Installment #6 Jack Farley

 Jack smiled as he gently guided the Corvette around the curves.  This was an especially fun part of the drive with the “s” curves, the switch backs, and the straightaway.  This little honey was just a matter of “hooking the white line” and staying there.  He could have brought the Chevy Van and the force would have paid all his expenses, but he kept envisioning Meg sitting on the passenger side and casting sidelong looks a him as he sped through the mountains. 
 He smiled as he thought of the look on her face when he had first met her.  She had tried to take a haughty attitude when he confronted her with the fact that Jeffery Purcell was a married man and she had been carrying on an online flirtation with him.  And then they had discovered that a hacker was into her computer and then a man was missing and it had been total chaos after that culminating in her being kidnapped and then rescued by her son and the old man up the mountain and her kidnapper was dead.  The fact that Marshall Purcell was a serial killer of sorts and had killed his twin brother was enough to boggle any mind, but the pile of bodies at the bottom of the mine shaft had taken and would indeed take a lot more investigation before the complete truth could be known.  As it was, he would be the better part of the day telling her what he knew as it was.
       
Jack slowed as he reached the northern edge of Colorado Springs and searched for the exit that would take him to the highway that led to Banner Road and Meg Parker.  Oh, yeah, and a rest area.  Ah, McDonalds.  That would work.  And a couple breakfast burritos.  No hash browns.  Those thing were way to greasy for his stomach.  He did try to eat about halfway healthy and grease was not his friend.
As he stood at the counter waiting for his order he gazed at the metallic blue Corvette twinkling in the sunlight.  Just dark enough blue that it was still blue and not the blue black of most of them.  His was special.  He had given up a lot of nights on the town to pay for this and now that it was all his he could not help but feel a glow of pride.  But he did not boast.  When someone asked what he drove he told them “a Chevy”.  Never said “Corvette” as that would be bragging.  “Just a Chevy.”  Course when the guys saw that the Chevy was in actuality a Corvette, they just looked at him.  The girls, of course, simpered and batted their eyes.  Coy little things.  Anyone with any sense knew a Corvette was an aphrodisiac.  But Jack just liked the way it handled.  Sex in a Corvette was not something he was ever going to attempt.  And usually when he drove he was alone, but now he pictured Meg by his side. 

 He tried to pinpoint what it was about Meg Parker that was sticking in his head.  He had seen better looking women.  Hell, he had screwed better looking women and walked away never looking back.  She was rather plain looking.  Much shorter than he liked his women to be.  He was 6’2” with a very good physique.  Meg was just over 5 feet with mousy brown hair and eyes that were either blue or gray.  Maybe hazel.  He just wasn’t sure.  She might be a little overweight; not much just a little.  He suddenly realized that the kid behind the counter was talking to him.

“Here!  Are you alright mister?  Here is your order.”  He pushed the sack at him and then he noticed the line behind him was growing.  He grabbed the sack, mumbled something and hurried across the floor to the exit.  What an idiot.  Like a damn school boy mooning over some little twit.  As he folded his legs into the car he glanced at the clock on the dash.  9:47 AM.  Meg was probably naked and standing in the shower right now.  He groaned and slipped the gear shift in the first gear and slowly drove toward the highway that headed westerly and in the direction of the foothills and Banner Road.
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Installment #5

Meg, Kevin, and Greg

 Meg pulled the plug and let the dishwater escape down the drain.  She rinsed the sink, dried her hands, and turned to look out the window at the boys in the yard.  Kevin and Greg were playing with the dogs.  They would throw the ball and the dogs would chase after it, each trying to get there first.  Icarus, the calico cat sat and watched with a bored air.  As Meg watched Icarus began to slowly meander down the yard in the direction of the area where the ball was being thrown.  Greg tossed the ball and the dogs were in hot pursuit.  Then Meg laughed as Icarus launched herself at the ball and both dogs skidded to a stop.  The dogs watched in consternation as Icarus sat down on top of the ball and began to groom herself.  She had to be the weirdest cat she had ever seen.  Kevin and Greg were laughing hysterically when she walked across the deck and onto the grass.  She reached down and picked Icarus up and headed back to the house.  Daisy and Elvira resumed their quest for the ball.

 “Who wants to go for a walk?” she called over her shoulder and both boys headed for the house followed by the two happy dogs.

 Very soon the trio came out of the house with water bottles, hats, walking sticks, two jumping dogs and a cat lagging behind.  They started up the winding dirt road that would take them past Fred Himes, Jr’s little cabin and barn.  When Kevin realized where they were going he turned to his mother and smiled.

 “Mom!  Can we stop and say hello to Fred?  He seems like a lonely little guy and I do owe him a debt of gratitude.”

 Meg smiled.  “Of course.  It would be rude not to since we are going right past there anyway.  We both owe him a great deal I think.”
 The dogs ran ahead and then back.  Icarus had not followed long and had lain down beside the road to wait for their return..  Fred’s barn came into view first and Meg studied it as they passed.  The barn was fairly new and she decided that Fred must have built it in the last few years.  It was not the traditional barn with a hay loft above and animals below.  It was about half the size of a working barn.  It was painted Barn Red and trimmed in white which rather surprised Meg.  Sort of like something in a story book.

 This was the first time she had given any thought at all to where Fred lived.  When the cabin came in sight she was not surprised at all to see how small it was.  It appeared to be three or four rooms.  It was typical log cabin construction and the spaces between the logs were filled and well maintained.  There were no curtains in the windows.  The area around the cabin was clear of weeds or any kind of undergrowth.  That was good in case of a forest fire.  His old pickup sat in the yard with the hood raised.

 Kevin looked at her quizzically.  “Shall I knock on the door?”  Before Meg could answer Fred stepped around the corner of the house balancing five cans of oil and a filter in his arms.  Kevin and Greg quickly hurried to help as the cans began to teeter.  “Looks like we got here in just the nick of time.”  But Fred kept control of the cans.

 Fred appeared to be taken aback at the sight of so many people in his yard.  Nobody ever came up here and now there were three people right on his front yard!  And one of them was the boy he was going to go down and see.  It made him feel kind of warm inside.  He smiled.  “Well, hello there.  I was just changing my oil.”  He stopped and flushed.  That was a stupid thing to say!  They could see he was changing the oil.  He looked at the little dog at his feet looking up at him.  It appeared to be smiling.  Did dogs smile?  He had never given thought to that before.  Sure looked like they did.  He smiled at the little dog and then looked up to see all three of them watching him and smiling at him smiling at the dog.

 “That dog looks like it is smiling at me!”  His eyes met Meg’s and at that moment the cans that were teetering finished their descent causing every one to jump back.  Elvira yipped and ran for the clearing followed closely by Daisy.  The four adults suddenly burst into laughter.

 Kevin was the first to regain his composure.  “Well, I don’t think Greg and I were of much help here.”  He bent and began to retrieve cans of oil.  “Where shall we put these?”

 “Oh, right there on the fender will be good.  I always try to save a trip and it always ends up more work then it would have been if I just made two trips to begin with.”   He shuffled his feet as he stood only a few feet from Mrs. Parker.  He blushed.  “Guess you are going for a walk, huh?”  Another brilliant observation on his part and this brought another flush.

 “Yes, Fred.  Would you care to join us?”  Having deposited the cans and filter and spout, the boys returned and waited expectantly for his answer. 

 Fred shuffled his feet before replying, “Oh, I ain’t much of a one for just walking unless I am trailing something.  And besides that, I need to get this oil changed so I can go into town today and get supplies.  Winter will be here and I won’t be ready.” 

 Meg realized at once that Fred was very uncomfortable and laid her hand on Kevin’s arm and looked at Greg.  “Well, boys, I have an idea.  Let’s let Fred continue with his plans for today and since we have plans for the rest of the day, we could maybe plan a cook out tomorrow evening.  Would that work for you, Fred? “  Then she hesitated and added, “ The boys are leaving in the next couple of days and we can call it a farewell party.”

 Fred’s eyes clouded and a tear escaped down his cheek.  The trio looked at him in consternation.  They had no way of knowing that in his mind he had escaped to a time when he danced with mother to Gene Watson on the radio singing Farewell Party. “There’ll be flowers from those, who’ll cry when I’m gone, and leave you in this world alone.  Don’t be mad at me, for wanting to keep you till my life on this old world is through.  You’ll be free at the end of my farewell party, but I’ll go away loving you….” 

 He once more saw his beautiful mother in her flowered dress and white patent leather shoes smiling at him as she stood at the window waiting for father to come home from work.  Mother was so fragile. 

 Fred’s body was suddenly wracked with sobs as he turned and ran into the house, closing and locking the door behind him, leaving the visitors staring at the door.  They glanced at each other uneasily at this show of raw emotion, then turned as one and started back up the mountain.  Daisy and Elvira followed with a soulful look back at the cabin in the woods.
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Installment #4 Jack Farley

Installment #4
Jack Farley
 Jack shuffled the index cards and then began to arrange them in chronological order. 
The latest was Detective Ambrose Middleton, his partner.  Ambrose had been the first body
removed from the mine shaft, but certainly not the last. He was found setting on a shovel handle
that was wedged in a crevice.  Had it not been so devastating, it might have been funny.  But it
was not.  Ambrose had been his partner and friend for the last nine years.  He took a lot of
Jack’s secrets with him to the grave.  His confidant.  Kind of a father figure.  Ambrose had
underestimated the danger Meg was in that night.  They all had.
 A search for Jeffery Purcell had led them to Meg Parker’s mountain farm.  They knew
Jeffery was known online as redranger and they knew he had corresponded with Meg and planned to
“hook up” with her in Denver.  But he had disappeared upon his arrival at Stapleton.  A search
of Meg’s computer had turned up a stalker.  An uneasy feeling had arisen in Jack, but he did not
make a connection between a stalker, Meg and the redranger.  Not until Amborse was missing along
with Meg was there any suspicion of what was to come.  Not until Meg was rescued and they began
to remember seeing a black Jeep up the road was the true horror of what had happened beginning
to unfold.  Not until the detectives followed the road they had seen the black Jeep on and
stumbled upon the abandoned mine shaft did they find Ambrose.  And when his body was retrieved
they began to count the corpses.  There were eleven in all.  They dated back to as far as 17
years. 
 The first was a boy who appeared to be about 16 to 19 years old at the time of his
death.  He as pretty deteriorated and a positive identification was still to come.  Dental
records were no help as the kid did not appear to be dentist friendly at all.
 The next three were women.  Probably whores who were never even missed.  They were
killed about five years after the boy.  Close together.  Maybe a month or so apart.  Then a man,
apparently a jogger.  An old man who appeared to be a business man.  A teen age boy and girl
four years ago who were identified as kids from Littleton who were camping in the mountains.  A
whore named Flo Benson from Denver.  The last two were Jeffery Purcell and Ambrose.
 Except for Jeffery Purcell and Ambrose Middleton the others if taken separately had no
similarities, nothing in common, and no reason to be there.  They could have been written off as
random killings except for the location they were found in and the fact that each one had a
broken neck.  Everyone was exactly the same and in the same location, therein tying them all in
a neat little bundle to Marshall Purcell.  It was just a matter now of identifying them and
locating next of kin.  The bodies would then be returned to the families and the cases marked
closed.  The fact was that the only ones who had ever been reported missing were the jogger, the
business man, and the two teenagers.
 Jack picked up the cards, stacked them neatly and put them in his shirt pocket.  He
flipped Meg Parker’s information from the file and dialed her number.  Might as well get this
show on the road.  She had every right to know just how close she had come to being victim
number 12.  He listened as the phone rang in the house on the mountainside.  As he closed his
eyes and pictured her moving to the phone he felt a warm glow.  Meg Parker was one good looking
woman.  And a widow.  What more could he ask for in a woman?  Well, personality and fact was she
had lots of that.
 “Parker residence.”  That was a distinctly male voice.  “Kevin Jakson, speaking.”  Ah,
that was better!  Her son.
 “Hello, Kevin.  This is Detective Jack Farley in Denver with the sheriffs office.  Could
I possibly speak to your mother?”
 “Well, hello Jack!  Good to hear your voice.  Hang on and I will get mom.”  Jack heard
the phone being placed on the table and after a few moments was rewarded with Meg’s voice on the
line.
 “Hello.  This is Meg Parker.”
 “Hi Meg.  This is Jack Farley and I will make this brief.  I would like to drive down in
the morning and fill you in with what we know about this Marshall Purcell.  Is that something
you are interested in or not?”  There was a pause and he thought he might have lost the
connection.  “Meg?  Are you there?”
 “Yes, Jack, I am here.  You just caught me off guard.  I am not sure I want to hear
this, but if I don’t I will always wonder and no doubt read it in the paper or hear it on the
news, so I guess the answer is yes.  What time shall I expect you?”
 “It will probably be around 9:30 give or take.  Is that alright?”
 “It sure is.  That gives us time to have breakfast and go for a walk and then I can grab
a shower before you get here.”
 Jack suddenly swallowed very hard and caught his breathe as the vision of Meg in the
shower flashed before his eyes.  That was a vision he wanted to keep fresh in his mind but knew
he should not.  This was business and damn serious business at that.  He sat up straight and
cleared his throat.  “Good.  I will see you in the morning then.”  As he placed the phone in the
cradle he suddenly cringed as he realized that he had all the makings of an erection and he had
not had one of those in years.  Damn Meg Parker!

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Installment #3 Fred

Installment #3
Fred.
 Fred looked down the mountain at the little farm below.  Now that gray car was not there last night.  Oh, I know, that is the boy’s boyfriend.  Well, that is weird.  What was the kid’s name?  Meg’s son.  And he was really a pretty nice kid, but something about a guy and a guy.  He kind of thought it would be nice if the boy lived a little closer.  He would like to get to know him better.  Didn’t know why, just thought it would be nice.
 Fred turned back up the mountain and started home.  He liked to come here to the clearing and watch the sunrise.  Couldn’t see it from his cabin.  Way to many trees.  Same with the moon.  If he wanted to see the moon when it was big, he had to come here because when it got high enough for him to see, it was little.  He walked slowly turning his head from side to side.  He loved this mountain and it’s beauty never ceased to amaze him.  The smells were so fresh and the colors so vibrant.  He stopped and threw his head back and breathed deeply.  The mighty Rocky Mountains!  He felt so small when he looked up at their majesty.  He began to hum softly,  “Oh beautiful, for spacious skies.  For amber waves of grain.  For purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain.”  Oh, why couldn’t he have written that song?  Well, mostly cause he was not a song writer for one thing.
 Fred suddenly became morose as he wondered just what he was.  He had never studied to be anything.  He had worked here and there doing this and that.  Handyman stuff mostly.  Yeah, he had been a Marine for four years, but that was only four years.  Never really needed to work.  Always a loner.  Oh, there was that woman in Kansas that he had years ago, but he ran away from her.  He had thought about going back, but never knew why.  She was just a woman and he did not need any woman.  He wondered why his father had killed his mother and hid her in that root cellar.  They seemed to be happy, or at least resigned, but then he never really knew them, he guessed. 
 He sighed as he came into his clearing.  He ought to get a dog.  Dog would be nice.  Maybe a black one.  Not a little one; a big one.  Not too big though because it would be a house dog.  He could talk to it sometimes in the evening.  And he could take it for walks.  Like Meg.  She took her dogs for walks and kept them in the house.  Maybe he would get two dogs.  Oh!  And a cat.  Maybe a cat.  He had never seen a mouse in his cabin, but if he had a cat it would eat the mouse.  Cats were strange things.  Meg’s cat acted like a dog.  Well sort of anyway.  He never seen anyone pet it.  He saw them pet the dogs, but the cat was standoffish.  What was it’s name?  What was the dogs names?  It made him sad that he could not remember those things.  But why should he?  Not like he seen them that often.  He sighed and settled into the little chair setting beside the door of the cabin.  His life was pretty boring.  Did he want it to be different?  It might be kind of nice to have people around or to be around people.  Maybe he would walk down to Meg’s farm a little later and say hello to the boy.  Yes!  Yes he would. 
 He thought of how he and the boy had rescued Meg from the scar faced guy.  That must mean something, them doing that.  Sure it did.  Damn!  Why couldn’t he remember the boy’s name? 
 Then he was distracted by small funnel shaped things in the dirt at the edge of his cabin.  Ant Lions.  He knew what they were.  And he knew how the operated.  The Ant Lion made a funnel shaped hole in the dirt.  Along came an ant and fell over the side and slid to the bottom.  The hole was only about a half inch deep, but to a tiny ant it was quite a drop.  And when the ant hit the bottom of the hole, Mr. Ant Lion sprang from his hiding place and ate him.  Fred knew this because mother had taught him about the dreaded Ant Lion.  He was very small when she showed him the Ant Lion traps and told him the story.  He had not slept that night for fear an Ant Lion might get him.  When he told mother, she laughed.  She called him silly and he had snuggled close and she had held him, keeping him safe.  She was such a good mother.  He was so lucky she was his mother.  And he had slept in her arms and not been afraid of the Ant Lion again.


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