Fury unleashed, p.8
Fury- Unleashed, page 8
part #2 of The Scorned Series
“I don’t think so,” William continued. “I may have some of the details wrong, but from what I understand, there was some conflict going on at the time as the Native Americans, the first true settlers of the area, were removed and made to live on reservations. There was plenty of blood shed during that time, from what I was told.”
“Did something happen to them?” Derek asked.
William nodded. “The couple were attacked multiple times and one of those attacks left the husband dead. The wife killed their attackers and continued to protect herself and her son, digging her heels in to keep what she felt was rightfully theirs. From what I understand, she was a pretty tough lady.
“On a subsequent attack, she took a bullet, but she lived. Still, she decided she would not leave the house. She’d given up too much and lost almost everything. The property was all she had left and she fought many more fights to protect herself and her son. She had a special place she would drag the bodies, each time she killed off her attackers.”
“Holy shit,” Stephanie blurted, unable to hold back. “Sorry! That’s just crazy. That lady sounds like a beast.”
“She does,” William agreed. “When you think about it though, is she really much different than my Harriet? Is she much different than you?”
Stephanie’s mouth dropped open, the insight hitting her like a brick.
“I hadn’t connected the dots, until now. It sounds like the three of us have similar personality traits.”
“Craziness!” Derek chimed in.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” Stephanie admitted. “I have to know. What happened to her?”
William continued. “The attacks continued often, sometimes weekly. She continued to protect herself, her son, and her property. What she didn’t plan for was the final attack, which happened at night. The attackers snuck in the house while the woman and her son slept. If I have it straight, they raped the mother in front of the young son and then sliced the son’s throat in front of the mother. They killed her shortly after. I don’t believe anyone ever lived on the property again until my parents bought it, many years later.”
“That’s insane,” Stephanie said. “Why kill the family off if they didn’t want the land?”
“My guess is revenge,” William answered. “I’m sure it was a pretty tense time for everyone.”
Stephanie let go of William’s hand. “That was quite the story. Where did you get that information from?”
“My father told me the story when I was older. I’m not sure where he got the information.”
Derek chimed in. “So, that doesn’t really tell us why the property does what it does.”
“It doesn’t,” William agreed. “However, the woman that died there was a strong soul. Maybe her—”
“Spirit is still part of the property?” Stephanie interrupted.
“Something like that,” William agreed. “I suppose everyone has different beliefs.”
“It’s a hard concept to believe, but then again, I wasn’t the type of person to believe in time-travel either,” Stephanie admitted. “I’m much less skeptical these days. She was unable to keep her family safe. Now her anger fuels a passage for others to right wrongs. Maybe in death, she’s helping the only way she can. Who knows? Anything is possible.”
“Indeed,” William said. “Unfortunately, whatever the source of the power is, in the end, my Harriet paid the price, as did my precious children. I don’t know you two well, but whatever you do, please be careful. There has been enough death on the property. I don’t want yours added to the list.”
“We’ll be careful,” Stephanie promised. “You also need to know that I only use the power for good—to help people.”
William smiled. “That would have been my guess. I suppose if there’s a bright side, that’s it.”
The three of them chatted for another forty-five minutes about the house, William’s family, and how Stephanie had met Derek. Finally, Stephanie noticed that William looked exhausted and motioned to Derek that they needed to go. They said their goodbyes as if they had known each other for years.
“Will you come visit me again?” William asked.
“No promises,” Stephanie said, smiling. “I did enjoy visiting with you today though.”
“At least you’re honest,” William said laughing.
“To a fault,” she told him as they walked out the front door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Stephanie and Derek sat in the cab of his truck eating sandwiches, enjoying the view. Bella sat on the floorboard by Stephanie’s feet, waiting for a fallen crumb. They had packed a lunch and decided to spend the day together. For Stephanie, her current surroundings were solace for her and it was her decision to spend the first part of the day here.
“It’s awesome to see they got the house framed already. Did they keep everything the same?” Derek asked.
“Yes. I couldn’t bear for them to change a thing about it, except for newer materials. Even the garage will be built exactly the same. They promised to be extremely careful to keep the original look and style.”
“I’m so glad you were able to get the same people to work on it again. It sounds like you loved the job they did the first time around.”
“I did. The experience was awesome and I was happy to find they were available to do the project all over again.”
“Looks like they are almost ready to put the trusses on,” Derek observed.
“Monday,” Stephanie told him.
They sat silently and finished their lunch, taking in the frame of the house and the beauty surrounding it. All evidence of the fire had been erased. The shell of the house was new and the only thing that remained from the old house was the massive fireplace and chimney that jutted up from the center. They had pressure washed it to get rid of the evidence of the fire as well as made a few repairs to it. Other than the fireplace, the slab for the garage was also going to be reused after they tore what was left of it down for safety. When all was said and done, the concrete slab would be covered with an epoxy sealant to hide any remaining char marks that the pressure washing couldn’t erase.
There was no activity going on at the house over the weekend, so it made it the perfect time to check things out. It had been six weeks since they had spoken with William Higgins and when they got back from California, they had many tough decisions to make. The first one was whether they wanted to live on the property again, knowing more about its history and the possibility that a spirit was at unrest there. They made the decision to make a home together there. Surprisingly, the harder decision for them was whether they wanted to rebuild the house from the ground up, or go back and keep it from burning down in the first place.
Derek and Stephanie spent days discussing the options, trying to figure out what path to take. Their first inclination was to go back and save the house, which would allow them to live there immediately without rebuilding. In order to make that happen, Stephanie or both of them would have to go back and keep the fire from happening. Every scenario they talked through held some level of risk for them. If Stephanie went back to the night she killed SKA, she put herself at risk to not make it home alive. If Derek didn’t save her from the fire, would their relationship have developed like it did, or was there a chance that she would have blown him off? Neither wanted to take the chance of effectively deleting the existence of their relationship by messing with the fine details around the way they got together. In the end, they decided to rebuild the house.
In the six weeks since their last hop, they got the rebuilding process started and filled the vacancy in the apartment complex with a homeless veteran. Then there were the other murders. The word massacre was actually more fitting.
The killings were the main focus in the news for three weeks. No forensic connection was made to the bodies in the park, but the deaths were extremely gruesome and there was some speculation that the murders could have been performed by the same sick mind or minds.
There were five victims this time, all from the same family. The police arrived in the afternoon—the day they were called to perform a wellness check—when the father hadn’t reported to work that morning. When the doorbell went unanswered, they forcibly entered the two-story Portland Craftsman house and quickly made the grizzly discoveries.
The one first-floor bedroom contained a double bed, its victim deceased where she’d slept. The odd angle of the woman’s head indicated her neck was broken. Police later identified her as the grandmother of the two children, also found dead upstairs, along with their parents.
The attack on the parents showed evidence of their deaths being brutal and drawn-out. They were found still in bed, forty-seven stab wounds between them. The once-white bedding set had turned more of a maroon color, as both bodies bled heavily from their wounds before their hearts stopped beating.
The killing of the children was the vision that most sickened the community and wasn’t one that was easily erased. The four-year old boy was struck repeatedly over the head with the Himalayan Salt Lamp that his parents ironically kept beside his bed to ward off the boogeyman. His two-year-old sister was smashed into the wall repeatedly until she perished. The most horrific part of the story was that the police found the small body partially embedded in the wall as the repeated hits had broken through the plaster.
When the murders hit the news, Stephanie had not heard about them since she’d not been paying attention to the news that day. When Derek arrived home from work, he regrettably told her, knowing she would eventually hear about them anyway. As he expected, she took the news poorly, feeling that her actions had something to do with the murders. Was it Earl Ray Spencer who was responsible for the brutal murders in the area? If so, it seemed strange to Stephanie as based upon the limited information she had on him—and most serial killers—they typically killed a single victim at a time, not multiple victims. Could it really be him, or was it some other sicko?
Stephanie knew she had to do something, but she was apprehensive since she’d almost died the last time she had a run-in with him. As she wrestled with her inner-self, she knew her inaction was causing people around her to die, yet she had no clear direction in her mind on how to stop him, or if she even could. She felt useless. Even though the murders haunted her thoughts, she pushed them out of her mind while they were on their date.
When they were done eating lunch, they gave a few scraps to Bella and Derek started the truck. It was his turn to pick where they went since Stephanie got to pick the first part of their day.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“None of your business,” he answered.
“Meanie-pants!”
“Sticks and stones…”
As Derek drove back down the bumpy road that led to civilization, Stephanie tried to get him to tell her where they were going. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, he didn’t say a word, but he couldn’t keep the all-knowing grin from taking over his face.
Back on the main road, Derek worked his way to I-84 and headed east.
“Are we there yet?” Stephanie asked in her most annoying kid voice.
“Careful. I might make you ride in the back of the truck. Bella can have your seat.”
“Ouch. Are you saying you’d rather have the dog up here with you instead of me?” she joked.
“If you don’t change your ways,” he teased.
They drove for a little over half-an-hour and when they got off on the exit, Stephanie knew exactly where he was taking her. She hadn’t been to the falls since she was a kid and she immediately got excited.
“You’re taking me to Multnomah Falls? Are you kidding me? I love it! How did you know about this place?”
“You aren’t the only one who knows how to use Google.”
They pulled into the parking lot and took in the six-hundred-and-eleven-foot roaring falls.
“Holy shit! The pictures don’t do this place justice!” Derek said, unable to control his excitement.
“Right?” Stephanie said. “I love this place. Let’s get closer.”
Derek snapped Bella’s leash onto her collar and the three of them made the five-minute walk to the base of the falls, Bella making sure she sniffed everything in her path. The powerful spray misted them as they watched the water cascade into the humongous pool in front of them. Bella lapped at the spray as it misted through the air.
“Do you want to walk up there?” Derek asked, pointing at the bridge that was approximately seventy feet above the pool.
“Let’s do it!” Stephanie said. “I haven’t walked that trail in years.”
They made their way up the first staircase and along the paved trail, taking the switchbacks to the bridge. It was a relatively short hike, but Bella was panting heavily by the time they arrived at the bridge. Pausing to take in the scenery of the upper and lower portions of the fall, they moved off the bridge and to the side of the trail. Stephanie took the lid off her bottle of water and poured some in her hand for Bella. Bella greedily lapped it up and Stephanie refilled her hand five times before Bella indicated she had enough.
“Want to go to the top of the falls?” Derek asked.
Stephanie looked up at the steep falls in front of them. “Um, not really,” she giggled.
Derek smiled. “Good, me neither. You hungry?”
“Surprisingly, yes. Didn’t we just have lunch a few hours ago?”
“We did. I think we just walked it off.”
When they got back down the trail, they stopped at the lodge and asked if they could eat on the restaurant patio with Bella. They were pleased when they were given the okay and Stephanie told Bella to lay down under the table.
As they ate a light meal and watched the magic of the brilliant water cascading over the edge of the falls, their stress faded away. Stephanie leaned her head on Derek’s shoulder, content, and simultaneously, Bella laid her head on Stephanie’s foot, also content.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Stephanie put her coffee cup under the Keurig dispenser and pressed the button. She heard the machine start to pump water and hiss and soon, the dark liquid started to fill her cup.
“Do you want another cup, Kylie?”
“Yes, please. It’s a coffee kind of day today.”
Kylie had the day off from work and was hanging out with Stephanie for the day. Even though they lived in the same complex, they did not talk as often as they both wanted to.
“Are you going to move into this apartment when the house is finished?” Stephanie asked.
“Absolutely. This is the nicest one in the complex. Plus, with me taking over full manager duties, I don’t want to confuse the tenants.”
They had decided that Kylie would manage the complex and Stephanie and Derek would find the tenants. Derek had been doing the general maintenance around the place, but after they moved, they would need to hire someone.
“So where are we at with apartment two-thirteen?” Kylie asked.
“I’m not sure,” Stephanie admitted. “I have messaged him five times with no response. I have also posted notices on the door, which are still there. The last one was a pay or quit notice.”
“Nice,” Kylie responded. “How many days do you have to give them for that one?”
“Three. It’s been four days since I posted it.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go in!”
“I’m afraid of what I’m going to find,” Stephanie said. “It’s probably trashed. Hopefully there are no dead bodies inside.”
“I’m sure you would have smelled them a long time ago if there were.”
“I’m sure. Will you go with me?”
“Heck yes,” Kylie answered, her face lighting up with excitement. “I can’t wait to check it out. I need to get used to this shit anyway if I’m going to manage this place.”
“Damn straight!” Stephanie told her.
Stephanie made another cup of coffee for Kylie and handed it to her.
“Ready?” Stephanie asked.
“Sure, but she doesn’t think I should go,” Kylie said, pointing down at her feet. Bella was stretched out on her side laying on both of Kylie’s feet.
“Seriously, Dude,” Stephanie sighed. “I keep telling you to get your own damn dog.”
“Maybe someday. In the meantime, yours will do just fine.”
Stephanie shot Kylie a pretend mad look and they both laughed.
“Okay, let’s go,” Stephanie said, spinning her master set of keys on her finger.
“You look like the school janitor with those keys,” Kylie joked.
“Are you saying I am fat and have a bald spot?” Stephanie asked.
“The bald spot is barely noticeable,” Kylie responded. “Don’t be self-conscious about it.”
Stephanie smacked Kylie on the ass as she walked towards the door.
“You deserved that,” Stephanie told her.
“Can you make it a little harder next time?” Kylie bantered.
Stephanie laughed as she opened the door and they went outside and around to the other side of the complex. Kylie followed her up the stairs and they stopped out front of apartment two-thirteen.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you’ve left notices,” Kylie said, eyeing the four different items taped to the door. “This guy is long gone. How far behind was he on the rent?”
“A month and a half. At first, I felt sorry for him and kept giving him more time. When we got to the first of the month and he owed two payments, I started leaving notices. The ones you see on the door are from the past two weeks. I probably should have done this sooner, but I was trying to be nice.”
Kylie rolled her eyes. “You know what they say about nice guys, Stephanie.”
“Yup. They get screwed!”
Kylie took the set of keys from Stephanie, found the one labeled ‘213’ and stuck the key in the lock. Before she turned it, she thought twice, stopped and pounded on the door.
“This is the landlord. We’re coming in,” she announced.
Kylie put her ear to the door and listened, but heard nothing. Not wanting to put off the inevitable, Kylie turned the key and the door popped open. The smell of something rotten immediately assaulted both of their nostrils.
