Johnny Gruesome (39 page)

“Exactly. It’s too soon.” His shovel cut into the earth and he threw dirt behind him.

“What are we going to do if Johnny’s not here?”

Another shovelful of dirt. “Then we’ll have an excuse to go to the police.”

You mean to my husband.
“They’ll never believe us.”

“What choice do we have? If we do nothing, he keeps killing.”

Bowing her head, Carol placed the tip of her shovel on the dirt and drove it into the ground with one foot. “This isn’t right. The dirt’s too loose.”

“I know.”

They dug in silence.

G
lancing at his watch, Mayor Anzello said, “Where’s Milton?” The short man had wavy black hair and a mole on one cheek.

“I don’t know.” Matt looked out across the pensive faces staring at them from the courtroom benches. So many people crowded the hall that the clerks had been forced to bring out folding chairs, and citizens still had to stand in the back. Nancy Anzello, freshly coiffed, sat in the front row, next to Roger Kumler. He didn’t see Carol anywhere. The two men stood against the brick wall behind the podium. Sam Crothers stood a few feet away, dressed in his New York state police uniform.

“Well, find out,” Anzello said in a harsh whisper. “There must be eight hundred parents here. They’re going to want to hear from the high school principal that their children are safe at school.”

But are they?
Matt took out his cell phone. Just as he flipped it open, it rang in his hand. He checked the display, furrowed his brow, and pressed the phone to his ear.

“Yeah, Ben? I was just about to call you.”

Ben spoke too fast for Matt to understand everything he said. “Jesus Christ, Matt! Milton’s been killed. I was waiting for him right outside the school, and when he didn’t come out, I went inside. I found him in his office, on top of his desk. You’re not going to believe this, but his guts were pouring out of his mouth!”

Matt’s stomach tightened. “Where’s Darryl?”

“His car’s still here, so he must be somewhere inside.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m driving around the lot in circles until backup arrives.”

I don’t blame you.
“I’m on my way. Give me ten minutes.” Hanging up, he faced Anzello, who’d been listening to his side of the conversation. “I have to go, Tony.”

“What? Are you insane, Crane? First Milton, now you?”

“It’s an emergency.”

Anzello’s eyes widened with dawning realization. “Christ, what now?”

Crothers joined them. “Trouble?”

Turning his back to the crowd, Matt said, “We’ve got another one.”

“Who?” Anzello said.

“Michael won’t be joining us.”

Anzello’s Florida tan drained from his face. “Oh, God …”

“I have to go, right now.”

“I can’t do this alone …”

“Sam, I need you to run the show. I don’t want either one of you to say a word about this. If anyone asks where I went, just say we received some new information. Everyone will know the truth soon enough, but maybe we can keep a lid on this until after the meeting. We don’t want to start a panic with all these people in here.”

“Right,” Crothers said.

Matt stared at the mayor. “Please say as little as possible.”

As he headed to the exit, the voices behind Matt rose. Eric’s shovel struck something solid. “I’ve got it,” he said, standing in the grave up to his thighs.

“Thank God.” Carol stood at the edge, aiming her flashlight down at him, his first shovel lying in two pieces near her feet. The wooden shaft had snapped on him, so he had taken hers. On the opposite side of the grave, he’d piled loose dirt two feet high. Carol’s flashlight dimmed, and she slapped it, shaking its batteries.

Eric drove his shovel straight down with both hands and a hollow echo answered his efforts. Tossing the shovel aside, he kneeled and wiped away the remaining clumps of dirt, the surface of the coffin coming into view.

“This isn’t right. There should be a concrete lid.” He scooped away more dirt, uncovering the edges of the liner walls. Digging with his bare hands, he exposed chunks of broken concrete piled between the sides of the casket and the liner. “The top of the liner’s been smashed to pieces.”

Carol shuddered, a pensive look on her face.

Eric removed some of the chunks, clearing space. Pressing close to the coffin’s lid, he felt along its sides. “The seals are broken. Someone was definitely here before us.”

Carol’s eyes swept the still cemetery.
So many trees and graves to hide behind.
“Hurry.”

Eric stood straddling the coffin with his feet on the liner edges. Seizing the upper section of the lid in both hands, he pulled it toward him, groaning as it creaked open. Carol’s flashlight flickered, and her heartbeat quickened.

The coffin was not empty.

Oh, my God,
she thought, staring down at the unearthed casket.

Allowing the upper half of the coffin’s lid to fall open, Eric gazed at the motionless figure beneath him. His body trembled and his knees buckled, and he sank onto the lower portion of the lid, which remained closed. A soulful moan escaped his lips.

Carol covered her mouth with her free hand.
No!

Rhonda’s pale features glowed in the flashlight beam. A vicious gash in her throat grinned at them from ear to ear, her neck and coat soaked in dark blood. Eric reached out to touch her face with shaking fingers. He hesitated, then caressed her cheek. Her unblinking eyes stared up at him, her head cocked to one side, as if she had been thrown into the coffin in haste.

A tear rolled down Eric’s cheek. Reaching down, he gripped Rhonda’s wrists and pulled her upright, gathering her lifeless form in his arms. He wept, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Looking away, Carol stifled a scream.

P
acing her living room, Karen occasionally parted the curtains to look outside. She’d run out of coke and needed to re-up.

Where the hell is he?

Headlights shone through the curtains as Gary’s truck pulled into the driveway and her heart beat faster.
Yes!

She ran to the door and opened it. Cold air sliced at her, but she didn’t care. Gary entered with the snow, stomping his boots on the mat.

Closing the door, she said, “What took you so long?”

Gary brushed snow out of his hair. “I had to wait for my connection to get home.”

She helped him peel off his new leather jacket. “Who is this guy?”

“That’s for me to know and you not to find out.”

She took his hand. “Come on.”

He followed her upstairs to her bedroom, watching the tight curves of her ass the whole way. She held the door open and after he entered the room, closed it. He saw a plate on her bureau, next to a straw and a pair of scissors.

Karen lit a cigarette. “Have you got something for me?”

“That depends on what you want.”

Her eyes locked on his. “You know what I want.”

“Sure, I do. But I want to hear you say it.”

Eyes shining, her lips parted in a playful manner. “Why?”

“Because it turns me on to know that you want it.”

She glided closer to him, a predatory smile on her lips. She kissed him with an open mouth and ground her pelvis against him. “I want to get high.”

Reaching into his pocket, he waved a foil pack at her. “Is this what you want?”

With her eyes lit like a Christmas tree, she nodded.

“What are you willing to do for it?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Wrong answer.”

Her face drooped with disappointment. “I’ll do anything you say.”

“That’s better.”

She took a drag on her cigarette. “Now it’s your turn. Tell me what you want.”

He felt himself growing hard. “Let’s party.”

Setting her cigarette in the ashtray on the bureau, Karen pulled her sweater over her head and discarded it. Gary’s heart quickened at the sight of her full breasts. “Let’s party,” she said.

Gary made it to the bureau in two quick steps. He opened the foil, dumped three cocaine rocks onto the plate, then crushed them with a spoon and chopped the resulting powder with a razor blade. All the while, he sensed Karen drawing closer to him, heat emanating from her body.

“Hurry …”

He sorted the coke into lines and snorted two of them with the straw.
Good shit.
Barry had done well by him. He sniffed the drug deeper, speeding its journey into his bloodstream, and passed the straw to Karen. “You’re going to like this.”

He stepped back and watched her lean over the plate, holding her long hair back with one hand. She snorted two lines in rapid succession, and he felt his erection pressing against his jeans as the drug took hold of them both.

Standing straight and gazing at her reflection in the mirror, Karen unbuttoned her jeans. Gary pulled his T-shirt over his head, and they stepped out of their jeans at the same time. Karen shivered, goose bumps rising on her flesh. Gary pulled her close to him, pressing her breasts against his chest and sliding his hands along her back as he kissed her.

Breaking the kiss, she took his hand and led him to her bed. She climbed on top of the covers and spread her legs for him. As he mounted her, she said, “Oh, Gary …”

He pushed his cock inside her and pounded away. She closed her eyes and pictured Johnny’s wicked eyes and hard mouth.

S
itting behind the wide desk in his gray office, Matt rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“We just sent Milton’s body to the morgue,” Ben said, standing before him. “What do you want us to do with Darryl? He’s having a panic attack in that cell.”

“Good, let him. He’s not going anywhere. Tell Beelock I want that autopsy performed ASAP, and he’d better do a thorough job. Make it sound like a threat.”

“You got it.” Opening the glass door separating the office from the small lobby and the front counter, Ben came face to face with Carol.

“Hi, Carol.” Ben looked at the teenage boy standing beside her.

Matt looked up. What was Carol doing here with Eric Carter? The kid looked catatonic.

“Hello, Ben.” Carol entered with Eric in tow.

Rising, Matt circled his desk. “Carol, where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you for an hour and your folks are climbing the walls. Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”

Carol’s face remained passive as Ben left the office and closed the door behind him. “I’m sorry.”

Matt looked at Eric. “What’s going on?”

Carol drew in a deep breath, searching for the right words.

“Carol—?”

“Rhonda Young’s been murdered. Eric and I found her body.”

Matt flinched. “Who?”

“Rhonda Young. She was a senior, just like the others. Her throat was cut wide open.”

Stunned, Matt shook his head. So far, all of this maniac’s victims had been male, at least as far as he knew. “Where did this happen?”

Carol steeled herself. “At the cemetery. We found her in Johnny Grissom’s coffin.”

“What?”
Matt looked at Eric, who didn’t even react to Carol’s words. “What the hell were you doing in Grissom’s grave?”