Kentucky Murders: A Small Town Murder Mystery (31 page)

He exited the expressway when the sign directed him toward the State Prison. Zack had only been to this facility once during an orientation as a new officer.

After parking, he approached the entrance where he slid his ID through a slot to an officer behind half inch thick Plexiglas.  “I’m here to question an inmate in relation to a murder case. His name is Tommy Ray.”

The guard slid the ID back out through the slot with a VISITOR ID badge which Zack clipped on his shirt pocket. The door buzzed and Zack entered. He relinquished his gun and was given directions to the visitor area.

Once he entered the prison, Zack felt an eerie loss of freedom as if these people could just decide anytime they wanted to never let him out again. Everything was locked and watched by either a physical guard or a camera.  He wanted to get his business done and get out of this place. He couldn’t imagine even working here, let alone being a prisoner.

A few minutes later he sat in a large room that looked like a school cafeteria except the tables and stools were all stainless steel and bolted to the floor. He slid onto a stool and waited. They said an interview room would be ready soon.

---

Early morning sunlight filtered through the windshield as he opened his eyes and blinked. Sleep had been uncomfortable. The last time he remembered checking the clock on the dashboard it had read three-thirty-something.

The girl!
He turned to look in the back seat. The tape he’d used to bind her hands and feet lay discarded on the seat. The door hung open.
Gone.
“Shit!”

He clumsily opened the driver’s door and stumbled out into the grass. He slowly scanned the clearing for any sign of the girl or her escape path. Nothing.

Birds chirped in the otherwise silent morning scene. He clutched his arms around himself when he noticed the chilly morning air.

After closing the door the girl had left open he climbed back into the car and started the engine. He maneuvered back and forth several times and pulled back down the trail that led out to the road. When he broke out of the woods, he looked left, then right down the road. No girl. He had to find her.

He quickly made a decision and turned left, back toward town, and pulled out onto the two lane black-topped pavement with a screech of his tires.

---

Sharnita wasn’t sure where she was going. She shivered and hurried along the tree-lined road.

---

The inmate entering the small interrogation room looked vaguely familiar, but this man wasn’t the Tommy Ray Zack had known six years ago. The tattooed, head-shaven hulk looked like he’d spent hours a day lifting weights in the prison yard. Tommy had become the stereotypical white-supremacist prison gang member.

“Taylor? Is that you? You’re the last person I’d ever expect to see here visiting me.”

The escorting officer sat Tommy across the metal table from Zack, attached his handcuffs to a latch on the table and backed away, taking position next to the door.

Tommy laid his arms on the table. “The first couple of years in here I thought of nothing else but holding that scrawny neck of yours between my hands.” He made a choking gesture with his now powerful callused hands. “But I finally realized you’re not worth it.”

Zack was surprised Tommy was so talkative.

“Ray, I’m not here on a social call. I represent the County Police now. I’m the Sheriff.”

“No shit.” He leaned back and smiled, folding his hands on the table in front of him.

“We have identified a former cellmate of yours as a murderer suspect of several people in the Michaeltown area. Would you know anything about that?”

“Have no idea. What’s his name? I’ve had a lot of cellmates in 6 years.”

“Lee Dunlap.”

“Shit. Lee? Did you catch him?”

“He’s dead.”

“No shit. Who’d he kill?”

“If you’re involved, you should know.”

“No idea. By the way, how’s that bride of yours? Or has she dumped you by now?”

“Tommy, if you had anything to do with this, we will find out sooner or later.”

“I have no clue why my old friend Lee would be out there killing people. Wasn’t that why he was in here in the first place? Killed some fat ass he caught doing his wife. Guess once you kill it comes naturally to you.”

Zack began to stand and Tommy reached out for him, using the slack in the handcuffs to grab his right wrist in a steal grip. The guard hurried toward them.

“Say hi to Kate for me, and that boy of yours, too.” He released Zack’s arm.

Zack motioned to the guard that he was okay and the officer stopped his advance.

“You’d better hope you don’t see me again, Tommy.”

“What’re you gonna do, put me in jail?”

Zack turned and left. He heard Tommy laughing from behind him as he walked away and left the room.

On the ride home he kept thinking about Tommy’s mention of his “boy.” He must be keeping tabs on Zack and Kate somehow. But who was feeding him the information?

Tommy had gotten very few visitors over the years. The visitor’s log showed his mother had come to see him monthly until she died, according to one of the guards. His father had signed in several times a year, usually accompanying Tommy’s mother. He too had stopped visiting almost six months earlier. The guard remembered Tommy and his father just sitting across the table from one and other and barely speaking. The guard figured Tommy’s father couldn’t take seeing his son in prison. It happened with a lot with family members. At first they felt obligated to visit, but eventually, they couldn’t stand coming anymore. You could count Tommy’s other visitors on one hand. He had had no visitors in months.

Now Zack’s only theory went back to his cellmate, Lee, who had gotten out recently and went on a killing spree. What other explanation could there be other than he was working for Tommy to get revenge on his former prosecutor? Then again, it all seemed too simple if that was the whole story. Well, Tommy wasn’t going to be any help. And now his friend Lee wouldn’t be telling any stories either. Could he have killed himself in that barn? But why burn down the barn? That didn’t make sense. Or was someone else out there? Instead of answering questions Zack just kept coming up with more.

Chapter 25

As he drove along the road searching for the girl he wondered if he’d guessed right by turning toward town. Or was she even out on the road? Maybe she was wandering through the woods, helplessly lost. That wouldn’t be so bad as long as no one found her in the next twenty-four hours. In fact, that might even be better. He wouldn’t have to deal with her while he completed his plan; but he knew he couldn’t take the chance that she would be found. He would lose his advantage and the bait he needed to draw out his most precious prey. This would only work if he had the girl, or at least they thought he did.

Rounding the next curve answered his question. There she was. Only woods lined the road. He spotted no cars ahead or in his rearview mirror. He had to hurry before someone came along to witness him grabbing the girl for the second time.

As he pulled up behind her, she turned at the sound of his car. A look of terror filled her face. She began running away, then turned and crossed the grass toward the woods.

He put the car into park and bailed out, chasing after her. Her tiny strides were easily overtaken and he caught her before she reached the trees. Grabbing her at the waist from behind, he scooped her up and under his arm as she squirmed to break free.

Back at the car he slid her onto the back seat and struggled to hold her with one arm while he felt around for the case with the syringe. A few minutes later she was out cold again. He debated on whether giving her another injection would kill her. After all, he didn’t really know how much of a dose to give her, since he had no medical training. Anyway, this would ensure she wouldn’t be bothering him for the next eight hours or so. He wasn’t really worried about giving her too much since he couldn’t give a shit what happened to her. She was just a pawn in his game. He’d come this far, and so many had died, that he knew this whole thing would probably
not
turn out well for him in the end. Even if he got away clean, the FBI would eventually figure this all out and come looking for him. But he didn’t really care about any of that anymore. His only chance of success was to keep going and see what happened.

He turned the car around and headed back to the shack. He was hungry and thought about the food he had stashed in the cooler in the trunk. He wondered when the girl had eaten last, then dismissed the thought since that didn’t matter.

---

Tina Simpson had been awake for an hour. She’d eaten breakfast and was sitting in her bed thinking. She’d told her guard to go eat something, too, and he’d left her alone. She wondered what the status was of the case. What about the girl? Tina hadn’t been updated recently. Looking around the room she saw a phone on a table. She couldn’t reach it from the bed so she lifted her legs and slid them to the side. She imagined how painful this would be on her bandaged leg without drugs suppressing the pain.

Carefully she worked her way to the edge and slid off the bed. When her feet hit the floor. The pain killers worked to prevent her wounded leg from erupting with pain. She had gritted her teeth in anticipation but felt almost no pain. She limped to the small table, sitting in the chair next to it. Again, sitting and bending the leg had hurt slightly.

She dialed the sheriff’s office. Zack would let her know what was going on.

When a deputy answered, she asked for Sheriff Taylor.

“He’s not back yet, Agent Simpson.”

She hadn’t told him who she was but he’d remembered. He must be the young one who’d always been smiling at her.

“Do you know when he’ll be back?”

“Not sure. It takes more than an hour each way to and from the prison, plus whatever time he spends there. Since he left more than three hours ago, he could be back within the next hour or so, maybe a little longer, depends.”

“Prison?  Do you know why he was going there?”

“He just said he was following a lead. Sorry.”

“Thanks, tell him I called when he returns.” She hung up. Looking around the room, she didn’t see her personal belongings. Zack’s cellular number was programmed into her phone.

She grabbed the metal pole IV stand that she’d rolled over from the bed with her, and used it to help herself get up.

---

He pulled back down the road leading to the shack. He needed to set the trap before making his phone call. At least the girl wouldn’t give him any more trouble. She would be sleeping the rest of the day.

---

Jenny turned the corner and didn’t find Daddy’s truck parked along the road as expected. She walked up to
their
place and removed her back pack, setting it on the grass next to the bushes. She took the doll from under her arm and looked at it. “We’ll just wait. Daddy will be here soon.” She sat on the grass holding her doll.

Chapter 26

Zack was thirty minutes from home when he received a call on his cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Listen to what I have to say and follow my instructions exactly.”

“Who is this?”

“Shut the hell up and listen if you want the girl back alive.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“You come alone. Don’t call anyone, and don’t bring backup or she dies. You remember that shack where that retard Max lived…”

Zack listened to the instructions for another minute before speaking. “What do you want, money?” After listening again, “I don’t understand. You just want me to come out there and pick her up?” The phone went dead.

Zack looked at his phone and it had saved the caller’s number. He wondered if it could be traced to a person and how this person had gotten his cellular phone number. Now he had to decide what to do. Should he follow the instructions and not contact anyone? Was this the same killer? Why was the truck left behind at the farm? This surely confirmed his suspicion that Tommy Ray had to be involved in this somehow. Why else would the kidnapper be using Max’s old place? The place where Tommy had …

Zack shook his head. This was it. He was about to die. This couldn’t be real. It had to be another dream. He desperately wished that he would wake up and find himself in his room at the hotel.

Tommy’s words shook him back from his thoughts. “Lay the first layer of grass over there, and then pile the rest here.”

Zack started to dig. His hands shook as he held the shovel. This wasn’t happening, he told himself. He was digging his own grave.

Zack snapped back to the present when he felt a front tire drop off the edge of the road, and he jerked the steering wheel to recover.