Title: Nevermore
Chapter: 5
Author: Evidence
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Thanks so much for reading this. Sorry for the delay with the update- life interfered. Thanks always to D and Maple Street.
Her shoes tapped on the linoleum surface creating a rhythmic tone. A guard nodded to her as she showed him her badge. The large door was opened to a small room with a beaten up wooden desk and two metal chairs. In one chair sat her cousin.
"Tommy, you asked for me?"
"Samantha, yes!" He smiled at her brushing a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I remembered something."
She took the seat across from him, hesitant to be there. She didn't want to hear any more of his rantings but if something were to help stop Podena then she would have to push her feelings aside.
"What did you remember?"
"The girl, the girl killed, Susan Shepherd. I know where he buried her."
Sam was taken back and her body movement showed so.
"You don't believe me," he said his voice nearly a whisper and child like.
"No, I believe you but you didn't say anything earlier."
"I didn't know then."
Sam sighed. "Tommy, you haven't seen Podena in the last few hours right?"
"Well...kinda."
Great, Sam thought, he doesn't know what he's talking about, Podena isn't here.
"I had a vision."
"A vision?" Sam blew air out of her mouth. A wasted trip down to detox.
Thomas leaned closer to her. "I don't want the other ...things...here to hear me," he said in a whisper.
"Okay," she whispered back.
His lip quivered. "Franklin told me that he buried Susan with the others at his Uncle's farm in upstate New York."
"Do you know where this farm is exactly?"
"Something that begins with an A." He pressed at his temple trying to will the information out.
Samantha was pondering too. "Altamont?"
"That's it!" He shouted. Turning back to a whisper, "His uncle's name is Harry Podena."
Sam put her hand on top of Thomas's. "You did good Tommy. Real good." She smiled at him.
"Good," he responded and then he looked at her deeply.
"What?" It was nearly unnerving.
"You're infected."
"Tommy..."
"Someone gave you a love drug- I can see it in your eyes. You're in love and lost. Sam, save yourself."
She grinned but felt touched and saddened at the same time. He had hit the nail on the head for the way she was feeling. Loving Jack was wonderful and awful at the same time for he was not hers to love. Without him she felt stuck in some labyrinth trying desperately to get out but not knowing the way.
A flash of a camera snapped the last image of two young college students whose lives had been shortened. The coroner gently laid each of them in their own black bag as if there were dolls that after being taken out to play had to be put away. A crowd of onlookers witnessed the scene, terrified expressions on their faces but their curiosity too great to ignore the events unfolding in front of them.
"Hey Jack," An older, graying man addressed him as Jack and Danny entered the area.
"Bruce, sorry to see you again under these circumstances."
"Every year I think the world is getting to be a worse place to live," Lt. Bruce O'Hara said, flipping open his small notepad.
"It's hard to find peace and understanding in it all," Jack replied. "What do we know so far?"
"Podena appears to be the killer. Mr. Kenneth Wright was walking his Maltese around the park when he saw a man matching Podena's description slip into the bushes. He thought it was odd but didn't report anything."
"Of course not- better to pretend your deaf and blind," Danny spoke, shaking his head.
O'Hara continued. "A skateboarder and Business major, Jacob Russell, found the two girls dead. He had been chatting with them a few minutes before. The victims are Kimberly Lawson and Nicole Sygarue. Both nineteen, roommates and Environmental Science majors."
"How did he end their lives?" Jack asked feeling that old familiar lump in his throat.
"The coroner thinks strangulation." O' Hara rubbed at his brow. "We have to find this bastard Jack."
"Yes we do." Jack's eyes scanned the scene of chaos, fear and death in front of him. Sometimes he hated his job.
"Hi, Adam, how are you?" Vivian put her best smile on.
"Oh great Vivian. How's Reggie?"
"Excellent." She paused waiting to ask the lab tech the favor to get him out of the room. She had waited until his partner Miles had taken his lunch break to come in. Miles would never leave her alone in the tech taping room but Adam might. Miles was a stuck up, rule abiding, 40 years old that treated the agents like little dumb children. Adam on the other hand was always warm and friendly. "Adam, I have a favor to ask you. My car won't start. Can you look at it?"
Adam smiled. "Oh sure. You know the Corvette I'm rebuilding is almost done."
"Really? Oh wow. Good for you."
"Only one problem. Miles is not back from lunch yet. I can't leave the equipment alone." He sighed swirling his seat slightly making his black bangs fall into his eyes.
"Oh true...well I could stay here. I promise I won't touch anything."
Adam contemplated. "Yeah, okay. You have a Taurus right?"
"Yes, license plate FG678. It' navy." Vivian smiled. She handed him her keys.
"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Thanks Adam," Vivian called as he walked out the door.
She quickly began scanning the recent tapes laid out on the counter. Her eyes caught "Interrogation Room" written in bold, black marker. The time was accurate. She took it, putting it in the waiting tape deck. Pressing play she heard Jack and Sam as how she had never wanted to hear them. Removing the tape and sliding it in her blazer pocket, she tried to ease her nervousness. Vivian had just done something wrong, illegal but she did it for two people who deserved a break in life. She had to keep reminding herself of that.
The anchor of the 12 o'clock news report was warning the metropolis of the horrible monster Franklin Podena. They had used the words "suspected" and "alleged" in the report but he knew they had just tried and convicted him. His time was running short. The college girl's deaths had made the news...he need a new death for the 6 o'clock report. He turned from the Radio Shack storefront and scanned the busy street. People rushing out to lunch or back to work. Tourists milling about checking out the sites. So many people whose lives he could end in a minute. Then he saw him pull up- the next victim.
The yellow cab pulled to a stop. "Hey man you need a ride?" The cabbie asked, his dred locks swaying in the wind.
"Sure," Franklin Podena replied getting in the back seat.
"Where to?" The cabbie asked.
A smile crossed his face. "Hell."
The cabbie laughed. "Okay but first where can I take you?"
He thought for a minute and then inspiration struck. "Foley Square."
To be continued...