The Beast of Lone Oak

*Instances of physical violence and death.

Kate’s ringtone cut through the silence of her bedroom. She groped her nightstand for the phone, swiped right and put it against her ear. “What?” she grumbled. Patricia Merriweather’s voice came from the other side. “Kate, I think you need to come to the office.” Kate sat up in her bed. Pulling her phone from her ear, she checked the time. It was nearly 9am. Even on her days off, she never slept in this late.

“What happened Pat?” Kate asked. She put the phone on speaker and laid it on her bed while she dove into her closet. “The judge granted Marshall’s motion. The evidence that was found in the garage is inadmissible.” Kate stopped, feeling like she’d been punched in the chest.

“What do you mean it’s inadmissible?” She hissed into the phone. “We found all that evidence while executing a search warrant! Judge LaPointe signed off on it!”

“The warrant didn’t specifically call out the garage, where we found the box.” Pat muttered.

Kate felt as though she’d pass out. All the work they’d done, all the time spent. It was purely coincidence that they had a suspect at all, let alone evidence. The Beast of Lone Oak had been tormenting Adair County for over a year, abducting and brutally murdering nearly two dozen women. The kidnappings had been completely random, as had the locations where their remains were found. The Beast had been careful not to be spotted, taking the women where there were no cameras. He had, however, left strands of his hair clutched into Mary Anne Faye’s hand. The DNA bore no matches to anyone in the system.

By a stroke of luck, a man named Mitchell Whitlock had been pulled over for expired tags. As the officer approached his car, he had noticed a blood stain in the backseat. When Mitchell had struggled to give an explanation, he was arrested.

The blood had come back as a match to none other than his last victim, Mary Anne. Kate had immediately gotten a search warrant for Whitlock’s residence. A small box containing pieces of jewelry had been uncovered in his garage. The items were later identified as belonging to multiple victims.

“This is my fault.” Kate murmured. “I was in a rush when I drafted the warrant.” The color had drained from her face. She clutched the edge of her dresser to keep herself upright. “You can’t think like that Kate. There’s got to be something we can do. I think its an issue of terminology used.” Pat tried to sound optimistic, but the attempt fell flat. “If the box had been in plain view, we might could push the issue. But they had to do quite a bit of digging to find that little box. No one can deny that.” Silence fell between them for a long time.

“I’m sorry Kate. I really am” Patricia muttered. She hung up the phone.

She slid down the front of her dresser and pulled her knees up to her chest. How could she have been so careless? So utterly stupid? Her normal attention to detail had left her completely when she was notified there was a suspect in custody. And now, because of that, the man who’d made a career of killing was going to walk free.

Unless.

“No.” she said aloud. She tried to force the thought out of her head. She wouldn’t be that kind of prosecutor. She won her trials fair and square, no dirty work. No tricks. She’d dedicated seven long years of her life to becoming a lawyer. It had taken another eleven to become the state District Attorney. She wouldn’t risk that over fear of losing a case.

But it was the case. The case that would give the women, parents and siblings of Adair County and its surrounding communities peace of mind. Hadn’t her people lived in fear long enough? Besides, weren’t they her people?

She shook her head and dropped her face into her hands. She let out a heavy sigh.

Kate brushed her teeth, pulled her dark brown hair into a clean and organized bun, and dabbed on light makeup. She dawned a black pant suite and her favorite black heels, the one’s she called her “Ole Faithfuls.” It was the first pair of court room worthy shoes she’d bought after passing the bar. She’d been wearing those shoes when she’d come out on top even in the most complex cases. And she’d be wearing them today, when she figured out how she was going to keep the Beast of Lone Oak behind bars until his demise. Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, Kate walked out her front door and headed for the DA’s office.

The office was located inside Adair County’s Justice Complex. Kate rounded the corner towards her office as Patricia came out to greet her. “You’re here. I talked Judge LaPointe into speaking to you for a few minutes. He’s waiting in his office.”

“I’m totally unprepared to speak to him right now, Pat.” Kate said, sounding exasperated.

“Well court resumes at 12:30 and it’s 12:10 right now. I’d say you’ve got about five minutes to figure something out.” Pat offered up a sly smile, took Kate’s briefcase out of her hand and slipped back into the office without another word. Kate sighed. What would she say?

Judge LaPointe had been on the bench for five years, and practiced law for twenty years prior to that. His father had reigned as county judge for nearly two decades, refusing to retire on the grounds that he didn’t believe there was anyone as unyielding as himself.

Kate lightly rapped her knuckles against his office door. “Enter.”

Upon entering, she saw she was very much interrupting the man’s lunch. What a wonderful mood that’ll put him in, she thought to herself.

“Ms. Merriweather said you needed a moment of my time.” LaPointe said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. Kate nodded.

“Your Honor, if we could just talk about that search warrant.” Kate began. LaPointe held a hand up to stop her. “As I said, the garage was not called out in that warrant. I read it word for word before signing it.” The judge lowered his head to gaze over his glasses. “I’m not going to reverse my ruling because you can’t accept your own sloppy work.” Kate felt her face growing hot.

“Judge, this man has killed so many wome-.“

“Allegedly. He allegedly killed those women. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, Ms. Miller.”

Kate sighed again. “Thank you for your time, Your Honor.” She turned, her gaze to the floor, and left the room.

Patricia met her at the door. “Well?” she asked enthusiastically.

Kate merely shook her head and walked into her office. She closed the door behind her.

She pulled the crime scene photos out of her desk drawer and laid them out in front of her. There were probably nearly a thousand photographs, each taken to document every tiny detail of each victim.

Kate stared, nearly zoning out when a detail in one photo caught her eye. Shelia Marison had been found partially dismembered on the outskirts of a park when a jogger had noticed the disruption in the tall grass and gone to investigate. The police had found her body, missing only her legs, drug into a thicket. Kate had been the one to inform Shelia’s mother of her death. She’d talked about her daughter for nearly two hours, what her aspirations had been and all the things she enjoyed doing. Kate remembered one detail very clearly. Mrs. Marison had mentioned her daughter’s graduation and how proud her and her father had been. She’d given details about the party, who was there, the gifts she received. One gift stood out to Kate now. A silver necklace with a small diamond on it that her father had given her.

“Who is it?” Edith Marison’s voice called from behind her front door. “Mrs. Marison, it’s Kate. The DA, we’ve spoken before.” Kate heard the locks on the door being unlatched.

Edith looked hopeful as she opened the door. “I heard they had a man in custody.” Kate nodded. “Yes ma’am. I was hoping to talk to you and get more details about your daughter.” Edith pulled the door wider and motioned Kate to come inside.

“Mrs. Marison, I was wondering if you could maybe give me some details about Shelia’s life leading up to her disappearance.” Kate said as she sat down on the parlor couch. Edith walked in from the kitchen with two glasses of iced tea. “Oh yes.” She smiled. “She’d been so excited to graduate. It was the only thing she talked about for months, I swear.” She sighed. “She’d gotten her acceptance letter to LSU four days before she disappeared. It was her dream college, her top pick. Oh she was just over the moon about it all.” Edith stared at the floor, lost in thought. “She’d gone to volunteer at the local shelter, Lone Oak Animal Care. She did that a lot, any spare time she had that’s where she was. Such a soft-hearted girl.” She muttered.

“Can I take a look in her room, Mrs. Marison? If you don’t mind.” Kate asked.

Edith nodded. “I’ll show you where it is. She rose from the couch and started towards the stairs. Kate followed.

The room was neat. A full-size bed took up the middle of the room, covered in a light pink bed set with little pictures of cacti on the sheets and pillowcases. There was a chest of drawers and a dresser against either wall. There was a small jewelry box perched on the dresser.

Downstairs, a phone began to ring. “I have to take that. My sister, she’s been in the hospital. That’ll be her husband.” Edith hurried out the door. Kate walked around the room carefully, trying to gain a sense of who Shelia was. As she approached the dresser, her eyes fell on the jewelry box.

The necklace.

Kate removed the top. There was a collection of simple rings, a few pairs of earrings, and two silver necklaces inside. One of them was the necklace her father had given her. She stared at the box, the world around her seeming to fade out. The crime scenes flashed through her mind. Those girls, their lives ended so early and so horrifically. Didn’t they deserve justice?

Without another thought, Kate picked the necklace up and slipped it into her pocket. She carefully replaced the lid and crept carefully out of the room.

“Alright Sherry, I’ll call you back soon. I’ve got to talk to the DA, they may have a suspect. Yes dear, I’ll call you back immediately.” After a few more murmurings, Edith hung the phone up and turned to Kate.

“Did you find anything you could use, dear?” she asked, approaching Kate.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so Mrs. Marrison.” Kate feigned a helpless look. “We’re doing everything we can to put away the man that did this to your daughter.”

Edith visibly pushed back tears. “Thank you.” She choked out. She walked Kate to the door and watched her until she was in her car. Then, she slid the deadbolt back into place. Kate pulled out and headed for the evidence locker.

“Hi, Kate.” Larry smiled. He had managed the evidence locker since she had been in high school. Kate grinned. “Hi Mr. Larry.”

“What can I do for you today?” he asked, pushing the sign in sheet towards her through the cage. “I just wanted to peak at the Whitlock car. See if I see anything that might’ve been missed.” Larry nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He pushed a box of latex gloves towards her. “But it hasn’t been processed yet, so you need to wear these. You know protocol.” Kate nodded.

As she walked outside into the impound lot, Kate thought to herself how it must be a sign that the car hadn’t been processed yet. She’d slip the necklace in between the seats, walk around the car a few times, and leave. That would be enough. That would do it. As Kate reached for the door handle, she heard footsteps approaching behind her.

“Ms. Miller.” It was Judge LaPointe.

“On one charge of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant, Mitchell Whitlock, guilty.”

The court room erupted. Victims’ parents crying in relief, Mitchell’s parents sobbing behind the defense table. Kate stood, buttoning her jacket and picking up her paperwork. As the bailiffs approached Whitlock to take him into custody, he turned towards Kate. “You and I both know I didn’t leave that necklace there. Bitch.” He was grabbed and pulled towards the holding cells.

“Sentencing will be in three weeks’ time.” Judge LaPointe slammed his gavel down and rose from his chair. For just a moment, he met Kate’s eyes. She gave a small nod, and he turned to retire to his chambers.

Edith Marison stood outside the court room doors, waiting for Kate. She gave a small smile and took Kate’s hand into her own. “Thank you.” Kate nodded. Edith began to cry. “I was so afraid he would get away with this.” Kate put her briefcase down and give Edith a hug. “I told you when we found Shelia, I’d do everything in my power.” Kate said quietly. Edith pulled back some and composed herself. She glanced around, and in a low voice she murmured, “Kate. When will they give me Shelia’s necklace back?”