DERAILED AND DAMAGED

Chapter 7 - TEMPORARY REFUGE

I carried my load out of the house and called Bailey, a friend.

“Bail, can I stay with you for some time? Things got messed up and I have no place to stay.”

“Sure, Ash,” she said softly. “What are best friends for? I’ll send you the coordinates,” she replied.

As I was driving across the streets of Smallville, I passed Louisville- that goddamn street. The name alone made my pulse race. I could feel the anger pulsing through my head, bad memories ransacking my mind. Too much blood.

“Ash, stop this, I nudged myself, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. “Not now. You need to stay clear headed.

I parked at bail’s house, it was a beautiful duplex with warm yellow lights glowing through the windows-soft and domestic.

She stood at the doorstep with her 5-year-old daughter, Anne. She looked like Bail a lot, and I could still remember us running on the Williams’ lawn with singlets and boxers with Nanny Claudia running after us.

“Ash!” she came to hug me, “I missed you a lot.”

I hugged her back, surprised by the sudden warmth in my chest. “It’s good to see you, Bail

Bailey pulled away, eyes scanning me. “You’ve lost weight. And you look you haven’t slept in a week.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” I said dryly.

She laughed. “Still sarcastic. I see. Some things never change.”

“How is my favourite little princess?” she asked.

“Which one of them actually? Because I have two,” I retorted.

“Fine, it’s Mari of course. She’s so cute. Well, CAS is not bad but she’s too stern for a kid.”

“Wow, she is not like that, she‘s actually cool and it’s cute,” I retorted back.

“Okay, okay, Ash. I get the point. No talking bad about your kid,”

“Yeah,” I retorted.

Anna peeked up at me shyly, always shy, her big brown eyes curious.

Well, if it isn’t my little cutie, I said crouching down to her level.

“Anne, I got you some little presents, I hope you like it.

I handed it to her, thanks aunt ash, she replied, what about me, bail asked or I don’t deserve a gift. The old ones gets left out right? she asked me with a frown. “Okay, okay chill, Bail. You’re not a kid. Your gift is in my other bag,” I said laughing.

“So, Ash, I’m going to leave the house in your care. Myself and Anne – we’re travelling to meet jace,” she told me.

“How silly of me. I didn’t even ask of him. Is everything okay? How’s he been? It’s been like two years since I last saw him.”

“There’s food in the fridge, and don’t forget to warm the greens. The key to the house is under the foot mat. Remember to put the bills inside the bottle,” she said.

“Okay, madam. Bye Anne, enjoy yourself.

Immediately they left, I settled down to go through the documents I photocopied from Kayden’s table. I felt guilty but I didn’t have a choice. This was the only way to get to know the real truth about the murders first-hand.

I was going through the documents - finger nails removed, ‘SINNER’ written on their breasts and their face disfigured with cuts forming ‘SLUT’, naked and gagged.

Mostly “WOMEN” were the victims.

This was so nauseating and irritating, I almost vomited. But this was nothing compared to what those sick bastards might have done to those poor girls in syndicate.

What I don’t seem to understand that there was no particular pattern to how he chooses his victims. There were old women, young women, average age- different ethnic groups, brutally r***d and mutilated, naked and all alone on the ground.

Just chaos. It was like someone was hunting at random, for pleasure.

My stomach turned, but I kept flipping through the pages.

I’d seen worse.

Somewhere in these horrors, I needed answers.