No Remorse No Regret (Counterstrike Book 1)

by Ian Worrall

  “Yeah.”

  “How did she manage to kill three and not get seen or caught?” she asks.

  “Hiding in a car in the parking garage across the street.”

  “But they were all checked though.”

  After a brief pause, Jessica stands up from the desk. “I’m going to go over the reports from that night and get the license plates of all the SUVs.”

  “Why an SUV?”

  “To shoot and hit a target from a distance it would have to be a rifle. And to hide she would need an SUV big enough in the back to hide her and the gun when the police check the garage.”

  “Good thinking, detective. You’re going far.”

  She smiles at him and leaves the office. “I’ll find something.”

  You are going far away to prison if the guy assigned to you did his job. Torres turns his chair so his back is to the office door. With his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands tears start welling up in his eyes.

  How great it would be if he didn’t have to do this. No one deserves to have their life ruined by others. Sitting up in his chair, he wipes his eyes on his shirt sleeve. There might be a way to prove she was framed, without implicating me.

  * * *

  Melissa wakes up on the floor of her living room. As she tries to get up, she closes her eyes tightly and grabs her head. I’ve got to stop these nights of drinking. It’s a few hours until Danil will see her. She decides to take the time to check up on the camera footage of his home to see what he’s been up to. And maybe find the money he’s been shorting me on. He’s never been long in paying what he owes before. The cops have missed every time they’ve tried to bust him, so what is taking so long for him to get the money he owes me?

  Spraying a touch of perfume and grabbing the box of glow in the dark condoms, she heads into the garage, opening the trap door and entering the tunnel. She makes her way towards his end.

  Is he even going to be there? It might be good if he wasn’t. I’ll get to watch some movies in the theater. There’s going to be some slutty looking lingerie he bought for her to wear for his gift to himself. Slip into that and then lie in wait, compare him to the kid I did.

  She gets to the end of the tunnel and opens the door. She passes through the panic room then up the stairs into the bedroom. She touches the intercom button and calls for Danil, announcing she’s home.

  Her gift is lying on the bed with a note attached, “Be back at seven my love. I’ll be bringing dinner, just make sure dessert is ready.”

  Of course, both pre-and post-dinner dessert will be ready. Got seven hours. check the video to see what’s been going on here the past few days.

  Sitting down at the console, she punches up the playback of the video from the time that she left for Chicago to the time she arrived home. Outside video shows the various law enforcement agencies that are doing surveillance on the home. None knows she exists in the capacity she’s in.

  For three days, there’s been nothing but the comings and goings of Danil and some of his crew. Good. If he knows nothing about the kid, everything will be fine.

  Stepping out of the room, she opens the package Danil bought her and finds that it’s a full-body stocking. Undressing out of her clothes, she puts the stocking on and models in the mirror. It’s a fishnet style stocking with a spider web design that barely covers the areas on her body. He’ll like the gift he bought himself.

  The movie theater screen is about the same size as one you would find in a real movie house, at least from what Melissa remembers.

  Instead of single seats, there are leather couches spread out throughout the theater. She chooses the one next to the controller.

  Scanning through the selection of movies, they are predominantly shoot ‘em up style action. It would be great to have an escape from work. She settles on The Ref, a good comedy with Denis Leary in it. I always liked his “I’m An Asshole” song.

  * * *

  Both the captive women are lying asleep on the floor as Colton enters with sandwiches. The longer he keeps them alive, the more fun he will have with them. A break from his pattern, usually he keeps them for only three or four days before getting rid of them; no point in feeding victims. But there is the mission of taking out the Melissa and Haley girls before getting rid of these.

  Melissa will be out of the picture by the end of the week, and as soon as the heat dies down around Haley she’ll be gone. I know where she goes to school and where she lives. Perhaps do her first at night sometime.

  He kneels next to Sara and starts caressing her cheek. “Wakey, wakey, sweetie. Time for lunch.”

  She wakes up and appears groggy as she takes a sandwich off the plate. Before Colton can react, she runs her nails down the side of his face leaving a bloody mark. Michelle jumps up and starts kicking him in the ribs.

  Both the women continue kicking him as he falls to the ground and crawls out of their range. Standing up, he is glaring at them with fire in his eyes, the skin on his neck and face are almost as red as the blood from the scratches. “You little bitches you think you won’t be paying for that?”

  Michelle and Sara both spit at him. One hits his foot the other misses. “Can’t handle women who fight back, loser?”

  “Maybe I’ll take out your fathers. I’ve got your home addresses, you know.”

  “A man who attacks a woman would never have the courage to attack a man. So, he has nothing to worry about.”

  Colton storms out of the room slamming the door behind him. He bolts it shut.

  Sara looks to Michelle as she sits down delicately handling one of the sandwiches. “Shall we eat then or leave it out of spite?”

  Michelle sits down and starts eating “First order of business is survival. Any way we can.”

  “But it’s from him. How do we know it isn’t poisoned?”

  “The other ones he took were all drowned. And if it is poisoned, he’s going to kill us anyway.”

  Sarah nods as she takes a bite.

  “Take our small victories. We’ve prevented one rape session,” Michelle says.

  Sitting down on the couch, Colton turns on the TV. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he is clenching and unclenching his left fist while his right hand is flipping through the channels, searching for nothing in particular.

  Those girls will know the courage I have. I did take two of them in one night. Right under people’s noses and no one noticed. How can women think they’re better than me? Bitches. All of them.

  * * *

  Mitchell, Jackie, and Zach are poring over notes in Zach’s files from ten years ago when the mail delivery drops a letter to them addressed to the Task Force. The rest of the team is out tracking leads.

  “How many others have handled this?” Mitchell asks.

  “Just the people at the Postal Service and me. When they saw who it was addressed to, it went out immediately.”

  “Good.”

  Jackie, from her mobile phone, calls for the fingerprint team to get to the break room.

  They arrive five minutes later and start dusting for prints on the envelope. Several are found and pictures are taken. The envelope is then carefully opened to prevent destroying any DNA on the envelope glue. They are hoping the man was stupid enough to lick the envelope; the previous ones he wasn’t.

  They then start dusting for prints on the paper the letter is written on. None are found. But they do run a DNA scanner over the paper to see if by chance a mistake was made and something was left on the letter.

  Nothing was found.

  “He is thorough,” Mitchell mutters under his breath. “Run the prints anyway. You’ll likely only get Postal workers.”

  “Good thinking,” Zach says.

  “That’s what we try to do here,” Jackie says.

  One of the detectives who was tracking Arlene walks in and hands Mitchell the report from the team. “Charlene’s taking a shower. She’ll join us when she’s done.”

  “Did she make any trips out
of the city?” Mitchell asks him.

  “No, she was routine. Went to the center, the daycare, grocery shopping, and home.”

  “Great. Tell the rest of the team to pull the surveillance from Arlene.”

  The detective leaves the room as Jackie sits down sipping coffee.

  “Square one on the survivor or –”

  Mitchell shakes his head. “We’ve eliminated Arlene as a suspect. Celine Charlebois was a tiny woman so is Melissa Vance. Maybe they’re the same person.”

  A uniformed officer calls to Mitchell. “Detective, the six kids you wanted to talk to are in the interview room.”

  “Thanks.”

  He takes a picture of Arlene and Melissa with him when he enters the interview room.

  An uninjured one is the first one to talk.

  “Hey detective, we just wanted to see if the girl would like to party. We didn’t mean her any harm. She went all Bruce Lee on my friends.”

  “I just want to ask you if it was either of these women,” Mitchell says

  He puts the pictures down on the table. All six point at Melissa.

  “She wasn’t dark haired when we saw her, but it was her.”

  * * *

  In the bathroom mirror, Colton is looking at the scratch marks that are running down the right side of his face. Little cunts. Which of them is going to die first and worse?

  He looks through his mother’s makeup case. Good thing he didn’t throw this out when she died. Some concealer, foundation, and a Google search for makeup tips on his tablet.

  After washing his face, he applies the concealer to the scratch marks. He then dabs a wet sponge with foundation on it over the scratch marks. For his next move, he applies a light coat of powder over the scratches.

  Checking the makeup job, he can’t see any of the marks on his face. Maybe I should have been a makeup artist in movies. Should have done this first, but next, find a way to suspend the girls upside down.

  Chapter 49

  A t the end of the movie, Melissa checks the time and it is two; another five hours. She leaves the movie theater and makes her way to the bar.

  Feeling like a drink. Maybe I’ll get a little tipsy before he comes home. Not sure which way he prefers her when they’re making love—drunk or sober—not sure which way I prefer it either. Either way, try the little experiment with the glow in the dark condoms and see if he can slide it home in the dark with no light to guide him. The life of a lonely housewife. Was this what it was like before women got to work outside of the home?

  Next movie, The Purge.

  * * *

  Lying in the bed of the penthouse suite at the Czarina Hotel, Karissa is lying on top of Danil. He is holding her in his arms as they kiss.

  “You’ve got to be the best I’ve ever had,” she says.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “Liked it? I loved it.”

  They kiss again. Danil looks over at the clock and the time reads three thirty p.m.

  “Well, sweetie, I’ve got to get back home.”

  She gets off the bed and starts getting dressed. “When’s she going to be out of the picture?”

  Danil starts sitting up and swings his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry.”

  “It’s just that I think I’m pregnant.”

  “You think?”

  “I missed my last period. I’m late by two weeks.”

  “And it’s mine?”

  She throws a pillow at him, missing as he ducks. “What kind of girl you think I am?”

  Danil puts his hands on her shoulders and kisses her on the forehead. “No matter what happens, you and the baby will be taken care of.”

  “Good to know,” she says as she gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom. The shower starts running seconds later.

  As Danil puts his pants on, a gun falls out of the holster. He picks it up and points it at the bathroom door. One of these women will have to go. The baby will complicate things but that would be an heir to my empire. Anyone can do the job Melissa does. I got nine months to decide.

  * * *

  A hardware store clerk approaches Colton as he is looking up and down an aisle avoiding eye contact with other customers. Over the intercom, the announcer draws people’s attention to a sale on power tools. In his basket, he has a six-inch spike with material to bolt it to the floor.

  “Can I help you find something, sir?”

  Colton turns to see the seventeen-year-old girl. She is black with a purple dye streak on the right side of her hair. Next victim.

  “Yeah, I am looking for a pulley system. Something I can use to hang a deer or other game from the ceiling of my garage.”

  “Down this way.” She turns and guides him to the next aisle. Once there, she shows him a heavy-duty pulley. “This should do the trick. It can hold up to eight hundred pounds.”

  “Yes, that should do the trick. I’ll get two of them, Lorraine.” He reads her name tag just above her left breast. You’d look good hanging naked and upside down in the dungeon, he thinks running his eyes down her body

  The girl gives a thin smile as she crosses her arms over her chest and turns her head away from Colton. Another dirty old man thinking he can get a teenager into bed.

  Colton takes two of the pulley systems off the rack. Both have the required chains and screws to attach them to the ceiling and to hang his victims. They can hold one-hundred-pound women very easily. As he follows Lorraine to the cashier, he admires her backside. She obviously works out. Probably on her high school soccer team. Would like to see how that would look naked. I think one of the girls years ago was on a soccer team.

  He winks at her as he puts the pulleys on the counter and pulls out his wallet.

  “Happy hunting,” the girl turns away.

  Colton laughs. “I’m always happy with my hunting, my dear.” He doesn’t add that she’s his next target as he pays for his items in cash. A credit or debit card would leave a mark where the police could trace him.

  * * *

  With the second movie now rolling the credits, Melissa scans through the selection. Too bad Danil isn’t here right now, or the pizza kid. They could act like teenagers again making out in the back of the theater. Again, the shoot ‘em up movies are of no interest. Movies are supposed to be an escape from real life. A romance movie, like those even resemble what a woman experiences.

  Another comedy, try and find one here. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Still the best Christmas movie ever made. She selects play on the computer screen and the movie changes from the credits of The Purge to the opening with Chevy Chase and his family driving in the station wagon.

  Melissa settles back down on the leather couch, snuggling up with a pillow and the blanket over top of her.

  Chapter 50

  T he police interview room is set up with a camera to record the proceedings. There’s a table against the wall with two chairs at the corner of the table. Sitting in one of them is Craig Dussault, a thin man about five feet seven with balding red hair and bad teeth from years of smoking. Mitchell, Jackie, and Zach are watching him on the video monitor. He is fidgeting, tapping his fingers on the table and his feet on the floor. Mitchell leaves Jackie and Zach and enters the interview room.

  “Sorry for the wait, Mr. Dussault,” Mitchell says. “Had to take a call from my wife.”

  Craig shrugs. “Not much I can do about it, is there?”

  “True.” Mitchell opens a file. “So, to start off with, your full name is Craig Owen Dussault, that correct?”

  The suspect leans forward. “Yeah, man.”

  “Date of birth, July twenty-seventh, 1981?”

  He stays forward in the chair. “Yeah, but why ya gotta ask me this?”

  “Baseline questions,” Mitchell replies, “To gauge your response. You went to prison and are currently on parole for raping three women.”

  “I guess that’s what they called it,” he says.

&nbs
p; “Breaking into a woman’s home–” Mitchell says.

  “Hey man, the windows were either open or unlocked,” the suspect says.

  “And then you go into their bedrooms and wait for them to come home.”

  The suspect slams a fist on the table. “I did a lot of research into those women. Found out what their favorite music was, their favorite takeout food and the type of flowers they like. Each time when they came home and turned on the stereo I made sure their favorite song was playing. I had the food spread out on the dining room table, with fresh cut flowers. They just didn’t appreciate romance. I even asked them how I compared to their exes. I never touched a woman who was with another man.”

  From the monitor, Jackie and Zach can see that the suspect is biting his fingernails and tapping his heels on the floor.

  “This bastard’s sick,” Jackie says, her lips turned up in a snarl, eyes narrowed with rage.

  “Power reassurance rapist,” Zach says to her.

  “What?” She looks up at him.

  “The loser actually thought he was on a date with those women.”

  “I’m up for firearms requalification in a month. Can I take him on a date to the firing range?”

  Zach laughs. “Probably not.”

  “How about we hook him up on a blind date with our vigilante.”

  “That’s a thought.”

  “How has she not got to him yet?” Jackie asks.

  Back inside the interview room, Mitchell opens another file, this one with the pictures of The Drowner’s victims.

  “So, do you like doing this type of thing to women too?”

  Craig’s jaw drops open and he slams his fist into the table, pushing the file and pictures onto the floor. He leans further forward towards Mitchell. “What you talking about? Maybe I misread what the women I slept with were saying or thinking, but I didn’t kill nobody. That’s just wrong. Give me the dates that those girls were killed and I’ll have a strong alibi. Just check into it.”

  “We will,” Mitchell says standing up. “Be back in a bit.”

  Mitchell joins Jackie and Zach in the monitor room.

  “So, he’s not our killer?” Jackie asks.