Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins (20 page)

“WELL HOBO MY
little
friend, we found it necessary to cut our trip short tonight, but I feel we made
the right decision.”

She looked again at the note and decided to show it to
the detectives the next day after her shift was completed. She hoped they would
be able to offer assistance in finding out who and why someone was leaving the notes
in her car?

She sat down in a comfortable chair and after a review
of the evening news she turned off the TV and settled back with a novel she had
been trying to get through for several weeks. She awoke two hours later changed
into her night clothes, then sat back in the chair, tucked her legs under her and
resumed her reading. Try as she might to concentrate on what she was reading her
thoughts kept returning to the man standing on the beach. She knew the detectives
would ask her if she had seen him before or was there anything unusual or familiar
about him.

“Think,” she thought. Picture him standing there on the
beach. Was anything familiar? Why was his back to her? Stop it, you have got to
let it go for tonight and let the police help straighten it out tomorrow.

ANNE WAS READY
for a
drink and an earful of friendly conversation with her favorite bartender before
cashing it in for the night. When she entered he noted her entrance and let her
know he was glad to see her.

“My favorite drop-in has returned, he said loudly drawing
the attention of several patrons at nearby tables. What will it be tonight my friend,
beer or a gin and tonic?”

“Make it the gin and tonic Johnny; and I’m glad to see
you too. You always seem to help me put my troubles away for the night?”

While she waited for his magic potion she scanned the
crowd which seemed to consist of pretty much of the regulars. As she looked around
she expected to see Terry sitting somewhere in the shadows staring at her. She caught
the stare of a man sitting alone at a table that nodded and smiled at her. She smiled
back out of politeness and turned around to greet Johnny who had returned with her
drink.

“How was your trip to the great state of Nevada, Anne?
Reno I hear can be pretty wild. Did you kick up your heels a little bit?”

“I wish, but no, not really, Johnny. For me it was all
business. My partner did a little gambling at night, but I tried to keep focused
on the reason we were there.”

Hearing laughter at the door they turned and Terry was
entering holding the hand of a very sexy lady. He spied Anne at the bar and dropping
her hand he walked over to her with the lady at his side whose eyes were asking
who is she?

“Anne this is Cassandra Jones. She is a client of mine
who is fast becoming a very good friend. We would like to have you join us for a
drink.”

“No thanks I’m having one drink and this girl’s out the
door. It was nice to meet you Miss Jones”

Johnny gave her a wink when she turned back around. “Welcome
Home, Anne,” and laughed causing her to throw a peanut at him.

“I’d like another drought please came from the end of
the bar.”

Anne turned to see who was ordering and looked into the
face of the man from the table. He was looking at her and he smiled again as if
he knew her.

Anne sensed something not right almost evil reflected
in his face. A familiar vision of him came to her mind. She knew she had seen him
before?

He continued to smile and with a nod to her he retreated
to his table.

“Another drink Anne?” interrupted her concentration.

“No thanks, I need to get out of here. I’m suffering
jet lag from the three day trip.”

A strange feeling of someone staring came over her. Turning
as she prepared to leave, she glanced over at Terry and he was deep in conversation.
Shifting her eyes further to her left, there were those eyes staring directly at
her with that obnoxious smile covering his face.

She continued to stare back as she searched her memory
for his story? I know him from somewhere recently. She shrugged it off as unimportant
and with one last wave to the bartender she walked out the door.

As if on cue, the man stood and followed her out.

“Hello detective,” he said from behind her.

His words startled Anne. Instincts put her in a defensive
mode and touched her revolver as she turned toward the voice. It was him.

“Have we met?”

“No, I happened to overhear the couple sitting at the
next table talking about you. It seems the gentleman has feelings for you.”

“We spent a few hours together, that was all there was
to it.”

“Maybe sometime when you are here and I happen to be
in town we can talk and share a drink at the bar.”

“Maybe is always the correct possibility. I never promise
anything.”

“Fair enough, detective.”

That smile again came over his face then he turned and
walked to a car parked in the street. He waved at her as he drove off. Get yourself
home and forget this guy or you’re going to have nightmares.

No matter how much she tried she could not keep his face
out of her mind.

“I know I have met him, but where?”

LYING IN HIS
bed he
was restless as sleep was a no show again. He stared at the ceiling as the fever
began rising deep inside him and in a matter of seconds he was in a state of unsatisfied
desire. The picture of his next objective appeared in his mind and would not fade
and he needed to be with her soon. He threw off the covers and stood up and paced
while the thought of going out in the darkness to find relief appeared.

“No, the time is not right,” someone or something inside
him said. He knew the voice inside his head was encouraging him to wait until the
time was right, but it was his desire on the inside that was fighting the delay.

His mind was becoming a slide show. He saw her on the
beach. He pictured her walking her dog, walking the shoreline and getting in and
out of her car. He saw her under his control and tried to imagine her reaction when
he described the times he was so near while watching her. Finally almost magically
his mind cleared and he felt the urge begin to subside. So, he felt compelled once
again to lie down and try sleeping. He dreamed of her.

THE MESSAGE ON
Lon’s
desk said, Please call, Dr. Stephanie Wearing. He went to his file and took out
the report she had filed. The name William Radford jumped out at him. He needed
to reacquaint his memory on the substance of her recently filed report before he
called her. As he began punching in the numbers, Anne walked in with her usual bag
of breakfast treats. Lon winked, and then turning to his phone, asked for Dr. Wearing.

“What’s up Lon?”

“Dr. Wearing wants to talk to us.”

“Dr. Wearing, this is Detective Sanders. You asked that
I call you.”

He stared at Anne sitting on the corner of his desk.

She felt him undressing her with his eyes. Was she blushing?

“When you get off work Doctor, give us a call. We’ll
know you’re on your way.”

He looked at Anne. “It seems the Doctor had another run
in with the note leaver.”

“Do you feel there’s a connection to our guy,” Anne queried?

“Until we know different, everything is related to him.”

Lon walked to her desk and grabbed the bag. “Let’s hit
the coffee room. I need a sugar fix.”

I need more than a sugar fix
she thought as she
walked behind him.
Too bad you’re married.

THE PASSING OF
two of
Stephanie’s terminal patients caused her day to begin in a very somber mood. She
was aware that this was always going to be a part of the profession she chose, but
it did not take away her sense of loss each time she signed a death certificate.
She made every effort to keep her mind focused on the patients that she had helped
overcome the odds and survive.

Today the anticipation of her important meeting with
the detectives was keeping her mind filled with the questions she wanted to ask
and the hope of their answers provided her with an extra boost of energy.

She found herself confronting Len several times that
morning and at each chance meeting he became a little more acceptable and she found
herself starting to like him and his crude ways that made her smile. She decided
to be very careful and keep their relationship on a professional level with a tinge
of friendship.

Later at lunch the two of them were sitting at a table
in the cafeteria and the discussion naturally turned to his diner incident with
the senator. The standing recap by Len actually brought laughter from both as well
as the people sitting close by. He described the main event of the evening and what
he would have done to the senator if not grabbed by the waiter.

Their conversation remained light and enjoyable and as
she returned to work her sullen state of mind improved. Checking in at the desk
for messages and finding none, she called and arranged her meeting with the detectives
for four o’ clock.

ANNE SAT AND
stared
across the room at Lon waiting for him to hang up the phone. His expressions seemed
overly serious which did not fit his normal personality. He slammed the phone down
hard, stood, and stared at her.

“Okay partner here’s the orders for the rest of the day
as prescribed by the big guy. Grab the files of our victims and bring your notes
on our interviews of the witnesses and follow me. We’re going to backtrack all the
way to number one and go through each again.”

She watched him walk to the door, stop, turn, and look
back at her. She waited expecting some form of witticism from him, but none came.
She followed him into the side interrogation room.

“Let’s start with every name we're working with or any
name mentioned in passing in any of our interviews. Pull out the file on the Asian
girl and open you’re notes taken out on the highway. Let’s go over every fact listed
in both.”

Anne, read silently for a minute then began.

“This girls death offered some interesting differences
from the others in that she had been discovered a short time after she had been
left there in that field. The killer laid her out in his MO pose thinking she was
dead, but he left and she was still alive. She managed to drag herself a short distance
before she succumbed to her injuries”

The two of them paused, going over the scene once again
in their minds trying to recall the details hoping they had missed something that
would benefit them now. Anne looked back at her notes and continued as they searched
for a missing link.

“Her body was discovered by a man supposedly walking
by or hitchhiking.”

“Read the details of his story. First where was he headed
that he would end up there in that desolate area?”

“He claimed he was headed home. He gave his home town
as Summerland. We did not ask where he was coming from. In fact, I think we were
a little lax in our questioning of him. His reason for discovering her was the act
of relieving himself. She paused, “Wait a minute. Picture this, Lon, Your walking
on a dark lightly traveled road and you need to take a leak. What would you do?”

“Is this a trick question, to test my moral upbringing?”

“This is serious Lon. What would you do?”

“You know what I would do. I'd step over on the shoulder
check both ways and do the deed.”

“I get your point, Anne. Why would he walk down in that
field to relieve himself? I think we need to talk to this man again. Let’s run a
background check and then have him picked up. Who was the uniform on the scene?”

“His name is Leo Trent.”

“I know Leo from my old days in uniform. Call and arrange
for Leo to stop in and spend some time with us over the next day or so and to bring
his notes and his filed report for that night.”

“I’ve got it written down.”

“Who is next?”

“The motel desk clerk, he actually got a visual on the
man.”

“Go over his statement and responses to my questions.
As I recall he had some interesting observations on this guy.”

“These are his answers. You asked, how would you describe
him? He answered, he was strange. How was he strange? He always wanted to be seen
and his hair looked too perfect. He wore glasses that he did not seem to need. He
felt his name sounded like it was made up to hide his real name as most of his customers
did.

“We also wrote here that he had a visual on the lady
as she pulled into the motel and parked. He stated here, that she sat in the car
and stared at the room for a time, and when she got out she walked to the door very
slowly. That's pretty much it, Lon.”

“What can we draw from this guy’s story, Anne? I've come
up with a theory. Listen and see what you think.”

“First and most important, I don't think based on the
clerks description of his actions that the guy in the motel room is our serial killer.
This guy did this out of some kind of revenge factor or a sexual arrangement that
turned bad. There was no sign of a struggle, remember? She wasn’t bruised or bleeding.
It's like she knew him and was surprised when the guy turned on her before she could
resist. What do you think?”

Anne made a few observations of her take on the murder
scene while Lon listened intently, creating a picture in his mind of the two people
in room 12 as she was portraying it. He struggled with her portrayal of how it happened
and stopped her in mid-sentence.

“Write
Marie
on the board and then move over and
write the names of all six other victims.”

He watched her writing and pictured her kissing him on
the elevator. She turned and recognized the look knowing he was in one of his trances.

“Okay, he said, looking into her eyes, now, let’s list
the facts we know under each. Start with the killer of Marie Radford.”

“The killer wanted to be seen going into that room. That
fact tells us that he was probably in disguise and wanted that false description
given to the authorities.

“Partner, this just came to me. I think the killer had
a relationship with her in some form in other to get her to come to that room. This
is not a typical motel type groupie, this is a high society socialite and blue blooded
American woman found lying murdered in a sleazy one night stand motel room. The
question is why?”

A chart was created and when they were finished listing
all that they had they agreed on the assertion that there were in fact two different
offenders. Marie Radford had not been killed by the serial guy.

They were sure their conclusion when made known to the
chief would not be looked on with favor because he insisted there was one killer.
Anne used her feminine persuasive powers as she explained to him the newly discovered
facts to convince him to allow them the opportunity to prove their theory. He was
grumbling under his breath as they left his office about having to tell the big
people uptown their new theory. Lon gave her the thumbs up as they arrived back
at his desk.

“You were great, partner! He bought your sexuality hook
line and sinker.”

“I am not sure what you’re talking about Lonny Boy. I
simply laid out the facts for him.”

Lon smiled and motioned for her to sit at his desk. “We’d
better get ourselves prepared for the doctor lady’s visit. She sounded like she
was in a semi-panic as she was describing the latest note attached to her car. She’ll
be arriving here around four, but doesn’t it seem strange that she has somehow become
involved with your favorite senator.”

Anne refused to take his baiting comment and just shook
her head and smiled at him.