Thrills: Vol.2

by Jason A. Joseph

  ***

  It was Wednesday, and Jacob had a new student. He was excited. He’d been told it was a pretty young thing. A creepy smile stretched across his face as he walked into the room. The girl was gorgeous. She had long wavy blonde hair, a petite waist, and long elegant fingers. He might have to indulge his hobby with this one. He could casually hit on her and if it didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he could take her to his workshop. Jacob went over to the young woman and took her hand.

  “Good afternoon. I’m Jacob Benner. I hope this will be the beginning of a wonderful new friendship.”

  “Megan Swan. I believe it will be.” Isabelle gave him her most coquettish smile and watched as a few beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. His hands clenched in anticipation, and it was beginning to become more and more clear that she’d had the wrong suspect after all. Maverick never killed the girls, this man had. She didn’t know exactly what it was about him, but she just knew. That feeling of hers had gotten many a case solved. Unfortunately, the feeling itself was only half of the work. The hardest part was that she had to find evidence to prove it.

  “Shall we work on posture?” Jacob led her to the bench and sat next to her, showing her how to place her fingers, how to hold her shoulders, and how to breathe while she focused on the notes. Both parties left that lesson satisfied in different ways. Jacob was feeling pretty good. He had tried a few little subtle nudges in advancement, and the girl had blocked them all. He knew that he was going to go after her for his third victim…well, maybe his fourth. It all depended on how these lessons were going to play out. Isabelle was more than happy with the lesson as well, because she could profile him while she pretended to learn the piano. She had a rock solid foundation already, and the more time that she spent with him, the more she would be able to add. She was almost home when she pulled out her cell phone and called Elliot. She wanted to make sure that no one else was on to the piano teacher.

  “What?” The rudeness of that one word carried a lot of weight.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting something important?” A little bit of ice crept into her voice. If he was going to play the asshole again, then she could certainly play along.

  “No, not really, I’m just up to my asshole in questioning Maverick. What do you want?” Isabelle smiled. That was a good sign.

  “I was just wondering if you had any other likely suspects? Maybe Maverick is the wrong guy after all.” “I don’t think so, princess. He did it. It’s just a matter of breaking him down. If you’ll excuse me, that’s where I’m headed to right now.” He snapped the phone shut and the line went dead. Isabelle was ecstatic. She was going to crack this case all by herself, and completely by “accident”.

  Isabelle loved to needle Elliot, now that she wasn’t there to have to deal with him every day at work, it was even turning out to be fun. She called him at work and tried to keep tabs on the investigation as much as she could. That was how she found out that Maverick had left the country. No one could find him. A unit had gone to his house to haul him in for another bout of questioning, only to find that he was gone.

  His parents were on vacation in the Cayman Islands, and the maid let them know that he was gone. Apparently all the questioning in the world couldn’t get a search warrant for someone’s house, but as soon as they flew the coop, now that was motive enough to get the warrant.

  Elliot was on his way to the residence to start dumping it right away. Unfortunately, Isabelle couldn’t go with him. She was still on vacation until the case was solved. She couldn’t wait to throw it in the captain’s face that she was going to solve everything herself. Isabelle had a good feeling that soon, she would get enough out of Benner to get some hard evidence. He was an older man, and of course he would forget and slip up on something. She wished she could be in that raid though, Maverick was hiding something, that much was clear, but unfortunately it wasn’t a murder.

  It was Monday again, and time for little Miss Megan Swan’s piano lesson. So far, after two weeks of lessons, Benner was being slightly flirtatious, but he hadn’t really made a move on her yet. Isabelle had time. She didn’t think he was the rushing type, anyway. Serial killers were meticulous, they took their time and if for some reason, it wasn’t going to work out, they scrapped the project and waited for another opportunity.

  Benner was all of those things, and very easily read, in Isabelle’s opinion, but even he had a time limit. He wasn’t going to go on acting innocent forever. Isabelle was a little impatient with the whole ploy, however, she wanted to try and draw him out on her own terms. That way, she would have everything ready when the time came. Normally, any case she had was just a job. This time, though, it involved someone that had been nice to her and welcomed her to the area when she was completely lost and alone. The lambs of the world didn’t deserve to be so brutally slaughtered, and Isabelle wanted to be the one to fight for them. It was one of the reasons she’d become a police officer to begin with. She wanted to be able to help those that were too afraid or incapable of fighting for themselves. Maybe a psychologist would have seen that as a hero complex, but Isabelle didn’t care. She was doing her job and she was damn good at it, so the shrinks could say whatever they wanted about her.

  Isabelle checked her watch. Shit, she was going to be late. Then again…maybe being late would be a trigger for him. She decided to take her time. Isabelle had taken to wearing swishy little summer dresses with a semi-low bust line.

  Spending long hours at night going over her notes had made it obvious that Benner killed the two girls to cover up the rapes.

  He’d been attracted to the victims, and of course, rejection was bad enough at a young age, but when it’s an older man going for younger, fresher meat, there was typically more rage involved. Part of Isabelle wanted to tell Elliot her theory and what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want him to go squealing to the captain and shut her down before she closed her case. On the other hand, some help and a fresh pair of eyes over her notes could only help her. She was torn.

  Walking in to the classroom, Isabelle could see that Benner was already sitting at the piano, letting his fingers drift over the keys as though he’d invented the piano himself. She cleared her throat to make sure he noticed that she was there. A vein bulged in his forehead. He was definitely angry. Good. Maybe he would slip up and she could pry him open far enough to see how he did what he did.

  “I’m so sorry for being late. I had something personal I had to take care of.” Benner hated it when people kept secrets from him, he was juvenile in that sense. Benner forced a smile that never reached his eyes.

  “That’s perfectly alright. Sometimes things just come up. If you wouldn’t mind, though, next time could you call ahead?” The words were polite and kind, but the tone of voice sounded more like it should have had ‘or else’ tacked on to the end of the question. So the sleeping giant stirs…

  “You bet. What are we starting with today?” Ignoring the importance of lesson time was another way to get Benner hot under the collar, and she could see his eyes twitching with rage. His voice, however, still came out evenly paced.

  “Let’s begin with the scales I taught you two weeks ago and see how much progression we can work with.” Isabelle obediently played the scales he asked for. The tension in his face was fading away, slowly, but it was fading.

  The rest of the lesson passed by uneventfully, and Isabelle stopped to grab some fast food on her way home. She was frustrated with herself. She’d thought for sure she would be able to push him enough to snap and to go after her. Maybe she needed to profile Benner a little more. That would be her homework when she made it back to her apartment.

  ***

  Jacob was furious with his student. She was late. That in and of itself was completely unacceptable. Furthermore, she hadn’t even bothered to call and let him know. That was a common courtesy that most people would offer someone if they were breaking an appointment or knew they were going to be late. It was a small
thing, but it was a pet peeve. Lately, Jacob had been highly irritable and he had to get his aggression out on something. His last kill hadn’t been that satisfactory, and it felt like forever since he’d done it. He was itching for another kill. His only problem was, would he take his anger out on a failed student from the past? Or would he teach his newest student what happened when she didn’t call and tell him that she was going to be late. He didn’t need a murder right now, but he needed something where he could show his authority over another person. He didn’t want to spook his new student when he went after her for the big finale, so that left his maid. He’d terrorized the poor woman enough over the years to know that he could get a small sense of satisfaction to tide him over, but it would also mean holding back enough so as not to make it obvious that something happened if she went to the police.

  Jacob lived in a large house, which could have easily supported a large staff of servants. The only staff in the house was a middle aged woman that hardly spoke English, and she bore the bruises of Jacob’s boredom under her clothes. She’d been through so much, maybe he should just end the poor woman’s suffering…then again, where was the fun in that? Jacob came home and she followed him with fearful eyes until he crossed to the stairway that led up to his apartments.

  She heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the door close. It was the days that Mr. Jacob wanted to talk after work that were usually the most painful for her. She couldn’t even go to the police for help. He’d made sure that she never learned English in the twenty years that she’d been working for him.

  He was relaxing in his room, listening to piano music on an old gramophone. There was a soft spot in Jacob’s heart for all the old fashioned things of life. He ran a nice hot bath in his claw footed tub and relaxed. The only way to prepare for a messy evening of fun, was to make sure he scrubbed all the loose hair and skin from his body before he got his workshop up and running. He would have to make sure that he had all of his tools clean before he brought his guest with him. He couldn’t remember whether or not he’d honed his blades and mopped up the blood of his last toy.

  An hour later found Jacob dressed and in his workshop, cleaning his meat cleaver with a wonderfully fresh smelling lemon cleaner. His eyes kept darting over to something that he’d leaned up against the door. It was his maid, wrapped in cellophane and unconscious. He tested the restraints on the table after he finished with the blades and a gleeful smile marred his face. It was almost like he was a schoolboy again, fresh in the prime of life, just learning how to butcher women. It had taken him years to learn exactly where to cut and how deep, what type of knife to use, and from which side to start the incision.

  He had waited ten years after his first urge hit before he took a human victim.

  The park still had an old suitcase buried in the tree line where all of Jacob’s animal kills resided. Trophies were of course a must. That was serial killer 101. Progression was where most of them got caught. Jacob had done a major in college on criminal justice, geared towards forensics, and he was good enough to hide all his evidence in every case he’d manufactured.

  Sounds were now coming from the corner where he’d left his maid tied up. She was coming out of her merciful sleep. Excellent. Jacob was afraid that she might stay asleep for the whole party, and then it just wouldn’t be so much fun for him. He might have even had to do another victim in that case, because he knew he wouldn’t feel that exhilaration that came with watching the fear grow in his victim’s eyes before the light went out once and for all. He walked over to her.

  “Ah, Luisa. So good of you to join me. I was worried that you might miss out on our little private party.” The woman’s eyes went past him to the table with the restraints. She began murmuring in Portuguese. Jacob could make out enough of the words to realize she was praying for her life. Praying that her soul would go to heaven and that a curse would come down on this man for every innocent young woman that he had ever hurt.

  Jacob smiled at her. Being around her for twenty years meant that he knew a few words in her own language. “Don’t worry, my dear, the devil has a seat reserved for me in hell already. He’s just waiting for someone to kill me so I can move in.” Luisa’s eyes got wider as he picked her up. She clearly hadn’t thought that he would be able to lift her. What a sad misjudgment.

  Jacob made sure that he went to the gym several times a week in order to keep his muscles as well-oiled as a man half his age. His bulky sweaters and loose pants hid his strength very easily. Besides, no one would ever think that an older gentleman like himself would be in the gym as a bodybuilder.

  “Now, how do those leather straps feel? Not too tight I hope?” Luisa didn’t answer. She refused to give him the satisfaction. “Well, if you’re comfortable, let’s begin shall we?” Luisa’s screams filled every inch of Jacob’s workshop before the night was through.

  “Isn’t this nice? Just you and me driving through the countryside at dusk? With nothing between us? I think it’s simply amazing.” Jacob was talking to Luisa, of course, well, what was left of her. She was in pieces, in garbage bags that he had in the cargo space of his minivan. The used car dealer had been right, the cargo room was simply to die for. Luisa was proof of that.

  The twilight shadows concealed the evil that was hiding inside the old man. No matter how dark it got outside, his insides were yet darker. There was something about the woods this time of night that spoke to him. Whether it was a good influence on him, or simply a kindred evil, he would never have known. They were far from the manor house now, deep in the woods at least two hours away from the closest city. This was one body that Jacob wanted to make sure was never found.

  The other girls he’d displayed in picturesque scenes.

  This was simply for the pleasure of it. Jacob had a code that he lived by. The girls he taught had to bring pure music into the world, and if they didn’t, they were raped, mutilated, and left for their families to find. That was their punishment. To be humiliated and tortured for the lies that they’d told him. When they promised, swore even, to keep the spirit of music alive and then…let their fingers stop playing the language that he loved so much. Luisa was a different animal altogether. Jacob had pent up rage and aggression inside him and Luisa was simply an outlet. If this body was found, then the circle would close in on him and he would have no escape.

  The girls that he’d left out were young and beautiful, full of potential, there were always people in their lives that would arouse more suspicion than he would. After all, he was just a kindly old man that had taught them all piano in their younger days. There would be no suspicion on him because, as far as the world was concerned, he hadn’t seen them since they were about waist high to him. Jacob had another hobby. Other than killing those girls, he got off on watching them throughout their day, knowing that they were his precious flowers, ready to pluck whenever he wanted them…

  Jacob’s headlights came upon a giant tangle of brush. That would be a good place to leave Luisa. He would have to go through the trouble of hiring another maid, but they were a dime a dozen.

  He parked as close as he could to the overgrowth and began to unload the trash bags. He knew he was losing some of his strength the older he got, but if you cut a body into tiny pieces, it didn’t matter how strong you were, you just made more trips. Jacob smiled as he buried the trash bags, one by one, under the rotten foliage and old leaves. There may not even be anything left of the poor woman in a month or so.

  This area was ripe with wolves and coyotes. The poor darlings would be hungry, and no one was going to mind if they ate this free meat.

  As an afterthought, Jacob ripped the tops of the bags open so it would be easier for the hunters to reach their prey. When he was finished, he took a bottle of water and poured some of the cold contents on to his hands. He rubbed them vigorously together to scrub the dirt and dead leaves off his hands before he got back in his car. He made sure not to have any evidence of the area on the inside of his car, and he h
ad every intention of stopping at a random car wash on the way back home.

  Jacob was a multitasker. He was already composing his classified ad for a new maid in his head as he pulled off the dirt road and back onto pavement an hour later. He was debating if he should go the route that he did with Luisa, getting an illegal maid so that he could use her to sate his murderous appetite whenever he couldn’t get fresh meat, or if he wanted to try the straight and narrow and get a hot young maid for eye candy. That would be a major decision.

  That would require a pros and cons list before he made up his mind. Jacob was organized, but he was also a little vain. Jacob kept a journal of every kill he’d ever done. Those were hidden deep in his house where no one would ever think to look for them. Just knowing they were somewhere where he could see them kept him in a state of bliss every second that he spent at home.

  ***

  Isabelle was whiling away the hours at home, pouring over her notes. She was trying to find something in them to show her what could have triggered Benner into killing. Most psychologists believed that serial killers had a sort of switch that was flipped by certain triggers in the environment. Isabelle just needed to figure out what that switch was. She’d spent the last three days on it, and was no closer to figuring it out. She hated that. Isabelle was a woman who prided herself on figuring things out quickly, and then diving into a crime scene to find evidence that made her theory a reality.

  This man, this old man, was getting the best of her. How could she let that happen?!? She was Isabelle MacIntosh and she never let a case get the best of her. Then again, she’d never had a case all to herself before either. Maybe she could chalk it up to being undermanned for this job. She had crime scenes coming out of her ears, she had to stop and take a break. Fresh eyes were always better anyway. She decided to enjoy the rest of her evening and tackle it again in the morning. Isabelle wandered into the kitchen and over to the wine rack. There was a bottle of Moscato that had her name on it.