The Eyes Tell No Lies (13 page)

Cris
was running after the figure
,
he wasn’t going to let him get away when suddenly he lost track of him in the fog.
He was turning in circles trying to figure out which way he went when he felt a hard
shove
,
se
nding
him flying over the edge of a cliff he had no idea was there. He grabbed ahold of
a large tree branch sticking out of the cliff praying it would hold.
Some rocks fell
of
f
the side of the cliff knocking him in the head as the killer ran away. He waited
until he couldn’t hear the killer
’
s footsteps any longer before calling out to
Arie
for help.
The tree branch was starting to slip and wouldn’t hold his w
eight
much longer. No
matter what
,
he kne
w he had to hang on
. He knew he wouldn’t survive the twenty f
oo
t drop from the cliff
o
nto the big sharp r
ocks below
.

Arie followed Cris’s
voice as he called out her name over and over again. She was about to step off the
cliff when she heard him yell out
,
“Be careful
,
Arie,
there is a cliff over here.” She quickly stepped back
,
turned her flashlight back on
,
and
shined
it over the cliff.

She dropped down to the ground onto her stomach and leaned over the cliff slightly.
“Cris,
I need for you
to find a steady spot so you can p
ut your feet
in it
and then reach one arm out to me. I am going to help you pull yourself up. Find
more steady places to put your feet as I help you pull yourself up
,
”
Arie
said.

“No
,
go get Mik
e and have him come help,” Cris
said
,
he didn’t think
Arie
could help pull him up
alone
.

“Look,
we don’t have time for that
,
now do what I said before the tree
branch
breaks.”

He felt around with his feet carefully until he found two steady holes for his feet.
He gave his left hand to
Arie
since he needed his right to help pull himself up. As
Arie
pulled him up with his left hand
,
he used his right hand for leverage
.
Arie
gave one last tug when he was at the edge of the cliff as he pushed himself up with
a little jump. They went flying backwards
,
both landing on their backs.
They both laid there for a few moments to catch their breaths.

“Thanks,
I would be dead or paralyzed from the rocks below if it wasn’t for you
,
”
Cris
said as he helped
Arie
up
.

“No problem
, let
’
s go back to the cabin,
he is long gone by now
,
”
Arie
said with disappointment laced in her voice.

“Alright, we are going to the house to get a few hours of sleep and then it is back
to the drawing board. By that time
,
Mike should have some evidence or useful information for us to go over
,
”
Cris
said as they walked back to the cabin.

“Where were they when we needed them?” Arie grunted out when she noticed four officers
heading toward the cabin from their spot in the woods.

“Probably on their way from the station. Mike came straight here from home and he
lives close by. So he beat them here by like thirty minutes,” Cris said just as they
exited the woods.

They headed straight for the car when they exited the woods
,
both feeling
as if
they let each other, Kylee
,
and her family down as they drove back to the house.

****

After pushing Cris
over the cliff
,
the
man
ran toward the other side of the woods. He had to get out of there quick
ly
or else it would be all over
,
and he couldn’t let that happen. He was pissed they had found his first lair already.
He wished he had time to stay and kill them both
,
but he couldn’t risk it.
His la
test victim was already in the v
an on the other side of the woods.

A voice in his head while he was at work had told him to move her. Something had
told him to get the girl out of there and don’t park close to the cabin no matter
what. He was glad he listened to the voice
because
if they would have come an hour earlier
,
they would have found her.

Muffled groans could be heard coming from the back of the van
as he got closer
.
The man flung the back door of the van
open as he pulled out a bottle of water laced with sleeping pills. He took the cloth
out of Kylee’s mouth and replaced it with water
bottle
.
Kylee was so dehydrate she welcomed the water not knowing it was laced with sleeping
pills, which
quickly took effect on Kylee’s system and she was knocked out before he could reach
the front seat of the van. He could see a flashlight sweeping back and forth through
the woods as he pulled
away, driving
to his next lair.

****

Arie
let her mind wonder to nowhere in particular as she laid awake in bed. She was putting
so much pressure on herself to find Kylee. Her body felt as though it was tied in
knots and her nerves turned her stomach. She had tried for over an hour to calm her
body enough to where she could get some sleep
,
but nothing she tried work
ed
. It was hard falling asleep knowing your best friend was out there all alone with
a psychopath. She just wanted to curl up in a ball an
d cry all her anguish out as Cris
held her. No matter how bad she needed it or wanted t
o,
she wouldn’t let herself break down now.
Not w
hen Kylee needed her to be strong enough for both of them
,
and she wouldn’t
let herself seem weak in Cris’s
eyes.
She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind
, knowing she needed a few hours of sleep
.
She needed a clear mind before she
tried to find Kylee again. She couldn’t risk finding her and getting them killed
because she was too tired to fight or focus.

An hour later
,
she finally let go of her tortu
rous
thoughts and let her mind drift into darkness as she fell asleep.

****

Kylee woke dazed and confused. Her head was pounding
, the intensity greater
than it was a few hours ago. She knew her head was hurting and nausea was turning
her stomach from whatever that psycho kept giving her. Her vision became clearer
the more she blinked her eyes and the room stopped spinning. The first thing she
realized when her vision focused was she was no longer in the cabin from earlier
,
although she was on the same kind of metal table.

Her eyes focused on steel walls instead of wood like the cabin. Medical instruments
hung from the ceiling and different machinery filled the room.
A
metal staircase
with
a steep incline
was
directly in front of her that led to an opening in the ceiling.

“Good
,
you
'
r
e
finally
a
w
a
ke.” She heard the same chilling voice from earlier say. “Now there will be no interruptions
and we can have all the fun we want.”

He leaned down and smiled as he stroked the side of Kylee’s face. “Damn
,
baby
,
we are about to have the time of our lives.”

Kylee just stared at him
as if
he had lost his mind.
Which evidently had happened by her calculations.

“Don’t look at me like that,
baby
,
you will enjoy this just as much as I do
,
”
the man
said as he flicked his
w
ris
t
up drawing Kylee’s attention to the scalpel in his hand.

She didn’t realize she had a new shirt on until she saw him slicing it down the middle.
“You’re so sexy and yet so stupid.”

Kylee was confused
,
she didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. “And you’re a psychotic, pathetic
bastard.
Lucky for you I am locked in these restrains.” Kylee couldn’t hold her anger back
any longer she was
so
fucking pissed.

Kylee fought against the restraints
,
she needed to reach his face so she could scratch his eyeballs out.

“U
m
m
,
feisty
,
just how I like my women,”
the man
whispered in Kylee
’s
ear as he made the first hack.

Aaaah
,
son of a bitch!
Kylee screamed in her head as she closed her eyes tightly. She wasn’t going to give
him the satisfaction of letting him know he hurt her.

Godd
ammit
,
it hurts so fucking bad I just wan
t to
scream. No, you can’t scream
,
it
’
s what he wants
,
Kylee thought as he pressed down harder into her wound.

“Open your eyes and scream for me
,
bitch
,
”
the man
said as he pressed harder and further down in her wound.

He needed to hear her scream out in agony or see the fear in her eyes. He couldn’t
get off if he didn’t and
he
was
getting
piss
ed
off that she wouldn’t.
Medical supplies went
flew
all over the room as he kicked the small metal table over.

“Open your fucking eyes
and
scream
,
do something!”
the man
growled out as he pounded his hands on the table Kylee was laying on trying to get
a reaction out of her.

Her eyes didn’t open until an hour later when she knew he was coming back
.
Kylee knew it was best for her not to react to anything he did. She knew it was pissing
him off that she wasn’t giving him what he needed to get off. She knew without a
doubt
that
she was right when he stomped out of the room she was in and up the stairs. The first
thing she did was try to get out of the restraints she was in. Pain radiated throughout
her wrist as she tried to break free. It felt as though her wrist was breaking but
she still pulled harder and harder until
exhaustion took over her.
She dropped another ring on the ground under the table she was on just in case he
move
d
her while she was asleep
.
S
he
then fel
l into a deep exhausted sleep.

The man
was conflicted since he was pissed
on one hand
he wanted to feel the ecstasy he felt earlier before going home
w
hile on the other
hand he
loved that she didn’t give in when he wanted her to as well.

Damn
,
I am going to love breaking down the feisty woman
,
h
e thought as he climbed into van and made his way home.

Without a doubt in his mind he knew he was going to dream tonight about
it
. How he was going to break the feisty woman down until she couldn’t take it anymore
and screamed for him to stop. He just needed the right tools and he was going to
bring them tomorrow night.
Tomorrow I am going to have her begging me to stop when I bring out the big guns.
A bright smile took over his face as he let his thoughts wonder to what tomorrow would
be like.

It was o
ne week a
fter the chase in the woods. Cris and Arie had been going over the evidence they
found at the cabin. Cris was shocked when he entered Arie’s house that she had been
at it all night. T
hey had been going through all the abandoned building
s on the list with
Jordan
and his
buddies
from his Navy EOD technician team
. They had found the exact same things they found in the cabin
,
but there was no evidence that Kylee had ever been there.

“Did the forensic specialist call you back yet
?” Arie asked Cris
without looking up from the evidence she was looking over.

For the past week
,
Arie
had studied the evidence from
Grace
and some from the Captain. She noticed there was a substance on all the victims
’
bodies that wasn’t on the autopsy report.

“No, we will hear back from them soon. How about you eat something and lay on the
couch to get some rest. I will wake you as soon as t
hey call with the analysis,” Cris
said as he warmed them pizza from the night before and started another pot of coffee.

Arie
nodded her head
,
took a slice of pizza
,
and made her way to the couch. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate in the
last few days. A few minutes later her eyes got too heavy for her to keep open as
she drifted off to sleep.

After only four hours of sleep she startled awake with a possible connection between
Kylee and at least two victims. She was pissed at herself for not finding the connection
sooner.
She
jump
ed
up out of her seat
,
h
ead
ed
to the kitchen table
,
and started throwing notes all over the place
, looking for the notes that matched the f
lashes of the notes she went over went through her mind as she sat out to look for
them.

“Hey
,
what are you doing?”
h
e a
sked with concern in his voice. He
looked at
her
as if
she was crazy as
s
he toss
ed
papers aside.

“I think I found a possible connection linking Kylee with a couple of the victims
,
”
Arie
answered
,
without stopping nor looking up from what she was doing.

Cris didn’t say any
thing else
;
he knew how it was to connect a case out of nowhere. He had done the same thing
quite a few times himself.
It didn’t matter where you w
ere
or what you w
ere
doing
that
when a possible way to connect or solve a case you had to strike while it was still
fresh in your mind.

Arie
came back into the living room
where Cris
was sitting with a pile of victim photos and some more thumbtacks. “At least one
relative from the first two victims told authorities their ex-husbands were abusive
and they thought it was them because the victims had left them
,
”
Arie
said as she tacked the victims
’
photos to the board.

“Kylee told me she knew the next two victims from the women
’
s shelter she r
an to when she escaped from Level,
her ex-husband
,
w
hen we saw their pictures on the news,”
Arie
said as she put up two more photos.

“On the autopsy report
,
it notes that these four women had bruises and fractures before their kidnapping
that were still healing
,
”
Arie
said as she posted the four photos on the board next to the other four.

“What I am trying to say is it seems like each of the victims had an abusive past.

“What if the killer is targeting them for their abusive past? Maybe he was abused
by his mother and is repeatedly killing her off by killing these wom
e
n. Or he may have watched his mother being abused and she never left her abuser.

“Hold on a second
,
I am on to something
,
”
Arie
said as she held her hand up and began to pace as she thought more
on
this development.

“I think the Daytime Killer
’s
mother was being abused by either her husband or boyfriend and either took too long
to leave or never left. She may also have let him be abused as well and never did
anything to prevent
that
. He may have tried to protect her as well
,
but
all he got was caught up in the middle.

“I believe he is picking women who were in a similar situation as his mother and
is
killing
them. Killing them could be
symbolic for him as
he is
killing his mother over and over again
,
”
Arie
said more to herself as she continued to pace back
and
forth with her head held down and her hands on her hips.

“What I don’t get is how he is picking them all out. Some of them went to the different
shelters and some didn’t go to a shelter at all
,
”
Arie
thought
a
loud.

“Some shelters recommend the same counselor after the women leave their shelter and
the others could have found the counselor on their own
,” Cris
said.

“Okay
,
all we have to do
now
is figure out who the counselor is and how did the killer get his hands on her client
list
,
”
Arie
said as she picked up Kylee’s picture and looked at it.

“I will call Captain O’Kelly and have him put someone on it
,
”
Cris
said as he picked up his cell phone and dialed the captain.

Cris’s
other line beeped as he was hanging up with the Captain
;
he quickly clicked over when he saw it was the forensic specialist.

“Sucrose, hydrochloric acid, decolourizer, antifoam was some of t
he substances on each body
,
” Cris
repeated back into the phone to the forensic specialist to make sure he had everything
right.

“Sugar factory!”
Arie
yelled out as she jumped up and headed to the computer
as Cris
hung up the phone.

Arie’s
class had gone on a field trip to the sugar factory a couple weeks before her accident.
She could remember everything about the factory from
the way the sugar smelled
to the sounds the machines made.
It was one of the last times she was out having fun with her classmates. Often times
as she laid in her bed in total darkness she pulled up the memory of the sugar factory
as well as sailing with her father.

When she made it over to the computer
,
she quickly typed in
‘
closed sugar factory.
’
She waited for what seemed like minutes but was only seconds for the results to
come in.
Cris
came up beside her as she wrote down the address and entered it into his GPS.

“Should we call
Jordan
and tell him?”
Arie asked him as they both
put their guns in their holsters and made their way to the car.

“No
,
I don’t want to get his hopes up again just in case this does not pan out
,
”
Cris
answered as they drove off toward the factory.

****

Arie’s
heart dropped and her palms itched as they drove toward the sugar factory. They
only had six more days to find Kylee if he hadn’t already killed her. She didn’t
know if she could take it if this was another dead end or Kylee was already dead.
The past week had already been
filled
with enough disappointment to last a
lifetime. Along with
Jordan
, his brother, and their
Navy EOD tech
buddies
,
they had search
ed
almost every abandoned building in their city.
Jordan
and his friends from the
EOD
decided to expand their search and were now checking anything abandoned in the last
few years close to their city.

Her eyes fluttered shut a little bit before she snapped awake
,
her body felt like it was on its last leg. The only thing holding her up was
the hope in finding Kylee—and Cris
.
Cris
had kept her going the past week
;
whenever she needed something
,
he was there with it prior to her even knowing what she needed. There were times
when she just wanted to
grab Cris
by the collar th
e
n passionately kiss him until her pain evaporated away. She always felt guilty after
those thoughts ran through her mind since her best friend was out there with a killer.

“Arie, if your mind is not into this, I am making you stay in the car,” Cris said
when he noticed Arie hadn’t realized they were at the sugar factory.

“No, I am fine, just getting my head ready for this, let’s go,” Arie said as she exited
the car and headed toward the front entrance.

“Since you are coming along, the first and only rule is you stay behind me at all
times,” Cris said as he walked ahead of her. They realized the front entrance was
locked up tight so they
walked around the abandoned
s
ugar
f
actory looking for a way in
. When
they
finally
noticed one of the locks on the door at the old em
ployee entrance was busted.

Cris
held his hand up to
Arie
signaling to let him
go first and to stay behind him
.
They both raised their guns at the same time as they entered the building.

Arie stayed directly behind Cris as they
searched
floor by floor, room by room,
looking
for Kylee. They even climbed the ladders on the side of the large machines to search
through the openings for her. That was where they found a pile of women’s clothing.

“I am sorry she isn’t here, Arie,” Cris said as he pulled Arie into a comforting hug.

By the way Arie was biting her lip and her body slightly tremble he knew she needed
the hug. He knew she was doing her best to hold it in. There was nothing left for
him to do but let her know he was there
f
or her. He pulled back slightly from the hug, tilted her head back, and lowered his
mouth for a kiss. Arie pulled back to some extent just as their lips were about to
touch.

Cris was disappointed by her actions until she spoke. “Did you hear that?” she asked
him as she began to walk to the left side of the room.

He stopped her from going any further since her steps were echoing throughout the
steel room making it hard for him to hear anything. A small cry for help could be
heard as they both stood still.

“Kylee! Kylee is that you?” Arie screamed.

Muffled screams could be heard as they echoed throughout the room. Neither of them
could tell where the sound was coming from since the sound was bouncing off all the
walls.

“Where is she?” Cris asked as he looked around the room in confusion and tried to
follow the sound of Kylee’s voice. “We checked every room and machine in here unless
he built a hidden room. It sounds like it is coming from underneath the floor,” he
said as he tried to follow the sounds.

“Wait, we didn’t check all the rooms yet. I just remembered something when you said
it sounds like it is coming from underneath the floor. When I came here for a field
trip one of the machines stopped and maintenance went through this opening in the
floor to open fix it,” Arie said as she walked around trying to remember where the
opening was.

Arie lead them to a ste
e
l door in the floor close to the door they came in. Cris bent down and turned the
wheel attached to the steel counter clockwise until it popped open. As the door slowly
lifted, they could see a steep slant of stairs and nothing else. He pushed Arie behind
him when she tried to walk down the stairs as soon as the door was fully open. Cris
stepped ahead of her and pulled her close to his back tucking her to him. He didn’t
know what was down there and couldn’t risk her getting hurt. So he made sure she
was as close to him as possible.

He quickly took off his coat as he rushed to Kylee’s side. She was beaten badly,
her lip was swollen, and one of her eyes was swollen and closed shut. There were
deep cuts on every inch of her stomach and arms. Cris threw his coat over her as
Arie began to unbuckle her wrist and ankles from the table. He picked her up as gently
as possible and began to carry her toward the stairs. He knew they had to get out
of
there
fast. From what he could tell Kylee was dehydrated, exhausted, and in a lot of pain.
She needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

“Arie, stay behind me no matter what you hear and keep your gun out,” Cris said as
he positioned Kylee so she was securely hanging slightly over his right shoulder.
He needed his right arm just in case he had to fire in order to protect them.

Arie and Cris moved as quickly as possible. Kylee didn’t look like she would last
much longer. Cris kept watch on their surroundings while Arie kept watch on everything
behind them as they moved to the car as one. They were both itching to see the Daytime
Killer step out of the shadows and attack them so they could kill him on the spot.

He let Arie slide into the back seat first when they got to the car. He carefully
slid Kylee into the car beside her, placing Kylee’s head on Arie’s lap.

“Give her small sips of this until we reach the hospital,” Cris said as he handed
Arie a bottle of water from the front seat.

Their fingers brushed as Arie took the water bottle from him. Just that small physical
contact was enough to center them both and ease some of the tension they were feeling.

Arie brushed Kylee’s hair out of her face while she whispered her name.

“Arie, is that you or am I hallucinating again? Where is
Jordan
?” Kylee barely whispered, her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton.

Kylee’s entire body felt like it was on fire along with aches and sharp pains in certain
places. For the past week she had endured pain most would have broken from on the
first day. He came back to her each night with bigger and sharper objects to inflict
pain on her since she wasn’t reacting the way he wanted her to. She quickly noticed
that he left quicker when she didn’t react to anything he did, no matter how painful
it was. The only down side was he usually punched her with his fist or one of the
objects in his hand out of anger and frustration before he left. She was so hungry,
thirsty, and in so much pain these last few days that she was actually hallucinating.
Quite a few times she had sworn she heard a voice whisper in her ear that Arie and
Jordan
were
going to find her. She knew it was just her wishful-thinking and the only way she
was able to go on was from the hope those whispers gave her.

“It’s really me, Ky, we are on our way to the hospital now
.
Jordan
and your parents are meeting us there. Cris just called
Jordan
. Don’t worry they will meet us at the hospital.

“I need for you to try to drink some water, it will help you,” Arie answered as she
lifted Kylee head up gently and helped her drink some water.

“I knew either you or
Jordan
was going to find me. I love you, Ar
,
” Kylee managed to get out before she passed out.

Arie threw her head back on the headrest and sighed with relief. A lot of the pressure
she had been feeling for the past week had drifted away slowly. As they pulled up
to the back entrance of the hospital, Arie was glad Captain O’Kelly had managed to
arrange for them a private entrance into the hospital.