Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins (7 page)

HER THUNDERBIRD WAS
visible as he pulled off the highway and onto the dirt lane. The excitement was
growing inside of him again. He parked as far away as possible from the small parking
area along the crest of the hill to keep from being heard.

Taking a small bag out of the trunk, he made his preparations.
Slowly walking to the area near her car, he looked down the sloped ground and scanned
the beach for who he was there for. His legs began shaking uncontrollably as he
saw her lying on a towel. He moved his eyes slowly from side to side, checking for
movement of any kind. The dog caught his eye running along the water line. He knew
the dog would definitely present a problem by alerting her to his presence. He turned
away knowing another opportunity was lost for now and to regain his composure. He
placed the bag back into the trunk and drove out onto the highway, unfulfilled.
He was convincing his inner self that he had been right in being careful, trying
to ease the disappointment.

“Next time, I’ll be better prepared and all will be perfect.”

“I WONDER IF
the kissing
bandit will be here tonight,” Anne thought as she pulled into the parking lot. She
had pictured herself kissing him several times during the day and as she remembered
the kiss now, she asked herself if she had liked it? Of course you liked it, and
you want more of the same came to her mind so go in and see if he’s here. She felt
like a school girl as she walked toward the bar.

“Hey there, it’s nice timing on my part.”

She turned toward the voice as he was getting out of
his car.

“I’ve been driving around hoping to time my arrival with
your usual time.”

“I was not aware that I was that predictable. As a cop,
I’m not supposed to display predictable behavior patterns.”

“Do you want to go inside or would you like to go for
a drive?”

“Let’s go inside and talk about the possibility of a
drive.”

Smiling to show his understanding of her point, he followed
her inside. Their conversation remained light and the time seemed to fly by. Anne
could feel herself becoming attracted to the man. He was attractive and very pleasant
to be with. She warned herself, slow down, you have been drinking and you know nothing
about him. Her cop instincts told her to back off, but her womanly needs said “Hurry
up.”

He felt her distant attention and asked where she was.

She apologized and said she was having a debate with
her inner self. He did not understand, but let it drop.

“Now Anne, are you up for that drive?”

“Let’s go,” she said. “You know, on second thought, let’s
go to my place.”

“Will I be safe there young lady?”

“I suspect you will be fine. Remember, I’m a member of
the city’s law enforcement. I think you’ll be safe in my hands.” She blushed at
the suggestive statement and he smiled at her and took her arm.

STEPHANIE TURNED OVER
on the towel just in time to see the top of the car pulling out, heading toward
the highway. She wondered if it had been William.

The sun had now set and for some reason he had not appeared.

Oh well, she thought. Next time, maybe. This must have
been the odd night when he decided not to take in a sunset.

Picking up her towel, she turned one last time for the
magnificent view over the horizon, called Hobo and headed for her car. Hobo ran
ahead but suddenly stopped and growled.

“You’re scaring me, boy. What do you see?”

A mother raccoon and two babies were moving along the
tree line.

“Let’s go Hobo we need to get back to the homestead.”

She opened the door and the dog jumped into the passenger
seat and sat down ready to go.

“Good boy.”

As she drove she tried to remember his features. He was
definitely handsome. His slightly graying hair gave him a distinguished look. There
was also a familiarity to him that she couldn’t put to rest. I am definitely interested
in knowing more about him. Turning on the radio, news of the death of a Senator’s
wife was dominating the airways.

“Just my luck, I move into a new area and right into
a serial killers playground.”

Switching off the news station, the Beach Boy’s “California
Girls,” came roaring into the night air. She looked at Hobo and pretended to howl
and he broke into a doggie aria. She laughed, and continued to sing along with the
surf music. Life is good, was all she could think, as she headed to town and her
room.

IT WAS DECIDED
that
Terry would follow in his car to Anne’s apartment. She was second guessing her decision
now and wished that she had gone home alone. How is this going to play out, she
wondered. How far is this going to go? You know what he is thinking. Sure, your
lonely, but come on girl, you just met this guy.

They pulled into the parking lot behind her apartment
house. Terry turned toward her and they stared at each other through their side
windows. He smiled, turned away to exit the car. Anne followed suit and they walked
together toward the rear entrance. He held the door for her and they made their
way to the elevator.

“Third floor please, sir.”

“Third floor it is,” as he pushed the requested number.
He bent over and kissed her. She responded in kind and then she knew the answer
to the questions she had asked herself. There was no turning back, this was what
he wanted and she needed.

Entering the room, they continued to exchange mutual
aggressive actions of pent up passions. Anne suddenly stopped and looked into his
eyes.

“There is one condition, before this goes any further.
You cannot get up and leave me. You are here for the night.”

“I can live with that, officer.”

She grabbed his hand and they walked into the bedroom.

The detective had just arrived home when he heard his
phone and recognized the station number. “Sanders here, I hope you are calling with
good news.”

“Hey sergeant; what’s going on that’s so urgent?” He
listened as he received news that the senator’s car had been found basically right
under the department’s noses.

“How could we have missed this; the description of the
car used by this guy matches the stolen vehicle reported by the senator. How did
those reports not match up somewhere in the department? What you’re telling me is,
that car has been sitting in a parking lot with the keys in the ignition and nobody
noticed it?”

“No, I won’t come down. I’m home for the night and nothing
is going to change that. Get someone else on it and get that car to the garage compound.
Make sure nobody sits in that car and put a fire under the lab boys to complete
their examination. We need help!” He turned and realized his son was listening to
him from the kitchen.

“Are you leaving, Dad?”

“No Tad, I’m home for the night. Let’s finish dinner
and see if your mom wants to go to a movie.”

“I’ll bet she does, can I pick the movie?”

“Yes, but I retain the right of review on any selection
you come up with. We don’t want to embarrass your mother with some old love story.”

ANNE’S EYES OPENED
and
the morning light was shining directly on her face. Without turning over, she knew
he was gone. When did he leave? Why did he leave? It angered her that he had not
lived up to their agreement. She showered, dressed, and went to retrieve her pistol
and a panic rushed through her when her holster was empty. Her first thought was
that he had taken it. She calmed remembering she had removed her weapon and secured
it with him being there in the apartment. Attaching the weapon to her belt she took
one last look in the mirror. You look younger this morning, whatever could have
caused that? Winking at her reflection, she turned and headed for the door. This
should be a good day, she thought.

After filling up with gas and buying a coffee and bagel,
she headed for the station. She turned on the news and there was continuous coverage
of the serial killings with heavy emphasis on Marie Radford, a prominent senator’s
wife. Turning to a music station, she thought,
too much news, too early for
me right now. My whole day is going to be filled with questions about this
maniac. I don’t have to listen to it while I’m enjoying a pleasant memory and a
great cup of coffee.

Pulling in next to Lon’s car she let out a profanity
then muttered;

“Lon, can’t I ever get here before you? You must live
here.”

Walking in, she was confronted with Lon’s typical morning
jab.

“You look awfully perky this morning, partner! Did you
get a lot of sleep or something and I do mean something?”

He looked into her eyes, and smiled. “You had a date,
I can tell. Tell me about it and don’t give me; the I don’t kiss and tell bit.”

Anne gave him a half-smile turned and sat down at her
desk slightly embarrassed, but pleased he had noticed. She toughened up and confronted
him.

“Forget my love life and let’s figure where we are on
the questions needing answers on this case?”

“Come on Anne, who is he? How did you meet him?”

“I think you’re jealous that I’m having a life outside
this job. You ought to try it I think it would help your disposition.” She sat back
in her chair.

“For the first time in a long time Lon, I woke up and
felt like singing. When was the last time you woke up feeling like that?”

“Okay, I give. I’ll leave you alone on the matter until
you feel like talking about it. Just one more question? Did you get lucky?”

She threw a pen at him, which he ducked relishing in
the humor of his question.

“You would love it if I described the entire evening
in complete detail, wouldn’t you?”

He smiled, nodded yes as he answered his phone, and received
a message from a lady officer on patrol.

“New information Anne, the senator’s car was located
last night. I want you to call and tell him we’ve located his stolen car and inform
him that he can pick up the Mercedes his wife was driving that night. We will hang
on to the car until it has been thoroughly examined. If he needs assistance in the
matter, volunteer the two of us to drive the wife’s car home for him. It will give
us another chance to check in on him and check his level of grief now that time
has passed. One other thing, it was bad news on the lab report. Nothing was found
to implicate your senator.”

The call was placed and it was agreed that they would
drive Mrs. Radford’s car home and he agreed to another session of questions. He
had agreed, but it had to be coordinated with his schedule.

STEPHANIE PARKED IN
her designated spot at the hospital. She fluffed her hair in the visor mirror, checked
her teeth, shrugged her shoulders and left the car. Her second week on the job and
surprisingly it was beginning to feel like home. She hoped this move would be good
for her and as soon as she found a house, her life should be normal again. She walked
through the side door of the hospital and was greeted warmly by several staff people,
but one orderly in particular, always over did his greetings with a look that made
her feel uncomfortable.

“Avoid that one,” she said to herself.

The desk nurse handed her the clip board that held her
schedule for the day. Regardless of the difficulty of her schedule she always started
her mornings by visiting two terminal patients that she had grown fond of and dropped
in to keep their spirits up. They had little or no family who spent time with them
and it gave her a warm feeling to provide them this small gesture.

As her morning rounds ended, her stomach alarm alerted
her to head down to the cafeteria. The elevator door opened and the dreaded orderly,
pushing a wheelchair patient, entered the elevator.

“Hey Doc, are you checking up on me?”

“Why, pray tell me, would I want to do that?”

The car stopped at the next level and he pushed the patient
out into the hallway, turned, smiled and said, “See you.”

She ignored him as the door slid shut. She tried to get
his arrogance out of her mind as she stepped out into the dining area. There were
quite a few hospital staff as well as visitors already seated.

“Salad today Stephanie and forget the pie, even if they
have pumpkin! Do you understand?” Her mind was saying yes, but her taste buds were
saying, “You love pumpkin pie.”

“I’ll have the house salad and the dressing on the side.
Hold the roll. I’m going to have a piece of pumpkin pie.”

There goes the new bikini for another two weeks, she
thought as she asked for whipped cream on top. Taking the tray, she walked to a
table near the windows. It’s such a beautiful day; I wonder if William, will be
there tonight. Listen to me! I called him William, like I know him.

She looked around for a friendly face and caught the
eyes of the orderly. He smiled and continued to look at her as he ate. It’s all
coincidence, she told herself. You’re going to run into men like him when you work
in the same setting like a hospital. He really has done nothing wrong; still, it
gives me the creeps when I keep running into him.

Across the room, as he stared at her he knew he liked
what he saw. He could feel her uneasiness even from that distance. I can change
that, he thought. She just needs to get to know me.