Darker Still Read online

  “Yea, it’s a tragedy. I’m just trying to speak to anyone who might have known her or who might have known someone who did know her.”

  “Well, I never met her. I might have seen her on campus, but I don’t remember being in the same class or anything.”

  “Ok. Well, she was in Steven Rich’s Psychology class and she also had a relationship with him that was more than typical. It may have been at the same time that you were seeing him.”

  Heather’s face looked angry and confused.

  “No, you’re wrong. Steven loves me. We are going to end up together for the long term. We just have to wait until I’m no longer his student.”

  “That seems to be his M.O,” John said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, how about I come in and we talk about it? There are a few things you need to know about your friend Steven.”

  Heather moved back and let John walk inside.

  A few minutes later he was sitting on a couch drinking a bottle of beer she had offered him. It was only ten in the morning, but he didn’t give a damn. Apparently neither did she since she was also drinking a beer and had two empty bottles in front of her already. He liked this girl already.

  “So, what makes you think Steven is cheating on me?”

  “Well, he gave me the names of three girls he is currently dating who are students of his or have been recently. I am just following up on all of them to see if any of them might have known Theresa or seen any little thing that could have led to her death.”

  “So, you are grasping at straws? Sounds like you don’t have dick,” Heather said.

  “Well, catching killers is not as easy as it looks on NCIS,” John said.

  “I can’t believe that bastard is cheating on me. I thought we had something special. I knew other girls were into him. I mean how can you not be? He is gorgeous. But I trusted him.”

  Heather was flaming mad and talking mostly to herself at that point. John needed to try to get her back on track here.

  “Well, do you know these other girls on this list?” He handed her the piece of paper. She studied it for a few minutes.

  “No, I don’t think so. I might want to find them and break them into little pieces, though.”

  “Heather, this isn’t their fault any more than it is yours. Steven is a jerk. He is playing all of you and none of you know about the other ones. So he is the only one to blame here.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” she said.

  “So, you are positive you do not know who these other girls are?”

  “Yea, I’m positive. I don’t know them.”

  “And you have never met Theresa before either?”

  “Dammit, I told you. I never met the girl.”

  Heather was definitely not a morning person and she was starting to lose the sweet edge to her voice. But she was still as sexy as hell.

  “Ok, well it’s my job to ask these questions.”

  “Well, I answered them. Do you have any other questions?”

  John was getting a little annoyed at her attitude.

  “No, but I will say this. If I find out that you knew Theresa Daniels and you withheld the information I will be back and I’ll be putting you in handcuffs because that gives you a direct motive to want her dead.”

  “I told you I never saw the girl. I never met her. I didn’t know she was messing with my boyfriend either. I’m a victim here. Don’t you get that? You can’t just spring this crap on me and expect me to be all nice an polite when you tell me that my boyfriend is screwing God knows how many other women.”

  John finished the beer in one gulp and left Heather’s apartment. He was glad to be out of her presence. She was a hotheaded somebody and it was possible that she could have found out the truth before this and gone into a rage, but he doubted it. She honestly did not seem smart enough or together enough to pull off something like this, but it was a long shot to see if she might have known Theresa at all.

  There had to be someone out there who knew something or saw something that might help with the case. The problem was that most of the people who might have seen something or known something would not have been able to recognize what they saw. That was why after a killer was caught there were always all of these people coming out of the woodwork to say how much they knew and what they had heard or seen. It always made John scratch his head as to why they didn’t come forward with that tip before. People lived in their own little bubbles and they just let shit lie.

  As he got behind the wheel of his car his phone rang. He picked it up; it was the Medical Examiner, Jamie White. He had some useful information if John wanted to hear it.

  “Does a bear shit in the woods?” John asked. It was an oldie but a goody.

  “Well, we didn’t find any physical evidence. There is no second party blood, no hair, semen, or even sweat. I would say the killer killed her somewhere else and brought her there to leave on display.”

  “Wow, that requires a bit of planning and technique,” John said.

  “Exactly what I was thinking. I don’t think this is his first rodeo.”

  “I was afraid of that, too. What else did you find?”

  “The girl was not sexually assaulted. She was stabbed with a large hunting knife that is used typically for skinning the hide off of deer.”

  “Well, that doesn’t narrow it down much. This area is full of hunters and people who love the outdoors.”

  “The head was severed using what would appear to be a small axe, you can tell by the size of the indentures on the skin where it tore and the size of the jagged lacerations.”

  John swallowed hard. Some of this stuff was still enough to gross him out after all of these years. It was disturbing how easily the ME was able to just talk about it like it was routine.

  “Is there anything else?” John asked.

  “I’m afraid not. There really isn’t any other evidence.”

  “Thanks, Jamie. I appreciate it,” John replied.

  With that John went to knock on the doors of Melissa Waters and Diane Suite. They were both just as shocked by Steven’s cheating ways as Heather had been but they did not react quite as angrily as she did. They were more hurt than angry and John felt a bit bad for them.

  Both girls were amazingly beautiful and John had to start wondering why Steven was able to get all of these women so easily. He had great taste; John would say that for him. He wondered how the man was able to get women who were routinely out of his league. He was a decent looking man but not the best looking guy in the world at all.

  John had to shake his head at these young, impressionable women.

  Neither one of them knew Theresa and they were both totally clueless about Steven and his roaming eyes. John had figured as much, but at least he could say that he had been doing something productive with his day. As he climbed back into his Ford Explorer he had to marvel at the fact that it was only a little after noon. He had a good mind to go back to the station, quickly fill out his report about the information he had not gleaned from any of these women and then go home to a big bottle of bourbon followed by a good nap.

  But he knew that he needed to tough it out. So he swung through a drive thru and picked up a few burgers on his way back to the station. When he got there he found something else on his desk. It was a message addressed to him in a plain envelope with just his name written on it in flair ink.

  He looked at it curiously for a moment and then opened it up and started reading.

  The message only took thirty seconds to read, but it was enough to terrify him beyond anything that he had ever thought was possible. He had been through hell that most could not imagine on a daily basis for years and he had come through the other side as clean as a whistle, but this piece of paper in his hand was about to break him in half.

  The message brought up all the horrors of his childhood and left him utterly paralyzed for several minutes. His who
le body broke out with a bone chilling cold sweat. He had not been this scared since he was eight years old and he was possibly more scared right now. His heart beat loudly in his temples and echoed the gush of blood in his veins roaring in his ears. He had difficulty swallowing and the room began to spin around him.

  He knew that he was having the mother of all panic attacks and he was about to pass out. The room was spinning faster and faster around him. He tried to hold onto the desk in front of him, but it turned to jelly in his hands as his grip refused to hold. He could see the floor out of his peripheral coming up to meet him and he was powerless to stop it.

  He hit the floor hard, the jar of the impact momentarily jarring him straight, but providing only an instant of sweet relief. The ceiling and the room around him continued to spin as if drawing him down the swirl of water as the toilet was being flushed and he was now being flushed away but he had no idea where he was going. He didn’t care. He just didn’t want to be here with the scary things and the evil things anymore.

  Then all was dark and quiet.

  Chapter 3: “The Past Returns”

  “John? John wake up!”

  The light burnt his eyes as the world began to come into focus. He was not sure what had happened or where he was. Who was speaking to him? Why wouldn’t his eyes focus? The lights of the room were so bright that they were blocking out everything else making his vision blurry. He strained to open his eyes wider.

  “John? Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” John said. He was surprised to hear his own voice and that it still worked. He tried to move his body against the dizzying array of flashing images in his mind. His eyes were still not wanting to focus, but they were starting to get a bit better.

  He could see that the chief was beside him and he was helping him to his feet. Several other detectives and officers in the station were gathered around him as well. He appreciated their concern but right now he felt more embarrassed than anything. He really wished everyone would ignore the situation and let him be.

  He had other things to deal with on his mind right now. Like that damned letter that had just screwed up his world.

  He grabbed the letter and followed the chief into his office where the chief guided him to a chair. He felt the world still spinning around him a bit, but he was feeling a bit better. The chief got him a bottle of water.

  “Ok, you feeling better?” Chief Michaels asked.

  “Yea, a little bit.”

  “What happened there?”

  “This happened?” John held up the letter.

  “What is that?”

  “It is the worst thing that has ever happened to me and it has come back.”

  Chief Michaels looked at him and studied him for a moment trying to decide if he was crazy or not.

  Michaels took the letter and read it through. John watched his expression grow increasingly towards utter terror. His hands were shaking a bit by the time he was done with it.

  “Is this what I think it is?”

  “Yea. He is back,” John muttered. John took the letter back from the chief and glanced at it once more. He knew that he had to confront this.

  Hello, John. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen you. You were in fact just a boy when we last met and you interrupted my special work. I have not forgotten about that, have you? I know your sister hasn’t. Do you remember the way she screamed as I slit her precious throat right in front of you? Do you remember the way you pissed in your little pants on my floor? I remember it all. I also remember how you cleverly escaped me and told the world all about my little deeds. I was just getting started with my work. But my work has continued for a long time. I want you to know that you stopped nothing! Lately the work has become monotonous and tedious. There is something missing. I now realize that I don’t have your skull on my trophy case. That is what is missing. As soon as I get you then all will be well. So sleep well John, your time is coming soon. You will be done.

  John wiped the tears from his eyes. He could not stop his hands from shaking.

  The chief grabbed John by the arms and shook him hard. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on around here?”

  John took a deep breath and told Michaels the whole story.

  It had been the summer of his eighth year. Belpre was even smaller then than it was now. It had been the best summer of his life so far. He had spent every day playing ball with his friends and hanging out at his best friend Billy’s treehouse. On that particular day it had been crazy hot. It was one of the worst heat waves in recent memory and John and his friends had decided they needed to get some big popsicles from the grocery store. There was nothing like a good Popsicle on a hot day.

  So they had all decided to make the trek down to the store. It felt cooler to be out of the treehouse and moving around with the occasional nice breeze that blew through the day. The store was only a few blocks away from the treehouse they had found in the woods the summer before.

  He would never forget the day they had found it. The boys had gone through the woods because it was going to be a faster way to the ball field they played on. The field was totally dilapidated and out of the way but they liked it that way. It was fun because there were no teams and there were no real games. They just played and played on the same imaginary game day after day.

  So they would retire to the treehouse after playing ball all day or on days when it was too hot they would go there just to chill out and hang with each other. They were a few blocks away from the super market and they were walking on Shadow Hill Road because it was shorter. Usually they went around because Shadow Hill Road was very spooky. There were a lot of decrepit old houses on that street and there were a bunch of urban legends that were passed down from the older kids about strange things that went on there. So they tried to avoid that road as much as possible, but that day was so hot that they decided that they would risk it because it was much faster.

  They were about halfway down the street, none of them really saying a word because they were all thinking about how spooky it was, when they heard a voice yelling, “Hey! Wait up!”

  John turned to see his twin sister Kelly coming down the road. She was a few minutes younger than him, but she had taken it on herself to be his boss in the absence of when their mother was not around. She was always trying to be a part of John’s gang, even though the guys had a strict no girls allowed policy. She was a brat and an annoyance.

  He loved his sister and they had always been good friends, but not when he was with his friends. They hated girls and they would razz him about being nice to his sister or letting her play with them.

  “Kelly, what are you doing here?” John asked.

  “Yea, there is no girls allowed to hang out with us,” Chad Myer said.

  “Mom said you have to let me in the club. She said if you don’t then she won’t let you come any more, “Kelly said.

  “What? You told mom? God, what a whiner. This is why we don’t want you in the club,” John said.

  “Whatever, you had better let me in. Look I brought a football so we can play.”

  “Football? It’s the middle of July and it’s like a hundred degrees. Football is a fall sport,” John said.

  “You can play it any time,” Kelly insisted.

  “No, you can’t. We play baseball in the summer. And you suck, so you can’t play. Now go home. You are embarrassing me,” John said. He felt bad about having to yell at his sister but she was really making him look like a dork in front of the guys.

  “NO! I want to play. There is no reason to not let me in the club.”

  “We told you why you can’t be in the club. Can’t you find some girls to be friends with?” Billy asked.

  “No, girls are boring to play with. I like to play ball and they want to play stupid house and dolls,” Kelly said. She had always been the typical tomboy.

  “Fine! You want to play ball? Then here!” Billy said as he grab
bed the football from her hand and kicked it as hard as he could.

  They all watched in terror as the ball lifted up high in the air and slammed right through the upstairs window of a house down at the end of the street. It was the creepiest looking place they had ever seen with an equally creepy old car in the driveway. No one had ever seen anyone coming in or out of that place.

  “Jesus! We got to get out of here!” Billy said.

  The other guys took off running. John started to run, but for some reason he stayed put. He felt bad that they had broken a window, even though he hadn’t done it. But he couldn’t just let them get in trouble. Their dad would tan their hide so thick they wouldn’t be able to walk for a week.

  “Oh, no! My football!” Kelly said.

  “Well, you should have left when we told you.”

  “That ball has my name written on it!”

  “What? Why?”

  “Mom told me to write my name on stuff in case I ever lose it,” Kelly said.

  “Now, we are in so much trouble.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “What can we do? We have to go after it.”

  John took a deep breath and walked towards the spooky old house.

  “John, I’m not sure we should do this. Let’s just take our chances.”

  “No, come on. You are going in there with me.”

  “You aren’t going to knock on the door?”

  “No, it doesn’t really look like anyone is home. If they were they probably would have come to the door screaming by now. I’m hoping we can just get in and get out before anyone notices us.”

  The front door was locked as well as the back door. John was scratching his head now wondering how they were going to get in. Finally he spotted a cracked window just above the cellar door but it appeared to be on the first floor.

  “I’m not sure I can reach that. Here, stand on my shoulders and open the window all the way,” John said.

  His sister did as she was told and within thirty seconds they were both inside.

  The house was old and full of cobwebs. It almost didn’t look like anyone actually lived there. The furniture cluttered every possible space in the old dining room they were in. The house smelled of musk and grime enough to make you want to vomit. John felt a series of coughs coming on and he did his best to stifle them.