Murder! Too Close To Home (18 page)

This was the first moment he had not had his stomach in knots since the second murder. His department had been cleared of any wrongdoing, the Task Force had come up with a few leads, the cameras had been installed, and the state boys had all gone home.

Although there were still the murders to be solved, at least the magnifying glass of scrutiny on him and his department was gone, and he could get back to doing what he was hired to do: police work.

He looked down at the Zippo lighter he was rolling around in his hand. He had actually lit and smoked a few fags in the last week, the stress of the investigation into his department more than he could handle without them. He was hoping that was again a thing of the past.

Sticking the lighter into his pocket, he leaned forward and pushed a button on his phone.

“Jane, could you come in here a minute and bring the road patrol schedule with you?”

She said she would be right in and clicked off. He smiled at the realization that he had used the intercom instead of yelling, he really
must
be relaxed.

Jane entered the room carrying a clipboard and a cup of coffee, which she set down in front of her dad before taking a seat opposite him. He smiled as he looked at her, the spitting image of her mother at that age, but smarter than both of them put together.

“What do you want with the patrol schedule?” Jane asked, handing the clipboard across the desk.

“The commissioners have finally agreed that we should increase road patrols until this danger has passed. I’ve been on their ass for weeks, but they couldn’t see the need to pay overtime until now. I can’t believe those bunch of mamby pamby idiots are in charge of this county.”

Flipping between the first and second page of the clipboard for a few moments, the sheriff handed the clipboard back to his daughter, giving up trying to figure the schedule on his own.

“You take care of it, JJ,” the sheriff said as he leaned back in his chair. “Just make it as fair as you can, but everyone will need to pitch in on the overtime, even Larry and Tucker.”

“Ok, Sheriff,” Jane replied as she made a few notes on the border of the list. “You look like you’re feeling better, Dad,” she said with a small smile. “Things are looking up on the murder investigation, I hear.”

“Yes, they seem to be,” he said with some confidence. “Knowing the identity of the perp is a major plus, even if we don’t know where he is. But we’ll find him; you can mark my words on that score.”

Jane nodded as she rose to leave.

“Thanks for your help, JJ,” the sheriff called after her. Jane stopped in her tracks at the unexpected compliment from her dad, something she was not used to hearing.

“You’re welcome, Dad,” she said at last as she continued on her way out of the room, her face devoid of emotion.

Returning to her desk, she found herself conflicted and antsy. Working for her dad had come somewhat natural, even though he had assumed that she would take the position when offered, going through the motions of asking her almost as an afterthought. She was used to it in a way, having taken care of her mom and him for years when her mom was sick.

After accepting her fate, she dove into the role with gusto, becoming almost indispensible to the department with her vast knowledge of the ins and outs of the whole system. She even found she liked the job and the power it wielded. No one questioned anything that she did, which she realized actually gave her an independence that she had always craved, an independence that now defined her.

For him to suddenly go out of character and start throwing around compliments was almost…insulting. She wasn’t doing this job to please him, at least not any longer. She was doing this job for her, to fulfill her plans and dreams. And she had plans, for the first time in her life, she had plans.

Jane suddenly realized that her hands were balled up in fists under her desk, her neck muscles aching from being taut for several minutes. She immediately forced herself to relax, rolling her head in a circle above her shoulders.

Taking up the patrol schedule, she set to work making the changes needed to reflect the increased patrols.

“Settle down, Jane,” she mumbled to herself, “You’re taking yourself much too seriously.”

Chapter 45

March 17, 1997

Our nighttime investigations were not going as well as planned.

Franklin county roads were, for the most part, divvied up with one every mile, following the section lines of the county. With over twenty square miles to investigate and with backtracking and unfamiliarity we estimated that we would have more than eighty miles of road to cover.

With a thirty minute trip to the neighboring county each way, having to drive slow to look at houses, a limited amount of daylight, and the extra roads that were stuck in on the half mile here or there, our task had become quite daunting.

Having had no luck in five days of searching, we had decided to take a few days off from our search. I was wrung out both mentally and physically and was looking forward to a quiet evening at home with my lovely wife.

Unfortunately, I was now sitting at my desk paying bills, the quiet night having taken a turn for the worse during supper.

Betty reminded me of her plans to attend a baby shower for one of her friends as we were eating our meal.

‘That will still work’
I thought to myself. I would still be able to relax, just without my lovely wife keeping me company.

After supper however, she quietly grabbed my hand and started to walk me into the other room, visions of unexpected intimacy suddenly filling my head.

She was so sweet!

Another letdown reared its ugly head though when she stopped in front of my desk, turning me around and setting me down in my chair.

“I’m sorry honey, but with everything that has been going on we have gotten behind on the bills. There was a disconnect notice from the electric company on the doorknob when I got home today, and there are others I’m sure we’re late on.”

Turning to go and get ready, she called back over her shoulder, “You wouldn’t want to see me without electric for my curling iron and blow-dryer.”

I was disappointed on so many levels, but mostly with myself. I usually tried to stay on top of these things, which can be a real challenge sometimes considering both of us work for local governments, who it turned out never had enough money either.

Neither one of us was in it for the money, but I wouldn’t complain if they offered us a little more moolah now and again.

I plugged along, going through bill after bill, writing checks, licking envelopes and stamps. The one positive of the night was when I got to the mortgage book and realized that we only had a couple more payments to make before the house was ours…again.

We had to take out a mortgage soon after we were married to do some repairs that were needed as well as some improvements that Betty had asked for. I had lived in the house for years before we were married, not requiring nor expecting much out of my abode.

Betty was easy to please, but liked having a few more niceties than I was used to. My favorite of these was the dishwasher, I loved my dishwasher. Add a roof in need of repair and upgrading the plumbing and electric and the numbers added up quickly.

Our bank was more than willing to give us the money, making it easy for us the join the large club of homeowner’s with mortgages. There would definitely be a night out to celebrate when we made the last payment.

At 10:00 Betty arrived to find me asleep at my desk, paid invoices and stamped envelopes surrounding me on the floor. She gently woke me and helped me into bed, easily averting my mumbled sexual advances as she undressed me and tucked me in.

As I slipped easily back into slumber, I was very thankful for my lovely, beautiful and intelligent wife. I was determined to tell her that more often, after I woke up again.

***

I was sitting in my chair, which was strange. I was already in the room and sitting, with no recollection as to how I had gotten there.

The room was also a bit brighter than on my previous visits. I noticed there was a new light fixture, a floor lamp. The new lamp was situated over the chess board.

Did my unseen opponent need more light?

Noticing the way it lit up the board, I suddenly realized that it
was
much easier to see now. I had been toying with the idea of getting reading glasses lately, and this seemed to help confirm the need to look into that.

As I was trying to make out the style of the fixture, I heard a noise off to my right, behind me.

Looking back, I saw nothing, just like the last time.

I grabbed my coffee and took a few sips, waiting for the noise again while silence ensued. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax, working on a plan in my mind to try to catch the unseen source of the noise.

When I again heard the slight squeak of the floorboard, I sprang into action, standing up quickly and turning in the direction of the sound, ready to run.

My feet however refused to move. Seemingly glued to the floor, I could not raise either of them. Having thrown myself up quickly while twisting in anticipation of a speedy takeoff, I now found that I had no control of the destination of my body as it continued forward…and down.

I was falling to the floor as if in slow motion. Suddenly, it was dark as I continued to feel the fall of my body being pulled by gravity. Abruptly the fall was halted amid a loud noise and pain…so much pain. I was flailing my arms and trying to save myself from the dark abyss that surrounded me.

“Gabriel?” I heard as the room suddenly filled with light, my bedroom.

I quickly turned toward the voice to see Betty sitting up in bed, her hand on the table lamp beside her. Looking over at the clock, it is again showing 5:30 on its illuminated face. I could swear that it was sneering at me.

“Are you ok dear?” Betty asked with concern, “Are you hurt?”

“You stood straight up out of bed and then fell flat on your face. You yelled like it hurt a lot.”

I rolled on my back and laid my head on the floor, probing my sore nose with my hand.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” I replied through my hand, embarrassed more than hurt, “Just another stupid dream. I was …oh never mind, it’s not important.”

I got up and went to the other side of the bed, giving Betty a kiss while taking care to keep my nose out of it.

“Lay back down for awhile, I’ll get the coffee going.”

Padding down the stairs and on to the back door to let Lucy out, I thought of the dream, going over the details in my head to see if I could glean any pertinent information out of them.

Useful information eluded me, except for one thing. Finding a note pad I wrote a reminder to myself and taped it to my coffee cup. The note read simply, “reading glasses.”

Chapter 46

March 20, 1997

We were back on the road and had decided to check out the two stores that sold the bean soup in our county. Frank pulled into the first one, aptly named, ‘The Gas Mart’. I got out of the car and went in to see if I could find a manager or owner, not liking my chances of finding anyone that would remember the transaction I was looking for.

I was met instead by a greasy looking teenager halfheartedly sweeping the floor, a single earring in his left ear.

Both of his ears had wires hanging out of them, connecting to a Walkman on his belt. Asking for the manager, he reluctantly removed one of the earphones before asking me why I wanted to see him. Not liking to do it but needing to speed this up, I pulled out my badge, flipping it opened and closed quickly before announcing, “police business.”

That got his attention. He moved off quickly, mumbling something about him being in back. In a couple of minutes another kid maybe two years older than the first presented himself in front of me, his dirty blonde hair hanging to his shoulders.

“Can I help you, officer?”

“We are investigating a crime, and we need to see if anyone bought a case or more of Johnson Brothers’ bean soup in the last week to ten days from your store.”

The manager, whose nametag identified him as ‘Dale’ stood there unmoving for several seconds, his face a mask, revealing nothing.

“What?”

“What what?” I answered in return, losing my patience rapidly, “What part is it you’re not clear on…Dale?”

“Well…I mean…soup?...you serious dude?”

This wasn’t working, but taking in the kid that was before me I hit on another idea.

“Can I let you in on a secret?” I asked him while moving closer, changing my tack and trying to convince him to look at this as if he was more of a partner.

He looked me in the eye then shook his head in the affirmative.

“Come with me outside for a minute, I don’t want these other people hearing this.”

Walking outside, I led him to the rear of our car, waving Frank out of the vehicle as I passed.

“This is my partner Frank, and my name is Gabriel. Frank, this is Dale.”