Spare the Lambs (2 page)

One of these possible mistakes has been leaving the case in the hands of an
eight-year
detective
that has not delivered anything of value to the investigation.  To date, Detective Pearson has only one big bust under his belt.  James Pearson’s only large bust was Michael Dary, the proven rapist of two young working women and suspected rapist of four other, was eight and a half years ago.  Added to this are ten domestic
murders
and three gangland
murders
.  A confidential source within the police
force
told the press that Pearson has been hovering close to the department’s overweight limit for years, and many of his other scores are laughably low. 

Whether someone’s weight and ability to shoot should determine their ability to catch criminals; I know that a reporter who didn’
t
write an article for over five weeks would be fired.  Detective Pearson has been on this case for five years and has nothing to show for it.  Jason Pearson isn’
t
the only investigator that has failed to close this case.  Last year, the FBI sent an
agent
to help on the Easter
Murders and this amounted to nothing as well.

The Charlesville Times,
cover page.

April 23, 2000

Easter
Murders
Claim
Sixth
Victim

Eva Collins,
identified
late last night, has joined a blessedly small, but terribly unfortunate group.  Eva was found yesterday morning on the
beach
inside the trademark plastic trash bag of the Easter
Murders
.  She was found chopped into ten pieces by a right handed person, says the
medical
examiner
.  Eva was last seen Friday afternoon as she left the Evanston Private School and walked home, a mere two blocks from the school’s gate.  This makes five different
copycat killers
following Lauren Dokes’s
murder
.

Eva was born in March 1990 in North Carolina.  Her family moved to the city only three years age.  Harry Collins, Eva’s father and a professional day trader, has offered a $10,000 reward for any confirmed information on where his “little
angel
” was taken.   Collins, a 33-year old widower, also offered an additional $50,000 if that information leads to the capture of the
murderer
(s).  If anyone has information, please call the Charlesville Police
Station
District 7.

Part Two

March 21, 2001 (from work
computer)

The “Easter
Murders
” have been the bane of my career as a police
detective
.  They have been hard on the
city
of Charlesville, as well.  To date, six children in as many years have been taken from us; each time sending the number of assaults on sex offenders through the roof after each
victim
is found.  The crimes appear to be one brutal
murder
and five copycat murders.  What little forensic data we have gathered has always pointed to different
murderers
for each
victim
.

This fact has worried me since the discovery of the second victim, Joe
Smith
.  Police always withhold some facts from the media about any
murder
.  This helps us weed out false tips and false confessions.  It also makes the
murderer
think we are farther from catching them than we really are.  Even without the media knowing that the victims were dismembered with a meat cleaver instead of a hatchet or machete, every
victim
has been killed with a meat cleaver.  This point and many others have finally been
cleared
up for me.

There has been a break in the case, delivered by a young suicide.  The boy, case John Doe 15337-1, was found at approximately 6 a.m. this morning.  He hung himself from an exposed beam in a window of a condemned apartment complex located at 57 10th
Ave
.  He fashioned a slipknot out of a worn red Craftsmen
extension cord
and jumped from a window.  The cord snapped his neck, killing him instantly.

So far, there have been no leads in identifying the
victim
and no one fitting the boy’s description has been reported to the missing person’s database.  His hair was a freshly dyed
blond
; this fact is known due to some hair dye was still in the boy’s hair.  DNA and fingerprints were not found in the criminal or
missing
person’s
databases.  Dental records are of no use until we have an ID for comparison.  He is judged to be thirteen years of age, five foot six inches tall, and one hundred and twenty pounds at the time of death.  His natural hair
color
appears to be light
brown
due to the
color
of his eyebrows and
body
hair.  His eyes are green and he is Caucasian.

John Doe is suspected in connection with the “Easter
Murders
” because of a written
confession discovered
in a large plastic sandwich bag in his inside jacket pocket.  The bag and original handwritten
confession
were sent to the forensic lab for analysis.

John Doe’s
confession:

              Within these pages, my sins are numbered and the things that lead up to them are explained.  No names have been changed in my tale.  I want the others to be found and stopped.  It’s my deepest hope that I’m never
identified
.  I want people that know me to remember me as a nice boy that went
missing
and was never found.

              The first time I saw the others was on a day, I can’
t
remember which, in January 2000.  Snow covered the ground and my breath hung in little white clouds in the air.  I went home from school a different way than my normal path that day because I had been caught shoplifting the day before.  I lucked out when the
shop
owner decided not to
press
charges but, I still didn’
t
want to walk by the
shop
every day.  I don’
t
know if he could
have me arrested
days or weeks later, but I didn’
t
want to risk it.  And it would be like spitting in his face if he had to see me every day.  I walked instead of riding the bus because some of my tormentors rode the bus.

              There were unused fields and a few abandoned buildings for half a mile on my new path home.  This area was the part of town that no tourists are meant to see when they come for the beach.  I first saw the others when I walked past an old school or office building.  A large
grey
concrete
block
with twenty or thirty glassless windows on all five floors. 

The hot, damp
summers
and harsh winters of Charlesville hadn’
t
been kind to the building.  I could see the sky through some of the windows on the upper floor.  Large cracks deformed its face at random places.  A few of the cracks started at the ground level and went all the to the roof.  I thought it was a miracle that more of the building hadn’
t
fallen down.  The walls were dark, nearly
black
, at the base.  It reminded me of the way blood stained my teeth when I got popped in the mouth.  The far side of the building’s face was covered in dead vines.  The building was like so many others on the outside of the
city
.  Built, used, and abandoned.  No one worries about the ruins.

The motion of her hair, caught in a light breeze,
drew
my attention to the second floor.  Her hair was a deep red.  It looked like a small fire had started in the window as the breeze played with the strands.  She wore a simple
black
coat that contrasted wonderfully with her milky skin.  I had stopped walking, stood in the center of the road, and simply stared at her.  She caught me looking and stared back.  Her brightly painted lips moved.  I couldn’
t
tell what she was saying or to who she was saying it to.  I felt a burning desire to get closer to her, even if she shunned or laughed at me.

An older boy, almost a man, came to the window and spoke to her.  The redhead nodded towards me without looking away.  They both stared at me as they spoke to each other.  The man had
blond
hair that looked spiked.  He had a blue coat with some red design on it that looked to be well made and probably expensive.  I thought he had to be her boyfriend.  A girl that pretty wouldn’
t
stay single for too long.

I walked straight home, staring at my feet the whole way.  That night, I dreamt of the redhead.  Her lips were full and bright red, her skin glowed white, and her hair was fire.  She giggled at all my jokes and smiled at me when I looked at her.  Before the dream ended, she kissed me and I woke up still feeling her lips on mine.

The next day, I wasn’
t
able to pay attention in school.  All I could do was think about her.  I didn’
t
even worry about the boys that felt they were on a mission from God to make my life hell.  I took the same path home, in hopes that I would see her again.  She wasn’
t
in any of the windows as I walked by the
front
of the building.  I passed the office with a deflated heart but when I neared a tree along my path, the
blond
man stepped out from behind it.  Terror brought me to a halt.  The redhead’s boyfriend had ambushed me.

His hair was spiked and the red design on the coat I could see was a howling wolf.  Deep blue eyes looked into me.  I don’
t
know if I can describe those eyes.  With just a moment’s gaze, those eyes cut through all my layers and stared at the very core of me.  He was
clean-shaved
and later I discovered he never had a 5 o’clock shadow at the end of the night.  I never asked if he needed to shave or not.  He was a few inches taller than me and had some muscle to him. 

I wanted to run but his eyes kept me rooted to the spot.  I have known many boys who would kick your ass if you looked at their girls, as if I could have stolen them.  Those guys were the same as the ones on the mission from God, but their image required some excuse to beat on the freak.  The
blond
boy asked my name and stared at me until I answered.

My bladder tightened with fear as I told him my name.  He gave me a smile and told me that his name was Gerald and that he was seventeen.  He even made a joke about how gay his name sounded.  A great healthy laugh boomed out at his own joke.  I couldn’
t
stop myself from laughing with him.  Gerald said they had seen me walking the day before and thought I looked cool.  No one had thought I was cool and I didn’
t
believe him.

In a stage whisper, he told me that the beautiful redhead was Lily and she thought that I was cute.  My heart stopped and then took off at a gallop.  He wanted to know if I would come up and meet the others, including Lily.  And I did.  I really did, but I was still afraid that he just wanted to beat me up away from any witnesses.  His words were friendly and his tone could never hide knives, but he smiled the whole time and that smile made me feel uneasy.  It showed all his teeth and reminded me of a wolf’s grin.

His eyes made me feel naked and unable to defend myself.  But, I had never seen anyone to match the beauty of the girl in the window and if Gerald wanted to beat me up, but that’s a chance I was willing to take.  The pain of getting my ass kicked would suck, but it wasn’
t
as if I hadn’
t
been beaten up before.  When I met the others, pain and shame were my only friends.  When I decided to follow him, I started down a road that lead me to some of my best and worst experiences.

The inside of the building was filthy.  The few ceiling panels that remained were either
black
with
mold
or stained dark
brown
from years of water damage.  The walls were water stained and tagged with names and
gang
signs.  Moss had grown over parts of the wall and floor.  A section of the outer wall had crumbled exposing the rusted rebar in the concrete. 

Dust and dirt formed thick layers on the floor.  Water from cracks in the wall, leaks in the ceiling, and the glassless windows washed some of the dirt away in random spots.  Rotten ceiling panels joined broken beer bottles, soda cans, faded newspapers, and old food wrappers were scattered around the floor.  There was a pathway worn through the filth that headed from the
front
door to a staircase off to the side. 

I talked in nervous bursts as we made our way to the staircase.  I asked simple questions about Gerald’s friends, but found it difficult to remain silent long enough for his answers.  He claimed to be a son of a
butcher
in town.  I thought he had to be lying, hadn’
t
Wal-
Mart
and Kroger put all the butchers out of business?  I knew my hurried questions showed how worried I was, but his calm and friendly tone did a lot to soothe me. 

I hoped that Gerald’s words, or a change in his tone, would warn me before an
attack
came.  At the foot of the stairs, I made out a group of people talking and laughing.  They sounded far off, which calmed my racing heart more.  We went up the stairs and down the
hall
.  The voices were coming from a room off the hallway.  Gerald stepped in and I followed to a room that had to be one of the larger ones in the
hall
.  Four teenagers sat on plastic milk crates around a little portable fuel heater.  Two crates were unoccupied, next to each other and towards the outer wall.

Gerald
cleared
his throat and the group fell silent.  They turned as one and looked at me, their eyes slowly moved over my body from head to toe.  I was barely able to stop myself from babbling again as the two boys and a
black
haired girl nodded, as if the cut of meat met some standard and then returned to their conversion. 

Their words were light and playful but something was wrong.  They were telling funny stories about their school week.  Laughter, digs, and complaints flew between the three of them but, there was a tension in the way they held themselves and they laughed a little too hard. The room felt like a guitar string tightened too much, one little pluck and it would snap.

Lily, my goddess, hopped up to hug me and introduce herself.  I blushed, as she pulled me close, gave me a short squeeze, and released me.  It shocked me, no one had ever hugged me on first meeting and having someone I had dreamed about do it left me motionless.  I wanted to throw my arms around her and hold her for longer, but the shock made me stand stiffly until she stepped back.  She told me her name and that she was fifteen.  Her eyes were blue, cool water to quench the flames of her hair.  I was so flustered that she had to ask my name twice before I
realized
I should have introduced myself.

She looked over my shoulder and said, “See, I told you he was cute.”  I couldn’t believe it.  Gerald hadn’t been lying.  My heartbeat throbbed in my face.  I had to be redder than her hair.  When she looked back at my face, she gave me a sweet but amused smile.  Her teeth were white and the top ones were perfectly straight.  The bottom teeth were slightly crooked but not enough to take away from her beauty, more like it made her more real.