The Devil's Water: Scenic City Murder Series #1 Read online

  She awoke with a start at the sound of the bedroom door opening. She was a little bit fuzzy headed but, when he came over and touched her with a cold hand, her mind came to. She released the stuffed animal which she had clutched in her sleep. He was beginning to unfasten her legs and Carol knew that he would rape her again. First the legs and then the arms. Then he would crawl on top of her. Carol didn’t want this to happen again. She knew she would have to fully commit to making it stop. Now was the time. As he unfastened her arms, he reached up to her head and stroked her hair. Of course, he was wearing the night vision goggles and that would be an advantage for him. Carol would have to overpower him without the benefit of sight. She heard him unzip his pants and in a second he was climbing on top of her, his knees on both sides of her waist. With all the power Carol could muster, she brought her knee up and drove it into his crotch. She heard him scream . Then, Carol brought both hands up and tore at his goggles ripping them off his head. Finally, she used both hands and punched at his face and stomach. She felt him fall off the bed. That was her cue. No time to waste. She lunged off the bed and ran for the door in complete darkness. Reaching out for it, she felt the knob and turned it opening the door. More darkness. She was in the hall now and she could hear him getting up from the floor beside the bed. She felt along the wall trying to see where it ended and the stairway began. He was cussing her and she knew that if he caught her, there would be hell to pay. “I’m right behind you, you bitch!” he screamed as Carol found the corner of the stairway and started up the stairs. She took them two at a time. As she climbed higher and higher, she noticed a stream of light coming from the bottom of the basement door. “I’m gonna get you, cunt!” He was at the stairwell now and coming ever closer. At the top of the stairs, Carol pushed on the basement door and stumbled into the upstairs area of the house. She was almost blinded by the shock of the bright light. She couldn’t stop though. She shut the door behind her and locked it. Then she moved through the house, trying to find the front door. She made it to the foyer just as she began hearing banging on the basement door. He was going to bust the door down. She had to get out of there. Faster, Faster. She managed to get to the front door as she heard wood cracking from the basement. He was leaning hard on the door, trying to get it to break. She swung open the front door of the house and ran out into the night. It was dark but her eyes adjusted quickly having been in complete darkness for so long. She ran along a large field toward a cluster of tall pines. As she reached the pines she could hear him on the porch. He wasn’t giving up the chase. She darted into the woods and continued running. Her feet were hurting from stepping on the pine cones but she had to soldier on. It hadn’t even occurred to her, until now, that she was nude. “I’m right behind you!” He kept screaming. She was running on pure adrenaline now. Her body had long before given out. It seemed as though he was gaining ground on her. His shouting sounded closer than before and she could hear branches break as he pushed through the woods in the darkness. As she continued running, she could hear something else over his screams and pursuit. She could hear vehicles moving along a road, perhaps fifty yards away. “Help!” she screamed as she moved in that direction. “Come back here!” He yelled. Carol could tell he wasn’t more than 30 yards away. She pushed herself even harder to get to the road before he could get to her. She reached the edge of the clearing and saw the road way down below just as he was closing in on her. “I’m right behind you!” he screamed once more. Carol figured he was less than a minute behind her. She was standing on the side of a very high embankment, approximately 40 feet above the highway. Glancing up and down the road she didn’t see a single car but she could hear traffic coming along the twists and turns of the highway. He was almost to her now. “I’m gonna get ya!” he yelled one last time. He was about 20 yards away. Carol took a deep breath and stepped off the edge of the embankment. She felt herself falling. The last thing she saw, before she landed on the asphalt below was a car coming around the bend of a large curve perhaps 300 feet away. “I’m free.” She thought, as her body smacked the pavement.

  CHAPTER 20

  It was early morning and Tasha Yoder turned over in bed. Semi-awake she heard a banging on the front door. They’ll go away she thought as she nestled in the warm comforter. The banging continued bringing Tasha out of bed with a finger on the trigger of her .38. She walked out of the bedroom and into the foyer. Another bang and Tasha cocked the gun. “Who is it?” Tasha yelled through the door. She opened the door and pointed the gun at whoever was wanting entrance. “Jesus Christ, put that thing down!” yelled Dan Mclutcheon.

  “What is it?” Tasha asked. She lowered her .38. “We got the bastard!” said Mclutcheon, his mouth in a wide smile. Tasha uncocked the gun. “Is he in custody?” she asked, still a little fuzzy from sleep. “Not exactly but we know his hideout. Carol Shipley was found early this morning. She’d jumped off a bank and onto the road.”

  “Is she ok?”

  “Took a hard fall over 40 feet. Compound fractures to both legs, a broken arm but the biggest injury was that she took a very hard lick to the head. She’s in a coma. Hooked up to every machine known to man.”

  “How’d you find the house?”

  “Wasn’t hard really. It’s an older brick home in Apison. Sits out on a bunch of acres. Part of it is wooded. Carol escaped though the woods. She was completely nude. Apparently he kept her that way. Young couple driving by found her.”

  “Who is this son of a bitch?” Tasha asked.

  “Name’s Gary Berndt. Jeff Wilder ran some records. Turns out he was born and mostly raised in Bavaria. He was an only child. Apparently he and his folks had a troubled home life. He moved to the US permanently when he was 18 and became a US citizen. He moved in with his grandmother. She died several years ago. It’s her house that he still lives in. I’ve got Wilder checking around with neighbors seeing what they know.”

  “So I take it that he got the hell out of there after Carol escaped?”

  “Right. But I think he had to hustle. Maybe we can find out more about him from checking out the house.”

  “Put on some clothes and get in my car.”

  Tasha moved away from the front door and headed for the bathroom. There, she put on the same outfit she’d wore the day before. She could hear Mclutcheon in the living room.

  “Hey, turn on the TV if you want.” She said.

  “No, you get your ass out here. Come on. We have to go.”

  Ten minutes later, Clutch sat down in his Volvo and waited for Tasha to do the same. “C’mon. We don’t have time.” He said as he waited for her.

  “Hold the phone.” Tasha said as she sat down across from him. “I’m ready now.” She stated as he turned the key in the ignition. They rode in silence for almost 20 minutes until Tasha felt like she needed to yawn. A large inhale and an equally large exhale made her feel relieved. “Jesus, you need a breath mint.” Said Mclutcheon. “Why?”

  “Because you smell like a fuckin’ distillery. That’s why. Take one of these.” Clutch offered her a piece of Big Red gum.

  “Thanks.”

  Clutch was sawing the wheel up I75. “What are you doing?” Tasha asked.

  “Moving in and out of traffic. If you qualify for a DUI, I don’t wanna hear your shit.”

  “Fine.”

  “What do you get from alcohol anyway?” Clutch asked.

  “I dunno. It makes my mouth and nose numb. It releases the worries of the day and makes me wanna sing Bob Marley tunes.”

  “Bob Marley? I wanna sing Bob Marley tunes when I get stoned.” Clutch said as he grinned. “I don’t get stoned.” Tasha countered. “The only two times I’ve been stoned in my life I got paranoid. They say that it was because the dope wasn’t good shit. If that’s the case, I don’t wanna spend my life lookin’ for good shit.”

  “You ever thought that maybe you’re just not happy?” he asked.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Just consider th
at it’s possible that you’re not happy so you drink like a fish. Thing is, alcohol ain’t gonna make you happy. That shit just makes it worse. It’s like a vicious cycle. Once you’re on the merry go round you just keep on going and….”

  “OK. I don’t want or need this right now. Let’s concentrate on the case.” She said as she smacked her gum.

  “Alright, change of subject. Did you know this guy lived less than 15 minutes from me? I just kept on thinking about that when I heard the house was in Apison. That’s not very far from East Brainerd and there I was beating the bushes trying to round this SOB up.”

  “So he’s lived with his grandmother all these years until she died? How old is this guy?”

  “He’s a little over forty.”

  “Well, he didn’t start this yesterday. He’s been at it to some degree for a long time.”

  “Yep. That’s what I figure.” Clutch said as he passed the Apison road sign.”

  “Damn. I haven’t been out here in forever. I used to have a friend who lived here. She had horses and we would ride off into the woods together. Her folks had a pretty big farm.” Tasha said as she gazed out at a cow pasture.

  Pretty soon Clutch slowed down and steered the Volvo onto a gravel drive. “We’re here.” He said.

  Tasha glanced at the bank which was very steep and high. “Jesus. Did she jump from that?”

  “Yep. She must’ve figured her odds were better, as bad as it seems, than staying in that hell hole with him.”

  The gravel driveway twisted back and forth for a quarter of a mile until it ended beside a brick ranch style house that looked to have been built in the 50’s. There were several cars parked in the drive, among them Jeff Wilder’s SUV.

  They exited the car and walked up to the front porch. Wilder met them at the front door. “You guys ain’t gonna believe what you see in here.” Wilder said motioning behind him. “This guy is a total freak.”

  Clutch and Tasha stepped past Wilder and entered the home. There in the front entrance hall sat a wooden box, head high, which looked somewhat like a casket. Tasha ran her fingers down the side of it. “What is it they call this?” she asked.

  “An iron maiden. It was used as a torture device years ago.” Clutch answered.

  “What the hell would they do with it?” Wilder asked.

  “They would put you in the thing, lock it and then make you stay in it until they decided you could come out. Sometimes they would put it out in the hot sun. Make you sweat a bit. It’s just an ancient torture technique.”

  Jeff moved over to a shelf on the other side of the room. There, he picked up a small metal instrument and showed it to Clutch. “What’s this?” he asked.

  “Those are thumb screws. They’re placed over the finger and those screws are literally screwed into the finger.” Clutch looked around the shelves in the foyer. “I see he has an executioner’s sword,” he said, picking up a metal mask which looked like a gargoyle. “What the hell is that for?” Wilder asked.

  “It’s a mask of shame. Notice the big ears and long tongue. It was used to shame the person who had to wear it. In this case, the offense was that the person was nosy and a gossip.”

  Tasha took the mask from Clutch and examined it before handing it off to Wilder. “I don’t know where he got all this stuff. Got any ideas?” Jeff asked.

  “You could probably find it all on Ebay or maybe some collectors might have it.” Tasha mused.

  “Or you could’ve brought this shit over from Europe.” Clutch added. “Jeff, you said he was from Bavaria. Correct?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I wonder how close he lived to the village of Rothenberg ob der Tauber. I bet he spent some time there as a child growing up. He probably became fascinated with it at a young age.”

  “What does that village have to do with it?” Tasha asked.

  “It’s an old medieval village. It’s surrounded by huge stone walls. If you enter, you go back in time. Like, way back centuries ago. Inside, there is a criminal museum or a museum of criminology as they call it. Basically, it’s a chamber of horrors. It was a torture chamber with all these various devices and instruments that were used for torture. Some were used not even that long ago.”

  “And you think that Gary spent time there?”

  “It’s very likely since he is from that region and since he has all this stuff here. I mean, aside from a dunking machine, he seems to have a very fine collection of torture devices.”

  “You think he used them on the vics?” Tasha asked.

  “Possibly but not to any great extent. Dr. Limmel would’ve picked up on that from autopsy, I think.”

  “Well, one thing’s for sure. He was in a huge hurry to get out of here since he left all this.” Tasha said.

  “Oh, you haven’t seen the half of it.” Jeff said. “Let me show you around.”

  Wilder led them out of the foyer and down a narrow hall to a bedroom. “Look in here.” He said as he opened the door. Inside, Tasha noticed that the room was pristinely kept. The carpet had vacuum marks on it and there were only a couple of shoe prints, probably from the cops who’d been in there. “He kept this room as an homage to his grandmother.” Tasha said as she noted the pink drapes hanging in the windows and pink bed spread. She walked over to the dresser and examined a brush laying beside a comb and an old bottle of lotion. “The hair brush still has gray hair in it.” she said. Clutch walked over to where Tasha was and picked up the bottle of lotion. He unscrewed the top and brought it to his nose. “The lotion doesn’t even have a scent anymore because it’s so old.” Wilder opened the closet door and gave Clutch and Tasha a look inside. “See…all her clothes are still hanging in the closet just like she left them.”

  “OK. So the creep had some sort of affection for his grandmother. Maybe he felt like she saved him from an unhappy life with his folks. What’s his room look like?” Clutch asked.

  “Follow me.” Jeff said as he led them out of the room and back down the hall. He came to a door on the left side of the hallway and opened it. Inside, Tasha and Clutch noticed that this room was also immaculate. Everything was in its’ place. There were no dirty clothes on the floor. The bed had been made and, like the other room, there were fresh vacuum marks on the carpet. While they were looking about, something caught Tasha’s eye. She walked across the room and looked at the shelves of a large book case sitting beside the bed. “Come here, Clutch.”

  Daniel Mclutcheon moved over beside her and examined the books on the bookcase. “Oh, Jesus.” He said.

  “What is it?” Wilder asked.

  “He’s got books on just about any famous serial killer I could name.”Tasha said as she removed a book and examined it. “Here’s one about Bianchi and Buono. You know, the Hillside Stranglers.”

  “Yeah, I see one about Aileen Wuornos. Here’s one about Gacy and here…” Clutch paused as he pulled the book out from its’ resting place, “Is one about Jack the Ripper.” He smiled at Wilder. “That sound familiar, Jeff?”

  “Yeah, I guess Gary pored over that stuff.” Wilder said, noting how used and worn the books appeared. “I suppose when he wasn’t studying it, he was practicing what he studied.”

  “Did this guy have a computer?” Tasha asked.

  “Oh yeah. Right down the hall. We’re checking it out and, from what I can tell, he’s been on some pretty strange sites.”

  “Like what?” Clutch asked.

  “Oh, like more stuff about serial killers and some stuff about Psy Ops and the FBI. I did some looking into his background, as you know, and it turns out Gary applied for the FBI. He also thought about going into the military but they wouldn’t have him either. He didn’t pass some of the personality tests. In general, I think he became frustrated and the frustration turned into extreme anger that he wasn’t considered good enough.”

  “So what did he do?” Clutch asked.

  “Well, he threw himself into martial arts and became a medic. Possibly, that’s where he is g
etting the Fentanyl. He worked in nursing homes for awhile too. From what I understand, his last job was at a hospital. He quit that some time ago. He really hasn’t had to work since his grandmother died. She left him pretty well off.”

  “Like how well off?” Tasha asked.

  “Close to a million plus the house and land. What I gathered from one of the neighbors was that she doted on him. Gave him whatever he wanted and asked no questions when things seemed a little strange around here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…well…you need to see the kitchen. Precisely, what’s in the refrigerator and freezer.”

  Jeff walked out in the hall with Tasha and Clutch on his heels. “I don’t think I want to.” Tasha said to Clutch as they proceeded toward the kitchen. As they passed through the living room, Tasha noticed a huge tower of CD’s positioned by a stereo. She walked over to the stack and picked one up that was sitting on the top. “The best of the Doors.” She said as she layed the CD back down. She kneeled down and glanced over the rest of them. “Joplin, Creedence, The Band, Pink Floyd and The Who. This guy was definitely into classic rock, huh?” She asked, looking over to Clutch.

  “That music was really a generation before his time. Hell, I listened to that when I was young.” Clutch observed. “At least he had good taste.”

  Tasha stood back up and the three of them headed into the kitchen. The refrigerator/freezer was positioned on the far wall beside the stove. “Get ready.” Wilder said as he opened the freezer door. Inside were tens of freezer bags labeled with dates. Tasha picked one from the mass and examined it. “My God, are these organs?”

  “Yep. They’re animal organs. I think he started with them and graduated to humans eventually.” Wilder said. “We’ve done some digging out in the backyard and found some cats and dogs in various stages of decomp. In some cases, all that’s been left are skeletons.”