“A detective tracks a serial killer”
“Mommy, come quick!” Bess yelled as she banged open the kitchen door. “There’s a man lying near the mailbox.”
Kate looked out the window and could see that there was, indeed, a person lying there; or at least a leg. She dialed 911 and then ran out to see if she could do anything for him. She knew at a glance he was dead, because his chin was tucked under and touching his breast. Instinctively she checked for a pulse, which wasn’t there. As she stepped back, she heard a car approaching and saw it was the police, followed by an ambulance. As the officer neared, Kate said, “No need for that,” as she pointed to the ambulance. “He is very dead.”
The officer asked, “Do you know him, Ma’am?”
“No sir, I do not. Never seen him around here before.”
“Did you find him?”
“No. My ten-year-old daughter did when she came down to put letters in the box. The poor girl was very frightened.”
“We need to talk with her Ma’am. Will you please get her?”
Kate headed towards the house, motioning for Bess to come out. But Bess stood by the window, shaking her head ‘no’. Kate entered the kitchen and explained to Bess that as long as she had found the man, she had to tell the officers that. There was no way the police would hurt her. So Bess reluctantly followed her mother, but never let go of her hand. At age ten, Bess was a very small girl with pretty long blond hair, which framed a petite and pretty face. Her eyes seemed older and more knowledgeable than her age. The officer held out a hand and said, “Hello, Bess. Your mother told us you found the man, is that right?”
“Yes sir. I came out to mail some letters for mom and seen a leg sticking out of the tall grass. I looked and seen it was a real person, so I ran right up and told mom.”
“Did you walk over and touch him?” the officer asked.
“Oh, no sir! I was afraid to do that. If he was only sleeping, he might have jumped up and grabbed me. I’ve been told never to let strangers touch me.”
The officer said to Kate, “You have taught her the right thing, Ma’am.”
“Thank you,” Kate said.
Detective Johnson arrived and was introduced to Kate and Bess, then the officer told Kate they could go back to the house while they checked out the area and the ambulance people took the body away.
Detective Johnson turned his attention to the victim. He was surprised to see how the man lay, without tracks of any kind near, except those of Kate’s when she went to check his pulse. It did not look like foul play because there was no sign of a bullet hole and no signs of being hit with anything. Detective Johnson said, “Must of died of a heart attack, poor guy. But he doesn’t look like someone that was just out for a stroll. This is five miles from town.”
The officer said, “Yep. I wonder why he was way out here with no car and no other tracks around. If you are done taking your notes, Johnson, we’ll get the body to the coroner’s office.”
“Go right ahead. This is strange, but I’ll talk with the coroner when he has finished examining the body.”
Detective Johnson checked in with the coroner the next day and was surprised to learn there was a small burn on the man’s chest but otherwise he was in perfect health. He did not have a heart attack, nor were his clothes burned over the chest burn. “I tell you, Johnson, I have never seen anything like this before.”
Detective Johnson said, “Thanks, Jim. This is indeed strange.”
A week later as Johnson was still going over his notes on the man,
hoping there was something he might have missed, his cell phone rang. He said, “Johnson here.”
He listened, then said, “The same as the last time? Were there any witnesses?”
“What do you mean plenty? Did someone actually see who did it?”
After listening again, he said, “Another strange one and his wife never touched him? I’ll be right over.”
When Detective Johnson arrived on the scene, there were about eight people clustered around. An officer pointed to a young woman
who was crying. The detective approached her and asked, “Sorry to bother you, Ma’am, but can you please tell me what happened?”
“Nothing really. Sam and I were arguing quietly because he didn’t want to go to my parent’s house this weekend. He suddenly yelled, ‘ouch,’ clutched his chest, and fell over. Did he have a heart attack?”
Detective Johnson said, “We’ll let the coroner decide that. I am sorry for your loss, Ma’am. Now I’ve got to talk with the rest of the witnesses.”
“Well, hello little one. Bess isn’t it and you’re her mother, Kate, right?” the detective asked.
“Yes, nice of you to remember,” Kate said.
Detective Johnson asked, “Did you see what happened?”
“Yes, we did and it is like she said, they were arguing and he suddenly keeled over,” Kate said.
Bess spoke up, “He wasn’t very nice to that pretty lady.”
The other witnesses all agreed about what had happened and all were excused after giving their statements, names, and addresses.
Johnson checked with the coroner the next day, but why was he so sure what the answer would be? The coroner confirmed what he was thinking, “Nothing wrong, except for a small burn on his chest. The autopsy on the first man showed that the burn penetrated to his heart and I presume this one will be the same. I’ll let you know, Johnson.”
“Thanks,” Johnson said and left.
An uneventful month passed while Johnson poured over medical books to find anything similar. Nothing turned up except another call. “Sorry to bother you again, Johnson, but it looks like the same MO,” an officer said. “We are in Wal-Mart and the man was near that same woman and her daughter and three other people. You better get down here and check it out.”
“Be right there,” the detective said.
Johnson entered Wal-Mart and looked at the people standing in a group. “Hello everyone. I need to get your statements, names, and addresses. Kate and Bess, you first.”
Kate explained what she knew about the man slumping over and the rest shook their heads in agreement. One woman said, “I agree, but I was going to hit him with my umbrella when I saw him touch that little girl on the backside, but before I could, she turned and glared at him. Within a few minutes, he yelled, ‘ouch’, clutched his chest and fell.”
“Mama said no one should touch me, so I glared at him,” Bess said.
Detective Johnson told everyone they were free to go as the police finished up their work. ‘This is strange and I bet he has the same burn mark as the others,’ Johnson thought.
His suspicion was confirmed the next day when he went to visit the coroner. “This is really weird,” said Jim, a middle aged man of medium height and bald as an eight ball. “We have been trying to figure out those burn marks that penetrate the heart, but there is nothing in any medical book.”
“I know,” said the detective, “I’ve been reading to see if I could find something, too. The strangest thing is that at all three deaths, that woman and her daughter were always there.”
“You don’t say,” Jim said. “Do you suspect that woman?”
“I don’t suspect anyone until I have proof,” said Johnson. “I think I’ll go home and pour over my notes. See you around, Jim, but I hope not too soon.”
For a week, the detective poured over his notes and medical books. Wishing something would pop out of those pages to give him a clue as to what was going on. His cell phone rang and he hesitated before answering it. He picked it up on the fourth ring, “Hello, Johnson here.”
He listened for a few minutes and said, “Oh my God, not another one?” Wearily he asked, “Where this time?”
The detective sat straight up in his chair and said, “I’ll be right there.”
“Hello Kate and Bess, nice to see you two again, but sorry it is under these circumstances. Can you tell me what happened, Kate?”
“I really don’t know. I was making jam and heard Bess scream,” Kate said. “I turned off the stove and went running out. That... that guy was holding Bess’s arm and lying over her legs. She was crying and trying to get up. I pushed him off her and carried her to the house. Then I called the police.”
Detective Johnson asked, “Are you alright Bess? I hope that man didn’t hurt you.”
“No sir, he didn’t, except where he grabbed my arm,” Bess said. “See the marks he left,” as she pulled up her sleeve to show him the finger marks. “He tried to drag me to his van down the road there,” and she pointed towards a white van parked a hundred feet down the road. “I… I screamed and glared at him. Then he fell on top of me. I was so scared, until Mama came.”
The detective asked Kate, “Do you know the man?”
“No I don’t, but that van has been going by here a lot lately. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman because of the tinted windows,” she answered.
“Ma’am, I would like to talk to you alone for a few minutes, please.”
Kate said, “Bess, please go to your room until I call you.”
“O.K. Mom. He isn’t going to hurt you, is he?”
“My goodness, no,” Kate said.
After Bess had left the room, Detective Johnson said, “Mrs. Springer, Kate, this is very serious and I hope you’ll understand what I’m trying to say because I want to help you two. I think Bess has an eye problem that may need surgery. Let’s walk out by that man. I want to show you something and maybe you’ll understand what I mean.”
The detective knelt beside the man. Looking at the police officer, he asked, “Can I move his shirt for Kate to see something?”
“Sure, Johnson,” the officer said.
“You see this, Mrs. Springer? Every victim has had this same type of burn mark, which penetrates his heart. You and your daughter have been near each victim when they died. I believe it has something to do with Bess’s eyesight. She has admitted twice to ‘glaring’ at the men before they died. Can we please take her to a specialist?”
Kate was crying softly, but said, “I was beginning to wonder about this, myself; why did they always die when we were near? Of course we’ll have her eyes checked out.”
“I’ll make the appointment and call you,” Detective Johnson said. “Please keep Bess in the house until then.”
“I will,” Kate said.
Two days later, Johnson called Kate and said, “We can get her in on Friday. I’ll pick you both up at eight A.M.”
It was a 200-mile drive to the city and thankfully Bess slept most of the way. Detective Johnson talked with Kate about many things until they reached the special eye clinic. He had called ahead and told the doctor the circumstances, so everything was ready for Bess’s exam. Kate asked, “Can I please stay by Bess so she won’t be frightened?”
“Of course you may,” Doctor Abram said as he began looking at Bess’s eyes. Finally the doctor said, “Alright little lady, you can sit out in the other room while I talk with your mother and the detective.”
“Oh no, please,” Detective Johnson said, “The other way around. Bess stays in here with this book and crayons and we’ll go into the other room. We do not need an accident here, now do we?”
“Yes, yes. I understand.” Dr. Abram said as the three left the room.
“This is very extraordinary, as I haven’t seen anything like it before. There is a hole in her left iris and I could feel the heat it put out. This is one for the medical journals, for sure. I have checked everything out after you called, Detective Johnson, and could not find any reference to such a thing,” Dr. Abram explained.
“We will have to do some tests with each eye to be sure of this… this thing. We do not want to make any mistakes.”
“Surely, Dr. Abram,” Kate asked, “You don’t mean to use people to see if it will happen again?”
“No, Ma’am. We have to use an animal. We will cover the left eye to see if anything happens. Then we’ll cover the right eye and go from there. I wish I could say nothing will happen, but I think we know better.”
The adjoining room door opened and a scared little voice cried out, “Mommy, are you there?”
Kate jumped up and ran to Bess’s side, “Of course I am, dear. We were just talking about more tests for you.”
“But I’m tired, Mama,” Bess cried.
Dr. Abram said, “We will do the other tests tomorrow at ten A.M. You’ve been a very good girl, Bess. Thank you.”
The next day they all met in Dr. Abram’s office and he said everything was set. He put a patch over Bess’s left eye before they entered the laboratory. Bess clutched Kate’s hand and said, “I don’t like that thing,” as she pointed to a hamster.
Kate said, “Glare at it and see if he’ll go away.”
Bess glared and nothing happened. With a sigh of relief, everyone went back into the office and Dr. Abram said, “Well, one hurdle has been met satisfactory. Let’s change the patch and cover her right eye now.”
They returned to the lab and again Bess said she didn’t like this animal either. It was a prairie dog, standing on his hind legs looking at them. Kate told her to glare at it to see if it would go away. As Bess glared hard, the little prairie dog fell over, a trap door opened, and it was gone. Kate started to cry as Bess clapped her hands and said, “I did it. I did it. It’s gone.”
The detective and Dr. Abram shook their heads and asked Kate and Bess to wait in the office. The two men then took the prairie dog out of the box and examined it. Sure enough, there was a burn on its chest. The men looked at each other as Detective Johnson asked, “What can you do, doc?”
“I talked with a colleague last evening and he suggested laser surgery to close the hole. But, mind you, no one has ever heard of this, so we aren’t sure it will work. It will be experimental with a lot of praying.”
The men entered the office and the doctor explained to Kate what they wanted to do. She readily agreed and he said it could be done the next day at one in the afternoon.
Kate explained the surgery to Bess and she was excited because then she could wear a patch over her eye just like the pirates did.
When Dr. Abram came out after surgery, he said everything went well, but there was no way of knowing if it closed the hole. Only time would tell and he needed to see Bess in two days for a check-up.
A few days after the check-up, Dr. Abram suggested they try another animal set-up. They all gathered in the lab and Bess again didn’t like the hamster, so Kate told her to glare at it. Nothing happened, so she glared again and still nothing happened. They were all happy the laser surgery had worked and were congratulating the doctor, when Kate noticed that Bess had sat down on the floor and was crying.
Kate asked, “What’s the matter, Honey?”
“I guess I’m happy, too. Now I can’t hurt anyone again, right?”
Detective Johnson knelt beside her and asked, “You mean you knew you were hurting those people?”
“Sort of,” Bess replied. “Because it happened to birds I didn’t like, too.”
The detective stood up and said, “Well, I better call the police station back home and tell them those four cases have all been solved.”