Chapter 77 Chapter 77
I moved everything around and left a dozen yellow roses on the counter with a note. “You helped them hide it.” That was all it said. I placed a few cameras that were connected to my phone. She came back around six the next morning; I was watching her; when she walked in, she noticed it, and when her eyes landed on the yellow roses, she began screaming, I saw when she found the note. That night she called a few men to her house, and they sat waiting.
I grabbed the matte-black FX Impact M3 and headed out; the weight of the rig felt heavy and cold against my side. When I got there, I parked the bike a good distance away and made my way on foot. I was hidden in the bushes behind the house; my heart was thumping at what I was doing, but fuck it. I adjusted the night vision goggles. Through the green-tinted lens, the world looked like it was haunted. I was exactly eighty yards from the house, as the man said, just enough distance to stay a ghost but close enough to see the flick of a cigarette on the porch, so someone was out there too.
I loaded the heavy 81-grain lead pellet into the chamber, took a slow breath to steady my hands, and fired the first shot. I heard a muffled click from the barrel, followed by the violent crack of the wood splintering right next to his head. What the fuck?” I heard a man yell. I reloaded and this time aimed at the window. I pressed and then heard the glass shatter and screams. I reloaded and kept it up until I was out of pellets. When I left, all the lights were on and they were screaming. I heard the sirens in the distance.
I tormented her for two weeks with roses, notes, bullets, and a small fire. Moving around, and then I stooped. I gave her three days to breathe. The thing about being a ghost is that you can find everything you need if you sound and look serious and menacing enough. I already had the opioid. 20 cc. Saturday nights were her party nights; she usually came home drunk as a fish. I was in the house waiting for her when she staggered and came in and dropped down on the couch. She felt around for something, and then I heard the lighter; she lit a cigarette. I gave her a few minutes.
One thing at the front of my mind was do not touch anything, dress clean and leave no trace, and always wear a mask and gloves. I had my hair under a bandana, but I was wearing a blonde wig for extra protection. I gave her until her cigarette finished, then made my move. I moved slowly through the kitchen. I pressed the gun to her head.
“One move and I’ll blow your brains out,” I said.
“Okay,” she said, her words slurring.
“Move, head to the kitchen, try and scream, and see what happens.”
She tried to run, and I hit her with the gun, making her fall to the floor. Guess she passed out. I dragged her to the kitchen and tied her hands and feet. I didn't tie her hard enough to leave marks and waited.
When she came awake, she looked around. The kitchen lights were on, and I sat in front of her. I didn't take off the mask or hoodie.
CAROLINE: Wh…who are you?
TESSA: Don't worry about that; answer my questions, and I may let you live.
CAROLINE: What do you want to know?
TESSA: The brothers, Mark and Alex, where are they?
CAROLINE: I don't know; that girl Tessa, she knows. She hurt Alex when he was younger.
TESSA: Really? So you’re telling me you didn’t know they aren’t really twins and took turns raping her?
CAROLINE: What? No.
TESSA: Then why did you panic when you saw the yellow rose?
CAROLINE: Let me go.
TESSA: Why should I? They took turns raping me for years, and you knew. Guess what? You’ll meet your dear husband and brother-in-law when you get to fucking hell. Tell them Tessa said hello.
CAROLINE: YOU… YOU FUCKING BITC….
I tied her mouth. I kneeled down in front of her and pulled the mask off. “I was fifteen when they started. Do you know how terrified I was? Do you know the trauma I have? What if they had done it to you? You have a daughter; what if someone you trusted did that to her? And you decided to team up with his bastard son to hurt me. Oh, you'll all end up in the same place.” I said, and she started screaming louder.
“Don’t worry, no one will ever hurt your daughter; I won’t. She hasn’t done anything to me. But you. You are a terrible mother and a woman, and just for helping them hide their crimes, you deserve death. Trust me, no one will fucking miss you, especially your kids,” I said with a smile.
I pulled the syringe out and removed the cap. She tried moving, and I knocked her ass back out and injected her. I untied her and put her back onto the couch and sat with her. When I left her, she was dead. I turned off all the lights and slipped into the darkness.
I tossed the newspaper into the bin and looked at the man tied down on the makeshift table. Clayton Barker. He was the one that rigged my fucking house. I watched him; I watched him carefully. He was smarter than Caroline. Too fucking smart. It took me a whole week to actually find him. It was on an off chance; Paige had texted me and said a guy was following her, thinking it was me, and I knew exactly who it was, so I told her to go to the mall. I got there and watched him watch her, thinking it was me. I told her to go into the bathroom and change. When she walked out, she was with a group of women, and he didn't even take a second glance at her.
It took him one hour to realize she disappeared, and then I followed him around, watching him drive around Georgetown looking for me. When he couldn't, he headed back home. He lived in the outskirts in Liberty Hall. I followed him to a nice house. I staked that house out for days; he rarely left, but there was a lot of foot traffic. I did a little digging and found out he sold and created fake IDs of any kind. I also found out he was a serial abuser. He loved to hit women.
There was no point rushing it; I would wait. He would come out eventually. It took all of one week and a half before he actually left; it was a Friday night around nine, and he headed to a bar. So I booked it. I got a motel and changed my appearance. Wig, contact lenses, the whole works. I looked like someone else.