The Big Sky Country Killer Sample

A Squeeze for a Squeeze

 

          Konnor and Janet pulled into the driveway of her house.  They sat in Janet’s pickup and stared at the front door. Yellow crime scene tape criss-crossed from corner to corner over the door. 

          “Are you sure you want to do this?” Konnor asked.

          “No.  But I feel I need to.  Both for me and for Michelle.”

          Janet opened her door on the passenger side.  Konnor stayed behind the wheel.  Janet walked around the pickup and up to the window on Konnor’s side.  He rolled the window down.

          “Give me a couple hours.  Maybe you and Rick can go to the Town House,” Janet said as she leaned in to give Konnor a kiss.

          “I don’t mind staying and helping.”

          “I know.  And, I appreciate it.  Now, go.  Have some fun with your friend.  See if Robert can meet you as well.  I will be over as soon as I finish here.  I have a feeling I will be in the mood to get shit-faced after doing what needs to be done to the house.”  She gave Konnor a kiss and walked away.  Konnor watched as she tore the crime scene tape from the front door, unlocked the door, then closed it behind her.  Konnor backed out of the drive and pulled into the driveway of what used to be his house next door.  He knocked on the front door.

          “I didn’t know you were back in town,” Rick said with a huge grin after he opened the door.

          “We got in this afternoon.  Janet is going to be busy for a couple hours or so getting her house ready to sell.  How about you and I go to the Town House for a few?  I’m buying.”

          “Hell, you know me.  I never pass up free beer,” Rick said.  He pulled the door shut behind him and followed Konnor out to Janet’s pickup.

          “I will give Sheriff Johnson a call after we get to the Town House.  He said he wanted to have a few beers with Janet and I before we head back to Billings.”

          “Hell, run into the house and call him.  It ain’t locked.  That way if it is noisy at the beer joint, you won’t have to yell at him.”  Rick smiled.  “I don’t know about you, but I try not to yell at anyone wearing a badge.”

          Konnor laughed.  I’ll be right back.

 

          Janet stood inside the front door.  She looked toward the bedroom.  She could see the door was open but from her angle, she could not see into the bedroom.  She slowly walked toward the bedroom.  Janet gasped when she saw the blood on the wall with its cryptic message to Konnor.  She looked down at the blood stained pillow and sheet on top of the bed.  The blood had dried over the nine months since Michelle had been murdered.  It was darker than the bright red Janet had been expecting.  Tears sprang forward and Janet had a difficult time catching her breath which had left her as soon as she saw all of the blood.

          She stepped backwards out of the bedroom.  She leaned against the wall on the outside of the bedroom bent over at the waist and with hands on her knees, she tried to not hyperventilate.

Janet wished she had had someone come in and clean the house sooner.  Nine months was a long time to leave the bedroom in this condition.  Nine months was a long time to leave the house sitting empty.  But, she could not bring herself to think about the house.  Every time she did, she visualized what had happened to Michelle.  Rick had offered to clean the bedroom and watch over the house but she told him to please just leave it.  She would let him know if she changed her mind.  It was only after they had discussed making this trip back to Kingfisher did she decide to get the house ready to sell.

Once she had her breathing under control, she stood up straight.  She steeled herself then went back into the bedroom.

          With timid steps, Janet walked up to the edge of the bed.  She started to strip the crusty, bloody pillowcase off the blood soaked pillow then changed her mind.  She took the pillow and pillowcase to the trashcan in the kitchen.  After going back and retrieving the sheet, she threw it in the trash as well.

Next, she dragged the full size mattress off the bed, stood it on edge, and dragged it toward the front door.  She leaned it up against the wall.

          After going back into the bedroom, Janet looked around for blood on any surface besides the message written in blood on the wall behind the bed, along with some blood splatter below it on the wall.  Seeing no other blood, she went into the laundry room.  She filled a galvanized bucket with hot water and a generous amount of Mr. Clean cleaning concentrate.  She grabbed rubber gloves and a scrubbing sponge then went about the task of cleaning her best friend’s blood off the wall.  Tears flowed as she scrubbed at the deep maroon on the eggshell white, gloss enamel paint.  Slowly, what seemed like a thin layer of her friend’s death at a time, the blood lightened on the wall and darkened the water in the bucket.  She took the bloody reminder of her friend’s murder and poured it down the toilet, flushed, waited for the tank to fill, then flushed again.  She refilled the bucket with hot water and more Mr. Clean then went back to the wall.  Tears continued to fall, mercifully blurring her vision as Janet scrubbed until she could only see a memory of where Michelle’s blood had resided on the wall.

          All cried out, Janet went into the living room.  She lay down on the couch and closed her eyes.  She did not know she fell asleep when she fell asleep.

 

          Franklin had been on his way out to College Hill when he pulled onto Robberts Avenue off Main Street and found himself behind Janet’s pickup.  He could see through the back glass of the pickup that Konnor drove and Janet sat in the passenger seat.  Franklin went straight when they turned left on Boundary.  He was pretty sure where they were going.  He stayed on Robberts past Boundary then turned left into the drive of the abandoned Littrel’s house.  He got out of his car and took up his favorite place to spy on Konnor and Janet - a giant elm tree on the edge of the wheat field on the west side of the Littrel house.  Under the shadow of the elm tree, he was all but hidden as he looked west across a quarter mile of wheat field at the front of Janet's house.

          Franklin sat quietly in the grass.  He watched as Janet went into the house.  He also watched Rick get into the pickup with Konnor and leave.

          “I wonder what Janet is going to do in the house?” He mumbled to himself.  He decided to wait for a while to see if Konnor and Rick came back.  When they did not come back in a half hour, on a hunch, he got in his car and drove past the Town House.  Janet’s pickup was parked on the west side of the beer joint.

          My, my.  It looks like Konnor and Rick might be getting their drunk on, Franklin thought as he drove by.  He drove back to his spying place.  After another fifteen minutes, he walked across the wheat field toward Janet’s house.

 

          Janet woke to someone feeling her breasts.  Franklin leaned over beside her with his hand under her shirt.  He was squeezing and caressing her breasts.

         “You have got to have the best set of tits I have ever touched,” Franklin said when he saw Janet open her eyes and look at him.

          Janet grabbed his elbow and tried to pull his hand out from under her shirt.  Franklin squeezed hard on her breast and refused to let go.  Janet let go of his elbow.

          “Let me know when you are done feeling me up,” she said.  Her eyes stabbed at Franklin with pure hatred.

          “Oh, Janet, I am just getting started.” Franklin pulled Janet’s crop top up until both her breasts were exposed.  He stared for a few seconds, then leaned over to place his mouth on one of them.  Janet slapped Franklin across his cheek.  He jerked his face back away from Janet.  Janet swung her legs around and placed them on the floor between her and Franklin.

          “That’s enough, asshole.  You have seen my tits and touched them.  Now, take your horny ass back to your car and jackoff.”

          “How about instead of jacking off, I fuck you until we both get off,” Franklin suggested as he started to unzip his jean shorts standing right in front of the seated Janet...