The Case of the Murdered Man

The next box was for the "next of kin" if they needed to be notified. She left it blank, but it brought back painful memories.

She remembered living with her mother and brother Todd on the west coast. As if it was yesterday, she remembered one of her mother's many male friends breaking open her bedroom door while drunk. She hit him on the head with her bedside lamp as her tried to tear off her nightgown.

Grabbing some of her meager positions, she ran from the house. That was the last time she had seen her mother or brother.

She missed her brother and wished she could have taken him with her, but he was too young and she was too scared. She wished she knew who her father was and how to contact him.

"Her father," she thought. "Hell, he had never made any attempt to contact his family since her mother moved them away. "

She remembered looking in the mail box for letters, or cards from her Dad at Christmas or her birthdays. But there was always nothing. She hoped for phone calls from him just to see if she was still alive. Nothing ever came.

She gave up hoping. She just tried to be a mother to her younger brother because her mother had started her descent into the alcohol and drug addiction.

She handed her job application to the owner. He seemed a nice guy in his 50's. He was tall and very fit looking. When he stoke, he had a soft, kind voice.

He was glancing at her application so she looked around the lodge dining room. A kitchen door opened and out came a high school aged boy carrying a large dinner tray.

Their eye locked. He dropped the tray and yelled her name.

It was her brother Todd. She glanced back at the owner and realized he was an older version of Todd.

Her world suddenly turned its self upside down.

She fainted.

+++++++++++++++++

Todd came running over, "Dad its Tara! Your daughter, my sister. She's come home."

I picked her up and carried her into my office, Todd followed. I explained what was going on to Jenny and she volunteered to clean up the mess in the dining room and help finish serving lunch.

Tara started to come around. She looked at Todd and started to cry, "You got out," she exclaimed.

She and Todd hugged and kissed like long lost siblings because that's exactly what they were. I started to leave the room to let them catch up on their lives when Todd call out, "Dad, don't you want to meet your daughter?"

I walked over and took her hand. "Hi, I'm Percy Holmes and I'm your father. Long time no see."

She pulled me into a great big hug and said, "It's about time, Dad! Try not to stay away so long the next time."

Then she gave me a 1000 watt smile and a great big kiss. I had my daughter back after all these years.

"So Dad, Do I get the waitress job?"

The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon learning about each other. Well actually Todd and I had already played this game years ago only this time we needed to include Tara.

Toward the end, I started to ask about her mother. "I don't want anything to do with my mother. When I was 15 one of her customers kicked down my bedroom door and tried to rape me. I hit him with a lamp. My mother was too high on drugs to even know there was a problem. Dad, I've been on my own since then. Please don't ever mention her again."

Todd brought Jenny into my office. He introduced her to his sister by saying, "Sis this is my other sister Jenny. Dad brought her into our family after finding her homeless and living on the streets."

They looked each other over.

Jenny said, "You have the world's greatest Dad. Please accept him into your life. I've taken your place for many years, but now I'll step aside and let you assume your proper place as his daughter. My husband and I will leave here and not interfere with your life here."

Tara looked at her, her eyes filling with tears. "Please stay, I want to get to know you. If Todd accepted you, then you must be something special."

+++++++

Jermaine looked around the small village. He knew he was in Vermont. Soon he would be walking across the border into Canada, a new hunting ground.

The urge to kill was very strong again.

His last satisfying victims were in Ohio. It had been too long since he met them. The screams of their pain were fading from his memory. He was having trouble reliving them. He knew he had to kill again.

He was sitting in an old pickup truck he had stolen in New York after killing a widow. She had died way too early. He had hoped she was stronger. His next victim will last longer. He will not hurry their death. It will be slowly and very painful.

He was about to get out and go into a supermarket for the supplies he needed, when a sheriff's car pulled up to the entrance. He picked up his gun from the seat, just to be safe.

He watched as the deputy kissed his passenger. The passenger door opened and out walked his love. The girl he had kidnapped many years ago and had killed his sister to escape from him. He sat in his truck and watched her walk into the store.

She had filled out nicely in the years that had passed. She was smiling at the people entering or exiting the store. She stopped to talk to some of the other shoppers.

She looked happy.

He thought, "She won't look so happy after I get a hold of her."

He sat in his truck and waited for her to leave the store. He was going to follower her and rejoin her life. He was happy again. He began to plan what he was going to do to her.

To him, these were happy thoughts.

He sat there about an hour when a truck from a local hunting/fishing resort pulled up. The driver got out and walked into the store. He came back out with the girl and they started loading bags of groceries in the back of the pick-up.

He watched them and memorized the name of the lodge.

After they drove off, he got out of the truck and asked a shopper if she knew where the lodge was, explaining that he was a hunter and wanted to look the place over.

"Oh you just missed them. Jenny and her father just finished shopping here for some supplies, "She answered and proceeded to give him directions to the lodge.

"Jenny, "he thought. Now I know her name and where she lives. Soon she will be mine. He thought about how nice it would be hearing her scream.

He remembered how she looking going into the store and thought, "Maybe I can make her last two weeks."

As he started planning his hunt, he was smiling.

+++++++++

Percy picked up Jenny at the store. He wasn't sure if she noticed but anytime she went anyplace, Percy or her husband Dean were with her, and they were armed.

They were her body guards. Percy was on full alert.

The Sheriff had cornered Percy in town. He gave Percy a badge and some ID. Percy was now a deputy. They discussed what Percy's responsibilities would be.

When the discussion was over, Percy remembered there was no mention of pay. "I guess I'm not in the budget, "he thought.

About a week later my phone rang, "Perk, do you know where the Widow Kelly's farm is on County Road 8? Meet us there. She's been murdered."

"Did she die hard?" I asked.

"It looks as if she did. The Coroner said she lasted about three days." The Sheriff answered. "It looks as if he's here.

I called Dean at his and Jenny's cabin. All I said was, "He's here."

Dean was at the lodge about 5 minutes later. He had replaced his service revolver with the .44 Mag.

I got to the crime scene about 30 minutes later. The place resembled a circus. There were Sheriff's cars, the Coroner's wagon, some State cars, and an unmarked Government car.

My friend from the FBI was standing next to it talking with a couple of State guys and the Sheriff. They waved me over.

"Hi, Sherlock," I was greeted. "It looks as if he's here."

The Sheriff looked at me and said, "Perk, your place is under 24 hour guard. We don't want anything to happen to Jenny."

I thanked him.

"Can I see inside?" I asked.

They walked me to the barn instead of the farm house. When my eyes got used to the darkness in the barn I spotted the Widow Kelly. She was tied between some cross beams. She had died hard. Someone had cut her eyes out, nose off, ears off, breasts off, and her fingers and toes off.

I felt sick to my stomach, but I stayed there. When I had retired from police work, I hoped I would never need to see this type of scene again.

The Coroner was just getting ready to cut her down and put her in a body bag. He was trying to do it alone, because no one had a strong enough stomach to help.

I reached in his bag and grabbed some gloves.

"I'll help. I've done this before," I said.

Between the two of us we managed to take her down and start preserving her dignity. Most of the others in the barn were looking a little green when we got done. As I walked out of the barn, I thought, "I'll bet the nightmares will be back tonight."

The flash bulbs started going off as I was helping Doc wheel Mrs. Kelly's body out. The press had arrived.

They were pressing the sheriff for a statement. He was out of his league here.

One of the reporters remembered me from my years as a detective. Next thing I knew I was giving the interview. The reporter told all his colleagues who I was and that I'd tell them the truth.

The reporters were started shouting all kinds of questions. One of the guys yelled, "How did she die?"

"You don't want to know, trust me. Let's just say she died hard." I answered.

It got really quiet.

"Any suspects?"

"Just one and I hope he's not here." I answered. The reporters left me alone after that statement.

The State CSI guys arrived and I got busy with them.

I didn't want anything missed.

One of the CSIs walked over to me and began talking, "I was at a conference about a year ago when one of the guys brought up working with a detective named Holmes. He said they called the guy Sherlock. Not because of his last name, but because he was that good at solving cases. He also said that there was only one case you never solved, a serial killer called "Master. Is this his work?"

I looked at him a long time before I spoke, "I think it's him."

His expression got serious and he started talking to his guys. I hoped he was telling them to keep this extra information under tight lip, but to be very through.

I walked around the farm for the next few hours. We discovered where the killer had hidden in the woods and watched Mrs. Kelly. One of the CSIs discovered where the killer had had a bowel movement. While it wasn't as good as a photo or fingerprints, it did give us DNA.

Jermaine was getting sloppy.

+++++++

A few days later, one of the guides mentioned he met another hunter on a trail a few days earlier. The guy was out scouting for a good place to hunt turkey. What caught the guide as strange was that this was not turkey country. The birds just weren't in this part of the state.

I jumped on that story and asked for a description. My guide described the guy as, "Big, really big and he had eyes that seemed dead." I called the Sheriff and we made arrangements to meet with a sketch artist.

I grabbed one of my rifles and started into the woods. I'd get the bastard if it was the last thing I did.

+++++++

Jermaine was pissed. He had gotten sloppy and run into a local hunter in the woods. He quickly made up a story about scouting out good spots for turkey hunting. The guy looked at him funny after that statement and seemed to want to get away quickly.

Jermaine just wished that he had killed the guy but without a plan he couldn't act. His sister always said that by planning their crimes, they wouldn't ever get caught. So he learned to make detailed plans before acting. This one time he had no plan made for running into someone in the woods.

He walked back to his hiding place, a small trapper's cabin, and started planning.

He thought about his last killing. He had loved the way the widow screamed. She lived alone in a farm house far back in the woods. She had no neighbors or visitors. He had watched her for a week before making his move.

One day as she was heading for the barn he struck. The first thing he did was hit her in the chest, not hard enough to kill her, but enough to partially knock her out. He dragged her into the barn tearing her clothes off as they went along.

Jermaine tied her hands and feet. He tossed a rope over a beam and pulled her up by her hands until her feet were about 12 feet off the ground. He didn't have a gag like he and his sister used on their victims back home. When he remembered his home, he got very mad again. He made a vow to find that girl and make her pay. He hit the old lady again.

Jermaine stayed with the old woman for 4 days. For three of those days he slowly hacked her to death. On the fourth day he rested, sleeping in the nude in her blood and waste. It excited him so much that he had sex with her corpse.

All the time he was imagining it was the girl.

++++++++++

Percy started his search of the woods by walking in circles. This was his grid pattern. Each circle got a little bit bigger. He searched for about 6 hours when he found the first signs of someone watching the lodge. The grass was matted down and there were signs of someone laying there watching. I looked around and found this was an excellent location for watching everything that went on at the lodge. I got on my cell and called for a CSI team.

My next call was to Jenny's husband up dating him on what I found.

Dean and Jenney were at her doctors getting a checkup. Dean said that he would hurry back as soon as the doctor was done. Dean loved her with all his heart and would die before letting Jermaine get near her. But I was still scared. Jermaine was crazy, he was a serial killer with no conscience and he wanted Jenny.

But I wouldn't let him get his hands on her again.

+++++++++++

Dean and I visited my OB/GYN for the tests. I knew that the results would be positive.

I was pregnant!

I only needed the doctor's verification.

I couldn't wait to see the looks of surprise on my family's faces. For a moment, I wished Maria was still alive to enjoy this time. It took a little of the happiness out of the occasion.

The doctor came back in the examining room and nodded "yes". I swore him to secrecy.

I wanted to tell everyone myself.

++++++++++++++++++++++

That night we had a family meeting. Percy's purpose was to discuss how Jermaine was watching us and how to use this to trap him.

Jenny had a different agenda.

She opened the meeting by saying, "I'm pregnant!. The baby is due in 7 months."

I thought Dean would faint. He got very white and started swaying back and forth. Jenny looked at him and asked, "How does it feel to know that you're about to be a daddy?" He ran to her and gave her the biggest kiss I had ever seen them do. The rest of us sitting around the table started yelling and screaming.

It was the best news I could have heard.

Our discussion dissolved into baby names, whether or not to find out what the baby's sex was, and what construction was needed to add on to their one bedroom cabin, one extra bedroom or two. We discussed baby showers and gifts and who to invite and where to hold them.

After about two hours of talking the conversations started to run out. I made the decision not to spoil the evening by discussing a serial killer.

The next morning at breakfast all the staff and at least half the guests were congratulations on her pregnancy. Jenny was beaming and very happy with all the attention.

I spent the rest of the day walking the surrounding forests looking for signs of Jermaine. I had another reason to hunt him down now.

++++++

Jermaine lay on the ground. He was watching the lodge. The plan was coming together. He knew he had to act soon. Hunting season was coming and it would bring men into the woods looking for game to kill. Actually it was exactly what Jermaine felt he was doing, except that Jermaine was hunting men.

Men were easier to find and kill.

The only thing Jermaine didn't like was that the men in the woods were carrying weapons and they were alert to what was going on around them. They were smart game. It would be nice to hunt them but Jermaine needed to get the girl. The girl had killed her sister and he was going to kill her, slowly.

Jermaine had a bit of a problem. The girl was living with a deputy sheriff. The Deputy was at her side all the time. Jermaine had to get the deputy away from the girl. He was slowly working out the details of that step in his plan.

He smiled at the thought of what he was going to do to her.

He ejaculated in his pants.

+++++++++++++++++

Percy was out patrolling the forest. He was looking for signs of Jermaine when he came across another spot where Jermaine had waited and watched. Percy quickly dropped to the ground and surveyed the area. He was watching any movement that Jermaine was still around.

He smelled something familiar in the air. Percy then realized that he smelled a man's ejaculate. He saw it on the ground and realized that Jermaine had laid here and cum.

" Jermaine was one sick SOB," thought Percy.

He checked out the area again and saw no signs of life. When he was certain that it was safe, he pulled out his cell phone and called the local police.

It was time to get the CSI guys up here again.

+++++++++

Dean was patrolling the area around the north side of the lake. It was getting dark and he would be off duty in a bit. His mind drifted to his lovely wife Jenny. He couldn't wait to get back to her. They had only been married a short time and were still burning up the sheets. He was dreaming about her soft breasts and her cute little butt.

While they weren't trying to start a family, they really weren't taking any precautions. If it happened, it happened.

And it had happened, she was 2 months pregnant and Dean was as happy as a man could be. He was going to be a dad. He picked names, and sex, and furnishings for the baby's room in his mind as he was on patrol. He knew that he would run his choices by Jenny, but she would be the one to actually make the decisions.

All wives were the boss. He knew that instinctively.

He was running all the things that he had to do before the baby was born when the two way radio went off. A CSI team was being dispatched to the area he was near.

It was his patrol area, he had to go.

As he picked up the mike to offer to help, the world went dark.

Dean's Sheriff's car rolled off the road and into a tree activating a collision alarm on the dispatcher's console.

Jermaine put his rifle on his shoulder and started trotting down the hillside away from the Deputy Sheriff's car.

"That takes care of the husband, now the girl," he thought.

++++++++

Percy heard those dreadful words, "Officer Down," come over his radio. He heard the location; it was Dean's patrol area. He knew that every available unit would be racing toward the site. He started running back to the lodge. He felt it was a trick by Jermaine to draw away all the protection around the camp so he could get his prey.

And Jermaine's prey was Jenny.

He knew he had to get there first before Jermaine did.

His age started showing. He was 55 years old and a little out of shape. He ran as far as he could before stopping to vomit. He wiped his face and started running again. He still had about 2 miles to go before he reached the lodge. He hoped that he would make it in time.

No he thought, "I have to make it in time."

He stopped and tried his cell phone, but there was no signal. He was between a couple of hills and the signal was blocked. There was no way he could warn them that Jermaine was coming.

He asked God to give him the strength to keep running. It had been a very long time since he asked for anything. The last time was for a Christmas present when he was 10 years old.