Kentucky Murders: A Small Town Murder Mystery (28 page)

Chapter 17

Lee and Donnie had slipped on their masks and gathered their weapons. Lee reached and opened his door. “Let’s go.”

They trotted across the road holding their weapons along the sides of their legs in case a car passed by. They reached the building and stood against the brick wall next to the front entrance. Lee leaned and looked through the front glass doors. The reception desk was empty, the guard nowhere in sight. He motioned with his head for them to move and he went for the door.

When they entered the building the sound of voices muttered from some nearby room. Working their way toward the conversation, they held their guns up at the ready.

Lee stopped short of the doorway and raised a closed fist to Donnie who stepped up behind him and waited. Lee whispered, “Check down the hallway for the guard. I’ll wait here.”

Donnie nodded and went off.

Lee waited and listened. He watched Donnie step in front of each open doorway, presenting the barrel of his shotgun. Finally, at the far end he disappeared into a room. Lee watched, listened and waited. The conversation in the room continued. He heard both children’s and adults’ voices.

Finally, Donnie exited the room and came back toward Lee.

Lee turned his palms up and raised his eyebrows.

“All clear,” whispered Donnie.

“Let’s go.” Lee stepped into the doorway with Donnie close behind.

They came into a dining area with and adjoining kitchen. Kate stood in the kitchen and the rest of the group sat around eating at a table. Lee spotted the other female worker they’d seen arrive for work earlier, four children including the black girl, some other woman, probably a mother, and the guard.

The little white girl saw them first and cried out in fear.

The rest of the group turned to look at them. Lee and Donnie pointed their guns at them and Lee said, “Keep clam. We don’t want to hurt anyone if we don’t have to.”

The guard slowly moved his hand toward his gun in a holster at his waist. Donnie stepped forward and called out, “Don’t try it old man. Put up your hands.”

The guard obeyed and Donnie reached down and took his gun, slipping it under his own belt.

Kate called from the kitchen. “What do you want?”

“We just want the girl.”

The mother reached down and held her little girl.

“Not her, the other one.”

Kate stepped from the kitchen toward the table.

“Stop right there,” called Lee, waving his gun at her.

“Leave her alone.” Kate stood still when Lee pointed his gun directly at her.

“Tie him up and then the others.” Lee motioned to Donnie.

Donnie leaned his shot gun against the wall and reached into his pocket, removing a handful of plastic zip-ties. “You first.” He nodded to the guard. “Stand, turn around and put your hands together.”

Lee motioned with his gun barrel toward him. “Do it!”

The guard reluctantly stood and turned.

Lee stepped over and separated the black girl from the group.

Within a few minutes the other’s hands were zipped behind their backs and Donnie got to work on their feet. When he finished rendering the group helpless, Donnie grabbed the arm of the black girl and pulled her toward the door. Only her hands were tied so she could walk. Lee took the girl’s hand from Donnie and they exited the room

“You won’t get away with this!” yelled Kate.

---

Tina glanced down at her directions and then back up at the sign ahead. She slowed, turned right and saw the Social Services building to the left. She pulled into the driveway and took a parking spot near the front doors. As she got out of her car, she looked up at the sky which had turned from dusk to nighttime while she had been in route. After adjusting her shoulder holster under her jacket, she turned and walked toward the main entrance of the building.

As she opened the front glass door she heard a loud voice call out from a room down the hallway. She immediately found cover near the front counter and drew her weapon. She peaked around the counter and saw two men in masks exit a doorway. They held shotguns and one of them dragged a small black girl along with him.

Tina stayed low and out of sight but reached up onto the counter and lifted the phone from the desk. She laid down the handset and dialed 911. She then took her position crouching along the counter.

She didn’t want to put the girl in danger but had no choice. She would remember to aim high. She rose quickly from her squatting position, swung her weapon toward the chest of the first gunman and called out, “FBI, stand still and put down your weapons!”

The gunmen stopped in their tracks. The one holding the girl stood still but the other one didn’t. He raised his barrel and fired.

Tina adjusted her site on middle of his upper body and pulled the trigger just as her left leg was knocked out from under her. She went down hard and her head smacked against the tiled floor. The sound reminded her of a watermelon being dropped onto cement. She saw a bright flash and the room began to spin. She fought to keep her consciousness. The two men had passed her and were almost to the front door. She could see she had hit the shorter one, as he walked hunched over. She raised her weapon and aimed at the second man but her vision blurred, then came back into focus. Before she could pull the trigger the room went black and she fell back and closed her eyes.

---

Zack sat at his desk. The phone rang, startling him. He scooped it up. “Yes?”

Chapter 18

Lee dragged the struggling girl across the street toward the van. He looked back and Donnie was following, but clearly struggling, hunched over in pain.

At the van Lee slid open the van’s sliding door. He laid his shotgun within, lifted the girl, sat back on the door ledge and placed her on his lap, restraining her with one arm. He reached around with his free hand and found the rag he’d soaked with chloroform, covering the girl’s mouth. She squirmed in his arms from fear and the acidic fumes she was inhaling. After ten seconds her movement slowed and eventually she hung limp in his arms. He held the rag in place for a few more seconds, then removed it, tossed it aside and lifted her unconscious body into the van. He quickly zip-tied her feet together and closed the door as Donnie dragged himself up to the van. Lee opened the passenger door for him and pushed him inside despite Donnie’s moans of pain. No time to check his wounds now. They had to get away.

A few minutes later they were several miles away driving in the opposite direction of Lee’s trailer. Finally, he made several right turns and was heading back toward his place.

Lee pulled the van into his car port ten minutes later. “We have to hurry and check you out before they are able to get road blocks set up.”

He got out, went around and check on the girl, who was still sound asleep, before helping Donnie into the trailer. Lifting his blood soaked shirt, he saw the gut wound. Donnie’s face was already losing color due to blood loss. Lee grabbed a bandage from the bathroom and taped it over the hole. He found no exit wound. The bullet was lodged inside. No telling what damage it had done.

“Can you walk?”

Donnie nodded painfully.

“We’ll go pick up my truck and head over to my cousin’s veterinary clinic. He should be able to remove that bullet and stitch you up. Keep pressure on it.” He placed Donnie’s hand over the bandage. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and handed it to him. “For the pain.” Donnie took a long swig.

After helping Donnie back into the van he trotted around to the driver’s side. While pulling out he clipped one of the aluminum supports holding up the carport and tore it free from its ground connection. It scrapped along the side of the van as he backed out, then it swung back and forth, still connected from above, as he pulled away. “Oh well, I’ll never come here again anyway.”

They drove off toward the lake.

---

Zack pulled in at Social Services, exited his vehicle, and trotted toward the building. One of his deputies, who had been on the road patrolling, had arrived first on the scene. He stood with a group of people in the hallway near the reception counter. Kate and her coworker were kneeling down attending to someone lying on the floor.

Jimmy was among the group. He turned and spotted Zack approaching. He ran toward him and jumped into his arms. “Daaaaaaaaaaady!”

Holding Jimmy, he continued toward the group. When Kate turned and looked back, Zack could see Agent Simpson was the person lying on the floor.

“What happened?”

---

Lee turned onto the road leading to the lake. He looked over at Donnie whose eyes were closed as he slowly rocked with pain. His pale face dripped sweat.

He parked the van facing the lake and got out with the engine still running. Opening the side door, he lifted the unconscious girl and carried her over to his truck. Struggling with the door, he finally got her into the passenger seat.

Back at the van he removed the bottle of chloroform and the rag which he placed in a plastic zip-lock bag. After transferring the items to his truck he returned to the open driver’s window of the van and looked in at Donnie.

“Help me, man. I’m really hurting.” His voice was barely audible.

Lee looked at him but didn’t speak.

“Come on. You said--” he coughed a spray of blood into his hand--“your cousin…”

“Sorry, man. There’s nothing my cousin can do for you now. Shit, you’d be dead before we could get there.” Lee reached inside and pulled the gear shift down. “Nothing personal.”

He stepped back as the van lurched forward. Seconds later it crossed the bank and dropped two feet to the water. At first the rear bumper caught on the raised bank, and then the van floated free. Bubbles began to emerge from all around. It leaned to the right and began to sink. Lee was surprised it took several minutes to finally slip out of sight. Bubbles continued to break the surface of the water for another minute, then began to subside, and finally quit.

Lee shook his head and turned toward his truck.

Chapter 19

Zack stood in front of the Social Services building. His right arm was around Kate’s shoulders. Jimmy held onto his left leg and Zack stoked his hair. They watched the ambulance pull away with Agent Simpson inside.

“I can’t believe this happened.” She turned to face Zack while Jimmy stepped over forming a group hug. “My God, Zack. They had guns and shot an FBI agent.” She buried her face into Zack’s chest. “We could have all been killed.”

Zack held his family. He didn’t know how to respond.

“Excuse me, Sherriff?”

One of his men stood nearby. “Sherriff?”

After a few more seconds Zack released his hold on his family.

“Ah, sorry.”

“It’s okay. What is it?”

“The roadblocks are up but we don’t have anything yet. We had a report that a vehicle may have been driven into the lake out at the point.”

“Who reported it?”

“A man who lives along the other side of the lake saw the lights.”

Zack turned to Kate who continued to hold their son and appeared to be shivering in the now cool night. “Kate, I’ll have Johnny follow you home. Are you okay to drive?”

Kate nodded.

“I’ll check in with you later. Okay?” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I love you.” He rubbed Jimmy’s head as he looked up at him. He turned to the deputy. “Please make sure they get home okay.”

Kate and Jimmy went off to her car with the deputy.

Zack stood there just looking into the night. Others had either gone inside or gotten into cars to leave. He looked up at the clear, star-filled sky and sighed. His family’s life had been threatened. He looked down and shook his head. Now his only ally who could help solve this mess was in the hospital and the girl they were trying to protect was in the hands of killers. How could everything have gone so badly?

He got into his car and headed for the lake.

Chapter 20

From the lake shore Zack watched as a scuba diver surfaced from the black water and gave thumbs up. Tripod lights had been set up twenty yards in either direction, making the scene seem surreal. The winch operator responded to the signal by flipping a switch. A cable, one end hidden beneath the water’s surface and the other connected to a winch at the back of the tow truck, tightened with a whip that sent a splash of water six feet in the air. The motor whined as lengths of cable disappeared onto the winch’s reel. The driver held a rag around the cable as it fed in, apparently to keep the water from rusting out his system.

A few seconds passed before the roof of a van broke the surface of the water with a whoosh. Slowly the body of the van came closer and closer to the shore and rose farther and farther out of the water.

Zack stood and waited. Eventually a rusty 20 year old van stood on the grass before him, water streaming off it. Once most of the flood water had subsided, he stepped up to the van and grabbed the side sliding door handle with a gloved hand. He jerked the door open and another gush of water erupted from its interior. Zack expected fish to come flopping out onto the grass. Instead, a body spilled onto the wet ground with a splash and a thud.

Zack jumped back, soaked to his knees. Lying before him was a dead thirty-something white male with a hole in his abdomen. The hole had been washed clean of blood by the lake water. He wore blue jeans, a dark t-shirt and work boots. Zack leaned down and shined a flashlight on the bottoms of the boots. These were probably a match to one of his sets of shoe prints found out at the farm. That was one APB for boots he could cancel, he thought sarcastically.

He looked at the face, but he had to turn away. The man’s mouth hung open like a sleeping mouth-breather. Even worse was the soggy skin, all white like those pictures he’d seen of the bodies of drowning victims that had washed ashore after days in the water. But this guy had probably not drowned. He reminded Zack of a poorly made wax figure in some cheesy museum.

A car pulled up, the headlights cut off, and Rachel got out. “Another one?” she asked.

“Yeah, and I think this is one of the guys we’re looking for. You should find Agent Simpson’s bullet inside him.”

“I’ll check it out and let you know. Find an ID yet?”

“Well, I opened the side door and the body fell out. I stopped there because I didn’t want to compromise your crime scene any more than I have already.”

“Thanks.” She went to work with her camera taking pictures of the body, while Zack walked over to the van. He peered through the open side door and shined his light. Along the far wall, partially covered by a wet blanket, the front half of a double-barreled shotgun protruded.

Zack called over his shoulder, “And it looks like we found one of the murder weapons.”

He turned to Rachel who paused from taking pictures. “I need to know ASAP who this guy is and if these tires match those tracks from the farm, Rachel. If they don’t match, we’re looking for another truck or van.”

“Will do.”

---

After leaving the lake Lee headed for the nearest pay phone. He received his instructions from the voice on the phone. In one hour he would finally put a face with that voice at the place this had all begun, the farm.

Getting to the farm on Riker’s Road took twenty minutes. As Lee approached, he saw no signs of life in the house. The two large barn doors and the small door to their left were all closed. He drove along the driveway which curved left of the house and straight to the barn. No car was parked outside. It had been almost exactly an hour since he’d spoken with the
money-guy
who appeared to be late, or had parked either inside the barn and closed the doors, or down the road like Lee and Donnie had done a few nights earlier. Lee pulled up to the barn and cut the engine.

He looked over at the girl and decided to not to take her inside with him.
She’ll be fine right here for now.

He got out and scanned the area for movement. Before entering he walked to one side of the barn and looked. Nothing. He walked along the side toward the back and poked his head around the corner. Nothing along the back. He worked his way all the way around the barn and didn’t find anyone hiding out. Back up front he approached the small door on the left. He paused at the door and listened for any movement inside. Still nothing. Lifting the latch, he swung open the door and stepped inside.