To Ward's Answers! by Adam Stark - HTML preview

To Ward’s Questions!

By Adam Stark

Chapter One: Uncommon Baggage

Do you wanna know the one nice thing about the Midwest? You do not have to travel far for vacations. Take it from me, I am a retired goldshield detective. My name? Ward Kennedy. These are very interesting times. We are just on the brink of realizing that an infamous serial killer held in our local prison, has certainly made his way out, and the timing could not be more scarce. This is just before vacation time for all of us. We all pack our bags we all head to basically the same group of lakes for fishing for the weekend over the Fourth of July. Mosquitoes are bad but I’ll tell you one thing, a serial killer is likely worse. Being retired wasn’t exactly the best thing that ever happened to me. It was like I was just becoming a professional at my job and then I had to stop... forever. Does anyone else know what this is like? Try spending the majority of your life solving crimes for people that are halfway thankful and halfway decent to then having to stop doing it permanently and barely being able to help yourself. I decided to do something that I rather hate doing: watch the live news coverage of the serial killers escape. I shouldn’t even dignify this Satanist by using his name but for the record his name is Curtis Fashingbauer. I’m clicking through the channels and the TV is telling me some very interesting details about this escape. The news anchors are blaring on and on about how he somehow escaped the prison. He managed to steal a vehicle and started driving miles and miles away, seemingly without a trace. But the newest details that have emerged are very interesting as well. It tells us something that should be a beacon of hope: our sheriff that we all know and love so well here is the one in hot pursuit. He is a very well-known sheriff around the town. A lot of people have respect for him. He’s very fair, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. I haven’t seen him since the last police auction a few months ago. Now naturally I would be trying to think like law-enforcement and how would I deal with the situation of a serial killer having escaped right around vacation time. I mean what exactly would be the plan? Put up blockades on every major street? Put up a bunch of wanted posters and rewards for collecting the bounty? Hire every informant from here to Madagascar to keep an eye out? The thought of this is actually killing me on the inside. These people in my city are a wonderful bunch. Families, kids, very successful, very well mannered, caring, athletic, diverse, everything you could possibly wish for as a place to live in. I live in a neighborhood that actually does remind you of the good old days. These people don’t deserve this! This psychopath needs to be caught and chewed up by the jaws of justice! But hell at the end of the day what was I supposed to do about it? I’m retired remember! I don’t exist it’s like I’m in purgatory. And even if I wasn’t, who would listen.

I started walking around the neighborhood and talking to all the neighbors. I didn’t hear anything from them that I didn’t already know from the news. They had nothing but questions, very similar to my own. I went with my instinct which had served me well 75% of the time. I went to go see my man Justin Brown! He was a very good kid at the time I met him I was very impressed because according to statistics: he should be a very bad person! But he is far from it. He’s the kind of kid that teachers would tell you is going to grow up and be a bad person. But as I said before they were all very wrong and very far off. We have a special kind of friendship, I used him as an informant. He made one brutal mistake that could’ve landed him in prison and I happen to let it slide. He beat the hog shit out of a rapist, I pretended that it never happened and nobody ever asked any questions. Do I feel guilty for this? Not even slightly. Justin did not do the legal thing, he did the right thing. From then on we had a very close friendship. It is very good to see him again, peaking out of the corner with his street basketball team. “Ay what’s good Wardy Ward!” Justin Shouted as he gave me a high five. “Can’t say that there’s anything good going on... but it’s nice to see you how are you doing my friend?” I said. He passed the ball over to his team and sat on a bench with me. “Man... bro... this is some bullshit on T.V. you know what I mean? What you think? I mean honestly?” I held in my laughter and explained my position: “Well this definitely throws a wrench into a lot of people’s vacation plans! What I want to know is if nobody can find this guy, is he hiding or is he just gonna keep on traveling? What in the world would be the smart thing to do if you actually escaped from a prison?” Justin went straight to the point as I hoped he would: “ i’m not buying any of the shit on T.V. anyway! You already know they’re not gonna give us the facts they lie about everything all the time, why start telling the truth now? I can’t believe people still watch the shit and think they’re getting truthful information, or credible information with no evidence or proof! These creatures on T.V. don’t even let people think for themselves they tell you exactly what they want you to believe and expect you to do it! So let me get this straight, the serial killer guy happens to escape the prison which for ONE is extremely hard to believe on its face... and he manages to steal a car and make it out of the gate and everything?! How does somebody manage that? No wait excuse me how does an inmate IN A PRISON manage that? It’s not like there was a car waiting for him on the outside with a driver! No seriously I’m getting pissed off I call bullshit on this whole damn thing! Something like this cannot just happen I don’t believe it! Not for a second! How are you going to steal a car on prison grounds and even make it within ONE MILE before being stopped?! To me that is something that could not possibly happen so there’s no way we are being told all of the information. Instead these THINGS on T.V. are just going to say what they need to say to get their ratings up!” I just kept nodding and nodding up and down. I pointed to him and said: “I knew you would be the first and the fastest one to figure that out! Now for inside information, the one thing I will say is there’s no way that this killer is going to try and cross the state boundaries. He would never be able to do that successfully so that’s what the scary thing about this situation is to me. Is he hiding around here? Is somebody providing a hideout for him? If I ever run into Curtis he’s going to be dead! He’s not making it back to prison! He’ll be grinded up into mince meat and flushed down the toilet!” Justin got a little anxious. He looked back at his team for a moment. He whispered to me: “That would be one way to take care of the problem... But NO listen screw that I do not wanna see you get in trouble ending up where he was at! Don’t make it personal, even though it’s how we all feel. You saved my life, I want you to do what God put your crazy ass here for! Feel me? You’d be the best bet at catching this fucking freak! Forget ya retirement for awhile bro.” I gave him a handshake and said: “It’s my new obligation to try that’s for sure. Your hired by the way, or should I say rehired. Under the table, no one else knows this. Let me know if you get wind of anything out of the ordinary, call anytime. Well I’ll get out of your hair... How’s your mother doing young man?” He quietly answered: “The chemo ain’t doing what the docs counted on, gonna try some other shit I guess... she told me to tell you thanks for the flowers.” On that note I walked away. A conversation with Justin is exactly what I needed.

Heading over to the local pub I was eager to learn any new information. I don’t do any drinking, I just love to listen to people that do. Finally after three appetizers I got to hear something exciting: a press conference. It was the sheriff telling us all about his pursuit. He said that he failed to capture him but he got a good ‘make and model’ of the vehicle. He was very distraught in this press conference, even though if I was him I’d be looking at it differently. He said he managed to shoot out part of the back window and the left rear tail light before losing the trail. From the facial expressions and wording, it appeared that he was very upset with himself. That honestly confused me because to me, it would seem as if he was the only one who did anything USEFUL! Does the guilt of losing the killer’s trail extinguish the fact he was the only one close to capturing him? Maybe that’s just me but I don’t think it makes any sense, I was proud of that sheriff I wanted to shake his hand again. Everybody else in the pub was in a horrible mood, and I mean on edge! It was like nobody wanted to talk about it... but everybody ended up doing what? Talking about it! The people I talked to who didn’t know me and my background were saying that the sheriff would’ve been the best man for the job. It may seem hard to believe but the people in my city have a lot of respect for the sheriff. He’s just another local to us. He delivers bad news to people, he goes to court on people’s behalf free of charge, he honors students at graduations, he holds the police auctions and donates to charities ect. So with that being said, nobody I’ve talk to was mad at the Sheriff, but it did appear that the sheriff was very mad at himself. This might not be the best time, but I don’t think I’m going to get a lot of fishing done this upcoming Fourth of July weekend...

Chapter 2: Mister Managed

Just a few weeks away now until the big Fourth of July weekend. Nothing but apprehension and paranoia I tell you. If these were normal circumstances, these families I live amongst would be busy packing their gear for fishing at one of the big lakes here. With all that being said, you would not believe what I’m about to tell you. My next-door neighbor’s family has disappeared! They are the Andersons, I know them pretty well. They are nowhere in sight and I rang the doorbell and there’s no answer. I immediately reported this to the police department. The guys there took all of my information in, but they questioned why I was so positive that there was foul play. At the end of the phone call they were trying to tell me that it’s very likely they were just going up to the lake... as many families do at this time. I wasn’t buying it and I told them that I know Mr. Anderson. He had no plans of going there this year. We bitched and complained about money together not that long ago! And the last straw for me was why would he go all the way to the damn lake when he sold his boat? None of this added up, none of this made any sense. All I can do now is hope that law enforcement would do their jobs and discover where they are. I went around asking the other neighbors if they heard anything suspicious. No real useful data to go by. Okay I’ll admit it, I may have shoved my expired badge in a few people’s faces... I was hoping to hear at least something or at least a hint of a trail. A family disappears and there is absolutely no trace, not to mention the worst possible timing.

I spent all afternoon reading over the case files on Curtis’s method’s. It was painstakingly awful to read through. I’m not sure if that was the worst part or the part about just simply sitting and waiting and pretending to be patient. I just sat there as if some miracle was going to happen and someone was just going to give me an answer. After reading about the 12th murder case file I got a message from Justin! I didn’t even read the message I immediately picked up my phone and called him. He picked up and shouted: “Yo some ill shit going down, cameras are here and everything!” So I demanded: “Like what? And where?” He starts rambling: “A few blocks away from my crib there is a bunch of cameras out here with a bunch of people asking questions. There’s crime scene tape in front of the house but there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the house on the outside. There is enough media attention in these parts that I figured I’d have to let you know bout’ this shit.” I started nodding my head as if he could see me for some reason. I calmly replied: “Thanks chief I’ll be watching, keep up the good work.” So I kept the news on the T.V. to see if anything would finally come up. What I began to see was something very strange. It was indeed about that house that Justin was referring to. They were talking about a missing persons report and these folks that haven’t been home or heard from. The news reporter said something about their employer had been concerned because they had not shown up for work which was out of character. This was very puzzling to me because what I was seeing on T.V. here is what I felt I should’ve been seeing for the Anderson’s (my next-door neighbors.) I kept glancing at the case files while I would peak up at the news once in awhile. Eventually I heard one more useful piece of information: no bodies were discovered in the house. All I can keep on thinking about is what could this mean? So nobody is dead but everybody is missing?! I wish I knew where Mr. Anderson worked so that maybe I could help figure that part out...

Weeks went by just feeling numb, I didn’t find anything out that I wanted to know. After not hearing anything for weeks, I did my own investigating. I went and peaked inside of the Anderson’s mailbox. It was full and it even had a note in it about the mailbox being too full. I went to the local post office and I did some questioning. I pulled out my badge and I demanded to know if they had put their mail on hold. They had not heard anything from them! So now at this time I had to go to the police department and let them know that this report I filed must’ve been ignored! I checked myself in and I walked right back into the room I needed to go. Boy was I relieved, right away I saw Sheriff Montgomery! I spoke firmly to him saying: “Sheriff... I am concerned about the Anderson’s, I filed a missing person’s report a few weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything. They haven’t came home or anything sir...” The sheriffs face turned from pleasant to utter sadness. He reached out to give me a handshake and he began to tell me: “Yes that is definitely a grave concern, nothing new to report. But are we positive that they might not have just gone to the lake?” I interjected: “You see that’s just the thing sir, I extremely doubt that. I know him pretty well and not only were we both complaining about not having money for this summer, but he SOLD his boat!” The sheriff put his arm around me and fiercely proclaimed: “I am so sorry, this must be frightening. I am going to do everything in my power to figure out what is going on with them!” Just then some man who I feel was a detective bumps into the sheriff and whispers to him... I couldn’t make out what he said. Something about “Wards got a right to know?” Then suddenly before I could say anything the sheriff pulls me aside. He softly tells me the real deal: “Here’s the rub, and your not going to like it Ward. There has been three other cases of missing families... these ones we had withheld from making the news. I hate to break this to you, but theres a reason that those three families have had more investigating. It’s because in those cases we’ve actually had results, already. Our hands are tied and we are very busy. I know that’s the last thing that you wanted to hear, but that is simply the truth. We are hoping to go by the evidence we have found in those cases.” I shook his hand, ducked down my head, and I walked outside. This was starting to become a nightmare. I could not possibly fathom how so many families could be missing all at the same time of an escaped serial killer fugitive! I simply felt guilty asking anymore questions to law enforcement knowing that they had been busy with other tragedies. To be perfectly honest, I am under the assumption that all of these events are related. Is that wrong of me? Is that illogical of me to think in that way?

Nightfall came and I decided I’m going to take action. I decided to think like a criminal... I put on all of my protective gear and masks. Everything from gloves to glasses, hair bags to sweat catchers. I got all geared up to hopefully leave no trace evidence behind, and I headed next door. I walked around their yard to see if there was anything suspicious. Nothing was broken, no window was open, no door was out of place. I had a key of my own to get into his house. Mr. Anderson hid it for me in the bottom of the grill on his deck. He used to leave that there for me so I could take care of his dogs back in the day. They passed away a few years back, 2 basset hounds. I made my way through the entrance and I looked around very carefully. I took my light and I followed every single pathway that I could find. I was astounded that I did not come up with anything. I made my way upstairs and I looked around the bedrooms carefully. I looked to see if there had been anything down the drains or in the trash cans. Nothing! There wasn’t any appearance of any missing flooring or chipped paint. I was just about to give up and then finally I caught wind of something useful. I looked through his wife’s shelf and I could not believe what I saw! Literally every single piece of jewelry was missing. Based on the markings on the bottom of the shelf it had been forcibly removed. This is not a case of ‘oh she just decided to take all of her jewelry with her somewhere’ because you could still see the bottom scrapings that were broken off of this glass case. Whoever was here had to have broken it off to get everything out and left no jewelry behind. So I can at least prove one thing, burglary had been taken place! I was looking around all of the family’s personal effects and none of them were damaged. So I was trying to figure out if this could’ve been a personal motive. I didn’t think so but that wasn’t the most troubling part. The thing that began to concern me was my new theory. Who is doing this?! This does not match the serial killer’s M.O. by a long shot! He would’ve left a huge mess all over the entire house. Not only that he liked to group the victims together in the same room, drag their carcasses if necessary! There wasn’t any blood that I could find in this house. It was robbed pretty cleanly and there is no proof of any violence. To say that I am stunned would be an understatement. I tip toed my way out his house. I snuck back into my own house and burned all of my clothes in the fireplace. I was just sad sitting here thinking ‘wow I already know more about the Anderson’s case then law-enforcement does’ which is nuts. Do you want to know the weird feeling about all of this? Ideally I should be feeling like I am going way above and beyond. Like this is not of my business and I have no right to conduct my own investigation. But to tell you how I feel in the pit of my soul, I feel like I am doing the right thing.

I didn’t sleep long before the phone rang. I could not believe what the hell I was hearing! It was Justin he called me and he was screaming hysterically! He hollers: “I SEEN HIM! I’M FOLLOWING THE SON OF A BITCH!” I through my blankets off of me and screamed back: “Justin you are doing WHAT? Who are you following what is the meaning of this?!” He scarily screeches out: “THE KILLER I SPOTTED HIS ASS! HE LEFT THIS HOUSE HE BROKE INTO AND I’M CHASING HIM!” My entire body froze... Is Justin trying to tell me that he found our culprit?! I grabbed my gun and my keys and jumped off my porch to my car. I aggressively started telling Justin: “Disengage! DO NOT PURSUE! I repeat, Justin, DO NOT PURSUE!” He cut me off and yelled in the phone: “HE ON 34th AND SUNRISE AVE! HURRY! I AIN’T LETTIN’ EM’ GET AWAY!” I tried to yell back at Justin but he hung up the phone. I was pounding on the steering wheel and trying to drive as fast as I could. I immediately called the police and told them where to go to. I was hoping that by me knowing some of the police codes that they use over their radios it would save time. I was rushing as fast as I possibly could. I ran a couple of stoplights. I got to the street he was describing and I didn’t see anything at first. There was no cars parked, there was no people walking, there was no yards with people outside or anything. Finally I saw a bunch of flashing lights. I was hoping that this was for a GOOD reason. I went up to the police and immediately started demanding answers. They told me to step back. I showed them my retired badge and claimed that I was the one who called it in. An officer on the scene approached me commanding: “Sir will you follow me please. We heard your call now I need to look at this. Right over here, take a good look.” I slammed my keys against the concrete and dropped to my knees... it was Justin. He is dead. I spent a long time crying out of control. Eventually I was able to stand up and I was so dehydrated I attempted to talk. I uttered out the words: “Officer, this is Justin Brown. He used to be an informant of mine.” One of the investigators came over to me. She started asking: “Well what is your relation to the victim? I am pretty sure I got this all figured out.” I turned ninety degrees and glared at her to say: “He used to be an informant of mine and he is a good friend. What exactly is that supposed to mean!” I really hated her tone. She scolded me and started explaining: “He took lead to the chest. He’s definitely got to be linked in this. Some gang banging warfare gone wrong or the money wasn’t split evenly to their liking. You see, I’m starting to realize that he could be one of these house invaders that we’ve been looking for.” I was furious... I was fuming mad... I held in my anger when I spoke because I knew they wouldn’t take me serious if I started shouted up to the high heavens. I sternly told her: “No, he was pursuing the suspect, he witnessed a burglary, he called me and I told him not to pursue... He didn’t listen to me and he kept following your guy! And another thing, he is not in some filthy gang! He doesn’t have any weapons!” She tried hard not to blink or pull out her notepad and pretend to write something. She tells me: “I’m sorry for your loss, but I’ve got a job to do here. I need to work this at all angles. How would I be any good to anyone if I just assumed that he was NOT an accomplice here who was betrayed? And no offense but to think that your friend was really that ‘gung ho’ about fighting crime when he was supposedly unarmed. I’m going to look around more, my officer will take all of your statements... excuse me...” So she got out of my face and then I decided to give all of my statements. But that wasn’t the end of the story. I knew what I had to do to clear Justin’s name. Luckily for him I have a special modified phone that records any and all activities and conversations. I brought it over to police headquarters and all of the conversation was copied and documented into evidence during the fatal pursuit. The timestamps all matched up with the timing of his death via the medical examiner. I was happy I could clear his name. It was bad enough that he had died, it would’ve been even worse to see him go in vain. I was walking out of the building and I could not believe who I encountered... that investigator. She put her hands up as if she was trying to stop me and she started to speak: “Look, I was just trying to do my job, I’m so sor...” I interrupted her: “Oh that’s what you were doing? You were doing your job? While he was doing what? According to you he was a gang banger right? Look lady he has more of a heart than you will EVER have! And save that goddamn apology for HIS MOTHER!” I walked out of that room with my head feeling slightly higher. The sheriff met me at the top of the stairs and walked with me out of the building. He patted me on the back and said: “I’m sorry about your loss Ward, he was a good kid... he will really be missed in the community.” I appreciated what he was telling me but for some reason I couldn’t get those words out. My brain instantly switched back to business mode. I glanced over to the Sheriff and asked: “Karl, did you find any evidence or anything about who he was chasing down that road? He said he witnessed him and chased him giving us a window of opportunity...” The sheriff replied: “The timing was sort of, almost perfect if only we had boots on the scene I’m afraid. Better your bottom dollar it’s Curtis? My ears are filled with hearing that theory.” I rapidly responded saying: “Oh no no no! That’s not possible because Curtis never used guns. The investigator told me that Justin God bless his soul took some lead to the chest. And not one of them rounds fired missed! Shot and landed without missing. Curtis couldn’t have learned how to do that so quick after escaping prison I wouldn’t think...” The sheriff lowered his voice and said: “Now Ward, you don’t really think that do you? Don’t get me wrong I’m not eliminating that theory. Or any theory for that matter. I’m just going to wherever my men and women lead me to with their clues.” I put my head down in despair. I whispered out toward the sheriff: “I just can not believe it Karl... he was right there in front of Justin. Justin gave us a shot to find something. That son of a bitch whoever he is was right there leaving a house he was invading...” He just started shaking my hand. He graciously told me: “Nows not the time for that Ward, go be with his family, they’re gonna need moral support. We are working on all leads, you know you’ll hear from me as soon as we got something.” I couldn’t think of what to say as he started walking so I just spastically got out the words: “Alrighty take care thank ya much.” I headed over to Justin’s mother at the hospital. This investigation is all over the place. More questions than answers. I’ve already lost track of how many families have gone missing since Curtis’s escape!

Chapter 3: Fall Low

I don’t know what you people think, but do you think routine plans work very well for a detective? If it does then it certainly has failed in this instance. More and more families are disappearing and I don’t seem to be finding any answers. By THIS point in this spree, I would’ve thought I would’ve seen a press conference. Not only have I not seen that but another very important thing is missing: a massive search. Normally you would see these on T.V. when there’s missing people. A community rallies together and they all search areas for dead bodies. Not only that, but also a reward put up for aiding in the discovery of missing people. Yet not one of these things have happened! NOT ONE! This begs the question, what the hell is going on?! At night I strolled by the houses that I know have missing families and I would search their mailbox’s. Their mailboxes were stuffed! Why would they keep their mail going if there’s not enough room for it? Over a long period of time, at that? This was not adding up to me at all! I made my way over to police headquarters. I managed to convince Sheriff Montgomery and his detective to have lunch with me. I started off the discussion: “Gentlemen, if I may I would like to provide my expertise. I’m fairly convinced that the timing of Curtis’s escape is connected with the missing families. HOWEVER, he does not know how to use a gun! So therefore he must be working with somebody. Maybe that someone helped him escape prison? I don’t know, but it is an angle worth checking out!” The Sheriff notions his hand over to the detective and introduces him: “Ward this is Detective Corbin.” We shook hands and I stared at him waiting to hear him speak. He lowered his voice and said: “Pleasure to meet you sir. Now you do know that most information is classified... I am merely entertaining this as a favor for a good friend. Now that being said, there is nothing wrong with your argument... I just can’t say that it is within reason. You see so far only two of these families have any red flags popping up. And I am not going to comment any further about that.” I held in my anger so tightly, I though I was about to start on fire! I found a way to softly continue talking: “Okay may I at least ask you this, has there been any other break-ins in that area? Because Justin God bless his soul was convinced that this was a break-in next to the house that he was around at. So unless there’s been a lot of break-ins in that area, then I have no reason to think it wasn’t connected.” The sheriff says nothing and Detective Corbin speaks up: “No sir. These neighborhoods have had it very lucky when it comes to burglaries. That, I will share with you in confidence that it doesn’t leave this table.” I tried to get my words out before he could take a bite of his dinner again: “So do you think there is a connection? Can we get a press conference on this? I would volunteer to lead a search for bodies I have great references.” Detective Corbin looked at me like I was a newborn baby... like he didn’t know one word I was saying to him. He hastily replied: “Ward... I’m telling you! We would do that if there was more information to go on. We do not have solid evidence of anything. These things can’t just happen because of a hunch, unfortunately.” I looked at both men back and forth and exclaimed forcefully: “Then, WHAT... IS... YOUR... THEORY!” The sheriff put his hand over to stop the detective from answering. He told me: “Ward... we are doing this for you as a courtesy, we’re your friends here. No need to be upset with us. Hell, I’m upset with us! Pardon my language. I wish we had all of the answers! We just... well we can’t technically do much when we have no evidence, no factual basis to go off of with the majority of these families. Understand with no evidence, I’m still assuming that these families are at the lake already. It IS that time of year, you know? We are scared too but that’s not enough to be a cause for alarm my friend.” Detective Corbin chimes in: “We do need a press conference, I’m with you! I just want to get some good clues on it first so I know forsure. I need to know that Curtis actually did something before releasing that to the public. Trust me, when I’m ready with that evidence I’ll publicly hit him where it hurts with the press!” I tried to look like I was agreeing with them. The truth is, I was shocked. I was perplexed. To just shoo away a theory by saying that these people went to go fucking fishing just pisses me off! If they would just simply search the Anderson’s home next door to me, they would know what I know! I couldn’t believe that they had no ‘evidence to go by’ yet! However, I am not going to turn them into my enemy. I continue the remainder of lunch talking to them about stupid sports.

I arranged a search party with volunteers. I know this wasn’t exactly ‘cooperating’ with authorities. I didn’t care much, I knew what I had to do. We searched for miles around the vacant woods and on the beach. We didn’t turn up anything significant. I did notice that there was a lot of boats still on the docks. Maybe there isn’t anything significant about that at all, but it was worth mentioning. Anything at THIS point is worth just mentioning! I even had part of my search team search the old lighthouse on the lake. It’s so