The Suicide Killer Read online

  She kicked him in the face. When he fell back, his finger got caught in the trigger guard, and the gun went off. He covered his face with his hands to protect it from another blow from her foot. The blast from the gun made his ears ring again even though he still couldn’t hear from the first shot. Blood covered his face and hands.

  It wasn’t the blood from his nose. He already had that cradled in his right hand. Laura had stopped fighting. He looked up, and instead of seeing her pretty face, he saw a bloody mess. What was left of her jaw spasmed and blood poured from her throat. He jumped up from the floor and screamed.

  “This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. You weren’t supposed to go this way. Why did you have to fight me?”

  He paced around the room yelling unintelligible words at Laura. He picked up a vase they knocked to the floor in the struggle and threw it against a shelf on the wall. It shattered, and the shelf fell, breaking a goldfish bowl. Two shotgun blasts would not have gone unnoticed in this neighborhood. The houses were right on top of each other. He had to hurry and leave before the police showed up. The goldfish flopped on the floor in a puddle of Laura’s blood—his blood, too. He scooped up the fish and carried it to the bathroom.

  He dropped the fish in the toilet and grabbed a towel from the cabinet. She shouldn’t have died like that. But the way she died did land in his favor. She looked like she killed herself while sitting in her chair after she destroyed the place.

  He returned to the living room and wiped the gun clean, so there would be no fingerprints, and carefully placed it back between her knees. Some of the blood on the floor was from his nose, so he sopped up as much of the spots he could find. Hopefully, if he missed any, it was underneath globs of grey matter that littered the floor, walls and ceiling and they’d assume it was all Laura’s.

  He scribbled his death note on a piece of paper and put it on the table beside Laura. This house didn’t have any hiding places. He wanted to stay and see the police when they arrived, and how nervous they were as they checked to make sure he wasn’t in any of the rooms. The detective would be expecting that. Burns would search the house and everywhere around it. The house was a mess, so they would be going over all of his mistakes.

  He didn’t want to see that. Everything had gone wrong tonight. They would make fun of him for not being able to finish the deal without getting his ass kicked. He slammed his fist on the arm of the couch.

  She was a lot tougher than he expected her to be. Things could have gone in a different direction. He didn’t feel like it right now, but he knew he was lucky she hit him in the nose with her knee. If she hadn’t fought back, he wouldn’t have accidentally pulled the trigger. She may have ended up winning. He needed to get control of himself before he ended up being the one on the slab.

  He walked onto her back porch and heard the sirens headed his way.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Bobby. Slow down, you’re going to wreck. Or worse, you’re going to get pulled over by the police. How would you explain yourself? I was sad that you weren’t able to make it back to our spot before they took me away. I caught a quick glimpse of your sweet face before that guy you were talking to blocked it.

  Don’t worry. I kept my promise. I didn’t tell them anything about you.

  They didn’t know that we knew each other and you visited and stayed with me so I wouldn’t be lonely. Bobby, you really must calm down. Being this upset is not going to help the situation. I can help you with your problem. Right now you don’t know what to do. I’m sure you feel like you are alone and can’t count on anybody else, but you’re wrong. You can count on me. I will stay with you as long as you allow me to. I think we both know the reason for all of your problems.

  It’s all her fault.

  She has been trying to come between us from the very beginning. She doesn’t want us to be together. She doesn’t want you to be happy. She wanted to call the police the first time she saw us together. She’s jealous of what we have because she knows that you two will never have the same thing we do, no matter what happens between us. You will always be mine, and she can’t stand to think about it.

  Danielle is the one who called the police and told them where I was. She is the only other person who knew about me. If somebody found me while they were walking in the woods, you would have seen the cops talking to them. But there wasn’t anybody else there.

  It’s her fault I’m gone, and we can’t have our spot anymore. She is also the reason you have been distracted tonight, and it almost cost you. If you hadn’t been worried about who told on me, then you would never have screwed up and had to change your plans.

  You need to go and talk to her. Tell her you don’t need her anymore. That I am all you will ever need. She is just getting in the way of your happiness. She thinks she is helping you, but she is only causing you more problems. Go to her house and tell her now.

  I’m sure she will be waiting for you.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The parking lot was full when Bobby pulled into one of the two spaces reserved for Danielle in the Valley Summit apartment complex.

  He slid the gear shifter in park and eased his foot off the brake, but left the engine running. She was the one who called the police. There was nobody else that could have done it. He had to figure out a way to bring it up. Busting into her apartment and accusing her wouldn’t look good. It would probably scare her, and she would just lie about it. Bobby needed to let her think he was okay with it. The police taking Emily away was the best thing for all of them. Her family could bury her, and he and Danielle could pick up where they left off, and act like none of this every happened.

  But it will never be the same.

  What would he do when she admitted to it? He couldn’t hurt her. He would tell her he could never see her again. That would break her heart, and she would cry. Bobby didn’t know if he could deal with that, but he had to know for sure it was her. He pulled the handle and got out of the vehicle.

  A light clicked on and illuminated her dark window. She was still awake. He mounted the stairs, and the first one let out a loud creak, and a bright light washed over Bobby. He dove into the bushes. Squatting behind a bush, he watched as some of Danielle’s neighbors exited their car. There was no reason for him to still be worked up about earlier. He’d had plenty of time to calm down. He stayed hidden in the bushes until the neighbors walked past. That would have been awkward to explain if he popped out of the bushes. They stopped at the first-floor door beside the stairs. Bobby grew anxious and sweat formed on his brow as he waited for them to get inside. They were taking far too long. It was like they knew he was there and were playing a game with him.

  Let’s see how long we can make the weird guy in the bushes wait.

  Bobby finally had enough and rose to his feet. He stepped onto the concrete, and their door opened, and they both slipped in, never noticing Bobby behind them. He balled his fists and stomped up the stairs.

  His hand hovered inches from Danielle’s cold steel door. He still didn’t know what to say. There was no reason to try to manipulate her. She was far too smart for that and would see through any crazy story he could come up with. That left the hardest option. The truth.

  He was just going to come out and ask her if she was the one who called the police. It would go much smoother that way. He didn’t know what he would do when she answered him. There was no way to prepare for her answer. No matter which way it went.

  Bobby pulled his hand back to knock, but hesitated again to see if she had locked the door. He turned the knob back and forth, but it didn’t give.

  She’s keeping you out, Bobby. She’s trying to hide what she’s done from you.

  He raised his fist to beat on the door. The apartment across the breezeway had their porch light on. In the dim glow, Bobby caught his reflection in the slick substance on his arm. He stopped himself just before he knocked on her door. Ice filled his veins. The hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end, le
tting him know the potential danger he was in. He walked into the neighbor’s light and looked at his clothes. They were still covered in blood. Laura’s blood.

  He was so upset when he left her house he’d forgotten to clean up before he tried to talk to Danielle. The blood was drying in places, but was still wet in many others. He pulled a clump of hair off his shirt and held it up to the light. It still had a large chunk of scalp attached. There would be no explaining this.

  Lucky for him he caught it before he knocked. There wouldn’t be a reason to worry about her calling the police because of Emily. She would be calling them on him, causing bigger issues. He would have to come back after he’d had a chance to clean up.

  “Bobby? What are you doing?”

  Her voice startled him, and he threw the hair over the side of the railing. Bobby never heard the door open. How long had she been standing there watching him? He held his hand out like a crossing guard directing traffic. His mouth ran dry and his tongue stuck to the side of his mouth. Now she would know everything. Escape before she ran inside screaming and called the cops was his only option. She would never understand what he was doing. It was all for Emily. If he didn’t do it, she would disappear forever. Danielle would be jealous because of how far he was willing to go for another woman.

  “Stop. Stop right there and just go inside, Danielle. I’m leaving.”

  “Bobby, what is that on your clothes? You’re covered in it.”

  “Please, Danielle, just go back inside.”

  She walked closer to him and put her hands to her mouth. This wasn’t right. She should never see him like this. How could he be so stupid and not pay attention to what he was wearing?

  “You need help, Bobby. Let me help you,” she said.

  Tears ran down her face.

  “No. I need to go,” he said, and ran down the steps.

  He could hear her yelling for him to come back, but it was too late. He had to find a way to get a hold of himself. There had to be a way to get back on top. He would call and talk to the detective. Talking to Burns allowed him to feel in control, like he finally had the upper hand on somebody. He jumped into his Bronco and left, spinning tires through the parking lot.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The flat, stale smell of drying blood hit Greg before he stepped into Laura Cline’s house. The air was stifling inside. The smell combined with the lack of airflow overwhelmed Greg, and he coughed.

  “Hey, calm down, rookie,” Mark Harper said, walking in from the kitchen. “Take your puke outside. We don’t need you contaminating another crime scene.”

  It was bad enough this guy killed another innocent woman, but he didn’t feel like dealing with Harper today. Murphy filled him in on the specifics on the way over. Neighbors heard two gunshots in the middle of the night and called 911. The police showed up and patrolled the area for a while, but never saw or heard anything. The caller couldn’t tell where the shots came from, so the police couldn’t investigate a particular house. Laura’s mother called the police when she found her but couldn’t answer any questions. She was hysterical when she found her daughter. They had to sedate her and take her to the hospital. The killer made it look like a self-inflicted gunshot to the face, and he left a note just like the last time.

  Greg walked over to the chair where Laura sat. The shotgun was still between her legs, pointed toward the mass of flesh and blood where her face used to be.

  “The murder weapon was a shotgun, and it’s right here,” Greg said, pointing at it for Mark to see. “Oh, did you not need help with this one?”

  Mark stuck up his middle finger and walked out of the room.

  “You really need to learn to let it go,” Don said.

  “Hell, he started it.”

  “He started it? What preschooler did you learn that from?” Don asked. “Here’s the letter the killer left. It’s just as out there as the last one. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be from him or how he sees his victims.”

  Greg snatched the evidence bag containing the letter from Don.

  “I got it from my daughter, and she’s six and a half.”

  I’ve got a job, I own a house, and I’m healthy, not heartbroken. I really have no reason to do all of this. I don’t feel any existential pain or agony. I have almost everything that I need. Something is missing. I have no clues. I guess I’ll have to go search some other place to find it.

  I’ll get my coat.

  N

  “Well, this is definitely a lot more than what he gave us the last time. I still don’t think it means anything. I think he wants us to look closer into it, and waste time searching for him.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe it’s a cry for help,” Don said.

  “I don’t think this guy wants any help. He knows what he’s doing. I think he’s working for a particular goal.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Just a feeling, I guess.”

  The couple times he called Greg, he didn’t sound like he was crying out for help. He sounded proud of what he had done, and he didn’t care who knew about it. If anything, this note makes him seem content with his life, just bored. Unless the vessel he was talking about before is what’s missing, and something keeps driving him to look for one. But why are these women vessels, and what does he want to keep in them? The Martin girl’s autopsy didn’t show anything abnormal with the body, and this victim doesn’t look like he tampered with the body either.

  “This one definitely put up a fight,” Don said.

  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if she surprised him, or if he just wasn’t prepared to take her on, and she kicked his ass before he could shoot her?”

  “I hope she kicked his ass. It looks like somebody tried to clean up in a few spots. She may have injured him, and he needed to get rid of the evidence. I’ve already swabbed for DNA and cleaned under her fingernails. Hopefully we’ll get a hit in the system,” Mark said.

  “Sounds good,” Greg said.

  Greg never heard Mark walk back into the room. He wasn’t trying to sneak up on them. Mark had been civil when speaking, and Greg didn’t have anything to quip back with. That bothered him. If they ever said anything to each other, it was never civil. Maybe he and Mark could work together? Or maybe Mark was trying to be professional and wanted to rub it in Greg’s face.

  Greg’s cell phone interrupted his thoughts on Mark’s behavior. It was too early for the killer to call him. He wouldn’t call him at the crime scene, unless he was here and wanted to see Greg squirm while he talked to him. Greg stepped outside and fished his phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID, but it wasn’t from one of the dead girl’s numbers. Shelly was calling.

  “Hello?” There was an explosion of emotion, and unintelligible words. “Honey, you have to calm down. I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Calm down and say it slower.”

  “She’s not here,” Shelly said.

  Her voice was forced and strained.

  “Who’s not there? Where are you?”

  “I’m at the school, Greg. Hope is not here.”

  Greg went weak in the knees.

  “Did you call your mother? Maybe she thought it was her day to pick her up?”

  Shelly’s mother had mixed her days up and sat in line two cars behind Shelly for an hour. She caused a scene when she saw Hope get into a stranger’s car that turned out to be Shelly.

  “I called everybody before I called you, Greg. The teachers can’t find her anywhere. They said she came outside when they called her name over the speaker, but nobody remembers seeing her get into a car.”

  “I’m on my way. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

  Greg’s entire body went numb, and he ran into the house on unsteady legs.

  “I have to go to the school, my daughter is missing,” he yelled at anybody who would listen.

  Don chased him out the door, trying to ask him questions, but Greg didn’t hear him. He kept running and jumped into
his car and turned on the lights and sirens. Greg’s body was full of adrenaline. He no longer felt like he couldn’t walk on his own legs. He was in pursuit mode, and his daughter could be in trouble.

  Thoughts raced through his mind as he drove. Was she still at the school and somebody made a mistake? Maybe she was hiding in a classroom or the library or some place. There had to be a logical explanation. Kids didn’t just disappear at school. Thoughts of her not being at the school, and something happening to her, flooded in. He let off the gas, and the car coasted downhill. Where could she have gone? Why would she get into somebody’s car that she didn’t know? Why would the teacher put her in somebody’s car they didn’t know? He snapped out of it and stomped the gas pedal to the floor. He was only a few miles from the school.

  The car slid into the parking lot, and he threw it in park. He had to calm down. He needed a clear head. Greg didn’t wait for his head to go to analytical detective mode. He was in full daddy panic mode. He ran to the front of the school and found his wife wandering around the front of the school yelling for Hope.

  “What are they doing? We have to find her,” Greg yelled.

  “The teachers are checking all the classrooms for her, and the principal is trying to get in touch with all the buses to make sure she didn’t get on one of them.”

  Greg grabbed Shelly by the shoulders and forced her to look him in the face.

  “A car, Shelly. Did somebody say they saw her getting into a car?”

  “No, they said she came outside when they called her name.”

  “Who the hell is watching the kids while they’re out here? Do they just let them get into any car?”

  It was hard not thinking about the worst-case scenario, but he’d been in law enforcement long enough to see the darker side of Crystal Valley. And the darker side cast a huge shadow over his thoughts every day.