48 Hours to Die (7 page)

The hooded man looked Anthony Stone up and down. “Nah I’m good,”

“Are you visiting somebody in this building or something?” Anthony Stone pried.

“No, I’m minding my business,” the hoodie man said. His tone was hostile as if he was getting ready for a confrontation. “Fuck off!”

“I’m going to need to see some Identification,” Anthony Stone said taking a few steps closer to the hooded man invading his personal space.

The hooded man looked at Anthony Stone as if he was insane. “Get out my face!” He barked. “I’m not going to tell you again!” He threatened, his hands now turning into fist.

“I need to see some identification!” Anthony Stone said in a stern tone as he flashed his badge. The hooded man looked down at the badge and took off running. He only made it a few feet away before Anthony Stone roughly tackled the hooded man face first down to the concrete. “Stop resisting!” Anthony Stone struggled to get the man’s hands behind his back. Once the hooded man was hand cuffed, Anthony Stone fished through the man’s pockets until he heard a woman’s voice behind him.

“Anthony, what are you doing?” Amy asked with a nervous and concerned look on her face. She lived in the same building two floors above Anthony Stone.
 

“Amy stay back!” Anthony Stone said. “This man could be dangerous,”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Amy called out. “Did he break any laws?”

Anthony Stone pulled the hooded man up to his feet. “Why didn’t you just tell me you were waiting for Amy?”

“Because it’s none of your damn business who I’m waiting for!” The hooded man barked as Anthony Stone removed the cuffs from his wrist. “I want your name and badge number!” He barked.

“I’m sorry,” Anthony Stone apologized. Uncle Sam had his mind playing tricks on him; he was so stuck on catching the serial killer that it messed up his judgment. “Amy I’m sorry about that,” he said then disappeared inside his apartment building.

Showtime

The next evening, Lisa sat at the bar alone. For the past hour, she’d been throwing beers back left and right. Her heavy drinking had grabbed the attention of a heavyset man that sat at the end of the bar nursing a drink. His intentions were to hopefully find a chick that had a bit too much to drink, take her home, and take advantage of her. When the right moment presented itself, the big man eased his way down the bar and helped himself to the open seat next to Lisa.

“Hey beautiful,” the big man said with a smile. Lisa gave the big man a once over and returned his smile. “Heeeey how are you?” She sang acting more intoxicated than she really was.

“What you doing in a place like this all by yourself?” The big man asked.

“Just needed a quick getaway, you know,” Lisa chuckled, playing the role of a drunk woman perfectly. Anyone on the outside looking in would have sworn that the woman at the bar was wasted.

“A getaway from what?” The big man asked. “Listen; if someone is bothering you I can protect you.”

Lisa rubbed the big man’s arm seductively. “Hey I think I’ve had one too many, do you mind walking me out to my car?”
 

“Sure,” the big man said happily. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. A chance to get the woman outside and away from all the eyes in the bar. The big man escorted Lisa outside. “Where are you parked?” He asked placing his arm on the small of her back.

“Two blocks down,” Lisa slurred as she felt the big man’s hand slide down to her butt sneaking some cheap feels. The big man’s hand all over her disgusted her, but she continued to play the role. Lisa led the big man down a dark street and headed towards a Honda Accord. “Thank you so much for making sure I made it to my car safe I really appreciate it.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” the big man said invading, Lisa’s personal space. The big man got ready to let his hands explore Lisa when he heard somebody loudly clear their throat behind him. The big man spun around and saw a man in a hoodie with his head down holding an ax in his hands. “What the hell is going on?” The big man asked in a panic tone. He reached down in his pocket and removed his cell phone so he could call the police, but before he could press the first number, Lisa jammed a knife repeatedly down into the side of the big man’s neck until he crumbled down to the floor.

Reggie walked up, looked at Lisa, and smiled when her saw her face covered in specs of blood. Without warning, Reggie lifted the ax over his head, and then brought it down with tremendous force repeatedly until there were no more body parts left to cut. Reggie looked up right in time to see Lisa heave and throw up all the food that she had consumed earlier right on the ground. It was at that very moment he knew he was going to have to kill Lisa. Her DNA now laid on the concrete of a murder scene. Just as he predicted, she wasn’t built for this type of life. Reggie knew that before sunrise, the cops would be at Lisa’s doorstep questioning her. If he had to bet, he was sure that if the right amount of pressure were applied she would give him up without thinking twice. “Come on we have to get out of here!” Reggie said as they both slipped inside the Honda Accord and peeled off.

* * *

Lisa parked the Honda in her garage, killed the engine, then turned and faced Reggie. “Sorry about what happened back there,” she apologized as if that would fix everything. “You not mad at me are you?”

“Of course not,” Reggie lied. “As a matter of fact the exact same thing happened to me on my first time,” he lied again with a straight face.
 

“What now?” Lisa asked feeling a little better since Reggie didn’t seem to be mad with her.

“First things first, we have to go inside take off our clothes and burn them. Then we have to clean off our weapons and get rid of them.”

Lisa entered her house through the garage, with Reggie close on her heels before she even got a chance to sit her keys down on the counter, Reggie swung the ax with all his might, and chopped Lisa’s head clean off of her shoulders. It took a couple of seconds for Lisa’s body to respond and crumble down to the floor. Reggie looked down at Lisa’s decapitated body and shook his head with a disgusted look on his face.

What Now

Anthony Stone pulled up on the deserted street that was full of cops and flashing lights. When his phone rung in the middle of the night he knew that whatever it was it had to be bad. He walked and immediately spotted a males body part on the ground. “What do we have here?”
 

“Male, mid-thirties, found chopped up,” the officer said, then handed Anthony Stone an envelope. “It’s addressed to you.”

Anthony Stone took the envelope and opened it, and began to read the letter inside.

“Good evening Detective Stone, if you are reading this then once again that means you have failed to protect the innocent tax payers that pays your salary. Looks like I’m going to have to turn up the heat a little to get you to do your job, if things go according to plan then I’m sure I’ll be seeing you face to face soon...

Sincerely yours: Uncle Sam.”

Anthony Stone handed the envelope back to the officer. “Any idea where this guy was coming from?”

“Not sure but I saw a bar a few blocks down that would be my best guess,” the officer replied. “Also it looks like our killer may have thrown up; we’re getting that checked now for DNA.”

“I’m going over to the bar to check it out,” Anthony Stone said. “Keep me posted on that vomit,” he called over his shoulder.

Anthony Stone entered the bar, walked up to the bartender, and flashed his badge. “Detective Stone I’m going to need to have a look at your surveillance tapes.”

“I’m sorry but only the owner is authorized to touch the surveillance tapes,” the bartender replied.

“Then I suggest you get him on the phone,”
 

* * *

An hour later Anthony Stone sat in the back office along with the owner of the bar looking over the surveillance tapes. “Pause it right there and zoom in,” he said trying to get a good look at the woman’s face. “I’ve seen her somewhere before,” he said out loud. Anthony Stone turned to face another detective who was in the room. “Run her image through our data base and let me know what comes up!” He ordered. Stone turned back and faced the bar owner. “Thank you so much for your cooperation,”

Anthony Stone stepped out the bar was immediately met by Captain Fisher. “Hey captain what’s up?”

“The chick from the bar her name is Lisa Montgomery. Her record is clean. Just a few parking tickets. Last place of employment was some club called, Club Blaze,” Captain Fisher informed him.

As soon as Anthony Stone heard the name Club Blaze, it all came back to him. He remembered the Latin woman who claimed to be the manager of Club Blaze the same club where, Melissa was last seen before her body showed up in the trunk of an abandoned car. “You have an address for me?”

“Already texted it to you,” Captain Fisher said with a smirk.

Hands Where I Can See Them

Anthony Stone pulled up in front of Lisa’s home just in time to see cops dressed in riot gear, battery ram the front door down and swarm inside the residence. He waited until the place was secure before he entered. Anthony Stone stepped foot inside the house and immediately the smell of a dead body and blood assaulted his nostrils. He walked further inside the house and saw what he suspected to be Lisa’s body parts scattered throughout the kitchen and blood everywhere. Anthony Stone felt his phone vibrating on his hip; he looked down at the screen and saw, Captain Fisher’s name flashing. “Yeah,” he answered.

“Do you have Lisa in custody?” Captain Fisher asked. “Got the results back from the lab and the DNA from the vomit belongs to Lisa.”

“By the time we got here she was already dead, chopped up in little pieces,” Anthony Stone told him.

“What are you thinking?”

“I think our killer is the owner of Club Blaze,” Anthony Stone said. “Some creep named Reggie Braxton, Lisa worked for him. So I’m suspecting he was using her to help him kill his victims, she didn’t have the stomach for it and threw up.”

“Uncle Sam knew we’d track her down so he killed her before she got the chance to rat him out.”

“Exactly,” Anthony Stone agreed.

“What do we have on this creep, Reggie?”

“Not much,” Anthony Stone said honestly. “If we bring him in now the charges definitely wouldn’t stick.”

“Go to his house and see what you can find out, you didn’t hear that from me,” Captain Fisher said, then ended the conversation.

Anthony Stone exited, Lisa’s house and headed straight for Reggie’s house.

Last House on the Left

Anthony Stone cruised through the gated community at a slow speed not wanting to miss the house he was looking for. From the first time that he laid eyes on Reggie, he got a bad feeling about the man. He still wasn’t a hundred percent sure if Reggie was his man, but his gut was telling him something different. Anthony Stone pulled up into the circular driveway. The house was beautiful and big enough to house three or maybe four families. Anthony Stone walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.

* * *

Reggie stood in the bathroom of his basement washing Lisa’s blood from his hands. He felt bad about killing Lisa but he had to do what he had to do. He still wasn’t sure if Lisa had told anyone about his little secret only time would tell. As Reggie stood in the basement, he wondered if the police had made it to Lisa’s house yet. He knew that maybe the police would be able to link Lisa to him, now he just had to hope and pray that she hadn’t told anyone about his dark side. Reggie dried his hands when he noticed detective Anthony Stone through his surveillance camera at his front door. Reggie took his sweet time walking upstairs, and then finally made his way to the front door. He opened the door a crack and stuck his head out. “Good evening detective may I help you?”

“Yes I have a few questions I want to ask you, may I come inside?”

“I’m sorry detective do you have a warrant?” Reggie asked with a raised brow.

“No, but I just wanted to ask you a few....”

“I’m sorry detective,” Reggie said cutting, Anthony Stone off. “I’m a very busy man and if you don’t have a warrant or if I’m not under arrest I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he said with a phony smile on his face. “Thanks for dropping by,” he said, then slammed the door in the detective’s face.
 

Reggie walked over and flopped down on his couch. He didn’t like how close Anthony Stone was coming to putting the case together. Things were getting too close for his liking. He had to think of a way to get the detective off of his back for good. Reggie sat thinking until he finally came up with a genius idea on how to get rid of detective Stone once and for all.

From Bad to Worst

Anthony Stone sat at his desk on his computer trying to find as much information on Reggie as possible. He didn’t know what it was about the man, but something about him just rubbed him the wrong way. Anthony Stone could tell that it was something going on that Reggie wasn’t telling him. Now he had to figure out and find a way to get a warrant to search Reggie’s home and his office at the club.

It had been going on two weeks since the last time Anthony Stone had heard from Uncle Sam and honestly, he was happy to not hear from the serial killer, no news was always good news in his book. Anthony Stone knew that in order to catch a serial killer he would have to begin to think like one. He would have to be one step ahead if he planned on ever capturing Uncle Sam. Anthony Stone sat behind his desk when he heard his cell phone ringing. He glanced down at the screen and saw, Tasha’s name flashing across the screen. “Hey baby,” he answered.