What Lies in the Dark (25 page)

He had burnt his place after her, just in case they decided to search again. He really missed that place, it was so beautifully hidden and there were plenty of areas in that wood for disposing of the decomposing. But he had to burn
it, it was too risky now if anyone went for a second look in the woods.

“Her name is Ebony Jackson. She was seventeen. She has a record for assault and is currently suspended from school. It is too early to say if this is the same suspect as our serial killer as there was no number on her hand.”

Bullface is feeling a little nervous. Had this kill been prompted by their news announcement? Is it confirmation that they had picked the right area? Did a girl die today because of her? No, she has to focus. If this was an attack because of the announcement then the killer must know he is running out of time. They need to be out there, before he picks another girl. They need to be ready.

He just can’t see how they had figured out his home area. Where has he slipped up? What gave him away? He doesn’t want to stop now. He is enjoying himself so much. He has seen how crazy the city is becoming, how paranoid and he wants to see how far he can push them. Just how stupid and reckless they can be. There is still time to do that. They haven’t found him yet and until his face is blasted on every television in the city, he has time, plenty of time to make an impact. To prove he is still better than them.

The house will have to go now, there is too much evidence secreted away inside. Then there is the little matter of his wife. She has been sleeping peacefully upstairs since he heard the DNA announcement. Soon, people will notice she is missing. Where is he to hide now? People will take one look at his face and start asking questions. If he hides out in this house for a little while longer, he will be trapped. It is best to disappear and then decide on a next move. Just in case people are watching his house, like he has been watching theirs.

He packs a rucksack, a spare change of clothes, some more nice sharp toys, as much food as he can carry and then his tent and sleeping bag. Not forgetting some antiseptic and
plasters, no guessing what that skank might have had in her nails. Ready to go out into the cold.

How is best to do this? Should he pour accelerant? The police will definitely start looking for him if they suspect arson. A burnt house, dead wife and missing husband? Wasn’t going to take a genius on this one, but then if he tried to make it look like an accident, he would risk certain things like his bloody but bleached clothes being found. He doesn’t want to destroy his souvenirs either. Could he risk carrying the camera and his keepsakes? Should he bury them somewhere safe? A freshly dug patch in the garden wasn’t going to arouse any suspicion was it? They are going to suspect him sooner or later anyway, why not just spell it out to these idiots exactly what he has done, how great he was? Start a fire but leave his photos out in a safe place.

They are going to suspect him as soon as they find Brandi anyway. He had to kill her, bitch had mumbled on the way home about how she had changed her mind and she was so scared. She had told him her whole plan about how she wanted to capture him and be a hero. He thought he was pushing his luck killing her but just couldn’t resist such an easy kill. She had practically given herself to him. He thought by the time her body was found, no one would know exactly how long she had been dead … well, if Jennifer Taylor puts two and two together they will suspect him. He would have got away with it for a long time, had they not guessed his area. Even if they had brought him in for questioning as a witness, one DNA swab as a precaution – damn. As a witness he will say he walked her home and left her there, but thought she was going to go back out again. He will say that when he walked her home, she had talked about how determined she was to be the hero. Say she had been alive and looking to go back out again. He could get away with that, until they noticed his home address and asked for a DNA sample, just to be sure. He could talk his way out of a lot of things but not DNA evidence.

Would the others suspect him when they heard about Brandi? No one had seen him with her except Jennifer, briefly. Maybe Jennifer wouldn’t remember because of Jack.
She might have been too distracted and distraught to remember sending him home with her. He thought Jack suspected him a little, he thought Jack would be fun to play with as well. He had all these plans about sending him photos of Adelina, just to see what would happen. Jack was easy to push, easy to manipulate. It took one little whisper, one little rumour and boom, Jack was running after the Krill. It had just been so easy. He would have loved to see Jack’s reaction when he found out he had happily patrolled alongside the man who had killed his wife. Robbie’s and Jennifer’s reaction as well. This would crush them. Crush them completely. He had planned to meet Jennifer tomorrow but it was too risky now. Had planned to have so much fun with her. Maybe he should still make that meeting, but, as soon as she saw his face, she would start asking questions. What to do, what to do, what to do?

Stay here for one more night, he decides, no one suspects him yet. He can have a good night’s sleep. See how bad his face looks in the morning.

Joe wakes up feeling refreshed. Last night he had been too paranoid. Too much reminiscing about the good times, he needs to plan now. Think carefully. He wishes he knew how much the police knew. How much evidence did they really have? They have his knife, he knows that much. They have his DNA, yes, but not anything to match it against. Nothing in their records would say this DNA belongs to Joe. They have a start but they still don’t know who they are looking for. They don’t have as much as a name or a face.

What had he been about to do last night? Burn down his house – a big glaring beacon in the darkness, screaming investigate me, investigate me! That was a smart idea, wasn’t it? No, they hadn’t found that Brandi girl yet, it could take them a while to find her, it might take them a while to find his wife as well. Just leave her upstairs in the bedroom and lock the doors. Maybe they will even think it was someone else who attacked her, for a while. If they found her a lot later, then she might be too decomposed for them to figure out what really happened. He could say they had a fight and he left her. Left her alive. Challenge them to prove otherwise. He still had a while before the DNA deadline, over two weeks. Maybe no one will look in his house until then. Depends how worried they got at work. How long it took to notice they were missing. It wasn’t safe to stay in the house much longer, but they hadn’t found him yet.

What options did he have?

He could go and live in John Roberts’ house. He knows it is empty now, who would think to look there? But then, there was a nosey busybody living opposite, she would notice if someone moved in across the road. She would be watching. He could kill her and they would probably blame that kid. But then if the house is still under surveillance or if they look in the house for evidence then it’s game over.

Either he ends it now (the pussy way out), sets fire to the house and stays inside. Or he kills as many people as he
can, before they catch him or he moves to another city and starts again, moving from city to city. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

When Mr Mitchell comes home, he finds a
Sorry to have missed you
notice at his feet, along with a small pile of post. Elizabeth didn’t say she was going anywhere. The answerphone has four new messages. He walks into the kitchen, to check if she has left him a note and finds her still sitting in the corner. Where he had left her this morning, breakfast plate and tea cup still in front of her. Mr Mitchell is astounded to see his normally rational, steel-nerved wife shaking. By Tuesday morning he puts the house up for sale and starts to move their belongings into storage. He is determined his wife will not live the rest of her life in fear.

John Roberts never gets his revenge, he fantasises about it a thousand times but just never quite gets round to it.

He has lit the flame. It is time to add the kindling.

The best place to start would be with her. That woman he has always hated, from the moment he met her. Hated her stern face, hated her for looking like his mother, hated her monotone voice, hated it all! Yes, the best time to get her is now, before they know who he is. Get in the first strike.

He needs to think this through carefully. How will he lure her? She has never been one for charms and compliments. Also, he needs to plan for after her, when she is dead, he needs to have the next move ready. Hit them as fast and as frequently as he can.

“Hey Jen, sorry lead was no good. Not going to be able to meet 2day. Wife sick. Hope you OK.”

Brandi Parr was a fan of floral wallpaper and lace, Bullface notes. The garish colours are making her feel a little nauseated. A few days of decomposition and dried blood spatters don’t faze her any more but bad decorating does.

“We received a call earlier. Apparently one of her neighbours noticed the smell. Not sure which neighbour, but I have got four officers going around, interviewing them. She has been dead between three and five days.”

She had been beaten badly, worse than Adelina and Shannon. The splatters and the bloody gag indicate that, for the first time, he had attacked someone in their own home. This one had died before Ebony Jackson, they were certain of that. Brandi had the number 42 cut deep into her left hand, almost cut to the bone like Rosie’s number 40 had been. They had missed 41 somewhere and Ebony would have been 43… or higher.

There is nothing left for her to do here. The investigators will take a long time going over the rooms, so much to dust and photograph. Only thing Bullface can do is talk to Brandi’s family.

She leaves the apartment. Outside, the chill winter air feels refreshing, she takes a deep breath before unlocking her car and climbing in. As she reaches for the seatbelt, the rear passenger door quickly opens and closes. Before she can react, a sharp blade is pushed against her throat.

“Drive bitch.”

Obediently she starts the engine.

“Bet you can guess who I am.” She looks in her rear view mirror, recognises Joe immediately.

“I called in this one knowing you would come. I have been waiting for you,” he boasts. “You know the way to the woods by now, don’t you?” He has big plans. Once he has done with her, he will use her phone to lure Fletcher to the woods. Then maybe Jennifer or Robbie, or both. Probably both. He is still better than them, he can take them all, one person at a time. Maybe he will kill the entire city, before moving on. Maybe he can invade them forever. He is smart, he knows how to stay ahead. He can change his name. His face will heal. He can still be the greatest serial killer ever.

Bullface thinks about how badly Brandi had been brutalised and accelerates a little. Not enough for him to notice.

“So Bullface.” He adores using that hated nickname. No answer. No matter. He will make her talk soon enough. Make her scream and beg.

Victoria Bullrush has seen enough victims to know what he is going to do to her. Going to the woods will mean enduring the same torture as Shannon Leona. She can’t see a way out of this, it either ends here or it ends there. The minute she stops the car then it is over. She isn’t a fool. He has a knife, strength and the upper hand. She has the steering wheel. She thinks of Fletcher blaming himself for letting the killer go. This man has been his friend, had been one of his groomsmen. He had been Robbie’s friend too. He had taken everything, the lives of so many women, innocent women. She has to do something. She cannot bear to see anyone else die now. There is only one other thing she can do.

Had he really thought that she was a coward? That she isn’t afraid to do something reckless, knowing she is going to die either way? Had he really thought she would be afraid? She accelerates, pushing the car to its limits as he makes empty threats from the back seat. Seatbelt still unbuckled. Her last thoughts are of Pippa as the car hits the wall.

It is her job to keep the criminals off the street - one way or another.

2 Marie Eine

4 Abbie

6 Flora Brittany

8 Joanna Reagan

10 Selena Alberta

12 Evie

14 India Corey

16 Verity Hayley

18 Eloise Rio

20 Jennifer Eden

22 Fran Lizzie Taylor

24 Siobhan Melody

26 Adelina Sasha

28 Stella McQam

30 Shannon Leona

32 Roxanne

34 Isobel Hilarie

36 Madison Allbrook

38 Kim Donaghue

40 Rosie

42 Brandi Parr

44 Ebony Jackson

Victoria Bullrush

Anita Gardner is sixteen years old and she is no longer afraid. If you ask her now, about her trip in the forest, she will laugh at her childish ways, still blissfully unaware of how close she came to victim number 8. Now she knows what a nerd Mary Taylor is and spends her time mocking her and hopes that this will make the big boys notice her.

Anita Gardner doesn’t quite look sixteen. She is at
that age now where she is trying so desperately hard to look older. Some would say seventeen, eighteen. He thinks nineteen but then he has never been that good at telling.

He says, “Hi” and suggests he buy her a drink. She is very pleased; she is dying to get her nails into some alcohol. He walks her swaying body home, the long way through the forest. As she trips on a branch, ripping her skirt slightly, she begins to remember her childhood fears and the bad things that hide in the dark … a little too late.

I would like to thank:

My lecturer Sam North and the MA Creative Writing Class of 2009 at the University of Portsmouth and my BA Classes of Creative Writing at the University of Hertfordshire 2006-9 for their suggestions and encouragements.

Hookline for making this a book.

And Marie. (Sorry, you won’t die in the next book)