Family Night (3 page)

Chapter 6

     Julie woke up a few hours later to the sound of her cell phone going off. It was her text message notification. She looked and it was from dispatch. A body had been found. She wasn’t technically a homicide detective, so she wasn’t sure why they’d call her in. She had a funny feeling about it. It was already late
; she had slept for several hours. Looking in the bedroom, Sarah was already asleep. So Julie slipped her shoes on and headed to the call.

    
It was on the north side of the city at one of the underpasses. She parked behind one of the squad cars and walked through the crime scene tape. A uniformed officer came up to her as she approached.

     “So what’ve we got?” She asked.

     “Well, it’s a body, or what’s left of one.”  He said.

     “That bad?”

     “Just go have a look,” he said as he stepped away. “I just wish I’d have seen this before I ate lunch.”

     She walked up to the area where they’d set up the spot lights. As she got closer she finally saw it. She wasn’t even sure how they knew it was a human body. It was more of a carcass. It was part of a skeleton, with no head. There was very little blood, the rest of the carcass was bones covered with some loose skin. She pulled on some rubber gloves and knelt next to the body.

     All of the organs had been removed…the legs, arms and head had all been severed. Julie wondered if this was Carla, her missing waitress. Maybe that’s why they called her out. The medical examiner was there and walked over to her.

    
“Crazy shit isn’t it?” He said.

     She stood and looked at him.

     “Oh sorry. Dr. Trejo. I work with the M.E.’s office.”

     “I figured, thank you. And yes, this is horrible.”

     “I been doing this for almost five years, this is some sick shit.”

     “So you think an animal or something did this?” She asked. “Looks like it has been picked clean.”

     “This was no animal. Look at this.” He knelt down and rolled the body over on its back exposing several large chunks of flesh missing. The back of the thighs had huge square chunks cut out, as well as several places along the back. “See what I mean? Someone cut that out. Her blood has been drained, and organs removed. It looks like someone butchered her, literally. These cuts on her back and legs. It’s like cuts of meat.” He explained.

     “Jesus. Like someone ate her?”

     “That’s the only thing I can think of. It wasn’t an animal that’s for sure.”

     “What the fuck?”

     “Hey kids! Did I miss the party?” Ben’s voice sounded from behind them.

     “Have a little respect dickhead,” Julie said. “This is a crime scene.”

     “Yeah, yeah, there’s no one else around.” He looked down at the body. “Damn. Looks like a turkey after Thanksgiving dinner.”

     Julie stood to face him.

     “Seriously. Do you offer anything to any investigation at all? Or are you just comic relief? That can’t be it, because you’re not funny.”

     “Hey, take it easy. Gotta have a sense of humor on this job, especially looking
at shit like this. So what is going on?”

     She filled him in on what Dr. Trejo had explained.

     “Holy Christ. You mean like cannibals? Do we have those here?”

     “I wouldn’t say that just yet,” Julie said. “But it could look that way. I think we need to keep this between us for now. Can only imagine if it leaks there is a possible cannibal running loose. People will be talking Leatherface and shit.”

     “Oh God,” Ben said. “Yeah, good idea. Not bad for a girl.”

     “Go fuck yourself,” she said walking away, pulling off the rubber gloves. She found the uniformed officer she
spoke to earlier. “Hey, officer, who found the body?”

     “Some homeless guy.
Said he was sleeping when someone pulled up and dumped it.”

     “Did he see who it was?” She asked.

     “Yeah. He said it was the devil.”

Chapter 7

     Eddie sat in the living room watching the late news. It had only been a couple of days since the last hunt, and he was already craving it again. As he sat on the couch, sipping on an ice tea, it came on the news. He sat up when he saw it. They found the body. The reporter looked horrifi
ed as she described the scene though she gave very few details. He figured they would. The police won’t give out too much to the public.

     Watching the cameras around the scene, he could
see people standing around all looking scared. Good. It’s about time someone feared him for a change. Though it wasn’t him they feared at all. It was The Mask. He longed to be the Mask again. It’s as if it was calling his name.

     “Eddie!” Margie called from the bedroom, startling him out of his trance.

     “What?”

     “Don’t forget to take the trash out!”

     “I already took it out!” He said.

     “That’s what you said last time, and you forgot to do it. The can is already full!”

     “I took it out already!”

     “If you forget this time, I’ll beat your ass.”

     He stood and walked to the bedroom.

     “Do you have to say shit like that? Threatening to beat me up?” He asked her from the doorway. She was lying in bed watching TV.

     “What are you gonna do about it? Hell, I know I could kick your ass. You’re just a pathetic excuse for a man. You got a tiny dick too.”

     He shook his head and walked away. She wasn’t like this when they first met or got married. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to her. Gradually, over the years, she got angrier and angrier, with that anger the nastiness came out. All of it directed at him. Sometimes the kids, but she usually flipped out on him, and usually over nothing.

     While Eddie knew he hadn’t been the perfect husband over the years, she was just as much to blame for not getting what she wanted out of life. She always wanted him to get a better job, but he had been happy working in IT. He was good at it, and the pay wasn’t great, but good enough. That was until his job got outsourced to India. He hadn’t found a job since.

     She was an administrative assistant, but her attitude had gotten her fired one too many times. Now she worked at a convenience store. He’d looked for other work, but with twelve years working in IT, he wasn’t qualified for much else. So here they were. Money was tight, but they managed. It still drove her crazy that she had t
o work while he stayed at home though he had work of his own to do now.

     “I don’t know why you’re walking away!” She was still yelling. “You know it
’s true!”

     He did his best to ignore her as he rewound the newscast on the DVR to watch his story again. As he watched, in the background he saw somet
hing. He saw someone actually. He paused the TV and moved in for a closer look. Was that a detective? There was a beautiful Latina walking around the crime scene. She had a badge around her neck.

     “And who are you?” He whispered while watching the screen. Moving closer, he studied her face
. Taking out his phone, he dialed the police department. They had an automated system, after listening to a string of recordings, he finally reached a person.

     “SAPD, Sgt. Carter speaking,” the voice on the other end said.

     “Umm, yes. About that body they found by the underpass the other day. The one that was all messed up. I uh, I might have some information about that.”

     “Ok,” the man said, unimpressed.

     “Yes. Um, who is the detective working on that case?”

     “One moment sir.” The officer placed him on hold for several minutes. No hold music played though. Just a string of don’t drink and drive public service announcements. Finally the officer came back on. “Sir? That would be Detective Julie Castillo. So any information you have should be directed to her. Would you like her voicemail?”

     “Uh, no. I’ll just call during the day. Thank you.” He said and hung up.

     He reached next to the couch and grabbed his computer bag and pulled out his laptop. This is one area his IT experience will come in handy. He had some homework to do tonight.

Chapter 8

     Eddie sat in the van, looking out the back window. Being Texas, most cars came with tinted windows to withstand the heat. Since Julie Castillo lived in an apartment complex, it made it even easier to blend in. It had only taken him an hour or so to locate her address and even her cell phone number. In this digital age, things weren’t as secure as people liked to think they were. Computer guys like him knew how to protect themselves. But the average person was much more vulnerable than they realized.

    
He could see the apartment door from his vantage point. It was apartment 202, he figured Julie was at work, but wanted to be here when she got home. This was different from his usual plan, but it would be worth it. The other night was his first time doing the ritual with the kids, they’d watched before, but never went all out with him. And he’d never dumped a body before. But he liked to make things interesting.

     Another car pulled up and parked across from him. He didn’t pay it any attention, until he saw the pretty blond woman walking up and go into apartment 202. That’s interesting. Roommate?
He watched for a while longer, but his curiosity got the best of him. Fortunately he was wearing one of his old, button-up work shirts. He always wore that when out scouting, in case he gets questioned. He can just say he’s there working on a cable line or something. He grabbed his tablet and headed up to the apartment.

     He knew apartment complexes usually all had cable internet, since it was cheaper, and it would only be with one company. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. After a moment, the blonde answered. She was slightly taller than he, with her hair draped over her shoulders.

     “Hello!” He said, trying to sound friendly. “I’m with the cable company. We’ve been having some signal problems with the internet. So I just need to check something really quick. It will just take like five minutes.”

     “Umm, ok? What is your name? They never said anything about any problems, and its working fine.”

     “My name is Tom. And yeah, we got a few calls from the complex, and I was in the area, so just checking a few.”

     “Well, ok I guess.” She said, stepping by and letting him in. He brushed past her, looking around, taking mental notes of the living room. The most important things he saw were the pictures hanging up. There were several, they looked like vacation pictures. It was the blonde and Julie together, with their arms around each other. In another they were kissing. So they were girlfriends, even better.

     He walked toward the TV where the router was hooked up. Standing there for a few minutes, he pretended to type some things on the tablet. Finally he looked up.

     “Ok, all done, we’re good. Thank you for your time. I’m very sorry.” He said.

     “Oh,
it’s fine. Thank you!” She said as he stepped out. Once he was back in the van, he sat for a few minutes trying to think of how to proceed. The plan was for him to take Julie Castillo and use her for the ritual. But now, Julie has a girlfriend. That changes things. He can make it even more interesting. He sat there for several more hours. Julie came home around 6 p.m. At around 8 p.m. her girlfriend left. She had a nametag on her shirt, so he figured she was at work. Around that same time, his phone started ringing. It was Margie. He silenced the phone, and she started bombarding him with text messages. Finally, he turned the phone off. A little after midnight, the blonde returned and went into the apartment.

     That gave
him some idea of the routine though with Julie being a detective, she could get called out at any time. He started the van, and pulled out and headed back home. If there were somewhere else for him to go, he’d have gone. No doubt Margie was going to flip out on him when he got home and he was not looking forward to that at all. He also thought of where he was going to explain he was. Maybe this time, he just won’t tell her anything. She’ll scream even more, but she never stops, so he may as well have some fun with it.

     As he pulled into the garage, he stopped the car, and thought of a plan. The idea he had wasn’t perfect, but it should work unless someone sees them. If they’re quick enough, that won’t happen. Either way, he smiled as the thoughts poured through his head. In the next few days, he would be The Mask again, and he’d finally be himself.

Chapter 9

     Sarah and Julie sat on the couch Friday night watching TV. Julie had been unusually quiet. The case she was working on was incredibly disturbing. She’d told Sarah some of the details that hadn’t been in the media. Sarah shuddered at the thought. Julie had no leads on it though and it was clearly bothering her. They would normally go out for drinks or even hit a club. Tonight, Julie barely spoke. About an hour ago, Sarah’s work called, asking if she could come help work the bar. Julie told her to go ahead.

     So they watched TV together, until Sarah got ready for work.

     “You sure you want me to go in Jules?” Sarah asked. “I can stay home, it’s no big deal.”

     “Yeah, it’s fine.” Julie said without looking away from the TV. Sarah finished getting her things
and walked out the door. She hated working at night, but that’s when she got the best tips. It was warm and muggy out as she walked down the steps to her car. She walked in between the cars until she reached hers. Standing there was a boy wearing one of those white Anonymous masks.

     She hated those masks, they were really creepy looking. But this was just a little boy. He was wearing a hoodie and gloves. Sarah looked around over the
cars. It was almost 10 at night; the kid couldn’t be wandering around like this by himself. She looked around, saw no one else. The boy just stood there looking at her.

     “What are you doing kid? Halloween isn’t for a few months.” She said. “You playing some kind of joke?”
The boy just stood there looking at her. She wasn’t going to bite, and had to get to work anyway. She opened the car door and tossed her purse onto the seat. Before she could step inside of the car, a hand grabbed her ankle. She looked down and saw a gloved hand around her foot, then a second hand grabbed ahold. She tried to shake it off, and finally pulled free.

     “What the hell?” As she turned to the side, the boy was now standing right next to her, but was holding a long rod. It was a cattle prod. Before she could scream, the boy pressed it into her side, sending a sharp jolt through her body. Her legs buckled as she
landed face first into the pavement.

     The Mask sat in the van, watching from a distance. If anything went wrong, he would intervene, but he didn’t think so. They were ready. Once the blonde, whose name he now knows to be Sarah, fell to the ground, he drove the van up right behind her car. As he pulled up, his daughter climbed out from underneath the car and grabbed Sarah’s arms.

     The Mask jumped out of the van, slid the side door open and pulled Sarah inside. The kids both jumped in as he slid the door
shut, got in the driver’s seat and drove away. As he drove, both kids began duct taping Sarah though they wouldn’t be doing the ritual tonight. He had something special set up.

     It was a twenty minute drive to the farm. The place had belonged to his father. Margie didn’t even know about it. He’d been using it for his rituals for a few years. He was glad he’d kept it quiet. He didn’t want Margie wanting to sell it or use it for something stupid. This place was sacred.

     He parked the van behind the main house, next to the old barn. The barn wasn’t too big and he’d reinforced the walls and re-did the inside. Once they were there, he got out, and dragged Sarah inside. She was starting to wake up, as he reached the cage. The cage was a new addition. He’d been working on it for a while, but had slacked off. This past week he got it finished. It was made from chain link, but reinforced with some pipe. It was pretty strong, strong enough for his purposes.

     Once she was in the cage, he cut the tape off her and locked the door with a pad lock. The cage was about four feet high and four feet long. So big enough she
would fit and can move some, but small enough to keep her uncomfortable. She finally awoke, as the three of them sat and watched her. As she came to, she ran her hands through her hair as she sat up. Looking around she saw all their faces, or their masks anyway. Instantly she screamed.

     “Who are you? What is going on?”

     The three of them just looked at her. The Mask loved this. The power he held over them. This one would be the most exciting yet. Julie would be the one for the ritual. Sarah was just the bait. Not that he wouldn’t have fun with Sarah, there would be plenty of fun for them all. But Julie Castillo is the true prize.

     “Let me go, please! My friend is a cop! She’ll find me. If you let me go now, I promise not to say anything.” She pleaded.

     Breaking his own rule, he decided to speak.

     “I know she’s a cop Sarah,” The Mask said. “Her name is Detective Julie Castillo. Her phone number is 210-599-8811. I’m going to call her in just a moment. And yes, she will find you. That’s the whole idea. You’re going to bring her here.”