Spare the Lambs (17 page)

              At James’s home, I spoke to his father.  He had been divorced ever since James was five and had remained single ever since.  He claimed that he had been working too hard for too little money ever since his divorce.  He couldn’t tell me much about his son because he had been working so much.  He thought the “little shit” had gotten into some trouble with drugs or something that had gotten him killed.  Even knowing that James deserved to die, the man’s lack of feeling over his son’s death bothered me.  Maybe he didn’t really believe it yet or truly believed James had run away.  Maybe he would feel something when they found the body.

              That made me think about the people they leave behind, their families and innocent friends.  Lily’s family knows that she is a monster, but they can visit her in prison and hope that incarceration would straighten her out.  Lee’s and James’s families would only know their children were heartless killers.

              I finished the rest of the day and drove home with my mind filled with these thoughts.  I think I might have even felt guilty for a moment, but that all changed when I got home.  I ignored Eric as he watched me from the corner of the living room.  The system wasn’t completely broken, after all that rapist Michael Dary was rotting away in prison far from any future victims.

              That had been a shining moment for the system.  We knew of seven rapes but only had enough evidence to try Dary for two.  He’d been sentenced to fifteen years in jail and would be on the sex offender list for the rest of his life.  For me as an officer, that arrest, more than my test scores or my time in service, earned me the promotion to detective.  Possibly to torture myself, or to simply remember my moment of glory, I looked up Michael Dary’s status in the criminal database.

              My guilt, misgivings, or whatever I had been feeling went away the moment I read what had happened to Dary.  He had been released for good behavior after only eight years.  Of course he behaved himself, there were no women to rape in prison.  He had already been out for two years.  Two years, and who knows how many more victims, because, after a man like that gets a taste for rape, he will never stop.  I considered finding him and ending his crimes as well, but the sex offender database had lost track of him shortly after his release.  The system had failed again and Dary was out there hurting more women.

              No, the kids wouldn’t be handed over to the police force and the useless system.  The system couldn’t give anywhere near the justice these crimes demanded.  I’ll deal with the girl and hopefully the boy tomorrow.  I will spare the lambs.

Part Five

The Charlesville Times, page 3.                                                                                May 4, 2001

Two Youths Attack Police Officer

Police were called late last night to 57 10th Street after Mary Jones, a 35-year old woman, heard four gunshots from the building’s upper floors.  Police say that an officer was shot twice and is currently in intensive care.  Two teenagers were found dead near by, most likely killed by gun shots.  It’s unclear whether someone shot the two teens and then the officer or if there was an altercation between the two groups.  The police refuse to release the victims’ names at this time.

The condemned apartment building at 57 10th Street had already earned some renowned over the last few months due to the suicide of Eric Moore, confessed member of the group responsible for the Easter Murders.  The number of crimes committed in and around this city’s abandoned buildings should make the mayor rethink the city’s habit of letting them lie vacant.  They breed homelessness and crime.  The taxpayers………

The Charlesville Times, cover page.

May 9, 2001

Could A Police Officer Be the Easter Hunter

Police Chief Jones has finally released the names of the victims shot five days at 57 10th Street and they raise interesting questions.  The wounded officer has been identified as Detective James Pearson, investigating detective on the Easter Murders case.  On May 7th, Lily Summers identified the bodies of the deceased teenagers as the two remaining members of the Easter Murderers.  Samantha Garere and Gerald Johnson.

If true, this makes three of the Easter Murder members dead, one missing, one in custody, and one having committed suicide.  Did Garere and Johnson attempt to stop the lead detective from getting closer?  Or, could Detective Pearson have been hunting the murderers outside the boundaries of the police force?  Is James Levee dead as well? Was Eric’s suicide staged?  Chief Jones refuses to speculate on any these questions.

The Charlesville Times, cover page.

May 10, 2001

Detective Easter Hunter

Early this morning, Chief Jones released a report on the attack and murders that happened at 57 10th Street on May 4th.  According to Jones, Samantha Garere was shot with a 9mm at point-blank range, a distance of one to five inches, in the temple.  Gerald Johnson was shot in the mouth, from a distance of nine to ten feet, with a 9mm.  Detective Pearson was shot in the chest and right shoulder, from a distance of nine to ten feet, with a .38.  A Smith and Wesson .38 Special was found by Gerald Johnson’s body and his hands and clothing tested positive for gunpowder residue.

The 9mm bullets that killed Samantha and Gerald matched the 9mm Beretta found on Pearson, whose hands and clothing tested positive for gunpowder residue.  The 9mm bullet removed from the bricks above Lee Maynard’s body was too damaged to make comparisons with the Beretta, but FBI Agent Steve Johnston is confident that Pearson is responsible for his death, as well.  Agent Johnston is currently searching for any clue as to where Pearson might have hidden James Levee’s body.

The Charlesville Times, cover page.

May 15, 2001

Evidence Mounts as Final Easter Murderer is Found

A police search, led by FBI Agent Steve Johnston, found James Levee’s body yesterday afternoon in the woods west of the city.  On the 14th, Johnston questioned Lily Summers, the only living member of the Easter Murderers, regarding the location of Judith Smith’s murder.  When asked why he was taking the investigation in this direction, he explained that James Pearson kept a journal that led him to believe James’s body had been left at that sight.

After thirty minutes of searching the area indicated by Lily Summers, the police came across James’s body.  When asked why he didn’t simply have Summers show them where the site was, Johnston said that some people, like Pearson, might hurt the girl before her trial if she was outside the protection of the city’s detention center.  While the weather, animals, and time had decomposed the body, the police say that the body showed signs of a severe beating and a point-blank gunshot.  This makes four known murders committed by James Pearson, former detective in this city’s police force.

June 21, 2001 from Charlesville City Jail stationary

              Well, justice has been served and now it’s time for me to face the people’s justice.  I guess this will be my last journal entry or maybe it’s a confession, I don’t know.  I had meant to delete all my entries before being captured but it didn’t work out that way.  I’m sure they’ll use all my entries in the trial, so I might as well write the end of the Easter Murderers.  I’ve been in the hospital for over a month, watched by an officer to ensure I don’t escape.  During that time, I’ve replayed the end of this mess repeatedly.

              I woke up on May 4th and fed my cat.  I dressed and packed a sweatshirt and old blue jeans to change into after work.  I rolled my gun up in some spare clothing and went to leave my apartment.  My kitten rubbed against my leg and purred loudly.  I was worried about the day’s activities and how they would affect my kitten.  If something happened to me or I had to run, no one knew about the cat.  No one would care for her.

              I sat the clothing on a bar stool and searched around my cluttered kitchen island.  After ten minutes of moving and tossing things, I found the sticky note with the PhD from Charlesville University’s phone number.  I called and asked her if she would stop by my place and take my cat home with her if I didn’t call her back by the next day.  She was confused as to, who I was and why I would ask her for something so random.  However, she warmed up when I started to tell her about my little kitten.  She said that she loved cats but hadn’t gotten a new one since her last cat died.  I told her my address and where I would hide the spare key.

              I’m sure Agent Johnston and the DA will use that call as proof that I planned it all before hand, making it a cold-blooded murder, instead a crime of passion, but that cat was the only thing I really cared about and I didn’t want her to suffer.

              I went to work and puttered around, lost in my own thoughts, until my shift ended.  I kept running over my plan, changing how and where I would get Gerald.  I knew I’d need the girl but other than that I was winging it, which wouldn’t have been good for its success and my continued freedom.  I needed to decide on a place that people wouldn’t happen upon us.  I also wanted it to be a place with significance.

I smoked four cigarettes in my car while I thought through the problem one last time.  Agent Johnston returned and stared at me as he walked into the station.  I was probably paranoid, but I thought he had been paying too much attention to me lately.  Maybe there was a breakthrough in the Lee Maynard case that no one had told me about.  It didn’t really matter though, if he had anything on me I would’ve been under arrest by now.  Plus, the quicker I ended this whole deal, in my way, the more likely that I would get away with it.

Searching for the kids had shown me that there were thousands of places in the city where I could kill someone and never be interrupted.  It was the meaningful place that was stumping me.  It was one of my few regrets I’d had since I started delivering true justice, that Lee died somewhere meaningless.  I was giving justice and sparing the lambs, so the location should reflect that.  The thought of sparing the lambs made a location pop up in my mind.  I started my car and left the station’s lot with a smile on my face.

I went to Samantha’s apartment and waited for her to get home.  The sun had been down for an hour before her lights came on.  I changed into the sweatshirt and jeans, cursing myself for not stopping at home to change after work.  I put the gun in my waistband and headed into the building.  The first time I went there, I needed to be buzzed in by one of the people I questioned.  It was awkward standing outside, talking to a speaker until someone decided to let me in, so when I’d left the last time, I’d worked a small folded piece of paper into the locking plate.  No one had noticed, so I was able to push the door open.

No one saw me as I went into the building.  However, someone might have seen me in the hall if they were looking through their peephole.  I guess I will find out during the trial.  I knocked on her door and she answered it without any worry in the world.  I wonder if that was the “it can’t happen to me” attitude that teens were supposed to have.  I had tracked and killed two of them.  Only Lily Summers was aware enough to turn herself in, but that wouldn’t save her for long.

When I saw her long black hair, pale and oily skin, and the large bags under her eyes, I pulled the gun out of my waistband and brought it down on the top of her head.  Her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed.  I had to push her body out of the way with the door.  When she was far enough away that I was able to get into the apartment, I stepped through the door and closed it.  I picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.  I hadn’t realized the gains I had received from going to the gym, until I easily picked the girl up and threw her over my shoulder.  I dropped her limp body on the bed and searched the apartment.

I found her cell phone charging in the living room.  It was fully charged, so I disconnected it and went back into the bedroom to wait for her to wake up.  Sammy tossed around on the bed as if she was trapped in some horrible nightmare.  Monster or not, I felt sorry for her at that moment.  I could still remember when I dreamt of Eric killing Eva every night.

I looked through her contacts for Gerald’s number, as she moaned and rolled over.  His number wasn’t saved under his name, but there was a Baby in her contacts.  To be certain it was the leader of the Easter Murderers, I read through their texts.  I had to sift through a lot of goofy love crap, but on the 3rd she had sent Baby a message that said, “did you see? James is missing.”  Baby replied with, “Yea, but he may have run off after Lee died.  Just stay put and watch out.”

I was grinning with a sense of victory when Sammy stopped rolling around and her eyes opened.  She blinked at the ceiling for a minute in confusion.  I pulled the pistol out and pointed it at her face.  When she finally stopped blinking and focused on me, I said, “You’re coming with me.  It’s time for you and Baby to pay for your crimes.”

“What?  What crimes?  Who the hell are you?”  She sputtered.

Once again my anger tried to slip my control, I brought the pistol up to hit her with it.  She flinched and I tightened my grip on the 9mm’s handle to stop myself from hitting her.  “The kids.  I know about the lambs.”  Her pale face somehow lost more color.  “Get up.  You’re coming with me,” I told her.

She shook and I grabbed her elbow to help her along.  We stopped at the front door and I took her left arm with my left hand so I could keep hold of her and put the gun into her back without it being seen.  “We’re going for a ride.  You’ll listen to everything I say.  If you yell or try to run, I will shoot you no matter who is watching.”

She nodded weakly and opened the door without looking up from her feet.  We left her apartment, she paused as if to lock her door but after a moment I guess she decided it didn’t matter, and we headed down the hall.  Along the way, we came across one of her neighbors, an older woman who had swallowed the drug story whole.  Samantha looked up at the woman as we passed.  The look was pleading for help and I wanted to shoot the girl right there for disobeying me.  The woman just smiled knowingly and continued to her own apartment.  The girl started to turn and yell to the woman, but I shook her and pushed the barrel into her ribs.  We didn’t meet anyone else as we made it to the car.

I put the key in the ignition, as the girl slumped down into the passenger seat.  For cold-blooded murderers, these kids didn’t have much will to fight.  They gave up instead of fighting or even begging.  I hadn’t locked the doors yet, but Sammy was defeated.  There was a metallic clunk and Samantha slumped even lower in the seat.

After five minutes of driving through the steadily decreasing traffic, she took a deep breath and asked, “Are you going to kill me?”

I remained silent.

“Did you kill the others?”

Again, I said nothing.

“Why are you doing this?” She wailed.

“Justice,” I told her.

“Justice? Are you crazy?  Call the cops if you want justice.”  Her eyes widened and she asked, “Was one of them your child?”

I shook my head.

“Then why?”  She shrieked.

“Shut up,” I barked.  At my sharp command, she fell silent.  It took forty minutes to get to 57 10th St.  We stopped and I ordered her to get out.  She got out and looked around, and when she recognized where we were her eyes revealed shock and her muscles tensed.  I pulled my gun out and pointed it at her head.

“Don’t,” I told her.  Her eyes darted around for a few more seconds, then the tension left her muscles and her head dropped.  Upon entering the room where Eric killed himself, I shoved the girl onto the floor and pulled her phone from my pocket.  I sent a text to Baby, “If you want to see her alive, come to where Eric died.”

***

I could hear the creaking of the cord as something heavy swung just outside the window.  I had to fight the urge to look over at it.  At some point moonlight streamed through the window and a shadow of a human hanging by the neck appeared on the wall.  I wouldn’t, couldn’t look at the glassless window.  Seeing a dead boy standing around was bad enough, but I didn’t want to see him as he hung lifeless.  Or worse, if he was staring at me with the extension cord around his neck.