The Perfect Scream (24 page)

He looked down at the patient and said, “Mr. Cole, tomorrow you and I are going to actually speak.” He thought he noticed a slight smile on the man’s face. He hoped the conversation wouldn’t be the man’s last words.

I
t was still early in the evening and Lynn had a good idea where this young man would be. These fraternity members had proved to be extremely predictable. She was too close to stop now, even if the cops looked like they had an idea of what was happening. She sat alone at a high-top table next to the bar, sipping on a glass of red wine and enjoying the relaxed feeling of knowing she’d be done soon. Lynn had her unused Buck knife in her purse. With all the work she’d put into learning how to use it, she couldn’t leave it unbloody. Even if it looked like the police were starting to put things together and maybe her efforts to conceal herself weren’t as good as she’d thought.

The young man walked out of the restroom and across the nearly empty bar floor and plopped back down in a seat at the table between his two friends. He was shorter than most of the fraternity brothers, with dark hair and the circles under his eyes like a student who worked too hard and slept too little. From her surveillance work, she got the idea that he didn’t party nearly as much as the other brothers. But she’d been told he had been there that night and hadn’t helped her brother when he’d needed it most. Having grown up in a household that was told to be secretive so no one would ever figure out exactly what her father did for a living, Lynn was impressed all these boys could keep their mouths shut for so long. And she had used that to her advantage.

She’d already decided that when she was done here she’d deal with Alan Cole. One short trip to Daytona and everything would be done. She could get on with her life and maybe her parents could too.

But first she intended to plunge the three-inch blade of the Buck knife into Bobby Hollis’s neck.

 

 

 

Stallings still felt uncomfortable taking Patty with him when he intended to step so far outside the JSO investigative guidelines. But she had persisted and pointed out the fact that they were partners and he did trust her completely. Looking back on his sixteen years with the sheriff’s office and all the partners he’d had from road patrol through homicide, Patty was the best. She was head and shoulders above most other partners. He had learned early in his career, when Rita Hester patrolled the streets of Arlington with him, that gender had no bearing on being a good partner. The lieutenant of the D-bureau had backed him up in any situation and never talked about anything they did. That’s why he had a hard time getting anything past her now. Not only did she know all the tricks, she knew how far he was willing to go to solve the case.

His other issue taking Patty on some of these authorized assignments was that he did not want to hurt her chances of promotion. He didn’t want her tainted with the accusation of undue force or lying to a superior officer. Stallings was willing to take on those stigmas if it helped him catch a killer or find a missing child, but he didn’t want Patty’s ruined career on his conscience as well.

Stallings drove through the huge parking lot of the apartment complex that housed the fraternities serving all the universities of the area. Loud music came from a dozen different doors in every building and kids were everywhere on the property, drinking beers or tossing footballs. And this was a weeknight.

Patty said, “He has a Dodge Neon registered to him. I haven’t seen it in the lot.”

“Do we want to just barge into the house and ask where he is or keep things a little more covert?”

“Do we have time to stay covert?”

Stallings smiled because he realized Patty was thinking more and more like him. “Not only do we not have time, I intend to scare this fraternity geek so bad that he won’t hold back anything. He’ll have nightmares about this conversation years from now.” He caught Patty’s smile at his comments.

Stallings pulled his Impala across a sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the building where the Tau Upsilon fraternity clubhouse was located. They walked through the front door and saw three young men playing pool in the corner of the empty room.

The boys didn’t even ask who they were. Stallings was sure Patty was a legend among the fraternity for the way she’d handled the smart-aleck boy out on the beach the first day of the investigation. Stallings said, “Is Bobby Hollis around?”

The three boys looked at each other, trying to decide if they should speak with the detectives.

Stallings didn’t raise his voice, keeping it even but putting an edge on it when he said, “I need to talk to Bobby Hollis right . . . now.” Just putting a pause between
right
and
now
made all three boys scramble to speak first.

The tallest of the three boys said, “I saw him leave about an hour ago.”

Stallings snapped, “What’s his cell number?”

 

 

 

Lynn felt an edge of excitement sweep through her body as she saw Bobby Hollis stand and wave good-bye to his friends. She had sensed he was getting ready to leave for some time and had paid for her drinks. As soon as he stepped away from the table she slipped off the stool and headed out the door in front of him.

She was surprised by how much the temperature had dropped outside. It sent shivers through her as she dug in her purse for the Buck knife. The parking lot was half full of cars, but there was no one outside right now. She saw Bobby’s green Dodge Neon at the far end of the parking lot. Her Nissan was about three cars away. That would be the perfect place to wait and call him over like she was having car trouble of some kind. She could picture what it’d be like to send the knife straight up into his neck and pull it out in a slashing motion as he flopped onto the ground like a fish out of water and blood turned the white sand and gravel of the parking lot a tacky red.

She hustled over to her car and unlocked the door. Moisture clung to her blouse as she waited longer than she’d expected. She should’ve learned that all fraternity brothers take a long time to say good-bye to each other.

Finally, she saw the front door to the bar open and Bobby Hollis walk out. He pulled his sweatshirt over his head. He didn’t even look around the parking lot as he stepped out from the overhang that covered the front door to the bar.

Lynn leaned against her car like she’d had too much to drink and grasped the open knife in her right hand, shielding it from Bobby’s view with her body.

 

 

 

Bobby Hollis conducted his own personal sobriety test that the fraternity had developed. He stood erect and lifted his left foot so he had to balance on his right foot. Then he said the alphabet slowly and clearly. He’d only had four beers, but he couldn’t afford a DUI on his record. He would graduate this year and the job market was already too competitive. He didn’t need some manager at Smith Barney or even Charles Schwab—if all else went wrong—to have to worry about hiring someone who drank too much and got stopped by the cops.

He looked at parking lot to remember exactly where he had parked his car. The first thing he intended to do once he was in the working world was to get rid of that piece of shit and buy something with a little style—maybe not a BMW, but at least not the absolute bottom-of-the-line, basic-transportation American car. He had looked at the Mini Cooper, but was now leaning toward a Nissan Z car.

He felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket. He didn’t recognize the number, so he didn’t answer.

He took a deep breath of Jacksonville’s night air and noticed a woman who looked like she might be drunk leaning against a car near his. He wondered if he should offer his help.

 

 

 

Stallings didn’t leave a message on Bobby Hollis’s phone. Instead, he looked at the three boys staring at him from the pool table and said, “One of you give me your phone.”

The boy who had been speaking with them said, “What?”

“I said give me a phone. Bobby didn’t answer and it might be because he didn’t recognize my phone number.” He snapped his fingers to speed them to action.

The boy said, “I’ll call him.” He dug a BlackBerry out of his pocket.

Stallings said, “You can dial, then hand the phone to me.”

The boy did exactly as he was directed.

 

 

 

Lynn’s heart rate increased as Bobby Hollis walked closer and closer. His gaze switched from the Dodge Neon to her. She could tell he was debating whether to walk over and see if he could help her get into the car. She yanked on the door handle with her left hand making it seemed like there was a problem. She still had the knife hidden in her right hand. Once he turned and stepped between her car and the pickup truck parked next to her, she didn’t intend to hesitate. She would turn and face him and before he realized what was happening she’d have the knife rising in a deadly arc.

He stopped in the parking lot not far from her car and turned slightly toward her. Lynn heard a familiar song but couldn’t place it. It wasn’t until he reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone she realized it was a ringtone. He stopped where he was and started talking on the phone.

S
tallings heard a voice on the phone say, “Hey, Chucky.”

Stallings said, “Bobby, is that you?”

There was a hesitation; then he said, “Yeah, it’s Bobby. Who’s this?”

“Bobby, this is Detective John Stallings from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. We spoke a couple of times.”

“I, I remember you, sir.”

Stallings was satisfied the boy’s stammer indicated how terrified he already was. “I need to speak with you.”

“Okay.” It was hesitant at best.

“I need to speak with you tonight. I’m over at your fraternity house now.”

There was a long pause, and then Bobby said, “I, um, didn’t plan to be home until late.”

“How late?”

“Sometime after midnight.”

Stallings didn’t like the way this conversation was headed. He could tell the boy was scared of something and may be hard to pin down if Stallings went looking for him. He needed a few minutes to think.

Stallings was silent longer than he meant to be and Bobby said, “Do I need to speak to an attorney?”

“Why would you need to speak to an attorney? I was looking for one of your missing fraternity brothers and asking a few questions about some unusual deaths. Why are you so hesitant to talk to me?”

“I’m not hesitant. I’m just busy. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

The phone line went dead.

 

 

 

Lynn considered stepping away from her car and surprising him while he spoke on his phone. She was anxious to get this done. He turned and faced the building while he spoke on the phone. Bobby sounded scared. She set her purse on the ground and took three steps to the very front of her car. She was now about ten feet away from Bobby Hollis, who was facing the other direction.

She tightened her grip on the knife, ready to spring forward. Now she knew what a great white shark felt like when he saw a seal right in front of him. It would be so easy to plunge the knife into his exposed neck.

 

 

 

Stallings was frustrated and whipped the BlackBerry back to the kid with more force than he’d intended. He looked at Patty, then over to the boys, and said, “Where was he going tonight?”

No one answered.

This time Stallings slammed his hand down on the pool table, grabbed a nine ball, and slammed it into some loose balls at the other end of the table. “This isn’t a game, fellas. I need to speak to Bobby Hollis tonight. Now where the fuck is he?”

One of the boys blurted out, “He’s over at the J Tavern, off University.”

Stallings looked at Patty.

She said, “Call me when you see him over there. I’ll wait here with this nice young man to make sure no one calls him and warns him. Then I’m quite certain one of them would be nice enough to give me a ride over there.” She turned her laser-like eyes on the boys and said, “Isn’t that right?”

All three boys nodded their heads vigorously.

 

 

 

Bobby Hollis tucked his phone back into his pocket and hesitated in the open parking lot of the J Tavern. He could feel just a mist of rain start. He had intended to head back to his apartment, but the call from the cop had spooked him. He forgot all about the woman at the car and started to walk back toward the Tavern for another beer with his friends.

He knew the cops would catch up to him eventually. He had no idea how much he should disclose. Kyle Lee had told them all to hang tough and keep quiet. He didn’t want to be the one who broke and got everyone in trouble. On the other hand he didn’t want to be one of the ones who ended up dead. No one said anything about the curse, but everyone knew it was somehow related to that night two years ago. He couldn’t believe no one had ever put it together before. It was no secret their party was the biggest in the city on Halloween.

He had a lump in his stomach that made him feel like he might vomit. He took a quick look around the parking lot and noticed the woman was closer to him. He didn’t want to turn around and spew right in front of her.

He knew he had to stay here at least for another hour or two. He could figure out what to do tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.

 

 

 

Stallings knew the bar the boys were talking about. It was only five minutes from the apartment complex. There was almost no traffic on the roads and the falling temperature and rising moisture created a wintry effect on his windshield. It had only snowed in Jacksonville a couple of times since he was a kid. But it always seemed to be cool and clammy during December and January. This was the kind of night he used to love to light the fireplace and sit with the kids playing a board game. He wondered what was going on at his house tonight. He could picture Maria in one of her pretty nightgowns, watching a movie with Charlie. Then he thought of what Grace told him to do. He had to focus on this case before he could focus on anything else. She was right. He pressed the gas on his Impala a little harder and switched on the blue light after the turn on University.

Bobby Hollis was going to talk no matter what Stallings had to do to make it happen.

Lynn looked at the young man standing in the middle of the parking lot and wondered if he was so drunk he was disoriented. He just stood there, motionless, facing the bar.

Her eyes scanned the parking lot. Amazingly it was still empty. There didn’t seem to be any cars on either of the streets next to the bar. It had to be a sign that it was time to move and move decisively.

As she was about to spring on him, Bobby turned slightly and looked at her, then looked across the entire parking lot. He wobbled on his feet. She thought he might be about to vomit.

It was time to move.

Then Bobby took one hesitant step away from her. And another. And another until he was walking in a relatively straight line back to the building. She hesitated just long enough for him to get out of her range.

Damn it.

Now she would have to wait until he came out again.