The Uninvited (10 page)

Chapter 18

Brandi and Katy sprinted through the woods the best that they could. Brandi had a firm grip on Katy’s wrist because more than once she had attempted to run back to Jack. His screams echoing through the trees were enough to break her heart. When they’d ran half the distance through the woods to what they thought was a safe stopping point they did. Katy sat on a downed tree with her face in her hands. She said, “I can’t believe we fucking left him. Who fucking leaves someone when this kind of shit is happening? Do we have no souls?”

“Hey, your husband, as much as you hate it, was being a man. You can’t be more chivalrous than throwing yourself under the bus if it means saving the one you love. If he makes it, you are going to owe him some serious fuck time. I mean-"

“Okay Brandi, it might be a good silent time. Can we just sit here for a second? I’m almost thirty and we’ve been together for a while so believe it or not, having my legs open isn’t the biggest part of our relationship. We’ve been together forever, we’ve had to deal with the good and the bad, we’ve seen each other at our sickest, and had to deal with family loss. We have love and yes, even though my husband is still a complete hornball he actually still is capable of sitting on the couch with me without getting himself all worked up each and every time. You should try it sometime. It’s actually a pretty fucking rewarding life to live.”

“Wow. Look you bitch, I was just trying to make you feel better.”

“Well, you fucking nailed it didn’t you? Why don’t we try the silence thing and when this is all over we can all sit around and talk about that one time at band camp when the stranger came out of nowhere and killed your fuck buddy. You remember him, right? Yeah, and we can have a nice, very stiff drink.”

“Whatever. If we live through this then I'm moving. This is the most fucked thing that I have ever had to deal with. This state can lick my ass when this is over. I do not make nearly enough at my job to stay here. I think California is screaming my name out loud at this point.”

“You realize statistically if you live through this that there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be able to go your entire life with good odds of never having another killer come after you? I mean how often do you hear about the victim getting away only for them to come back and kill you later?”

“I don’t watch the news, okay.”

“Shocker. You are something, you know it?”

Brandi went to retort but the snapping of branches was growing louder and closer. The two girls looked at each other. Brandi went to say something, but Katy said, “Shut the fuck up!”

Katy looked around the floor of the forest, trying to find something that she could use as a weapon. Brandi said “You’re fucking crazy. You really want to try and fight that son of a bitch?”

Katy looked up when she’d found a sturdy thick branch. “No, I'm going to trip that big mother fucker and when he’s down I'm going to put the tip of this branch through his neck. Then I'm going to leave him for dead and go back to my husband and we are going to walk to wherever that damn farmhouse is and beg them for a ride and to call the police. How does that sound to you?”

“Better than running only to have him catch up to us and chop our fucking heads off one at a time. But here, this stick’s better, you’ll be able to jab this right into his neck. I think.”

“You hold on to it. Once he goes down you come up and stab the fucker with it.”

“I don't know if I can do that, Katy.”

“Really? He chopped your boy toys head off and has terrorized us since and you don’t think that you can fight back? What the hell is wrong with you, suck it up!”

“Fine, you do your part and I’ll do mine.”

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. The two women each hid behind a tree breathing heavy and trying to keep their hands unsuccessfully from shaking. Brandi mouthed, don’t miss. Katy gave her a sarcastic thumbs up trying to calm herself. They did not have to wait long and when feet appeared, Katy slid the branch in-between them.

Chapter 19

Hardin looked around the clearing, trying to guess best where to go. It was almost impossible to tell where they should head to look. Bynum sat watching the seasoned detective and said, “So are you going to track them, sir?”

Hardin looked back at him. “I’m a detective, rook, not a fucking Navajo. There’s a reason why we get dogs to come out here." He looked for the men that were standing around in the field looking for any signs. “Hey, Johnson, did you find anyone with a set of dogs we could use?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s going to be a few hours unfortunately, but there is a K-9 squad that is going to come this way and help us out. It’s the best we could do.”

Hardin threw up his hand and Lambert could see the frustration on his face. He wasn’t sure if he was so hell bent on it because of the killer out there or because it was something personal to himself. Lambert didn’t like putting stress like this on people, because he knew that nine out of ten times, especially when it came down to missing person cases, that they were already doing everything that they could to try and help. When Hardin had come from Colorado with the highest recommendations he’d actually felt bad for the man when another killer arose. He had told him that he didn’t have to take lead on the case if he didn’t want to and that maybe he could just consult with the other detectives. Hardin had told him that his personal needs were second when it came to needing to try and save the lives of innocent people. The chief could tell that the man truly had a knack for the job and he hated the criminals with the same hate that Lambert himself had felt towards the enemy in Vietnam.

Lambert walked close to him as he walked around kicking in frustration at the long grass. “You doing okay there, Hardin?”

Hardin, who was usually pretty well reserved, especially with superiors, said, “Fuck no I'm not okay. There could be people out there still alive and the best thing we have is a few hours to get a dog. That’s fucking ridiculous. Don’t they know how precious two hours is? Shit, I'd take a halfway intelligent hunting dog at this point if it meant getting a lead on something quicker.”

Lambert said, “If this would have happened closer to home that probably would’ve been something I could have helped you out with. I don’t know anyone in these parts, I honestly don’t think me and the family have ever came out to this park before. Can’t say that I have a lot of desire to ever come back here again after what we’ve seen today.”

Lambert was barely being listened to. Hardin was peering around the wood’s edge. He said, “Yeah, I can see how something like this-”

When he trailed off Lambert watched him seeing he’d stopped moving around the field glasses and said, “You find something?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it looks like it’d be worth a look at. You want to head up there with me to have a look around?”

“With my bum knee, no way. Take one of the boys with you. They can still jump fences and chase people down and still get out of bed in the morning.”

Hardin nodded. “Yeah, you know it isn’t getting any easier as we get older. You got a preference on who I take with me?”

“No, but if you want to take the most seasoned with you take Nulty. If you want a runner grab Bynum, that little fucker works a ten-hour shift and he still goes to the gym. There’s something wrong about that. When I used to get off work I didn’t go to the gym, but then again no one went to the gym back then. We kept ourselves busy enough to keep from getting fat without it.”

Hardin left the chief still reminiscing on the good ol’ days and headed over to Bynum. “Hey, rook, let’s go. I might have seen something over there, and I don’t want to wait for those dogs. There’s no reason wasting time when we don’t have it to waste.”

He nodded unsurely and looked back at the Chief, who was paying no attention to him at all. Hardin said “Bynum, let’s go, shake a leg. The Chief was the one who already gave me permission to head out and take you with.”

“Why, did he say you could take me?”

“Simple…..I hate to run, and he said that you were a hell of a lot more physically fit than Nulty or DeBryan.”

Bynum smiled at this, nodding, and realizing being fatter would mean he could be walking lazily through the field looking for impossible to find clues. But that he would be surrounded totally by police and further being safe. He didn’t want to come off badly so he just nodded his head uneasily and checked his gun was secure. Hardin pointed to Bynum’s chest. “You got your bullet right?” When Bynum stared blankly, missing the Andy Griffith reference, Hardin said, “Never mind. You are probably too young to even know what the Griffith show is.”

The two walked into the woods and it did not take long for them to smell the body. Bynum said, “What in the hell is that smell?”

Hardin said, “If I had to guess I’d say that it is another victim.”

Bynum pulled out his pistol and Hardin said, “Are you going to shoot the victim, rookie? Put that stupid thing away. If you need it I’ll let you know.”

They walked around a pile of brush and saw Jack’s foot sticking out. His shirt had turned brown from the dried blood and his neck could not have been more mangled from the machete. They walked around looking at him and heard a crack in the distance. Hardin said, “Okay, rookie, now you can pull your weapon.”

Bynum said, “What about the victim?”

“You mean the dead body? He isn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon. You know how long I’ve been working on this? If that sick fuck is still out here we aren’t going to pussy foot around and loose him. Now get your ass moving and let’s go.”

Bynum was walking on Hardin’s feet practically. He said, “Grow some balls, boy. You go that way and I’ll go this way. We don’t want crossfire to be an issue. If you see him I want you to take him alive if you can. There are a lot of dead bodies I feel that still need to be discovered unfortunately. If we take him or her out then we will never be able to give their families any sense of finality to their feelings.”

Bynum nodded and started running lightly in his direction. Bynum stopped every twenty to thirty feet listening for the sounds again. He wiped at his brow. The heat was turning into a scorcher and the humidity did nothing to help. His shirt was sticking to his back and making him uncomfortable, not helping to make it easy to concentrate on the task at hand.

Bynum slid his gun in its holster, then pulled out his dip can and, as quietly as he could, slapped his thumb on it, getting the amount ready to stick in, under his lip. When he did, he almost felt an immediate relief from the nicotine that made its way in through his blood stream. A crack came from behind him and he jumped, spinning around and trying to pull his gun. The man with the mask stared for only a moment before gripping his arm. Bynum opened his mouth to yell but the man used his other hand to slam the blade into one of his lungs and then the other. Bynum quivered, letting go of the pistol and trying to keep his balance.

When he tried to yell again the man shook his head slowly no and placed a finger up to the officer’s lips, then to his own, making it clear that no was the answer when it came to screaming aloud. The man dipped a finger in Bynum’s chest injury and made a smiley face on Bynum’s cheeks. When Bynum was just ready to pass out, the man slammed his head into a branch protruding from the tree sending it into his brain and leaving Bynum standing there suspended in air, dripping blood down his shirt and onto his legs.

*****

Lambert watched with the field glasses as the two men disappeared, not liking that they didn’t have more available bodies for such a task. He hit his radio twenty minutes into it and said, “Hardin, Bynum, I want you to check in. I don’t like having everyone split up like this. It isn’t smart work.”

Just as he was about to start assembling men, Hardin answered. “Hey, Chief, there was a noise out here so we split up hoping to gain more ground and to see if we could catch up to it. We weren’t sure what made it, but didn’t want to take a chance on losing our opportunity if it was him.”

Lambert came back. “Yeah, I can appreciate that. You didn’t find anything then, I assume?”

“We found a body. I didn’t want a bunch of people rushing up here if that son of a bitch was standing near watching and scare him off. I fear that he’s gone though.”

“It was probably just a damn deer. Bynum, did you not hear me when I said to check back in, damn it?”

When no one came back over the radio Hardin said, “Let me circle back around, we’ve not been at this too long he can’t be too-"

Lambert waited impatiently. “Hey, Hardin, I think you cut out there son. Were you saying that you were going to go and find him?”

Hardin spoke but there was nothing in his voice that spoke of compassion. He said it as if he was repeating it off of a card. “Sir, I need you to get two gurneys out here to get people out of here on.”

“What do you mean two…..oh my god, don’t tell me that you found Traci out there? Don’t you tell me that, damn it!”

“No, no that isn’t it, it's…..it is Bynum. I don’t know what the fuck happened but the son of a bitch must be out here. He killed him. The son of a bitch killed him, god damn it. If I’d have gone this way and had him go the other I would have finally been able to catch up to him. Fuck!”

“He got Bynum? Son of a bitch, he’s just a kid. Fire off a couple shots. I want him to make sure we aren’t dicking around out here. I’ll have the men out here follow you and catch up. I don’t want anyone else alone the rest of the day out here. You hang tight and don’t do anything stupid. I’m not going to lose any more men today. I mean that, god damn it!”

Hardin walked towards the edge of the woods to wait for the rest of the men, keeping a pistol by his side. He hit his radio and said, “I can’t waste an opportunity like this. There looks to be a house in the distance; there is a smoke trail coming from it at the least. You guys meet me there. I'm going in to see what is going on. I won’t do anything stupid, I promise."

Lambert came back on his radio, “Hey, it isn’t your fault, you remember that. I’m sorry that I sent you in without more backup. I don’t know what I was thinking. There wasn’t anything so important in the field going on that the rest of the men couldn't have split up and assisted you.”

“We all make decisions, sir, and it is something that we have got to live with, we just don't have to like it every time we make a decision we aren’t in love with afterwards. I’ll tell his parents if you want? I don’t think you are going to find her, the killer usually doesn’t hang around the kill scene. Once they move on they are usually gone.”

“Do you think that he might be changing his kill pattern?”

“I sure as hell hope not, Chief. Before we get to Bynum you are going to see another man. He looks like he has multiple stab wounds and a laceration across his neck. It is a pretty deep cut and there isn’t a lot leaving his neck attached to his head.”

“You look at the house and that is it. You don’t do anything else, you understand me, Hardin?”

“Unless I see them walking around, then I'm not going to go anywhere, I promise.”

“Like I said, we aren’t going to lose anyone else today. You sit on that house and stay there!”

“Yes, sir, Chief, will do. I had my wife probably tell me the same thing that yours told you before you left.”

“What, that you are a pain in the ass?”

“Yeah, you know it was something like that, sir.”