COVER UP
Paragould, Arkansas
Two months ago
"Shut up and eat your dinner".
A guy in his forties glares at a young girl next to him. He seems to be in an awful bad mood. He is sitting at a diner table in a rather classy home. The local weather forecast is broadcasted on the television in the other room and breaks the cold silence.
"It's gonna be 83° tomorrow, Dad", a young boyish voice says from the living area.
"I can hear that, boy. I'm not deaf!", he shouts back.
"Daddy, I'm not hungry anymore", she states careful and sad.
"I don't give a damn, that plate is clean in five minutes, or else…"
"Robert…", a woman sitting across the table warns him.
"No, I'm so sick of this lingering. I have better things to do! I'm gonna miss my show", he snipes and turns back to his daughter.
"Eat your food or I'll stuff it in", he threatens.
"I'm full!", she says, raising her voice.
In a blink of an eye he backhands her and she lets out a cry. When she looks back up to her father, tears are building up in her green eyes. Then she quickly flees and runs to the stairs.
"Laura! Get back here!", her father shouts.
But she doesn't listen and the door to her room slams.
"Dad, your show's on", their son informs from the other room.
"Damn it! That's it, I had it up to here with her!", he gets up furious and follows her, taking two stiles in one step as he climbs the stairs.
He opens the door and stares into the room, then slowly walks in.
"Daddy, please don't. Please… No, no!", Laura cries as the sounds of punches come through the door.
"Come here you little… How you like this, huh? And this!", he shouts while hitting her.
Her mother looks at the corridor, but remains seated. As if she pretends she doesn't hear the constant beating and screaming, she pricks a potato on her fork and eats it. Then, one long loud scream that overrules all others…
Gasping for air Zoë sits up in her bed. While heavily breathing she stares at the wall in front of her, her eyes widened. Chill, take a breath, it's just another nightmare. She rubs her face and sighs. Man, that was bad. She feels like she just got out of a car crash or something, soar, panicking and confuses. Sweat is running down her back and yet she feels stone cold. She breathes out slowly, waiting on the side of the bed until she's calm. A gaze at the clock on the cabinet informs her of the time, it's 7:15 in the morning. Zoë huffs, and she hoped to sleep in. When she gets on her feet, the headache comes to her. Moaning she walks over to the bathroom; unpleasantly surprised by it once again. Every time she wakes up, she's unprepared for the strike in the head. Strange, because after every single nightmare like these, she has these blinding pains. Without looking at the faucet she turns on the shower while steam covers the mirror with a layer of moist. She takes of her Snoopy shirt and knickers and quickly jumps in to the shower. As soon as the water hits her skin, a feeling of relief and relaxation comes to her. Now that she's back to her old self again, the tiredness sets in. How long did she sleep, an hour or two maybe? After an exhausting seven hour drive (including a quick shower stop to get rid of the smell she was still carrying with her after her previous case in Rochester, Minnesota) she finally arrived in Paragould, Arkansas, a little over 550 miles south. She checked into the first motel she could find, got out of her clothes and crashed in her bed. At that time of night, she couldn't think of the dream she had over the last couple of nights. As the warm water refreshes her, Zoë starts to take out the details of the images she just saw during her sleep. It was the same kind of dreamas last night and the night before, the exact same scenery, the same people and the same events. She concentrates and brings back the precise memories she has been playing over and over in her head.
"… that's good news for the locals down there, let us see if Brian can give us some positive news about the weather".
"Well Julia, that I can. Looks like it's going to be another sunny day in Green County tomorrow. Clear blue skies, a mild refreshing breeze from the southwest and a temperature of, brace yourself, 94° Fahrenheit average, which is rather warm for this time of the year. Even when we look further up the road it seems like these high temperatures just keep on going. Great weather for July and summer isn't leaving Arkansas any time soon, Julia".
She could hear it so clear in her dream, the 6 O' clock weather forecast of the local TV station, somewhere July this some work on the computer she found Greene County, in the far north east of Arkansas. Over 38.000 people live in this countywith Paragould as its micropolitan area with a population of almost 25.000. Besides the fact that it seemed obvious to take a look in the largest city of the county first, for some reason when that name appeared on her computer screen she just knew this was where she needed to go. She turns off the shower and steps on the warm carpet next to the sink as she grabs a clean towel from the drying frame. For a second she takes a look at the scar next to her bellybutton where she got hit by a bullet almost two days ago; it looks good. With a second towel folded around her head and the other tightened around her chest, she walks out into the main room. It looks better than the previous motel, the colors are fresh and bright. The furniture is simple, an abstracted sunset is painted on the wall and gives the room something exotic. Now that the bad headaches finally decrease, she can face the sun outside. Even though the temperature isn't as uncomfortably high as in July, the weather forecast could as well been for this beautiful September morning. It's just now that Zoë sees the graveyard across the street. She chuckles; she sure picked her spot. As she looks outside, her thoughts wonder off to Sam. She's not exactly sure why she can't stop thinking about him, but she has a hunch. Her dreams, his dreams, their dreams. Zoë was quite surprised when Sam mentioned the fact that he has been having nightmares, it got even weirder when she learned that he dreams about bad things happening to people and it became scary when she realized his dreams actually come true. Familiar? Just a little, but not entirely though. Sam apparently sees things that are about to happen, while she herself sees what already has. Zoë can't help it wonder how it's possible that two complete strangers start having these, what should she call it… visions around the same time. A sigh escapes from her lips; she can barely believe seeing the past or the future is possible. What a weird world they live in. She turns around and gazes at her messy bed for a moment. It seems to invite her back in and she would gladly crawl under those warm covers and sleep. Then again, what's the use if she's going to wake up an hour later with the exact same images in her head, feeling just as crappy as she did a moment ago? She decides to get dressed and make the best of this beautiful day.
Thirty minutes later she's sitting at a table in a diner next to the Sunset Motel. Not just some diner, but an actual McDonald's. Zoë is amazed every time by her great ability to pick out perfectly located motels, as the last one was right next to a Wendy's; she's a natural. Clocks by the British band Coldplay plays in the background as a warm morning sun comforts her. Zoë's stomach rumbles as if there's a war going on inside. It's not strange that she's hungry; the taco from Tacobell she had last afternoon was the last meal she had.
"Here you go", the lady who just took her order at the counter serves her not one, but two burgers.
Zoë thanks her and quickly unwraps the first burger. Then she takes a big, slow bite from her juicy, fresh made Big Mac and she can think of only one thing:Viva la McDonald's. She closes her eyes and enjoys every bit of it, she so needed this. Already the world seems brighter than it did a minute ago. Because, be honest, there's nothing better than a Big Mac at 8 O'clock in the morning. Remarkable how food can swing your mood, hers just improved amazingly. She glances outside from her red bench, over the fields of Linwood Cemetery. Normally Zoë things of these places as cold, troubling and dark scenes, but on this sunny morning it actually seems like a peaceful resting place. The rising sun shines an angelic light on the tombstones who stand in line for as far as her eyes can see. She huffs, if she needs to release a spirit on this case, she sure hopes she doesn't have to burnany bones. If she does, it's gonna be a hell of a night, checking every one of those stones for a name. She's looking forward to it already. An elderly man walks into the diner as Zoë licks her fingers before she starts on her second burger, and orders a coffee. He looks like a tramp with his unshaved face, crackled hat and dirty coat. He has a newspaper folded under his arm which he opens as he's seated opposite of Zoë. At first she doesn't pay attention to the guy, who takes his time drinking his coffee and catching up with the news, until he flips the front page. As she takes her last bite, her eyes capture a picture, then she coughs and almost chokes on her Big Mac. 'Appreciated doctor found dead in own home', the headline says. Stunned she stares at the picture. There's no way she forgets a face like that, it's the bastard that beat the crap out of that little girl in her dream. She leans towards the man to read the smaller lines, but he pulls away his paper and glares at her from behind it. She decides to ask for the paper nicely.
"Excuse me, Mr. Could I borrow your…"
"Get your own!", he snarls.
Zoë frowns and backs out. And she thought she was moody in the morning. Annoyed she gets up, greets the lady behind the counter and takes the free paper from the rack near the exit. As she walks out of the diner, she opens the paper and observes its front page, then she reads the article.
Appreciated doctor found dead in own home
Second tragedy Shire family
PARAGOULD, AR September 23, 2005— Dr. Robert Shire (44), a surgeon at the local
Arkansas Methodist Medical Center, was found dead Wednesday night in his home in
Paragould. According to local police, there was no forced entry, but suspicious
circumstances were reported.
According to a press release, released by the Paragould Police Department Thursday
evening, on Wednesday at approximately 6:01 PM, the PPD responded to the Shire
home in reference to reports of a dead body. Evidence from the autopsy that was
performed Thursday morning show that his cause of death was asphyxiation through
strangulation. During time of death, the Shire family was present in the house, they
are not suspected by the PPD.
Additional evidence gathered by police throughout the nighthave "led investigators to
believe that incidents of domestic violence did occur in the home," according to the
press release. Yet they found no evidence of break and entry, nor did they find DNA
or fingerprints at the crime scene. A suspect has not been officially named in the case.
The death of Dr. Robert Shire marks the second loss in the Shire family. This July
Dr. Shire and his wife lost their 10 year old daughter.
As of press time the family has not begun making funeral arrangements.
There you have it, the first kill. Zoë still wants to do a bit of research on this, but she knows a seriously pissed off spirit when she sees one. She folds up the paper and walks back to her Motel, going through the developments. Normally it bugs her when she's too late to save the first victim, but in this case a part of her is glad she did. It may be wrong of her to think that way, but the way he treated his daughter, he kind of got what he deserved in her opinion. Still, she has to get rid of angry Laura, because ghosts this violent, don't usually stop with one kill. Who knows who she might blame for her own death…