The Devil's Water: Scenic City Murder Series #1 (22 page)

“No. Just keep the light on me. They’re big but they ain’t that heavy. They’re just awkward.” He said as he lifted one and handed it out to his detective. Wilder sat the first box on the ground and reached to get the second one. After he laid it down, he turned and held out a hand to grab as Clutch tried to step over the rows of shoes.

“Alright, gimme the flashlight” Clutch said as he got out of the closet.

Jeff did as his boss asked and looked on as Mclutcheon shined the light on one of the boxes and opened the lid.

“Eureka!” Clutch exclaimed, smiling broadly.

“We hit the mother lode, boss?”

“Not necessarily but there’s plenty of treasure to go through. Open the other box.”

The detective did so and looked inside. “Holy shit.” He exclaimed.

Clutch leaned down and grabbed one of the boxes. “Get the other one, Jeff. Let’s load ‘em up and get the fuck outta here.”

CHAPTER 44

It was late in the evening when Tasha Yoder heard a key being inserted in the front door of her apartment. The door swung open and she was happy to see who was on the other side. “Hey, sweetheart!” she said as David Campbell shut the door behind him using his right foot. He was holding a large paper bag. Tasha could hear glass clink together as he strolled across the kitchen floor. “Honey, I’m home.” He announced as he laid the bag on the counter. Tasha walked into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around his waist. “You have blood on you.” She said.

“Yeah, rough day at work. I got a little bit on me but that just goes with the territory.”

“What you got in there?” she asked, looking at the bag. He turned and embraced her.

“I think it’s time for a celebration. I got us a couple bottles of wine.”

“Oh? What’s the occasion?”

“The good news about Carol. I saw her today. She looks great. She’s recovering nicely and Dr. Conner thinks she might start talking soon. It could happen any day, really.”

“That is great news! Why don’t we celebrate horizontally before we do vertically?”

“Well, not right now. Actually, I have a surprise for you. Let me pour you a glass of wine and we’ll have a toast to Carol.”

“Sure.”

Tasha left the kitchen, moving over to the living area. She had just plopped down on the sofa as she heard the pop of the cork being pulled from the wine bottle. She really wasn’t sure how the alcohol might affect her. Ever since she’d hooked up with David, Tasha hadn’t been drinking nearly as much.
How long has it been since I’ve had a buzz?
she thought, trying to remember. It had been a long time. During the time she was drinking heavily, she really never got tipsy. It was just one drink right after the other culminating in mindless oblivion. No memories. No regrets.
That was then, this is now.
She smiled at David as he came out of the kitchen with a glass of wine in each hand.  

 “Here you go.” David said handing her one of the two glasses of wine he was holding. He sat down beside her and held his glass high.

“To Carol.”

“Hear, hear!” Tasha said as she lightly touched his glass with her own. She brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip. “Oh, wow. This is good.”

“It wasn’t cheap. I didn’t want to celebrate with the cheap stuff.”

“Yeah, I can tell. So what’s the surprise?”

“Well…” He began as he ran his finger around the rim of his wine glass. “I thought we might go to my place tonight. It might be fun to make love in a different bedroom for once. Plus you’ve never seen the place and I think it’s time we had a change of scenery.”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Tasha said, taking another sip of wine.

David smiled and put his arm around her. “I already talked to that cop that’s been watching you. He was out in the parking lot a bit ago. I told him my plan to take you to my house. What’ his name?”

“Jerry Tallent.”

“Yeah. He had to clear it with Clutch, but everything is fine. I guess everyone needs a night off now and then.”

“Well, David. Here’s to making love in different places.” Tasha said, laughing.

“Hear, hear.”

CHAPTER 45

Across town, Daniel Mclutcheon was sitting on the couch watching the news. Happy was in his lap and Lord was at his feet. Happy still detested Lord, but it seemed that the cat was starting to get used to him. Happy’s eyes were mere slits as Clutch rubbed his head.

“OK, hop up boy.” Clutch said as he lifted the cat off his lap and laid him down on the couch cushion beside him. “Daddy’s got work to do.”

He stood up and walked over to the fireplace where the two large boxes were sitting. He hoped that whatever was inside might render something, anything really, in the way of breaking the case wide open. Opening the lid of the first box, he sat down on the floor and began pawing through the contents. There were sports trophies, mostly for martial arts. There were newspaper articles. Certificates of achievement. There were even grade cards from years ago.
Son of a bitch threw his whole life in these boxes
Clutch thought as he came across a large leather bound scrapbook. Opening it, he began to flip through the pages. There were glossy pictures of school age children standing with their teachers. Bulletins for various church services.
His grandmother must have dragged him to those.

There were Boy Scout badges, baseball cards and some poetry which Berndt had obviously written.

“Damnit!” Clutch said out loud. “Where’s the key to all this? Where’s the connection?”

Turning to the back of the scrapbook, he came across a newspaper article. The edges of the paper had yellowed with age. It had been folded, once in the center. Clutch opened it to see what was on the inside.

‘Summer Camp Martial Arts’ was the title of the article. Clutch glanced over the type but his interest was really on the picture that accompanied the story. There were a group of kids of different ages standing with their karate instructor. At the bottom of the picture, the name of each child was listed. Clutch matched the face of Gary Berndt rather easily as he scanned the names. Standing beside Berndt was a girl with an angelic face. Clutch looked down and his eyes grew wide with surprise as he saw the girl’s name. It was Carol Shipley. Clutch’s heart leapt in his chest as he scanned the picture again. Standing on the back row was a boy whose face seemed familiar to Clutch. He had seen this kid somewhere before but he just couldn’t exactly place him. Glancing down, he examined the names and one stood out from all the others. He gasped as his hand moved reflexively to his mouth.

“Oh, sweet Jesus!”

CHAPTER 46

Her head was heavy. Fifty pounds of wet sand had taken the place of her brain. Somewhere beside her, someone was humming. It was a melody that she’d never heard before but she kind of liked it. Soft and low, it went on and on almost drowning the little voice that kept whispering in her ear.
You only had one drink
. How could she possibly feel this way after having one drink?

Tasha raised her head and willed herself to open her eyes. Her vision was fuzzy but she could still tell that she was in an environment that she’d never been in before.

“Well, she finally wakes up.” Someone said from a short distance away. The voice sounded familiar but the tone was different. Now, the tone was harsh, sarcastic and angry sounding.

“D-David?” she muttered. She was having trouble moving her tongue and her neck didn’t seem to want to hold her head up. She dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes again.

“No. You need to wake up.” David Campbell ordered. He walked over to her and pulled her head up. Tasha opened her eyes once more and saw that David was inches from her face. “It’s time to ‘Begin the Beguine.’”

“What do you mean?” Tasha barely whispered. She felt like she was going to pass out again and there was an overwhelming feeling of nausea that made her want to vomit.

“I mean that the plan has come down to the final stages. I have you exactly where I want you and I played you like a fucking card. Poor Gary couldn’t see this come to fruition but I’ll go to the grave to make sure it happens.”

Tasha’s heart began racing and she broke out in a cold sweat. Finally, it occurred to her that she had probably been drugged. “Make sure what happens?” she asked.

David laughed. “Tell you what. I’ll reveal what I’m going to do with you if you answer a question or two. Okay?”

Tasha didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her mouth was filling with saliva and she needed a waste can or lavatory so that she didn’t have to swallow all that was accumulating in her mouth. Finally, with no other option, she hung her head and opened her mouth letting the drool drip down her chin. In a few moments, the feeling passed and she raised her head again.

“Do you remember our trip to Moe’s?” David continued.

Tasha nodded.

“You told me that I looked like Douglas Fairbanks Jr. You told me about Mary Pickford and Fairbanks Sr. and a bunch of shit I already knew but I humored you. So… tell me. Since you know so much about Pickford, what was her birth name?”

Tasha’s brow furrowed. She knew the answer to the question. At least, she had at one time. Somehow, she couldn’t quite remember now.

“Time’s up. The answer is Gladys Smith.” David said. “Alright. Next question. Name the actress who shared that birth name with Pickford.”

Tasha lowered her head. She was trying to think but, with the drugs in her system, it was especially hard.

“No answer? I’ll give you a hint. As you know, I love Cole Porter. There was a movie that came out called ‘Night and Day’. In it, this other Gladys played Cole Porter’s wife. She also kept the last name ‘Smith’ only changing her first name. Now, who was she?”

Tasha was trying as hard as she could to pull the answer from the recesses of her brain. No luck. She hadn’t seen the movie and didn’t know much, if anything, about it.

David came to stand beside Tasha. He leaned down, positioning his mouth just inches from her ear. He made a loud buzzer sound. “Time’s up again. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see what I do to you.”

Suddenly, Tasha heard a voice from somewhere above her. “Gary? I hear you down there Gary, you motherfucker!”

David burst out in laughter. “You know who that is? That’s the fucking whore you all have been trying to rescue.” He said, loudly.

“I’m gonna kill you Gary, you son of a bitch! You’re a cocksucker, Gary!”

David laughed again. “Dumb cunt still believes I’m Berndt. See, sweetness? I’ve fooled them all.” He said leaning down to kiss Tasha on the cheek. She pulled away just as his lips touched her. “Aw, don’t be that way. After all we’ve done together? It was only last night that we made love, remember?”

Tasha felt herself growing nauseous again. The thought of having sex with a serial killer was honestly making her physically sick.

“I’m just too clever by far.” He continued. “Berndt was smart but not as smart as me. He was more into the hippy 60’s and 70’s shit. I was more classics and standards, though I know all those old Doors songs and whatnot. We had both studied those who came before us, you know, especially those killers that worked as a team. Bianchi and Buono. Leopold and Loeb.”

“How did you meet him?” Tasha asked. She was finally beginning to feel normal again.

“Years ago. We went to summer camp together. Incidentally, that’s how we knew Carol Shipley. She was at the same camp with us. Man, I had a crush on her. She wouldn’t give me the time of day, fucking bitch. Well, I got the better of her later on as you can see. Anyway, Gary and I stayed in touch. Later, I helped him land a job at the hospital I worked for. We found that we had similar tastes. We both liked to have our way with women. We started by picking up prostitutes. We’d beat them and rape them. That was fun for awhile but we had a taste for something different. We wanted the ‘good girls’. Meanwhile, Gary and I started stealing drugs from the hospitals and hoarding them. It wasn’t hard for me. I was a doctor. I could get my hands on anything. Finally, we got busted and I lost my medical license. That’s when I went to work for that dumb prick, Limmel. To this day, he has no idea that I was a medical doctor.”

“So you had us all conned.” Tasha said, looking him in the eye.

“Well…actually, yes I did.” He laughed.  “Even the big shot FBI agent. I had her so conned that she took me into her home and her bed, didn’t she? Now get up.” Campbell ordered.

He grabbed her arm and pulled Tasha to her feet. She could feel her knees wobble as she tried to stand and her head felt swimmy.  Cold sweat was breaking out on her brow.

“It’s time.” Campbell said, pulling a gun out of the waistband of his pants. He jammed it into her back, prodding her forward. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 47

The Volvo was moving at a rate that was twenty miles above the speed limit. Clutch checked the passenger seat and saw that his Glock was lying there. With any luck, he would be using it. He just hoped he wasn’t too late. He also hoped he wouldn’t be pulled over. He wasn’t worried about a ticket but this was a time crisis situation. There was no time to waste.

Pulling off the interstate, he zoomed through the streets of Red Bank. He ran every red light he came to if it was at all safe to do so. He had to get to Tasha. Clutch remembered what happened to her father.
Goddammit, Tasha won’t suffer the same fate.

 The streetlights were bright and as Tasha’s apartment complex came into view, Clutch pressed the accelerator. Tires squealed as he wheeled into the entrance. He passed a sign that said ‘20mph’. Below it was another sign that said ‘Children at play’. Checking his speed, he saw that the needle was registering 45mph. He had tried to get hold of Tasha several times since he’d left the house. When that effort failed, he tried to call Jerry Tallent. No answer there, either.

He reached the back parking lot where Tasha’s apartment was located. As his car lights swung around, he noticed Jerry’s blue Ford Explorer parked in a desolate area at the edge of the parking lot. Gunning it, he sped past several other parked cars. His tires squealed as he came to a stop beside the Explorer.