Blood Red Sundown: Evil Begins (23 page)

HE WAS SURPRISED
to
see her car. I can’t believe she’s here and alone. He stood in front of his car
and watched her movements below for a while to make sure the dog was not with her.
She stood and looked out over the water.

When she turned toward his position, he crouched to remain
hidden from view. It appeared she was going to walk the shoreline. Perfect, he thought.
Waiting until she was far enough away he quietly closed the door and started the
engine. He returned to the roadway and drove to his selected spot and moved to the
beach area.

Stephanie, entranced by the beauty of the sky and the
sounds of the breaking surf, was unaware of the stealthy figure walking in the shadows
of the tree line. Realizing that darkness was fast approaching, she decided it was
time for her to leave. As she turned she came face-to-face with a man in a ski mask.

A scream was impossible with her startled intake of air.
A hand was over her mouth and she was being dragged toward the woods. She was powerless
to struggle in the manner he had taken control of her. He released his hand from
her mouth.

“Do not scream or talk. I’ll hurt you badly if you do.
Do you understand?”

“Please,” She begged. “Please! Why are you doing this?”

He slapped her hard and demanded she not say another
word.

“Start removing your clothes. I do not want to hear a
word out of you. Nod yes, I understand.”

Stephanie nodded and began unbuttoning her blouse. There
was something shiny in his belt. A knife! She thought. Oh my God I have got to get
away. He means to kill me.

At that moment, someone yelled, “Stephanie?”

She watched his reaction of fear and as he was backing
up he said, he would see her again, turned and was gone.

Stephanie ran out of the trees onto the beach and ran
toward the cars. Who called my name, she wondered?”

Suddenly she was enveloped in the arms of someone and
she let out an ear piercing scream. She heard a calm reassuring voice. Her focus
back, she looked in the face of the detective.

“Anne,” was all she could say.

Removing his mask as he ran, he felt the burning in his
chest from running up the hill. He grabbed the handle of the car, but before he
could open it he was thrown face down to the ground.

“Be real still mister. I’m only going to say this once.
You’re under arrest.”

Handcuffed and advised of his Miranda Rights he picked
the man up by his arms and placed him in the back seat. Lon stared intently at him
before closing the door.

“How are you, detective, he said? It’s Lon isn’t it?
It’s nice to see you again.”

“How do you know me?”

“Oh, it will come to you eventually.”

Lon irritated by his smile as he spoke, slammed the door
and drove to the parking area where Anne and the Doctor were waiting. He drew Anne
aside and asked.

“Is Stephanie alright?”

“She’s shaken up, but she’s doing fine. Do you think
this man is the one, Lon?”

“We’ll know soon. Listen, the guy says he knows me, but
I can’t recall seeing him before. Go take a look at him and see if you recognize
him.”

He walked over to the Doctor.

“Stephanie, after we left you alone we realized we could
not in good conscience leave you all alone, so we turned around to check on you.
We saw your car and decided to leave Anne at that site and for me to drive to where
we had seen a car earlier. And sure enough, when I pulled off the road, I saw a
car parked in the high weeds. Anne continued down to the beach and alerted him,
while I hid and waited for him to back track for his car. Thank God we were in time.”

“Detective, I thought I was going to die.”

“Would you like to see him without the mask?”

Anne was standing alongside the car making notes and
as the two neared she opened the door for them.

“Oh my God Lon, this is the guy I was telling you about
that stopped me outside the bar. You remember, I confirmed the Doctors description
of someone with evil eyes.”

Lon stepped aside to allow Stephanie access to view the
back seat and the man sitting there.

“It’s the man I told you about that was there that night
on the beach. Remember I said he made me feel uneasy”

He smiled up at her and blew her a kiss. “I’m so sorry
that we were interrupted Doc. I think we would have gotten to know each other better
had these two not come along.”

Lon showed his anger with a few expletives toward the
man and slammed the door

“Stephanie you can come to the station tonight or wait
until morning to sign the report and give your description of this animal’s attack
on you.”

THE SENATOR HEADED
up
the coast, unsure whether he should take the risk of running into Stephanie. He
knew it was inevitable that sooner or later they would be there at the same time
and have to talk, but he wanted it to be on his terms not on chance.

As he approached the pull-off site, he was forced to
slow before turning to avoid a car pulling out of the lane. As it passed he recognized
the two detectives in the front and a man was seated in the back seat. He was more
than sure they had not bothered to look at him as they passed him.

Continuing on, he turned on the narrow lane as he tried
to think of a reason for them to be there; and who was the man in the back seat?
He watched Stephanie’s car move onto the lane apparently to follow the detectives.
Moving over to the far edge to leave her as much room to pass as he could, he
watched to see if she would acknowledge him or continue out on to the highway.

Stephanie recognized the car and felt her anger rise
up to the point that she struck the steering wheel. She had not wanted their next
meeting to be here and especially now. The last thing, she needed after the incident
on the beach was to have to listen to William Radford the third’s egotistical rhetoric.
Allowing compassion to override her anger she chose to let it happen and stopped
along the side of his car and managed to smile as she lowered the window.

“Hello William, nice to see you,” she offered.

He felt the old feeling immediately and responded in
a subdued voice.

“Hello Stephanie, I was hoping you would be here, because
sooner or later we have to talk. I saw the two detectives driving away, why were
they here and who was the man in the car with them?”

“Thank God they were here. The man in the back seat attacked
me as I walked along the beach, but they arrived in time to prevent anything from
happening.”

“I am thankful they arrived in time. Did you know the
man?”

“I didn’t know him, but I had seen him here on the beach
once before and the detectives surmised he would be hiding knowing I came there
often. And when I arrived each evening alone he would take pictures of me. They
searched his car and found a folder with twenty photos of me walking on the beach.
The detectives believe he is the person that left the notes on my car.”

“That’s an incredible story Stephanie, but you’re sure
he didn’t hurt you?”

He looked into her eyes ready to question her response
to see if she had been innocently attacked or was this attack caused by something
of her doing at an earlier meeting? Maybe she gave him a sign or an indication that
she was open to his advances as she had done with me.”

“No harm other than my self-respect. I fought as hard
as I could and believed I was about to become his next victim.

“Do the detectives think he could be the serial killer?”

“I’m not aware if they do or not, but I couldn’t help
making that assumption.”

His face switched from the serious expression to what
she was sure was a desire to smile making her question why he would be so interested
in that bit of news.

AT THE STATION
the fact
that this man had confronted Anne outside the bar and she had not placed him as
being the same man at the roadside murder created an unpleasant situation for her
and gave him a smug attitude that was very disrupting.

“I knew that I had seen you before, Anne remarked. I
just couldn’t place where.” She stared at him looking for some sign of twitching
nerves or fear in his eyes, but it was not happening. He seemed to be enjoying his
situation watching them struggle with how to approach him.

Anne decided to go on the offensive. “Before we get into
the details of the attempted rape you’re here for, let’s review our previous encounter
and lay out some facts.”

“First, for some reason we did not question you thoroughly
at the site of the young Asian woman’s body out on the coast? Once again we need
to hear your answer as to why you happened to be in such an isolated location where
a young female was found murdered. We now have you listed as a prime suspect in
her murder and possibly in several others, so your answer is very important to your
case.”

“Hold on madam detective, I’m not a murderer. I’m aware
that I have a problem that I can’t always control, but there is no way I could kill
anyone, especially not a female.”

“What were you doing there?”

“I was walking and I saw the police car up ahead, so
I got off the road to avoid the officer by walking below his location through the
field and come up beyond the car to avoid a confrontation. I started up the hill
and there she was. I was going to run, but a flashlight beam hit me in the face,
so I stood still and waited figuring it was the cop. He immediately treated me as
a suspect keeping his revolver pointed at me.”

“I was honest with him and told him I had just discovered
her. He seemed to believe me and walked me up to the road and told me to sit in
the back seat of his patrol car. You know the rest from there.”

“You’re right, but here’s where I’m confused with your
story, Lon said. You say the squad car was sitting there by the side of the road
when you arrived on the scene?”

He looked at Anne and nodded, yes, but just as Lon started
to ask a follow up question an officer walked in and handed Anne a file.

“This guy’s rap sheet you’ve been waiting for.”

“Thanks sergeant.”

Lon was still in a stunned state somewhere between a
state of frustration and confusion and just sat staring at the man in front of him.
He stood and walked over to whisper to Anne. “This is not what officer Trent reported.
Should we push it with him or wait and check with Leo?”

Anne looked over at the man confused and indecisive for
the moment. “Let’s put it on ice for the time being, she whispered back to Lon.”

Lon nodded walked back and sat across the table from
him smiling as if to say we have got you now.

STEPHANY DID NOT
appreciate
the arrogant smile she glimpsed as it appeared on the senator’s face, so she waved
goodbye and started to drive off. He called for her to wait.

“Why don’t we go somewhere and have a drink and see if
our differences can be worked out?”

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea, William. I think
it best that we remain distant friends and nothing else. I’m going home and try
to forget the scare that I just experienced.”

“I see,” came out of a tight lipped mouth. He felt his
anger coming forth and he feared he would not be able to remain calm in her presence.

Stephanie saw his features harden once again as he spoke
and then feign softness.

It was too late. She had seen the anger in his eyes and
said, “I need to go William. Good night.”

He sat there enraged pounding the steering wheel with
both hands as she drove away. “You cannot do this to me,” he shouted after her.
Even louder, “You cannot do this to me!”

He looked in the mirror and his mother’s smile gave him
the immediate comfort he needed.

“Let’s go home, William.”

“HE’S NOT OUR
serial
guy Lon. He was released from prison a month ago for two attempted rape offenses.”

She looked at the young man sitting in front of her and
then back at the report.

“It looks like you may be going back in.”

“Like I told you detective, I have a problem.”

Lon motioned for her to follow him out of the interrogation
room.

“Listen Anne, let’s put this guy on ice and call it a
night. We’ll need to tie some of this latest information we got from him together
with what we had and tomorrow hopefully come to some conclusions. I think we’ll
find there is a hidden connection between these odd little details that keep popping
up. Questions like: Why was Leo Trent parked there at the scene and yet in his report
told us, that this guy flagged him down? There seems to be some confusion here and
I want to know why.”

Anne, adding to his anxiety said, “We seem to be in some
sort of diabolical zone that keeps adding new paranormal dimensions to this case,
Lon.”

He laughed shaking his head. “A diabolical zone, with
new paranormal dimensions. Wow, that was an impressive a statement Anne.”

“I am trying to speak with meaningful words consistent
with your level of word mastery partner.”

He nodded his approval and held the door for her and
they reentered and walked to the man, who immediately began staring at Anne with
a suggestive smile.

“I have one more question for you, before they lock you
up for the night. Did you write the notes?”

“What notes,” he asked?

ARRIVING HOME LON
felt
like the world was being lifted off his shoulders. His son was excited to see him
walk in and Ally seemed especially happy. He could tell by her reception she was
anxious to be alone with him.

Sitting at the dinner table talking with them he
found himself answering questions, as best he could, to ease their natural curiosity
about the case he was working on. They had grown used to his inability to divulge
important facts about a case because of the possibility they would somehow let it
out to the general public with an accidental slip of the tongue.

After dinner they sat and watched a movie. Ally sat next
to Lon on the couch with Tad sprawled out on the floor, eventually falling asleep.

“Where are you on this case, Lon, Ally asked? It’s obviously
wearing on you and I’m getting worried about your health. You aren’t sleeping, and
you eat junk food at all hours of the day. You have stress marks and bags under
your eyes and I hate that you’re putting unnecessary wrinkles on that cute face
that I love so very much.”

Lon smiled and pulled her close and kissed her.

“Let’s put Tad to bed.”