Excerpt of Serial Threat

"My times are in Thy hand; deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me."
Psalm 31:15

SERIAL THREAT



The patrol car rolled to a stop beneath an overhead light in the deserted parking lot. “Unit three on scene, Paradise City Park,” Faith Zwalt radioed as she swept the mounted spotlight over the short-cropped grass and past picnic tables. “No sign of the disturbance that was reported.” She cautiously stepped out of the car. “No female screaming. I don’t hear anything.”

“Copy. Your discretion,” the dispatcher replied.

Faith stood to don her uniform jacket and hat, then spoke to her partner. “I’ll do a sweep down by the lake, Cal. You take the high ground. Okay?”

“Whatever. You don’t have blond hair or blue eyes so you’re probably not on the serial killer’s hit list.”

“Not funny. Especially to the victims. Show some compassion, will you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” He adjusted his belt. “Radio me when you’re ready to give up this wild goose chase.”

“Speaking of geese,” Faith said in parting, “watch your step around the ones that live here. They bite.”

“Same to you. You’ll be closer to the water than I will.””

Leaving him, she played the powerful beam of her flashlight over the terrain. Low fog blanketed the manmade lake and partially obscured her path. Shivering, she turned up the collar of her jacket. Maybe it was the fog, maybe the predicted storm, but the park felt unusually creepy tonight, as if the air was charged with malevolence.

A rustling noise and movement in Faith’s peripheral vision startled her. She whirled. A small flock of Canada geese that had bedded down on the lakeshore were stirring.

“It’s okay, guys,” Faith murmured, hoping to soothe the half-wild birds with a human voice. “I’m a friend.”

A dry branch cracked. She froze. Most of the wary birds were staring into the dimness to her left. Contours of the land and the large body of water might be distorting sound as she interpreted it, but nothing fooled geese.

“Help!” echoed faintly.

There it was! Faith dropped into a crouch, her hand on the grip of her holstered weapon. The geese scattered and began to go berserk, honking and flapping their wings, their necks stretched long, heads held high.

A large, dark form was starting to appear in the fog. Tensing, she drew her gun and announced, “Paradise police.”

As she began to straighten a masked figure caught her off balance. She tried to dodge but his shoulder hit her hard and sent her reeling. Rolling on the ground to bring her .38 to bear on the assailant, she shouted, “Freeze. Police.”

The black-clad figure had passed and she thought he would keep going. Instead, he turned and came at her again!

There was no time to get to her feet, no chance to face her foe on an equal plane, so she double-gripped the .38 and steadied her aim. “Stop!”

A slight pause was accompanied by a deep, menacing laugh. Whoever this was, he wasn’t afraid of her or the gun, acting as though he was sure she wouldn’t shoot. “I said, freeze.”

The geese were setting up an awful racket nearby. Faith backpedaled, kept her eyes on her attacker and managed to key her radio. “Officer needs assistance.”

“Copy. Where are you?”

Just as she started to reply she saw the man’s gaze shift to a place over her shoulder and focus there. He wasn’t alone!

Piercing pain wrapped her head in a band of agony.

Needles of colored lights pierced her vision.

Blackness crept in at the edges of her mind until the last vestiges of her initial attacker vanished and she collapsed into the pure darkness of unconsciousness.

*

Newly returned to Paradise, attorney Noah Holden had spent a quiet evening at home, going over briefs for upcoming court actions, and had nodded off at his desk. When his cell phone roused him it took only a second for his senses to catch up.

“Holden.”

“It’s me.” The voice was quavering and high.

“Who is this?”

“Me. Buddy Corrigan.”

Noah sighed. Of course. Would he never learn that giving out his private number was a bad idea? “Why are you calling me at…?” he checked the time, “three in the morning.”

“Sorry. But I just remembered something important.”

Noah reached for a pen and paper. “Okay. Go ahead.”

“Not over the phone. Face to face.”

“Then call my office and make an appointment.”

“That might be too late. If you don’t come tonight they may get to me before I can tell you.”

Another sigh. Noah shook his head, knowing he was going to cave and hoping the client was telling the truth. “Okay. Where and when?”

“Now. I’ll be at the gazebo in the park. You know where that is?”

“Unless they’ve moved it. I haven’t been back in town long enough to take notice.” Pausing, he waited for a reply before realizing the caller had broken the connection. At this point he really had no choice unless he intended to leave his client to the possible lethal actions of whoever he was afraid of.

Donning a leather bomber jacket, Noah headed for the clandestine meeting. Of course he had misgivings. Who wouldn’t? But at least this was tiny, peaceful Paradise instead of Kansas City or St. Louis where he’d practiced law in the past. Up there, he’d had a permit to carry a concealed weapon but, because being armed hadn’t seemed necessary here, he’d locked away his firearm. As he drove along the deserted streets toward the outskirts of town, however, he began to wonder if venturing out unarmed had been wise.

Approaching the park from the north he saw a pulsating blue and red glow far across the lake. If the gazebo had been over there he would have immediately assumed he was too late.

Parking, Noah checked his phone. There had been no texts or voicemail messages since the call that had awakened him so he climbed out of the car.

“Buddy? I’m here,” he announced in a normal voice as he approached the gazebo. A fresh coat of white paint made it stand out even at night and the light built into his cell phone helped him see the ground.

“Buddy?”

Still no reply. Hair prickled at the nape of Noah’s neck. He figured he could stay at the gazebo where he’d be easy to see or fall back and watch from a position of relative safety. Prudence insisted he step aside.

Circling the leading edge of the lattice-covered structure he found a copse of azaleas leafed out and ready to bloom. The bushes offered perfect camouflage. He sidled closer and waited. Buddy Corrigan was likely to pop up any second, providing the police across the lake hadn’t scared him off, and he’d be ready.

As Noah pushed his shoulder in amongst the tender new branches, the side of his foot bumped into a rock, or so he thought until he tried to step past it and realized it was quite large.

One arm pushed aside the leaves so he could shine his light on the ground. He froze.

“Buddy? Seeing the prone body had made him think it was that of his client until his brain began to function better. This was a woman. He quickly crouched to check for a pulse and found none but she was still warm. Maybe it wasn’t too late.

Grabbing her shoulder he rolled her onto her back. Lifeless eyes stared at him. She was clearly beyond CPR.

Noah straightened, he lifted his cell phone and called nine-one-one. “I want to report a murder.”