Cry For Help Read online

  Evelynn went still. The man glared at her and kept his hand on the gun in his holster.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said.

  Evelynn shrugged. She was still buzzed from the adrenaline rush, but he was exactly who she wanted to talk to.

  “Who’s in charge here?”

  The man held out his hand. Evelynn reached her own hand out and they shook.

  “I’m Alec. You are?”

  “Evelynn. Who’s in charge here?”

  Alec pointed at himself.

  “At the moment, it’s me. I’m the only one here.”

  This was good enough, as all she needed were the case files.

  “I’m an investigator working on Cassie Dunn’s case. I’d like to see the case files.”

  Alec’s face hardened. He stepped back and indicated for her to follow him.

  “Here they are,” Alec said. “Usually, I wouldn’t even show you these, but that particular case is something else. Sometimes someone gets a burst of motivation and reads through the case, but it’s always the same: we can’t find anything.”

  “Would it be all right if you email me these files?”

  “I could, but would you mind if I looked through those with you? It’s a lot better than sitting at that desk and filling in forms.”

  He pointed at a desk with piles of unfilled forms on it and scowled. Evelynn gestured to a chair and nodded. Without hesitation, Alec grabbed it and sat next to her.

  “Let’s start,” Evelynn said and got to work.

  Chapter 3

  “You guys have a serial killer case here,” Evelynn concluded.

  “Sure, I’ll believe you, but how would you prove it?”

  Evelynn pointed at her screen where she had opened the case files on the victims, Cassie included.

  “Well, its all speculation now, but look at these pictures of the girls. Look at the state they’re in and look at the placement of the bruises. It’s more or less in the same place. If you zoom in and completely disregard the fact that they don’t look alike, you wouldn’t even be able to tell them apart.”

  Alec leaned closer to the screen and touched his chin. He looked deep in thought.

  “That makes sense.”

  Evelynn shrugged and closed those files. She had seen enough and had mentioned enough to Alec. However, there were a few details that she kept to herself. She wanted to find solid proof on those before she presented them to Alec.

  The placement of the bruises on the girls bodies was strategic. The welts on their backs suggested that the killer wasn’t just some crazed maniac on the lookout for someone to kill. The way Evelynn saw it, the marks looked like the girls were being punished for something.

  Evelynn looked at the placement of the other wounds. All three of the girls had cuts on their knuckles. It had solidified her belief that the girls were being punished for something. It reminded Evelynn of how the governesses back in the day would discipline their students.

  A hunch was always, to a degree, reliable. Until it could be proven wrong, Evelynn would always go with her gut feeling. About ninety percent of the time, it was right.

  After a few hours, Evelynn’s eyes started to droop. Alec shook her and told her to get some sleep at least. She could resume her work in the morning.

  Although she was tired, her brain was working overtime. The victims knew each other. They all went to the same school, but something was missing. The first victim had seemed too professional. The killer already knew what they were doing. Someone else had to have been the first victim.

  “Alec, I need you to look for other disappearances that happened about six to ten years before Becca Hall, our first victim.”

  Alec was confused but knew better than to ask why. He faced his own computer screen and searched the databases. Beaumont was a small town, and thankfully, crimes were few to none. Within minutes, he found someone.

  “I found one by the name of Emily Campbell. She disappeared around six years prior to Becca, but it’s a cold case.”

  “That doesn’t matter. Pull up her file.”

  Alec scooted closer to Evelynn as they both looked at her screen. Evelynn pointed out the similarities in the wounds inflicted on Emily’s body. However, something was different.

  “See here,” Evelynn said pointing to the pictures of Emily and Becca, “notice how Becca’s wounds were concentrated on the back and the knuckles. Now look at Emily’s wounds.”

  Alec compared the two pictures and when he had finally seen what Evelynn wanted him to see, he leaned back and took a deep breath.

  “Can’t believe we missed that,” he whispered, “after all these years.”

  “What matters is that we found something new. Notice how Emily’s wounds are basically the same, except she has scars from older injuries. Her wounds are also in more random places. If we were to assume that she was the first victim, the killer could have used her as practice.”

  If they were to go in chronological order, the earliest victims had injuries that still appeared as if they were made by an amateur. The last two victims had a distinct mark that the previous two never had. Around one of their ankles, was a scar. Judging by how deep it had been, it was a scar that never quite healed. Evelynn rested her head in her hands and wondered what could have caused such a scar.

  Evelynn tapped her finger on the table. She had found out all that she needed. All that was left now was to connect the dots and find the killer.

  “I think Emily’s mom killed her,” Evelynn finally said.

  Alec had to blink twice to make sure that he was hearing her right. Evelynn shrugged and gave him a small smile as she grabbed her bag. She stood up to leave.

  “We have to start somewhere,” she said.

  She hadn’t told him the actual reason she was suspecting the mother. Not until she could prove it herself. Evelynn patted Alec’s shoulder and prepared to leave.

  “I hope you’re not planning to talk to Jennifer Campbell by yourself.”

  Evelynn didn’t reply and simply smiled.

  Chapter 4

  Present

  Despite Alec’s warnings, Evelynn had found herself standing at the entrance of the local high school where Jennifer Campbell worked as a music teacher.

  At first glance, Jennifer was extremely kind and there was just something about how she spoke her words that would mesmerize those who listened. If she were to make a comparison, it would be to the sound of wind chimes swinging in the light breeze. It was beautiful, and Evelynn was certainly entranced.

  Then, Jennifer had taken Evelynn’s hands into her own and remarked, “You have such perfect hands.”

  Evelynn didn’t know what to say to that and thanked her while she pulled her hands out of Jennifer’s grip.

  The slam of the door hitting the wall jerked Evelynn awake. She was no longer in the small classroom, having a pleasant conversation with Jennifer. She was brought back to reality. After spending who knows how long in the dark basement, this time, a bright light illuminated the entire room. Evelynn had to blink her eyes multiple times to get used to the light.

  Jennifer stood at the doorway holding a plate of food. She was dressed impeccably, as if she were on her way out.

  “I thought you’d be hungry, Emily, so I made you some food.”

  Evelynn grimaced.

  “I’m not Emily,” she gritted out.

  Jennifer only laughed. However, Evelynn caught her frown for a split second. Evelynn also noticed that her hold on the plate had gotten tighter.

  Jennifer slowly walked down the stairs and then around her. The look in her eyes reminded Evelynn of a snake who had spotted its prey. Evelynn felt a cold chill down her spine. This time she knew it wasn’t just because the basement had terrible insulation.

  Jennifer stopped in front of Evelynn and held the plate out. Evelynn smacked it away from her hands. Jennifer scowled as the plate crashed onto the floor and broke
into little pieces.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” she said.

  Suddenly her smile was back again.

  “I’ll make you a new plate of food. Don’t worry about it, Emily, we all make mistakes.”

  Evelynn shook her head and looked at Jennifer with disbelief.

  “I said I’m not Emily. You killed Emily!” Evelynn yelled.

  Jennifer flinched.

  Evelynn saw that reaction and she latched onto it. Jennifer walked to the other side of the room and rummaged in the cupboards.

  “It wasn’t just Emily, was it?” she seethed. “You killed Becca Hall, Leah Sanchez and Cassie Dunn too!”

  She had been so busy screaming at Jennifer that she didn’t hear the rasp of a bat scraping across the floor. She looked up, and the last thing she saw was Jennifer lifting her arms to swing.

  Evelynn didn’t know how long she was out. One thing she knew for sure was that her shirt was no longer white. The cut on her brow was nothing compared to the wound she received from the bat. Jennifer was ruthless.

  “You’re awake, then?”

  Evelynn took one look at the gun between her eyes and groaned. Jennifer couldn’t be serious.

  “Of course, I am! This concussion means nothing to me.” Evelyn exclaimed, her sarcasm evident.

  Jennifer pushed the gun closer to Evelynn’s head. It scraped against her new cut and Evelynn winced.

  “Get up.”

  Evelynn looked at Jennifer and made no move to get up. Jennifer dug the gun into Evelynn’s head and repeated her command. Evelynn simply looked at the shackle attached to her ankle.

  “No funny business,” Jennifer warned.

  She knelt down and unlocked the shackle. Evelynn frowned at the angry red mark that had formed against her ankle. The shackle had rubbed her skin raw and she gently touched the area in an effort to sooth the pain.

  Jennifer kept the gun trained on Evelynn’s head as she gestured for her to stand up.

  “Follow me,” she said.

  Chapter 5

  Evelynn followed Jennifer to the top of the stairs. In the bright lights, she saw just how dirty her clothes were. However, they weren’t just dirty; they were torn in some places too, and Evelynn realized how intense her struggle against being kidnapped had been.

  She remembered why she was here, but she still couldn’t remember how she got here. It was possible that Jennifer was just freakishly strong. Evelynn touched the cut on her head and cringed. The woman had a mean swing too.

  “Stop looking around and walk in front of me,” Jennifer ordered.

  Evelynn could wrestle her for the gun. However, the chances of the gun going off and hitting someone was too high. Then she thought to herself, did she really want to escape now? This might be her only chance to gather the evidence she needed to support her claims.

  Hopefully in the few hours she spent with Alec, he got the gist that she was going to talk to Jennifer. Evelynn thought positively and told herself that Alec was probably on his way here, at this very moment.

  At the end of the hallway, Evelynn caught a glimpse of Jennifer with her daughter. In the center of the wall was a portrait of Jennifer and Emily. Emily was on the piano, playing a piece and her mother looked at her adoringly. As they got closer to the picture, Evelynn noticed that Jennifer’s eyes were focused on Emily’s hands.

  Evelynn remembered Jennifer’s statement at the school and shuddered.

  Jennifer directed her into a room located on the far side of the house and pushed her inside. There was nothing in the room aside from a grand piano. As bare as the room was, the piano glittered. It was at this moment when Evelynn realized what the cause of those knuckle injuries were to the girls.

  “I can’t play,” Evelynn stated.

  Jennifer made an annoyed sound and pointed to the piano anyway. Evelynn turned around and decided to try another tactic.

  “I can’t play the piano unless I change my clothes and get a shower. Do you really want my bloody hands on those keys?”

  Jennifer paused to consider the situation and finally waved her gun. Evelynn got up and followed Jennifer into a small bathroom.

  “Wash up. I’ll get you clothes.”

  Jennifer pushed her in and grabbed the key. After the lock had clicked, Evelynn rifled through the bathroom searching for something to help her escape. She opened cabinets and drawers frantically but found nothing. There was no window for her to try escape from either, just a vent in the ceiling.

  Frustrated, Evelynn ended up taking a shower. At least this way she wouldn’t have to keep looking at her bloodstained shirt and pants.

  The hot water stung her wounds, but Evelynn was determined to clean her hair. It had started to become matted because of the blood. As she watched the water turn red, then pink and then clear, she felt tears prickle at the corner of her eyes.

  “What am I doing here?” she asked herself.

  As she was finishing up, she realized that she had no towel. She couldn’t bear to wear her clothes again, so she sat in the tub and shivered. A few moments later, the lock turned, and Jennifer appeared, carrying a towel and a few clothes.

  She threw the towel at Evelynn who caught it.

  “I’ll wait outside.”

  Evelynn carefully dried herself but frowned at the stain her wound left on the towel.

  “Do you have something for the cut on my head?” she called out.

  There was no response. Evelynn shrugged and put on the clothes that Jennifer gave her. They weren’t new. Evelynn suspected that these had belonged to Emily.

  However, Evelynn was twenty-six. Emily went missing at seventeen. The dress was too small and too tight, but at least it was clean. It was good enough.

  Jennifer opened the door again and appraised Evelynn. She seemed satisfied with how Evelynn wore Emily’s clothes. In her hands, she held a first-aid box. She handed it to Evelynn and slammed the door shut.

  Evelynn took her time in the bathroom. She checked the supplies in the box, desperate to find something that could help her gain an advantage and escape. She found nothing. It was frustrating to see Jennifer’s preparedness. Not only that, but it angered Evelynn just how smoothly her captor went through the motions of taking care of a kidnapped person.

  Finally, Evelynn knocked on the bathroom door softly when she was done. There was nothing she could do anymore. She still held on to the idea that Alec was going to come at any moment, yet she couldn’t help but feel that flicker of hope die a little.

  Jennifer opened the door and welcomed her with a smile. It was as if nothing had happened.

  “I’m glad you’re all right, darling. Let’s go and practice.”

  Evelynn remained quiet and walked into the piano room. Jennifer gently guided her to the bench and looked at her expectantly.

  What was she supposed to play? Evelynn was not a musician. The last time she had laid her hands on the cold keys of a piano was in fourth grade when music was a compulsory class.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this Jennifer, but I can’t play the piano to save my life.”

  Evelynn turned around in her seat and watched as Jennifer’s smile dramatically turned into a frown.

  “You’re not my Emily,” she whispered with murder in her eyes.

  Chapter 6

  “How did you get into my house?” Jennifer asked as she stalked closer.

  The hand holding the gun shook. Evelynn scooted back into her seat. Her blood had run cold. A baseball bat was painful, but a gun? That would create an injury Evelynn could never recover from. She’d simply be victim number five.

  She looked around the room, searching for something that could diffuse the situation. There was nothing, obviously, but she might have missed something. That’s what she told herself.

  Evelynn was helpless.

  Jennifer lifted her hand and pointed the gun at Evelynn. Evelynn closed her eyes and waited for the burn of the bullet r
ipping flesh. Maybe this was what it felt like to die. She felt nothing. Evelynn opened one eye and peeked.

  No blood stained her borrowed dress and she looked around confused. All of a sudden, the loud crack of a bullet tearing through the wall echoed in the room. Evelynn flinched and hunched her shoulders, making herself smaller.

  Jennifer grabbed the music sheets placed on the piano and ripped them apart. She kicked at Evelynn’s chair and screamed at her.

  Evelynn winced. How long until Jenifer trained the gun on her and fired?

  Amidst all the chaos Jennifer was causing, Evelynn took her finger and pressed on a key.

  A single note rang throughout the room.

  Jennifer halted immediately. She lowered the hand holding the gun and Evelynn saw her eyes get warmer. Once again, she looked the proud mom and no longer a crazed killer.

  She looked around the room and brought her hands to her face.

  “Goodness! What happened to the room?”

  Evelynn raised her eyebrow. So that’s the trick. Do what Jennifer says and she retracts into her old self. Disobey her and she reminds you of the reason you’re here.

  “Emily dear, can you play us a song? I’m feeling nostalgic.”

  Evelynn didn’t know her way around the piano but there was one thing that she could play. Anybody could play a nursery rhyme. Evelynn felt around the keys and found one that seemed most familiar. In her mind, her hands had been smaller, she was smaller, and the piano had looked like an intimidating instrument. Now, as an adult, the piano was no longer as large as she remembered, and the keys were closer together. However, in this situation, the piano remained intimidating. It wasn’t because of Evelynn’s lack of musical prowess. It had more to do with the fact that one wrong note could send Jennifer into another tantrum. Evelynn would be punished.

  Evelynn pressed a key and almost sighed with relief when it was the right note. Jennifer nodded along, excited to hear the opening note of a simple melody she thought she recognized immediately. Evelynn felt for another key and pressed it. It was the correct note.