Chapter Ninety Four
(Monster)
Alonzo Mendoza
I was cold and hungry, thirsty too but I didn't make any noise, I knew how the game was played. I had thought he was dead all these years but he'd just been waiting for me to make a mistake and then he pounced. I wished Kat would hurry up and find me, before he came back. I knew he would be back if only to gloat at his miserable excuse for a son. Marcus had always been his favorite, I was always a disappointment, the runt of the litter. I tried real hard to be good, to earn his love and respect but whatever I did it was never enough.
He hated me to the day I ran away from home, got myself a job and found a wife. Then I had someone who respected me. I was the breadwinner and she stayed at home and had babies. Two pretty little daughters but they didn't respect me like they should and I finally saw what my father had seen in me, a disappointment but I knew what I had to do. I would follow his example and hope I did better than he did.
Darius
Edward and I had decided to go check on our prisoner and leave him just enough food and water to keep him alive. As we got close to the cave we could hear voices, no, just one voice. Alonzo was talking to himself and the closer we got the more we understood his behavior, what had turned him into the monster he had become, not that it excused it any.
"Well he's still alive and that's all we need worry about."
"How much longer before Jazz comes do you think?"
"No idea, I guess that depends on Bella. Why you got somewhere better to be?"
Alonzo
He thought I didn't hear him up there but I did, I could feel his presence looking down on me, waiting for me to cry, to beg him to let me out. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I'd learned to live with the hunger and cold, the stink of piss and crap just like my own kids had before those men stole them from me. But Kat would come looking for me, she was my favorite little girl, she knew why I did the things I did, she understood I was trying to make her a better person and there was Ellie too although she'd always been trouble, always whining and moaning. Then there was Aggie, my beautiful innocent little angel, but I knew she would grow up just like the others, wicked and disrespectful.
Edward
He was as crazy as batshit, thinking what he did was acceptable, that he could treat children the way he did and that they would love him. Kat wasn't coming looking for him only one person would come for him and that was going to be his worst nightmare.
The longer Bella suffered the worst it would be for Alonzo when Jazz finally got here. I could hear the rubbish rolling around in his head and we turned to leave after throwing a bottle of water and a sandwich down for him. Suddenly I stopped grabbing Darius by the arm.
"What?"
"There are others, at least there were others."
"Others?"
"Yes, Bella wasn't the first, I saw them, other faces, other children or teenagers anyway. He killed them all, his family too."
"You mean there are other missing kids he kidnapped and killed? Other parents who have no idea what happened to their kids?"
"Yeah, a few. He buried their bodies under his father's house, a kick in the teeth for the old man. Another relative lives there, an old man. God!"
"What? There's more?"
"Yeah, the old man is his uncle, a sexual predator who never got caught. I think there are a number of bodies buried at that house, not all down to Alonzo. What do we do?"
"Do? Its not our problem, like you said the guy is old so he's no threat any more."
"That doesn't mean he should get off scot-free though and the parents, don't they deserve some closure?"
Darius sighed then nodded,
"OK, see what you can get, I'll ring Carlisle, see what's the best thing to do, tell the authorities or deal with it ourselves."
I nodded and he left me to delve deeper into Alonzo's sewer of a mind.
Darius
I got back to the car and called Carlisle to tell him what Edward had discovered.
"Hows Bella by the way?"
"I don't really know, we haven't heard from Jasper for over twenty four hours but he was going to tell Bella the truth."
"So are we assuming his silence is a good thing or a bad thing?"
"We're hoping for the best but fearing the worst."
"And how is your house guest behaving? It can't be easy having the Volturi looking over your shoulder on a daily basis."
"Actually he spends most of his time with Kat, he's teaching her to paint in oils."
"Right, yes, He's a bit of an artist in his spare time I seem to remember."
"He did upset Rose and Peter by finishing off Kat's buggy but she was so pleased they couldn't say too much. I guess he still has to learn to cooperate."
"He didn't kill anyone did he?"
"No thank goodness."
"Then that is Felix playing nicely."
Carlisle couldn't help laughing at that but when he spoke of Mendoza he became serious once more.
"I think the authorities would be the best people to handle it Darius but they need a reason to investigate, especially if the man in question has never been in any trouble with the law."
"Not as far as Edward could tell but he's still listening in. What do you suggest then?"
"A little excavation might be the best way to go, unearth a body or two, the law will be only too happy to step in then but of course they'll need an excuse to go onto the property."
"OK, I'm sure that can be arranged. Thank you Carlisle."
"No problem and as soon as I get any news on Jasper and Bella I'll let you know."
I rejoined Edward who turned to me and shook his head,
"Nothing more that makes any sense, he seems to think his dead father has come back to punish him. What did Carlisle say?"
"We're gonna need to give the authorities a little help, a spot of excavation in the yard should do it. Especially if you have the location of any of the bodies."
He blew his cheeks out then nodded,
"Close enough I think but what excuse do we use for digging up his yard?"
"We'll think of something on the way I dare say. You ready to do a spot of digging?"
It was actually a couple of days before we were ready for our excavations. I got a couple of local utility workers outfits and a stolen truck sign written to look like a real utilities vehicle then turned up at his door and told him a gas leak had been detected and we needed to dig just inside his boundary. He wasn't happy but when we pointed out where we'd be digging he relented, it was just far enough from any dangerous areas.
Of course our excavation got bigger and we "stumbled" across a shallow grave which was enough to get the cops involved and then we vanished into the woodwork leaving the stolen truck and uniforms behind, a job well done. The story was splashed all over the front of all the papers, six bodies found in the yard altogether and they were trying to identify them although the old guy denied any knowledge. I don't think the cops believed his story but he was the only killer they would lay their hands on, Alonzo was headed to an altogether different fate.