by C. L. Brees
The car pulled out of the gated subdivision and turned left towards downtown. Heather pulled out her chemistry book once again and turned to chapter twelve as the car sped down the two-lane road. She knew she had to get focused on tomorrow’s test.
At about the same time, Alex and the rest of the crew were just pulling up to a drive thru window at a nearby fast food restaurant. Nothing would be better than junk food to get them though the rest of the day. They all talked about what they were going to do once they returned to Alex’s house.
“What do you guys have to do this afternoon?” Alex asked.
“I have to study for a test tomorrow in calculus. Other than that, I have nothing going on this afternoon,” John said.
“Sucks to be you John. I don’t have any tests until next week. I think I’ll spend the afternoon watching soap operas or something. It’s not like I get to hang out at home every day,” Amy said as she laughed.
“What do you have to get done today Alex?” John inquired.
“Oh I have to finish writing this literature paper. Deadline is tomorrow morning to have it turned in. I can’t afford to fail this class.”
“Don’t worry about it so much. You’re like one of the smartest kids in our school. You’ll do amazing,” John said in return.
“Thanks for your enthusiastic support John.”
“Don’t mention it. But I am starving, and these slow people need to hurry up with my food,” John replied.
“Yes, they are being extremely slow today. I mean slower than usual here,” Amy said as they all laughed.
Eventually the food made it to the window and Alex zoomed out of the parking lot back onto Valley View Boulevard. Alex glanced in his rearview mirror. A white van had followed him out of the parking lot. It looked a lot like the van that had fled the scene of the 7-11 robbery that morning. Alex thought in his head, “Why would they be so bold as to follow me? I’m probably just overreacting; those robbers are probably a long way away from Ridgewood Hills.”
He returned his attention back to the road. He finally spoke up, “So, guys, I need to stop at the grocery store really fast to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. Can I trust you two to stay in the car and behave?”
“Of course you can Alex. I like John; even though he can sometimes be annoying, I would never do anything to harm him.”
“Yeah, we’re not crazy Alex. We can be adult-like when we want to be. Get your stuff at the store. We’ll be waiting for you in the car.”
“Great to hear,” Alex said as he pulled into the parking lot of the Canyon Valley Shopping Center.
Alex smiled to himself as he exited the vehicle. It was great to see Amy not letting the events that happened earlier affect her much. As he walked towards the entrance of the grocery, he felt a strange feeling come over him suddenly. Turning around, he quickly noticed the same white van parked towards the back of the parking lot. He felt uneasy about the whole situation and stopped in his tracks. He began walking back towards the car. As he approached, Amy rolled the window down.
“Alex, is everything alright? Do you need me to come and help you with anything?”
“Um, this is going to sound crazy, but look towards the back of the parking lot. Does that white van look eerily familiar to you?”
“Who are you asking Alex? Me or John?”
“Honestly, I’m asking you both.”
“Doesn’t look familiar to me,” Amy replied.
“Now that you mention it, that van does look familiar. It looks exactly like the one we saw tear ass out of the 7-11 parking lot this morning,” John quickly answered.
“What should we do?” Amy inquisitively asked.
“I don’t know. Should we call the police?” Alex asked.
“Alex, you’re always so worried about stuff. I doubt those guys who robbed the 7-11 are still hanging around town. If they were smart, they would have gotten out of town as quickly as they could.” John said.
“You’re right, John. I doubt they’d still be hanging around. Alright, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Alex turned around and walked back towards the entrance of the store. His mind still on the van, he thought, “Maybe I am just overreacting. Who in their right mind would still be hanging around town after murdering three people?
His trip to the store took him all of ten minutes. All he had to pick up was some pasta, sauce, seasonings, and garlic bread. As he exited the store, he looked again towards the rear of the parking lot. The van had vanished. He paused, but then smiled as he trekked back towards the car.
What turned out to be an awful morning with lots of bickering and drama, not to mention a murder and robbery, was turning around and things seemed to be flowing much better. However, downtown at the police station, things were just starting to unravel in Heather’s world.
***
On the other side of town, a silver Mercedes pulled up to police headquarters downtown. Wendy Burgess was in a hurry to get inside and nothing was going to stand in her way.
“Mom, slow down a little. I’m sure whatever she has done now can wait. I am not leaving my stuff in the car.”
“Look, when I spoke to the detective it sounded very important. They wouldn’t give me any information over the phone. All he said was to get down to the station as soon as I could. Something inside of me said it was a prank, but now I don’t think this is a prank at all. Grab your shit and let’s move.”
“Well whatever it is, mom, it’s not going to change just because you want to rush.”
Wendy ran up the stairs towards the main door. Along the way she almost pushed a police officer over as she frantically ran. Heather just shook her head in disbelief and continued walking slowly towards the door. Wendy made it indoors and ran up to the reception desk where she was greeted by an officer.
“Who is in charge here?” she exclaimed with a sense of panic in her voice.
“I’m in charge ma’am. Is there something I help you with?” the large, muscular officer asked as he stepped from behind the desk.
“Yes, my name is Wendy Burgess. I received a call about an hour ago from Detective Scott. He was calling about my daughter, Kelli Burgess. Have you seen her?”
“Oh yes, let me get Detective Scott to assist you further, Ms. Burgess.”
“What is going on here? Why won’t anyone tell me anything?”
“Ms. Burgess, please, have a seat and I will get Detective Scott out here to help you,” the officer said as she continued to pace back and forth in front of the desk.
She continued standing there in front of the desk with her arms folded across her chest. She impatiently tapped her foot on the floor for what seemed an eternity in her mind, waiting for the detective to make his way down. The mystery of the unknown was keeping her in suspense. After about five minutes of waiting she finally had to sit down. Slowly walking into the lobby, Heather saw her mother sitting in a row of chairs and joined her. In the distance a tall, dark-haired man in a black suit and blue tie walked alongside the officer from the front desk. Wendy quickly stood to her feet as the two came closer to her.
“Ms. Burgess, my name is Detective Scott,” the man in the blue suit said as he extended his hand to her, “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting this long. I have some terrible news for you.”
“What in the world is it detective? Has Kelli been arrested for something?”
“I’m afraid it’s much worse than that. Please, come with me,” he said as he placed the palm of his hand upon her shoulder.
Heather stood to her feet and followed behind the two of them. Detective Scott turned around and looked at Heather.
“Ma’am, I think it’s best if you stay here and wait. This isn’t something I think you will want to see.”
“Wait, what? Mom, I don’t want to sit here amongst this common gutter trash here.”
“Look, detective, as much as I appreciate you trying to protect my daughter, I have to agree with her. I don’t feel comfortable leaving
her sitting here while I go take care of this matter. I want her to come with me.”
“Very well, then. Follow me. We’re walking right around the block,” he said as Heather and Wendy both looked at each other with a perplexing look upon their faces.
“Around the block? Where are we going?” Wendy probed.
“Ok, I won’t beat around the bush with this any longer. We found a body this morning at Centennial Park. We found a student identification badge in the backpack of the victim. It belonged to Kelli Burgess. We’re walking over to the medical examiner’s office because I need you to identify the body,” he said as Wendy turned ghost white, all the blood draining from her face.
“No, I don’t believe you. Take me so I can see this for myself,” she insisted as Detective Scott once again placed the palm of his hand upon her back.
“Right this way.”
***
Earlier that morning on her way to school, Kelli Burgess had walked her normal ten blocks towards the home of her friend, Allison Green, to catch a ride to school. As she walked down Harbor Boulevard, a white passenger van had crept by her very slowly. It was almost as if the person driving wanted to stop, but didn’t. Kelli thought nothing of it. She put her headphones back in her ears and kept walking. As she approached West Spruce Avenue, she turned left. Spruce Avenue was a quiet residential street in downtown Ridgewood Hills. The landscape was filled with several mid-rise condos and boutique shops. She walked casually down the two-lane avenue, passing building after building as she zoned out to the music she was listening to. The block was cut in half by an alley, which she could see just ahead of her. Steps away from the alley, the same van that had passed her earlier on Harbor Boulevard abruptly stopped directly in front of her, cutting off her access to cross.
Out of the blue, a tall masked man flung open the sliding door along the side of the van. Brandishing a gun, he pointed it at Kelli and ordered her to climb in. Terrified, she did as the man told her to. She was in no position to put up a fight. The man quickly grabbed her arm and flung the sliding door closed. He pushed her towards the back of the van, which now had peeled out from the alley onto Spruce Avenue. Kelli managed to get her balance and sat down on the floor of the van. She was shaking ever so slightly, but she was trying to play things off like everything was fine.
She looked at the hooded man, stuttering she asked, “Where are you taking me?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. All I need you to do is sit there and shut up. I’d hate to need to do that for you.”
Kelli sat there, too petrified to make a sound. She still wasn’t sure what was going on and didn’t know who either of the masked men were.
What is it that they want from me? she thought to herself.
The van quickly came to a screeching stop. She could see out the front window of the van that they were at a stop light near the interstate. She quietly reached for the door handle of the back door. Pulling on it, nothing happened. Suddenly, a sense of panic began to set in. She was caged, and with all of her options exhausted, there was no way she was going to get out of this one. The van made a left turn and Kelli could see they were heading back in the direction they had just come from.
“Look, where are you taking me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” the man said as he reached over and grabbed something from the front seat. “I told you to shut up, but since that’s so hard for you, it looks like I’m gonna have to help you with that.”
“No! Look, I promise I won’t say anything again, just don’t do anything to hurt me, please,” she yelled as tears started to welt up in her eyes.
“Hurt you; no, no, I wouldn’t worry about that. We have so much more in store for you. We’ve had our eye on you for quite a while now,” the man said as the van whipped around a corner, tossing Kelli and the man towards the back of the van.
“Yo, slow the fuck down up there,” he yelled.
“What are you going to do with me? Are you going to kill me?”
She screamed at the top of her lungs while the van came to a shuddering halt. The masked man smacked her across the face with the back of his hand. She reached up and touched her face, shocked at his reaction. He quickly moved behind her, placing a red blindfold over her eyes. She squirmed around trying to break herself free from the man but soon realized his grip on her was much stronger than she thought. After a minute of struggling with him, she finally gave up and surrendered to his demands.
The two men forcefully removed her from the back of the van. Kelli breathed in the fresh Colorado air and could feel the warmth of the sunshine upon her face. She always heard people say that in the last few minutes of your life your senses intensify. She was hoping that this heightened experience was just a coincidence. Turning her head from side to side, she could not tell where she was or if anyone was even around to help. She took a leap of faith and began screaming as loud as she could. If she was going to die, she was going to die fighting, she thought. Suddenly she felt a hard piece of metal poking her in the back.
“Shut up stupid whore.”
It was at this moment that she knew these would be the final few moments of her life. She had fought as hard as she could to get away or even simply alert someone that she was in danger. No one was coming to her aid. She gave it one last try to get away. She kicked as hard as she could. Her attempt paid off as she made contact with one of the men, causing him to fall backwards. Her legs fell to the ground and she was able to kick backwards, nailing the other kidnapper in the shin. He was so stunned that his grip on her eased up momentarily. It was the opportunity that Kelli had been waiting for. She wriggled free from him but her freedom was extremely short lived. He was able to regain his bearings and quickly snatched her back up.
He grabbed her as he caught his breath. “Big mistake. Huge mistake.”
It was all over now. Kelli knew she was facing the final minutes of her life. All she could do now was pray that they would be merciful towards her. The two men pushed her into a public restroom at Centennial Park which was only four blocks from her school. Raising her hands above her head, they tied her to the metal stall divider to ensure she was immobilized. The adrenaline was pumping through her veins as the tears streamed down her face. She pleaded one last time with the men to let her go.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone about this. Just let me go. I have done nothing to you.”
They laughed at her as they continued to prod her in the ribs with the muzzles of their guns. Even though she couldn’t see them, she could feel the emotion the exuded from them. It was almost as if torturing her was a turn-on. The man from the back of the van slowly pulled a spear pointed hunting knife from the holster attached to his belt. He walked up beside her, gently pressing the back side of the blade upon her face. She uncontrollably began sobbing at this point.
“Do you have any last words, Kelli Burgess?”
In between gasps of breath she said, “Please just tell my family I love them and I’m sorry for everything I have ever done.”
The man quickly took the knife and began stabbing her in the abdomen. Stroke after stroke of the knife made Kelli wail in pain. The blood spilled uncontrollably onto the ceramic tile floor beneath her. The man stopped stabbing her suddenly and looked over at his partner. “Put her out of her misery.” It was with those spoken words that a single shot from a Sig Sauer expelled from the gun, piercing her in her left temple. They stood there for a moment with her lifeless body suspended from the stall divider.
“We have to go.”
***
Wendy and Heather followed the detective down the marble stairs of the station towards the sidewalk. The three turned left and began the short walk to the medical examiner’s office on the adjacent block. Wendy was walking about three steps ahead of the detective, listening for his prompts telling her where to go. The three arrived at the main door, which was secured. Wendy pulled hard on the doors to no avail.
“They won’t open. Why won’t the
y open?”
“You have to have card access to enter the building. I got this.”
Detective Scott swiped his access card and the door made a loud clicking sound. He grabbed the door and ushered them inside. The lobby was very inviting. A few nice, comfortable sitting chairs lined the wall. A coffee table full of magazines were stacked neatly. Detective Scott walked them towards the chairs.
“Mrs. Burgess, please have a seat. I’m going to go check with the medical examiner to see if he is ready.”
“Mom, what is going on? Why are we here?”
“I’m not quite sure yet Heather. I don’t understand. Why this is happening? Why now?”
“I don’t know either, mom. On the bright side, it might not be her, you know.”
“That’s very true. Ugh, I just want to get this over with,” Wendy said as her cell phone rang suddenly. “Hello?”