A Tale from the Hills (25 page)

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Two weeks after the murder of the bartender, a merchant marine was murdered in almost identical fashion. He was not picked up in a bar however, he simply made the mistake of asking William for a match. It was on another dark Sunday night, and William figured that the man wanted something other than a light for his cigarette. There was just something about the way that the man touched William’s hand to keep the wind from blowing out the match. For whatever the reason, William gave him much more than he bargained for on that windy night. When he added the dead man’s clothes to the tidy little collection that he confiscated from Drew, he realized that he was going to have to be more discriminating in the things that he kept. At the rate that he was going, he would have to buy a trunk in which to store all of his trophies.

The man’s body washed ashore more quickly than the bartenders. The tides and currents around Wilmington were unpredictable, and it seemed to William that the bodies were teasing him. Some of them stayed in the water longer than the others. It was kind of like his own version of hide and go seek, but he enjoyed the unknowns that were associated with the game.

The newspaper made a connection between the last two murders that had taken place on the waterfront. It hinted that there might even be a third related shooting. The police lab finally compared the bullets that were taken from all of the victims, and they were shocked to discover that the newspaper was exactly right. All three of the men including the petty criminal were shot with the same handgun. The police also realized that they were dealing with a multiple murderer who was perhaps just getting started. They tried to conceal that bit of information from the press, because they did not want to cause panic among the city dwellers. They also believed that a trap could be set for the killer if he was not aware that they were looking for a lone shooter.

William was not knowledgeable enough about guns to know that the patterns on bullets could be traced in a way similar to fingerprints. A piece of information like that would have been an asset to the police, but a paid informant in the police department leaked the story to the newspaper. William who was by now buying a newspaper on a daily basis, read all about himself and the gun with a keen interest. But rather than being alarmed at the news about the bullets and the theory of the lone shooter, he felt like a celebrity. He was very proud of his accomplishments but he also realized that the rules of the game were changing, and that the stakes would be higher from that point on. He would have to be more careful to avoid the police or any potential witnesses.

The wire services ran the story about the waterfront murders in newspapers all over the country. Readers from Los Angeles to New York read the story about a madman on the loose in the southern coastal city. The editor of the Charlotte newspaper read the details of the story with particular interest. He felt like there might be some kind of connection between the murders in Wilmington and the murders on the train only months earlier. The bullets that his private detectives recovered were sent to Wilmington forcomparison. The editor’s instincts were right on the money because the same gun was used in all of the murders. With the new information from Charlotte, Wilmington authorities were beginning to trace the movements of the same killer from inside the state to the coast. They felt like it would notbe long before they came up with a suspect.

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William decided to keep a low profile for a while. His past successes were enough to satisfy his needs hopefully long enough for things to cool off in the city. He liked Wilmington better than any place that he had lived before, and he did not want to have to leave his adopted home.

An advertisement in one of the newspapers made him think about his family. He had not seen them in so long that he was not even sure if he would recognize them if he ran into them on the street. He made himself concentrate long enough to remember his brothers’ names. Suddenly a vision of little Alice flashed into his mind and he became very sad, as he used to be all of the time. Now he was compensating for those bad feelings of the past with new, exciting, alternative feelings. Feelings that made him flushed and short of breath. Feelings that he loved even more than little Alice.

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Fall and Winter came and went with no leads in the waterfront murders. It was as if the killer had vanished into thin air. As quickly as the murders began, they abruptly stopped. There were plenty of other stories to keep the newspapers occupied, so the murders were hardly ever mentioned at all. The police were relieved that the murders had stopped but they were still unsolved and the cases were very much open. They finally decided that the killer had moved on, or died, or was locked up for other crimes and misdemeanors. But for whatever the reason, at least the pressure was taken off of them to find the maniac. The files remained open but the undercover activity on the waterfront was gradually stopped.

William was not faring so well. His nerves were onedge and he was almost to the point of having to leave the city. The self destructive feeling had returned to haunt him, and the worst part of the entire ordeal was that he knew exactly what would make him feel better. The tool that gave him so much power that was hidden in the trunk along with his trophies, was all that he needed. He yearned to feel it in his hand and in his pocket, where it belonged. He began to test the waters on a gradual basis. He bought a new pair of high top boots that would easily accommodate a pistol. He could conceal it inside either of the boots and walk around with a grand persona. No one was aware of his secret, but the people who he had to deal with on a daily basis were very aware of the changes in his attitude and temperament. He became cocky and arrogant almost to the point of becoming obnoxious. His shy insecure manner was gone.

The Sunday night outings resumed shortly after he bought the boots. He was not so bold as to venture back to the piers, but he did scout out a bar or two. He almost walked into the
OFFSHORE
bar, but a suspicious look from a man about to enter the front door quickly changed his mind. When the man saw the bar’s owner, he told him that a character outside the bar looked strangely familiar, but he could not for the life of him remember where he had seen that face before. Only a few months earlier the same man assured everyone at the bar that he could identify the face of the man who left with Drew on that fateful Sunday night that Drew disappeared into the dark waters of the Atlantic ocean.

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At no time during the time that William had lived in Wilmington had he shown any interest in female companionship. Whether his lack of interest was due to the bad experiences in Wilmington or his newly acquired interest in the gun, or even a combination of the two, was somewhat of a mystery. But for whatever the exact reason, he was content to be on his own. His whole life revolved around his work and his late night adventures with the gun.

His gun was his sexual organ, and after three murders and his temporary hiatus to avoid capture from the police, work was his only sustenance. There were times when the opportunity arose for him to socialize, but he always let the opportunity pass without consideration.

In his dreams his gun was a partner to his penis. The two objects were interchangeable in his wildest fantasies that happened many times when he went to sleep. His dreaded nightmares had been replaced with dreams of big adventures, where he was the hero, or the villain, or in any case, he was the star. The gun would make him a star. He would awaken after the gun had exploded, and he would have to clean himself up before he could go back to sleep.

With Spring came a renewed interest in things besides his job, his room at the boarding house, and his fantasy adventures with the gun. The weather began to draw him outdoors and back to the ocean that he loved. The warm weather also drew hordes of newcomers to the city, looking for work. Jobs were plentiful around the shipyards because of the uneasy situation in Europe as well as the rest of the world, and German aggression was the primary cause of the uneasiness.

William had become keenly interested in the news, especially since the stories about his big adventures had appeared in the newspaper what seemed to him to be ages ago. It had not really been that long ago, but he had bought a newspaper everyday for months. He could have talked to anyone about the Nazis and places like Poland and Russia. Of course he would not talk to anyone about anything. He kept his news flashes to himself.

But on one particular Saturday morning he decided to eat breakfast at a cafe’ down the street from his boarding house. He picked up a newspaper to read while he waited for his food. He was so engrossed in the paper that he failed to notice the new waitress that was working on that sunny morning. He had become so used to seeing the same old middle-aged lady every time that he ate at the cafe’, that the soft voice and pleasant smile of the new girlcompletely caught him off guard. He lost his place in the newspaper and almost spilled his water.

The nametag on her smock spelled ‘Mona’. Mona, he thought, was a very good name for a waitress. When he ever so softly pronounced her name, his face automatically wanted to smile just a little. Smiling in public, or private, or anywhere for that matter, was something that he just did not do.

“Are you ready to order sir?” she asked with a bashful southern drawl.

It was the same familiar southern dialect that he was used to hearing, but it sounded so silky and delicate when she spoke the words.

“Yes ma’am.” he replied. “I’ll have the special, eggs over easy, and coffee, please.”

“Thank you sir.” she answered.

The sound of her voice made him want to melt right into his chair. His mind flashed back to his first grade teacher that he loved so much. He watched Mona walk toward the kitchen. He had to look twice to make sure that her feet were actually touching the floor. He could not concentrate on what he was reading, but he pretended to anyway. Out of the corner of his eye he watched every move that Mona made while she went about her duties.

It seemed like only a few minutes passed before she returned with his food. He was watching her so closely that she noticed. It made her uncomfortable to be so closely scrutinized while she worked.

“Is everything all right? Did I forget to bring you something?” she asked.

“Oh no ma’am.” he replied. “I was just enjoying watching you.”

“My. My.” she said in a bashful but flirtatious manner. “I wish that my husband paid as much attention to me as you do.”

“Well, he’s crazy if he don’t.” William added for extra measure.

“Enjoy your breakfast honey.” she said as she walkedaway.

She was at the next table before he had time to say anything else to her. The words had flowed from her lovely mouth like butter over freshly popped corn. William was so lost in that voice and smile that he did not remember what he had for breakfast. The next time that she came around to his table, she freshened his coffee and left his check.

“Can I get you anything else sir?” she asked coyly.

“No and please call me William.” he replied.

“And I am Mona.” she said just as she realized that he had already read her nametag.

“Its nice to meet you Mona. I think that you will be seeing a lot of me from now on.”

“I hope so.” she added. “We open at five a.m.”

“I’ll be stopping by on my way to work.” he said.

“Where do you work?” she asked.

“On the docks just down the boardwalk.” he replied.

“My husband starts there on Monday morning, first shift. His name is Jack. Look out for him, will you?”

“Sure, I’ll be glad to.” William replied.

All the time he was thinking to himself that Jack had better be the one to look out. He had a sinking suspicion that Jack was going to be in for some rough times ahead.

For the rest of the day on Saturday and all day on Sunday, William kept himself busy, both in and out of his room. He walked to the ocean so many times that he lost count. He walked to the cafe’ on Sunday but it was closed. The sign on the front door read, ‘Sundays are for the Lord’. He wondered if Mona was in church with Jack. For some odd reason he doubted if they were anywhere near a church. He knew that if she was with him, they would be anywhere else but church. But that was a whole different fantasy.

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It was easy to find Mona’s Jack on Monday morning. He and William practically worked side by side on the docks. In spite of his promise to Mona, William did absolutely nothing to make Jack’s first day on the job a smoothtransition. If Jack asked William any kind of work related question, William pretended not to know the answer, or would even give Jack the wrong answer. Jack actually thought that William must have been new on the job too. When Mona asked her husband that first night if he met a man named William on the job, he of course replied that he did.

“Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious. He is a customer of mine at the cafe’.” she replied.

“He is really an odd duck.” Jack added. “I don’t think that I am going to like him.”

That was the extent of their conversation about William Hill.

The next morning William returned to the cafe’. He made sure as always that he sat at one of Mona’s tables. When she came to take his order he beamed a smile at her from ear to ear. Of course she had no way of knowing that he had dreamed about her the night before, and also of her ‘late’ husband. She was so sad in his dream because her Jack was killed on his new job. But like a knight in shining armor, William had arrived just in time to brush away her tears and carry her off into the sunset. The dream had been so real that it took him several moments to realize that he had only been asleep. He took the dream to be an omen of things to come. He carried that good feeling with him to the cafe’.

The morning’s conversation was strictly business. It was not that Mona was unfriendly towards him, but she did manage to keep a safe conversational distance from him. He of course suspected that her husband had warned her against talking to him. But William did no care. He had made up his mind to see her as often as he got the chance. He did not see their relationship as businesslike at all. He had been coming to the cafe’ to see her on a social basis. The fact that he had to pay for the privilege of seeing her was not that important. Anyway he always left the cafe’ nourished in both body and spirit.