Over Her Dead Body (9 page)

“Look. See, nothing to worry about newbie. It brings’em back every time. Well, not every time. Sometimes they drown and you have to do it manually.”

“Fuck that. You kill this S.O.B. he stays dead. I’m not sticking my mouth anywhere near his with all that shit on his face. It’s probably on my fucking hands!” Gary looked at his hands and wiped them on his pants.

“Ah don’t worry about that. If he dies we can always say he escaped custody. That happens from time to time you know.” Frank said. Gary didn’t seem to hear him. He was still studying his hands and wiping them aggressively against his pants.

Michael was still gasping but was relieved to have so much air to breathe. He could feel his life force coming back into his body. He was jittery but felt his strength returning. His cheeks were wet with water and tears. His breathing was raspy and labored. He coughed and water sprayed the air.

Gary wiped sweat from his forehead and looked over at Frank. “You think he’s ready to talk?”

Frank reached to his side and pulled a cell phone out of a pouch. He flipped it open, checked the time and flipped it closed. “He better be. We’re running out of time and I’m starting to get pissed.” Frank grabbed Michael’s hair and pulled his head up a little and slammed it against the table again. “So...man who likes to murder little girls, you ready to talk?”

Michael looked him in the eyes. “I told you. I don’t know anything. I don’t. I swear.” Michael turned his head back toward the lamp.

Frank and Gary exchanged a look. “I guess we’ve got time for another round or two.” Frank said. “Gary, toss that towel back on his face.”

A look of disgust crossed Gary’s face as he eyed the shit stained towel on the floor. He looked back up at Frank. Frank nodded. “Do it.” He said.

Gary leaned down and pinched the towel by the tips of two fingers and held
it
away from him like it was a poisonous snake. He threw it over Michael’s face.

“Pull it tight on the ends. Make sure it’s across his nose and mouth.” Frank ordered.

Gary’s eyes gave another look of disgust and looked at Frank as if to say ‘are you fucking kidding me?
'
But he did as he was told. He took the corners of the towel and spread them out across Michael’s face so only his eyes were showing. Michael began to look panicky.

Frank p
icked up the water jug. “Alright, hold it tight. Here goes round two.” Frank held the water up over the towel. Michael began thrusting and jerking again but was getting nowhere. The water came and the towel began to stick to his face.

Mumbling came from under the towel and Frank stopped for a minute.
"
What’s that asshole? You got something to say now?”

“OhayIhellyou,” came a muffled yell again.

“Gary pull that back a sec.” Frank said. Gary pulled the towel aside. “Say again.”

Michael coughed and sprayed some more water. “I said I’ll fucking tell you.”

“You’re damn right you will. Now who the fuck was she?”

Michael looked over at Frank and then back at the lamp. “Her name is Angela Jacobs. She’s a girl I worked with.”

“Wohoo…I knew it.” Gary said slapping Frank on the back. “You fucking killed that girl didn’t you asshole?”

“Yes. I killed her.”

Frank flipped out his phone and checked it again. “Times about up. See newbie, works every time. I’ve helped solve quite a few cases the perp would have gotten off if I hadn’t intervened. Now undue that strap and stand this asshole up.” Frank reached under and lo
o
sen
e
d the strap on Michael’s neck. Gary loosened the one on his legs.

Michael’s hands and arms had gone completely numb underneath him. He felt pain and
a
burning sensation, but could no longer feel his individual fingers. He wasn’t sure he could move them.

Frank grabbed his feet and slipped them off the table until Michael was nearly standing up. As soon as Michael’s feet hit the ground Frank let loose with a powerful punch to the stomach. Michael bent over and vomited. He was trying to gasp for breath when Frank spun him around and slammed his head on the table pinning him down. Michael’s t-shirt was soaked with water. His briefs were urine soaked. He couldn’t remember at what point he’d pissed himself. Frank held his head down with force. “So you like to murder little girls do ya? I’m bettin you raped her too am I right? Am I right asshole?” Frank pushed down hard on his head. “Gary, what do you think? You think we got us a rapist here?”

“Don’t know why else he’d do it. Must be.” Gary said.

“Here. Hold his fucking head down.” Gary came over and pushed down on Michael’s head and neck with both hands. “You know what they do to rapists in prison? Well I’m going to show you. I’ll be the first one to pop that fucking cherry of yours.” Frank grabbed Michael’s briefs by the sides and yanked them to the floor. Gary looked back at Frank with his mouth half open looking appalled. Then his mouth closed into a sneer and
he
pushed harder on Michael’s head and neck.

Chapter 9

April lay in bed asleep, oblivious to the fact that her husband had left her bed several hours ago. She remained oblivious to all the flashing lights passing in front of the house. And now she lay there semi oblivious to the knocking that came at the door. There were three hard knocks, a pause, and then another three hard knocks. She was at an amusement park feeding food to the fish. She had just put another quarter in the machine and turned the handle. A heaping pile of pellets rolled out into her hand. Michael was next to her. He held out his hands and made a scoop with them. April poured half of the pellets into his hands. She looked up and he was smiling at her. They both laughed and turned and sprinkled the food into the water a little at a time. It seemed like hundreds of big carp skimmed the surface sucking the pellets in with their little carp mouths. They looked like little vacuum cleaners and they made funny little noises each time they sucked a pellet into their mouth. After they emptied their hands, April turned toward Michael and their eyes connected. Michael smiled at her and reached up and tucked a stray hair back from her face. He pulled her close and she embraced him. It was beautiful out; there were kids and families all around running excitedly. Then Michael pulled back a little. April felt something tugging at her pant leg. She looked down and found a beautiful little girl smiling up at her. She had beautiful brown curly hair, warm brown eyes that glistened as she smiled, and a beautiful face of an angel. The little girl was smiling. She was holding an ice cream cone in her right hand. She held it out and offered it to April. April smiled and took the cone. She gave it a single lick and said “yummy” to the little girl and handed back the cone. The little girl smiled and then something like a look of concern crossed her face. April and Michael both bent down. “What’s wrong sweetie?” April asked the little girl. A tear had begun to fall down her left cheek and Michael scooped it up with his finger.

“Why are you crying?” He asked.

The little girl looked up at both of them. “Please. Please help me.”

“Help you what honey?” April asked.

“I can’t find her. Can you help me find her?” The little girl said.

“Who are you looking for sweetie? Are you lost?” asked Michael.

“I can’t find my sister. She’s lost.” A big gust of wind blew past kicking up dirt and debris into April and Michael’s face. April shielded her eyes with her hand. It grew darker as clouds filled the sky and blotted out the sun.

“Where’s your mommy honey? Is your mommy with you?” April asked.

The little girl turned her head so that she was staring straight into April’s eyes. Her ice cream slid sideways and fell from her cone to the ground. Her eyes reflected concern, fear, and welled up with tears. “You’re my mommy silly” the little girl said and threw her arms around April. April hugged the girl and smiled at Michael who was smiling back at her. The sky grew darker and April looked around to see people running and screaming. She looked back at Michael and he had blood running down his chin. His clothes were gone and he was wearing nothing but his briefs and a t-shirt. Then a loud knocking sound came from nowhere and April sat straight up in her bed gasping for air. She took a deep breath and listened to the silence. The knocking returned. It had followed her out of her dream, or interrupted it.

You’re my mommy silly
. The voice came back to her in her head as she slid out of bed and grabbed her robe off the closet door. She looked at the bed and made a note that Michael wasn’t there again. She hoped he was in the other room and not out digging…but if that were the case he would have answered the door. She shook her head as she tied the robe around her waist and headed for the door. The door was slightly ajar.  “Who is it?” She hollered through the crack in the door.
Where the hell was Michael?
She felt a cold chill run up her spine. She didn’t like strangers knocking on her door in the night.

“It’s Angel County Sheriff
ma'am
.”

“Again?” She said as she opened the door and peered at the man in uniform standing outside. It was the same sheriff as the night before. He didn’t look very happy. “He did it again didn’t he?” She asked.

“Yes
ma'am
. I’m afraid he did.” The sheriff replied.

“You’re not going to arrest him are you? I mean…he hasn’t had a chance to see a doctor yet. It’s not his fault.” April pleaded.

“I’m afraid it’s a little more complicated than that. May I come in so we can speak?”

April’s look suddenly changed to one of extreme concern. “I…I guess. I don’t know what there is to talk about though. He really just needs to see a doctor.” She opened the screen door and let the sheriff step through. The sheriff followed her in and she signaled him to be seated on the couch at the end. She took the recliner right next to it, folded her robe tight around her legs and placed her hands in her lap. “We looked it up online today. It turns out it is a common problem. Different sites said that there is medication for it but we probably won’t be able to get him to a doctor for a week.” She hesitated watching the sheriff’s concerned face. “I suppose I could tie him to the bed or something. Lock him in a room?”

“
Ma'am
, we found your husband out digging in the same spot again tonight.” The sheriff looked around for a moment like he wanted to find something better to talk about. Some sort of small talk like ‘oh that’s a nice vase you have over there, where did you get it?’ or ‘hey that’s a pretty picture, where was it taken’, but finally he heaved a big sigh and turned back toward April.

“And? You brought him home again right? Is he out in the car?” April looked toward the window. She could see the headlights beaming through the curtains. “Did you cuff him again?” She asked sternly.

“Mrs. Bander, there was a body found.”

“Wha..?” April clasped her hand over her mouth and stifled her own scream. She bolted strai
gh
t up out of the chair. “Is Michael ok? Where’s Michael? Where’s Michael? Tell me he’s ok. Oh God tell me he’s ok…” Tears were starting from the corner of her eyes. She made her way toward the door.

The sheriff stood up. “Mrs. Bander, your husband isn’t in the car. Please sit down.”

April’s eyes went wide and she covered her mouth again. “Oh my God! Is he…is he..?”

“
Ma'am
, your husband is fine. He’s in custody at the station. Now please sit down so I can ask you a few questions.”

April stood there for a moment lingering, thinking, running the scenarios. She couldn’t find one that fit so she looked back at the sheriff and finally returned to her seat in the recliner.

“Mrs. Bander, your husband was found digging again; only this time he unearthed human remains.” April’s eyes grew big but she remained silent. “The body appeared to be female.”

“Oh my God! What happened to her?” She said quietly.

The sheriff could see that it hadn’t registered with her yet that her husband must have known that she was buried there and that he was not only a suspect, but also most likely the killer.

“We don’t know yet, there will be an autopsy though. The detective thinks it might be a girl who went missing a few month
s back. Does the name Maria
mean anything to you?”

April thought for a moment. “No…er…well, I have an Aunt Maria. But I don’t think she’s gone missing. I’m sure I would have heard about it.”

“Has your husband ever mentioned anyone named Maria? Maybe someone he’d met at work?” The sheriff asked.

“No, not really. He’s never mentioned anyone. He might have a student named Maria or something. I don’t know.”

“So he’s a teacher?”

“Mhmm.”

“What does he teach?” The sheriff had pulled out a little notebook and was scribbling in it.

“He’s a Biology teacher.”

“At the high school?”

“Yes. Why are you asking things about my…oh my God! You think Michael had something to do with this? Are you nuts? Are you fucking crazy?” The sheriff looked up from his notebook a little shocked. He had been wondering when it would register. “Michael Bander a Killer? You guys are waaaaay off!” April wasn’t yelling but she was pissed and speaking very sternly.

“Calm down Mrs. Bander. Put yourself in our shoes. We find a man out in the middle of the woods in the dead of the night with nothing on but a t-shirt and underwear digging up a body.”

April’s pissed look melted away into a look of concern and worry as the depth of the situation began to wrap itself around her.

“Now Mrs. Bander, could you find a body buried in the woods without a flashlight in the middle of the night?”

April turned her head. Tears were running down her cheeks. She wiped them
away
with the cuff of her robe.

“You couldn’t possibly walk right to the spot unless…” The sheriff was hesitant to complete the sentence.

April turned and looked the sheriff in the eye. “Unless he knew she was there.” She completed the sentence for him.

“Now you understand why he is a suspect.”

“I want to see my husband.”

“I only have a couple more questions for you and then you will be free to call around and get yourself a good lawyer. I’m sure he can arrange for a visitation, but I wouldn’t hold your breath on getting to see him anytime soon. I’m sure he’ll be formally charged with murder tomorrow and I’m not guessing that the judge would allow him to post bail.” The sheriff broke the news as softly and politely as he could. He believed it to be better to just be straight with her than to sugar coat it.

April clasped her hands over her face and began to cry.