The Hum (8 page)

The drive to the jail was hauntingly quiet. Russell didn’t have anything to say after hearing how Kevin had murdered his wife and kids. Part of him wanted to comfort the man, and part of him wanted to make him fry for his crimes. The hardest thing for Russell was hearing how strong his love once was for his family, and how it ended in such a brutal murder.
Life is definitely not fair sometimes
.

CHAPTER 13

Inside the lonely cell, Kevin began to wonder what became of Sheriff Jent. After handing him over to the authorities, he hadn’t seen the man again. Since he’d pled guilty by reason of insanity for killing the men at the service station, his case hadn’t gone to court and he was sentenced to the loony bin for an undetermined length of time. Kind of ironic that he’d get sentenced to the mental ward, just like the man that had raped his wife.

The time under the psychiatrist’s watch did Kevin good. It was the first peace and quiet he’d had in quite a long time, and once he met the priest, the humming finally ceased, for a spell.

Since he was still strolling down memory lane with nothing but time on his hands, Kevin went back to the time he’d spent up north with Father Gregory. The good father showed up during his second week at the asylum, and Kevin liked him right away. The things Father Gregory taught him were nothing like what he’d learned growing up in church. As a matter of fact, it was totally the opposite.

From Father Gregory, Kevin learned that he could sin all he wanted as long as he said enough
Hail Mary’s
and asked for forgiveness. His seemed a much easier religion to follow than the Pentecostal one Kevin had grown up in. The priest wasn’t lurking in the bushes, ready to send members of the congregation to hell for their every move. Heck, the priest was across from you at the local bar.

The fact that Father Gregory appeared to fully believe in the humming noise Kevin told him about, definitely helped foster their bond of friendship. The Father not only accepted it, he seemed to understand Kevin’s desire to do it’s bidding, even to the point of murder. He wasn’t condemning like Kevin expected him to be—he made him feel like he’d done the right thing. He kept expecting the good Father to turn on him at any minute, but he stayed the course. He genuinely seemed to want to help Kevin get rid of the dreadful hum for once and for all.

After regularly meeting and delving through the details of each time he’d heard the hum for nearly two months straight, Father Gregory convinced Kevin to quit feeling so guilty about what he’d done and accept it. It was radical thinking and it scared him a bit, but he decided to give it a try. To his surprise, it actually worked—the humming stopped. For the next six years, he didn’t hear a peep.

With the humming no longer weighing him down, Father Gregory went about the process of helping Kevin get out of the mental asylum. Even while he was coaching him on what to say to the doctors and the court system, Kevin couldn’t help but wonder what the priest saw in him to make him go to such great lengths to set him free. For some unknown reason, Father Gregory made it his mission in life to get him out of that place. He regularly said, “You don’t belong here. You’re perfectly sane.” Before long, Kevin started to believe it.

It took seven years of treatment and tests to get everyone else to believe Kevin was sane and harmless to society, and Father Gregory remained by his side every step of the way. Kevin began to look up to the older man, kind of like a real father. Since his own father never really performed that role in Kevin’s life, it felt good to have the priest around so much.

When they finally approved his release from the system, Kevin immediately grew afraid. He didn’t know where he would go or what he’d do. He didn’t have any family waiting around for him, nor was there anyone looking to hire a convicted felon. Luckily, Father Gregory stepped in and got him a job working at the local publishing company. But his time there was short-lived, thanks to the humming starting back.

The sound came in the middle of the night, while Kevin was sleeping. It started out very low, faint. He unconsciously incorporated it into his dreams, at least until it grew so loud that it woke him up. The sound brought with it a new fear, a fear of having to kill again. He’d prayed on numerous occasions that it was finally over, that the men at the service station were the last. Now that the humming was back, he knew that wasn’t the case. He was being called to do it again, and he wondered who would be his next victim.

Getting up from his bed, Kevin went out to the living room of his small apartment and took the phone book from inside the drawer of his end table. Flipping through the pages, he called out the names: “Dawn Davis? Is she next? Thomas Davis? Roland Denton? Is he the one?” Flipping through more pages, his finger came to rest on Father Gregory, and he took it as some kind of omen.

Quickly, Kevin scrolled through his call log, and dialed Father Gregory’s number. His head was starting to ache, making him curse when the good Father didn’t pick up after the fourth ring. Thinking he was either out or couldn’t hear his phone, Kevin started to hang up.

“Hello? Hello? This is Father Gregory.”

“Thank goodness, I caught you, Father. It…it started again, Father Gregory. I’m scared out of my mind here. What should I do? I’m afraid I might hurt someone.”

“Just relax, Kevin. I’ll change into some clothes and be right over. Can you put us on some coffee?”

“I think so, if my hands will quit shaking long enough.”

Kevin hung up the phone and spent the next few minutes wringing his hands together and rubbing them through his hair. He even pressed hard against his temples, but it did nothing to stop his throbbing head or end the humming noise.

Remembering the coffee, Kevin made his way into the small kitchen and filled the carafe halfway to the top. He cursed again, as the side of it hit against the granite countertop in his kitchen. Luckily, it didn’t shatter into a million pieces; the small crack held the water contained inside, so he moved on to the next step in preparing the black gold. His rule of thumb for making coffee had always been one scoop for two cups, but as of late, he’d jumped up to one scoop per cup. It caused him to go to the store and the bathroom more often, but the higher dose of caffeine helped jumpstart his system.

The extra caffeine came to be his much needed crutch, since he had to read through thousands of manuscripts of so many want-to-be writers. It seemed the advent of so much technology turned everyone into an author, or so they thought. Kevin still couldn’t believe people actually sent in what they called a finished product with spelling errors. He’d lost count of how many times people messed up the simple things, such as placing i before e; Kevin wanted to scream at them:
i before e unless it comes after c, you idiots!

The loud knocking sound at his front door caused Kevin to jump. He wasn’t sure how much time had elapsed since he’d hung up from Father Gregory, but the man seemed to get there rather quickly. Kevin was more than a little happy to see his friend, mentor, and father figure.

“Thank goodness you’re here, Father. Come in.” “Just try and calm down, Kevin. Have you told

anyone else about the hum?”

Thinking it an odd question, Kevin said, “No, why?” “Just trying to make sure you don’t get locked back up.” After sitting on the small sofa opposite Kevin’s recliner, Father Gregory said, “Are the headaches

back as well?”

“Worse than ever. I think I’m losing my mind, Father Gregory. You’ve got to help me.”

Father Gregory went straight to the coffee, poured two steaming cups, and took a seat across the table from where Kevin sat slumped over in his chair. “Here, drink.”

With shaking hands, Kevin took the cup and turned it up for a sip. “What am I going to do, Father?” “Have you considered going back to the place where

the humming first began? You mentioned something about hearing it for the first time in your birthplace of Taos, New Mexico, right?”

“Yes, when I was dealing with all of Wayne’s crap. I don’t want to go back there, Father. What if this thing gets worse by my going to Taos?”

“I don’t see how that’s possible, Kevin. If you remain here and do nothing, then you’ll likely harm someone else. I’m sure you don’t want to end back up in that asylum again. Correct?”

“Absolutely, but more importantly I don’t want to hurt another
innocent
person.”

“I thought we got past all of this, Kevin. The people you killed were hardly innocent. Your brother tried to kill you by shoving you down the mountain, your wife expected you to raise another man’s child, your boss practically made you kill his son by giving him all the good leads and your ex-girlfriend was nothing but a jezebel. I hate to be so blunt here, but they all had it coming.”

Up to this point, Father Gregory had never really come right out and phrased things like this before, even though he’d hinted enough for Kevin to know where he was coming from. Hearing him lay it out this way and the tone with which he’d said it, took Kevin by surprise. He began to wonder if all priests thought this way. “Be that as it may, it’s still wrong, Father. I just wish I could take it all back—just go back to the farm and dump out that poison. Killing Wayne started all this mess, and now I don’t see an end in sight.”

“Look at it this way, Kevin. What have you got to lose by going back to Taos? I’ll purchase you a bus ticket, and you can go down for a few days just to see if things are any different. Who knows? You could get down there and the humming completely stop. Maybe this thing is calling you back to finally give you the peace that your soul deserves.”

“Or it could be worse than before, and I end up killing off the entire town.”

“At least you’d get to stay in a different asylum.” Father Gregory said with a huge smile on his face.

“Not funny, Father. Not funny at all.”

“All I’m saying is that you should give it a try, Kevin. I’m sure I could get your supervisor to give you a few weeks off. You might even be able to continue your edits down there, if you end up staying.”

Kevin took a few minutes to consider Father Gregory’s offer. He didn’t really have anything tying him to the area except the job, and it could be done from afar, so it was definitely feasible. He knew the figure down in the tunnel had wanted him to go back all those years prior, but he was afraid. He’d seen and done too much. Still, Father Gregory was a smart man, and Kevin knew he’d be there for him if trouble should arise. After going back and forth for a few minutes, he finally said, “Okay, I’ll go, but if I take out the whole town of Taos, it’s on your conscience.”

“We’ll just have to pray that doesn’t happen, now won’t we?” Father Gregory said, obviously pleased with Kevin’s decision to go back.

“Thanks for all you’ve done and continue to do for me, Father. I don’t know why, but you’ve always been there for me. I don’t deserve your friendship, but I’m thankful for it.”

“That’s not true, Kevin. You deserve true friendship as much as the next guy. Besides, I might need a favor one day, and have to call upon you.”

“I’d gladly drop everything to help you in any way

I can, Father.”

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s enjoy our coffee and catch a late night movie. What do you say?”

“I say I’m up at two in the morning with no sleep in sight, and since this blasted headache won’t give me any rest, a movie sounds like a great idea.”

CHAPTER 14

“Time to wake up, Mr. Black. The Sheriff wants to speak with you,” said the young deputy in a tone way too cheerful for such an hour.

Kevin rolled over on the soft bunk and rubbed sleep from his eyes. It felt much too early to be getting out of bed, especially since the sun wasn’t even awake yet. “What…what time is it anyhow?”

“Almost five. The Sheriff’s an early riser.”

“Is there a reason why we have to meet right now? It doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere for a while.”

“It seems Miss. Billingsley has finally come back to us, and she confirmed your story. If everything goes well during your talk with Sheriff Bowman, you might get out of here in an hour or so.”

“I don’t see what bearing this talk has on my being released. If Amanda says I wasn’t her attacker, then you don’t have any reason to keep me here.”

“You’ve obviously been away for quite some time, so allow me to spell things out for you, Mr. Black. Taos is a small town, and what Sheriff Bowman says is the law. There is no gray area here. If he wants to keep you locked up for the next year, he can do so without anyone even questioning. Does that help you understand better?”

“Perfectly,” replied Kevin. He began to wonder if coming back home was a good idea after all. He’d killed Wayne in Taos and no one questioned him— would he be able to kill others without even causing a stir? He was also starting to think Amanda’s theory about her sister being murdered here might have some merit after all.
Did someone from the area kill her and cover it up so easily?

Following closely behind, Kevin waited until the deputy rapped lightly on the Sheriff’s door.

“Bring him in, Aaron. And get us some coffee.” “Will do, Sheriff.”

The office looked like a hunter’s mancave. Animal heads were stuffed and mounted all over the walls. Kevin noticed the strange combination of three huge antelopes positioned around each other in a circle with a bear’s head in the middle. The antelope had their heads bent downward, making the scene look even more bizarre. Who would pay to stuff an animal in such a way?
Maybe the Sheriff’s isn’t just a hunter; he obviously fancies himself some sort of artist—what a strange combination
.

“Do you know why I called you in here, Mr. Black?” “Uh, I assume to tell me that Miss Billingsley is

doing better, and to release me.”

“That’s part of it, but I also wanted to give you a little advice. Miss Billingsley hasn’t exactly made a whole lot of friends around here lately, and I’d hate to see you end up with the wrong crowd. Are you following me, Mr. Black?”

“No, I can’t say that I am, Sheriff. From what I’ve been told, she’s just trying to find some answers about what happened to her sister.”

“Everyone that she’s questioned has tried to tell her they don’t know anything about her sister’s death, but she simply refuses to listen. Just between you and me, that woman probably got what she deserved. Her sister, Jordan, spent more time on her back than she did standing up, so it was only a matter of time before one of the men she spent most of her time with, did her in.”

It irked Kevin a bit to hear the Sheriff talk down on Amanda’s sister, and he really didn’t know why. He hadn’t met the woman before, and he neither knew nor cared about how she lived her life. So what if she enjoyed the same pleasures that all men did—was that a crime? The thing that bothered him the most was the fact that this woman had just been attacked, and the Sheriff was more concerned about the trouble she was stirring up than her actual safety.

“What does all of this have to do with me, Sheriff?” “Are you slow or what, boy? Let me spell it out for you—if you want to remain in Taos, then you have to do one of two things: either get Miss Billingsley to leave, or steer as far away from her as possible. Understand me now?”

“Get her to leave? Are you actually suggesting I run her out of town, Sheriff?”

“Not at all, Mr. Black. I’m merely offering you a couple of alternatives to help make your stay here better, possible if you will.”

“Well thanks for your suggestions, Sheriff. If that’s all, then I think I should get going.” Kevin said as he got up to leave.

“I’m not finished yet, Mr. Black. Just so we’re clear here, this is my town, and I won’t tolerate troublemakers. Now I’ve looked into your background a bit, and I know all about the time you spent in the loony bin. Information like that might make it a little hard for you to find a job down here. If I were you, I’d think real hard about those two options I mentioned earlier. You might find yourself making quite a bit of money and a nice living for yourself here, if you do.”

“Are we through now?”

“I guess so. Thanks for spending the night with us. If you don’t want to come back and visit the cell anytime soon, you might want to listen to what I told you. Goodbye, Mr. Black.”

The young deputy met Kevin at the door, and guided him back out to the front of the station. Ten minutes later, Kevin walked out of the place fighting mad. He didn’t like being given an ultimatum, it made him want to go straight to the hospital. And that’s exactly what he did.

The local hospital was only five blocks from the police department, so Kevin headed in that direction. The entire way he couldn’t get Sheriff Bowman’s warning out of his head. He began to wonder if someone around town really had killed Amanda’s sister, maybe even the Sheriff himself.

Knowing he was the last man that needed to get involved in whatever the Sheriff was hiding, Kevin abruptly turned and headed back in the direction of his hotel. Images of Amanda lying in her own blood ran through his head, forcing his feet back in the direction of the hospital. To anyone walking by, he probably looked like he belonged in the mental ward, which was ironic in itself since he’d just come from one.

No matter the evil Kevin had brought upon other innocent people, he couldn’t stand back and allow this poor girl to be trampled upon by the people in Taos. He had to help her, felt obligated now.

Walking up to the nurse’s station, Kevin began to feel like everyone was staring at him. Scanning the room, he actually caught a few looking his way but they quickly diverted their attention elsewhere when he made eye contact. He began to wonder if the Sheriff had the locals around the area on the lookout for him.

“How may I help you, mister?” “I...I uh...”

“Look mister, we’re pretty busy today, so if you don’t have business here, please take a seat over there and come back up to the counter once you figure it out!”

“Are all the locals as friendly around as you?” Kevin asked, more than a little frustrated at the woman’s rudeness.

“No, they’re worse. Now, have you figured it out

yet?”

“Can you tell me what room Amanda Billingsley is in?”

“Are you family?”

“I’m the only family she has around here right now.”

“That’s not really answering my question. Are you family or not?”

Knowing he was lying and not really caring, Kevin said, “Yes, she’s my cousin.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said it, didn’t I?” Kevin was trying desperately not to go off on the lady. He knew if he caused a scene, his chances of seeing Amanda would be totally obliterated. Still, the gargoyle looking woman was pushing all the right buttons to wind up on the receiving end of his fist. He envisioned his knuckles connecting with the hairy mole on the side of her nose. He smiled at the way her head whipped to the side, and blood poured freely from her nostrils.

“She’s in room 155. Now if you’d be so kind as to move along, I have other people to serve.” The plump nurse said with a smug look on her face.

Serve? What you’re doing, definitely isn’t serving,

lady!

The sound of his sneakers squeaking on the tiled hallway of the hospital caused Kevin to lean back on his heels in an effort to hide the blaring announcement that he was on his way to visit Amanda. Might as well get on the loudspeaker and let the entire hospital know, he thought. Normally he wouldn’t care what people thought, but with the Sheriff’s recent warning, he felt the need to be a little less conspicuous.

Peeking through the small window of Amanda’s room, Kevin was surprised to see her sitting up in bed already. Tapping lightly on the door, he didn’t wait for a reply as he entered in.