Terror on the Beach (2 page)

Wednesday afternoons seems like the slowest time.
I could grab my pleasure piece and drag it between the sand dunes out where they are in rows. Just knowing other people were out there playing and swimming and having a high old time just a few feet away, while I am enjoying the unlucky person I pick, gets me hot. I wonder who I will end up with. The anticipation is almost as good as the actual event.

  CHAPTER THREE

“He hasn’t struck in awhile and I don’t know what that means,” Robert said as he paced my small living room

“It’s been three weeks and that’s the longest time he’s waited. I don’t know if he’s moved on or died or what. I’m afraid to take some of the men off beach patrol yet.”

“Maybe he’s just stopped.
Is that possible? Maybe he’s seen the error of his ways. And quit pacing. Sit down and I’ll get us some sweet iced tea. I made a big pitcher today.”

He paused and then sat down.
When I came back with the iced tea, I almost laughed. His shoulders were so big they almost filled the whole love seat. He looked so uncomfortable. When I handed him the tea he drank it down without stopping for air.

“That was mighty good
, sugar. Could I have some more?”

He followed me into the kitchen
. “I’ll tell you one damned thing,” he continued, “you will not go down to the beach again. I won’t let you. Even if I have to have you followed 24/7.”

“You won’t let me?
Who the hell do you think you are, my father?” I yelled at him.

He got that look in his eyes that usually scared
me shitless, but I was so mad it didn’t faze me. “I told you, from the beginning, when we first started seeing each other, you couldn’t tell me what to do. Besides, I live and work on the beach. I can’t stay off the beach. “

This was one of the things I couldn’t deal with and why I knew I couldn’t
live with him. On the one hand I felt safe with him, but on the other, when he got in this protective mode, he could get controlling. After living with my controlling mother I couldn’t stand someone trying to control me. I think that’s why I bought my own shop. I needed to be in control.

He let out a long slow breath and so did I.

“I’m sorry Sarah,” he said. “I know how that gets to you and I try to remember. Right now I’m so worried about you. I love you and don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I know Robert, but
I’m being careful. I only go down on the beach during the daytime and he’s never stabbed anyone in daylight.”

“Why do you
have to be on the beach anyway? You have a nice pool here. Why can’t you swim in it?”

I laughed, “Robert, you don’t understand because you’re not a water person.
You like the mountains and hunting and fishing. Swimming in the pool is nice but there’s nothing like the beach, the salt air, the sound of the waves, and the feel of the sand on your bare feet. It’s like getting a whole new lease on life when you go to the beach.”

“You could end up not having
any lease on life or even a life at all if you keep going,” he mumbled under his breath.

After another week, there were still no more incidents on the beach but there was a stabbing on Virginia Beach
. We figured he had moved on. Things went back to normal and the patrols were pulled off the beach. Robert and I didn’t have any more fights and I started going back down onto the beach, but still only in the daytime.

One Wednesday afternoo
n Robert found me there and I thought he was going to have a heart attack. “What are you doing out here girl, after I specifically told you not to come?”

“Who the hell do you think you are, my daddy?
You start ordering me around and you can say goodbye.”

He sat down on the sand dune next to
me and removed his shoes and socks.

“I’m sorry.”
He said. He stared out to sea. “I shouldn’t have gone off like that. I feel like I’m walking a tight wire here.”

“How did you know I was on the beach?”

“I didn’t. We just got a call about a suspicious looking man hanging around the dock over there but I don’t see anyone.”

“There hasn’t been anyone here since I got here.”

“And that doesn’t scare you? Why do you have to pick the most isolated part of the beach to come to anyway?”

“Because I don’t like crowds, you know that.”

He got up and held out his hand to me. “Come on, I’ll buy you a beer and a burger.”

TJ’s has
huge delicious burgers and it was what most everyone ordered even though they had a wide variety of meals also.

“…if the one in Virginia Beach is similar enough so that we can
call the stabber a serial killer, then we can call them in and use their resources.”

I had been de
ep in thought and hadn’t noticed one of Robert’s deputies had walked over. I started paying attention.

“Well, I would welcome all the help I can get but I don’t want them coming in here taking over.”
The deputy was a short stocky guy with red hair and freckles. He didn’t look a day over 17.

“Oh, Sarah, have you met Freddy
Price? He’s my newest deputy. How long you been with us, Freddy?”

“Just a few months,” Freddy said
. He blushed a deep red and shook my hand.

They continued to talk about whether to call the FBI in and every few minutes Freddy would look at me and turn red.
He was so cute, in a little boy sort of way.

We stayed and talked for the rest of the evening and said goodbyes.
The restaurant was on the beach and we had walked there. As Robert was walking me home he started chuckling.

When I looked over at him he said, “I do believe Freddy has a crush on you.
Do I have anything to worry about?”

“Don’t be silly.
How old is he anyway, about 17?”

“Actually, he’s 26.
It’s the red hair and freckles that fool you.”

“Where is he from?”

“He’s from Augusta. Wanted to be a cop since he could remember. No one took him seriously over in Augusta so he came here. He wanted to live near the beach anyway.

TWOON

Tonight I had to walk the beach for a long time before I found my victim.
I was getting frustrated. I needed to see someone hurt.

A young boy of about 15 or 16 was sleeping on the beach, probably a run-away.
I nudged him with my foot and he opened his eyes.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want?”
He said as he got up rubbing his eyes.

He tried to act tough and I knew this would be my best one yet.
He got up and started walking down the beach trying to ignore me. I walked along side of him for a ways and he finally stopped and faced me.

“What the hell do you want?
I knew this wasn’t a good place to come. I should have stayed in Memphis. You Georgia Crackers are crazy.”

When I pulled out the knife, he laughed, “What are you, some kind of nut?”

I smiled at him and he smiled back like we were going to be friends. That’s when I grabbed him. It was great. There was no one on the beach and I got off on hearing him scream as I rammed the knife into his thigh.

I threw him down and straddled him.
He started crying and didn’t try to act tough anymore.

“Please don’t hurt me no more,” He cried and he looked so mu
ch like a baby that I paused, but then he said, “You don’t have the guts, do you?”

I was grateful for the words
. It was like it gave me permission to continue. I came right away at the next stab which was on his side. At this point he looked terrified and I started rubbing myself against him and came again.

He was too scared to move and I took my time stabbing.
He passed out and it made me mad. I wanted him to make some noise.

I hadn’t stabbed him that much but I couldn’t find a pulse and it didn’t look like he was breathing so I left him for dead.

After I got home I got myself cleaned. Every time I thought about him I came again but it didn’t seem to be enough. He was like an unfinished project. I knew I would have to hunt someone again real soon.

CHAPTER FOUR

Over the next few weeks Robert and I
hardly saw each other. We were both busy with our work. There had been another stabbing, a young boy but for some reason the stabber had left him alive. We had a small hospital that had only been open for a couple of years. He was admitted there with a deputy guarding his room.

The boy was in a coma and no one knew who he was.
His photograph was put on the front page of the Monroe Gazette but no one had come forward. We figured he was probably a run-away.

Robert said they had taken the boy’s fingerprints and had sent them off to the FBI in hopes of finding an ident
ity in their missing person’s files.

The next day an FBI agent arrived from Atlanta
. His name was Simon Carter. Robert called me as I was closing the shop and asked me to meet him at TJs.

When I walked in I saw Robert sitting with one of the largest men I have ever seen.
He looked like a mountain of solid muscle and he towered over Robert.

I always thought Robert was a big man and I liked that.
It always made me feel safe. Robert looked small next to Simon who was also black.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Robert and Simon would not have had positions of authority in the south but now it was the 21
st
century.

Simon turned out to be one of the funniest guys I’d ever met.
He told jokes throughout the meal and it wasn’t until dessert that he got serious.

“Look, Robert, I don’t want to step on any toes here, but I’m here to help.
It’s still your case. I’m not here to take it away from you. I was assigned to this case by my boss because it appears to be a federal case now.

“If you want, I can work in the background doing the computer work and tap
ping into our data bases. I’m going to let you use me how you want. By the way, has the boy regained consciousness yet?”

“Not yet and to tell you the truth, the doctors can’t figure it out.
His injuries aren’t that severe as to cause him to be in a coma. They’re running tests but they’re baffled. They said it appears that the boy has shut himself down.”

“You know what?
We had a case in Atlanta of a young woman who had been raped and went into a coma. There were no injuries serious enough for her to be in a coma but she was. I need to look that up because the doctors did figure out what was causing the coma. I can’t remember what it was. If I can find that data, maybe it will help the doctors here.”

After Simon left to check into the hotel, Robert and I lingered over coffee.
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could find a way to wake this boy up and get him to give us a description of this killer?”

I agreed, “It would be and then maybe I could hang out at the beach without you trying to turn into my daddy.”

He took my hand and kissed it, “I’m only trying to look out for you, sugar. You know that. I love you very much. Would you love me more if I let you become one of this guy’s victims? I’m sorry if I’m overprotective on this one thing but it’s a big thing, don’t you think?”

“I know you’re right, Robert.
I feel so pinned down when you start getting protective.” I flexed my muscles. “Look at my biceps and triceps, Robert. I work out all the time, with weights; I do aerobics, and walk on the beach. I’m in good shape.”

“Okay, how about I teach you some self-defense too
. Let’s make a regular schedule. How does three times a week sound? Can you meet me at the gym at 7:00 a.m.?”

“Why does it have to be mornings?
You morning people are all alike. You want everyone to be just like you.”

“No, I meant 7:00 p.m.”

I poked him in the ribs. “You did not. You’re always making up excuses to try to get me up early.”

We were both laughing when we left the restaurant and it felt good.
I hadn’t realized how much pressure I’d been under.

TWOON

 
I keep seeing in the paper that the boy I stabbed is still in a coma. Why didn’t I stab him in the heart and make sure. I made a mistake and I don’t usually. I’ve got to, somehow or other, get into that hospital room and finish the job. I could possibly dress up like a doctor but they probably know all the doctors. I’ll find a way.

I walked the beach tonight and found an old man.
He was walking his dog, an ugly sausage dog. I hate dogs. I should have killed the dog but he can’t talk. I’m safe.