48 Hours to Die

by Silk White

  “Sorry baby,” Stone apologized. “I don’t know how someone could kill a person and then chop their body up like it’s nothing, images of that woman’s body keep popping up in my head.”

  Tasha walk around to the other side of the table and rubbed Anthony Stone’s back. “It’s going to be okay, I’m sure they’ll catch him sooner or later.

  “I got assigned to the case tonight baby,” he announced. He knew that Tasha would be upset because that meant longer hours and less time that they would be able to spend together.

  “I understand,” Tasha rubbed his back. “If anybody can catch him it’s you,” she didn’t like the idea of him having to track down a serial killer, but that was his job and it was her job to support him.

  “Thank you baby,” Anthony Stone kissed, Tasha on the cheek, walked over to the couch and fired up his laptop. He was determined to find out who this Uncle Sam guy was. He knew the faster he found out who the man was, the faster he would be able to stop the murders.

  It’s Not Safe

  Uncle Sam sat upstairs in the office of the club that he owned watching CNN. He grinned when he heard the reporter announce that the police had no leads on who the suspect was. Reggie ran a successful nightclub as well as a few other lucrative businesses by day, but by night, he turned from Reggie the businessman to Uncle Sam the serial killer. Reggie began his killings about six months ago when his fiancé at the time was murdered in a hostage situation. The detective on duty the night that his fiancé was murdered was none other than Anthony Stone. Reggie remembered the detective apologizing for not being able to save his fiancé, but he paid the detective no mind, in his heart he felt that detective Stone along with the rest of the police department could have done way more but they chose not to. From that day forth, Reggie planned to make the police do their jobs. He planned to kill as many people as he had to in order to make his point. Reggie’s victims were all women, the police had failed to protect his woman, and now he wanted to see just how many women had to die in order for them to finally start doing what they were being paid to do, protect and serve.

  Reggie exited his office, stood out on the balcony area, and looked down at all the people on the dance floor. The club was packed wall-to-wall with partygoers dancing, drinking, and having a good time. The sad part was that one of them was going to be Uncle Sam’s next victim and they didn’t even have a clue.

  Reggie sipped his drink when he heard a knock at the door; he turned around and saw Lisa standing in the doorway. He had hired Lisa to manage the club and to basically do all the work that he was supposed to be doing or too lazy to do. Lisa was a Latin woman who had a great personality, not to mention she was easy on the eyes, with a nice coke bottle figure.

  “Numbers are looking real good tonight,” Lisa smiled. “We got a full house tonight, with plenty of people outside dying to get inside.”

  Reggie sipped his drink and nodded. “You’ve been doing a phenomenal job keep it up.”

  “Thank you,” Lisa said with a smile. She had been working with Reggie for over a year and she still wasn’t able to read him. Reggie never said more than necessary and seemed to be strictly all about business. Lisa had even asked to take Reggie out on a date a few time, but he always declined. “Is everything alright? Seems like something is on your mind.”

  “I’m good, Lisa thank you,” Reggie sipped his drink. “Close the door on your way out,” he dismissed her. Lisa was a good worker and a good friend, but Reggie refused to let the people who he worked with into his world, just In case the cops ever came around asking question they would have nothing but good things to say about him. The less they knew the better.

  Reggie looked down at the crowd when he noticed a blonde haired woman throw up on the bar. Immediately two of his bouncers escorting the woman out of the club. Each bouncer was given specific orders to throw out anyone who couldn’t control their alcohol and women were no exception.

  Reggie grabbed his suit jacket and headed for the exit. Usually he never shits where he eats, but tonight he just couldn’t let the drunk blonde slip through the cracks. He exited his office and trotted downstairs to where Lisa stood talking to one of the club promoters “Something just came up. I have to go, I’ll call you in the morning,” he told, Lisa when he made it downstairs then quickly made his exit.

  Don’t Do It

  The lady with the blonde hair only made it a couple of blocks away from the club before she was throwing up again. She ran in between two parked cars and let it out in a painful sounding heap. The cocaine, alcohol, and heat all combined wasn’t a good mixture for the young lady. She sat down on the curb trying to gather her thoughts and take in some fresh air when a black 911 Porsche pulled up to a stop directly in front of her. The blonde woman eyed the fancy car hoping it may of been someone she knew, but the tint were so dark she couldn’t see inside the car.

  The woman spit on the ground when the passenger window to the Porsche slowly rolled down. “You alright?” The driver asked.

  “Do I look okay?” Blonde slurred with an attitude.

  “It’s late why don’t you let me give you a ride home,” the driver offered.

  “Fuck off asshole,” she waved the driver off. She figured he was just some rich creep looking to have easy sex with her because she was drunk.

  “You’re in no condition to be out here by yourself,” the driver pressed. “I’ll give you a ride home free of charge.”

  Blonde was just about to curse the driver out when all of a sudden it began to pour down raining out of nowhere. Within five second, she was drenched. Blonde quickly hopped up off the curb and hopped in the passenger seat of the Porsche.

  “Reggie,” the driver held out his hand.

  “Melissa,” blonde shook his hand, as the Porsche pulled away from the curb in a hurry.

  “Hungry?”

  “Not really I just want to go home and get some rest,” Melissa said with a slight attitude. “Can you believe those assholes at the club kicked me out?”

  “Really?” Reggie asked faking ignorance. “Why did they do that?”

  “Because I threw up one time,” she fumed. “One bottle of water and I would of been fine,”

  “There’s another party going on tonight over on the west side if you’re interested,” Reggie threw it out there hoping that Melissa would take the bait.

  Melissa sucked her teeth. “Dude I’m covered in throw up, I’m not going nowhere like this,” she huffed. “What are you some kind of weirdo or something?”

  “I understand,” Reggie said as he drove. He tolerated Melissa’s disrespect because he knew the payoff was going to be great. “Your address?” He turned and looked at, Melissa. He pretended to punch her address in the GPS as she slurred it out.

  Fifteen minutes into the drive, Reggie looked over and saw that, Melissa was knocked out cold. All he could do was shake his head at her stupidity. Ten minutes later, he pulled up to his mansion and killed the engine. He turned and shook Melissa until she stirred awake.

  “Where are we?” Melissa asked in a dry voice.

  “I had to stop by the house real quick to grab something,” Reggie told her. “I’ll only be a second.”

  Melissa stepped out the Porsche and stretched her legs. “This your house?”

  Reggie nodded. “Sure is.”

  Melissa’s eyes went from the big house to the expensive suit that Reggie had on. “So what are you like some rich Wall street geek or something?”

  Reggie opened the front door and ignored Melissa’s last question. He’d had about enough of her mouth. “Make yourself at home I just have to grab something from upstairs. I’ll be right back,” he said before disappearing around the corner.

  Melissa walked over towards the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She grabbed a bottle of water and a bowl of grapes. She tossed grapes in her mouth one by one, as she nosily walked around the mansion looking for anything that she could steal. Melissa stood looking at a picture on the wall of Regg
ie with an NBA basketball player when she heard movement behind her, she spun around and saw Reggie standing there wearing a blue mechanic jumpsuit, his hands were slipped into a pair of latex gloves and he held a baseball bat by his side.

  “What are you doing?” Melissa asked with a confused looked on her face. Without warning, Reggie swung the baseball bat with so much force that it could be heard cutting through the air until it make contact with Melissa’s skull.

  CRACK!

  Reggie smiled as he watched Melissa’s unconscious body laying at his feet. He whistled tunelessly as he picked Melissa up and her tossed her body over his shoulder and carried her downstairs to his basement. He violently tossed Melissa’s body down to the basement floor. When Reggie had first began his killing streak he did it with hopes of teaching the police a lesson, but the more he killed the more he began to enjoy it. Reggie walked over to the closet and removed an ax. He stood over Melissa and shook his head with a disgusted look on his face. Reggie raised the ax over his head and brought it down with authority. He swung the ax repeatedly until his arms finally got tired. Reggie looked around and saw blood everywhere along with several of Melissa’s body parts scattered across the floor. “See what you made me do,” he whispered to Melissa’s head that was over in a corner detached from her body.

  Surprise, Surprise

  Anthony Stone pulled up to the crime scene and immediately he could see a crowd of people pooled on the sidewalk with their cell phones out recording and taking photos. He pushed his way through the crowd of bystanders and several members of the media. There were two cruisers and an ambulance parked out front. “Get this street roped off right now!” Anthony Stone yelled to one of the officers. He walked up to the other officer who had a look on his face as if he had just threw up.

  “What do we have here?”

  “A woman was walking past this car and noticed some type of red liquid leaking from the trunk and called us,” The officer said. “Me and my partner popped the trunk and found this.”

  Anthony Stone approached the car, peaked inside the trunk, and immediately covered his nose. Inside the trunk looked to be chopped up body parts of a woman. “I want someone to dust this entire car for prints,” he said as he slipped on a pair of latex gloves. The horrible scene inside of the trunk was enough to make anybody sick to their stomach. Anthony Stone looked around the trunk when he noticed an envelope with the number four written across it. He grabbed the envelope and found a letter inside.

  “If you’re reading this, then that means that once again the police weren’t able to protect and serve the innocent. I wonder how many innocent people will have to die before the pigs finally start to do their jobs. We’ll soon find out because I’m just getting started.

  Sincerely yours: Uncle Sam.”

  Anthony Stone read the letter and immediately felt a fire burning inside his stomach. He badly wanted to catch this creep and teach him a lesson. He wondered what type of monster could do something like this to another human being, and more importantly, why?

  Anthony Stone walked up to the uniform officer. “Any witnesses?”

  “Nope,” the officer shook his head. “It looks as if the body has been sitting here for almost twelve hours.”

  Anthony Stone felt his phone vibrating on his hip, he looked down at his screen and saw Captain Fisher’s name flashing across the screen, and he quickly stepped away from the scene and answered. “Hey Captain,”

  “I need you down at the station ASAP we got the victims roommate here,” Captain Fisher said hanging up in Anthony Stone’s ear.

  Questions

  Anthony Stone stepped foot inside the precinct and headed straight for Captain Fisher’s office, before he even got a chance to knock, a strong voice on the other side of the door yelled, “Come in!”

  Anthony Stone stepped inside the office and saw Captain Fisher sitting behind his desk with a cup of coffee in front of him. Over to his left, Anthony Stone spotted women with her face buried in her hands sniffling.

  “Detective Stone, I’d like you to meet Tiffany,” Captain Fisher turned to face Tiffany. “Hey Tiffany this here is the detective that I was telling you about, he’s going to help find the guy who did this to your friend,” Captain Fisher stood to his feet. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he said then exited the office.

  “Here you go,” Anthony Stone said as he sat on the edge of the desk and held out a tissue.

  Tiffany looked up, and grabbed the tissue. “My friend didn’t deserve this,” she paused to blow her nose. “She was a sweet girl.”

  “You and the victim were roommates?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long did ya’ll live together for?” Anthony Stone pulled out his pad and began writing.

  “Two years,” Tiffany sobbed. “Melissa wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “Did Melissa have any enemies?”

  “None everybody loved Melissa.”

  “When was the last time you saw, Melissa alive?” Anthony Stone asked.

  “Last night,” Tiffany replied. “We went out to the club to celebrate my birthday.”

  “How did you two get separated in the club?” Anthony Stone asked scribbling down everything that Tiffany told him.

  “The club was so crowded it was like she was standing right next to me one second, then the next she was gone,” Tiffany wiped her eyes. “And that’s the last time I saw her.”

  “Well then that means that her killer was more than likely inside that club,” Anthony Stone said out loud. “What’s the name of the club?”

  “Club Blaze,” Tiffany answered. “Ever heard of that club before?”

  “Yes I’m familiar with Club Blaze,” Anthony Stone replied. He had heard a lot about Club Blaze, it was the place where the big named celebrities partied when they were in town. Word on the streets was that Cub Blaze was one of the hardest clubs to get into. “Here’s my card,” he handed it to Tiffany. “If you hear or remember anything else give me a call.”

  Anthony Stone left the precinct and headed straight for Club Blaze. He had never been inside the club before but he planned on making an exception tonight.

  * * *

  Anthony Stone pulled up In front of the club and the front was crowded as if there were a concert going on inside. Women were lined all up and down the streets dressed in there skimpiest outfits trying to catch the eyes of the rich and famous. The few police officers that were present on the scene did their best to control the crowd that seemed to be growing by the minute. Anthony Stone stepped out of his vehicle and headed towards the entrance of the club. As he walked, he noticed twelve to fifteen foreign cars lined up back-to-back.

  Anthony Stone reached the entrance and was met by a huge bouncer. “I need to speak with Reggie Braxton,” he flashed his badge. The bouncer eyed the badge for a few seconds before allowing the detective access inside the club. Anthony Stone entered the club and immediately the loud bass from the speakers slapped him in the face. He squeezed through the crowded club and passed partygoers that danced wildly and others who were basically making love on the dance floor with their clothes on. Anthony Stone made his way over to a bouncer that looked over the crowd. “Where can I find the owner?” He yelled over the blaring music flashing his badge. The bounced eyed the badge suspiciously then said. “Wait right here!”

  Anthony Stone stood over in the cut checking out the scenery when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He spun around and saw an attractive Latin woman standing in front of him.

  “May I help you?” The woman asked.

  “Yes I need to speak with the owner of this place,”

  “About?”

  “I’m sorry who are you again?” Anthony Stone asked.