Home of the Gray Dog - Segment 16

Chapter 76

“Are you positive he won’t mind my coming along with Randall?” Anthony’s question about being welcome was obvious to him since he had never met Walker. “With what you’ve said is going on at his home, having a stranger underfoot is the last thing he needs.”

         After leaving Walker the night before, Jack had placed a call to the San Francisco forensic lab. He knew Anthony worked nights and hoped he could catch him in the building and not out on a case. It took only a few minutes for the lab’s front desk-clerk to find Anthony hard at work in the trace lab.

         “No, it might just be the thing he needs to get his mind off what happened to Samantha. How is Randall? Driving you crazy with his imposed vacation yet?” Jack had met Randall through a mutual friend the previous year and knew inactivity went against the man’s nature.

         Anthony groaned. “You better believe it. You have any little problems he can work on to keep him happy?”

         “One or two!” Like identifying the four murdered women or figuring out how Colin died, thought Jack, wondering if Randall’s visit would be restful after all. Sheriff Bitson had already mentioned his untrained staff and the need to call in experts from the nearby city. Having two trained forensic agents visiting, one of whom was familiar with the mansion already, might be a better solution.

         “How much time do you two need before flying here?” Jack brought his thoughts back to arranging the plane trip. “I can have a private plane at SFO within a few hours, if need be.”

         Anthony grinned when he answered, “Wow! There’s nothing like having a plane at your beck and call. Randall’s probably at home, or at least he better be. I’ll call him and see how long it will take to get ready and get back to you.” After exchanging phone numbers, both men said their good-byes.

         An hour later, Anthony was again on the phone with Jack, confirming plans for meeting the plane at the San Francisco airport at 8 o’clock the next morning. With only a few hours in the air and a short drive from the Westbrook airport, with luck they should arrive at the mansion by lunchtime.

Chapter 77

“Walker, her medical file is confidential, and Sherri wouldn’t even share it with me.” Edith had just returned with Samantha from the hospital and was in her son’s apartment. “I can tell you it will take some time for her to recover from her injuries.”

         Walker leaned forward, needing to have at least one question answered. “Did she finally agree to have the SAE kit run?”

         Edith shook her head. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know.” Standing up and preparing to leave, Edith looked sadly at Walker. She recognized his feelings for Samantha, even if he still hadn’t admitted them to himself yet. “All we can do now is hope she can tell us what happened some day.” Leaving Walker with that very unsatisfactory thought, Edith left and returned downstairs to Samantha’s rooms.

         Walker restlessly paced around his living room, trying to get the memory of a bruised and battered Samantha out of his mind. Finally, unable to stand being alone with those thoughts, he walked down the three flights of stairs to the mansion’s entrance room. The arrival of a rental car driving up the long circular driveway toward the mansion ended his plan for a solitary lunch. Walker watched through the room’s large front window as the speeding car came to a jolting stop right in front of the building.

         Out from the driver’s side stepped a tall muscular man who appeared to be in his late 30s. “Hello,” he called out to someone just out of Walker’s view.

         “I see you found your way here okay.” When Walker opened the front door, he heard Jack’s welcoming voice coming from where he had been standing just outside. “How was your flight?”

         A second man answered while getting out of the passenger’s side of the car. “The flight was fine, Jack, but Anthony’s demon driving had me wondering if we’d survive the few miles to get here.” Randall came around the car and shook Jack’s hand in greeting. “You remember him from your visit to our lab last year, don’t you?” Jack had been instrumental in arranging for Joshua and Sue Beth to become Walker’s young wards after the murder of their mother in San Francisco.

         Jack turned to shake Anthony’s hand. “Sure, and I also remember when you drove me around San Francisco sightseeing one afternoon.” He pretended to shudder in terror. Spotting Walker standing by the open door, he quickly introduced Anthony and then said, “Walker, don’t ever let Anthony drive you anywhere. We think he learned to drive at the Indy 500 raceway.”

         Laughing in easy male camaraderie, the four men entered the mansion, unaware of the dangers that would face at least one of them in the future.

Chapter 78

The men decided to talk over coffee, and soon they found an empty table in the back of the crowded dining room. All around them were the elderly residents of the mansion enjoying a midday lunch. Many of them recognized Randall from his visit the previous year and waved greetings at him. Anthony couldn’t help grinning when he saw most of those waving were women. Randall is like catnip to women, he thought, not for the first time. He had noticed this reaction before and knew Randall was totally unaware of the impact he had on females.

         Waiting until the waiter had taken their order and returned with their coffee, Randall asked the question foremost on his mind. “How is Samantha now?” Randall still had romantic feelings for the beautiful redhead, and it upset him to know Colin had brutalized and possibly sexually assaulted her.

         Frustration was evident in his voice when Walker answered before Jack could, “My mother just brought Sam back from the hospital, but she won’t tell me anything. Something about HIPAA rules, medical confidentiality, or some such nonsense.”

         Randall watched his friend angrily clench his fists until his knuckles turn white. To give Walker time to calm down, he turned to Jack instead. “Do you know what happened to her? What set that Colin guy off?”

         Jack shrugged. “We think he was emulating his ancestor, the sadistic monster who first owned this place. Walker, did you get any further in Colin’s journal about Samantha’s kidnapping?”

         “No, I couldn’t after those first couple pages. If he hadn’t already been dead, I would have killed him myself.” Such a vehement comment from the normally gentle man startled both Jack and Randall. Anthony, however, understood his feeling of rage. He remembered walking into the school where the SFPD forensic agents first met Joshua and Sue Beth. They found the two terrified youngsters hiding in a classroom cabinet after the savage massacre of their classmates. The memory of several dead children lying on the floor covered in their own blood still haunted his dreams at night.

         He spoke quietly to gain Walker’s attention. “If you’ll let me borrow Colin’s journal, perhaps I can get inside his head. He can’t be any worse than some of the people we’ve come across in San Francisco. May I read it?”

         Walker didn’t say anything right away. He simply stared at the man he had met only a short time before. No one spoke until Walker finally forced out one word. “Okay!”

Chapter 79

Leaving their now empty coffee cups on the table, the four men started to leave the dining room. When Anthony initially had seen the immense size of the building from the outside, he had worried the wealthy owner would be a stuffy overbearing man who looked down on those less fortunate. Instead, he found he was a warm, caring person.

         Walker was obviously loved and respected by all who shared his home. Anthony listened to the quiet comments of people reaching out to gently touch Walker when he passed by the crowded tables. He even saw one elderly woman stop Walker to give him a brief hug and whisper a few words before releasing him.

         “Thank you, Rose.” Anthony heard Walker’s quiet response, but didn’t know Rose Cochran and her husband Dan considered Samantha to be almost like a daughter. Before Walker stepped in to protect the elderly couple, their own daughter had mentally and physically abused her parents. Monica Van Buren was still missing, after sending someone to leave a bomb in the mansion’s entrance room months earlier.

         While crossing the large entrance room, Anthony saw Walker and Jack constantly stopped as person after person inquired about Samantha’s health. Suddenly, he heard a young girl yelling his name. Looking around, he saw her by the elevator and broke out in a big grin.

         “Sue Beth, get over here and give me a hug!” Anthony almost regretted saying this the second it left his mouth. He remembered how painful her hugs could be since she threw all of her loving nature into them. When the running girl reached him, he opened his arms to catch her, swinging her up and around, her arms tight around his neck and her feet never touching the floor.

         “Anthony, why didn’t someone tell Joshua and me you were coming?” Sue Beth, once set back down on the floor, shook her finger at him in such an adult scolding way Anthony actually started to feel guilty. A giggle gave her away, and once again he saw only a child in front of him.

         Randall had stopped to watch their boisterous reunion, and it took a couple minutes before Sue Beth noticed him. “Randall, you’re here, too? How wonderful!” She left Anthony rubbing his neck to greet Randall with another hug and many butterfly kisses of welcome. “Can both of you come over to Hannah’s Home right now? Joshua’s there with Mike, and you’ll like Mike.” Sue Beth excitedly went on to describe Hannah’s Home, Mike, and the recent birthday party, not knowing in her childish innocence how worried the men around her were about Samantha. The adults living at the mansion had tried their best to keep the facts of Samantha’s treatment by Colin from the children.

         Randall shared an amused glance with the other men before answering Sue Beth. “Maybe later, okay? Right now, Walker wants to show us something upstairs.” Seeing the pout on Sue Beth’s face, he quickly added, “Why don’t you go tell Joshua we’re here, and Anthony and I will join both of you pretty soon.”

         Although not completely satisfied, Sue Beth didn’t argue and raced off to find her brother. After she disappeared from sight, the men continued across the large room and up to Walker’s apartment.

Chapter 80

Once inside, Walker headed immediately to where he had left the journals scattered all over the living room table. Randall and Anthony soon joined him. Meanwhile Jack went into Walker’s office to make a private phone call. When he joined them about 10 minutes later, he found the three men each reading from a different journal. He noticed Anthony had chosen Colin’s journal, and the others were reluctantly going through those of Jason Edgeworth. Since Jason had written one for each of the five women he murdered, three unread journals remained.

         After he sat down, Jack happened to pick the one for Jason’s second wife, Nancy. When he quickly flipped through the pages, he noticed something. “Someone tore out a page from this one, Walker.” He then thought back to the page found in Colin’s dead hand and the horror he felt at reading it the day before. “Never mind, I left it with Franklin yesterday.”

         “What are you talking about?” asked Walker, a frown crossing his face. “What page?”

         “Remember Colin was holding a page in his hand when I found him?” Jack waited and saw the Walker’s frown disappear when the memory of what Jack brought out of the tunnel rushed back. The sight of Samantha’s bloody sweater had made the page seem unimportant at the time.

         Walker closed his eyes, trying to erase the image of the sweater from his mind. Failing miserably, he once again looked at Jack. “What was on the page? Do you remember?”

         Knowing the pain Walker was feeling and trying very hard to conceal, Jack choose his words carefully. “It contained Jason’s description of what he did to Nancy once he got her down below ground.” When Walker remained silent and obviously waiting for more from him, Jack reluctantly continued. “He first applied devices consisting of wedges to both her legs from ankles to knees. He then used a hammer to pound the wedges in closer together. As the area between the wedges got smaller and began to close on the legs, the wedges entered the flesh and crushed her bones, so thoroughly that marrow gushed out.” Jack went on, ignoring the others. “Not satisfied to hear her screams of pain, he tied a stick in her long hair, twisting it tighter and tighter. In this way, he ripped her hair out completely. Only after he tore her scalp open, exposing the bone underneath, did he stop.”

         Jack stopped momentarily when he heard gagging coming from one of the men. He didn’t look over to see who it was, but went on in a monotone voice with what he’d read. “At the bottom of the page, Jason had written of his excitement that caused him to involuntarily ejaculate while watching Nancy’s agony from the pain he was inflicting.” Jack finally glanced at the others. “His final sentence told of his desire to continue having that feeling, and it seemed he did since there are more pages after that in this journal.”

Continued in next segment.

Home of the Gray Dog - Segment 17  (18+) Chapters 81 through 85 #1278455 by J. A. Buxton