Part Ninety-Eight

Adrian Peters switched the television on and settled himself on the couch. The rest of his house was in darkness. It had been a week since his last killing and the news station was showing only highlights of the murders in Seward. He turned the sound up and listened to the news anchor describe his handiwork.

“This is now the third home invasion in Seward that has ended in the brutal murders of the families residing at these locations,” the woman said and the television showed the outside of the houses with the bright yellow ‘do not cross—police’ tape cordoning off the area.

“The first victims were Marrick and Susan Goldman and their four children, Jackson, Rupert, Sumari and Kyle. Two of the children died from poisoning while the rest were shot at close range. Nothing appeared to be missing from their home. The second set of victims were Peter McPherson, his wife Tanya and their daughter Michelle. Michelle was strangled to death but Peter and Tanya were shot at close range just like the Goldman couple. Their house was ransacked but the police are unsure if anything is missing as yet. The third set of victims were Rick and Claudia Shephard, along with Mr Shephard’s elderly mother, and their three sons Joseph, Abel and Benjamin. Again, the children were poisoned, although the police are unsure of the poison used. There are no apparent motives for these murders.

“The Chief of Police, Jason McKenzie, has said that they are investigating these horrific murders although there isn’t much to go on. All three families were well respected within their communities. The only apparent link between these crimes is that the victims were socially acquainted with each other,” the news anchor then went on to say that the police would not rest until they had the perpetrators behind bars.

All three men were professionals in the area and their loss would be felt greatly according to the reporter. Adrian smirked as he kept on watching. Seeing the houses again made him feel proud of what he had accomplished. It had been so easy to get inside and subdue the women. They were so steadfast in their routines that he felt he knew them intimately.

He already had his next target in mind. Frank Ronalds and Carl Winters were currently not in Alaska. Their celebrity status made it hard for him to get close enough to watch them.

He switched his attention to Jeff Smith, he was a children’s book author and although he was a celebrity in certain circles, he was not world renowned like Frank and Carl were.

He had wanted to go after Richard Gardner, obviously the man was dirty with Malachi being a lawyer and him being a judge, there had to be a link there. There was no way that Malachi had a sitting judge in his wolf pack and was not using that to his advantage to get his clients off.

Richard Gardner had no apparent routine. He seemed smarter than the other three families he had picked off so easily. He went to work at different times each morning, depending on when his first case was heard. Like all the others, he also jogged in the mornings, but never alone. Two of his neighbors joined him on these runs at six am every day. That was the only routine thing about him.

He took different routes home each day, which was also never at the same time, Adrian guessed that also depended on his last case of the day. He went to the store on different days and on weekends he went with his wife to the market. They had no children. His wife left with him in the mornings since she worked as his personal secretary at his office located in the judicial building.

Adrian did not dare go for Richard and Annette Gardner at the courthouse, they had police officers stationed everywhere and yes, he would be able to get in, but he would be caught soon after dealing with the two of them. He decided to rather wait and see if they go away for a weekend or maybe sneak into the house late one night when they were asleep and subdue them with the gun.

So instead of frustrating himself with wanting Richard and Annette he decided to go for both families at once. While watching Jeff Smith and learning his routine, he had talked to his friend and partner, Robert Jones. Robert had been with him on three occasions where there existed a Sinclair link.

“Robert, if you think about it for a minute, you will see that I’m right!” Adrian tried to explain to Robert why he was suspicious of Malachi Sinclair.

“Ok I’ll start at the beginning again, Adara Kinkaid is assaulted by her stepfather, Ramos and then the mother claims that Adara ran away. She runs to the house of…Malachi Sinclair! The second incident, Shoran Mitchells is raped by an unknown assailant and who is her lawyer…Malachi Sinclair!” he took a swig of his beer and continued.

“Then we get to the Sinclair house and Adara is holding hands with who exactly…the son of Malachi Sinclair! How can you not see that there is a definite link here! Look at these hotel lists, always the same fifteen names pop up, on the same floor, check in and check out at the same times and dates. These go back ten years!” Adrian told Robert excitedly.

He had brought Robert home and shown him his living room wall. He couldn’t quite place the look on Robert’s face as he walked in and studied the wall. Was it shock or disbelief at his pure genius in unraveling this mystery that nobody knew existed?

Adrian knew that at some point he would have to tell Robert the ultimate secret. That there were people in this town that could transform into wolves whenever they wanted. That there existed a whole other world in this human world, that some of these people, the ones we work with and pass on the street, have certain powers at their disposal.

“What exactly is it that you think Malachi Sinclair did?” Robert asked Adrian.

“Robert! What I’m about to tell you, will absolutely blow your mind!” Adrian said and smiled.

Robert looked at him expectantly and he continued.

“Malachi is the Alpha of the pack here in Seward. They are all wolves, Robert!” Adrian said and waved his arm towards the living room wall. Robert looked at him and then burst out laughing.

“Robert, I’m serious. I recorded the conversation I had with my uncle. Just listen to it and hear me out, okay?” Adrian said and Robert nodded. Adrian took out his cell phone and selected a file which he had secretly taped when he had gone to see Igor Petrov in prison.

“Okay, so let me get this straight. First off, your uncle is a serial killer?” Robert asked, his face quite pale at this point.

“He killed all these women that were supposedly wolves, right? And now you want to continue in his footsteps and kill the Sinclair family?” Robert asked.

“Yes, he did kill them, but he’s not a serial killer, he did the world a favor, those women could have reproduced and brought more wolves into this world! And secondly, I’m not going to kill Malachi and his family, not at first. I’m going to apply for warrants for his warehouse, which I’m pretty sure is what they call a den, his house, his office. I’m telling you now, Robert, they are hiding something! What about that missing guy, Dave, huh?” Adrian said.

Robert looked at the wall and noticed the list of pack members. Something had been nagging at him ever since looking at that wall and he realized what it was. He saw their names on the list. Marrick Goldman, Peter McPherson and Rick Shephard among other names, some he recognised like Jeff Smith, Richard Gardner, Carl Winters, and Frank Ronalds. The first three names had asterisks in front of their names and they also happened to be dead.

“Just wait here a second, I have something else to show you!” Adrian said excitedly and disappeared into a back room. Robert continued to look at the wall and he was filled with dread. He had to get out of there without making Adrian suspicious. He was suddenly afraid of Adrian. It made sense to him that Adrian had lost his mind and had murdered these innocent families, those children.

“Okay look at these. I found them in my father’s house after his funeral,” Adrian said and handed Robert three old books, bound in leather. Robert opened the first book and began to read. It held accounts of wolf sightings, transformation ceremonies, councils, people with powers, how to kill a wolf and much more. There were detailed drawings and Robert could tell by the faded ink that the books were old indeed. Adrian knew the truth.

His mind went back to when he was a child when his Nana would tell him stories of the wolf people that lived in Alaska. According to her the wolf people were kind and caring, they cared for their community and protected the innocent. He had never truly believed her stories, but he knew the truth as he paged through all three books.

He also knew that they were kind and caring as his Nana had said. He had been there the entire time Adara had healed his mother. He had seen the transfer for himself. He had seen how the pain had left his mother’s eyes; she had told him that night to take her to the wolf people. To Karani Sinclair. He had thought her mad, but now he knew the truth, and so did Adrian.

“Adrian, I didn’t believe you at first. These books though, they are amazing! I…I’m actually speechless!” Robert told Adrian and Adrian sighed with relief. Finally, somebody that he knew would understand and maybe he could even get Robert to join his cause and clean this town up.

“Look, Adrian, I have to get going though, I’m supposed to pick Shelley up in ten minutes,” Robert said to Adrian. They shook hands and Robert promised to listen to everything Adrian would still tell him when they were on shift again, in four days’ time.

“Just enjoy your time off, okay,” Robert said to Adrian and left his house. He walked to his car, careful not to do so too quickly. He just wanted to get out of there. Adrian Peters knew! Adrian Peters was also a psychopath, Robert decided.