.

  “Yes,” Nathan answered as he wiped his face.

  Nathan got up, and Sissy sat down and took his place, holding her hand. Sissy rubbed her arm, kissed her hand, and then brushed her hair away from her face.

  “You’ll be okay, Baby. I’m right here,” Sissy said reassuringly.

  Nathan walked out of the room, and Preacher followed him into the hallway.

  “Nathan, where are you going?” Preacher called out.

  “To get Ben Arrington!” Nathan yelled angrily as he passed the nurses’ station startling the three ladies sitting there.

  Chapter 45

  Emma was at home, packing her belongings like Ben had instructed her to do. He told her that she would be leaving in the morning for Destin, Florida and that he would be joining her shortly. She was happy that things were in motion for them to be together, and she was ready to go. She danced to the sound of the Beatles singing, “She’s got a ticket to ride.”

  She moved from one room to the other as she filled one suitcase after another with the clothes from her drawers. She was finally happy. Ben and she would be together, and she would be the next First Lady of North Carolina.

  “Mrs. Benjamin Arrington,” she said out loud.

  She then went over to the closet and opened it quickly and was surprised to find him standing there. She started to scream, but he placed his hand over her mouth and then pushed her over to the wall where he held her against it.

  “I wish we could have some time to play, but I got to be somewhere else!” He said as he slowly slid the knife in between her ribs as she desperately tried to push him away. He looked her in the eyes, kissed her lips, and then let her body fall to the floor. He then bent down over her, cut her dress away, and took his trophies before leaving.

  Chapter 46

  Nathan found Ben’s car in the parking lot of Judge’s Revenge. He parked his car, got out, and slowly made his way to the front. He peeked in from the side and saw Ben sitting at the bar with Jack Walters. The Judge was standing on the other side, pouring drinks while Sheriff Carter sat at a table by himself near the front door.

  Nathan placed his gun in the small of his back and entered the bar very quickly. Sheriff Carter stood up and reached for his gun but wasn’t qui
ck enough. Nathan delivered a right cross to his jaw, and as he stumbled backward, Nathan followed and grabbed his head, and drove it into the bar, knocking him out.

  He then grabbed the Bourbon bottle with his left hand and swung it into Jack Walter’s head, knocking him to the floor. Judge Ridge yelled in protest and grabbed his pistol from under the bar aiming it at Nathan. Nathan quickly pulled his gun from his back and shot Judge Ridge in the chest, just as Ridge fired his own gun.

  The bullet caught Nathan in his right shoulder. His gun flew from his hand onto the floor to his right. Nathan moved toward his gun and leaned over to pick it up just as Ben ran over and kicked him in the ribs.

  Nathan rolled to his right side in pain and saw Ben going for the gun. Nathan scrambled to his feet, quickly grabbed a chair from the floor, spun it around in a circle, and brought it down hard on top of Ben, who now had the gun in his hand. The chair broke as it slammed down on Ben’s back and sent him to the ground. The gun once again was on the floor, away from both men. Nathan ran over and delivered a hard kick under Ben’s chin sending him backwards as he tried to stand.

  Nathan was hurting, but he was emotionally charged. Ben had a beating coming to him, and Nathan was the man to do it. Ben got to his feet and looked Nathan in the eye. Both men were determined, and neither was backing down. Ben charged forward and delivered three quick jabs to Nathan’s injured shoulder and then one to his jaw. Nathan moved back against the bar with Ben in pursuit. Ben tried for a punch to the jaw, but Nathan blocked it and then returned a quick jab, catching Ben in the eye and knocking him to the floor. Nathan then jumped on top of him and began delivering punches to his face.

  He was still punching the downed Ben when suddenly something hard hit him in the back of the head. The room went black, and Nathan fell forward on top of Ben. Sheriff Carter stumbled over to the bar with his gun in his hand and looked at the unconscious man on the floor.

  Sheriff Carter collected himself and then placed Nathan in handcuffs while Jack closed the blinds. Ben finally got up and made his way over to the bar, looking over to the other side of it. Judge Ridge lay dead in a puddle of beer, whiskey, and blood.

  “This is not what I expected!” Jack yelled as he walked back and forth, frantically.

  “Shut Up!” Sheriff Carter yelled.

  Ben walked over to Nathan’s gun and picked it up. He then walked over to Nathan and stood over him.

  “You can’t kill him here! That’s not part of the plan! The judge getting killed wasn’t part of the plan! The plan is gone! Oh shit! We’re screwed. The FBI will be here, and we’re all done,” Jack said, continuing his hysterics.

  “Shut up!” Sheriff Carter screamed once more.

  “Fuck you, Sheriff Carter, and fuck this whole thing! What are you going to do now, Ben? What?!” Jack yelled. Ben turned, pointed the gun at Jack’s face, and then pulled the trigger. Jack Walters fell to the floor next to Nathan.

  “What? Why did you do that?” Sheriff Carter asked disappointedly.

  “You knew it had to be done! Jack and the judge were our weak links. They would have eventually talked. Now either we can continue with our plans or you can shoot me and come up with something on your own.” Ben explained.

  “Well, tell me what you’re thinking since things have now changed a bit. And at the end of this new plan, there better be a million reasons why I am going to go through with it,” Sheriff Carter said as he held his gun by his side.

  “Dwight, I need you, and you need me. I’ll give you one and half million reasons to stay with it,” Ben said as he placed the gun on a table.

  “I’m listening.”

  “You see, Agent Emerson fell in love with my wife, and when she tried to break it off, he started following her. He followed her to the Arrington House the other night and killed poor Charlie White, who I had hired to be my wife’s private security. We even got the shell castings from his gun to prove it. He then followed my poor wife to our other home, where he attempted to profess his love for her. When she denied him once more, he beat her severely and then threw her in Taylor Creek to die. He then showed up and tried to kill me tonight. Judge Ridge and Jack tried to stop him, but he ended up killing them both, and he was about to kill me when you showed up and stopped him,” Ben explained.

  “You beat Stormie to death?” He asked.

  “No. I beat her and threw her into Taylor Creek. She drowned.” He answered.

  “Agent Emerson will tell a different story. The FBI will listen to him.” Sheriff Carter added.

  “Dead men tell no tales,” Ben said in return.

  “We’re going to kill him too?”

  “Hell yes. Take him to the station, put him in a cell. Tomorrow, spend the day writing the report the way I explained it. Then send a copy off by courier to the FBI. Later in the afternoon, call the FBI and tell them you and I are on our way to Charlotte to bring him in. Let them know that you’re concerned about his safety and want him out of your town. By the time the FBI gets here, Agent Emerson will have already attempted to escape. And well, you had to shoot him during his escape attempt,” Ben explained.

  “You think that’ll work?”

  “Yes. People do crazy things when they’re in love.”

  ***

  Friday, July 23, 1965

  Sheriff Carter left Judge’s Revenge with Nathan still unconscious in the back seat. He got to the station and took him in through the back door, out of view of any witnesses. He placed him in a cell and left him there. Sheriff Carter returned to the bar with Ben. He started taking photos of the crime scene, collecting evidence, and then the two met with Doc Glenn, who arrived to collect the remains of the deceased.

  Doc Glenn and his assistant left sometime around noon with the bodies of Judge Ridge and Jack Walters. They were on their way to retrieve Charlie White’s body from the woods where Agent Emerson had killed him and left his body. Doc Glenn and his assistant left the bar believing that Agent Emerson had murdered the two men during his attempt at killing Ben Arrington. Ben and Sheriff Carter knew that the two of them, especially the assistant, Jennifer, (the town gossip), would spread the news of what had happened. The news of the scandal would be all over town by tomorrow.

  Ben and Sheriff Carter decided to meet on Friday afternoon at the Arrington House to finish off Agent Emerson. Sheriff Carter eventually left Ben at the bar and went back to the station to finish the report and to send it off to the FBI as planned.

  When Sheriff Carter walked out, Ben walked over to the bar and began drinking heavily. After his tenth shot, he went to the bathroom to clean up. He looked in the mirror, and for the first time, he didn’t recognize the man staring back.

  You’ll be okay. Get it together, Ben thought to himself as he bent down to clean off his shoes.

  When he was finished, he walked back out to the main bar area where he was surprised to find a familiar face standing in the center of the room.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Ben asked angrily as he walked up to the man who just stood there, staring at him and not saying a word.

  “I asked you a question!” Ben yelled.

  Suddenly the man reached back and swung the leg of the chair that Nathan had broken on Ben earlier, at his head. Ben went down to the ground. He slowly tried to stand back up, just as the second blow was delivered to the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

  Sheriff Carter had a long day. He finished the report, or the excellent work of fiction, as he called it. He made copies and sent them off to the FBI. He then called the FBI’s office in Charlotte right before five o’clock in the afternoon and spoke to the Special Agent in Charge, who, in Sheriff Carter’s opinion, sounded very eager to get his men out to Beaufort to help with the investigation. He explained to Agent Smith that he and Prosecutor Ben Arrington were driving Agent Emerson back to Charlotte tonight. He then went back and got Nathan from his cell.

  “Where are you taking me?” Nathan asked as he was being dragged by Sheriff Ca
rter to the car outside.

  “Don’t worry, son, it’ll all be over soon,” Sheriff Carter answered as he sat the groggy and weak FBI agent down in the back seat of the police car.

  Preacher and his sons had driven around town, and after about an hour, Willie saw Nathan’s car at Judge’s Revenge. The three of them stayed out of sight. They watched as Doc Glenn and his assistant removed two bodies from inside.

  They then followed Sheriff Carter to his office and waited. They watched from across the street as Sheriff Carter loaded their injured friend into the police car. They followed the sheriff to the Arrington House driveway and then made sure to drive past without stopping, so they wouldn’t be noticed. They parked further down the road where the car couldn’t be seen from the house.

  “What are we going to do, Pops?” Willie asked.

  “I’m going up to the house. The two of you are going to stay here for forty-five minutes, and if I’m not back in forty-five minutes, take the car and go get your momma. Have her bring help,” Preacher instructed and then got out of the car.

  “Pops, I’ll go with you,” Willie pleaded.

  “No! If I don’t come back, I need you to get help. Do you understand son?” Preacher asked, raising his voice.

  “Yes, but I don’t like it,” Willie confessed.

  “I’ll be okay,” Preacher said as he grabbed the back of his son’s head and hugged him and then reached over the seat and pulled Sam into the embrace.

  ***

  Sheriff Carter pulled up next to the house and was surprised to see the man who walked out. The man made his way over to the car just as Sheriff Carter got out. Nathan was lying down in the back seat, drifting in an out of consciousness. When he felt the car stop, he heard the engine shut off, and then heard Sheriff Carter talking to someone.