Killer Summer

IT WAS the hottest day of the year, and he walked the line between sanity and desire as he cruised down Michigan Avenue. The girls here were good for a quick thrill, but his mate, his property, was not among them. No, he would continue to look for her. She would come to him as she always did, and they would dance. She would scream and he would feel his pulse soar. Soon. The heat made him feel empowered. And it was going to last for a week. So, he hunted. The Cedar Cove killer would never be caught. He was too careful. No, this was his territory, and he would find her. The object who would feed his desire. Until then, he would make do. It always helped.

THE CHIME rang out and Karrie Carmichael rose from her knees and hurried to the front of her bookstore. It was a restful place filled with both new and gently used books, overstuffed couches and chairs and rugs placed lovingly along the hardwood floors. Karrie’s Corner Bookshop had become a place of refuge from the boisterous world that existed outside her doors. When she’d open the store five years ago she had a plan, and while competing with the big stores had been tough, she had carved out her niche by exclusively offering thrillers, mysteries to tantalize the private investigator that lurked in one’s mind, and cozy mysteries for those who solved mysteries with a little slice of life on the side.

“Coming!” Karrie called out.

As she walked to the front, she saw red hair and heard a giggle as a toddler raced down the long but roomy isles. Karrie bent and swung the little ginger headed girl into her arms eliciting screams of delight.

“Ook,” she said. “Ook.” The little girl grasped a book with a picture of a small hedgehog wielding a magnifying glass and dressed in a trench coat on the cover.

“Ahh the mystery of ‘The Tangled Forest’. Good choice. I see you’re bound and determined to get Tabitha into mysteries.”

The woman laughed. “It’s all her. She picks them out. No ‘Mr. Turtle Learns His ABCs’ for her. She’s got the bug.” Gina was her best customer and a friend. They met five years ago when the store first opened, and Karrie was alone in her new shop hoping the marketing campaign she’d employed brought in readers. Gina spread the word and first the Sherlockians had come to inspect her collection. Next came the thriller crowd to shiver their way down the aisles. As so her store grew, little by little to what it was today. A thriving business that enabled her to hire two employees, both English majors.

“What’s on your reading list this week Gina?” Karrie knew her friend loved a thriller just as much as she did and made sure she was up to date on the latest releases.

“I’m gonna browse today, I think. I’m in the mood for something old. Maybe a book from the forties, or fifties. I’m curious as to how the police solved crimes without forensics and cellphones.”

“You know your way around. Let me know when you’re ready to check out.”

JOSEPH SALINDER called out as his driver made contact with the Titleist golf ball and it sailed straight down the fairway. The other two men groaned as it looked like Joseph was setting up for another Birdie. Joseph chuckled and stalked down off the tee as he preened before his friends. They’d known each other since college, Jake Kincaid and John Edgar Smith accompanying Joseph at Harvard Business School, and David King, the scholarship kid, they’d brought into their sorority as a goof. David wasn’t with them today. As a Deputy Public Defender, his days were spent with those downtrodden masses who couldn’t afford a real attorney or so his friends said of him.

“Looks good Joseph,” Jake called out as he climbed up to tee off. He used the little wooden tee to place his ball and ready it to be hit down the fairway that had a dog leg left before straightening out to the green. He held back his swing not wanting to out distance Joseph and thereby igniting his volatile temper. It was something his friends avoided at all costs. A little friendly competition was not Joseph’s idea of fun. Jake swung and drove the ball down the tree lined fairway about three yards behind Joseph’s ball.

“Nice, but not good enough,” jeered Joseph. He felt entitled to win a game. And to win every time. After all wasn’t he superior to these two jokers. John Edgar was a good player, but neither he nor Jake could win against him, and he relished their defeat.

As they continued to play the hole Joseph took birdie, his second on the front nine, and bragged all the way to the back nine. A golf cart rolled up and the pretty young girl offered them refreshments on this hot day. Joseph eyed her with interest taking in her long black hair, deep brown eyes, and slim figure. Nice, but not his type.

David rolled up to meet his friends but carried no golf clubs. His court case had ended earlier, and he decided he would put in an appearance to head off a tirade Joseph was sure to have later in the evening when they met up for a night of drinking.

“David, no clubs?” Joseph jeered.

“No, I just finished up for the day and thought I’d come and be a spectator.” David, like the others, feared Joseph, and made sure to keep his thoughts to himself.

“Well, you’ve come in time to watch me trounce these losers” he said. “And you’re wearing a suit? What the hell?” Joseph stalked over to David as he exited the golf cart his suit hot in the noonday sun. One minute he was standing smiling at his friend expecting a handshake, and the next he was lying on his back blood running from his nose from where Joseph had punched him.

David shook his head and stood shakily. “Sorry, man,” he said.

Joseph took a calming breath and held out his hand. “Next time come ready to play, ok?”

David, Jake and John Edgar knew how volatile their leader’s temper could be. At times he was jovial, even engaging, but others he was mean as a snake and just as poisonous. This carried all the way through college, and they hoped he would mellow with age, but it had only gotten worse. And so, they existed in Joseph’s universe on guard and trepidatious.

THE DOOR chimed as David King sauntered into the bookstore in the mood for a good mystery. His nose still ached, and he had two black eyes, but the doctor said nothing was broken. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go out that night. All he wanted was curl up with a good book and forget the day. A woman rushed forward, long black hair swinging and deep brown eyes smiling in welcome. A balm for his injured mind.

“Can I help you?” The curvy beauty asked.

“Um,” he was tongue tied. He was stunned into silence. What was he here for? A book. Yeah, a book. “I’m looking for the New Releases. I just came in to browse. Find my next new author.”

“They’re on the right wall next to the counter. We’ve had some good ones come in today. If you like a thriller, you could try James Patterson’s newest. He’s always a good read.”

“Thanks. I’ll look it over.” He enjoyed a good James Patterson book but wasn’t sure if that would touch that special place in his mind that yearned for the perfect book.

“I’ll leave you to it then.”

He watched her saunter away on long legs. As he perused the offerings he settled on the James Patterson after all and made his way to the check-out counter. It was made of a highly polished mahogany and a little spinner rack held bookmarks engaging a reader with quotations.

“Ready? Can I interest you in a bookmark? she asked.

“No, just the book and maybe a drink after you close?” He decided to take a swing.

The woman looked shell shocked and gave him a long look, as if trying to discern the depths of his soul. She smiled.

DAVID AND Karrie entered Lanigan’s Pub and David led her to a table in the back, which was quieter and engendered conversation. He wanted to get to know this woman. The waitress stopped at their table, and David ordered a Guinness and Karrie ordered a gin and tonic, light on the gin.

“I’m not much of a drinker,” she explained “and I need to be up early tomorrow.”

He liked that. Suddenly he heard his friends enter the pub and felt the anxiety well up inside. “David!” Joseph called. Upon seeing Karrie, Joseph sauntered up to the table and took the seat at one of the empty chairs. “Introduce us to your friend.”

“Karrie this is Joseph, an old college friend, and Jake and John Edgar”

Joseph scanned her up and down like she was a morsel to be devoured and something in his eyes changed. They became darker, pupils dilating to black orbs and a wicked smile curved his cruel lips. “You look great. Why are you wasting your time with this loser?”

Karrie stammered out a reply but so quietly she couldn’t be heard above the voices that suddenly roared across the rooms like a tidal wave of sound threatening to crush her.

“Joseph be kind,” David chided. “She is the book seller at the small bookshop in Troy.

“I see. Just my type, bro.” Joseph leered.

“Um, David, I just forgot. I have a box of books I need to get shelved before we open tomorrow.”

David knew Karrie was frightened and couldn’t blame her. Joseph’s aggressive nature was overwhelming.

“Sure. I’ll walk you out,” he said in hopes of seeing her again.

At the door David apologized and walked Karrie to her car. As she sped off, his anger rose and he wished, not for the first time, he’d never joined Sigma Delta. As he reentered the pub and made his way to the table now surrounded by his fraternity brothers, he noticed Joseph was missing.

“Where’s Joseph,” he asked brusquely, fear rising up to choke him.

“Don’t know. Said he needed to make a call to his office after he got a text.” John Edgar said as he drained his whiskey.

David spun and headed for the door.

KARRIE RACED home in her SUV and parked in the garage, sitting in the car as the door slowly lowered. She chanted “come on, come on,” as it descended feeling like a rabbit cornered by a hawk. When it was closed, she rushed into her condo and locked the garage door, set the alarm, and checked all the doors and windows. Joseph had chilled her, and little alarm bells were going off in her mind.

She went into the kitchen and poured out a glass of wine she had on hand for nights like these. It helped to calm her nerves and settle her down. As she sipped standing in front of the sink, her heart rate slowed, and her mind settled. Hopefully she’d sleep. She walked slowly toward her bedroom, lowered the blinds and pulled the blackout curtains. The seafoam walls and beige carpet calmed her, and she dressed for bed, turning out the light, and crawling between the cool sheets. The air conditioner was running and the overhead fan helped to cool off her room. It wasn’t hard to keep the small one floor condo cool but it wreaked havoc on her electric bill. Slowly she drifted off to sleep hoping for a dreamless night.

THE MAN walked around the building and shadowed through the security lights. He reached her bedroom window and saw it was shut tight. It wouldn’t stop him. He used his pocketknife to cut away the screen and the glass cutter to open a hole big enough to reach inside and unlock the window. Nothing stopped him. He was as quiet as a panther, dressed in black, and blending into the darkness of the room. He took the syringe from his pocket and uncapped it. The cocktail would knock her out and make her compliant enough to get her through the doors and into his waiting car.

DETECTIVE SAUL stood at the door waiting for the CSU team to finish their sweep. With a nod from the lead technician, he entered, the blue booties whooshing across the carpet. Drag marks in the carpet, an open door, a cut window, and a hot night, all the marks of the killer they’d been tracking for five years. They had a break this time, the neighbor, hearing the alarm, had seen an old blue car speeding off and got a partial plate. His partner was running it now and all they needed was a name. He hoped in time to save Karrie Carmichael.

DAVID WAS driving home when he saw Joseph’s car parked in the driveway of his modest home. The car Joseph kept here, a beat-up old Chevy, was gone. As David exited his car he saw something shining on the concrete. He leaned over and saw a moon shaped earring bent and misshapen. It looked familiar, but where had he seen it before? It was Karrie’s! She’d been wearing them at her store. Why was she here? And Joseph’s car was gone. For years he had talked his way out of various crimes, his father paying off judges. Was he doing the same thing to Karrie? He knew Joseph was a creature of habit, he spent all his time either at home, at work, at the pub, or at the country club. Would he take her to Cedar Cove? The club was deserted this time of night, and it was deep in the woods in Shelby Township. The surrounding woods would be perfect for his purposes.

David jumped back into his car and revved the engine, squealing out of the driveway. He raced up Van Dyke and exited on Fifty Nine and swung a hard left at the turn about at Hall Road. He sped up to Twenty Mile Road and made a hard right onto Cedar Road. He lurched into the parking lot, not seeing the police cruiser behind him flashing his lights and sounding the siren in a series of whoops, and saw Joseph’s beater parked at the far end by the Pro-Shop. In there? No. The alarm would go off. The equipment shed was tucked away on a backroad at the far end of the third hole as it made the turn to the fourth hole. David raced toward it, panting and sweating as the police officer chased him. Would he be in time?

KARRIE AWAKENED feeling pain. It encompassed her world. But her mind was clear now, as she lay on a cement floor. Her hands were bound, but in front of her with rope. She struggled and was able to reach the small pocketknife she carried. Thank you, Mrs. Gardner, her Girl Scout leader. She sawed away at the rope, cutting her hand in the process. Then she was free. She fled through the unlocked door but didn’t recognize where she was. Then she saw him. David racing across the grass. He stopped and just looked at her bruised and broken body. Joseph rose up from the shadows brandishing a knife. His eyes wild with the desire to kill. David sped forward and hit Joseph in the midsection knocking the air out of him in a whoosh and the knife spun out of his reach. David disentangled himself from Joseph as the man struggled to breathe. The police officer ran forward and grabbed David ready to cuff him, but Karrie called out “No! He’s here to help! The other one tried to kill me!” The officer spun Joseph and cuffed him behind his back as he lay in the neatly trimmed grass. Joseph, having caught his breath, began to wail like a caged animal. David fell to his knees and watched as the officer called for assistance. Soon the area was cordoned off with police tape and Detective Saul questioned Karrie. Saul knew this MO. Karrie was the right type, rope instead of duct tape, and brutality. Had they finally caught the serial killer they’d been hunting for five years? DNA would tell, but for now the woman was a good witness. An ambulance arrived and Karrie was trundled into the back, and it wailed away into the darkness. David talked with the Detective and told him about Joseph and showed him the earring. Saul took it, placed it in an evidence bag then asked David to come to the station to answer some questions. He was a witness, not a suspect. He didn’t fit the profile. Joseph Salinder would, Saul could feel it in his bones.

A WEEK later Karrie arranged shelves and dusted tomes as the warm morning waned into a hot afternoon. The door chimed and David quietly entered. Regret poured out of him like smoke as he walked toward her. She held the duster like a weapon and watched him approach. Those eyes, full of sadness, drew her in. But the memories of that night were still fresh, and it would take time to put them behind her.

“I’m so sorry, Karrie.”

“I know,” was all she could say.

“Someday?”

“Maybe.”

The door chimed and Gina and Tabitha burst through the door. Sunshine and giggles. Just what Karrie needed. David turned away, a sad smile on his face.

“David, give me some time, ok?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” he said as the door chimed again, and he walked out into the blazing summer sunshine.