Number Seventy-Five (4 page)

Oh, God. Steady. Show no fear.

“So, you and Jacob hunted women. He caught them, stole their cash and then killed them. That means your role is that of disposer, correct?” I said, flicking the spent butt across the expanse of the cave. I reached down and grabbed another.

“Yeah, that ‘bout sums it up.”

“How did you and Jacob hook up? He isn’t from our neck of the woods,” I said, my confidence rising with each answered question.

As long as I can engage him in conversation…I stand a chance.

“Oh, we know each other from way back. We went to the academy together down in Knoxville. He worked Internet crimes for Sutter County for a few years but then discovered he could make a better living on his own. He was one of those computer geeks who could do anythin’ and everythin’.

“We ran into each other about three and a half years ago at Jimmy Joe’s pub on Highway 75. He was sloshed and got a little too friendly with a waitress and my, um, dinner companion. Jimmy Joe had me show him the door. If he’da been anyone else, I’da arrested him that night but he was my friend. He asked for a smoke when we was outside, and I obliged. I can’t really explain it, but I just felt like he needed an ear to jaw at, so I listened while he smoked. Turns out, he was out drownin’ his pain and sufferin’ that night. Same as me.”

The shovel slammed into the ground; his anger overtook him. I swallowed the fear that was trying to creep up my throat.

Keep the veins full of ice, Mandy.

“What pain was that, Sambo?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Rejection from the woman I loved,” he replied, his voice thick with emotion. He paused for a moment and turned his head away from me, low like he was praying. He wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt before resuming his task. Realizing he was battling with his feelings, I tested the waters.

“Sambo, my ankle is numb. May I move it? And my knee, it’s dislocated. Please, help me get it back in place. It’s hard to talk with you when I’m in so much pain.”

He stopped and looked at me, his eyes a mixture of compassion and irritation.

“Of course, Mandy. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable before you go.”

Gee, thanks you fucker. Your compassion is overwhelming. How about you just stop digging and let me go?

He put the tool of my destruction down and came over to me. His eyes were full of a variety of emotions as he knelt down and placed both of his filthy hands on each side of my knee.

“This is gonna hurt like hell. You ready?” he said, the compassion apparent in his quiet words. “Don’t worry. I’ve done this a bunch of times. Take a deep breath and on the count of three…”

I gritted my teeth, nodded my head, and sucked in a lungful of air.

“Ready.”

“One, two,
three!
”

With a quick jerk, he popped my kneecap back into place. I couldn’t stop the scream of agony that erupted out of me. It took all of my strength to remain conscious as waves of searing pain barreled through me. I was thankful for the cold cave wall, which helped keep me awake and cool the red hot burn that rushed throughout my system.

“Sorry, I know that hurts like a sonofabitch. Popped mine out twice in high school during football games. Remember that, Mandy? You and Shawna had to help me walk home and you held my hand. What a sweet day that was. You were so caring. I believe that was the day you decided to become a nurse, when you saw how your compassion affected others. Ah, memories. Soon, they will be all I have left.”

He patted my hand with a reassuring touch and I had to force myself not to jerk my hand away. He stood up and went back to the hole, his steps slower than before. Over his shoulder he said, “You should be feeling the relief by now.” A seemingly heartfelt smile appeared. I concentrated on my revulsion to his touch and his voice to keep from passing out.

Focus, Mandy. Keep him talking.

“Now, let’s quit talkin’ ’bout the past. You asked me a question about my role in this, so I’ll answer. My job in this game is the last, but most important one. I make sure the bodies are never found.” Samuel lowered his head and began ripping through the dirt at a swift pace.

I bent my left leg up which helped ease the tightness in my chest with each breath. He was right--the pain was but a fleeting memory now. I scrunched my back tighter against the smooth wall, which helped stabilize my position on the floor. Head cleared and fury back in control, I lit another smoke and continued my questions. I was unwilling to acknowledge his brief moment of humanity in fixing my knee, so I honed in on our location.

“Well, it seems you found the perfect hiding spot.” I glanced around at the makeshift graves. “A cave for God’s sake. It seems rather dramatic. It’s cold in here. I’m guessin’ we aren’t in Tennessee anymore?”

“Good catch, Mandy. You’da made a great cop.”

“Seventy-four women are buried under those mounds of dirt, huh? Guess that means you two have been at this game for quite some time.”

Samuel’s head never moved. His remorseful eyes seemed unwilling to meet my inquisitive ones.

“Comin’ up on nearly three years. And I’m no dolt, Mandy. I may not be the shiniest apple in the cart, but I am a good cop. I know how to hide evidence, that’s for sure. Dad and I stumbled upon this cave on a huntin’ trip when I was about eight. The hills of Kentucky are full of them. No one knows it’s here. Don’t no one come back this deep, not even the moonshiners. We only discovered it when we was a runnin’ from a pop-up thunderstorm. Took us three days to find our way out and back to our truck.”

Kentucky? Jesus, what day is it? How long have I been out?

“Three years? You two have been rather busy bad boys, haven’t you?” He didn’t respond to that question. I could see a faint glow of pink from his cheeks. I wasn’t certain that was from the exertion of digging or embarrassment.

“So, how exactly did the game work?”

“It’s rather complicated, so I will give you the short version since I’m almost done. You see, the guy you know as Jacob, well that ain’t his real name, by the way. It’s Russell Martin. It’s just one of the hundreds of identities he had. As I said earlier, his heart was broken by a spiteful ex-wife. She left him and his bank account, high and dry. She’d hired her some high falutin’ lawyer from Knoxville that took him for all he was worth. He’d just written the final check to her the night we reconnected at Jimmy Joe’s. We talked at the bar for hours. I convinced Jimmy Joe into letting him come back inside, and we had us a nice little chat. That’s when he explained this plan he was workin’ on.”

Just listen. Nod your head and listen.

“You see, earlier that day, he had just found out that his ex had this online dating profile and was braggin’ about how much money she had from her divorce.
His money
. He was furious and wanted revenge. He decided that he would put his hacker skills to good use and make him some money. He knew he couldn’t go after his ex because he would be considered the prime suspect, so he decided to go after other women. Lonely women that had recently become rich off of the hard work of their ex-spouses, figuring he could search online for new cash cows to hook up with. I’ll admit, at first I was shocked, but the more he explained how easy it would be and the drunker I got, well, guess I kinda got sucked in.”

“Are you telling me that you just forgot all about the law you took an oath to uphold and just decided that stealin’ and killin’ sounded like a good idea?” I said, immediately wishing I could retract the words. The last thing I wanted to do was piss him off. To my surprise, he laughed.

“Hell no! Killin’ was never part of the game plan. I mean, he was just supposed to grab some quick cash from each one and move on. At first, I helped him by wading through tons of dating sites, trollin’ for freshly divorced fish, but I ain’t all that computer savvy. He was smart. He insisted that we never look for women from our own backyard. We hunted all over the country.”

And saved the hometown gal for the final one.

“But the first one, well, she looked just like his ol’ lady, and I guess he lost control. He called me in a drunken panic one night, and when I arrived, he took me to her, um, remains in his barn. I knew there was no turnin’ back then because I was in too deep. And Jacob, er, Russell, discovered he enjoyed killin’. Got a real taste for it. Sometimes, he would keep the women in his barn for days, doin’ all sorts of unspeakable things. The more pain he caused, the more they offered for their life. So, that’s when I just became the clean-up guy. When he was done with ’em, he called me and I came and picked up the…bodies. No one knows about this cave ’cept me.”

The hole was getting bigger as Samuel’s movements were spurred on by the memories. A wave of nausea swept over me as I glanced back over my shoulder to the silent victims.

“Jacob must have been quite the computer expert if he covered his tracks for so long. And picking your victims from all over, that was a smart move. No wonder their disappearances haven’t all been linked together. And the two of you split the booty fifty-fifty from these women, and seventy-five victims was your limit. What, did Jacob get greedier and you decided to kill him?”

“I told you, that was
my
magic number. I got enough cash now to live high on the hog for the rest of my life. Besides, it had to end sometime, and someone had to take the fall. I didn’t like all this death, but I sort of was stuck, ya know? But once we figured out how to pin it all on Jacob, err, Russell, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He had the looks and the charm to lure the ladies but not much going on in the brain department outside of being a hacker. Russell couldn’t carry on a conversation worth a lick of salt, know what I mean?”

We?

“Yeah, he was charming online but sort of a dork in person, at least from my perspective on the other side of the dinner table,” I said sarcastically. “There were no sparks, that’s for sure. Guess I didn’t fall prey to his deadly ways.”

“No, but he got you anyhow. On the highway.”

“Let me guess. He sabotaged my tire when he went to the bathroom?”

“Yeah, he did,” Samuel replied as he slung more dirt.

“No wonder he was gone so long. Gee, and I just assumed he was calling a friend to tell them how great the date was going.”

Samuel chuckled and his inappropriate laughter made me want to scream. “You always did have a bitter sense of humor, Mandy. I’m sure gonna miss it.”

I smiled wickedly at him in response and lit another cigarette. At least our conversation was buying me time to consider all of my options. He wasn’t looking in my direction any longer, so I stole a quick glimpse of the layout of the cave. It was difficult to make much out since the only light was coming from the lantern by his feet. I had no idea how far the entrance of the cave was from my position. The only thing I did know was which direction I would claw my way to once I figured out a way to escape.

Samuel stood six two and the ceiling was considerably higher, maybe twelve feet. The width was about twice that size and the depth unknown. Obviously, it was far enough to bury nearly a hundred women.

And that’s when I caught a glint of something red and metallic. It rested near the spot I had been before Sam moved me. Christ, why didn’t I think to search for it before?

It was my purse which held my gun.

Hallelujah!

“I doubt you will miss my sense of humor any more than I will miss dishing it out. So, tonight was the end. The last trinkets stolen and thrown into your coffers, all ready to pin it on Jacob, the unwilling patsy. Was he going to get his fifty percent of my money too, or were you going to keep all that yourself? You know, since we’re practically like brother and sister, to keep the cash in family, so to speak?”

Sam kept shoveling as sadness and regret spread across his face.

“I told you, Mandy. Seventy-five was the perfect number. It was easier since we split the um, er, proceeds three ways. But tonight, Jacob wasn’t gettin’ a dime. The money was only going to be halved.”

Three ways? We? Oh God, there was another…

I nodded in agreement and motioned for him to continue, my heart pounding at the discovery of another partner. I swallowed the bile that was making its way up my esophagus. What if the other partner showed up? And who the hell was it? If I survived, would I be forced to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, worried about them finding me?

“We made sure that everything points back to him. All the money was funneled into his bank account. Then large sums of cash withdrawn and given to us. I never put mine in the bank. It’s hidden inside my gun safe at home. No paper trail, no siree Bob. I told you, tonight was the last night. I’m just sorry that you’re the last one.”

“Yeah, but not as sorry I am.” That reply brought a small grin to his sweaty face. “I assume, since I met Jacob on a dating site, that’s the hunting ground you all used?” Since he was being so forthcoming with information, I hoped I could get him to tell me about the third partner.

He nodded silently, the intensity back with a vengeance. The hole was getting deeper.