Chapters 11-15

CHAPTER 11

Trevor couldn’t sleep. He had trouble sleeping ever since Charles died little more than a week ago. “Shut the f**k up chuck.” Trevor grumbled to himself.

Charles had hated being called anything except Charles. He hated being called Charlie and Chuck and any other variation of his name, which is of course why Trevor lived to change it.

‘If I can’t call you chuck then I’ll call you something more creative, something nasty that your mom would never want to hear like a name that relates to how you like to suck dick.’ Trevor remembered telling Charles this when they first met and Trevor insisted they hang out together so he could badger Charles daily. This was of course better than just beating him up on site so Trevor figured he had really been doing Charles a favor. 

Trevor had done this to Charles all through sixth grade and they were midway through seventh grade now…. ‘Or at least I am he thought smugly.

He had taken Charles under his wing and now good ole Chuck was betraying him. The sound of his voice from his last phone call before he died kept replaying in Trevor’s mind.

***

“Listen to me. I swear to god. I saw it. It’s going to come back for me man! Every night it’s been coming to my window. It wants to kill me…It’s going to kill me.” Charles said frantically, sounding like he was about to cry.

“You’re such a f*****g Mamma’s boy.” Trevor chuckled. “Maybe that’s what I should have called you in the first place.”

“I’m begging you man. What do I have to do for you to believe me? You’ve got to help me. Sleep over tonight if you don’t believe me. You’ll see it for yourself!” Charles was now crying.

Trevor began to feel a bit awkward. “Look mamma’s boy. Even if it was true and I did buy into this bullshit how would I help you? What would you expect me to do? Hide you somewhere from the monster in your closet?”

“Your dad has a gun….You said you know how to use it. You could kill it for me…for us. If it gets me it will come for you too! It will come to your window and you won’t have anyone to help you because they’ll all be dead! ”

“Good night Chuck. If you really want help with your boogeyman give Sean a call. Maybe he’ll give a f**k cause I don’t. Oh and if this, it, thing, monster does come tonight and does kill you than I guess this is goodbye.” Trevor said festively.

“Come on man…please.” Charles begged one last time before Trevor hung up the phone.

***

Now Trevor lay in bed his dad’s pistol was in his hands and he waited. He didn’t need Charles to remind him of what was coming to visit him. It had visited him the last three nights. But tonight things were going to be different. He had to be brave. He had to focus on what he was going to do. He was strong and everyone at school knew it. That’s why they stayed out of his way.

“Tonight that ugly f*****g thing is going to get a bullet right between its eyes.”

He turned his head to the right, peering out the window that sat on the opposite side of the room from him. He had expected to see a face but there was none, at least not yet.

“Let’s see how tough you are then..” His hands shook. He wasn’t feeling much braver then he sounded.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 12

Staziak found himself staring in complete disbelief. His jaw dropped in a state of fixated awe. “What is it?”

“Oh surely you jest” said Dr Vaan.

“I can’t believe you still use this ancient technology for your security Camera’s” Staziak looked at the old VCR hidden at the bottom of the wall of monitors. The maze of wires connecting it all made him feel overwhelmed to say the least.

“You heard the old phrase if it works don’t fix it?” Well in corporate America the phrase goes “If it still kind of works then don’t waste our money or your fired.”

“Yes. That sounds like the political charm I am accustomed to. And to top it off the reason for termination would be listed as the inability to utilize the company’s state of the art technology for future success.” Staziak smirked.

“That is undoubtedly true. And with the pleasantries aside I will also add my observation that you’re sounding better then you did earlier.” Dr Vaan said.

“The Camera’s in this facility may be ancient but they are obviously well placed. They appear to cover every entrance and hallway and leave few blind spots. The morgue itself is almost perfectly covered with its single entrance. We should analyze any footage around entrances to any crawl spaces or vents with scrutiny but overall it doesn’t appear as though anyone could sneak into this building without being spotted somewhere.” Staziak was analyzing each monitor closely as he spoke.

“That is a rather uplifting perspective. I am glad to see the change, doubt and defeat doesn’t suit you.”

Staziak knelt down and set the VCR to rewind the tapes connected to all the monitors. His attention was focused primarily on the monitor connected to the camera that viewed the door to the morgue. However he still let his gaze drift to the others to see if anything strange caught his attention. After spotting doctor Vaan exiting the morgue he pressed play and fixed his gaze on the screen, practically unblinking.

“Even if a hundred people passed in front of these cameras within the three hour period and none of them give us obvious reason to suspect them due to a demeanor that suggests guilt or an eyeball in their blood soaked hand we will at least have one hundred suspects with one of them almost certainly being the Perp. It is unlikely anyone entered this building and could get by all the cameras unseen. ”

“Well quite fortunate for us there are usually less than a hundred visitors at this particular morgue on an average day. That is of course speaking from my personal experience of being an employee at this establishment.”

“That’s inductive reasoning doc. It has its place just not in police work.” Staziak continued to watch the monitor.

Before Dr Vaan could respond to the comment the monitor on the upper left corner flickered and turned into a storm of buzzing white static.

Staziaks attention immediately shifted to the monitor he moved to press the pause and rewind button.

“I assume you are not attempting to see if the screen becomes clear with a second play through.”  The doctor said.

“You would be correct doc. I think I saw something a moment before the monitor went out. That is an emergency exit on that screen is it not?”

“You would be correct Mr Staziak.” The Dr said as he watched the monitor in fascination.

 The door appeared back on the screen just prior to the white out and Staziak was able to confirm what he saw. The door on the screen began to slowly open. The camera was at such an angle that it could see anyone coming into the building clearly unless they wore a hat or hood. In this instance he got to see nothing since the white out occurred presumably right before the person who opened the door stepped into view.

Staziak’s jaw clenched involuntarily as he watched. “Don’t those doors remain locked from the outside, isn’t there an alarm that sounds when the door is opened?”  

The doctor continued to stare at the screen his expression nearly unreadable. “They normally are. That particular door has a broken handle and can be opened if enough force is applied to the latch. However that doesn’t explain why the alarm didn’t sound.”

Slowly the doctor’s eyes widened with an apparent realization. “Earlier there was a brief problem with the lights. A power surge perhaps, we didn’t exactly lose power entirely. The malfunction seemed brief. I presume that may have had something to do with it.”

“Isn’t it strange that it only affected that particular camera?” Staziak remained staring at the screen with his teeth clenched. He watched as the monitor slowly came to life again just in time to see the door slide closed on its own.

“No one in this building knows exactly how everything is connected it was done quite some time….” The doctor’s voice drifted off as the next monitor in line shifted to static.

“What the f**k?” Staziak nearly jumped as the next monitor became a blur of static. “That was the next camera leading from the emergency exit to the morgue?”

Now the doctors expression went from unreadable to grim as he recognized an impending pattern presenting itself. “You are correct again Mr Staziak. Although I will confess I am not certain of what I am seeing. Statistics suggest..”

Before the doctor could finish the sentence the next camera in line began to flicker. Unlike the other two it remained mostly clear with a static flicker every few seconds. Because the monitor continued to function longer than the previous two Staziak saw that the lights in the location of the camera were also flickering. 

A janitor was mopping in the hall and slowly made his way into one of the labs. doctor walked by and headed down the hall toward the break room. Another door was slowly creeping open at the end of the hall as if someone had sat in waiting for the coast to be clear. Before anyone came into view yet again the camera completely went out.

“This is impossible. I don’t know of any kind of mobile jamming device. The tech here is too old to be hacked or corrupted in any kind of ingenious way. This can’t just be coincidence. “ Staziak shifted his attention to the last and final monitor.

This camera was the one that covered the door to the morgue. On the screen was Dr Vaan filing his paper work at a reception desk in the center to the right was the door to the morgue and off to the left was a hallway leading from the previous monitor and onward to the rest of the western wing of the building.

“He could not have walked right past me without me seeing a face. Perhaps the person didn’t look suspicious but I did see a few people pass by tonight, none went into the morgue… but I had to have seen something!”

Staziak had never seen the doctor so flustered before. He tried to remain cool, attempted to keep in mind that everything was explainable. Coincidence was the biggest kink in the oiled gears of logic. That and curveballs. Staziak found he was beginning to truly hate curve balls. 

The previous two monitors flickered back to normal. On the monitor showing the morgue Dr Vaan had turned his back from the hallway as he filed away some papers. A shadow came into view as someone had stepped up to the threshold to the room just outside of the cameras view. The monitor began to flicker as did the lights in the room. Dr Vaan had stopped filing and looked up at flickering lights overhead but he did not turn around to see the shadow looming at the threshold behind him. The shadow grew slightly larger before the monitor went out completely.

“I’m afraid your mistaken Doc. It seems he caught you when your back was turned.”

In seconds the monitor came back on and the door to the morgue was falling closed. Dr Vaan turned back to face the camera two seconds later.

Dr Vaan appeared stunned. “He was right behind me and I didn’t see him at all. I didn’t hear a single sound. He had to have run past me to cross the room that fast. But I didn’t hear anything.”

They waited almost twenty minutes watching the monitor in silence. Nothing happened in that time frame except seeing the Dr Vaan on the monitor finishing his paperwork. Once finished he turned to file away the last of his reports.

 As Staziak expected the doors to the morgue opened again once the doctor’s back was turned. With no windows to look through it seemed impossible that someone would know exactly when to make a move without being seen. Before anyone emerged from the room the monitor flickered once more. The lights in the room outside the morgue began to flicker and before anyone else made an appearance on camera the monitor went out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 13

The room suddenly went pitch black. Dolores frowned. She realized the power had gone out.

It had been forty five minutes since her husband Roger fell asleep and after yesterdays excitement she was in no mood to be alone.

First there was that Hispanic boy who was suspiciously sneaking around the neighborhood when she and Roger were sitting outside. He was looking at the neighbors open garage across the street so intently she knew she smelled some gossip on the horizon. 

Thanks to her insomnia she was up hours later when the boy came back at around midnight. With Roger asleep she hadn’t felt comfortable staying outside the house to watch the neighbor’s yard. So she stayed inside in the dark and sat at the window. She used a small light to read a book while she waited, occasionally glancing up at the window. She had almost begun to doubt herself when the boy emerged from the cover of night and went up the drive way.

She wasn’t able to see exactly what he was doing but she saw enough to know he was picking through her neighbors boxes finding trinkets of value and ultimately stealing them away in his pockets. Had she liked her neighbors more she might have called the police.

Her neighbor Lucy had decided to be snooty when Dolores tried to be friendly. She scoffed when Dolores had offered her some gossip they could enjoy together. She made excuses when Dolores tried to be sociable and invite her into her home. Dolores had decided overall that Lucy was what less polite people might call a b***h.

Dolores of course would never sink to such a level as to call someone a name like that out loud and besides she did like Lucy’s husband Mike and their quiet but polite son Edgar. Still she had sat in silence only intending to watch the events unfold with a front row seat. It was then that she had seen the boy flee from the driveway followed by a man whom she couldn’t quite make out chasing after him. Sometime later she had heard the police sirens. She had thought that the boy had been apprehended by his pursuer and the police had come to arrest him.

This morning she found out otherwise. From her gossiping circle of friends she discovered that the boy had apparently been murdered a few blocks down in the middle of the street as he fled. This upset her. She had wondered if the same thing would have occurred had she not disliked Lucy so much and just called the police like she should have. She felt guilty, she knew had it been any of her other neighbors she would have called the police and showed those nay Sayers the benefits of having a gossiping neighbor with a watchful eye.

Instead she had let it happen and now someone was dead and nobody knew why. Certainly it was Mike or Edgar that had chased the boy from the house. But she could not believe either of them would really kill the boy. They would have detained him and maybe hurt him in the process but not kill him. With that thought she knew she should still probably call the police and tell them what she saw but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

The police might think Mike or Edgar had been involved and she would hurt more people with her meddling. On top of that this did involve a murder and she didn’t like the idea of getting to close to something like that. A gossipers life was about staying a safe distance and living to gossip another day. Still…. What if what she saw mattered in some unforeseen way?

She shook away her thoughts. Now the power was out. She was sitting in the dark in her crafts room at the back of the house. She had an almost full bottle of Merlot sitting on her desk and a glass a quarter full of the drink sitting beside it. She enjoyed sipping some wine while she was reading. It was relaxing and made her feel like she was living the high life. On top of that it helped her to avoid thinking of how Roger had been belittling her appearance. Picking on the hunch due to her scoliosis, her birthmark which he once found endearing and now called a hairy unsightly mole. Roger didn’t look all that great anymore either. She figured that might be why he picked at her flaws. Still she knew he loved her in his own way. 

Dolores sat in the dark for a few more moments she knew if she woke Roger he would be very cranky and after last night she wasn’t ready to go to bed just yet. Instead she decided to sit and have a little more wine. After a full glass or two she would be more than ready to go to bed.

First she felt around on her desk for her clip on book light. It didn’t happen often but she never knew when she might need to sit quietly in the dark and read to keep an eye out for some action outside.

Dolores had always loved reading mystery books. Especially in the dark, mystery exercised the mind and could keep your mind off the bad things. She didn’t much care for horror novels and especially not while sitting in the dark. 

She grabbed the Agatha Christy novel she had been reading and was clipping the light onto it when she noticed the lights were out for the neighbors directly beyond the low standing wall of her backyard but the lights were on for the two homes on either side of that house. She also saw illumination from the nearby street Lamps. It seemed only her house and the Jenson’s house was without power.

The chair Dolores currently sat in was the height of a bar stool but still cushioned to be cozy. She had purchased it for her reading room to ensure her view into her neighbor’s backyards was as optimal as could be. The peculiar light show across from her made her quite thankful she had made the investment.

She tipped her bottle of wine and filled her glass to the hilt as she thought about that little brat Trevor that lived there. How he had purposely vandalized her backyard by throwing rocks and mud. He had screamed rude names at her that she would not dare speak out loud. She had a few names for that little jerk that she equally wouldn’t say out loud. Sure he was younger when he did those things and he couldn’t be punished by police then. But even now that he was in junior high he was undoubtedly still a trouble maker. He was probably going to grow up to become a thug.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought and slowly sipped on her wine when she noticed a flash of light coming from the back window of the Jenson’s house straight across from her. She nearly swallowed the whole glass without thinking as her curiosity peaked.

Another flash lit up the room. It appeared brighter then the first but she knew that was only because she had been looking for it this time. Then three more flashes followed one after another. There was no sound to be heard. It was like lightening without thunder, or a lion without its roar.

She continued to watch this silent and eerie light show as she reached for her Merlot. Lifting the bottle to pour herself another glass she was surprised when the bottle exploded in her grasp after a sixth flash of light. She sat in silent shock, unable to understand what just happened until she noticed the bullet hole in her wall. A seventh flash of light followed. The window of her reading room shattered as another bullet whizzed less than an inch away from her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 14

 

Staziak and doctor Vaan watched in silence as the camera’s went out again in reverse order which by all their logic and reason was impossible. This strange malfunction of the security system revealed in its own way that the Perp left the same way he got in. Staziak realized after watching the cameras go out in reverse that the lights had flickered in each room but the electrical glitch was more noticeable on the cameras that were further away from where the Perp enters.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate curve balls doc? I absolutely hate them with a passion… and what we just saw here on these monitors was another f*****g curve ball.” Staziak grumbled. He began setting the VCR back to its normal function as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Dr Vaan had a thoughtful look as he contemplated what they had just seen.“I believe a barrage of curve balls might be the more accurate assessment. However I think it’s time for a pep talk. You should take this as an opportunity Mr. Staziak as I rarely get peppy for anything.

Staziak arched a brow obviously attempting to distinguish how much of what the doctor just said was serious or a joke. “I don’t think a pep talk is necessary right now. A lead would be nice. I’d like one of those, preferably a solid one but I’ll work with whatever you’ve got as long as it’s a lead.

“I would have to disagree with you on that. A pep talk seems long overdue. You have been one of the few detectives in the field of homicide that I still know from over a decade ago. Without the risk of puffing up your ego I have found over the years that you are quite the detective. You have managed to solve cases with little to no evidence. You’re an admirable man of logic and reason that has held together when others have cracked. So I do not mean to be rude when I say it disturbs me to see you getting so shaken by this case. I could offer an abundant list of logical explanations for the events that we witnessed on these monitors.” Vaan paused as he noticed the glossy look on Staziaks face; he almost began to wonder if the detective was even listening.

 After a long pause Staziak noticed the doctors stare, he stirred as if he had been daydreaming or asleep and just now realized he was expected to give a response. “I don’t mean to be rude either doc so I apologize if l cut the banter short by asking this directly but what’s your point?”

“I just find it hard to believe that you would allow this particular case to get under your skin. Last summer you Identified and apprehended that would be Serial killer before he had managed to kill enough people to earn the title. He had killed how many people before you caught him?” Asked Dr Vaan

“Two” Staziak replied

“And how many people do you believe he planned to kill next had you not caught him?”

“He’d have killed as many as he could get away with. He had pictures and trinkets from at least five upcoming targets. That successful instance means nothing here however.

“Why do you think that? “Dr Vaan asked exasperated. “You can’t apprehend them all with that same speed and success. Unfortunately it is the nature of the beast that they will continue to kill until you catch them.”

“It’s not just how many people he’s killed.”

“Then what is it? What is it about this case that causes me to see doubt in your eyes for the first time in ten years? What’s different about this case from the one last summer? For that matter what about the case months before that one or the numerous other cases you’ve solved over the past ten years that you’ve carried the mantel?”

“I had actual evidence in those cases. Last summer’s case there wasn’t much evidence to go on at first. Most would call it a literal shred of evidence considering it was a small fragment of torn clothes. By the second murder I had identified the Perps oddball choice of weapon. The two clues together gave us a lead to a specialty shop in china town. After questioning the shop owners in china town we discovered there was a creepy person hanging around the shops on a regular basis. Credit card info gave us a name. After identifying who the name belonged to we did some more questioning in order to find out if he had any connection to the victims and we found connections. It was a simple game of connect the dots at the start and an uneventful checkmate at the end. This time around we don’t have such inspiring leads.”

“The point Mr Staziak is this... What I find impressive about your methods is how you connect the dots so well with almost nothing to start with. This case is no different, even if the evidence is a tad lackluster.”

“It’s not lackluster evidence. When I say there is no evidence it’s because there is none. At least it’s nothing I would describe as useful.” Staziak checked his watch as if attempting to signify politely that he had to leave.

Dr Vaan nodded thoughtfully. Staziak noticed the doctor was hiding a frown as he apparently had something more on his mind that he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“You know I would give you more details if I could. I rely on you doc because I know unlike our friends in the CSI team assigned to this case with us you don’t care if you impress the suits. I like that no matter what bull s**t Stewart puts on his reports I can turn to you for a report and know you will give me truth even if the truth makes no sense.”

 “Stewart is a good man. He is at the head of his class with his intellect and normally quite reliable.” Dr Vaan spoke as if now detached from the conversation. Staziak knew whatever was on his mind was the cause but he also knew it couldn’t be helped at this place and time.

“I’ll tell you this much Doc. What bothers me about this case is we recently found that this guy has been responsible for more murders than we originally thought. No one but a select few is privy to that. Not even Stewart since he can’t seem to pull his head out of his a*s long enough.”

“How many more murders? How long has he been doing this? At my last count he had six murders under his belt.”

  “We believe it is double that, maybe more. It appears his pattern was different when he started and it only changed recently. All I can say with any certainty is our profile of him being in his early twenties may be about twenty years off if these murders are all connected. We have someone looking into it.

Staziak suddenly noticed Silver standing at the doorway behind them. His expression suggested he had bad news. Staziak had learned Silver always looked ticked off when he had to give someone bad news. 

“The B*****d struck again. Another kid found dead a few blocks away from the last one.”

Staziak nodded and started to leave. “Since you admire my ability to connect the dots doc you’ll be happy to know that I found the bright side to this is that every time this guy does something I do learn something new about him. Usually something small but it’s a clue nonetheless. And I can only imagine what we will learn this time.”

“Aye. If I had my way he will have dropped his wallet next to the body with his ID and a signed confession inside. ” Silver added while leading the way.

“Oh what would be the fun in that?” Staziak asked.

 

CHAPTER 15

 

Outside the Jenson household numerous onlookers had lined up at the border of police tape. Inside the house there was a different crowd consisting of uniformed officers, police photographers, medical examiners, investigative specialists and paramedics. When Staziak and Silver arrived on scene Silver noticed one of the uniformed officers moving swiftly into a nearby bathroom just in time to vomit. This in itself intrigued him almost as much as the sights he imagined awaited them in the victim’s bedroom.

Upon entering the house Staziak split off when he saw a uniform officer attempting to question and console a hysterical couple who Silver guessed were the boy’s parents. He had no interest in speaking with them. If the story was the same as it had been at the other crime scenes then it would test his patience. He figured it was best to avoid any complications. He simply found it hard to believe that in most of these murders there were people in the same house while the crime was being committed and all have said that they saw and heard nothing.

There was no need to ask for directions, Silver went looking for the room with the most police activity. He followed the sounds of chatter to a room at the back of the house. When he found the boys bedroom he saw Trevor Jenson’s body dangling lifelessly and pinned onto the wall. His hands were impaled with two large serrated hunting knives.

Immediately Silver took in the details of the room. The furniture in the room lay in splinters. A well built computer chair lay shattered; the desk was overturned and the computer had been decimated, the bed spring was broken and in pieces and the mattress seemed impossibly bent and sat on its side next to the closet door. A book shelf that apparently had never held any books had been knocked over with two large holes in its back board, all the trinkets which had been set on its shelves were splayed across the floor in the shape of a few baseball and karate trophies, a cracked jar that acted as a makeshift piggy bank, family vacation photos, and an autographed baseball that had a name in black marker that Silver couldn’t quite identify.

The boy’s dresser was one of the few pieces of the set that had remained intact, However shards of razor sharp glass sat on top of it from the broken window above it. There were three bullet holes in the wall, two on the left side of the window and one in the sliver of space between the window and the dresser. This time Silver had little doubt that the entrance the Perp used was the window. The bottom part of the left window pane was almost entirely wiped free of glass.

Silver noticed one of the photographers had entered the room at some point and was now moving into position to take a picture of the window since two medical examiners were gathering information on the body. Stepping aside Silver began to see a peculiar site among the debris of the kid’s belongings.

An arsenal of weapons was intermingled with the rest of the clutter on the floor. The arsenal consisted of a baseball bat, a two hundred thousand watt tazer, two large hunting knives similar to the ones embedded in the boys hands except they were encased in there sheathes, and a flimsy version of an extendable police baton sold at most army surplus stores.

The killer had never used weapons like this before, whatever weapons he did use were not so easily identified. The Medical examiners weren’t able to offer much information on exactly what the weapon being used was except it was a bladed weapon that the killer made of his own design. So Silver knew none of these were likely involved in the murder. Plus the killer had never left a single murder weapon at any of the crime scenes so Silver had little doubt that these weapons had been gathered together by Trevor to defend himself.

Judging by the spread scattered along the floor Silver was certain the knives embedded in the kids hands were also part of this arsenal. He felt the pattern suggested that the killer had used these weapons because they were a convenience at hand.

Perhaps out of his inner love for sarcasm Silver could hear the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight play through his mind, except Silver also noted that the kid had brought a gun to the fight too. What appeared to be a small Luger was lying on the floor not far from the body with a few expensed bullet casings. Silver frowned at the site realizing just how much of a battle the kid must have put up, and yet even after bringing all these weapons the kid had still lost in the end.

For the sake of concentration Silver whipped out a stick of gum and began to chew as he walked over to the body to examine the most important details of the scene.

Trevor’s eyes were torn out of the sockets and missing just like the other victims before him. His lifeless face was still contorted in a scream. Blood ran down his cheeks from the eyeless sockets like streaming red tears. The eyeless stare was able to send a chill even up Silvers spine and that wasn’t something that happened often.

Besides the two knives embedded in his hands the fingers appeared to have been snapped when the killer plied the weapons from his hands. There were scratches and cuts along the arms and the tank top and pajama pants were torn from the struggle. The last and most grievous injury that was likely Trevor’s fatal end was the tear along his abdomen. A clean slice from left to right that tore through the muscular lining and caused his internal organs to fall out as he bled out.

The scene played out in Silvers mind. Trevor had been expecting the killer. Like the previous murders he probably told someone that a person had been coming to his window over the past few nights. Sounding like the story of a monster in the closet the adults played it off as a need for attention, or if they took it seriously the killer stopped until the parents put their guard down again.

With no one listening to him Trevor hadn’t curled into a ball and waited like the others. He had seen someone sneaking around and threatening him and he took action. He got a hold of a gun for when the killer showed himself again. He got some hand held weapons as a backup plan in case something went wrong with the gun idea and the killer got up close. He saw the killer come to the window and started firing. Maybe from fear he expended the clip or maybe the killer was crazy enough to jump through the window and go straight for someone firing a gun at him.

The killer wrenched the gun from Trevor’s grip and broke the fingers of his right hand. Trevor tried to use a hand held weapon but the killer wrenched that from him too breaking the fingers of Trevor’s other hand in the process. To finish the job without further struggling the killer used his strength to pin Trevor to the wall, took hold of the knives conveniently nearby and used them to pin Trevor onto the wall. Then with his quarry unable to run or fight back any longer he was able to finish the job at his leisure. He slit Trevor open and more than likely waited for death to be mere seconds away from taking him before he went for the eyes and took his trophy. Then he scrawled his message on the wall and fled the scene the same way he came in.

Scrawled on the wall beside the victims head in a fresh coat of blood was the word ‘Fraud’ in large letters. It was spelled out larger than any of the killer’s previous messages at the other crime scenes and it was circled which had also never been a part of the previous messages either. In fact as if to accentuate the point it had been circled eight times in very thin circles of blood.

“Wonder what it means? Usually his references have a point. Me thinks this one seems a wee bit abstract.” Silver spoke out loud, knowing Staziak had entered the room in silence attempting to sneak up on him unnoticed at least once in his life.

Staziak appeared beside Silver. He had apparently finished speaking with the parents for now and as expected rose to the occasion with an answer to the riddle. “It is a reference to the eighth circle of hell, the home of the Sowers of discord. Basically it consists of liars, thieves, and false prophets that through their actions led or seduced others to their doom. Of course this is partly my own interpretation of the common factors between the ten pockets of sinners in that particular circle.

Silver stared at Staziak blankly with an arched brow.  “Thank ye for that bit of enlightenment professor.”

“Well you did ask.” Staziak replied.

“Aye. Twas my mistake. I thank ye for showin me the error of my ways.” Silver shot back.

“You’re British accent is standing out again.”

“Makin fun of an Irish man is likely to get ye shot during a drug bust”

“Then it’s lucky we deal in homicide.”

“Aye except I doubt Id be hearin all this obnoxious prattling during drug busts.”

“You should really learn to read a book once in awhile it could do you some good. Pick up a few books and you wouldn’t need me around to tell you these things.” Staziak added.

“I enjoy a good book or magazine from time to time.” said Silver.

“I assume that you are aware that stroke mags don’t count?”

“Well if that be the case then never mind apparently I don’t like to read a bloody thing.”

A new voice chimed into the conversation from behind them. “If you ladies are done with your girl talk then maybe you could move along and let someone else have a look at the body before it decomposes.” CSI medical examiner Frank Stewart stood behind them carrying a bag with some tools of the trade.

“Oh I think we’ve seen enough for now But I can’t wait for your report on this one. Your perspective is always an informative read.” Staziak replied without turning around aware that he would have a snide look on his face.

Ignoring Staziak’s comment Stewart continued. “Brenson wants to see you in his office once you two are officially done here. Just thought I’d spread the word.”

“Great” Silver smirked and looked the dangling corpse over once more before turning for the door, Staziak followed him out.

“Me thinks iffin I say I hate that guy it would not be an exaggeration.” Silver said.

They exited the house and walked down the driveway toward their car. They didn’t lock eyes with anyone in the crowd curious bystanders to ensure that no one felt invited to ask them any questions. Silver saw that a news van was off to the side. The camera crew was just barely setting up shop so it appeared they were vacating the scene just in time.

“Stewart is a prick but just think of it this way, by comparison the stick up big boss Brensons anal orifice will seem quite miniscule.” Staziak said.

Silver nodded. “Yes extremely tiny.”

“Did you notice anything peculiar about this murder from the others?” Staziak asked in a serious tone.

“No barricade this time and the kid had weapons showing he anticipated a fight. Seems very likely the kid started shooting when he saw the perp at the window and the window was the perps way in. But if yer referring to something peculiar it’s that the gun wasn’t out of ammo and the perp managed to get through the window while being shot at. Which was a very daring move or very stupid.” Silver said.

“How do you know the gun wasn’t empty? You barely looked at it.”

“Come on now ye are aware I know my guns. That was a 9mm luger an antique model from the looks of it. Those carry eight rounds with a fully loaded unmodified clip. The kid got off seven shots. Five went into the wall but if ya add up the bullet casings and bullet holes he only took seven shots. He was still shooting when the perp charged in through that window.”

“I see.”Staziak said with a thoughtful look forming. “You know what else was odd? The parents didn’t hear any gun shots. That seem odd to you?”

“Aye considering the luger was no stealth pistol and there was no silencer present.”

“Yeah I thought so too.” Staziak said.

“Ok so other then more s**t we can’t explain what else we got to go on here?” Silver asked.

“Well before being dismissed we got what we came for and now have two new leads.” Staziak said while staring off into the crowd of people.

“Two leads? What did ye find?”

“I found a great many details this time. We both saw the scene. We know that Trevor had prepared to defend himself in advance so he knew someone was coming for him. The parents backed up that theory when I spoke to them. Apparently earlier in the day Trevor had told his father something about a monster visiting outside his window the past two nights. He explained that the same monster was the one who killed Charles Sheffield and now it was coming for Trevor. When Trevor insisted that he saw a monster and not a man outside the window his father believed it was a cry for attention to express his inability to process losing his close friend Charles to a murder a week ago. If you haven’t guessed Trevor’s dad Bob is a shrink. “

“To think I was about to accuse ye of Psychoanalyzing again. But yer prattling did fill in a few of the blanks. So Trevor Knew Charles? Silver asked.

“Indeed. Phone records from the night Charles died confirm a phone call to two people. Trevor was one of them and the other was to the Burke residence a few houses down from this one.” Staziak said.

 “Who was he calling over there?”

“Perhaps this is an early assumption but if I had to take a guess probably him.” Staziak Gestured toward a teenager in the crowd. The teen’s expression had already appeared grim but now that they were looking at him his face took on an even more fearful expression. He slowly backed out of the crowd and briskly walked down the street toward a two story home about three houses away from the Jenson house.

“That would be the Burke house eh?” Silver asked. As he spit out his gum and took another stick.

“That would be correct and from the look on that kids face I think we need to make that lead a priority. Especially if you think about what I said regarding those in the eighth circle of hell.”

“Aye. Ye said they drag other people into the s**t with them.” Silver chimed with his glorious way with words.

“Close enough” Staziak nodded. He continued to stare at the Burke household.

“What was yer other lead?” Silver asked.

“The parents weren’t the ones who made the call. The dispatch had said a lady named Dolores Richmond living in a house located on the other side of the Jenson’s back yard called it in when bullets began coming through the walls.”

“Ye think she saw something else besides the bullets?”

 “I know she did. Apparently in her panic she said she was witness to something last night to the previous murder. Whatever she has to say could lead to something.”

“So I assume Brenson is gonna wait and we’re going over to the Burkes correct? If yer theory’s right then with Trevor dead that Burke kid might be next.”

“No. We’re going to go see Brenson first to get him off our backs.”

“Are ye willing to take that risk? Sure the perps never struck twice in one night but ye are always the one that says never to assume anything.”

“You answered your own question. It’s not an assumption. The perp has a pattern and he sticks with that pattern unless someone forces his hand. He hasn’t killed more than once in one night.” Staziak spoke with confidence.

Silver simply nodded. He trusted in Staziaks judgment. They both got into the car. Silver got into the driver’s seat and they sped off toward the station.

 “Besides, if the pattern is consistent then the killer won’t go after the Burke kid right away. After killing someone he doesn’t just go and kill his next target. Before dying they always tell someone they see this killer out the window, or in the closet or rummaging around in the house when everyone else is asleep.”

“So what do ye make of that behavior professor?” Silver asked.

“I’m saying it appears that he likes to taunt them for a few days before he gets around to killing them.