The next morning I decided to go into town of my own accord, much to Grace's surprise. I was admittedly intrigued by this small town.
Now, most of that interest came from the recent resurgence of another serial killer (what are the chances?) and the emergence of someone different, like me, who saw things that most people would never believe. I deduced that finding out all this town had to offer was in my best interest.
Of course, as soon as I walked into town I saw something that caught my attention.
In the middle of town, there was a huge crowd. Not to mention a firetruck and countless police. I did the logical thing and followed the lead of everyone else, trying to see what was going on.
The closer I got, the bigger the hole in my stomach was. I had a sinking suspicion of what was in front of that crowd, and I wasn't looking forward to it. Why else would basically every officer in the county be here at seven in the morning?
When I got to the edge of the crowd, I stopped. You could see the body from here. Heck, if I had looked to the sky earlier I probably would've seen it from a few streets away. The body, I think it might have been a guy, was attached to the top of the flagpole that jutted out vertically from the post office. It was arguably the tallest point in the town excluding the surrounding mountains. From the ground, I couldn't make out any features, only what must've been dark hair and dark skin.
And, if I squinted, I could make out a smudge on the right hand. I would bet anything it was a number four.
It looked like the police were doing everything that they could to take down the body from the pole before more people came. The firetruck was there to use their ladder to reach up to the top of the pole, but it looked like there was an argument going on with the crime scene techs brought on from the bigger county next door.
The first rule of crime scene investigation was to not move the body or disturb the crime until the techs got all of the evidence they needed, but the obvious concern of the officers was the fact that there was a body hanging at the highest point in the city while everyone could see it. They were trying to back up the crowd as well, but with the body still up there, it was a fruitless effort. People came flocking for interesting news.
And that's when I saw Amanda's mom.
"This is Rachel Porter reporting from the town square in our little town. This morning we were alerted to a 911 call that depicted a body hanging on the flagpole on the top of the post office. Ever since early light, officers have been trying to remove the body from the flagpole before more citizens are faced with the sight. It is unclear yet whether or not the body has anything to do with the Black Lives Matter protests in nearby Colorado Springs."
I watched Ms. Porter with curiosity. She was back to reporting so soon after her daughter's death, and she was coincidently reporting on a body that was most likely killed by the same person as her daughter, not by some protesters. If there was a number on his hand, it would be confirmed.
The idea came to me suddenly. Amanda's mother was a reporter, meaning she probably already heard the news of a possible serial killer in town, but was being blocked by the sheriff until it was confirmed. So, she had probably guessed that the body was a part of many. Who in this town benefitted from another serial killer? Maybe the reporter who desperately missed the limelight she had gotten with the King of Terror murders.
I felt bad for even thinking of Ms. Porter as one of the suspects, but it was a viable conclusion. Not to mention that with the death of her own daughter, she was almost immediately crossed off of the suspect list by most investigators.
I slowly walked away from the crime scene until I was at the same ice cream shop where Grace dropped me off that first day. From here the vision of the body was blocked, so there weren't any gawkers with cameras. Though it was still seven in the morning, so the shop wasn't open. It was a good thing that a coffee shop was next door was.
I sat down at one of the little tables on the sidewalk and enjoyed my Frappuccino. It wasn't long before someone pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.
"So, I'm guessing you saw all the commotion at the town square?" Cade asked.
I nodded and took another sip. "Yep. Victim number four."
"If they don't release the statement that these bodies are connected soon, the public is going to start making the connections first. A small town like this doesn't have murders often."
"Yeah," I nodded. "If we could figure it out, someone else probably has too, like maybe a reporter."
Cade didn't catch my hint at Ms. Porter, but took a sip of his own coffee, dark.
He sighed after we had a bout of silence. "Man, it seems like this killer is as random as it comes."
"How do you mean?" I questioned.
Cade shrugged. "It's like this, okay? Most killers kill in a certain group of people, and most of the time the victims are connected. They also have a concrete way of killing them and of disposing the bodies. This killer is like the opposite. The only thing it looks like they all have in common is that they live in this state. Two of the bodies have been African American, number one and four, number four looks male, and none of them even look alike or have the same hair color. The only thing that connects them is the numbers on their hands."
I agreed. I watched enough Criminal Minds to know that this guy was rare, with no specific type of victim or way of killing. He didn't even have a clear motive yet.
"Hey, Raven."
I lifted my eyebrows. Emily was standing in front of our table, a whipped cream topped drink in her hands and an eager look.
"Emily, Hi." I greeted. She took it as an offer to sit in the third chair at the table.
"So," she started, "I didn't know you two were friends."
Cade shrugged. "I was her welcome wagon to Elk Springs."
Emily nodded like this was the explanation she was looking for. "And, I couldn't help but to listen in before. You guys have a theory about that body on the flagpole?"
Cade hesitated, so I jumped right in. "Yeah, we do. The other day, I was sitting in front of AJ's house when an officer sat next to me and asked about Amanda. He let it slip that they think she was connected to the body found behind your house and a body they found a county over before that. He didn't say why they thought they were connected, but right now it looks like they have nothing in common. We were theorizing what their connection could be."
Cade gave me the evil eye, which was quite threatening considering his parentage. Apparently he thought I shouldn't be sharing that we though there was a serial killer out there with a friend, even though she already knew Cade thought Jeanine wouldn't be the first body back when he broke into her backyard.
Emily gasped. "Another serial killer? What are the chances? I mean, when you and Joey broke into my backyard to do some detective work, I never imagined that it was an actual serial killer like you thought."
"Yeah, what are the chances?" Cade said.
"The only problem is that they have nothing in common." I added. "The only thing is that they're all between the ages of sixteen to twenty."
Emily tilted her head. "Well, maybe not."
Cade narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you talking about? Do you see something we don't?"
Emily looked offended, but continued with her train of thought. "If you actually looked into the victims, you would see it. The police kept us informed on the body found at my house and apparently she was a college student working on a paper about the King of Terror, better known as Willy Woods. But the most interesting part was that her dad was a juror in his case."
I vaguely remembered Jeanine telling me about that. But how did that connect her to the others?
"Plus, my mother said that Alex Bradbury didn't show up for work at the grocery store today. I would bet anything that the body up there is his seeing as the teenage African American boy population in Elk Springs isn't that high. Apparently his dad was one of the prosecutors in the case against Willy Woods. He wasn't one of the main lawyers, but he was on the team. Someone from the home territory."
I could see what connection she was trying to grow.
"But, wait. What does Amanda have to do with any of this? Her parents weren't lawyers or jurors in his case." I argued.
The realization hit Cade. "But her mother is a reporter. She was the hometown connection for all the major news networks doing a story on him. If the theme here is people who helped put Willy in prison, she would fit the mold. She painted him as the horrible guy he was and convinced the public of how guilt he was."
"Wait," I butt in again, "but those were what the parents did. Why would the killer be attacking the children? They weren't the ones who put him in prison, it was their parents."
Emily shrugged. "'The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.' What better way to hurt these people than to take away the one thing they love more than anything?"
It made sense in a sick way.
Emily didn't know about body number one, so she thought those were the only bodies to connect. But I bet if we looked into body number one we'd find out that one of her parents was connected to the case somehow too.
"But why all the ways of killing?" I asked. "What good does killing them all randomly do? Buried, eaten alive, drowned, and hung on the highest point in the city. They don't match."
Cade's eyes got wide.
"Some of the most common fears are claustrophobia/being buried alive, big dogs/being attacked by big animals, water/drowning, and heights. Numbers 3, 28, 45, 47, 63, 86, 90, and 107."
"What does that mean?" Emily asked.
Cade shook his head. "Willy Woods, the King of Terror. Victims 3 and 86 were buried alive near public spaces, 45 and 107 were posed to look like they were attacked by big animals in neighborhoods, 47 and 90 were drowned and placed in an aquarium and a public pool, 28 and 63 were posed at the tops of the biggest buildings in the towns they came from. I should've seen it earlier."
I found it a bit strange that he knew exactly which victims were killed in which ways, but when you grow up around this stuff, I guess it becomes engraved in your brain after a while. I couldn't blame him for being obsessed with his father's victims seeing as how responsible he felt. He had to know each victim.
"They're killing the victims like your dad did." Emily deduced. "Woah."
Woah was right. It was just a coincidence before that there were two serial killers who lived in the same town, but now it made sense. There was someone out there who was so obsessed with Willy Woods that they were recreating his murders by killing the children of the people involved in his imprisonment the same way he used to kill his victims, with common fears.
No one seemed to want to drink their coffee anymore.
"So that means who's in danger?" Emily asked. "I mean, a lot of the people really responsible for his imprisonment didn't live anywhere near here. It was a national case."
Cade shrugged. "I mean, technically any detective or officer on the scene that day could be blamed. Not to mention anyone who testified against him in court. The real question is if they have children who live near here."
Wow. This was a lot of information. This killer was now more real than ever.
"But who would want to kill the kids of the people who put Willy Woods in jail?" Emily pondered. "I mean, I think everyone was agreed that he was guilty."
Cade shrugged. "I'm still processing this whole thing. I've heard of all of his fanatics who think he's innocent, or who worship him, or all of those women who keep mailing him proposals and stuff. But, someone killing in his honor? That's right up there with a TV show plot or a thriller novel."
But it was true, and it was happening. This killer was here and he was killing off teens one by one in the name of Cade's dad.
And to think I had a fear that my summer would be boring.
Yay! We finally found out a little more about the killer!
And what do you think about this? What's the killer's motive?
And who else do you think may end up being a victim?
As always, please vote and comment! I love to see your theories!