* * * *
James woke again from his night terror. After spending the night in fitful naps, he finally remembered the terror that woke him. He was looking down on Lori. She had been split open from chin to crotch. Each layer like an onion peeled back and pushed to the side. At first, all he could see was her white chalky face. The terror began when he looked below her face. The split blouse was peeled back first followed by the bra, the inside of its cup facing outward. The skin had been sectioned next. The pocket of skin making up the breast placed within the cup of the bra. Next, the muscles were peeled back and laid across what had been pulled back before. The ribs were wrenched apart. Inside the chest cavity, the heart was gone. Jim stood over her paralyzed. As he struggled to move, he fell in slow motion. The closer he got to Lori's body the more detail he saw, the weave of the material making her blouse, the jagged edge of the cut flesh. The instant before he touched her, he woke.
Jim got out of his sweat-soaked bed. The muted sunlight penetrated the bedroom's gloom, illuminating the brick lined walls. In a pain-filled rage, James threw himself against the brick walls, as if he were a caged animal.
Bruised and exhausted he showered. He would not let himself be caged. First he had to protect Lori and then attack. He remembered reading a story about some military leader. The phrase the book used repeated itself though his mind. "The best defense is a good offense." He was not going to be on the defense anymore!
* * * *
Al Gallea saw Makinen's car pull up in the school's parking lot. Al's adrenaline surged. Henry was wrong! Makinen was the killer! Why else would he be here?
The car pulled next to one of the three vehicles left in the school parking lot. Al checked his list to find the car belonged to Lori Waithe. As Al waited, his hands began to sweat. He kept rubbing them on his pant legs, unaware that a large stain was forming. Al saw two people leave the building.
One had to be Lori and the other was another teacher, Mike Garrison. He watched Makinen get out of his car. Al couldn't hear the discussion between the group but Mike soon left. He saw the discussion between Lori and Makinen become more animated.
Al slowly got out of his car. He felt the chill on his pant leg where the sweat from his hands evaporated in the cool evening air. Al walked through the grass at the edge of the parking lot. He wanted to get as close as he could before the two arguing noticed him.
Suddenly, Lori fell into Makinen's arms. Damn ... Damn ... Damn! A lover's quarrel. Al backed up to one of the trees lining the parking lot. He looked back across to the school and wondered if he had missed seeing anyone leave. When he turned back, Makinen and Lori had gone back into their cars and were leaving the lot. A small movement on the far side of the lot caught his attention. Al was about to investigate, when the owner of the last car left the building.
* * * *
In the bushes, the old man started repeating a new mantra, cop,
Makinen, Lori, Kawalski. Cop, Makinen, Lori, Kawalski. Cop, Makinen, Lori,
Kawalski! The cop was armed. The old man would need something special for him. Makinen and Lori would be easy, but Kawalski was huge. The old man would need something special for him as well.
Why did Kawalski and the cop have to interfere with his pleasure? The old man left for home. He removed from the refrigerator the bundle he had from Pike. He left the penis and testicles in the wrapping. He had removed Pike's heart as an afterthought. He had killed Pike by inserting old chopsticks into his body. He had cut a slit in Pike's chest and inserted a chopstick into his lung. He had watched, for ten minutes, the end of the stick jiggle with each breath he took. Before Pike stopped moving, there were a dozen sticks inserted throughout his body.
The old man took the scumbag's heart and sliced it into a fry pan. He cooked it with onions until it looked like normal leftovers. Putting it in a dish, he brought it out to his backyard for the neighborhood dogs and cats. He sat in a rocking chair by his back window, watching the dish. In his mind, he planned on how to get rid of the two interferers quickly so he could take his time with Lori. He would save pieces of her to show Makinen when he came next. A cat was chased away from the dish by a stray collie. A smile came to his face when he saw a shepherd started a fight with the collie. He rocked the evening hours away to the sounds of fighting animals.
* * * *
Lori felt the comfort of sleeping in her old room. She had sensed the terror emanating from Jim when he asked her to leave her apartment. She had been surprised when he had suggested she stay at her father's. At first, she had tried to argue with him. The haunted look on his face stopped her. She knew he was in danger as well. If he was too worried about her safety, his danger would increase.
They had pulled into her father's driveway together. She usually stopped by her old home at least a half a dozen times per week. She knew her father was lonely since her mother died a year ago. They never talked much about her mother. They just took comfort in being together.
Lori saw the roguish grin on her father's face when he opened the door. She felt her face flush when she realized he was looking over her shoulder at Jim. Her father's grin increased as she struggled though introductions.
Somehow the presence of the two men in her life overwhelmed her. She excused herself to go to the kitchen to make coffee.
When she got back, Jim was gone and there was a worried look on her father's face. The rest of the evening went poorly. Neither wanted to talk about what was happening. Her old room felt safe but the blackness on the other side of the window seemed to press in.
* * * *
Henry couldn't shake the feeling that someone else was going to die soon. He tried to push his thoughts aside. He knew that he was responding the exact way the killer wanted him to. The killer wanted the power and control his actions caused to dominate the world around him. Henry coldly analyzed the facts of the investigation, reducing his emotions to a clinical study.
Al slept like a baby, content in his own world, unaware that he was
marked.
Kawalski turned and twisted in bed, anger burning. The fear of being set up going through his mind.
James drove up and down Lori's street again. Seeing nothing, he parked his car and got out. Fading into the darkness of the nighttime neighborhood, he continued his hunt.
* * * *
*Click*_. Hands turn the card in deliberate firmness. The light from the lamp lasts only long enough for the observer to catch a glimpse of a woman sitting in bed, head bowed, face covered by her hands with nine swords suspended in the air above the bed._
CHAPTER 12: Nine of Swords
Shermon couldn't understand how, in just a couple of weeks, he had gone from having possibly the best day in his life to the worst. Jack Andrews, the school district's attorney, had called him at eight that morning and informed him that he was no longer authorized to sign any checks or transfer any of the school district moneys. When he asked how was he supposed to handle the school district's business, he was told that he, Andrews, and one school board member could sign off on any disbursement. It was an hour later that his bank called to tell him that the sheriff's department had subpoenaed his bank records. The remaining hours of the morning had been spent arguing with Kawalski on how to save themselves. He knew that Kawalski would try to cut a deal with the county prosecutor's office. He was trying to decide if he should run or try to cut his own deal, when a knock was heard from his door.
What more could go wrong? The door opened and the janitor pushed his cart into the office.