Luke could hear the voice faintly and watched her face go white and her mouth fall open. Then she freaked out.
“Leave me alone!” she shouted into the phone and threw it across the room. Luke could hear laughter coming from the speaker as it lay against the wall. He went over and picked it up.
“Who is this?” he said, but the line was dead. He hung up and went over to Ellie who had her face in her hands.
“He’s gone,” he said softly. “Are you ok?”
She shook her head. “Every time I think everything’s going to be fine, something else happens. How did he get my number?”
“He knows our names and your number is in the phone book. It’s just that easy.” Luke’s cell phone started ringing and they both froze, staring at each other. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. It read ‘Unavailable.’ He showed it to her.
“Don’t answer it,” she said.
“I want to,” he said.
“Why?”
“I don’t want him to know I’m afraid.”
She shrugged and he pressed ‘send’ and said, “Hello.”
He couldn’t figure out why, but the voice that came across the cell phone made his teeth hurt and seemed to vibrate directly down his spine. It was so abrasive, yet so quiet, it hurt more than someone shouting into his ear. He actually pulled the phone away from his head a little.
“Help me…”
“What do you want?” he said, trying to sound tough but it came out thin and shaky.
“For you to help me…” and then a thin laugh.
“Help you with what?”
“To kill your girlfriend. What else?” More laughter, almost like a child giggling.
“I’d never do that.”
“You already are.”
The line went dead in his hand. He looked at the phone and saw it shaking in his hand. Ellie saw it too.
“What did he say?” she asked.
He turned away from her, paced to the opposite wall and then turned back to face her. He couldn’t tell her. He wasn’t supposed to keep secrets, that was part of their pact, but he couldn’t find it in him to tell her. Not this.
“He was just messing with me. He said ‘Help me…’ and then laughed. The voice was horrible. It made my teeth hurt.”
“You said you’d never do that. What did he want you to do?”
Luke paused. “To help him.”
“Do what?”
“Whatever it is he does. He didn’t say. Kill someone I guess.” Luke hated lying to her. It was the worst feeling in the world. Apparently he didn’t do it very well.
“Luke,” she said softly, “what are you not telling me. Please don’t lie to me. No matter how much you think I can’t stand to hear, we promised not to keep secrets. Please.”
His felt his shoulders slump and he sat down next to her. He couldn’t look at her. “He asked me to help him kill you.”
“Oh, God!”
He turned to her quickly and said, “I won’t let him hurt you! Ever! I’ll stay outside your window every night if I have to. I’ll go everywhere with you. I’ll get a gun. I promise I won’t let him touch you!”
“You can’t do all that. You’re not superman. We have to tell someone. We need help.”
“But he told you not to tell anyone.”
“It doesn’t seem to matter. Apparently he’s out to get me anyway.”
Luke’s cell phone beeped showing he had a new text message. He held it up so they could both see. It read Tella soul, and you both die.
He looked at her and she started to cry.
Chapter 12
The killer was thirsty. The dog had not been enough. His hunger had taken over and it was like a living thing. No cat, or raccoon, or lost dog was going to satisfy his urge and he knew the time had come. He had been under control for a very long time now, and he thought his routines had left nothing to be desired. He knew now that it had all been just a ruse. He had been fooling himself and delaying the inevitable. He may have even made it worse.
He lay in wait at his chosen place, like he had done numerous times in the past. Fortunately, he had not followed through then, forcing himself to see things as they were and letting the urge pass. Tonight, that was not going to happen. His lust for this release was going to win and he could feel himself on the verge of total bliss. He lay in wait.
The boy approached. Alone, distracted, not a care in the world. The blood rushed through the killer’s veins and he could hear it sing, the notes a cacophony of tension and anticipation. As the boy drew closer, he imagined the blood of his victim and the notes it would play as the pulse slowed and the pressure waned. He’d heard it before and thirsted to hear it again.
As the boy passed, he spoke the words and knew there was no turning back.
“Help me…”
The boy stopped.
Chapter 13
Jaxon felt deja vu. He was standing over another boy who had just been pulled from the same pool and the paramedics were working hopelessly trying to revive him. It wasn’t going to happen. He knew it, the paramedics knew it, and Sally knew it. The kid was gone.
The crowd stood quietly in the cold night air in utter disbelief that this could be happening in their quiet suburban lives. Jaxon knew they believed they had chosen a place to live and raise their families free from the activities and discretions of the less desirable among the human race. He knew they were questioning their skewed perceptions and asking themselves ‘What now? We were supposed to be immune to this kind of thing.’ Immunity was a fragile thing. If you let a bad germ in, it could corrupt the whole system. Jaxon had seen it many times before.
“There are no footprints this time,” Sally said. “At least none we can see. We’ve contaminated this part of the scene and that’s probably where he was brought in and dumped.”
He nodded and turned away, scanning the crowd. “You’re out there. I can feel it,” he whispered.
“What did you say, boss?” Sally asked.
He shook his head. “This is going to get bad. You know what this could be, right?”
She hesitated and he could tell she wasn’t sure. He knew she was a good cop and a hell of an investigator, but she had little experience with this kind of thing.
“It’s definitely not an accident,” she said lamely.
“The FBI is probably going to pay attention now. We may have someone who is going to keep doing this.”
“Serial?”
He nodded.
“Shit.”
“Yes-shit,” he said. “This will get complicated.”
“Are we even sure it’s the same guy?”
“What’s your gut feeling on it?” he asked, the teacher now.
“It’s the same guy.”
He nodded. “Alright, let’s get the Crime Scene techs here and go over this place with a fine tooth comb. I want some uniforms working the crowd right now to see if anybody saw anything. The first kid gets his autopsy now. We need to know what killed him and who the hell he is.”
“On it,” she said, and walked away to start everything rolling.
“And find out if anybody is missing another kid!” he yelled.
It had been two days since they had pulled Paul Bannon from the pool and Luke was still in shock. Not only had William Smith, or whatever his real name was, killed one of his friends, he had put him out in plain sight. The guy wasn’t even trying to hide it. At least he hadn’t tried to communicate with either him or Ellie yet, but Luke knew something would be coming. He could feel it.
Paul’s Mother had reported him missing the morning they had found him. She told the police he hadn’t come home the night before and she had stayed up all night worrying. This story and more were making it around campus faster than the speed of light and Luke had heard more than his fair share of it. He had watched them pull Paul from the pool, just like the first kid, and felt a pain deep inside he never knew existed. He couldn’t help thinking he had somehow contributed to his friend’s death.