Confession

by Gary Whitmore

  He had a satisfied smirk while he watched them back down the driveway then drove away.

  For the rest of the day, Sam and Cindy spent their time alone in different rooms. Sam had called an alarm company and made an appointment for a salesman to come out in two days.

  He paced around his den and tried to figure out how he can get out of this mess.

  In St. Cloud, Marty and Becky spend the rest of the day repacking all of Allan’s items into some new boxes.

  The sun dropped below the horizon and darkness fell upon Florida.

  In Daytona Beach, Sam and Cindy had a nice quiet dinner.

  In Kissimmee, Becky, Michael and Nancy watched a Disney movie while Marty reread A Killer’s Tale. But this time, he jotted down notes for his own investigation.

  Three hours had passed.

  Sam watched TV in his den while Cindy sat on the couch watching TV. They haven’t spoken to each other since Jerry and Blaine left.

  In Kissimmee, Becky just put Nancy and Michael to bed.

  Marty sat in the living room and reviewed his notes then his eyes widened with an idea. He shot up from the couch and ran out of the living room.

  He ran into Nancy’s room where Becky just kissed her forehead for the night.

  “I need to run over to your dad’s house,” Marty said the second he met Becky at the door.

  “Why?”

  “I have a really strong hunch on where that wooden chest might be located,” he told her while they walked down the hallway.

  She stopped and saw the determination in his eyes. “If you must,” she replied knowing he would be up all night thinking about this chest. “After this, we’ll forget about that stupid thing once and for all,” she said then walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

  Marty ran down the hallway and into their bedroom.

  After he got his wallet, car keys and the key to Allan’s house, he ran to the front door.

  Later that night, Marty entered Allan’s house.

  He ran through the house and went inside the garage.

  It was also a mess from Billy rummaging through everything.

  He grabbed the step ladder and placed it under the access panel to the attic. He climbed up the ladder and pushed up on the panel. He climbed further up the ladder and removed a small flashlight from his pocket. He went up inside the attic.

  It's dark inside the attic. Marty searched around with the flashlight.

  He shined it on the far end of the attic, where he saw a wall of unpainted drywall.

  “How did I miss that before?” he said while he thought about the wall.

  He had an idea so he climbed out of the attic and found a hammer in the garage amongst stuff on the floor.

  He climbed back into the attic and carefully crawled across the ceiling joints with the hammer and flashlight.

  Marty crawled over to the unpainted drywall. He set the flashlight down and repeatedly beat the drywall until he made a hole.

  He grabbed the drywall and pulled on a piece. The piece of drywall broke off and he fell on his back on the joists. He got up and grabbed the flashlight. He shined a beam on light in the hole of the drywall.

  There was an old dusty wooden chest stashed behind the wall of stud. It was locked with a pad lock. “Bingo!” he said proud of himself.

  Marty spent the next ten minutes pulling away more drywall. He pulled enough away and reached inside the hole. He grabbed the wooden chest and pulled it out. He blew off some dust. He sneezed.

  He carefully crawled across the ceiling joists with the chest and headed to the access panel.

  Marty carefully climbed down the ladder with the chest.

  He set it on the garage floor and did a victory dance around the items on the floor while he looked for some bolt cutters.

  He found some bolt cutters and did a victory dance back to the chest.

  He cut the pad lock off the chest. He quickly opened up his cell phone and made a call.

  “Becky! I found that wooden chest. It was hidden behind a wall your father built in the attic,” Marty said excitedly.

  “You’re kidding me?” Becky replied a little shocked from his cell phone.

  “No, and I’m ready to open it up and see the evidence inside,” he told her. “I’ll take a picture with my cell phone,” he added.

  “Good! We can finally let Uncle Slime Ball rot in prison. Email me the picture then I’ll call Sam Woods and email it to him,” Becky said excitedly.

  “You got it honey,” Marty said while he got his cell phone ready.

  “Here it comes,” he said then leaned down and slowly opened up the creaky chest lid. He snapped a picture. He looked inside the chest and saw five magazines. They were old issues of the Confidential Detective Cases magazines.

  “Hurry up and email me the picture,” Becky voice was heard from his cell phone.

  “Ah, you won’t believe this. But the chest is completely empty,” Marty said with a disappointing tone, as he didn’t want to tell her about the magazines.

  “Fuck!” Becky yelled from his cell phone and he quickly pulled his cell phone from his ear. Marty looked in disbelief, as he never heard her use that word.

  “I’m going to head home in a few minutes,” he told her.

  “Okay.”

  He closed his cell phone and shoved it in his pants pocket.

  Marty saw a pair of pliers on the floor. He walked over and grabbed them. He walked back to the chest and used the pliers. He grabbed the first magazine.

  He set it on the floor and saw it was an August 1963 issue. He used the pliers and flipped to where some pages were stuck together. He saw it was for an article on the killing of Rhonda Moore.

  He did the same for the August 1964 issue and the stuck pages were for the killing of Fran Adams. He did the same for the August 1965 issue and the stuck pages were for the killing of Sandy Yoder.

  He did the same for the August 1966 issue and the stuck pages were for the killing of Angie Gardner.

  He did the same for the August 1967 issue and the stuck pages were for the killing of Annette Watson.

  Marty used the pliers and threw the magazines into the trash. He didn’t want Becky to find them. He definitely had a different level of respect for Allan, a lower level of respect.

  Chapter 29

  It was one thirty in the morning in Daytona Beach and the town was quiet tonight.

  A shadowy figure crept into Sam’s backyard. It was Billy in a black ski mask, and gloves.

  Billy walked to the back door where he unlocked with his key.

  He quietly stepped inside Sam’s house.

  Billy stood in the kitchen. The house was quiet just like the way he wanted.

  He cautiously walked out of the kitchen.

  He cautiously walked down the hallway ever so quiet.

  He walked to a bedroom where he saw Cindy asleep on Sam’s bed.

  He walked away while he schemed.

  He walked down the hallway and peeked in the den. He saw Sam asleep in the lazy boy chair.

  He quietly walked into the den.

  Billy removed his ski mask and set it on Sam’s desk.

  He softly walked up to Sam. He saw the 38 Special that lay in Sam’s lap for protection. He snickered while he slowly reached down and grabbed the revolver.

  He opened up the barrel and removed all but one of the bullets. He shoved them in his pocket. He closed the barrel then he walked around to the back of the chair.

  He touched Sam’s temple with the barrel of the revolver. Sam swatted thinking it was a bug.

  Billy leaned down to Sam’s ear.

  “Come to bed honey. I'm horny and want you Sam!” Billy whispered in Sam’s ear with a fake woman’s voice.

  Sam smiled while he woke up thinking of a good time with Cindy. “Wait until I take my blue pill,” he said then his eyes widened when he felt the barrel of a pistol pressed into his temple. He looked down and saw his revolver was gone. This doesn’t feel good. He
thought to himself.

  Billy walked around the front of Sam with his back to the door of the den.

  “No ski mask this time?” Sam said.

  “I don’t need it,” Billy replied.

  Sam instantly knew what that meant. He tried to get up, but Billy slammed him back down in his chair.

  Billy leaned down to Sam and slowly dragged the barrel of the 38 Special down Sam’s nose then to his top lip.

  Sam closed his mouth. Billy pressed the barrel harder against Sam’s lips. He pressed so hard Sam thought his front teeth would break. He about peed his pants when he heard the click of the revolver. He was relieved but sweat still formed on his forehead.

  Billy pulled the revolver away from Sam’s mouth and kept it aimed at him. “So, here's what happened. You are the October Slayer. Guilt finally got to you and you got drunk again. The horror of you killing all those girls back in the sixties finally became so unbearable that you went off the deep end. You killed your girlfriend then killed yourself,” Billy told Sam then a smirk grew on his face. “I’ll make sure her tummy is properly marked.”

  “You’ll never get away with this.”

  “Of course I will. I’ll leave a suicide note on your computer before I leave. You’ll also admit to killing dumbass Bo Smithson. As I previously taped his wallet and the gun that killed him under your couch, of which you’ll write in your note that that’s where you hid it,” Billy said and looked proud of his achievement. He pulled out a small whiskey bottle from his pants pocket. He opened it.

  “I’m not going to continue my investigation,” Sam pleaded.

  “Oh, by the way, they’ll also find child porno on your computer. The media will hate you,” Billy said while he forced the bottle into Sam's mouth.

  Sam tried to fight back, but Billy was stronger. He forced some whiskey down Sam's throat. He choked.

  Billy pulled the bottle away and spilled some on Sam’s crotch. He dropped the bottle to the floor.

  “If it's one thing my big brother Allan taught me, it's how to get away with a crime,” Billy said with a huge proud smile.

  Sam got furious and tried to stand up.

  Billy forced him back in his chair.

  “Get ready to meet Allan in hell!” Billy said with a smart-ass tone while he cocked the revolver.

  Then out of nowhere, a cast iron skillet whacked Billy on the back of his head. His eyes crossed and he dropped to the floor on his knees. He was in a daze. He dropped the revolver and it slid across the floor a foot away.

  Cindy hovered over Billy with the cast iron skillet in her hand.

  Billy stirred and looked up at Cindy. He realized she struck him and got pissed. “You fucking bitch,” he yelled out then started to get up to come after her.

  She whacked him one more time with the skillet across his temple. He dropped to the floor out cold.

  Sam got up from the chair and rushed over to Billy. Sam looked proud of Cindy.

  “Find the evidence to fry this sicko!” she told Sam.

  He looked down at Billy and nodded in agreement.

  Cindy saw the wet spot on Sam’s crotch.

  “Don't tell me you had an accident?”

  Sam cracked a smile as he picked up the whiskey bottle off the floor. “He forced this down my throat, and spilled some on my crotch,” he said while he showed her the bottle.

  Cindy looked relieved with hearing that story.

  Sam picked up the revolver off the floor and aimed it at Billy.

  “Go get some Duct tape and rope out of the garage,” he told Cindy.

  She ran out of the den.

  Ten minutes later, Sam had bounded Billy’s wrists and ankles with Duct tape. Cindy called the police and they waited in the den for them to show up.

  The doorbell rang.

  “They’re here,” Sam told Cindy.

  She rushed out of the den.

  A few seconds later, Cindy reappeared in the den with Daytona Beach officers, Dayna and Sean.

  “So we meet again,” Dayna told Sam while they walked up to Billy who sat tied in the lazy boy chair with a splitting headache.

  “This is the guy that broke into Cindy’s house. He broke into my house and tried to kill me. He’s Billy Stein,” Sam told the officers.

  Sean walked over and untied the ropes. He yanked Billy up on his feet.

  “So you have any weapons or sharp objects in your pockets?” Sean asked Billy.

  “No,” Billy replied and cringed over the pain in his head.

  He reached in his back pocket and removed his wallet. He opened it up and confirmed he was indeed Billy Stein. He reached in his front pockets and removed his car keys.

  He handed everything to Dayna.

  “Mister Stein, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?” Sean said.

  Billy nodded his head in agreement.

  Dayna cut the Duct tape off his wrists then handcuffed him. She cut the Duct tape off his ankles.

  Sean and Dayna escorted Billy out of the den.

  Sam and Cindy followed.

  Sam opened the front door.

  “We’ll need you to come down to the station tomorrow,” Sean told Sam.

  “We’ll be there,” Sam replied.

  Billy looked really worried while he was being escorted out the door.

  Sam closed the door and looked relieved. But he still looked concerned on never finding any evidence to keep Billy behind bars forever.

  “I better call Becky,” he said then rushed out of the room.

  In Kissimmee, Becky and Marty was sound asleep. The phone on the bedside table rang, and Becky stirred. The phone continued to ring. She rolled over and picked up the phone.

  “Hello,” she answered still half asleep.

  Marty woke up and curiously looked at Becky.

  “It’s me, Sam Woods. I’m so sorry to wake you up, but I have some important news. Your uncle broke into my house and tried to kill me. But my girlfriend got the better of him with a cast iron skillet,” Sam told her from the phone.

  Becky shot up as hearing that woke her up. “Oh my God!” she cried out.

  “What happened?”

  “Uncle Billy tried to kill Sam Woods,” Becky told him.

  “The Daytona Beach police arrested him and hauled him off,” Sam said.

  “He’s in a Daytona Beach jail,” she told Marty.

  “I’m going down to the station tomorrow,” Sam told Becky.

  “I’ll meet you at the police station in the morning. I want to talk to that bastard,” Becky told Sam.

  “Okay, I’ll be there at nine,” Sam replied.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Becky said then hung up the phone.

  She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. She looked happy Billy was arrested. She wanted him to stay in jail for the rest of his life.

  It was nine the next morning.

  Sam, and Cindy met Becky at the Daytona Police station.

  After Cindy and Sam provided their statements on what happened last night, they allowed Sam and Becky to talk with Billy.

  Detective Matt Paule watched while Sam and Becky sat across the table from Billy in one of their interrogation rooms. Cindy sat at the other end of the room.

  “What the hell's going on Uncle Billy?” she said.

  Billy sat tight-lipped at the table.

  “I know you're the one that broke into Dad's house and guess what? Marty found that wooden chest!” Becky said while she glared at Billy hoping that would loosen his lips.

  Billy got nervous and fidgeted in his seat. He knew his goose was cooked with the discovery of that chest.

  Sam looked elated. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked Becky.

  “Marty found it in the attic. We didn’t call you because it’s em
pty,” Becky told Sam.

  Sam looked like he wanted to cry with that news.

  Billy got a satisfied smirk. Great job Allan! He thought to himself.

  “For once in your life, do the right thing. Tell the truth. Admit you're the killer,” Becky said while she glared into his eyes.

  “My attorney will get me out of here soon and I'll live the rest of my life as a free man,” Billy replied with a smart-ass smirk.

  “I want that lien removed.”

  Billy stared at Becky for a second. Billy looked over at the guard. “Take me back to my cell.”

  The guard walked over and Billy stood up.

  Cindy, Sam and Becky watched while the guard escorted Billy out of the room.

  “Are you sure that chest is empty?” Sam asked Becky.

  “I’m sure,” she replied.

  They got up and left disappointed with Detective Paule.

  Outside the police station, Cindy and Sam stood by Becky at her car.

  “I guess your investigation is over,” she told Sam.

  “I guess. But, I wonder if that evidence was hidden somewhere else?”

  Becky thought for a few seconds. “I don’t know where. We went through all of dad’s stuff at his house. We didn’t find anything that appeared to be evidence,” she told him.

  “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

  “I know and I’m sorry,” she replied.

  “Well take care,” Sam said while he held Cindy’s hand.

  “You too,” Becky replied and walked to her car.

  Sam and Cindy walked over and got inside his car.

  They drove off in separate directions. But they both wondered if they could ever keep Billy behind bars forever.

  Sam dropped Cindy off at her house since she was safe to be alone.

  Later that night in Daytona, Sam lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. His eyes welled up when he thought about Angie and his promise to Gary.

  In Kissimmee, Marty and Becky lay in their bed and both wondered where the evidence was hidden.