The Collie Murders: A Serial Killer Crime Thriller (13 page)

Abby decided that she was going to hit a convenience store that was located just outside of town so that she could avoid running into anyone that she knew. For one thing, she didn’t want to be distracted again, and for another anyone she knew who saw what she was buying might get the news back to her father and she’d rather get run over by a semi-truck than face that apocalyptic outcome. Buying a pregnancy test, especially if you weren’t married, wasn’t something you broadcasted to everyone, even if it was something to be excited about.

She walked through the store, trying to act casual, thinking that if she could believe she was in the place to by nothing more than a gallon of milk, then the few people that happened to be in the store would believe it too. There was so much running through her mind that she hardly noticed when she was at the checkout counter.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

The clerk behind the counter looked down at the small item she’d scanned and then to the green-lit price display and replied, “I said that you owe me five ninety five.”

“Oh,” was all Abby managed as she picked through her purse for a five dollar bill and a single. After she handed over the money and took her purchase from the counter, she was out of the store and back in her car before the checkout clerk could even offer to give her the nickel she was owed.

The hot warmth of her car in the sun felt good against her nerves, and in the silence of the vehicle, she had a moment where the dizziness seemed to pass and her thoughts came slower. What in the world was she going to do if she was pregnant?

Abby realized that, while Travis had tried to use every precaution available to them, there had been a time or two when passion overturned logic and they’d gone at it with the abandon that two lovers possessed by attraction were apt to do. Human nature dictated that mistakes were a part of life, and a life without the occasional mistake wasn’t a life at all.

She frowned as the word mistake floated around in her skull and bumped between her ears. Her father had told her once that her mother had considered her a mistake, which they hadn’t planned for her conception. It had caused a pain in her heart that not even her mother’s death could heal, and she vowed that if she was going to be a mother, that the life she’d be bringing into the world was not the kind of blunder she’d mark down as having made.

Abby placed the palm of her hand to the flat of her belly and closed her eyes. If she was going to have a baby, it was meant to be and that was all there was to it.

********

“You should tell me what the hell your problem is so I can help you remove whatever it is that you have stuck up your backside.”

Travis chuckled at Louis as they sat together parked on the shoulder of the main highway that led into Collie. He had to admit that sitting in silence for three hours would wear thin on anyone’s nerves, especially since whenever that silence happened to be broken, a snarky comment was slung with the intent similar to a hand grenade. He replied, “I’m just exploring a theory in my head. It’s like a puzzle I can’t put together because all of the pieces didn’t make it into the box. It‘s kind of making my ass itch.”

Louis eased himself further into the passenger’s side seat and stuck his knees against the dashboard as he pulled his uniform cap further down on his forehead.

He replied, “Catching speeders in a town that’s as busy as a polka concert parking lot is about as interesting as watching grass grow. Entertain me.”

Travis turned his eyes to his window with a smile painted on his face and watched the street, holding his laser scanner like a pricing device in a grocery store. He said, “I think Mayor Bradley is involved in some kind of trouble. Two people that worked for him died yesterday. My gut’s going ape shit trying to digest that it was all just happenstance and that the toad is squeaky clean.”

“Well you know that some of us Collie folk think Bradley shouldn’t have won that last election. We all thought Dean Connor was going to win since the vote was in his favor for most of the run.”

Travis felt his face scrunch as his brain tried to recall the election that had taken place just after Cory had healed up from the encounter she’d had with a bullet and a psychopath tag team duo. There had been a lot going on then, and politics wasn’t one of his favorite things to pay attention to. He could recall that there had been some commotion involving the vote count and who should have become the mayor of Collie, though the reason it hadn’t become a big thing was that Bradley had been mayor for the past five years and one more year added to his reign couldn’t make that much of a difference. He believed the only people who had really cared about the vote were the people backing Connor, though as he remembered, the conjecture died down almost immediately after it was a done deal for Bradley.

Travis asked, “Why would anyone want to remain mayor of a small town?”

Louis shrugged as his eyes began to close. It was obvious that if he had his way, he was going to leave the speeders to Travis and exercise his ability to count sheep. He replied lazily, “The money isn’t that great, but there are businesses that are owned by the town of Collie and there’s a lot of contracts that come through from Hadley. The town council runs most of it, but whoever is mayor decides where that money goes and how much winds up in which pocket. That mansion Bradley owns wasn’t cheap, just as that car he drives wasn’t a gift from his momma. I bet Bradley wants to stay mayor because his broad poop chute is mighty comfortable from that throne he thinks he’s sitting on.”

Travis had to admit that while Louis hadn’t put it too eloquently, the idea that Bradley would do whatever he could to keep himself in office wasn’t that farfetched. Though, there wouldn’t be a way in hell that he’d be able to prove that two people who’d suffered heart attacks on the same day were murdered because of some fat baby trying to keep suckling on the preverbal teat.

He sighed, “This is ridiculous. It makes me wonder why I’m bothering to waste all my brain cells trying to make sense of it.”

Louis chuckled underneath his hat. “It’s the kind of man you are, brother. You see a problem, you want to fix it. You smell crap and you go looking for the steam. You got a hunch something dirty is going down, man, you know you gotta find out what it is.”

Louis said. “Besides, if you can get something nasty on that butter dish Bradley, then let me in on it. I’d pay to see him get knocked off his tall donkey.”

********

The motel wasn’t as posh as she was used to; in fact it was pretty close to being a hole in the wall dug out by giant rats. The place was located at the edge of town going in the opposite direction of her father’s estate, and as long as it had running water and a bed, she’d fork out the thirty dollars a night it would take to stay. However, and Abby shivered when she thought this, if the room she rented had just one cockroach in it, she was running for the woods.

It wasn’t the best idea in the world, and Abby assumed that bad ideas were just in the air for her, but she’d rather die than be caught peeing on a stick in her father’s house. There just wasn’t another place she thought was safe. As she stepped inside of her room for the first time and got a look at the green comforters and pale yellow curtains covered in cigarette burns from people who couldn’t read the non-smoking signs, she wished she’d had better options. Still, the sooner she got what she’d come here to do over with, the sooner she’d be able to get home and forget she’d need such a place as the ‘Budget Inn’ for shelter.

Abby had locked her car and brought in her purse, the test stuffed inside of the biggest pocket. She pulled the little box out and tossed her purse on the bed as she headed straight for the bathroom. At least, the room was clean and devoid of the horrors a shack like this could have in it, and once she wrangled the test from the box and gave a quick read over the instructions (which she would have found hilarious
given a different circumstance) she made a wish and did the deed.

The three minutes it would take for the test to tell her what she wanted to know felt like the longest three minutes in her life. Abby tried counting the pale flowers that ran up the bathroom walls, though once she got to fifty, she gave up and let her thoughts take over. She realized that this was her punishment for not taking better consideration of her physical relationship with Travis, and for overlooking the consequences that came along with that lack of consideration. All her life, she’d been taught that the worst possible outcome of sex was pregnancy, that even an STD was better than making a baby. Her father would have a heart attack or worse when he found out that she’d even had to buy the test in the first place, and given his behavior of the night before, the heart attack would be the best reaction she could hope for.

If there was a moment, regardless of the situation or the reaction, that she’d want Travis to be with her, it would be now as she waited for that stupid test to develop. He should be here in this ratty place, holding her to his warm body as he told her that everything was going to be all right. It sucked that he didn’t even have the first clue of the stomach churning anxiety she was experiencing which had been flavored ever so delicately with body-numbing fear.

She loved Travis, she really did, and she wanted to reach out to him whenever she needed to. The fact that all she could reach for was empty space that made her heart squeeze in pain.

Abby forced herself to look down at her watch and to gauge how long she’d been wallowing. It had been over five minutes since she’d planted her test on the counter to dry. Inhaling, and because if she didn’t make herself do it she’d stop breathing all together, she commanded her hand to pick up the test and to place it in her line of sight.

As soon as her eyes focused, she laid her eyes on the symbol of her fate. The shape of a plus sign
stared up at her, its meaning rock solid and irreversible.

Travis stood outside of Marshal Bradley’s home, his mind going over how he’d decided to question the man. He didn’t have a shred of proof, not even as much as an inkling of evidence that could link the man with what he suspected him of doing. If he had evidence, he’d have gathered a posse and come calling on the mayor with more to him than a badge and a sidearm. As it was, he’d left his handcuffs back in the cab of his four door.

What he wanted, what he thought would get him off of the weird feeling in his gut that wouldn’t let his brain leave the whole matter alone, was to see how Bradley reacted when he implied he knew Bradley was guilty of something sinister. At least, and he had to keep telling himself this, if anything, he could sleep better at night knowing that he’d exhausted the possibility of two innocent people meeting their ends early. He was a man after all, and men did what they could to help those who could not help themselves and to adhere to the duties they were responsible for carrying out. His father would roll over in his grave if he didn’t have the stones to follow his gut, especially if there was even the remote chance he was right. A large part of his heart, the part consumed with Abigail’s happiness, hoped for just that. He wished like mad that he was wrong.

Travis wasn’t lucky enough to have the pleasure of waiting outside for Bradley to come down to his front door to humor him. No, as he’d made his way up the long gravel drive from the street, Bradley was already outside of his house, his thick arms wrapped around his midsection, his glazed eyes glittering with distaste. He could sense the impending explosion and still, he continued to walk. It was a rare occurrence when he changed his mind, and this wasn’t going to go the way Bradley wanted it to go.

“Hey, how are you doing, Mayor?”

Bradley’s frown creased his face like the spine of a worn book. “Save it, Deputy Harper. I don’t have the time to entertain you, I’m afraid. I think it would be a better idea for you to just leave. In fact, it would be the best idea of your life if you would just leave Collie altogether. Find another woman to please yourself with while you’re at it.”

Travis smirked as he came within a foot of Bradley and his pompous porch. He said, “This isn’t a social call, Mayor Bradley. I’m here to ask you a few questions, and either you can answer them here, or I can drag you down to the station house and have you sit in a chair for a few hours before I make you answer them.”

It was an empty threat, but Travis patted himself on the back knowing that Bradley had no way of knowing that fact. Probably.

“Please, enlighten me on whatever it is that has you so curious. I’d have you remember that I can make your life unpleasant enough to reconsider accusing me of some crime.”

“Did you know that two of your employees died yesterday?”

Mayor Bradley’s face ran a rainbow of emotions, flickering briefly but never deciding on what to stay decided on. Eventually, when the man answered, he settled on apathy. “I did know, but their loss is to their family not to my income. Does the question have a point to it?”

I was wondering what you thought of the fact that they both died of heart attacks, though neither of them had medical conditions that would have caused it. Does that seem shady to you?”

Bradley’s eyes turned a color of milky blue that reminded Travis of spoiled milk. They seemed to be so thickly shadowed that nothing, not even hatred, would have been seen peering out from them. Bradley answered, his voice robotically flat, “Are you accusing me of murdering them?”

Travis lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything about you being a murderer, but now that you mention it,
did
you kill them?”

The laughter that issued from Marshal Bradley’s voice sent a warning chill down Travis’ spine. He wished he’d headed into this situation with a better thought out plan, especially when Bradley stopped laughing and answered icily, “What if I did? What would you do about it, you insignificant insect? There’s no evidence.” Bradley’s face shaded further as he added, “And if you keep poking your nose into things that don’t concern you, you’ll have more to worry about than getting your hopelessly thin questions answered.”

Travis blinked, not quite certain that he’d heard what he thought he heard. Did Bradley just confess to killing Maudette and Roger? He lifted his chin. “The one thing that gets me is the reason you had for killing them. It couldn’t possibly be that you wanted to keep it secret that you bribed the town council into keeping you in office. What a ridiculous motive.”

Bradley’s face contorted. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Running around with my daughter, turning her into a whore. You think you have it all figured out. I’d be careful if I were you.”

There was more than a threat implied in Bradley’s voice, more than a father concerned for his daughter’s reputation. Travis had a mind to tell the man just what he thought of him or of just how much he was tired of playing hide the relationship, though judging by the way Bradley’s veins were popping out of his forehead, he’d wager he’d dilapidated his opportunity. He turned to head back down the drive, though before he walked off, he decided he’d have the last word.

“Have a good evening, Marshal.”

********

Abby didn’t know what she was thinking as she sat on Travis’ sofa, but the television program that flickered on the screen in front of her offered her a pleasant distraction as she stuffed her mouth with popcorn. It tasted like the best popcorn on the planet and she wanted to cry at how comfortable in Travis’ house she felt. She knew she didn’t want to go home to her father‘s castle, and that regardless of the thirty dollars she’d forked over to take her test in a shabby hotel that she couldn’t spend the night there either. The thought of the kind of creepy crawlies that might be wandering all over those commercial bed sheets had her skin considering leaving the flesh it was attached to. There wouldn’t be a shower on the face of the planet that could wash that kind of gross off of her.

She heard the lock at Travis’ front door snick and then it opened ever so slightly. Her eyes met Travis’ expression, which was a cute mix of surprise and pleased curiosity spiced with a slight dash of irritated annoyance.

She said, “You’re not mad, are you? I found the key you keep under your welcome mat.”

She nervously reached inside of her bag of popcorn stuck more of the salty stuff into her mouth.

Travis, his uniform fitting his body in a way it didn’t have a right to, leaned against his front door as it closed behind him, his lean muscular arms folding over his chest in characteristic fashion. He smelled like work and heat, but not in a way she found offensive. A slight waft of his aftershave tickled her nose and she inhaled it, greedy for all of it there was to have.

He answered her, “No, but you could have called me. I know you have a cell phone.”

Abby patted the empty space next to her on the couch and let her eyes plead with Travis to join her. He moved, exhaling a sigh as he ungracefully plopped down next to her. As if on cue, his feet rose and planted themselves on his coffee table.

“Travi
s
”

“I have something to say first. I think I should get this out before I choose that it would be better for you if you don’t know about it.”

Abby had been on the verge of wrapping her arms around Travis so that she could nestle her body against his, but as soon as he interrupted her, her whole body stiffened in fear. Since the moment she’d realized she cared about Travis, since the second she understood that she didn’t want to let him go and that he belonged to her, she had the fear that he would eventually tire of her and set her next to the curb where all the other discarded females congregated.

“You can’t break up with me, I won’t let you. Don’t you dare tell me you don’t want me anymore.” She realized she was crying only when she heard the crack in her voice as it hitched in the back of her throat. After the day she’d had, this was something she couldn’t handle.

Travis turned the top half of his torso toward Abby and gently placed both of his hands on her shoulders. “There’s not a chance in hell of that happening, Abs.”

Abby frowned, feeling confusion cloud her thoughts. “Then what are you being so serious about?” She waited half a beat and then added, “Know what, let’s just not talk about it for now. I don’t think I can take anymore.”

Travis smiled and leaned forward and kissed Abby lightly on the lips. “It’s been that kind of day for both of us then.”

Abby had sat in Travis’ home going through how she would tell him that he was going to be a father, but looking into his face and feeling the heat of the moment, all of her ideas and well intentions went right through the window. She told herself that early pregnancy tests were often wrong, and that before she went and changed the nature of her relationship with a good man, that she ought to be sure. That, and looking at Travis’ handsome face made thinking difficult, period. The whole of her body reached out to him.

Travis pushed Abby’s shoulders until her back was resting comfortably on the couch. She lifted a leg and let it rest on his waist as he let his eyes roam over her. She was still wearing her nurse’s scrubs, and he’d always thought that the floral pattern made her look delicately feminine. So many other times, Abby dressed to kill, to flaunt her natural attributes, but it was when she was dressed like this that he found her the most attractive. She wasn’t trying to impress, she just was, and she looked incredibly soft and fragile and delicious.

He rest the flat of his palm on her knee and while he was staring down at her, her face placid and so innocent peering up at him, he had a moment where his heart bypassed his brain. “I love you.”

Abby had once thought that Travis was the kind of man that would spout flowery words at a woman so that she would let down her defenses and allow him in through the gates, but during the course of their relationship, he had never once thrown a term of endearment around lightly. He might have been the type to love and leave, but he had changed his ways with her. She hadn’t expected to hear him say anything remotely close to the ‘L’ word, but as her brain absorbed the information, she was stunned to silence.

“Abby?”

Abby felt a grin crack her face and she used her arms to push herself upwards from her rested position so that she could be level with Travis. Instead of tossing the words back to him, he let her lips glide over his as her hand twisted in his hair. Whatever tomorrow looked like, right now was all that mattered. She would show him with her body just how much she loved him. It was all she had, s
ince she didn’t have the words.

********

Travis opened his eyes, feeling as rested as a man could be after the exercise he’d gotten the night before. He took a moment to familiarize himself with his surroundings and discovered that at some point, as Abby’s limbs entwined around him, that they had ended up in his bedroom. Abby’s discarded clothing trailed out into the living room and he smiled. He moved his hand and discovered that she was sleeping peacefully next to him, her soft breaths fluttering the pillow case against her face.

He sat up, found his pants and pulled them on, thinking that he should make some coffee before Abby woke up. The girl was one of the nicest women he’d ever known, but in the morning without a little caffeine, she was like a bellowing bull and charged anything that got in her way until she was given the heated liquid. In a way, it was endearing.

He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, too concerned with getting as much of Abby’s sleeping form as his eyes could take in, so he wasn’t too aware when the first of the punches that struck him hit his face and sent him stumbling to the floor.

The world upended and didn’t make sense. How had he gotten to the floor and why did his face hurt? Travis tried righting himself, tried to get back to his feet as a matter of reflex, but then something struck against his midsection and the air in his lungs was forced through his mouth like a popped air balloon. The thought occurred to him to fight back, that someone had gotten into his house and was now attempting to better him and succeeding. He knew
how to defend himself, knew how to take a blow and counter, but all he could think about was Abby and how defenseless she was and what he wasn’t doing to protect her, even as a second and third blow rammed into his ribs and robbed him of the ability to inhale. He was on the floor permanently now, and he knew this because the carpet was against his face, scratching against his skin in a desperate attempt to keep him from losing consciousness.