Killing Ways

29

Ren was at her desk the next morning when a call came through from reception. She picked up.

‘Hello?’ It was a woman, tentative, her voice trembling.

‘Yes? This is Special Agent Ren Bryce — how can I help you?’

‘Are you working on the serial killer case?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘I saw this... this man in the woods out near where Stephanie Wingerter was found,’ said the woman.

‘OK...’ said Ren.

‘A male, five eleven, I guess. Hairless.’

Hairless: the earnestness in her delivery.

Ren wrestled the smile out of her voice. ‘And when did you see him, ma’am?’

‘It would have been about three months back — I’m only calling now because of all the recent appeals to the public in the media on account of the investigation going nowhere...’

Thanks.

‘So I did a few internet searches,’ said the caller, ‘and I saw that Stephanie Wingerter was found at Devil’s Head. I can’t remember the exact date I was there, but it was around that time.’

‘Could you describe the man you saw, please?’ said Ren.

‘Well, I say man, but, really, it was a creature I saw.’

Here we go.

‘Looked like an alien,’ said the woman.

‘An alien...’ Ren nodded. She drew an alien with antennae like My Favorite Martian, standing beside a mountain. She drew some trees. She wrote: ‘They. Are. Among. Us.’ then turned the page around to Janine. Janine smiled.

‘Honestly, that would be an accurate description if you saw him,’ said the caller. ‘I mean, maybe it was because I was driving toward him, and he was in the headlights, so he was just this black silhouette. It scared the hell out of me. I slammed on the brakes. He was kind of startled. I saw him a little better when my eyes adjusted. He was completely naked, wiry and muscular, but he seemed very pale... or maybe he was just bleached out in the lights. He had no hair on his body. Not one hair.’

Because you went right up there with your microscope. ‘How did he react to you?’ said Ren.

‘After he got himself together, after he’d been startled, he started moving toward me, real angry,’ she said. ‘I totally freaked, slammed my foot on the accelerator, but my truck wasn’t in reverse, so it looked to him like I was shooting forward to run him over. He dived sideways, disappeared into the dark. I drove up a little ways toward him, I rolled down the window to see if he was OK, and he jumped up, pounced toward me again, like an animal. I was terrified. His face, everything. He was like an alien. No hair. Not one bit.’

‘Nowhere...’ said Ren.

‘No, not down below,’ said the woman. ‘He was like this bald alien.’

Alien. I get it.

‘He smelled real bad,’ she said. ‘Like, real bad.’

‘What kind of smell?’ Mars bars?

‘Like mothballs.’

‘What was he doing when you arrived?’ said Ren.

‘He was taking something out of the trunk of his car,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure what — a piece of wood, maybe? A stick? I’m not sure.’

‘What size was it?’ said Ren.

Silence. ‘His—’

‘The stick!’ said Ren. Jesus Christ.

‘Oh, my. It was about two-foot long.’

Glad we clarified. Or I’d be heading for the woods...

‘Was he alone?’ said Ren.

‘I think so,’ said the woman. ‘I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone, I didn’t hear anything.’

‘Did you get his license plate number?’ said Ren.

‘What I got was the hell out of there.’

Ren smiled. ‘Do you think you could show me on a map where that was? Could you email me something?’

The woman groaned. ‘You’re asking pretty much the worst person in the world. I have the worst sense of direction. But I’ll go to Google Maps and put something together for you.’

‘Thank you so much for your help.’ Nutjobs of the world unite. Ren gave her her email address, hung up and slumped back in the chair. ‘Can someone please not send me the fucking lunatics?’

‘Your brethren,’ said Everett.

‘Seriously, though...’

Ren looked in the direction of the door, where Gary was now hovering.

Oh, how you suck the life out of the room.

‘What’s going on here?’ said Gary.

‘Well, I just got a call from a woman who saw an alien at Devil’s Head, near where Stephanie Wingerter was found,’ said Ren, her fingers paused over the keyboard. She began to type in time with the words: ‘Pale-skinned, scarred face, hairless — down there.’

‘Give the woman a break,’ said Gary.

Ren stopped breathing for several seconds. Annnd release. ‘As it is his jurisdiction, I will be letting Rodeal know — don’t worry. Yes, this woman may have stumbled on a couple of mating aliens or a single masturbatory one, maybe woodland grass provides the perfect environment for alien babies to grow... like Cabbage Patch Kids. But, still, there’s always the possibility she was seeing somebody pulling a shovel out of a trunk, about to dig a shallow grave.’

‘She might have been drinking,’ said Gary.

‘Might have been...’

Ren turned to Everett when Gary was gone. ‘And haven’t I got a Crazy Bitch bitch? Don’t I have a DPD guy taking the weird calls? I mean — not that he knows that’s what he’s doing. But reception does — and that’s the main thing. They have the power.’

‘The loons are the most fun,’ said Everett.

Ren turned to Robbie. ‘Can you look into two people for me without drawing Gary’s attention to it? Their names are Kurt Vine and Amanda Petrie.’

‘Sure — what are you looking at?’ said Robbie.

‘That Sedalia lady — the Jane Doe,’ said Ren. ‘I found out that she was singing the exact lyrics that Carrie Longman had written on the napkin in Manny’s. And she was on fire — the same night Stephanie Wingerter went missing, and she was found with burns too.’

‘What?’ said Everett. ‘That is so... random.’

‘I know,’ said Ren. ‘And I’d like it to be less so.’ She turned to Janine. ‘Janine, could you speak with the staff who worked with Carrie Longman, see who at the shelter has a history of IV drug use, either themselves or in the family? See if there are any lyricists among them or if they know any?’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ said Janine.

‘On to more important things,’ said Everett, pointing to Ren. ‘Do you want to light up a dance floor with me tonight?’

‘Ben is flying in,’ said Ren. ‘But, yes, I think he needs to see our moves.’

Gary came into the office. ‘Just to let you know — Sylvie Ross will be coming in at eight a.m. tomorrow to talk about what she got from Carly Raine’s little boy.’

Ren looked at Everett. They smiled.

This early start development will not stop our moves. Nothing stops our moves.