Final Cut (8 page)

Bill needed to talk to Cara and see what else she might know. He figured that she had told the police everything that she knew, but he also knew that the police had their hands tied sometimes when working on a case because of all the tiny laws that protected every citizen whether they were guilty or not. Bill was not confined to such things. If he heard something that sounded like it ought to be checked out then he was damned sure going to do it.

Before he left he forced himself to watch the other videos. Two were blank and the other video was basically just more of the prolonged torture and agony of Daisy Fox. It was disgusting and Bill had fast forwarded through most of it so he didn’t have to actually watch or listen to it. He was just waiting to see if there was some mistake or slip up in the video that might have given him some more information.

He was just about at the end and ready to shut the thing off so he could head out the door when he saw it. The killer had a pocket knife and he was carving little chunks out of Daisy Fox’s face. As he held up the blade during one of the last cuts on the barely alive Daisy Fox the camera staggered back a bit and Bill could glimpse for the briefest second the killer’s wrist.

There on his wrist was an odd shaped burn scar.

Bill thought he had seen it somewhere before. He racked his brain trying to come up with it but so far he was pulling up blanks.

But he did know one thing.

The killer’s hand did not belong to him.

“OLD FRIENDS”

“I told the cops everything I knew,” Cara said to Bill as she sat a cup of coffee down in front of him. He thanked her and took a sip. It was good and strong—the perfect way coffee was supposed to taste.

“Yea, I read the articles, but there has been a few new leads opening up in the Crestwood Falls department that have steered us this way and got us thinking that we might have missed something,” Bill said.

“Are you a cop?”

Bill paused. He considered lying. “No, I am not a cop. I’m a liaison. I occasionally work with law enforcement on a strictly volunteer basis just to help them out since being a small force they are limited in manpower sometimes. It seems as soon as they get a few new recruits the big city boys start calling their names and they leave us high and dry. Can’t blame them of course; all the money and the action is in the big city.”

Bill was not sure if he was exactly breaking the law by saying any of this, but it was what he was working with and he hoped that he could be convincing enough to ease the huge wall that Cara had put up in front of her. It was easy to see the girl had severe trust issues, but Bill did not think any of that should apply to him if he played it cool and just let her know that he wanted to help. That was the only reason he was there.

“Ok, well I don’t know what questions you have, but I’ll do my best to answer them.”

“Thank you,” Bill said. “From the information we have it says that you stated that you saw Daisy with another woman on the night she disappeared when you left her at the bar. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever seen that woman before or since?”

“No, I have not.”

“Can you describe her to me?” Bill asked.

“Sure. She was pretty, a few years older than us—like three or four maybe—and she had dark hair that looked like a cross between auburn and red. I think she probably dyed her hair and it might have been naturally red. She just looked nice and normal. I figured that she and Daisy knew each other as Daisy said they did and that they were going to spend the night catching up. I had to work early and open the diner; Daisy was supposed to come in at eleven.”

“And then of course she never came in and you didn’t hear from her after that again,” Bill said quietly. He sipped the hot coffee and wished he had paid attention to what kind of coffee it was. It tasted nice and strong and he would have loved to keep it on hand. College kids had the best damn drugs and the best damn coffee; it was true.

“Right. I got worried when she didn’t show for work and then she didn’t respond to any of my texts. We are best friends and have been since sophomore year of high school. We talk and text every single day. So I drove by her place after I got off work and she was not home. We had walked to the bar since it was just a few blocks over and it is like the only bar on this side of town.”

Bill remembered reading that both girls were part time students at State Community College in the nearby town of Hocking. Hocking was a typical college town because it had State Community and it also had Hocking Tech college as well. But it was about twenty five miles away and for two girls who did not live in the dorms getting blitzed in the local watering hole was probably a more typical type of thing.

“Did you happen to talk to the bartender when Daisy didn’t come home? Maybe they saw something or might have seen her leaving with that woman?”

“No. I called in and spoke to the same bartender that was on duty—Pat her name is—and she said she did not notice anything. It had been a pretty busy night and it was tough to keep track of people.”

“I understand that. That was pretty much the same story she gave us when we talked to her,” Bill said trying to sound convincing like the cops on television always did. It was more difficult trying to act natural than he thought it was going to be. He wondered how the cops always managed to pull off such a good job.

“And Daisy did not mention the other woman’s name to you when you were there? Did she introduce you to her?”

“She did but we bumped into her as we were leaving and I did not register hearing that woman’s name. I just kind of smiled and nodded because I was getting a bit drunk and I just wanted to lie down and pass out. I have tried and tried to remember what name she gave me an honestly I just can’t do it.”

“Ok, that is understandable in that situation.”

“Do you think this woman could have had anything to do with it? I got the feeling that Daisy and she knew each other really well. They were all hugging and squealing when they bumped into each other and it took them like five minutes to remember that I was even alive.”

“So it was someone she had not seen in a long time? Were there any other identifiable marks or anything at all that might help us pinpoint who this other woman might be?” Bill asked.

“No, nothing that I can think of. You really think she is involved somehow? But they knew each other,” Cara said.

“Yea, but you would be surprised how often these types of things turn bad.”

“That’s just hard to imagine,” Cara said sipping her own coffee.

“Now, have you noticed anything strange on Daisy’s social media accounts or anything else that might be fishy with the way some of your common contacts and friends are acting?” Bill asked.

Cara thought for a moment and at first Bill was not sure she had even understood the question. “No, not that I’m aware of.
I haven’t noticed anything.”

“At the time of her disappearance was she dating anyone or did she just finish a relationship with anyone?” Bill asked.

“No. Her last relationship ended about six months prior and they had left on good terms where they just wanted different things at different times.”

“How so?”

“Well, I know that Daisy wanted to stay put for a while and finish school and get some low level job at some place of business in the area. Everyone told her that she was crazy. With her brains and her beauty she could have gone and done just about anything that she really set her mind to. We all believed in her.”

“Why didn’t she want to leave? I know most kids can’t wait to get out of this shithole, even though most eventually come back with their tail between their legs after being beat up by the cruel, harsh, world.”

“Well, she has always been so close to her family and she was the type of person who was really uncomfortable with change. She was a fearful person and she was cautious to the point of being overcautious. It was weird actually how meticulous and careful she was about everything. She always referred to it as being efficient, but the rest of us just thought it was weird.

“So she would never have gone anywhere with someone she did not know and perfectly trust?” Bill asked.

“Right. She would not have gone off with anyone she did not know.”

Cara’s eyes flashed just then as if a lightbulb had went on in her head. Bill wondered how the poor girl had never really thought that the attractive young, but slightly older friend might not have been so innocent and minor mannered after all. Bill felt a bit strange; surely the police would have asked her all of the same questions, but maybe they phrased them differently.

“Ok, well I appreciate your time and your hospitality,” Bill said.

“Sure, no problem,” Cara said as Bill started for the door. He was just about through the doorway when Cara posed one last question. For a girl who was so reluctant to open up and to now discuss it with him was quite the miracle and quite the change. Bill found it odd and it triggered something inside of him that brought forth the vacant idea that perhaps Cara was involved somehow. Maybe two women had done this together. But what motivation would they have? They didn’t even take any money from the victim. It would have to be an extremely personal attack. The way that Daisy was killed was obviously very personal but tearing her up and killing her by torture was beyond personal. That was something that someone with a deep seated psychological need to possess and dominate other people felt compelled to do. This might have been the first murder, but Bill did not believe for a second that it was the last.

Bill left Cara’s house feeling like he got some information, but it was information that he didn’t know was going to be the least bit useful to him. Somehow he felt as if he was right back at square one. Was it possible that Cara had a reason to get rid of Daisy? Was there something that her friend might have done to make Cara go completely insane with rage and want to exact the horrid revenge scenario he had seen taking place in front of him on the video?

Somehow his gut instinct said no; Cara had nothing to do with it. But he wasn’t sure how much faith he wanted to put in his gut instinct right now. He was not a cool, collected, experienced gumshoe. He was just some schmuck who had ended up in the pit of hell and was clinging desperately to the walls to climb his way out.

He had to find out who the hell that other woman was that Daisy was talking to. Of course they only person who could verify that Daisy was talking to anyone was Cara and she just raised a few wrinkles of suspicion on herself.

Bill drove to Logan’s bar, sat down and ordered a beer. He was damn surprised that the bar was open that early, but apparently they had a breakfast special where you could have all you could eat omelets and all you could drink mimosas until noon.

As he sipped his beer and looked around at the other bar patrons he saw a town in the midst of a weird decline, unless they just had not caught up with the rest of the world yet. It really did feel like he was stepping back in time twenty years. The pictures on the wall were of old advertisements that he remembered from when he was a kid.

The people were gawking at him, aware instantly that he was a stranger. He had left the cane in the car and was happy that he could now walk short distances without it. The changes had come rather rapidly lately, but he was sure that it was his sheer force of will more than anything else facilitating this rapid progress. He had to be mobile, especially when someone might be trying to kill him or send him to jail for a heinous crime he did not commit.

As he was sipping his beer and groaning to himself about the lack of WIFI in the bar the door opened and a pretty young bartender walked into the establishment and immediately went behind the bar.

“I’m sorry I’m late Joe. It won’t happen again,” the girl said with so much feeling that she had obviously said the same thing at least ten times this month.

As Bill glanced up at her she caught his eye, and not just because of her stunning figure in the tight jeans and the cut off tank top that showed her smooth, toned stomach and her large, soft breasts that threatened to pop out every time she leaned over the bar ensuring another successful day of tips.

“Hey, handsome,” the woman said. “Can I get you a refill?”

“Sure. Thanks,” Bill said as he handed her his mug and she filled it back up with lager. Bill was used to drinking this early, but he usually did it at home. He had never been a social drinker. It never made sense to him to make yourself dopey in front of people.

“There you go,” the bartender said.

“Hey, have you been working here long?” Bill asked.

The woman looked up at him surprised trying to decide if this was a weird line or not. She decided that he was harmless and flashed him a smile.

“About six months. Why?”

“Do you recognize this girl?” Bill said flashing Daisy’s picture that he had saved from social media onto his phone.

The waitress took one look and immediately recognized her. “Yea, that is Daisy Fox. Everyone in town knows her. Most of the people in here, myself included, were a part of her search party. Why are you asking?”

“Well, from what I’ve gathered she was hanging with a girlfriend of hers one night and as they were leaving Daisy ran into an old friend she knew. They went back inside here to drink and get reacquainted while the other friend went home. That was the last time that Daisy was seen. Are you sure you did not see Daisy talking to someone else that night? Did you see Daisy with anyone?”

“I told the cops everything I knew. I was here and Frank was here. We didn’t see anyone.”

“You don’t have surveillance cameras?” Bill asked.

“Please, we can barely afford to keep that old jukebox working.”

“Well, that’s too bad. That might just be the one thing that could crack this case open and give that girl’s family some justice,” Bill said.

He slapped a twenty dollar bill on the table and walked out the door slowly, just in case lightning happened to strike and stir the woman’s brains again.