Eviscerate by Alexandria R. Deckelman (free romance novels .txt) 📕

The wind was warm and dry as it slashed against my face through the open car window, gently ricocheting off the rusted black doors of the volkswagon. But despite the semi infernal conditions of the weather, a long shiver racked my nerves. I clenched my jaw and fists until the slight shaking finally stopped, keeping my eyes glued to the scorched land scape of rural Arizona. I heard a low grunt of contemplation beside me, and the sound of a finger pad tapping against the side of the wheel, "You seem a little tense, Abend." My dark eyes never moved from the seemingly endless expanse of patchy dead grass and stone hard sand,"this field of work can get a bit intense sometimes, Leon" I replied to the policeman as he drove. He grunted again, most likely not entirely satisfied with my answer, but I returned to my distant mental status. After about another half an hour of driving, I was beginning to wonder what I was expecting to find in this vacant desert. Then there was a sudden bright flash of light, and I mean bright, and a sickening thud which resonated from beneath the car. My still focusing gaze shot to the rear view mirror. A man lay in the street. And when my eyes finally adjusted, my chest suddely felt empty. Of lungs, heart, everything. My blood ran cold. Despite the eyeless sockets and slashed features... I recognized him. There was a yell and a crash, then everything went black.

I awoke to the feeling of pressure on my arm, but my eyes didn't open. My body was barely jostled to semi conciousness, so I still wasn't able to form a proper sentence when I heard the calling of my name. When the pressure left my arm I emitted a temporary sigh of content, but before I could settle into the same bliss, I felt a powerful force against my back and I was suddenly crashing against the cold wood of the floor, "Ah!" I exlaimed as my forehead collided with the hard floor. I began to coil in fetal position with a pained groan, "What- what the hell Lex?!" The tall woman before me glared down at me. My partner Alexis Engel. "Take a shower and get dressed," she says, "you have a meeting over video chat with the director of the task force ina half an hour." Before I could ask a single question she was out the door and preparing to mkae coffee. "Hurry up, Alex!" She shouted from the kitchen. Another groaned passed my lips as I shifted to a standing position. Wearing a semi formal gray shirt and black jeans, I greeted the director on the screen. "I apoligize for the short notice, Detective Abend, Detective Engel," his pixelated green eyes meeting ours as he spoke, "but this is quite urgent." I nodded in understanding. He seemed to be stalling  with hesitance, then he finally spoke. "It has recently come to our knowledge that the previous case  you solved.. had complications," he stated, "and we believe that the man we have behind bars is a false claimer." Lex's mouth dropped. "how?" It was the only word that I could find in my thoughts, but couldn't quite release it from the mental realm. The directors gaze seemed to avoid direct contact with my own as he spoke, the wall behind Alexis and I suddenly intensely enthralling to the directors glazed orbs "the murders are persisting, but he has a new strategy. The signature carving is still the same, its just he's moving out of state. He kills atleast one person in each state every day, gradually moving north east. That is all of the information we have currently accumulated, and now we are relying on you two to solve this case." I grunted in thought with a slow nod, Alexis flashed a glance at me then back to the director. "We hope to not dissapoint, Director Crowley."

"Thank you, Abend. Really, if anyone knows anything about this twisted jack ass.. it's you two. But just keep in mind, everything you know about this entire case could be a complete lie. Good luck." And the meeting was over.

Research began immediatly, Lexi had left about a half an hour after the meeting to retrieve some of the newer current files while I recovered the older ones. There wasn't much, but enough to compare to the newer information and base some of our own evidence from. When Lexi returned I was ready for the hard grueling case ahead, equipped with three cups of coffee for the both of us along with a freezer stocked with every comfort food that came to mine and a refrigerator filled with enough caffeine to fuel a small town for atleast a month. Okay, maybe that was a slight exageration. The point was, there wasn't going to be much need to leave the house until we got a witness. When Lex arrived, there was already a slight look of exhaustion in her eyes, which brightened almost immediatly when she saw a large mug of coffee awaiting her arrival. She took the seat beside me almost immediatly, gratefully swallowing bitter dark liquid in her red mug. "Before you begin your intimate relationship with my mug, could we please deal with the murder case at hand?" Lexi shot a cold glare at my snide remark before setting the warm glass back on the table and withdrawing the files form her brief case. My blood ran slightly cold at the sight. An average sized gray folder with the inscription, Case #12: The Drifter Case displayed on the front was placed before me. However the folder was far from sufficiently supplied. There were twelve files on the profiles of the newer victims, and one sheet of observation. "Well on the positive side," Lexi began, "there's a new witness everyday, meaning we have one interrogaation a day and we might be able to find what these victims have in common to see if there's a certain group we need to protect. If we turn this into a traveling investigation, we're sure to catch our culprit." I nodded in response. We would definitely have to be on the move with the killer, otherwise we would continuously be going to the crime screen and coming back to head quarters examine the new information, which would only leave the murderer more time to kill more victims. Time was definitely of the essence. Everyday this murderer was on the road and not behind bars, one person died. Whether a child or a grandparent. This was all I could think about, and I couldn't help but feel like I could somehow redeem myself for what I've done in my past.

We gathered all of the information we would need in one day, packing most of the town's banquet in my cupboards, along with whatever clothing we could wear to blend in with the night. Getting on the road however was not a quick task, trying to cram everything in my '97 GMC Surburban was proving to be alot harder than it should be for only two people. But ofcourse Lexi had all of her clothes along with her makeup and her entire knife collection. I swear she almost slit my throat the last time I told her it was a little creepy she had a 15 set knife collection in her closet and a gun collection two times that. When I saw that she was bringing the knifes I questioned why she didn't bring the guns, they would be a lot easier to use in a situation requiring self defense. Ofcourse I never said it outloud, afterall I do value what remainder of life I have on earth. Anyway, fortunately it was still light out by the time we finally left my house.Luckily we had caught this murderer's track before he could get too far, according to the tracker in the car he was in Montello, Nevada, most likely preparing to pass into Utah. Looking back on previous information we found that this person was most likely a man from around the canadian border, the same place where the previous suspect was traced back to. Also where I was from. I bit the inside of my cheek in hopes to shake the thought and began to focus harder on the road. 

"Any idea when the next rest stop is?" Lexi said with a long stretch, her eyes hazey and moist with the presence of her nap. "About 10 or 15 minutes, hope you can wait because we aren't gaining on him yet." Lex nodded. She took a long sip of her vitamin water before inhaling the cool night air which tousled her short dark hair when it drifted through the window. Throwing occasional glances at the tracker we traveled all the way to Hiko, Nevada where we met our first witness along with the victim's family members who lived a few hours away from the crime scene. The crime scene was on the witness' property. 

 When we arrived at the house, an older woman in her 60's and a younger woman in her 30's emerged from their small rustic cottage,"My name is Clary," the older woman self-introducted, "this is my daughter Charlotte. She was there when the incident happened, hasn't spoken since. The doctor said she has post traumatic stress syndrome, she's had it for about six months but there's been no actual talking since a few days after the event." Alexis's gaze found the ground in thought before