Kentucky Murders: A Small Town Murder Mystery (15 page)

This time, the chest pumped harder than normal for several seconds, then fell still. The heartbeat on the screen sped up and then stopped, replaced by a straight line and a steady beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep sound. He held the pillow firmly in place for another thirty seconds, just to make sure.

After replacing the mask on Max’s face and the pillow back under the dead man’s head, he reached back and plugged in the respirator. Max’s lifeless chest moved slightly with each puff of the machine, but the straight line on the screen showed the absence of a heartbeat.

Satisfied, he moved to the door and peeked out. The hall was still empty.

---

The door closed at the fourth floor, leaving Kate and Zack alone inside the six-by-eight elevator. It jerked upward once more.

When the door reopened, they stood facing the nurses’ station, where three women dressed in white stood, and another sat. Zack nodded to one of the nurses. “Where would we find room 504?” he asked.

She pointed. “That way. Halfway down.”

As they stepped out into the hallway, something caught Zack’s eye. There had been a flicker of movement far down the hall and maybe a clicking sound.

They followed the corridor down to Max’s room. Kate stepped inside, but Zack paused and looked toward the end of the hallway.

Then Kate screamed.

Chapter 29

“Maybe I should drive,” said Kate, as they approached the car.

Zack kept quiet, unlocked her door, and slowly moved around to the driver’s side. Keeping his head down, he said, “I’ll be alright.” Actually, he wasn’t sure what he was feeling. He did feel bad about Max’s dying, but that wasn’t where his numb feeling was coming from. Max’s killers were walking free; that’s what hurt.

He tried to hurry his movements, but he felt as if he were moving through quicksand instead of air. His arms and legs felt heavy. This must be shock.
Should I let Kate drive?

As he started the engine, his thoughts shifted back up to the fifth floor an hour earlier just before they had entered Max’s room. But then Kate’s scream had made him forget about the click at the end of the hallway.
Had the door closed? No, probably not.
I probably imagined it
, he thought, and he filed the memory away.

“Are you sure you can drive?” asked Kate, as they pulled out of the parking spot.

They had come to the driveway leading onto the road, when the sheriff’s cruiser turned in. He stopped next to them, his window facing Zack’s, and he leaned out to say something. “Sorry to hear about Max,” he said. He actually sounded sorry, too.

“Thanks,” said Zack. “Just find his killers.”

The sheriff nodded and drove into the lot.

Zack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked over at Kate, forced a smile, and hoped it would console her.

Actually, he did feel a little better. As he pulled out onto the road, he thought that it had helped to get away from that hospital; it was so sterile, yet it was still a place where people could die.

The vision of Max’s lifeless body and the sheet pulled up to cover his face, flashed through his mind. He shook his head, sighing.

Kate, who must have sensed his thoughts, turned to him. “It happened, Zack,” she said, touching his arm. “There’s nothing we can do now to bring him back.”

Maybe he couldn’t bring him back, but he could make someone pay for killing Max. Zack kept the thought to himself.

---

Later, they entered Michaeltown. Dim streetlights lit Main Street. Zack flipped on his blinker to turn toward Kate’s house, not like there was any traffic to signal to.

Kate reached over. “No. I want to stay with you tonight. Please.”

“But your parents.”

“I’ll call them and let them know I’m alright, so they won’t worry.” She motioned with one hand for him to drive on.

Instead, Zack pulled over and parked in a spot along the curb. “I don’t think this is the right time,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it, but you don’t have to do this. Okay?”

“Yes. But don’t think I’m offering to go to bed with you just to keep your mind off Max’s death.” She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. “I love you,” she said.

“I know.” He backed out of the parking spot, pulled ahead, and turned onto her street. “Let me take you home. I need to be alone, to think.”

---

Zack punched in at the factory on Monday morning with his eyes half-closed and his head pounding. He sighed and thought of how proud Kate would have been of him if she knew how he’d handled Max’s death. Wasn’t that a joke? As usual, he’d gotten drunk. At least this time he hadn’t screwed around on her.  He swore to himself again that he would quit, but how many times had he done that before? Hundreds?

Frank walked up to Zack as he climbed onto his forklift. “I heard about Max,” he said. “If you want to take the day off, someone could fill in for you.”

“Thanks, but no. I’d rather be working. Just have a little headache.”

Frank shrugged and walked off.

Somehow, Zack made it through the day. He saw Tommy twice and no words were exchanged either time. Instead, Tommy seemed to know better than to mess with Zack and Zack was thankful for it. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Tommy got him started.

After work, Zack swung by the diner and picked up a cheeseburger to go. He spoke a few minutes with Kate, and she seemed to read, like Tommy, the do-not-disturb sign that must have been flashing across his forehead. In fact, everyone seemed to react similarly to him that day.

At home, he reached into the refrigerator and tore open the end of a fresh twelve-pack. Removing a beer from the box, he said, “Only one,” and closed the door. He then took his burger and beer and walked over to his bed. He sat with his back against the headboard and stared at the blank television screen. If only it were football season. A good Monday night football game would take him away, at least for a few hours, from Michaeltown and his problems. But no such luck.

He drank his beer and devoured his burger. “Now what?” he asked himself. He’d run away from Detroit with the same question on his mind. He could run again. He could pack and be gone. Head west, maybe, like he’d originally planned. Kate, Tommy, his job, they’d all be left behind. No responsibilities, no thoughts of revenge, no guilt. Max was dead, and there was nothing he could do about it. Kate had said that. But could he believe it? Max was dead. Just like Zack’s mother.

Chapter 30

Max’s road had been paved. The woods looked the same, but the two tire tracks had been covered with blacktop and lined with cement curbs. Zack drove along, confused. He then came up on the clearing. Or was it? Max’s shack was gone. In its place stood his mother’s house. Zack pulled up and stopped along the curb in front of the house. This doesn’t make sense.

Climbing out of the car, he looked around. Yes, this was Max’s clearing, bu
t


Then he was walking around the car, up the sidewalk, and climbing onto the porch. He saw a snow shovel leaning against the wall near the front door. But it must be 90 degrees out. He felt as if in a vacuum, no sound, no wind.

The inner door stood open, and, with a creaking sound, which finally broke the silence, he pulled open the screen door and entered. The sun shone through the picture window, lighting the empty living room.

He stared down the hallway leading to the kitchen. He didn’t want to go. He wanted to run out to his car and speed away as fast as he could. But his feet started down the hall as they had once before, a long time ago. He could see the refrigerator through the open kitchen door. Oh, how he wanted to stop, but his body kept going. His footsteps hammered against the tile and echoed in his ears. The hallway seemed so long. Then he stepped into the kitchen, where his mother sat before a table.

She turned to him, asking, “Max, is that you?”

“No, Mother, it’s Zack.”

“Hello, son. I thought you were Max. He should be home soon.”

Zack stepped up and started shaking her. “Max is dead! He’s dead like Dad, and like, like--” He staggered back. “Like you!”

None of this made any sense. His mother didn’t know Max. In fact, his mothe
r


Suddenly, from nowhere, she produced a butcher knife. “No, no,” she cried, waving the knife through the air. “He’s not dead.” Then she swung the cleaver down toward her wrist.

Knocking. Someone was knocking on his door, and he was back in Michaeltown, back in his room. He leapt out of bed. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around, just to make sure. Yes, it was his room, thank God.

Four more knocks came on the door. “Zack?”

He shuffled to the door and opened it. Kate stood there, and her mouth dropped open.

“What happened? You’re covered with sweat.”

He turned and walked toward the bathroom. “Come in,” he said. “A bad dream, I guess.”

In the bathroom, he splashed some water in his face, pulled a towel off the metal rack, and wiped. He looked at his haggard face in the mirror. He gargled with Listerine. The sour liquid washed away the dryness left from his restless sleep. After spitting it into the sink and rinsing it down, he came back into the room where Kate now sat on the bed. She stared up at him.

“What time is it, anyway?” he asked.

“It’s about a quarter after seven. I just got off work.” She stood. “Zack Taylor, are you all right? I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine.”

She leaned over to kiss him but Zack pulled away.

“Kate, wait.”

“Wait? What do you mean?”

“I’ve… I’ve got something to tell you. Please sit.”  He looked away from her at first.  Then he turned toward her where she was seated back on the bed.  “You know the other night after we found Max and took him to the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

“And we had that argument.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, remember I said that I got drunk and passed out in a hotel room.  That was technically right. But… Well, when I woke up there was this woman and she, we were…”

“You were what?” Kate stood and faced him.

“I was really drunk and she kind of, well she came to the room, but I tried to stop, then when I passed out, she… I didn’t mean --”

“You didn’t mean to have sex with her?”

“Kate, I’m sorry.  I…”

Kate pushed past him and stomped toward the door. She opened it and slammed it closed behind her as she left.

He sat on the bed and held his face with his hands. “What have I done?”  He knew he’d really screwed up bad, but that look on Kate’s face had hurt more than anything he could have imagined.  He’d cheated on girlfriends before without telling them and hardly felt guilty.  But with Kate?  He couldn’t make love with her for the first time with a secret like that hanging over them.  He wouldn’t lie to her.  Even if…

He moved onto the bed and laid down.  His thoughts raced and his eyes watered.  He laid there for what seemed like hours, but was more like thirty minutes.

---

There was a sound at the door.  Zack listened in the dark.  The door opened and someone walked across the room toward him. He sat up and tried to focus in the dimly lit room.  After taking a deep breath and blinking his eyes he saw Kate sit on the bed next to him.

“Kate, I thought --“

Kate reached over and put her finger to his lips.

“Shhhhh.”

She smiled and reached back and loosened her short ponytail, and her beautiful blond hair dropped down to her shoulders. Zack missed her long hair, but liked this new look, too. Kate would look beautiful no matter how she wore her hair. Then she leaned over, put an arm around his neck and kissed him. She smelled and tasted so good.

They embraced and Zack felt his emotions stir. He wanted to hold her so tightly that he feared he would break her. As they kissed again, they moved back and lay on the bed, clutching each other, legs intertwined. Zack’s arousal was increasing, and he could see in her facial expression how excited she too was becoming. This woman was unbelievably perfect. How had he ever found her?

He reached down and began unbuttoning her waitress uniform. She looked down, then back up, and smiled again. She tugged at his T-shirt, awkwardly removing it. Zack’s excitement grew.

A few minutes later, they lay naked on the bed, their hands slowly, gently exploring each other’s bodies. Zack looked down at her slender, perfect form. He breasts were not large, but just the way he liked them, and her stomach was flat like an athlete’s. But unlike an athlete, her curves were soft.

Again Zack couldn’t believe he’d found this woman. The woman.

---