The Tangerine Killer (16 page)

Watson and Vasquez called in back up. A lot of it. Police cars were arriving at an exponential rate. It seemed every cop in the area wanted a piece of the action. They obviously didn’t get a lot of murders in town. Or perhaps they thought the infamous Tangerine killer had been caught and wanted to get their dues. They were all going to look like idiots by the time I was done with them.

Finally Olin’s Escalade swerved into the parking lot of the motel. He knocked over orange cones and drove straight through the police tape that the cops had spent ages tying to random trees and lamp posts. It snapped as he squealed through it and one of the cops who was standing out on guard duty waved his hands in the air frantically to stop him.

Olin didn’t seem to care. He left his vehicle running and bolted into my motel room. He was either really eager to see that I had finally met my demise or he actually did care about me after all.

I closed my eyes and waited, shifting awkwardly as I tried to find a position which was comfortable with my hands secured behind my back. The pain in my ribs from the torque of having my hands restrained was becoming unbearable but I bit my lip and tried to concentrate on my breathing. I wasn’t going to give Olin the satisfaction of knowing I had suffered by playing this silly game. A few moments later he walked out of the room towards the car and every muscle in his face was taught. I could tell he was pissed. He flung open the car door with such force I thought he was going to rip the sucker off.

“Good God Sam. Just what kind of an idiot are you?”

“I told them I was an innocent bystander.”

I squeaked with pain as he pulled me roughly out of the car. I guess I deserved it.

“If you had just called me then we could have avoided all this mess.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s a murder investigation. They all would have come flocking anyway with their flexible cameras and ultraviolet lights.”

“Yes but you wouldn’t have ended up handcuffed in the back of a squad car.”

I didn’t answer him as he unlocked my cuffs and set me free. I spun to face him angrily. He pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around my blood stained body. He was warm and safe. I felt myself melt into him. In his arms the gravity of the situation was real. Tears pricked in the back of my eyes and I knew that I couldn’t let myself go there if I wanted to survive. I pulled away.

“Why do you even care?”

“Why do I care? He was in there,” he flung his hand in the direction of my motel room. “He was in your room. He laid a dead body next to you on the bed. How the hell did he get away with that?”

“I don’t know.”

I ran a hand through my hair, realizing too late that it was covered with dried blood.

“I was asleep but I don’t sleep that heavily, especially when a crazed killer is after me.”

“How many painkillers did you take?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I thought about the pills I’d chased with alcohol. It was stupid. I’d handed myself on a silver platter to the killer, having been practically unconscious. Not that I was going to tell Olin that.

“I don’t understand how he got in?” I said, changing tactics. “The door was still locked and the safety chain was on.”

“I don’t know but I have to be honest Sam. This scares the shit out of me.”

“You? Scared?” I grinned. “Please.”

“It’s not funny,” he frowned.

“But don’t you see? He didn’t kill me or abduct me. Maybe he doesn’t want me anymore.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. That just means that he’s not done playing with you.”

Deep down I already knew but hearing Olin say it brought the actual horror of the situation crashing over me. The black velvet night stretched out from the circle of lights in the parking lot. He had to be out there in the dark, watching us running around like chickens with our heads cut off and having a good laugh. Then there were the nightmares. How I was suddenly inside his head. I was keeping that little tidbit of crazy all to myself.

“Come on. We’d better get back inside.”

Olin must have read my mind. He looked around nervously before ferrying me back into the motel room. It was now full of various officials performing their required duties. I noticed the motel desk clerk hovering nervously on the fringe of the crowd, his pitted face pale as he glanced in the direction of Jill’s body. Someone had covered her with a sheet but they hadn’t done a very good job. Her bare feet stuck out from the bottom and the hand that was missing two fingers poked out from the edge. Her skin was gray and waxy and a bluish tint spread up from her toes and remaining fingers. I hoped beyond anything there was some shred of evidence in the empty shell that was once Jill to lead us to the killer. I knew I couldn’t die like that.

“I’ve never seen a dead body before.”

The desk clerk sidled up beside me and eyed my blood stained attire with what appeared to be awe.

“Did you, you know, kill her? Like, in a lover’s quarrel or something?”

I gave him a withering look but it seemed to just slide off his pitted face like butter. He was obviously far too keen to find out any gritty details of the murder to notice.

“It’s too bad,” he continued on. “She was hot. Always hanging around with the cool guys and foxy women. I would have loved a piece of that firm, ripe body.”

“She’s dead, asshole,” I said.

My gaze shifted from him to the corpse in revulsion. From the way he spoke about Jill, her decomposing, mutilated corpse was still as hot to him as she had ever been. I knew it was a small town and there probably weren’t that many women as free spirited as Jill had been but the longing in the jerk’s eyes was beginning to freak me out.

“I’m Gary by the way,” he reached out to shake my hand. “I’ve been keeping that stalking boyfriend of yours at bay.”

I looked at his hand, disgusted that he thought I would actually shake it. Silently willing the dumb jerk to stop talking about Joe as Olin materialized beside us.

“Well Gary, it seems I need to ask you a few questions.”

Olin pulled Gary away with such force I thought he was going to pull the puny jerk right off his feet.

“Hey man! What the hell?”

“You’re coming downtown to answer some questions.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong. Am I under arrest? You can’t force me to answer any questions. Just because I said Jill was hot doesn’t mean I did anything wrong.”

Olin still had Gary by his spindly arm. His pale gray eyes that had been filled with lust only moments ago now flashed fear. He looked as though he only weighed about a hundred pounds and coupled with whatever he was smoking, there was no way he had the brawn or the brains to be the killer.

“You were here on the desk all night. You might have seen something. You might be able to assist us,” Olin coaxed.

“Oh yeah man, I was in charge. I run this place most nights you know, all by myself.”

“And that is why you are a valuable asset.”

Gary’s chest puffed out like a little bird and I imagined the story he would tell all the ladies he ran into in the future about how he helped the police catch a serial killer.

Trouble was I had a feeling the only thing Olin wanted Gary to help him with was finding the rogue boyfriend he had been keeping at bay and that didn’t thrill me at all. I knew he was talking about Joe and Joe was not someone I wanted to discuss with Olin. He was a mistake, a stupid drunken mistake I had already dealt with. It wasn’t fair to drag my past through the mud just because some jackass wanted to kill me.

“You’re coming too,” Olin pointed at me.

“Wait Ma’am, we need your clothes.”

One of the investigators handed me an evidence bag and stood expectantly, waiting for me to change out of the blood stained clothes I was still wearing.

“What, now?” I asked. If he expected me to strip naked in a room full of cops he had another thing coming.

“Yes. Sorry. We’ve taken over the room next door. You can change in there.”

Olin looked torn between staying as my personal bodyguard and pumping Gary for information. I guess his curiosity finally won out because he turned to leave.

“Fine. Come down to the station when you’re done here.”

He left with Gary in tow. Obviously afraid if he waited too long his high might wear off and he would have second thoughts about assisting the police in a homicide investigation that may very well target him as an accomplice.

“Is it okay if I take a shower?” I asked the evidence bag guy.

“Sure. Put your clothes in the bag and give them to Harper, he’s holding down the fort in there. Then I guess Olin wants you downtown.”

“Thanks.”

The bag man smiled sadly. “Rather you than me.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.

His laugh fills the woods, echoing up into the starry sky. They can’t hear him over the sirens and the commotion they make setting up their boundaries and chattering excitedly on their radios. He knows they have never seen anything like this before, at least not in this backwoods town. He has brought a whole new level of pain to the people of Tangerine.

Getting the body moved was easier than he expected but there have been unforeseen complications. He waits ages for Sam to finally return to the motel and each hour that passes, the body in the back of the truck begins to stiffen. He needs Jill to be pliable since he wants her final position to mirror that of Sam’s. Finally, when the time is right, he makes his move and everything has gone just as he imagined it would. Except when it came down to it he found he wasn’t ready for the final act.

He had intended to leave the sluts body in place of Sam’s. He’s been ready to make the switch but standing there in the dark, watching her breathing slow and shallow, he realizes he’s not ready at all. He knows he wants her skin, desires it more than any victim he has ever coveted before. Even standing just a few feet away from her the arousal he feels is almost unbearable but he doesn’t touch. His self-control only increases the pleasure he knows will eventually come.

He has power now. Over the players. Over the police. Even over himself. He is conducting them like an orchestra and he now sees a far bigger plan falling into motion. By the time he is done with everyone in this stupid, narrow minded town he will have his revenge. Then he can have Sam all to himself for as long as he likes. Maybe even forever.

Crouched in the moist, dank sand amongst the saw palmettos a lone spider crawls across his sandaled foot. He swipes it up in one smooth swoop and puts it inside his mouth. It sits on his tongue for a moment, stunned to find itself in a foreign environment but when it starts to run, he swallows.

Beside him in the moonlight, the tarp in the back of the truck moves gently and a growl escapes into the air. He already knows what he will do next. The power is intoxicating.

Room 104 was exactly the same as Room 103, minus the bloody corpse and the creepy crime scene guys.
 
Detective Harper was a giant of a man, his body made up primarily of large rolls of fat. He sat at a table filled with boxes of doughnuts and unopened bags of chips like a man being forced to endure the cruelest punishment. When he heard me come in, he only tore his eyes away from the feast for a second.

“Do you prefer sour cream or barbeque?” he asked.

“I’m more of a salt and vinegar girl.”

“Cool,” he nodded, eyeing the unopened bags lustfully.

“You’re not eating any?” I asked.

“Oh no,” he stuttered. “I’m only supposed to watch them. You have no idea how much trouble I’d be in if I actually ate anything.”

“But if I was hungry and opened one then that wouldn’t count, would it?”

His eyes shone as he looked up at me like the kid whose Mom had just told him he could have a puppy.

“You’re right,” he said. “It wouldn’t.”

“Great.”

I reached for one of the bags and tore it open, stuffing a handful into my mouth with the non-bloodstained hand. Will didn’t need a second invitation. He crunched through several giant handfuls as well.

“Will,” he muttered as he stretched out his hand. “Will Harper.”

“Sam Weber.”

“I know. Sure must suck to be you.”

“You’ve got that right,” I said.

“Sorry,” he muttered. Fragments of half chewed chips sprayed over the table as he spoke. “Tact isn’t my strong suit, that’s why I’m in here guarding the food. Mostly from myself.”

“That’s okay. I appreciate a man who speaks his mind.”

“You do?”

“Sure. Unlike some detectives who shall remain nameless.”

“Olin,” he nodded, licking his fingers.

“What’s his deal anyway?”

“He has personal problems.”

“What kind of personal problems?”

Will didn’t reply. He was now using both hands to maximize his chip intake. In opening the bag for him it appeared I had let loose a monster but his face was filled with such unbridled delight that I didn’t care. At least I had made someone’s day.

“So these personal problems?” I probed. “His ex-wife?”

Will nodded. “She’s trying to take his kid away. Says he’s unfit, that he doesn’t care about anything but his job. Swears she caught him with another woman.”

“Did she?”

I had a hard time picturing Olin picking up a woman in a bar or having a mistress on the side but then again I didn’t really know him.

“I don’t know but I wouldn’t get involved if I were you.”

“Who said I was getting involved?”

“That’s the talk round the water cooler, if you know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.” I felt myself getting hostile and defensive so I tried to take it down a notch. “Hey, you don’t like ranch do you?”

“Who doesn’t.”

I picked up the bag and began to slowly open it.

“So who’s been saying what, Will?”

“I don’t know,” he blushed.

“Sure you do.”

I held the bag in front of him and let the freshly opened potato chip scent waft up into his face.

“Just stuff. You know, like how he spends so much time with you. He’s not usually like that you know.”

“Like what?”

“Worried. I think if anything happened to you he’d lose it.”

“Really?”

“Plus, you know, you’re totally hot so what’s not to like?”

Standing there in my blood soaked clothes with my hair matted and no makeup I felt about as unattractive as you could get.

“Thanks Will.” I tossed him the bag as I headed off to the bathroom.

The shower was hardly satisfying and I only spent long enough in there to rinse the blood from my battered body. It had crusted in all the wrong places and I scrubbed hard to get the final traces of Jill off my skin. Her blood tainted the water as it trickled down the drain. It was gross and I didn’t think I’d ever feel clean again but at least it took my mind off having sex with Olin.

“Feel better?” Will asked when I re-emerged.

He still sat where I left him, the two chip bags now empty. I was impressed that he hadn’t opened any more while I was gone. It was a rather cruel job they’d given him. He would have been better somewhere far away from the food, doing something that would have taken his mind entirely off eating. I got the feeling he was being punished, or hazed or maybe both. Poor Will.

“Yeah, it didn’t really help much,” I winced.

My body hurt like hell but I refused to take any more painkillers. I wanted to know why that freak had been able to sneak a dead body into my room undetected and linger for God knows how long doing things I didn’t even want to begin to think about. No more drugs for me. At least not today anyway.

“Hey, you don’t suppose they’d let you run me down to the station do you? I have strict orders to appear and if I don’t show up soon Olin will have my head on a platter. It’s just I don’t really think I’m in any state to drive.”

“Sure, I’ll drive you.”

In his eagerness to perform a viable service, Will forgot all about the snacks. He rushed next door to clear his mission with whoever was in charge and came lumbering back with a satisfied look on his face.

“Let’s go short stuff.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine. “My father used to call me that.”

“And now he doesn’t because you beat the crap out of him from the look on your face,” Will said apologetically.

“No. He’s dead.”

“Sorry, here have something sweet.” He offered me a box filled to the brim with doughnuts covered with chocolate and sprinkles.

“Thanks.”

I didn’t really want the doughnuts but I took them anyway. Sitting next to Will in the car as he drove me down to the station, I imagined his mother dishing out doughnuts to him whenever he felt sad. The only thing my mother ever gave me was her cold indifference. I’d rather have had the doughnuts. I always thought my father would have done so if he had stuck around but that was when I was still young and foolish, now I wasn’t so sure. Actually, since I’d returned home I wasn’t sure about anything anymore.