Chapter 20
The next evening Devon almost laughed at this secret-handshake agreement between her and Camden these days. They did whatever real-life chores that needed to be done inside, and then they met outside to confer.
Quiet, private, nobody listening in.
After Tabitha’s birthday had come and gone without Devon being possessed or any other odd happening, it only stressed her out more. Now every day could bring on the planned possession of her body. She shuddered at the thought.
He asked about the kids, and she smiled. “Honest to God, I don’t really know, but it’s as if nothing ever happened. I don’t get it. However, then there’s also this weird—I know it sounds wrong—but this weird sense of weightiness.”
Camden shook his head. “It doesn’t sound wrong. It sounds very much like what we’re all experiencing,” he shared.
“And what about you?” she asked, giving him a closer look. He seemed tired, worn out. “How was your day? Everything all right?”
“I saw the detective who worked on the case,” he began.
“From this case?” she asked, pointing back to her house.
“Yes, that case.” And he filled her in.
She frowned at him. “Right, I heard some of that from Marjorie. That poor son. I mean, if he was innocent, and everybody treated him like he’d gotten away with murder, that would have been absolutely horrible.”
“It would,” he agreed, “and I can see that happening in a way because people can be very cruel. So, if that were the case, then his entire life would have been in the shadow of those murders.”
“It would have been anyway,” she noted, “because you can’t just shake off your whole family being slaughtered. It would just stick with you, no matter what, and it would be horrible for however long you lived. It’s no wonder he didn’t live all that long,” she murmured.
“Apparently he died of cancer, I believe, or something along that line,” Camden shared.
She nodded. “I can only imagine how awful his life would have been afterward. If the intent was to take out the entire family, the killer kinda did that, just that the son didn’t die anywhere near as quick or as fast. But still, that event, it killed him.
So that murderer, whoever it was, literally wiped out an entire family,” she stated. “Dear God, how does somebody do that?”
Camden muttered, “It’s the motive that concerns me.”
Silence sat heavily between them for a long moment. And then finally she asked, “Is there any chance other family members were around here at the time?”
He stared at her curiously and replied, “I’m not sure. I can take a look at the file again, but I don’t remember any mention of that. Why? What difference would that make?”
“It just seemed … so very personal. It’s not as if the killer just shot them and moved on, but the killer literally cut them up into small pieces.
Six people. That seems very personal.” She pondered it and added, “I mean, if you’re going to kill somebody, why not use the best way, the fastest way, like shoot them dead and move on? ”
She shrugged and continued, not expecting a reply from Camden.
“If it was a robbery or something along that line,” she began, “why would they take the time to do this? And it wasn’t just one of the victims who was chopped up.
It was all of them. But then what possible reason would there be for somebody to make that level of commitment to ensure everybody was done and gone and then not follow up with the last living son? ”
Camden nodded. “That was one of the reasons the son was considered a prime suspect, though the detective I met with couldn’t see it. That, and for the longest time, maybe still, the father was a suspect as well, but he didn’t cut himself up.”
“No, I guess not,” she muttered.
Camden agreed. “That would have been a hell of a trick, and I hear what you’re saying, but it could also have been outside of the family. There are lots of ways for things to get personal.”
“Right, not just family,” she muttered, “but a business partner—or anybody with a major grudge.” She pointed that out and then added, “What about fear? What if someone thought the family was evil or something else? I don’t even know what terms people even use for this.
But, if somebody thought that this family was truly evil and needed to be annihilated, that would be a hell of a way to do it. ”
He stared at her thoughtfully. “I get dismembering one body to some degree. I don’t understand a level of hate that required them to chop up everybody.”
She added, “And remember that decapitation was very much an old superstition where some people thought you had to do that in order to stop the ghosts of the dead from living again. Maybe this person was terrified of the family and thought cutting them into pieces would ensure they couldn’t come back after him. ”
Camden turned and looked out at all the ghostly remnant entities in her backyard. “I hadn’t considered that,” he muttered.
“I don’t think anybody is really thinking about it,” she murmured, “because it’s so far from what any of us really deal with.
But, what if somebody saw, for instance, all of these out in their backyard.
It wasn’t necessarily even family or friends, but maybe neighbors who thought that all these ghosts were here because of the dead family. ”
Camden nodded. “Yet none of our neighbors have said a peep. Maybe they made some comment about it being Grandma in the backyard to their spouse—but I only see that happening if the spouse believes in ghosts.”
Devon agreed. “Then go back fifty years, when people thought differently, when even religion was different. Particularly if they decapitated, then literally dismembered, every member of a family. I mean, what possible reason would anyone have to do that? This seems so far past what I think of as a normal murder.”
“You’re definitely right there,” he agreed. “I plan on seeing the young man who found them.” He shook his head. “Obviously he’s not a young man anymore, but he’s the cop who was assigned to do the wellness check. Thus he was the first to arrive and to report on the murders.”
She frowned and asked, “He’s still alive?”
“He is, but I haven’t be able to interview him yet unfortunately.”
She shook her head. “If we don’t find out what this is now, we’ll never find out because the people who possibly knew anything are dying off.”
“Oh, I understand,” he declared. “When I spoke to the lead detective on the case, he told me how the young man who had been the first on the scene was a basket case and never fully functioned in the job again. He ended up leaving the police force early on full disability because of it.”
She nodded. “Imagine walking into a house to confirm the family is okay, then finding the whole lot murdered, which is bad enough, but dismembered too? Jesus, that’s hardly something you want to carry with you for life. Falling apart would be a very honest reaction, in my opinion.”
“That’s what Robert, the lead detective, told me too.
I mean, from his perspective, it seemed the police force had absolutely no problem getting him whatever help he needed.
Robert also stayed in touch throughout the years, and the guy would come in every once in a while and visit with them.
Just a friendly chat type thing, since he was in no way capable of resuming his duties. ”
She pondered that. “I know it’s an absolutely horrible thing to think about, but …”
He stared at her curiously. “But?” he prodded.
“It would be one hell of a way to get out of working for a living.”
His eyebrows shot up, and she watched as the emotions triggered across his face. Then he shook his head. “I can’t imagine any cop doing something so horrific just for that.”
“No, I’m not saying he did,” she clarified. “I’m not. And since he was the one there for the wellness check, then obviously he would be the one traumatized by everything he saw at the time. However, that doesn’t mean he did a good job when he first arrived.”
“Ah, I see what you’re saying.”
“I don’t know if you are because I’m not even sure what I’m saying,” she clarified, with a broken laugh.
“But it seems you do need to talk to him and you should do it soon before he’s dead and gone, as well as anybody else who might still be around and have ideas about what could have happened back then. ”
“You think he missed something?”
“If he walked in to do his wellness check, and maybe he encountered someone, maybe even another cop,” she suggested. “That could change things. And, yes, I know that’ll get your back up, but it’s just a thought.”
He stared at her for a long minute. “No, not really. I’m just trying to figure out what scenario could possibly have happened where the first cop on the scene wouldn’t have been able to or would not have followed up on everything that he needed to do.”
“The trauma, for one,” she pointed out. “What if someone got to him and told him to shut his mouth or else—or something like that. We just don’t know.”
He studied her for a long moment. “I can’t imagine.”
“I know,” she said, holding up her hand.
“I’m not saying that he lied, cheated, stole, or anything else.
I’m just wondering if he was even capable of seeing evidence that might have been there, given his state.
That matters,” she noted. “What about the neighbors? Did the report have anything about the neighbors hearing the screams? I can’t imagine this murder was done quietly. ”
Camden shook his head. “Most of these houses on the block were built afterward. Only one other house was on the block back fifty years ago. It burned down.” He pondered that and added, “Maybe thirty-five years ago or more.”
She just nodded and didn’t say anything.
He eyed her intently. “What are you thinking?”
“I guess I’m just thinking about the unthinkable,” she admitted. “I’m not trying to accuse anybody. I’m not trying to set anything off. I’m just trying to figure out what it would take for somebody to go to that extreme to murder six people. That’s the part I don’t get.”