A Vision of Murder (19 page)

Sissy sat alone in the car,
fretting aloud, “I don’t want to see that poor psychic girl die! But goodness,
I don’t see how
us
two old women can stop a serial
killer!”

Slipping in the muddy
driveway, Mrs. Dodd made her way up the stairs to the old porch. A violent
banging echoed through the night, startling her, and causing her to freeze in
place. She had been wrong! The dreadful thought swept over her all at once. And
then, suddenly, time was moving too fast, she was going to be too late…. She
hurried up the stairs, slipping once to the ground and banging her knee on the
step above. Finally, she reached the top. The wrinkled old hand that grasped at
the door seemed almost to be a stranger’s….

The door swung open under
her touch.

I tried to get a handle on
myself. I was shaken. The focus that I had carefully maintained ever since I
had left Temple was upset. I felt suddenly weak and lonely.
Just
myself again.
Not a psychic at all. Not a…. I could have sworn a car was
following me. I jumped and stared behind me.
Nothing.

Who could have been
following me?
And why?

I stared out of the rain
spattered windows in all directions. Trickles of water rolled slowly down the
glass as I tried, vainly, to peer into the darkness. I had felt watched,
somehow, before, but now the feeling was lessening. I took a deep breath,
trying to calm down.

As I searched the dark
street for any signs of a following car, I noticed a small figure huddled
between two buildings. I had thought it was one of the bags of garbage piled
haphazardly under the awning, but it moved suddenly and stretched. The dim
light above the door reflected on a mass of long, blonde hair. The girl ducked
suddenly, as if scared of revealing her location.

I tilted the rearview
mirror, checking to see if the car was back. But framed neatly in the center of
the mirror, the killer’s eyes stared back at me.

The car pulled slowly into
the alleyway. The killer sighed again with satisfaction. A young girl was
sitting by herself in an alley near a building, huddled and shivering against
the cold. Her blonde hair shone brightly in the light overhead. She glanced up
warily as the car stopped and idled nearby.

The killer called the girl
over. She stood as if to flee, but then squinted cautiously into the car.

“Who are you?” her voice was
weak and pathetic, making her seem suddenly much younger and vulnerable.

“I’m here to help. Would you
like a ride?”

“To
where?”

“I know of a cabin that you
can use. No one should be out in a storm like this.” The voice was smooth and
friendly.

“Is anyone else in the car
with you?” She tried to peer into the vehicles interior, but the light was to
dim to discern anything.

“Why would you think that?”
the killer laughed.

The girl shrugged and her
guard lowered as the killer continued. She stood uncertain for only a moment
more before approaching the car slowly, as if being pulled unwillingly to the
promised dry and warmth.

The front door slid open
with a creak of hinges.

The small cabin room was
pitch-black, darker than outside, though Mrs. Dodd didn’t think that was hardly
possible. She sighed with relief as she identified the source of the banging.
The back door was swinging loose, slamming against the wall in the violent
storm. What she had imagined the sound might be was much, much worse. She
closed the door and
relatched
it firmly.

She had thought that she was
too late. The relief that flooded her body only strengthened her resolve. Now,
it was time to wait.

The killer couldn’t stop
smiling as the trees passed in a blur on either side of the car. The storm was
finally tapering off and not a minute too soon. The roads may soon have been
impassible if it had not.

The headlights blinked off
as the killer passed the last old house on the road. No sense in risking a
sighting at this point. After turning the corner, the headlights blinked back
on and shone on the road ahead as the car wound its way through the trees.

A dim light bounced slowly
through the underbrush. Mrs. Dodd stood alone in the middle of the main room,
directly opposite the front door. She was surprised to realize that she felt no
fear, only contempt. She had worried that, at this moment, she may not be able
to do it. But now that the time was here, she felt sure of herself and what she
had to do.

She watched the light as it
neared the cabin, never turning, never wavering. It was sure of its purpose.

The light flooded the room, stretching
across the floor towards the old woman, stopping just short of her feet. The
lights clicked off suddenly and the cabin, once again, was plunged into an inky
blackness.

After a long silence, the
slamming of car doors reached Mrs. Dodd’s ears. She couldn’t help herself and
crept forward to peer out of the window. The frequent lightning flashes and
dimness outside illuminated the psychic, one arm wrapped around a girl’s
shoulders comfortingly, coming towards the cabin. Mrs. Dodd could just make out
Jackson rounding the car some distance behind them. He never took his gaze from
the girls as he stooped to the ground and picked up a large rock.

Mrs. Dodd retreated to the
shadows and resumed her old position in the middle of the room. Then, slowly,
footsteps sounded on the wooden porch outside. She stood still, ready for what
was to come.

The handle on the door
twisted and the hinges creaked as it swung slowly open. The two girls walked
into the darkness. The psychic turned quickly and swung the door shut behind
them. The click of the lock echoed loudly in the dark room.

I stopped to let my eyes
adjust to the light of the cabin. My heart was pounding in my ears and my
breathing came in short gasps. I closed my eyes and forced myself to
concentrate.

An orange glow behind my
lids caused my eyes to snap open with surprise. I gasped aloud.

Mrs. Dodd was standing
opposite me in the center of the living room floor. Her purse was hanging
neatly on the crook of one of her folded arms. She reached over and deftly
turned the knob on a kerosene
lamp which was
burning low as it sat
neatly on the table next
to her. Light flooded the room.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?
And who is this?” She nodded her white-topped head towards the girl at my elbow,
who looked back and forth between us with some confusion.

I didn’t know what to do. I
froze.

The door knob was rattling
violently behind me. I jumped away from the door, staring at it with horror.

The loud male voice
resonated through the night, drowned out only by the loud thunder overhead. I
stared in silent dismay at the old woman.

“You’re working with him?” I
said, nodding towards the door. Her elfin face appeared treacherous in the dim
kerosene light.

“I am,” She said.

It came to me then, what must
be done. The evil feeling that had been approaching from quietly behind us came
swiftly now. It was the same feeling that was present at the other murder
sights. I recognized it. It was the killer.

I slid the pocketknife out
of my shirt sleeve and opened it as silently as possible. I felt the cool grip
of the handle in my hand as I stared at the person who had become my enemy.
“Two against one isn’t exactly fair,” I said.

“Life isn’t fair, Emily. You
of all people should know that.”

“You’re in over your head,
Mrs. Dodd. You shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t want to have to do this to
Lorene, but it looks as if I have no choice now.” I made a move towards the
girl, the knife in my hand glittered sharply in the kerosene light.

A click in the darkness to my
left made me freeze.

“Try three against one. I’d
stop right there if I were you.”

“A
vision of what I have done”

Sissy stood in the darkened
area to the left of the door, her gun trained evenly on the psychic. “What’s your
name, sweetie?” she asked the blonde girl that accompanied her.

“Katie.”

“Well, Katie, why don’t you
move over there?” The girl ran quickly to the other side of the room, behind
Mrs. Dodd.

“I have to say, I was quite
surprised that it was you, Miss Psychic,” Sissy said. “It never even crossed my
mind. Velma filled me in while we waited for you to get here. I didn’t believe
her.
Sorry, Velma.”

Lights flickered throughout
the room as another car pulled in.

“It’s alright, Sissy. I wasn’t
absolutely sure until tonight and I had to make sure you would bring me out
here before you started arguing with me about how I was wrong.
Which you have been doing.
For the past two hours.”

“I’m sorry about that, too.”

“I’ve suspected you for a
quite a while,” Mrs. Dodd said to the psychic. “Ever since I saw my cousin’s
cross hanging around your neck.” A chain unwound from her hand slowly with the
cross swaying gently in the dim light. “I thought about it and I thought about
it and I finally decided that you must have had something to do with her death.
How else would you be able to get the cross? You had never met her in life and
she had been dead for days before you began working on the case. Of course,
Lorene didn’t believe me. ‘Lots of people have crosses, mother,’ she said.”

The door banged open again
as Jackson kicked the door open and entered the room. Mrs. Dodd slid the cross
into her pocket.

“It was going to end…
tonight.”
Or was it?
Even as I spoke the words, a question lingered in
my mind.

“You’ve killed so many
people, destroyed so many
lives
,” Mrs. Dodd continued.

I hated her. I wanted her to
stop, but she continued.

“You killed two girls this
year. And you were going to kill this one. Look at her!” The blonde girl
trembled with fear and her eyes were wide with fright. She had backed away from
me and now seemed to be plastered to the wall.

I felt sick. “I…I…I’m
sorry,” I said to the girl. “You don’t understand. I had to!”

“You had to because you had
to solve the cases. How else would you know the details? How else would you be
able to lead the detectives to the bodies? But you were smart about it. You
were able to get away with it for years!”

I felt a chilly wind blowing
on my skin. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t help looking at the corner behind
Mrs. Dodd and to her right.

The shadows were dark there.
I thought, for a moment, that I saw narrow faces huddled over emaciated bodies.
For a moment, I saw them. They were coming for me. Her words were bringing them
back from the dead to get me!

“Stop talking!” I pleaded.
The knife clattered to the ground as I tried to cover my ears. I saw the old
lady hesitate out of the corner of my eye and glance at the corner where my
gaze was directed.

But then she took a deep
breath and continued, “You even convinced at least one man that he may have
killed his wife. That’s what you did, wasn’t it? You chose victims that were
already victims.
People that were expected to be killed.
People that were expected to die…. At least, not many were surprised when that
happened.”

I couldn’t shut her voice
out. It was ringing in my ears. The shadows seemed to be growing more solid
with every word she spoke.

“They’re coming! They’re
coming for us! Please stop! Please!”

She paused and stared at the
corner a moment before looking back at me. “No, they’re not dear. They’re
coming for
you
.”

A great weight seemed to be
pressing on my chest. I stared into Mrs. Dodd’s blue eyes and then back at the
corner.

“How many ‘murderers’ like
Richard
are
languishing in prisons even now because of
you? You were the farmer that
night,
weren’t you? You
made sure he would run out of gas long enough for you to murder his wife and
then you made sure he made it home in time to find her. He couldn’t see you
clearly could he? Sissy….” Mrs. Dodd nodded at her friend.
“Pointed that out to me, though she
didn’t know it at the time.
I was fooled on that one until then.”

“When I visited Richard in
jail, he said that you had stated that the abuse is what led to his wife’s
death. And it was, in a twisted sort of way.
If he hadn’t
abused her, she wouldn’t have been enough of a “victim” for you, would she?
She wouldn’t have been likely to die. He’s in prison for her murder now. How
many others are, Emily? They’re just as much victims as the people you murdered!”

“I…. They deserved it! Lisa
was going to die eventually. He was going to kill her! I knew he was!” I
thought of that night. He had been sitting on the ground next to his car when I
pulled up. The rainy night gave me an excuse to pull up my raincoat around me.
He squinted into the headlights at me as I approached, gas can in hand.

“And your
cousin.”
I was gasping for air. I had to make her see! “She was going to die soon. That
girl was selling her medicine on the street. She deserved the sentence she got!
And the others! They were like that, they were!”

“Until
recently.
As the years went on, it became easier and easier to blur the line, didn’t it?”

I stopped and stared at her.

“I know that these last two
girls, at least, were different.”

“They were homeless. Who
knows what could have happened to them?”

“You mean… maybe a murderer
might happen by, pick them up, and kill them?” The thunder boomed overhead.

“You began to enjoy it,
didn’t you?” the old lady asked. “You began to be unable to control the killer
you had created inside of yourself.”

I gasped for air and closed
my eyes.
“Get Dunn!
I need Dunn!”

“I’m here.”

And amazingly, he was. He
was standing on the porch next to Simms. The expression on their faces broke my
heart.

“But… how?”

“I stopped at Cheri’s house
and had her call the police. I told them you were on a dead end road and what
you had done. I saw you pick up that girl. At first, almost the whole way here,
I thought it must have been for some other reason. In fact, I almost just went
home. I believed you must be taking her to a shelter or to your house. But
then, you drove right past town and back out into the country. Once you turned
onto this road, I knew something strange was going on,” Jackson said. The
expression on his face was grim.

“Can’t you see them?” I
pointed one shaking finger at the corner of the room. “Can’t you see? They’re
going to get me!” Tears stung my eyes and I couldn’t breathe.

“There’s nothing there,”
Simms growled as he approached me.

I screamed and grabbed at
the knife. “There is! They’re right there! Ever since that day… ever since….”

“I told you I would help
you. I was going to get you help,” Mrs. Dodd said.

“It was going to end
tonight,” I said to Dunn. He stared at me sadly. The pity in his eyes made me
desperate to make him believe something I wasn’t even sure I believed myself.
Dunn turned and walked slowly out of the room towards the police car. He
wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“It was going to stop.
Nothing else was going to happen after this. I was going to call you when Gary
got here….”

“Gary was in on this?” he
asked. He froze and turned back towards me. His face and voice was cautious. I
tried to reach for him, but I was surprised to find that my hands were behind
my back, cuffed. I had been so wrapped up in Dunn that I hadn’t even noticed
Simms handcuffing me.

Mrs. Dodd broke in before I
could reply
.“
No, but Gary was perfect to take the fall
for Emily. He was just was she was looking for, a bit socially awkward and not
very bright. But I’d be willing to bet that the worst crimes he commits involve
poaching on park lands and trespassing or something of that sort. I’m sure he
was going to meet her here later, for help. From what I know about him, he’s
probably been quite scared and nervous ever since he saw the police around his
neck of the woods. Especially after hearing that what they were investigating
was much more serious than any of the small crimes he’s actually committed.”

“But he wouldn’t have found
help here, would he, Emily? What he would have found was a dead body followed
by police cars, courtesy of you.” Mrs. Dodd nodded her head at the psychic.”
And then prison for something he didn’t do.”

He saw the truth in my eyes
even as I opened my mouth to deny it. I hated that old woman with a vengeance.
I should have killed her when I had the chance.

To my surprise, I found
myself screaming the thoughts that were running through my head. As I rattled
off the various ways I could have ended her life, I saw something in Dunn close
against me. He hadn’t wanted to believe I was guilty, that I was capable of
something like that, but, ironically enough, it had been I who convinced him. I
became desperate.

“Can I have the bracelet
back? Can I see it again? Please?” I begged. It had been so hard to give it to
them at the cabin. “And you still have the necklace, too!” My pleading sobs
filled the small room.

The looks on their faces as
the all gazed at me made me feel sick.

“Are you sure tonight would
have been the last? Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn’t have killed
again?” Mrs. Dodd asked softly.

The killer took total
possession then. I felt the devious smile crawl across my cheeks as I narrowed
my eyes at her. I blew a stray hair from my face before answering. Raising my
chin defiantly to the light, one sure word was all that was needed.

“NO!” A crazed laughter
seemed to fill the night air. I realized, fighting the tears that were filling
my eyes, that it was my own. I felt Dunn’s arm slip around my shoulders again
as my laughter turned to sobs.

Mrs. Dodd followed Emily to
the car, one lingering question still on her mind. She stopped Dunn with one
hand on his shoulder as he began to help Emily into the backseat.

“Emily,” Mrs. Dodd began,
“Emily… I researched your cases….”

She didn’t like the way the
psychic was staring at her, but she continued, “What happened? When you were a
child? That’s when it started, wasn’t it? What happened to your friend?”

Mrs. Dodd met the eyes of
the girl, who stared back at her boldly before a haunted look crept into her gaze.

“You
were
psychic,
weren’t you? That’s how you solved that case and maybe… maybe a few others. Am
I right, Emily? Am I right?”

Emily’s head jerked to the
side suddenly. Her eyes narrowed, confused. “Did you hear that,” she whispered.

Mrs. Dodd rested one small
hand on Emily’s arm. The
girl drug
her gaze back to
the old woman slowly. The fear in her expression faded as she faced Mrs. Dodd.
Mrs. Dodd continued gently, “I would say that you did solve your friend’s
murder and possibly some of those earlier cases with your abilities. But
perhaps… perhaps you spent too much time in the darkness and it overcame you.
Is that what happened?”

The old lady’s clear gaze
was piercing and the young woman could not hold it. Mrs. Dodd believed later
that she saw her nod once, but it may have been only a play of the flashing
squad car lights.

She was certain, however,
that she did see a sad smile steal across the psychic’s tear-streaked face for
just an instant before she turned away.

It felt strange, ducking
into the backseat without the use of my hands. It became eerily familiar as
Simms and Dunn settled into their seats in front of me.
How many times
,
I asked myself,
have I ridden here?

I apologized to Dunn and
Simms over and over, but the former steadfastly ignored me, preferring to stare
out of the window. The latter was enraged to say the least.

As a foul tide of language
gushed forth from him, I stared at the storm outside. I knew it was only a
matter of time till they found the jewelry and other items in my house.

We passed Beautiful Crescent
road, and, for just a moment, I thought I saw someone, standing silently under
the hanging trees, watching us pass. I was right. It
had
been her
calling out to me only a few minutes ago. I knew I wasn’t crazy.

I screamed.

And then, everything went
dark.

Jackson pulled into the
clearing in front of the cabin. He got out of the car swiftly so as to help the
older women come down the rickety stairs. It didn’t seem to cross his mind that
they had just confronted a dangerous serial killer as he assisted them down.