Kitabı oku: «The Racer», sayfa 5
13. Chance, coincidence, pattern and fate
– Some sick bastard has started up in my town! – Desmond snarled furiously as he and Jenna stormed into the office.
Harry, on duty that night, snapped to attention, listening to the sheriff’s voice.
– When did this happen!? What kind of monster does that!?
Late at night, Desmond, Jenna, and Harry speculated about the killer’s motives – if there were any. The four victims had no connection. There were no injuries with a common pattern. It looked like different people committed the murders, and some could pass for accidents. Deductively, it was pure chaos.
The sheriff doubted anyone local did this, so he ordered Jenna and Harry to call Heartstone’s only hotel and three motels. He was sure it was an outsider’s work.
Calls to motel and hotel managers came up empty. No one stayed longer than a day. After jotting down the names of guests from the past five days, Harry and Jenna found no repeats, like the killer was switching places to avoid being tracked.
When the motel and hotel managers couldn’t help, the sheriff ordered Jenna and Harry to canvass in the morning every café, restaurant, bank, post office, train station, shop, supermarket, gas station, hospital, and other busy places. If anyone spotted someone remotely suspicious who’s not local, they were to report it to the sheriff’s office immediately. Desmond also ordered them to notify everyone to report anyone who moved to Heartstone in the last year, in case he’d missed something.
14. Always in touch
Ever since Rebecca started reaching for the phone mounted on the wall in the kitchen, she constantly tried to be the first to pick up the receiver. No one in the family could figure out which parent the girl, who loved to talk for hours, took after. In such cases Saul always joked, saying that it was not necessary to be like their parents, thereby hinting that the granddaughter took after her grandfather, who firmly believed in the great power of her gift of gab, which never rested. Rebecca was even jokingly called “Radio” at home. If a call rang and Carter was closest to the phone, and he was too lazy to leave his seat, he called Rebecca: « Radio, you are being called”. Even if Rebecca was in the basement or on the veranda, this did not stop her and she ran towards the phone. But this trait explained her success in learning languages, and not only English. When Rebecca was eight, Giselle noticed that the girl picked words apart and dove into their meanings. This led to her frequently correcting adults when someone used a word in an inappropriate manner. By eleven she could speak fluently in Spanish and a little French. Rebecca was bothered by her thick French accent. Carter gave her a collection of French hits from recent years, which the girl listened to from morning to evening. She didn’t get rid of her accent completely, but she began to understand some slang words better. Everyone understood that in the case of Rebecca the issue of choosing a profession had already been resolved.
Around noon the phone rang. Rebecca picked up the phone in the living room.
– Hello?
– Heartstone, Boston speaking. Can you hear me? – said Roger.
He was the eldest of Carter and Giselle’s three children. Roger studied at Boston University to become a surgeon. When Roger decided on his choice of profession, that evening, while lying in bed, Carter said to Giselle: “Well, we can breathe a sigh of relief. It’s not for nothing that he loved watching horror films since childhood. Turns out, our boy was training his nerves so his hand wouldn’t shake cutting people. And most importantly, it’s legal”. Since the eighth grade, Roger deliberately focused his attention on biology and chemistry. His knowledge of chemistry was truly appreciated by Saul when, five years ago, his grandson assembled homemade explosives, with which he helped his grandfather get rid of the withered trunk of an old cedar tree. Saul patted his grandson on the shoulder and said that he saved him a lot of time, effort and nerves. That tree had long been an eyesore for Saul. True, Carter and Giselle did not appreciate such talents of their son and Carter forbade Roger to even try to mix everything that in total could be explosive, but without specifying, because he had no idea what exactly and in what proportions his son mixed; and at the end Carter added: “I forbid you to even make flaming cocktails”. For some time after this, Ines called her brother “dynamite”. True, Giselle soon saw how useful Roger’s knowledge was when he removed a stain from a white tablecloth that no detergent could touch.
Growing up, Roger was more easygoing than most boys until thirteen. Carter or Giselle didn’t have to work very hard to influence their son, even though he was less flexible than the two sisters. But after the process of adolescence was in full swing, Roger’s character changed greatly. He was bursting with energy that needed an outlet. He did long distance running and some swimming. But he was especially interested in cycling. Having become a student, in his first year he joined the university cycling team. Roger didn’t get cycling’s appeal until Kayla dragged him to the track.
Kayla Freeze was the only daughter of Carter’s maternal cousin, Vanessa. Kayla’s parents were in a car accident when she was four years old. A couple of weeks after the funeral of Vanessa and her husband, Saul was going to offer his son custody of the girl, but Carter got ahead of his thoughts. So Carter and Giselle raised Kayla as their own daughter. If she called Carter and Giselle aunt and uncle, then Saul became her grandfather, because while she remembered her parents, at least very vaguely, she never knew her grandparents. Kayla was three years older than Roger and became that big sister to all three of them, helping them with homework, flying a kite, teaching them how to play chess, ride a bike, and shoot a basketball. When Giselle began teaching Kayla to draw at an early age and saw her success, she was delighted and decided that she had revealed the girl’s talent and determined the business to which Kayla would devote her life. But since from time to time Carter loved to pick fights with his wife just to mess with her, he immediately bought a piano and hired a tutor, because he knew about Kayla’s love for musicals. Then he bet with his wife that his niece would become a musician. The subject of the dispute was the choice of place for a summer holiday: Giselle dreamed of Barcelona, and Carter dreamed of Monte Carlo, although he did not intend to spend money in a casino. So the husband and wife waited for the day when their niece would graduate from school and decide on her choice of profession. As a result, both lost because Kayla decided to become a cardiologist.
They studied at the same university as Roger and shared a rented apartment. Overall, their lives have changed little. Kayla kept the apartment running – cleaning, cooking, and ironing. Roger spent a little more time at the university because he was part of the cycling team. Kayla was involved in swimming, but did not strive to reach any sports or professional level, but rather did it for her own pleasure.
– Heartstone is listening – Rebecca answered.
– Radio, how are you?
– Fine. Should I call mom? Oh wait…
Ines answered the phone, after which Rebecca ran back to the TV.
– Hello – Ines greeted. – How is it?
– Fine. Better tell me why Rebecca left me?
– Um… don’t pay attention. The commercials are over.
– What does she watch?
– “One Hundred And One Dalmatians”. Hold on a sec. – Ines turned in the direction of the open window and shouted:
– Mom!
– Yes?
– Boston’s on the line!
– I’m coming now!
Ines returned to the conversation:
– So, what news?
Roger sighed and replied:
– News? I haven’t won a gold medal yet. I still haven’t cut up the patient. I didn’t meet my love either; no one worth dating. And so everything remains unchanged.
– How’s Kayla?
– Like at a resort – Roger said and looked at Kayla standing at the stove, who showed with a sarcastic facial expression: « I’ll deal with you later, you total freeloader”. This brought a slight smile to Roger’s face.
Giselle answered the phone.
– Roger?
– Hi, Mom.
– Hello dear. How are you?
– All according to plan.
– How was it at the university?
– Well, it seems they are not going to kick me out yet.
– This is good, because if they kick you out of the university, then dad and I will kick you out of the house. – Giselle said, deadpan, though she chuckled inside. She always understood Roger’s humor in a way that the three girls did not. How is Kayla?
Roger looked at his cousin.
– Kayla? Experimenting with food again. And at the same time, over my stomach, taking this opportunity.
At that moment, a dishrag flew at Roger and he let go of the receiver as soon as Giselle said:
– Pass the phone to her.
Kayla turned down the heat on the gas stove and walked over to the phone, straightening her long, wavy, chocolate-colored hair.
– Hello?
– Hi dear.
– Hello Aunt Giselle. How are you doing there?
– Alive and healthy. How are you?
– Everything is great. How is grandpa?
– Grandpa in a chair on the veranda. Basking in the sun. I didn’t wake him up.
– No-no. Let him rest. Kiss him for me.
– Necessarily. What are you cooking?
– I’m frying minced meat for julienne.
– You are my golden one. How’s the budget? Send more?
– It is not necessary. We have enough.
– Listen, Kayla, what about the holidays?
– Aunt Giselle, I have some difficulties. – Every year, Kayla and Roger took their exams earlier than scheduled so they could leave early and be in time for Giselle’s birthday. – We probably won’t make it on time and will be a couple days late. You won’t be too mad, will you?
– What are you talking about, sweetie? Of course not. Decide your affairs calmly and take your time.
– How’s Uncle Carter?
– All at work. They have something to do with a shortage of granaries there. He is engaged in the construction of a warehouse. The season is in full swing.
– As always. Say hi to him.
– I’ll definitely pass it on.
– How are things going with your paintings? Haven’t finished your collection yet?
– No, what are you talking about? There are still a lot of things that need to be finalized. But I think I’ll meet the deadline. – Giselle took a deep breath and said: “Okay, honey.” I will not distract you. Keep cooking.
Kayla smiled and replied:
– Fine. A big hello to Ines and Rebecca.
– I’ll definitely tell them, honey. Love you. Bye-bye.
15. Beach, moon, sea of blood
Jerry Ings and Alexa Monroe decided to spend a late evening on the beach by the lake. To do this, Jerry requisitioned his father’s van. As the school year neared its end, their dates picked up. Apparently, this summer Jerry and Alexa will go to universities located on different coasts of the country. A year ago, they seriously expected to enter the same university. But things turned out differently. They saw separation as worse than any nightmare. Deep down, they both understood that parting for such a long period would probably mean the end of their love story. Years at different universities, surrounded by thousands of students, would likely lead them to new partners, as a result of which they will forget about their four-year whirlwind romance. But in their hearts, hope was still far from dying.
They parked close to the boat station. Stopping right on the sand, Jerry put the handbrake on the van, after which his fingers released the lever and lay on Alexa’s smoky caramel hair, lowering down to her neck, casting a gaze into her honey-colored eyes. Alexa wrapped both hands around Jerry’s forearm and pressed it to her cheek. She was about to lean towards him, but suddenly stopped and said:
– Let’s go to the lake. The heat has already subsided.
– Let’s go.
They stopped a few meters from the water and sat down on the sand. Alexa leaned against Jerry’s chest, wrapping her arms around his waist like a little girl cuddling a teddy bear before bed. Glancing somewhere into the distance between the stars and the lake, the opposite shore of which was too far to see even during the day, Alexa began to think deeply.
– You know, I was thinking, – Jerry began, – we’re not leaving soon. Maybe we can go somewhere? I’ll ask my dad for the Chrysler and we’ll head to Corpus Christi or Galveston. If you don’t want the Gulf of Mexico, we can choose something else.
Alexa didn’t make a sound in response.
– Do you hear?
A few more seconds passed before Alexa said:
– I didn’t know how… when…
Alexa hesitated for a long time. As a result, she sat down, straightened her back and only then said, hiding a strand of hair behind her ear:
– I’ve missed a period.
Jerry moved his lips silently for a while, but still asked:
– A-and-and… how long has it been?
– About a month and a half.
– Didn’t you take the test?
Alexa covered her trembling lips with the back of her hand, and then answered:
– I’m afraid.
– Come on. What’s there to be scared of? We need to know for sure.
Alexa wiped away the tears that had accumulated in her eyes, and then said:
– We need to discuss this with parents. I’m afraid to tell mine. My father will kill me. I wanted to ask if yours could help?
– You want…
– Yes. Think about it. What future awaits us? Me? I can forget about university education. There’s only one option.
The guy thought for a moment and said decisively:
– Why do we even need to tell the parents? We will decide everything ourselves.
– Jerry, we are two seventeen-year-old teenagers. We’re not old enough to figure this out.
After a pause, Jerry said:
– Perhaps you’re right. – After a short pause, he added: – I really don’t know…
Jerry’s voice was cut off by a low rumble coming from behind and gradually turning into the roar of an engine. Soon the scarlet lights of the headlights appeared. A black car drove onto the beach and stopped right next to the van. The engine stalled. The headlights went out.
– Do you know who is that? – Alexa asked anxiously.
With some trembling in his chest, Jerry shook his head negatively several times.
The driver’s door of the Dodge opened. His foot landed on the sand. Then the second one. Soon a dark silhouette emerged from behind the door. The Stranger walked around the door, leaving it open and headed towards the teenagers.
– Sit here – Jerry said and walked towards the stranger. Alexa stood up and remained standing there.
As he approached, Jerry began to more clearly examine the Racer’s appearance. One meter eighty centimeters. Oversized shoulders. He was wearing a dark green leather raincoat that reached his knees, a black jumper and black jeans. His hands were hidden under leather gloves, and his face was hidden under a black mask. There were cutouts for the eyes, but inside there was complete darkness. His steps were long, but unhurried. There was a sense of firmness and determination in them.
– Can I help you? – Jerry asked.
The Racer suddenly quickened his pace as he passed Jerry and continued towards Alexa.
– What’s the matter? Hey!? – Alexa shouted at the end and reflexively began to back away, without taking her bulging eyes off the Racer.
But the Racer did not stop, but only continued to speed up his pace.
Alexa turned around in fear and ran along the shore about twenty meters past the boat station office, after which she stopped and turned around. She hardly swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat, continuing to look at the Racer walking on her heels.
– Hey guy? Don’t touch her! I’m talking to you! – Jerry shouted, chasing after the Racer. He ran up to him from behind and said, grabbing his shoulder: – If you have something to say, say it…
His voice broke as the Racer grabbed his hand and squeezed it with his powerful fingers. He crushed the bones in Jerry’s palm, clenching his fingers into a fist. Jerry’s face was hidden under a grimace of silent but hellish pain. Soon he could not stand it and a scream was heard. At that moment, the Racer grabbed Jerry by the neck with his other hand and lifted him, tearing his legs off the sand.
– JERRY! – Alexa screamed hysterically, frozen in place.
The Racer made a sharp movement with his hand and a loud crunch was heard in Jerry’s neck. Then he lifted the guy’s immobilized body a little more and threw it to the side with some ease. Jerry’s body flew through a steel mesh fence and into the boathouse office window. There was a crash of breaking glass, shattered into shards. Jerry’s head, arms and torso were inside on the other side of the broken window, while Jerry’s legs were left dangling outside. His body remained hanging on the windowsill.
Alexa screamed even louder. This scream did not become quieter even after she continued to run away, noticing how the Racer continued to follow her at a fast pace. He did not run, but his steps were long. Each footprint in the sand seemed to leave a trace of death, which was already rushing towards the inhabitants of Heartstone. Alexa felt the full weight of these steps. Her chest was squeezing and her heart was pounding against her ribs. She continued to run in hysterics until she ran into the fence that separated the boat station area from the public beach. The steel mesh was attached to iron pipes of small diameter. Alexa jumped onto the mesh, hooked her fingers on it and began to desperately crawl up it.
She screamed something incoherent and called for help. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and the trembling in her voice made the scream not as loud as she would have liked. Before her eyes there was still Jerry, flying over the fence, as if he had jumped from a trampoline.
Three meters of the fence separated Alexa from entering the territory of the boat station. She caught on to the very edge of the fence mesh and had already begun to drag her body over the pipe to which the mesh was attached. Suddenly she felt something grab her left leg, like a ring that was squeezing like a vice. Feeling this touch, the girl experienced a coldness that sent a shiver through her entire skin from her heels to her head. The Racer’s hand held Alexa’s leg in an iron grip. The girl’s screams became stronger, but immediately stopped as soon as the Racer sharply pulled her leg down, causing the pipe’s end to pierce her lower jaw, pass through her mouth, and puncture her palate, reaching her skull through her brain. Alexa’s pupils rolled back, leaving only the whites of her eyes.
16. When God and death come together
John Minton was carving up freshly killed nutria carcasses while Deborah washed the dishes after putting the chicken in the oven. After dinner, she planned to start working on the cake so she could let it soak overnight. But Ursula was still not there.
– That little rascal is stuck in the supermarket again – said Deborah. Then she looked at the digital clock on the kitchen set and added: – She’s been gone going on two hours.
– Come on – John answered, cutting the nutria’s ribs with pruning shears. – As if you don’t know how much she loves to talk. Store across the road. She didn’t go to the other end of the town. I’ll finish now and go get her.
Deborah finished drying the dishes and looked at the watch once again. Then she turned to husband:
– John, go get her. I’ll cut up the nutria.
John handed the pruning shears to his wife and went into the hallway. He looked at the stains from the meat on his T-shirt and decided to wear a shirt instead.
He went outside and thought about how suspiciously cool the nights were this summer. Having lived in Heartstone all his life, he had never seen anything like it. It seemed to him that if he had known in advance what the temperature was outside, he would have wanted to throw on something warmer. But it was not far to go. John crossed the road and entered the supermarket, which was soon to close. Entering the store, he saw one working cash register, on which Cassandra Bello was dozing. He walked up to her and gently placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder. But she still got scared and jumped up with a slight exclamation:
– No, no, I don’t… I don’t, it’s…
– Quiet, quiet.
Only then, having looked a little closer, she said in a calmer tone:
– Oh, Mr. Minton.
– Don’t sleep, Sandra. Yann could show up at any second.
She looked at her wristwatch, counting down the minutes until the end of the work day.
– Yes. It’s good that it turned out to be you – Cassandra answered, struggling to keep her eyes open.
– I’m picking up Ursula.
– Yes, okay – Cassandra said, not quite recovering from sleep. But suddenly she said: – Wait, Mr. Minton. Hasn’t she come home?
– No.
Cassandra began to strain her memory.
– She went through the cash register. Well, yes. I remember exactly. Yes, she also took yeast.
– Are you sure? – the girl’s father asked, narrowing his eyes.
– Quite. But I couldn’t have dreamed it. Just a second – Cassandra added at the end and went deeper into the trading floor.
She approached her partner.
– Raymond.
Having finished arranging the bottles of mineral water, he responded:
– Hm-yes.
– Is the boss nearby? – Cassandra asked in a whisper.
Raymond looked back and said:
– Relax, friend. What’s happened?
Raymond began unpacking the lemonade box while listening to Cassandra.
– Was Ursula in the store?
He looked at his partner and said:
– Well, yes. I chatted with her for another ten minutes. As usual, we shot the breeze for a bit, then she took something from the shelf near the powdered sugar and walked towards the cash register. Did you fall asleep and now you can’t tell if it was a dream or not? – Raymond said the last words with a slight smile.
– Mr. Minton has arrived. He says she didn’t return home.
Raymond thought about it. After a short pause, he broke the silence:
– That’s odd. It’s right across the road. What could have happened?
– That’s what I think.
Soon Cassandra returned to the checkout, where Ursula’s father was still waiting.
– Sorry, Mr. Minton. – Then Cassandra spoke, staring off as if piecing it together: – Ursula was definitely here. She definitely took the yeast and paid at the checkout. We exchanged words before saying goodbye, and after that she left.
John touched his closed eyelids with his fingers, then lowered his palm, closed his lips and opened his eyes. His face showed complete confusion.
Noticing this grimace, Cassandra asked:
– Are there any friends nearby that she could meet and hang out with?
John silently shook his head and then asked for a phone to call the sheriff’s office.
Leonardo Benetti watched through tears as Ursula Minton’s body in a body bag was loaded into a van that would take the body to the morgue. Her identity was identified after Harry reported on the radio that he had received a call from a man who reported his lost daughter. The description – height, age, hairstyle, hair color and clothing – everything matched.
Lowering his head and burying his face in the ground illuminated by spotlights, Sheriff Desmond Poe said in a faded voice:
– We need to tell the parents.
After these words, Father Benetti braced himself. He said:
– Sheriff, trust me with this. I know the Mintons. Especially John. I will try to soften this blow for the parents’ hearts, if this is at all possible.
The sheriff did not object. He doubted that he could find the words to convey such terrible news to the girl’s parents.
Father Benetti hurried back to his blue ’77 Chevrolet Nova, which he had left on the side of the road, started the engine and hurried to the Minton family home. Along the way, the Father ran a handkerchief over his face twenty times, wiping away tears. Having driven halfway, he noticed that the eyes already looked normal. All that was left was redness around his eyes.
Soon the priest’s Chevrolet was parked in front of the Minton family’s home. He looked in the rearview mirror again, took a deep breath, exhaled sharply and glanced at the windshield. He wanted to wait another minute to let his heart calm down a little. But John Minton appeared ahead, leaving the supermarket building and shuffling across the road in the dim light of the street lamps. Father Benetti hurried out of the car and headed towards John.
Every time he saw Father Benetti, his head was overcome by the thought that in front of him was a man who would give him support, peace of mind, and consolation. This man could give practical and very wise advice. Meeting with the Father always filled John with warm feelings. This time the meeting was so unexpected; he first met Father Benetti under circumstances in which he was not seeking this meeting.
– Mr. Minton.
– Did something happen, Father? – John asked in a timid voice, frozen in place.
Father Benetti continued to walk at a calm pace. In the twilight of the night, only his palms, face and white clergy collar around his neck were visible. His suit and shoes blended completely into the darkness. He walked up, carefully took Ursula’s father’s hand, pressed it to him, and he leaned forward and hugged him, clasping his shoulders with his other hand, and then, resting his chin on John’s shoulder, Father Benetti said, unable to hold back another tear:
– Be strong, Mr. Minton. Be strong.
John’s body went completely limp, and his voice trembled, like that of a frightened child waiting for horror:
– W… what… what’s wrong with my girl? Fath…
