Month: December 2022

Chapter 47

Sheriff Hobbs knew he had to open an investigation. While it was true Hank was trespassing on that man’s property and he did have a knife drawn, the sheriff wasn’t completely convinced it was justified self-defense. He knew it should really be up to a court to make that decision not him. However he also knew Hank had been poking around for weeks pestering that man. The sheriff had gone up there looking for clues when those two campers bodies turned up. Hambly wasn’t about to close the book on that so-called “murder-suicide” either. Something was just too fishy about the whole thing.

The whole time he lived in this quite little mountain town he never once had a single murder, not anything even close to a murder. It just wasn’t the type of thing you’d expect from these parts. Yet here he had what looked like three suspicious deaths in the span of a couple of weeks. As a lawman he knew not put much weight into coincidence. Still, his gut told him otherwise.

Something just wasn’t right.

But he had nothing to go on. The coroner said the campers were an open and shut case of murder-suicide. There was nothing to suggest otherwise. He even told Hank as much when the old hermit insisted on stirring up trouble. He knew better than to dismiss his gut. He needed evidence. He looked around that cabin, the whole property that day he went up there and questioned the former doctor. He didn’t find anything out of the ordinary then either. Nothing except for that stinking goldfish bowl the man kept on his stove for whatever reason.

There was a tap on his office door. It was his deputy Jake Smith.

“Sheriff, you said to bring you anything from the crime scene that was out of the ordinary,” Smith said.

The sheriff looked up, annoyed.

“Well, did you find anything or are you just wasting my time?” the sheriff said.

“Well we found this map the victim had tucked away in his sock,” Smith said as he handed the map to the sheriff.

“So what?” Hambly replied.

“Hank was a survivalist, he kept detailed maps of the area on him at all times. This isn’t nothing new.”

The deputy unfolded the map and pointed to the space they found the body.

“Right here, it shows the cabin he was talking. It reads in red letters, just below the X,

“Who is Molly Goldfish? I figured that might be a clue” Smith said.

Hobbs grabbed the map from is deputy and examined it for himself. Sure enough there were those words scribbled onto the map beneath the X crossing out the location they found Hank snooping around.

“Sheriff, what do you suppose it means?” Smith asked.

“I don’t know Jake, but I sure as hell intend to find out,” Hobbs said. He stuffed the map into his pocket and grabbed his keys.

“Where you heading sheriff?” Smith asked.

“I’m going to go check that town where we found the doctor’s dead brother and his ex-wife. Someone around that town might know something about this,” Hobbs said.

“But sheriff, what do you intend to learn? You didn’t even work that case.” Smith said.

“No, but I read up on it when the doctor first moved up to the cabin. It was such a bloody mess I always knew if it wasn’t Hank it would be some other nut poking around if they got wind of that story. Might be something worth looking into.”

The sheriff wasn’t a detective and he wasn’t sure what it meant but something in his gut told him to dig a little deeper into this. Considering the old doctor just blasted a man full of shotgun shells for trespassing, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to go back up that way. Not yet anyways. He knew he was going to question the doctor sooner or later but he thought this was a good time to hit the road and see where it takes him.

Hobbs didn’t waste any time. He figured if he was going to get to the bottom of this he was going to need to get on top of things right away.

“Jake, I’m going out of town for a few days. I want you to watch the show while I am gone, make sure nothing gets too out of hand would ya?” Hobbs told his deputy.

“You got it boss. I’ll hold down the fort you do what you gotta do.” Smith said.

Hobbs grabbed the things he needed from the office including the map with the mysterious words on it and got into his truck. He wasn’t going to go undercover but he knew he was going to be out of jurisdiction.

He figured it would be better to get a good night’s sleep in order to hit the road fresh, but he couldn’t get any sleep with his pal Hank lying dead in a morgue.

After driving several hours, Sheriff Hobbs pulled into a diner off the side of the road. He had been here years ago helping out with another investigation that had similarities to the one he was currently working. He didn’t think the two were related but his gut told him it was a good place to start. After all, this was the town the doctor he was suspicious of grew up in. If there was going to be any clues to this mystery this was as good of a place as any to start.

Hobbs walked into the diner and took a seat at the counter. An older man, over weight and balding came up in a dirty apron to take his order.

“What can I you for copper?” the man asked wiping his nose on his apron.

“Give me whatever lunch special you got and a cup of coffee to start.” Hobbs replied.

As a seasoned officer Hobbs had been in his fair share of dives. He also knew it was these types of earthy establishments one could do the best fishing in a small town.

After a few minutes the man returned with a plate of food and a cup of coffee as requested. There wasn’t any wait staff which caught the officers attention. It was a slow time of day, but he felt compelled to bring it up.

“You run this place yourself or do you have any wait staff?” Hobbs asked the man.

“Oh well we had a couple waitress’s go missing not too long ago and since then the young ladies around town are too scared to work here. I do okay running it with my wife and I taking turns doing the cooking and my boy washes the dishes.

Looking around the sheriff thought it would be as good a time to ask about the good doctor.

He pulled out a photo of him.

“Speaking of dangerous, have you ever seen this man?” the sheriff handed the guy the photo.

He looked it up and down nodding his head and mumbling to himself.

“Mmm hmm yes sir I know Doctor Thompson. My sister lost her life on his operating table. Good man, lousy doctor I’d say. He had a track record of losing patients, especially girls. It was like since his wife died he couldn’t concentrate on saving the girls I guess.”

The sheriff, picking up on that hint he followed up his line of questioning.

“You say his wife died do you. What was that like? Was she well known in the community?”

The man looked at the officer as if to sum him up. Deciding he could trust the lawman for now he answered his question.

“She sure was. Served on all the council’s and committees around town. The whole town was hurt by her loss. Not near as much as the doc’s brother though, old George did though. I hear George took it harder than anyone else. In fact if you ask me I’d swear the two had to been having some sort of affair the way he handled her death. Lord knows how much he hated his own wife, Molly.”

Remembering the clue, Molly Goldfish, the sheriff’s eyes perked up.

“What can you tell me about her, the wife, Molly was it?” the sheriff asked.

“Oh gosh what is there to say about old Moll Goldfish, that’s what the girls around town called her. She was one of those women that was sweet on the surface but a real vixen underneath you know a hard ass bitch the way George told it,” the man said.

Suddenly Hobbs knew he was on the right track. He asked the man if he knew more about the nickname.

He told him the story about how George ditched Ashley Taylor to take Molly to the fair. He won a goldfish for the girl he was going to sneak off with and meet up once he got rid of Molly, but Molly was too possessive of George and kept the prize, and her man, for herself.

The sheriff left the diner knowing he had to find this Molly woman with her name being on that map. How would old Hank have come across that name Hobbs thought? Time to find out.

Chapter 46

Hank was crawling around the woods as carefully as he could not to get noticed. He knew better than to be sneaking around during the day but he knew the man was out of the house during the day and it was his chance to get into the cabin for himself and see just what the creep was hiding.

Hank had set up camp a few miles from the cabin. He wanted it to look like he was out hunting or hiking in case he was caught. He threw his sleeping bag on the ground then set up a fire pit for cooking.

Hank is a survivalist. He could stay out in the wilderness with just his pocket knife for days and be okay. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of this. His plan was to lay low. He took just enough supplies to make it look like another one of his treks into the wild.

He liked being out in the wilderness. It gave him a sense of peace. It wasn’t from the quiet or tranquility, it was being out of the watchful eye of ‘big brother’ that gave him a sense of relief. He pulled out a personal pouch of coffee beans and set up his old fashioned fire-powered coffee maker.

“This is all I need right here, a cup of Joe, some trees and the critters crawling around. No spies, no satellites stealing my brainwaves and no government computers downloading my thoughts into that super highway the people don’t know about,” Hank said to himself.

He brought a couple of cans of beans and some potted meat just in case. He didn’t have time to figure that out today. He set up the camp as a decoy. He had to get into that house. Hank began his trek through the woods early He knew the man went out hunting or fishing early and didn’t come back until late in the evening.

I don’t know what this fool is up to but if the sheriff ain’t man enough to look into it then it’s up to me to be a model citizen. Stupid sheriff works for that lousy no good Government anyhow. This guy was hiding something. All my years hiding from the feds has taught me one thing it’s how to spot a paranoid person who had something to hide. I am determined to get the bottom of this mystery.

Hank was walking through the woods in the general direction of his suspect. He was doing his best to stay of hiking trails. He knew these woods better than anyone in the area. He was certain of that.

As he was walking Hank began humming the words to his favorite song. It was the fight song from his high school. He loved remembering all the poor saps he want to school with. It gave him a sense of satisfaction knowing he was able to cut himself free from the government’s stranglehold while his peers went off to be brain-washed by the man.

It was a ten mile trip to the outskirts of the property that housed the cabin he was looking for. Hank was covered in soot and leaves. He wanted to blend in with his surroundings as best as possible. Pushing a branch out of his way he could see the cabin off in the distance. He was getting closer. Hank left early in the morning. He wanted to make sure he had as much opportunity to snoop around inside the house as he could. He had scoped out the guy before. He knew what his routine was. Hank was counting on the man being like all other people, creatures of habit.

When Hank arrived at the fence he ducked down. He noticed something unusual. He spotted the man coming out of the back door pushing a woman in a wheel chair. The woman looked battered and bruised real bad. This was exactly what Hank was looking for, proof the man was up to something. Now, Hank figured he had to get closer to see if he could figure out who the woman is and what he was doing to her.

Fortunately Hank brought his long range hearing device and his binoculars. He decided to hold off checking out the house. He was going to see how close he could get to the couple. He needed to know what the two were up to. He followed the two from a distance, keeping low and out of sight.

This guy is clearly up to something. I don’t know who that woman is but I haven’t seen her before.

Hank situated himself a good distance back wedge himself inside a bush and a tree covered in foliage. He figured it was good cover. He pointed his listening device towards the couple. He wasn’t too interested in whatever the woman had to say, from the looks of it she wasn’t likely to do a whole lot of talking anyways.

At first he wasn’t get much, a few muffled words here and there. Then he pushed a branch out of his way and got a clearer shot. Headphones turned up, tape recorded set to recording Hank pulled out his binoculars to see what his subject was doing.

Hank heard something that caught his and he immediately checked to make sure his recorder was recording.

“I had already gotten a taste for death after Brandon died and then I talked Jennifer into killing herself. That power of knowing I could decide whether a person lives or dies, it changed me, consumed me. I went to medical school so I could become a doctor, not to save lies but to savor in the lives I would lose. Sometimes I would slip up, on purpose, and let a patient died. I always made sure it looked like we did all we could.”

Hank sat there listening to the two talk, watching them for the rest of the day. Fortunately he was a survivalist. He dug around in the dirt, picked up a couple rocks, pushed a log out of the way and hit the jackpot, a host of critters to nibble on while he waited.

Hank snacked on all the bugs his appetite could handle while he continued recording until the two went back into the house. He knew it! This motherfucker was a murderer and Hank had all the proof he needed. Hank didn’t even consider taking his evidence to the sheriff, no sir it was up to him to confront this monster and put an end to his killing spree. Hank would be a hero, and he would get the credit without letting the lousy government get involved at all. It was perfect.

Hank, survivalist, hunter, enemy of the state and now he was set to be a hero coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress. Life was giving him a second chance and he wasn’t about to throw it away.

There was just one problem. Hank only brought his hunting knife with him and a pocket knife he kept in his boot. His other weapons were back at the camp in his backpack. He left them buried in a hole covered with leaves at the campsite. He was going to have to trek back down to the campsite, grab his gear and head back up to the house

Hank knew what he had to do. He quietly backed out of sight of the man and his captive. In the back of his mind he knew this was the right thing to do. He quickly dismissed the idea of calling the sheriff.

There is no chance in hell I am going to trust anyone who wears a badge to do the right thing. For all I know the sheriff is in on whatever it is and that’s why he wouldn’t properly investigate. Damn the man is what I always say.

It took Hank an easy 2 hours to get back to camp. He had to go slow, laying low so not to get noticed. By the time he got back to camp it was mid-day. At that point it was a little too hot for him to make his way back up the hill. He decided he would wait until dark to head back up once it was cooler. He pulled out squirrel he caught earlier in the day out of his trap. He broke its neck and began cleaning it before he cooked it for lunch. He sat there on a tree stump eating his cooked wild squirrel and a can of beans.

This was the way Hank enjoyed life. No government. No technology. No people. He enjoyed being isolated in the woods. Despite everything he lost, he finally felt as if his life was fulfilled. He had meaning. He had a purpose now. He was going to take out that man, free the girl and then retire to a quiet life as a hero.

As he finished his meal he had an image from a distant memory flash in his mind. It was that time he took his own kids out hunting. For a brief moment he let himself remember the life he lost. Just as suddenly as the thought crept into his mind he chased it off with a swig of whiskey from his flask.

Oh no you don’t. I put that life behind me.

Hank drank until he passed out.

Chapter 45

Two days earlier

Molly was lying in bed trying to figure out what the hell she could do to get out of this mess. She had no clue how long she bad been in that bed or even how much longer he planned on keeping her there. All she knew was the days bled together and her heart was beginning to ache. She knew her death was approaching shortly. She recognized the date on the clock radio by her bed. It woke her up every morning to AM news radio. She listened to the sounds of the morning show hosts talk about things she couldn’t even picture in her own mind anymore. He would come in, turn the radio off and walk out the door without so much as a single word. That is, unless it was one of those days he was cutting her, burning her or something else.

The clock radio kept good time but she knew her days were numbered. He kept talking about how her life was going to end the day his daughter was conceived. Despite the state she was in, Drake had no problem telling Molly every dirty little secret he kept in that twisted mind of his.

She began wiggling her toes and fingers. She had full mobility in all her digits now. She could twist and turn, but it still caused her tremendous pain to do so.

Molly was started to take stock of everything she could see in the room. She knew getting her hands on a weapon or tool to remove her shackles was going to be a long shot. But she was still trying. Just then the door opened. It was the monster. She closed her eyes as she always did whenever he was in the room. She knew it was in her best interest to not even look into his face. Suddenly something different took place. He walked over and unlocked her legs. She began to sweat. This isn’t right, he never visits her in the morning.

He walked over to the head of the bed and unlocked her arms. This was unusual. Now she knew better than to be hopeful. Her heart began racing. Something was going on. She was more scared now than she had ever been in her entire life. What was he up to?

He sat her up on the bed. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You got nothing to fear, sis. We’re going to get some breakfast, that is all,” he said.

She wasn’t in the mood for asking questions. She felt a shiver moving up and down her spine. She knew something terrible was approaching. She had no clue what it might be.

He took out a key and opened the draw on the nightstand. He pulled out some clothes. Underwear, a dress and some socks.

“Let me help you get dressed, sis. No need to worry. It’s going to be a good day today,” he said.

After he dressed her he placed her in a wheel chair he kept on the other side of the nightstand. He rolled her into the kitchen. There, sitting on the table was a plate of bacon and eggs with hash browns on the side.

He poured her a cup of orange juice.

“Would you like a cup of coffee, sis?” he asked.

Molly wasn’t sure what was going on. In the entire time she had been here he had never acted this way. She knew something was fishy about it, she just didn’t know how to react without setting him off.

“No thank you,” she said. “I am fine.”

“Good, eat. Enjoy,” he said.

Molly had been eating out of a hospital feeding tube sustaining her body on God-knows-what for so long she wasn’t even sure she could handle solid food. She picked up the fork and went after the eggs first.

She was certain it wasn’t poison. He wouldn’t go through all this trouble. Instead of worry too much about what might come next, Molly decided for once she was going to live in the moment and make the best of the situation. No sense in stressing over something she can’t change anyways, she thought.

She began eating the food.

“Would you like the TV on or the radio?” Drake asked.

She listened to the radio every morning as the alarm woke her up. She figured since the only TV she had seen since she got here was the horrible video of her abduction. She certainly had no desire to see that video ever again.

She looked towards the counter in the direction of the little TV set he kept in the kitchen.

“TV, I guess,” Molly whispered.

She could tell her voice wasn’t fully ready to return. Her throat was giving her trouble with every bite she swallowed. Still, it was nice to have hot food going into her stomach for a change. For a brief second she forgot where she was and the horrors she had faced for however long it had been.

He turned the TV on and as to be expected there was the Price is Right. That same old familiar game show she vividly remembered watching over the course of her life. A tear began to form in her eye. She knew she was going to lose control, but she wanted to fight it so badly.

“Hey sis, I know we haven’t had the greatest relationship since my brother died. But, I was thinking maybe today, just today, we could relive old times. What do you say?” Drake asked.

Molly was in full blown tears at this point. She had no clue why he was casually calling her sis. Or why he was referencing his brother’s death like it was an accident or something knowing full well he murdered his own brother.

“I know, you get emotional on Sundays. It’s okay though. I figured we would go for a walk out back and sit in the garden. We could smell the flowers, listen to the birds singing songs in the trees, then maybe, if you were up for it, we could have a nice little picnic right there in the woods behind my cabin. What do you say sis, you up for it?” Drake said.

It was the tone in his voice that made her crying even more impossible to turn off at this point. He was acting like he had never laid a hand on her. Never used her for his own pleasure. Hadn’t sold her daughter to Mexican smugglers. She had no clue what was going through his mind. But she couldn’t stop crying. She knew it was only a matter of time before her crying set him off.

He handed her a box of tissues and wiped her eyes clear.

“I know, sis, it’s hard for you. Missing your husband and daughter. I get it. I lost everything too. But that’s why I wanted to give you today. One last, nice day before the sun goes down on both of us. What do you say? I’m not asking you to forgive me or anything frivolous like that. All I am asking is you have one day of peace to see if you can find your smile before we go to the ever after. You up for it?” he asked.

Molly snatched the box of tissues out of his hands and dried her eyes. If this was going to keep him placated long enough to plot her actual escape she was going to have to go along with his plan, at least for today.

“Alright, Drake, I will play your game and go on this picnic with you. I have only one request. You called me sis, so why don’t, just today, you act like a brother and keep your damn hands off me, deal?” she said.

He nodded in agreement.

“Today is all about you sis. Shall we?” he said as he motioned towards the door.

He then proceeded to push her wheelchair through the kitchen, the laundry room and heading out the backdoor. He pushed her through the winding path surrounded by trees until they came to a small pond. It had flowers all around it. There were birds singing in the trees just as he claimed. Now, it was a little cool for her liking but she wasn’t going to complain.

He took a blanket and spread it down on the ground. He placed the picnic basket off to the side in a patch of flowers. Then he slowly helped Molly out of the wheelchair and onto the blanket. Despite herself she thought briefly, this is nice. She knew she was going to have to soak up as much of the nice day as she could because in her heart she knew it was only temporary.

“Drake, can I ask you a personal question,” Molly said.

It was the first time she had taken the time to address him since that night her life ended.

“Sure sis, you can ask me anything you want. Just don’t ask about Melody. I don’t want to talk about that, okay,” Drake said.

She nodded. Molly poured herself a cup of tea from the basket and took a sip.

“What every happened between George and Ashley Taylor? I know he was talking about her the night he died. I never thought to ask because, well frankly you scare the hell out of me,” she said.

There was a long pause. Molly began to feel really uncomfortable just now. She was starting to regret asking that question. As he looked deep into her soul she could feel a twinge of fear creeping up her spine.

He was breathing heavily. Deep breaths, in and out. His nostrils would flare with each breath. Molly was too afraid to move. She couldn’t bring herself to asking anything else. She just sat there as he looked at her. She couldn’t even begin to question what must be going through his mind right now. After what felt like forever, she finally decided to do the only thing that came to her, she slowly began to sip her tea.

“Molly, I brought you out here to have a nice day,” Drake said. “I don’t want to spoil it by talking about things we can’t change. You need to be patient, sis. The time will come when I give you my last remaining secrets. For now, let’s just try to have a nice picnic.

“Drake, you keep calling me sis, you said I could ask you anything. I want to know. What is the deal with her,” Molly said.

“The only thing you need to know about Ashley is this,” Drake said. “The night you and George went on your date, that night at the fair, I hooked up with Ashley. She was in tears over seeing the two of you kiss. She practically threw herself at me. Unlike my virgin of a brother, well, I wasn’t going to let an opportunity to screw Ashley Taylor go to waste.”

The smirk that crept on his face was a look Molly had seen before. She turned her gaze away from his. It was the face he made every time he, had his way with her. Here he was admitting to her about sleeping with the woman her husband couldn’t let go of and now he was looking at her with lust.

“Molly, Molly Goldfish. You don’t have anything to worry about,” Drake said. “You see Ashley can’t h urt you any more. She can’t hurt either of us anymore. Can we try to have a nice day now?”

Molly rubbed her wrists. They were sore from being tied up. She looked down at the ground.

“I’m not that worried about what she can do to me, how much worse can it get?” Molly said. “I just want to know what kind of affect she had on the men in my life, isn’t that fair? I mean, everything that you or George have done to me keeps going back to her,.”

She knew she couldn’t make it worse. If she was going to die on the same day he fucked that bitch, she at least deserved to know what was so special about Ashley Taylor, what kind of hold did she have on the men in her life. It was something Molly was determined to figure out, she believed she had a right to know, all things considered.

Drake placed his hand on her knee gently. He told her he would tell her exactly what she wanted, as long as she was willing to face the consequences.

“If you really must know, Ashely’s story is wrapped up with yours after all,” Drake said.

As Drake began to tell the story to Molly, she finally began to realize exactly how much danger she was really in.

I took sweet Ashley under those bleachers that night my little brother was off running around with that whore, Molly Goldfish. Ashley knew George had won that goldfish for her and Molly stole it, along with her man, the same night. I slide my baby maker into her that night. She ended up pregnant right away too.

Fortunately for me she ended up sleeping with that loser football player she would end up marrying just a few days later. She told me she was going to make him think it was his, convince him she remained faithful the entire time and let the two raise the kid together. Her parents weren’t having any of that. They took the kid and sent her off to live with her aunt or something.

I had already gotten a taste for death after Brandon died and then I talked Jennifer into killing herself. That power of knowing I could decide whether a person lives or dies, it changed me, consumed me. I went to medical school so I could become a doctor, not to save lies but to savor in the lives I would lose. Sometimes I would slip up, on purpose, and let a patient die. I always made sure it looked like we did all we could.

It was the first time I operated on a thirteen-year-old girl. She came in for a fairly routine operation. As I held her life in my hands I made a decision. I accidentally dropped the instrument I was cutting her up with, it fell into her wound, I made sure I wiggled it just right getting it out she was guaranteed to bleed to death. I let out crocodile tears and I beat on her chest trying to “save her live” as I hid the joy it gave me as I felt her life slip through my fingers.

I tracked down the little whore that sprung from my loins. It was just after college. I took a field trip across the country to visit all the states. I made a little detour in Ohio where she was staying.

The child that I fathered in a night of pure lust. I sneeked into her house. I was wearing a mask and a dark hoodie. I had on these red gloves. I went into her bedroom while she was sleeping. During the course of my struggle with her I wrapped my hands tightly around her neck and strangled the life out of that poor girl. I took a gun, busted into the master bedroom and shot her aunt, uncle and their sleeping kid all in the chest while they were sleeping. I grabbed a few valuables, mostly jewelry and I fled the scene.

I went to a liquor store around the way and sold the items to a thief in a back alley. He was African-American. I gave him the gloves and hoodie and asked him if he wanted a blow job. I blew him to get his DNA, went back to the crime scene and left his stuff on her genitals. I had to make sure he was seen wearing the same hoodie and gloves, with those items in his possession and his DNA on her body. It was perfect. He took the fall while I got away with it clean as a whistle.

A few years later I ran into Ashley and her new family. One night I drugged her with this stuff hypnotists use to distort memories. I raped her daughter while she was tied to a chair, helpless, watching. I used the drug to convince her she had watched her husband commit the act and stabbed him to death when she broke free. In reality I stabbed the shit out of him right in front of her. Then I handed her the knife before I cut her loose. Once the cops showed up she was in a hysterical state. She had no idea what had happened. The kid, well she was unconscious so she didn’t know.

Today, she is locked up in a mental health clinic for a crime she didn’t commit. Here I am, with the source of my brother’s pain before me. I told George before I shot him and made it look like he shot himself on camera, I was going to torture you and then kill you. I made a promise to my dying brother because he hated you more than anything in this world.

On the operating table I have facilitated the deaths of 12 different women. I only “lose” women and girls. Outside of the doctor role. I have taken 36 lives with my own hands. You will be 37. Yours will be the perfect murder. I will be tying up all the loose ends of my past while I ensure my brothers last wish is carried out. As for you sweetheart, your death is not going to be short, or painless. It will be agonizing. You will be begging me for death before I give it to you. Until then, enjoy the rest of today. This will be the last chance you ever feel the sun shining down on your face.

Chapter 44

It wasn’t looking good. Sheriff Hobbs shook his head in disgust. The paramedics were zipping poor Frank’s remains up in the body bag. He knew most folks around town would be please old Hank got what he had coming to him. Still, it is his job to find out what took place.

He walked over to the rugged, middle-aged man sitting quietly on a log, clutching his shotgun still smoking from the blast.

“Howdy friend. Mind if I get that from you, police evidence you know.” Hobbs said.

He reached for the gun and the man pulled it back, hugging it even tighter.

“Hey now, listen you’re going to get it back, so long as your story checks out. I just need to catalog it for police evidence. Hand it over Mr. Thompson,” the Sheriff said firmly.

The man looked down at the ground. Without saying a word he slowly handed the shotgun over to Sheriff Hobbs. Hobbs looked the gun over before handing it to a deputy for processing.

He sat down on the tree stump across from the man. He looked him over carefully before he spoke.

“Mr. Thompson. I know you’ve just been through a shock. It’s not easy taking a human life. But, as a lawman It’s my job to ensure justice is served and for me to do that I need to ask you a few questions. If you don’t mind I’d like for you to take a ride with me to the office. Would you please join me?” Hobbs said.

The man didn’t budge. He didn’t speak. He reached over to place his hand on the man’s shoulder, who quickly slapped it away.

“Don’t touch me,” the man asserted.

“Take it easy, Mr. Thompson. You shot, and killed a man. I need to ask you a few questions. In order to do that, we need to go for a ride,” Hobbs said.

“We can talk right here. No need to go anywhere. He walked onto my property carrying a load of weapons, I warned him get off my land or else, he made a move towards his weapon, I shot him. Bang. Dead. End of story. Self-defense,” Drake said.

“Listen, I am sure you think that and that very may well be the case.” Hobbs said “However I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t thorough you know. I mean I was just up here a few weeks ago remember. I think it would be best if we went into town. If your story checks out and I have no reason to hold you, you get released end of story. But I’d sure feel a whole lot more comfortable I was getting to the truth if we did this at the county jail.

To that end I am only going to politely ask you one last time to stand up and accompany me before I have to place you in the handcuffs.”

Suddenly Drake stood up and shoved a finger right in Hobbs’s face.

“Don’t you threaten me, sheriff. A man came onto my property, clad in camouflage, armed to the damn teethe. I have signs all over the place warning people to stay the hell out or else.

Last time I checked this is America and I have a God-given right to shoot any damn fool too stupid to heed that warning. I felt threatened. I live up here, alone, because people out there make me feel unsafe. I live here, alone with my dog and my goldfish. I don’t have to be afraid of people walking onto my property. They don’t heed the warning they eat buckshot. End of story.

Now kindly catalog my shotgun, and write up your report so I can get my gun back. Now, kindly, get the fuck off my land!,” Drake shouted in the officer’s face.

Hobbs didn’t want to make a scene. He felt bad for poor Hank but at the end of the day, the law was on Thompson’s side in this case. Not wanting to risk making things worse Hobbs decided he’d get back to town.

“Hey sheriff, when the hell can I get my gun back?” Drake asked.

“I’ll mail it to you,” Hobbs said.

Drake Thompson sat on the fallen log as he watched the vehicles leave his land, one by one. He waited a good twenty minutes before heading back inside. He wasn’t going to be able to get his gun back but he had other, more pressing matters.

He walked inside and set his hat down on the table. He walked over and fed Goldie.

“Pretty soon, it’ll be back to just the three of us, Goldie,” Drake said.

He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. There were only seven bottles laying at the bottom of the fridge. He was going to have to make another trip into town pretty soon. He cracked open the bottle, sat down at the kitchen table and began sipping the stress of the night away.

He looked at the calendar. Circle in red marker was June 15th. It was the date Drake Thompson impregnated Ashley Taylor, the stupid girl his brother had dumped earlier in the day for Molly. Drake sat there at the kitchen table thinking back on the night he took Stephanie under the bleachers by the side of the rodeo pit. It wasn’t his first time by a long shot. Drake had been getting around town.

He never even had eyes for little Ashley, to be honest. She was kind of cute but more so in that girl-next-door way. He was more into the girls with long legs, full chests and attitude to match.

Someone more like his own wife. He took another sip. He knew seven beers wasn’t going to be enough to push her memory out of his mind. He was going to have to settle for the next best thing. His uncle once told him the only way to get over a woman was to get under another one as fast as you could.

He didn’t make a habit of forcing himself upon Molly. He put her through enough with the torture. Plus, he was a murderer, not a rapist. Still, he wasn’t going to let memories of the woman that he lost enter his mind tonight. If the booze wasn’t going to keep her out of his head, he was going to have to settle for reminding her she used to be a woman.

Drake finished his beer and stumbled over to the fridge. He grabbed two more beers and walked into the bedroom where he had Molly tied up. It was going to be one of those night’s she was going to remember. It’s not like she had too many nights left, Molly’s life was going to end the same day his daughter’s life began. He opened the door, walked over to the bed and tugged on Molly’s foot. She opened her eyes wide as he began getting undressed.

“Hey babe, we got some memories to bury, you and me,” he said as he closed the door.

Chapter 43

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Day in and day out Ashley lay in her bed watching the hands of the clock on her wall race each other up the face of the clock. The skinny hand raced around the fat one in such a tremendous hurry.

She sat there picturing the fat hand as a turtle and the skinny one was the bunny rabbit from that children’s story. She watched the little bunny race around the clock faster and faster each day. Then the old man in the middle would tell her it was time to sleep when he chimed nine times.

Every day the people came and dragged her to the little room with the clueless doctor. Everyday she would sit and listen to the doctor tell her stories. They were mostly lies from the way she could figure it.

Ashley knew she didn’t lay a hand on her innocent husband. She knew because there was a man in her dreams who told her he killed her husband. Every time she went to tell the doctor it was the bad man, his face would appear, finger above his lips hushing her to silence. He visited her every night in her dreams. The first time she opened her mouth and words came out it was his words in her voice, screaming she killed him, and Molly Goldfish was next.

The door to her bedroom opened slowly. The men came in and untied her from her bed. They sat her in the chair with the wheels and strapped her in. Then pushed her down the hall. Ashley knew it wasn’t time for breakfast, she had eggs three long races ago. She also knew it wasn’t time for the doctor, they already had their session. Something was wrong. She thought back to the other day when George had come to see her. He didn’t remember a thing about him but she knew his name, somehow. It was written in his face, she could see it if she squinted her eyes. But, she couldn’t remember him.

The rolled her into a different room. She hated this room. It was the one with the bad man and the couch. He would make her lay down on the couch, used some kind of magic to make her dream and force her to remember things she had forgotten, or was trying to forget. She called him the evil wizard because he used his magic spell to force her to remember the pain she didn’t want to remember.

The men in the white pants put her on the couch and left as they always did. The man came in and said the same words he always said. Ashley tried to fight it. She didn’t know how he was able to get power over her but she drifted into her nightmare every single time he showed up.

She would try to force him out of her mind. Puppies. Think about puppies, Ash. Think about how your puppy Benjamin used to catch fish by the lake. Fish. Gold fish. Like the Goldfish on Ferris wheel. Molly Goldfish…

NO. Stop. If you think of her he wins. Think of something else. Trees. The changing colors of the fall leaves after school. Think of the school dance where you had your first kiss, Jake Hampton. Remember hold old Jake. He was into you since 5th grade. All he wanted was a sweat, innocent little kiss.

Oh, sneaky Ashley gave unsuspecting Jake more than he bargained for. Not her flower, she saved that for…Drake Thompson. No! Stop. If you remember Drake you will let the bad man win. Forget about Drake. He was a bad boy. Yes he was. His hand went right up our skirt, remember. He found our flower and carefully caressed it away from us. He was gentle, but firm. He was so firm. He was…

Ashley knew she was losing. She was drifting asleep. Into her nightmare she went.

Ashley was sitting on her bed reading a letter George had written her. He explained how his parents were forcing him to take Molly Hampton to the fall fair instead of her. His letter explained how he didn’t even like Molly and was going to ditch her first thing. She read the letter with tears of hope in her eyes. He had stopped by moments early to break up with her and tell her it was over. Before he handed her the letter, he kissed her on the cheek and said, read it after I leave, please.

Ashley knew Molly was going to try to steal her man away. She was going to sneak off to that fair and meet up with him like he promised her. The letter said to wait by the Ferris Wheel. He was going to get Molly a cotton candy and tell her to wait by the bathrooms while he ran an errand for his brother. He was then supposed to sneak off and meet her behind the rodeo bleachers. She couldn’t wait to see the look on smug old Molly Hampton’s face. She wanted to send her back to her parents. It was because of Molly stealing her man she tried to seduce Molly’s cousin in the first place. No. Ashley. Stay on point. The voice of the bad man crept into her dream.

Ashley remembered tucking the letter under her pillow for safe keeping. It was going to be her good luck charm she figured. She got dressed and dashed towards the county fair in hopes of meeting up with her boyfriend, George Thompson. She didn’t have plans giving him her flower but she was certainly looking forward to taking the next step, French kissing. She had only ever French kissed that one camp counselor last summer. She only did it because he was cute and played that song her wrote her on his guitar. It was such a pretty song.

Ashley ran as fast as she could to meet her lover. It was too late. When she got there she saw Molly Hampton putting her hands around George’s shoulders, kissing him right smack on the lips and he wasn’t even fighting back. The nerve! She was so distraught she ran off as fast as she could. That is when she ran into George’s older brother Drake. He had been moping around the place since his girlfriend Jennifer moved away. Nobody really knew what happened as her parents had good jobs in town.

Ashley’s memories get fuzzy here. The rest of the night is a blur of the two rolling around under the rodeo bleachers, his hand going up her skirt, her lips kissing his earlobe. She felt him firmly, but gently, remove her flower at his own pleasure. She couldn’t even remember her own name, let alone if they used proper protection. In that moment she could feel his soul borrowing into hers as his love sword borrowed into her. She couldn’t believe it. Here she was making love to the brother of the boy she had been in love with. A whirlwind of guilt, love, pain and pleasure rushed through her body.

Ashley didn’t have words for the ecstasy she experienced that night as he had his way with her. Afterward she lay on the grass, feeling his love seed crawl into her egg and make a baby girl. Unlike Jennifer before her, Stephanie didn’t run off to have an abortion or whatever it was. She gave birth to the baby girl. She didn’t tell kids in school it was hers. She took a trip to Europe to live with her Aunt Lizzy in Copenhagen. Not a word of it was true. She did stay with her aunt while she had the baby but they were in Virginia nowhere near Europe. She returned with a new cousin who had been taken by the state following her mother’s drug arrest or some such lie the family told people.

Despite knowing she had made a living, breathing little girl with Drake, she refused to tell him it was his kid. She knew it would only bring him heartache. She married her husband, the football jock she dated from that point on and never looked back. That was until the day Drake showed up, out of the blue, to meet his daughter.

Ashley couldn’t remember anything more from there. She began screaming on top of her lungs until the men in the white pants took her back to her room, tied her back to her bed and put the drugs in her mouth.

She lay in the bed watching the little bunny rabbit racing the big, fat turtle around the face of the old man. She did that until it was time to close her eyes and go to sleep.

Chapter 42

It was a Sunday afternoon. Molly was sitting in the garden in her backyard with her daughter. She was explaining to Melody how her father was trying to get back into her life. Melody didn’t understand because after the divorce George walked away from his family. Still, Molly wasn’t going to keep her daughter away from her own father. Not if she wanted to see him.

“Mother, I know you can’t forgive him but I want you to come with us. You two don’t have to say a word to each other. I just want you to be there, for me.” Melody said.

Laying there in her bed in excruciating pain, holding back tears of what her daughter must be going through, Molly wished she could have been wiser. She should have suspected if George was trying to get back into his daughter’s life, there must have been a reason. Molly couldn’t believe she fell for it.

George knocked on the door. He invited Melody, and her mother, to accompany him on a father-daughter farewell date.

“You look absolutely stunning princess,” George said as Melody opened the door for her estranged father.

Here was a man who had walked out of her life several years ago now suddenly complimenting her, talking to her like he just came home from a work retreat or something, normal.

“Yeah, say’s who?” Melody asked. She was open to meeting her dad but she wasn’t in the mood for being overly friendly.

“I know, you have every right to hate me. I am not going to spend this day blaming your mother for what went wrong, or even apologizing for my errors. All I want is to spend one last day with my little girl before I move on with my life. You see, I met another woman and I am moving to California to start a new life. Before I head out I wanted closure, I, frankly, wanted to give you and your mother closure that is. The evening’s on my, my treat for the two of you putting up with my bullshit this whole time, sound fair princess?” he asked as he bowed his head towards her politely.

Molly had been standing off to the side, listening to the disgusting man she once pretended to love pull the wool over her baby’s eyes. If it wasn’t for her undying love for her kid, and respect for the young lady she was becoming, Molly would have tossed that son-of-a-bitch out on his ass right then and there. Looking back on how things transpired, Molly kicked herself daily for not making that happen.

The evening went off to a slow start. He took them to the carnival of all things. Knowing how their relationship got started, Molly surely didn’t think it was appropriate to say their goodbye’s in such a setting. Still, despite the gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of her stomach churning at the venom he spewed forth from his mouth, she carried on for her little girl.

Melody was about to finish high school and told her dad how she was glad he was leaving her behind. She said he could move on knowing full well she was going to be better off. As true as it sounded in her ears, she was surprised to hear George actually agree with her on this point.

It was sometime after the Ferris wheel that Molly began to notice George had been growing more distant throughout the night. Sitting atop the ride overlooking the view of the park, Molly had a flashback herself to that night she first began mistaking her feelings for him as love. She always knew their marriage was a sham.

Deep down that is, but she still told herself all these years she had looked deep into his eyes that night, above the fairgrounds, clutching that baggie containing the goldfish he “won her” in some contest. She looked deep into his distant eyes that night so long ago. Her heart stirring. She knew now it most certainly wasn’t love, not what her current understanding of what love was supposed to be.

However, she knew, at the time, he was the man she wanted to devote her time pursuing. She had to, he wasn’t willing to get over that Stephanie bitch. Molly never spent much time with her as she began taking George as her mate, knowing she would rather not associate with his ex-girlfriend for oh so many reason.

Somehow, sitting there all those years later, in a different park with her daughter, she saw something different in his eyes that night. If only she could have known what was going to happen next, she could have done something.

Melody was walking ahead of her mother with George walking by her side. They were eating their corn dogs he bought them. Melody knew she wasn’t going to see her dad again. Considering it had been so long since the last time he had been in her life, it really didn’t seem to bother her much.

“It’s getting late, George. We need to say you’re goodbyes and we need to get home,” Molly said.

He stopped in his tracks. Grabbed her by the shoulder and looked her square in the face, in the most serious tone he ever said.

“I know, love, I have one more surprise and then the night will be over. I will be out of your life, forever. Deal?” he said.

Molly wanted to brush his hands off her shoulder and push him away, but in the interest of not making a scene, and maybe, she thought, some sense of lingering feelings from long ago, she let him hold her gaze longer than she felt comfortable doing.

“Mom, please be nice. I am having fun and he’s moving away can we please just have tonight be a nice night?” Melody said.

George leaned in to kiss Molly, which she stopped with her hands.

“Um, what do you think you are doing? You want a nice night fine, but don’t try anything funny like that again got it Mr.?”

Molly said as she took a step back from her ex-husband who was beginning to really make her uncomfortable.

“I just got caught up in the moment can’t a man kiss his wife goodbye one last time?” he said as he made a really sad face.

“I would rather not, thank you very much. It would only further complicate things. Now, let’s get to this surprise so we can get on with our lives, shall we?” Molly said.

George nodded. He walked the women back to his car. He drove them down an old dirt road. Molly had never gone this way before, she had no clue what was down here.

“Where are you taking us?” Molly asked.

“Just a little further and everything will be right in the world. I promise. You know Melody always wanted us to buy her a horse, well I paid a guy to let us ride a stallion in the stables but we have to do it after midnight. We’re almost there.” George said.

Melody looked back at her mother with a puzzled look on her face.

“Um, George, not that I don’t appreciate this but when did I ever say I wanted a horse?” Melody asked.

“Oh, who the hell knows, I assume you must have it’s something all little girls want. Isn’t it the gesture that matters not the details?

I mean, sorry I didn’t mean it to sound like that I just, went to a lot of trouble to arrange this because I figured it would be a good way for you to remember me by. I guess I wasn’t really aware if you would be that into it anyways. We both know I was a lousy father, let’s not spoil it by making that your last memory of me.” George said.

The car pulled up to a ranch house way out in the country completely surrounded by woods. Molly was beginning to get really nervous. She had to calm herself down as she kept reminding herself nothing bad had happened yet.

Well, aside from that almost kiss. She knew in the back of her mind she was going to relive that moment for the rest of her life. As she lay there in what was sure to be her death bed she began to realize, that might not be too far off.

The car stopped behind the stables. The three got out and walked over to where the horses were kept. A stable boy had the horse primed and ready for her riding. He helped Melody up onto the horse and she rode around the grounds while Molly stood there, quietly by her ex-husbands side. More than a few minutes went before he spoke. He placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear,

“Tonight is the last night you will ever see me, rejoice in knowing that soon all will be right in the world, Molly Goldfish.”

Molly’s eyes widened as he called her by the nickname she knew other girls whom she wasn’t well liked would refer to her as. She turned her head to say something when someone from behind stabbed her in the shoulder with a needle. She could see men rushing the horse, yanking her daughters limp body down as she fell to the ground and blacked out.

By the time Molly had woken up she knew her life was essentially over. She was tied to a chair. Her arms and legs were bound. She wasn’t entirely sure where they were. She could hear men speaking what sounded like Spanish in the other room. It was very dark. All she could see before her was a single couch her chair was facing. She noticed she was gagged as well. She sat there with every terrifying though of what was happening to her daughter take place before her very eyes. It wasn’t long before she had an answer to her worst nightmare.

Three men dragged her baby into the room, twisting and turning as she struggled to get loose. Molly began flinching herself as she could only image what was about to take place.

Molly refused to replay this next part in her mind. She had to watch it happen, live while her husband videotaped the whole ordeal. Her little girl screaming in agony as these strangers violated her repeatedly while her mother watched helplessly.

Molly pushed the tears back from her eyes. She watched it happen over and over as Drake would constantly put the tape on and replay it for her. She could still hear her child’s cries for her mother to help her, for her father to rot in hell. For her abductors to die slow, horrible deaths. Then they drugged her, dragged her out of the room and paid George before he turned the camera to Molly.

“Your turn, bitch.”

Chapter 41

The days were getting longer. Molly was staying awake more and more each day. Molly had finally gotten to where she could wiggle her toes. Even though she was healing enough to almost move on her own, the thought of being healed enough to start the torture over again wasn’t exactly giving her much in the way of peace. She had started noticing how long he was going to be gone each day. She was begging to hatch a plan to get loose.

She knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Her plan was to try and wiggle free from her shackles. Then she was going to have to get some sort of sharp object in her hands. She wasn’t going to be able to get completely free so her plan was to stab him during his nightly visit where he had his way with her.

Molly couldn’t turn her head enough get a good look around the room. She knew there had to be something she could get her hands on. Molly knew it wasn’t going to be easy. She knew that if she was going to survive this she needed to get at least one of her hands free. She knew she only had a few days more go to. She was starting to get movement back in her legs. She could bend her knees. Her wounds were sealing up. It was only a matter of time before she was healed enough to start the final process of finishing her off. Drake explained to her how her body wouldn’t be able to recover the next time. She knew her days were numbered. At her current rate of recovery she anticipated she would have no more than two weeks left before it was over.

Despite everything she had been through, Molly was not going to give up so easily. She was determined to fight for her life. Even if her chances of survival were slim she was going to fight for her life. Deep down she was a fighter. Molly knew no matter what happened she had to survive. If not for herself, to save her daughter. She knew it was now up to her to get out of this, alive for her kid.

Molly spent all of her days laying in that bed in her blood, sweat, and piss trying to figure out what the hell she had done to deserve this. Sure she was a nagging wife but this went beyond that. Molly kept trying to figure out how these two men ended up blaming her for all of their messed up lives. Everything that had gone in the world was somehow her fault. She couldn’t stand it.

While she could agree she never truly loved George, in her mind she knew he never loved her either. Their marriage was arranged. Not in the old-fashioned sense but they really had no practical say in how their lives turned out. Molly remembered the night George took her to the fair. Even though she wasn’t falling in love with him, she still felt romance. In her mind it was enough. It was all they needed.

Her mother used to tell her not to confuse romance for love. She said a woman needed romance to get her motor running, but she could live a whole life without what people called true love. Her mother explained to Molly how she never loved her father but they stayed married. She said it was what you did. Molly accepted that. But not George.

He had this misplaced sense of true love he felt belonged to that girl, Ashley Taylor. And that was what she could never get her ex-husband to understand, he had a romanticized memory of a girl he knew ages ago, not sense of the woman Stephanie became. Molly didn’t know how deep his feelings for that other woman ran. Not until long after he helped Drake kidnap her.

Molly remembered the day vividly like it was yesterday. She replayed the events in her mind over, and over every day she was conscious. Even when she was a sleep she dreamt the same events. It was all she thought about.

Chapter 40

Hank wasn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch but he knew one thing well, that man was hiding something in that cabin. He was bound to prove it. Hank was wandering around the general store picking up survival gear. He would often head out into the woods for days at a time in full camo living off the land. It gave him a sense of satisfaction living off the grid.

His head was so full of wild conspiracy theories and anti-government thoughts, he could survive in the wilderness for days and nobody would be able to find him. If he couldn’t get the sheriff to take a look out there he was just going to have to do it himself.

Hank hadn’t always been a survivalist. He used to be an accountant for a tax firm many years ago. His wife left him for another man when he was much younger, took the kids with him. Hank liked to drink even back then. He never thought he had a problem but apparently she did because she took the kids and blamed the booze.

Hank thought it was a government conspiracy. He told himself his family had been placed in the witness protection program because he knew too much. He convinced himself they were killed in a covert mission and he was going to get back at the government someday. While he wasn’t going to make much progress in that today, he figured the least he could do is solve the mystery of that strange man who lived by himself out there with just a dog and a goldfish to keep him company.

“Man lives by himself, no wife, no kids you can’t tell me he ain’t up to no good. Hell, look at me I got no wife, no kids live by myself and here I am, up to no good. Police don’t do shit because they work for the man. I don’t work for no man. No sir. I don’t fool, I, he don’t fool, me, he ain’t fooling anybody.”

Hank was picking items up off the shelf seemingly randomly. He was fiddling with a pickax and talking to himself.

“That man, he sure as hell is up to no good or else my name ain’t well name ain’t important, the government know who I am. No damn body else needs to bloody know shit. Ain’t that right, gubernor, yes sir, well, no I is too an American yes I am. Shut up. Than man he is up to no good.”

The other shoppers were just shaking their heads and rolling their eyes as crazy Hank wandered up and down the aisle picking out the items he needed talking to himself. He picked out some rope, a couple of road flares, a bag of jerky and some white gardening gloves.

“How’s it going today Hank, you doing some more of that Big Foot hunting?” the store clerk asked as he pushed his cart to the counter.

“Laugh all you want Billy, this is a covert operation on a strictly need to no basis. You don’t know shit so you need to shut up. Thanks,” Hank said.

The clerk just rang up his items shaking his head.

“Hey man, so I got this coupon for 99 cents off, is it still good?” Hank asked as he handed the man clipping from an old newspaper.

“Hank this says expires in 1972. And it’s 99 cents off a car wash. Would you get out of here with that.”

“Oh Billy just give him the discount and take his coupon,” a voice said over the intercom.

“Thank you kind sir,” Hank said as he saluted then placed his hand over his heart.

“You hear that, God said to honor my coupon. Also, I get a veterans discount. My family is in the witness protection program. Killed by special ops. CIA. You didn’t hear that from me.”

The clerk just shook his head and gave Hank an additional 10 percent discount to placate him.

Hank packed his items into his backpack and began his trek up the hill into the woods to try and solve himself a mystery.

Chapter 39

It was 2 o’clock in the morning. George drove the car to the rendezvous point. His stomach was churning already. He knew Molly’s death and torture was a key element to the plan. Although he didn’t completely justify the kidnapping of his daughter, he did exactly as Drake instructed.

Watching the Mexican smugglers take his daughter away to be sold into prostitution was almost gut wrenching enough. He knew it wasn’t her fault but her suffering was all part of getting to Molly. Forcing the wicked bitch to watch the videotape of them raping her daughter before shipping her off to who knows where was all part of the torment Molly was going to suffer. The punishment had to fit the crime.

Ashley’s daughter had been brutally raped and then taken from her mother. Although deep down George wanted to feel remorse as it had been his own offspring, he turned it off and put on the mask of placing all the blame upon Molly. Everything that took place from here on out was all because of her.

He drove up to the dirt road. Got out of the car and opened the trunk. Inside, tied up was the waitress from the diner George had confided in recently. Her physical appearance and bone structure was similar enough to Molly she would make a perfect decoy. The plan was simple. Drake was going to film George cutting the woman’s hands off and shoving her, head first, into a wood chipper. Then he was going to record a message to the police how he was killing Molly and taking his own life because of what happened to Ashley. He had already watched the cartels ship his ex-wife’s daughter off. Now it was time to end this pathetic waitresses life too. After all who was going to miss a diner waitress with no future?

George dragged the woman up the slope along the dirt path. Once he got the woman inside he began tearing her clothes off. She was still bound and gabbed, sitting naked on a chair.

George walked over to the corner where Molly had been tied up.

He was going to really enjoy this. He took the knife and began cutting into her flesh. He soaked her clothes in blood then removed them from her body while Drake dressed her wounds. Although it wasn’t a part of the plan, George didn’t say anything as Drake helped himself to Molly while George dressed the waitress in Molly’s blood-soaked clothes. Now was the fun part.

He took a garden sheer and removed Molly’s ring finger, wedding band intact. Then removed the same finger from the woman. He placed Molly’s finger in a little keepsake case for Drake to use in the next phase. George knew he wasn’t going to be around for that phase. In order for the video to be convincing, and to throw the cops off the scent to allow Drake to carry out the plan, he had to end his life tonight too.

George was okay with that part. He was ready to end his own suffering. He just wished he could see the look on her face when Molly learns what transpired all because of her unwillingness to let people live their lives.

Now, with a bag over her head George, with the video camera set, shoved the waitress into the wood chipper head first. He savored every drop of blood and mangled flesh that splattered across his face. He turned to the camera and began reading from the cards.

When he was done he he winked at the camera and said. “Molly Goldfish must DIE! And now so shall I!”

Then the lights darkened around him as his body went limp. He could hear faint sounds of Molly crying as he drifted into the afterlife. Finally George was at peace.

Chapter 38

The next day George got to the hospital as quickly as he could. He was eager to do his part in helping bring some sort of comfort to the woman his heart ached for. He hoped his brother would wait for him to begin the next phase of the plan. Drake had assured George that would be the case.

He got out of the cab and walked up to the front gate. The security guards buzzed him in and he was greeted by the doctor.

“Good morning, Mr. Thompson I am glad to see you are looking well today. Last time I saw you I got the impression you were a bit distraught.” the doctor said.

“Yes, well as I stated I was recovering from a bender. I am clean and sober today. My desire is to do whatever I can to assist you in helping my friend get better.”

As they walked towards the doctor’s office she stopped in her tracks and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Mr. Thompson, again I say this with all due respect. Ashley Taylor is not likely to recover anytime soon.” she said. “There is a very real chance the trauma she experienced, the damage to her psyche is too much. Please do not get your hopes up. Our goal here today is not to expect a miracle. What we’re doing is taking it one puzzle at a time. Do you understand what I am telling you?”

“Yes, of course,” he replied. “I am hopeful I can help in any way. I don’t have any expectations beyond that.”

“Good. As long as we are clear,” the doctor said.

She led him into her office. She closed the door and sat at her desk.

“Please, have a seat,” the doctor said.

George sat at the chair. The doctor opened a desk drawer and pulled out a file. She handed him a piece of paper from the file.

“Does this make any sense to you?” the doctor said, handing him the drawing Ashley had made the day before.

As George sat there starring at the words

“Molly Goldfish must Die!” he began to drift into his own memories.

He imagined what Ashley must have been feeling as she learned he lied to her about breaking his date. Even though he tried to smooth things over he knew Ashley had seen her put her arm around him.

He told Ashley the two only went on rides together. He never told her the night ended with a kiss. Sitting here holding that piece of paper with those hurtful words scribbled on it, in light of the events of her killing her husband George wanted to tell the doctor everything.

Even though he knew it was wrong to take a life, deep down he felt in this case not only was it justified, it was necessary. He brushed that thought aside. His conscious had never even offered the possibility of him turning his deranged brother into the police. Sitting there in that chair he contemplated bringing it all to the doctors attention. What happened next, however, sealed his fate.

“Molly Goldfish is a pet. I won it for her at the fair the night we broke up. It doesn’t mean anything. I wouldn’t fixate on it.” George said.

“Are you sure Mr. Thompson? This seems like a pretty significant thing for a patient who has in fact taken a life to write wouldn’t you say?”

“I don’t know, you’re the doctor not me.” George snapped.

“Mr. Thompson please refrain from being curt.” she said. “That is not necessary. I merely believed you might have some insight considering she never mentioned that name before the day you showed up. How do you explain that? the doctor asked.

“You said it yourself.” George said. “She must have heard my name when I introduced myself to you and it brought back memories she was repressing. We broke up that night. She accused me of cheating on her with another girl, someone from out of town. She started dating the man she married, the man she killed, and I barely saw her since and haven’t spoken to her after high school.”

He handed her the pad.

“Doctor, if I could see her I might be able to calm her down.” he said. “Maybe I could ask her what it means. Would you allow that? You said yourself she began speaking only after I visited the last time. Maybe it triggered something. Please, let me see her.”

The doctor picked up a phone and whispered into the mouthpiece with her hand covering it. A few seconds went by and she nodded at him.

“Alright, Mr. Thompson. I will give you a ten minute visitation with the patient. Please be advised one sign of trouble and our security will have you removed and banished from this facility. Do I make myself clear, banished for life. No revocation,” the doctor said.

“Trust me, the last thing I want to do is cause that poor woman any more pain.” George said.

The door opened slowly. George was seated at a table. It was a small room. There was a window looking into it. The walls were completely white. There was no other furniture. Nothing a person could conceivably use as a weapon. The door opened and his heart stopped. The guards sat her down, in shackles, at the other end of the table.

He gazed upon the woman he had longed to love for so long. So many years lost, wasted spent trying to get along with a woman that wasn’t her.

“Hello Ashley. I am not sure if you remember me. My name is George, Thompson. We used to know each other many years ago. How are you doing today?”

She didn’t say word. She didn’t even look at him. He knew he only had ten minutes. He didn’t want to upset her but he had to make sure she was okay.

“Ashley. I know you probably can’t hear me.” George said. “You might not even remember me. I can’t even begin to imagine what you must be going through. I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart. I truly am sorry about the way things turned out. I never stopped loving you.”

He waited for a few moments hoping it would sink in. He looked her right in the eyes.

“Ashley, if you can hear me, I love you. I have always loved you.” he whispered. “I have been in torment every day of my life since Molly replaced you. She was nothing compared to you.Please understand I didn’t want things to work out the way they did. I hope you can forgive me. I won’t ask you to forgive Molly. She can’t hurt you anymore. Nobody will ever hurt you again. I want you to know I will never stop loving you. My heart breaks seeing you like this. It kills my soul to know I may have had a hand in putting you on this path.

George looked deep into Ashley’s lifeless eyes. He continued.

“I only wish I could go back in time and tell Molly I had other plans that night,” he said. “I wish I could go back in time and give you the goldfish I won. I won it for you. It was always for you. Molly never meant anything to me. I told the doctor she didn’t mean anything to you either. She never meant to hurt you. Neither did I.”

He looked down at the table for a moment. The dead in her eyes was creeping him out. Seeing her like this was tormenting him like nothing ever had done before.

He nodded towards the security guards. The door opened. He stood up to walk away. He stopped, placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“Molly Goldfish will never hurt you again. I love you Ashley. I wish you well,” he kissed her on the cheek and was immediately grabbed by the guards.

They dragged him out of the room and threw him out onto the streets. The doctor walked up to George.

“Mr. Thompson I gave you explicit instructions not to disturb the peace of my patient. Instead you make an inappropriate pass at her and make unwanted physical contact. You are hereby banished from this facility for life sir. Now be gone before I call the police,” the doctor said in a stern voice.

“Hey doctor!,” George yelled, “Don’t worry about Molly, it’s nothing okay. Goodbye. Just tell Ashley I said goodbye.”

The doctor didn’t even respond she was already heading into the facility. With the doors closed behind her George knew it was done. He was going to join his serial killer brother put an end to the misery Molly Goldfish brought upon the world.

He got back into his cab and drove back to his motel. Once inside George began packing his things. He knew the next phase of the plan was going to be the end of the road. The two of them were going to murder Molly Thompson aka. Molly Goldfish once and for all.

George walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror one last time as he brushed his teeth. He wanted to be at his best before he took the life of the woman he grew to hate. The woman he now blamed not only for his own suffering, but the tragedy that had befallen the one person he truly ever loved. As he looked into the eyes of a man about to end another person’s life he no longer saw George Thompson staring back.

George gathered his belongings and rode the cab up to the cabin where he was supposed to meet Drake.

“Brother, it is so good to see you. Did you find what you were looking for?” Drake asked.

“Yes indeed. I am completely willing to do my part in ensuring this bitch is dealt with appropriately. She deserves to die in the worst way and I intend to assist you in making that happen.” George said.

“Good, brother. Because the next phase is going to be the hardest. You will be tempted to waiver. But if you stick to the plan your pain will be over soon. Molly will get what is coming to her and Ashley will have peace of mind knowing we settled her debt to society.” Drake said.