Goddamnit, Gale needed a plan.
She needed a plan desperately.
The killer has struck the past two nights in a row, and it wasn't a question that he would strike again tonight.
But where? And who was next?
She yanked open the sliding door to the newsvan and hopped out onto the sidewalk. The campus was still full of kids celebrating the day off, throwing a football back and forth, studying in the grass, and goofing off, celebrating their early spring break.
It almost made you forget about the terrifying fact that the entire reason they were out of school is because of a possible serial killer on the loose.
She hadn't seen Dewey in a while, so she had to think of something else.
Some way to find out where the killer would strike next.
Think, Gale. If she were a killer in Woodsboro, where would she go tonight to claim her next victim?
She soon realized she had no fucking idea.
Then, again, out of nowhere and seemingly by godsend, she noticed a guy stand up and shout "Party at Stu Macher's house tonight at 8! Food, beer, and chicks!" which resulted in several loud cheers and 'I'll be there's.
Gale felt a surge of ecstasy. Of course, where else to strike but a house full of drunk teenagers? She also recognized the name, Stu. Wasn't that Sidney's friend's boyfriend?
Sidney would probably be with her friend at the party.
A house full of drunk teenagers where Sidney was? There was no way the killer wouldn't be there.
Gale knew exactly how she was going to catch the son-of-a-bitch.
All she would need is a little help from Kenny, and some luck, and she might end up catching the real killer of Maureen Prescott on video for the world to see.
Gale caught up with the guy, who was heading away towards the parking lot, and tapped his shoulder.
"Excuse me; did you say there was a party tonight?"
"Yes, m'am…Aren't you that chick from Top Story?" he asked, his eyes wide with fascination.
"Why, yes," Gale said proudly. "Where is this party going to be again?"
"It's out by the edge of town. You take the highway, go by the old sawmill, and it will be on the right, you can't miss it. It's a sweet pad,"
"And, who all will be there?"
"Pretty much the whole student body," the guy said. "Wait, do you actually want to come?"
"Maybe," Gale said. "I might make a guest appearance. Try to gain some more teenage insight for my show,"
But Gale knew what she was going to do. She was going to catch a killer.
The afternoon sun was glowing bright orange, painting the tops of the trees as it was quickly disappearing behind the horizon.
Normally, the neighborhood would have been bursting with life. Dads mowing the lawn while the women were inside cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the kids playing outside in the backyard; but today, the street and yards were empty.
Everyone was behind locked doors.
Sidney and Tatum sat on Tatum's front porch; Dewey's patrol Jeep sat in the driveway.
"Tatum, do you think my mom was a slut?" Sidney asked, completely out of nowhere, her gaze transfixed into a blank focused stare.
Tatum sighed nervously.
"No, Sid. But maybe Cotton is telling the truth. Maybe they were having an affair," Tatum said hesitantly. "I mean, your dad was always on business trips. Maybe your mother was just an unhappy woman," Tatum said, trying to be as delicate as possible.
"How come Cotton couldn't prove it in court?" Sidney asked.
"Well, you can't prove a rumor. That's why it's a rumor," Tatum said.
"Yeah, started by that tabloid twit Gale Weathers," Sidney said spitefully.
Tatum knew not to say it, but she did anyway. She had to know the truth.
"It goes further back, Sid. There's been talk of other men before Cotton," Tatum explained.
There was a pause.
"And you believe it,"
Tatum shifted positions uncomfortably.
"Well…you can only hear that Richard Gere gerbil story before you have to start believing it," she said, trying to inject some humor into the brutal honesty, but to Sidney, it still felt like a kick in the stomach.
Sidney stood up and walked towards the railing, leaning against it.
"I'm sorry…" Tatum said.
It was what Sid had known all along. She had just been denying it to herself, and now that Tatum had said it out loud, she knew it was true.
"Then…if I was wrong about Cotton, then the killer is still out there," said Sidney, looking out into the neighborhood, feeling a cold chill.
Tatum stood up and joined her at the railing.
"Don't start talking shit like that, Sid. You're starting to sound like some Wes Carpenter flick or something," Tatum said laughing.
Sid forced a smile.
"Hey, we got a long night ahead of us. Dewey's taking us into town to get some snacks and some booze and then we are partying our asses off, and you're going to forget about all this murder business," Tatum said with a smile.
Sidney felt a little bit better, but she couldn't ebb the feeling in the pit of her gut that told her it was a horrible idea.
What could go wrong? She would be around a lot of people and Stu's house was out in the middle of nowhere where nobody could find her.
She would be totally safe.
Sidney didn't know how wrong she was.
It was nighttime in Woodsboro.
Typically, a Friday night was full of life in the quiet community. Groups of teenagers strolling down Main Street getting kicked out of shops for having nothing better to do, parties on every block…but not tonight.
Woodsboro looked like a ghost town.
The streets were devoid of people…of cars…of life in general. All the stores and shops were locked up tight. Shop owners were hanging up closed signs, and hurrying towards their cars to get home to beat the curfew.
The town was in fear.
Sidney hadn't seen Woodsboro this way since her mother was killed. It was the same hysteria and fear that was in the air…the heavy oppressive blanket hanging over the town.
The more she thought it about it, the more uneasy she was becoming about the party tonight.
It seemed like such a bad idea and in such bad taste to throw a party while two people they all knew had been brutally slaughtered and a psychopath was on the loose.
Dewey had tried to protest it before they left the house.
"Really, Tatum? A party with a killer on the loose? Mom's going to kill you and me both," Dewey had said.
"Don't be self-righteous. It's just a little blow-out. We will be perfectly safe," Tatum had quipped back.
Dewey honestly didn't have a choice with Tatum around. He kind of did what she told him to do.
At times, it was humorous. But other times, Sidney could see how much it bothered Dewey.
Tonight, she was clinging onto hope that Tatum was right.
Dewey pulled the patrol Jeep to the side of the road in front of a small convenience mart that sat across from the police station.
"God, look at this place, it's like the town that dreaded sundown," Sidney said, looking out the windshield at the deserted downtown district.
"Isn't that a movie about some killer in Texas?" Dewey asked.
Sidney nodded.
She had picked up a bit of knowledge from Randy over the years.
"Hey, Sid, if they make a movie about you, who do you think they will cast to play you?" Tatum joked from the backseat.
Sid scoffed.
"I see you as a young Meg Ryan," Dewey said in a brotherly tone.
Sidney smiled.
"Well, with my luck, they'd cast Tori Spelling,"
Tatum and Sidney piled out the Jeep as Dewey climbed out and began to head for the police station.
"Don't go far. I'll just be a few minutes talking to Burke," Dewey called over his shoulder.
"Ok!" Tatum called and headed inside the convenience mart, Sidney following behind.
Tatum grabbed a buggy and started pushing it down an aisle, stopping at a rack and grabbing a few bags of chips.
"Is Billy going to be there tonight?" Sidney asked curiously.
"He'd better not be," Tatum said with animosity. "I told Stu to keep his mouth shut. I think we can live without any more endorphin rushes for one night,"
A frumpy middle-aged woman reshelving jars of salsa stopped and looked at them.
"You girls better hurry up, we're under curfew," she warned.
"We won't be long. We promise," Tatum said sweetly, grabbing a jar of salsa out of the box and moving along, Sidney strolling along aside her.
"You know, maybe Billy really didn't do it. He's always climbed in my window before, maybe it was just a coincidence," Sidney said in a hushed tone.
Tatum gave her a look.
Oh, please Sid. I've always had such an icky feeling about him. He's too perfect," Tatum said.
"I'm just so unfair to him, Tatum. He said something today at school about having a girlfriend who'd rather accuse him of being a killer instead of touch him and he's right," Sidney said.
Tatum grabbed a six pack of sodas and placed them in the buggy.
"He is so dramatic. Doesn't he know what you've been through?" Tatum said.
"This was going on before all this happened, Tatum. It's like I can't relax when I'm with him," Sidney replied.
"So what? You have some intimacy issues as a result of your mother's untimely death. It's no big deal; you'll thaw out," Tatum assured.
Sidney hesitated.
"He's been so patient with me, Tatum. It's been a year. I should be getting over it,"
"So you're just expected to suddenly feel better because your boyfriend wants to fuck you? He's a total sleaze, Sidney," Tatum said, throwing in some more chips and dip.
"But how many guys would deal with a girlfriend who's sexually anorexic? I mean, maybe it's time for me to just let go and have a good time tonight," Sidney said.
"Look, I won't tell you what to do, I just don't think Billy and his penis deserve you," Tatum said.
Sidney laughed.
Tatum turned the corner down the junk food aisle and grabbed a bag of candy and another six-pack of sodas.
"What gets you in the mood for sex? What do you think about?" Sidney asked.
Tatum pondered the thought for a minute.
"Well, with Stu, there's no time to reflect beforehand," Tatum remarked, scoffing. "To relax, I think of Grant Goodeve,"
"Who?" Sid asked.
"Grant Goodeve? Oldest brother on that show, Eight is Enough? I was in love with him, he was so hot. The show came on every day after right during my puberty years," Tatum said, her eyes drifting off dreamily.
Sidney didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but just kept nodding.
"During foreplay, I just sing the theme song to myself, think of him, and it's a real turn on,"
Sidney laughed, shaking her head.
"Whatever works, I guess,"
"It works, Sid. Besides, Grant's basket is probably a whole lot bigger than the one Stu pushes," Tatum said with a mischievous grin.
"Tatum!" Sidney exclaimed, stifling a laugh.
"Oh, come on, Sidney. A guy can talk tits until he's dead but the second a woman talks about an eight inch penis, watch out," Tatum said.
The girls burst out laughing.
Neither of them noticed the ghost-masked figure who had been following them from aisle to aisle, watching them…listening…stalking his prey…
Tonight, Sidney would learn the whole truth.
Just how much of a slut her mother really was. Just how much the truth was going to hurt.
The truth would end up putting her and her friends in grave danger.
Dewey walked inside the police station, which unlike the rest of the town, was busy as hell.
Officers running back and forth, shouting across the room to each other, phones ringing off the hook; it was a madhouse.
It hadn't been this busy since Maureen Prescott was killed.
Maureen's murder was especially hard for Dewey. He had only become a police officer a few months before, and he was thrown into one of the most gruesome crime scenes in state history.
He still saw some of the crime scene photos in his dreams…in his thoughts…etched into his brain…he had been there for her autopsy and those images were burned into the walls of his mind as well.
How someone could do something like that to a human being, he had no idea.
He almost felt like his own mother had died. He already was close to Sidney through Tatum, and knew her parents well.
Her poor father almost fell straight through the cracks; he still wasn't the same man he used to be. He was always wrapped up in his work now and almost never saw anyone outside of business interactions anymore. He was the hull of a man.
Maureen's killer took her life, but also the lives of many others. It was like it took a little piece of Sidney and Neil and even himself and everyone around Sidney.
They all felt it. They all felt Sidney's and Neil's pain.
He remembered sitting in the kitchen late one night with Sidney when she couldn't sleep a few nights after the murder.
She wasn't crying. It was almost like she was out of tears to cry.
She just said "Why her?" over and over again. "Why her?"
Dewey didn't understand either.
Out of all people, kill a bright, vibrant, beautiful woman with her life ahead of her, and a daughter with her life ahead of her. Just rob everyone of such a wonderful wife and mother.
Dewey grew so close to Sidney in the next few months after the murder. He would stay up late with her, and they would talk about everything there was to talk about.
Life, death, relationships…Dewey was like the brother Sidney didn't have.
He had said "Some things just happen in life and we don't know why. I promise time will pass, and you will move on from this. You are strong, Sid. You are a survivor"
Dewey meant every word of it.
From the moment he met Sidney, he knew there was something about her…something so strong…so brave.
She was a fighter, and her dealing with her mom's death made him more certain that Sidney would move on and Sidney was just that.
A survivor.
Now, with the killer back on the loose, he was afraid that Sidney was in a whole lot of danger and this party was seeming like more and more of a bad idea.
As Dewey passed by Sheriff Burke's office, Burke called him gruffly.
Dewey entered the office, where Burke was leaning back in his chair, puffing on a cigarette.
"I thought you quit" Dewey said.
"I did…" the Sheriff sighed. "But, damn it, Dewey, We've got bad news,"
Dewey closed the door and walked towards him, hushing his voice.
"What?"
"Vital Phone just faxed us. Those phone calls are listed to Neil Prescott, Sid's father,"
Dewey's eyes widened with disbelief.
"He made those calls with his cellular phone, it's been confirmed,"
Dewey felt the color draining from his face. Had he heard him right? Sidney's father was the killer? Oh shit, how was Sidney going to take this?
"There's no way his cellular could have been cloned?" Dewey asked, still incredulous.
"There's more…guess what tomorrow is? The anniversary of his wife's death," Burke said.
Dewey felt a chill as the realization hit him.
"We'll keep up roadblocks and the curfew in effect until morning. If he's not picked up by morning, we'll start a state-wide search. Where's Sidney?" Burke asked.
"She's across the street with my sister. Do you want me to tell her?
"No, no, no," Sherriff Burke said adamantly. "Not yet. Let's find Neil first, make sure he's our man,"
Dewey nodded.
"Yes sir,"
Burke stood up and leaned across the desk.
"You keep a close eye on Sidney. Don't let her out of her sight," he said, his eyes possessing a level of seriousness that made the hairs on the back of Dewey's neck stand up.
"Yes, sir,"
With that, Dewey left the office, closing the door behind him.
Holy shit, Dewey thought. Her own father? The killer? It didn't make sense.
But then again, it did. The anniversary of Maureen's murder was tomorrow. What if the stress was too much for Neil and he snapped? Went on a killing spree as a result from being unhinged by his wife's death?
This news would devastate Sidney. He definitely had to keep his mouth shut; let Sidney have at least one night of fun before finding out her father was the suspect in a double homicide.
Dewey left the police station, trying to act like he didn't know a thing as Sidney and Tatum approached the Jeep and began unloading groceries into the back.
"Well, girls, looks like I'm coming to the party. Sheriff's orders to keep an eye on Sid," Dewey said, leaning against the Jeep.
Tatum groaned.
"Really? My older brother is going to babysit us?"
"Sorry, Tatum. While this guy is on the loose, I can't let Sid out of my sight,"
"Ugh. Fine," Tatum conceded, placed the last bag into the backseat, and climbed into the jeep.
Sidney felt a wash of relief come over her knowing Dewey was going to be at the party.
Dewey wasn't much protection, but him and his gun was better than nothing.
Besides, why would the killer risk attacking with all those people around?
Sidney climbed into the passenger seat and began to feel safer and safer as Dewey climbed into the driver's seat and drove the Jeep towards the edge of town, a tan news van discreetly following them the entire way...
