Chapter 23

Eva hadn’t expected Vincent McDaniels to accuse his son, Tom McDaniels, of murder. She was shocked and suspicious.

No. Freaking. Way.

“How do you know it was Tom that killed your daughter?” Eva asked.

Vincent dragged his palm across his face. “The day Beatrice was killed, she was with Tom. The two of them were going to try and catch a squirrel together. They went out together but only Tom came home that afternoon. We asked him where Beatrice was and he said she was picking flowers. When it began to get dark, we started to look for her. Lucinda and I found her…stabbed in the chest.” Vincent was telling the story without emotion. It was as if he had told the story many times before.

“What makes you think it was Tom?”

“That night, Lucinda was a wreck. To keep herself from losing it, she started cleaning like a madwoman. She had gone into Tom’s room to grab his laundry. That's when she found the clothes he had been wearing earlier that day,” Vincent said as he lit another cigarette.

Eva wanted him to continue, “So what was wrong with the clothes?”

“They were covered in blood.”

Eva gasped, “Oh God.”

“When we asked Tom about it, he became angry and refused to talk to us. He said he would never have hurt his sister. Later, I went through his drawers and I found the knife he had used.” Vincent lowered his head in grief.

“I blamed myself. Tom was my son but I should’ve known something was wrong. His brother and I used to take Tom and his friends hunting with us and Tom loved the kill a little too much. He loved watching the animals take their last breath. I should’ve known.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?” Eva asked.

Vincent took another drag from his cigarette, “Tell them what? That my oldest son was a murderer? No, we couldn’t do that. As much as we mourned Beatrice, we couldn’t hurt Tom like that. He was sick. So we made up a story about a drifter being in the area.”

Eva frowned. She had a feeling that there was more to this story than what he was telling her. Perhaps the McDaniels family didn’t share this knowledge about Tom because Vincent McDaniels was being praised as a prodigy author and the bad publicity would hurt his book sales.

“We decided that it would be best to keep Christopher safe by letting him live with his uncle Roger Fleming, Lucinda’s brother. He didn’t have any children and was willing to care for Chris. Lucinda and I felt we could handle Tom’s behaviors. He was diagnosed with having ADHD and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. He would have violent outbursts and no one could control him. One psychiatrist diagnosed him with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. We had him on medication and going to regular therapy sessions. No matter what, Tom swore up and down that he didn’t kill Beatrice.”

“How did Christopher feel about living with his uncle?” Eva asked.

“He didn’t like it. He wanted to stay with us. I don’t think he ever understood why he had to live with Roger. He would always ask if he could come home. I missed Chris. He was a little genius. His teachers used to say that he took after me because he could learn everything fairly quickly. Now he’s gone too.”

Eva asked, “Can you tell me about Chris?”

Vincent looked up. His eyes were glassy from almost crying. “What’s there to tell? He and Tom went to high school together but were in different circles. Chris didn’t have anything to do with Tom except for when all the boys and I went hunting.”

“The boys?”

Vincent nodded, “Tom, Chris, and their best friends Kevin and Chad.”

Eva touched her locket for bravery before asking, “Christopher died fairly young. Is that right?”

“He died in a fire the first night he went to stay in his dorm room after leaving for college. Can you believe it?”

Eva couldn’t believe it. She needed to ask one last question, “Why did you share this with me?”

Vincent put his cigarette out, “Because you can’t prove it anyway. Also, if he is killing women…he needs to be stopped. The worst thing that can happen to a parent is to have your children go before you. All I have left is Tom, and he’s being accused of murder.” Vincent stood up and began pacing.

“He may be innocent…” Eva offered.

Vincent sighed as if trying to forget the entire subject. He looked at Eva and warned her, “The pictures you took of me, I won’t delete them. If they end up in a newspaper, I’ll sue you for libel. Do you understand me?”

Eva nodded. Vincent handed her phone back to her. Eva checked the time and saw that it was past midnight. “It’s pretty late,” Vincent mentioned. “I’m assuming you drove up here. Do you feel okay to drive back home?”

Eva stood up and her knees almost buckled. She stretched them out until she felt comfortable, “I think I’ll be okay.”

Vincent walked toward the front door, “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Eva didn’t want to go anywhere with Vincent McDaniels but it was late and she didn’t know what other surprises the night had in store for her. As they walked to the main highway, Eva couldn’t believe the information that she had discovered about the McDaniels men. Both Tom and Vincent seemed to have some serious issues. She still didn’t quite trust Vincent. As they reached the main highway, Eva looked for her rental car but didn’t see it.

“My rental!” Eva couldn’t believe it was gone.

Vincent seemed to understand that her car was missing. “The troopers probably reported it to have it towed. They don’t let cars stay on the side of the road here for safety purposes since the road is so narrow. I’m guessing you don’t want to stay at my place for the night.”

Eva couldn’t hide the expression of horror that suggestion had given her which made Vincent laugh.

“Don’t worry Eva. There’s a motel a few miles away unless you want to call someone to come get you.”

Eva thought about calling Joelynn or David but it was too late to do that, “I wouldn’t mind staying at the motel but my purse was in the car.”

Vincent laughed again, “I’ll tell you what Eva. Seeing as how I scared you half to death, I’ll take you to the motel and even put you up for the night.”

Eva protested until Vincent insisted. She felt like Alice in Wonderland after she had fallen down the rabbit hole.

As they began to drive, Vincent turned on the radio. The song playing was an old classic by The Partridge Family. Eva looked at Vincent and said, “This song. You were playing it earlier when you were in your cellar.”

Vincent nodded, “It’s my favorite song. When all the boys and I used to go hunting, we would play this song when we skinned our kills. It became kind of a tradition for us.”

“Sounds…creepy,” Eva couldn’t help but blurt out, causing Vincent to laugh again. Eva was tired, hungry, and wanted to go home. As soon as she got to the motel, she was going to fall asleep. She hoped she didn’t have any dreams tonight because this past day had been a living nightmare.

~AT THE HOME OF KEVIN & SAMANTHA LANDERS~

Kevin Landers was sitting in front of his computer with a half-empty bottle of whiskey to his right. Samantha had fallen asleep hours ago. Even before they had gotten married, she was becoming very emotional. Lately, she was a crying mess because of her friend Paula’s death. Kevin was tired of listening to his wife and just wanted to relax.

He hadn’t touched her since they returned from their honeymoon. She wouldn’t let him. After looking at some online porn, he began checking out the Demon King forums. Some of these people were complete whack-jobs. Kevin thought of Tom in jail and frowned. He couldn’t believe that Tom had been arrested. The FBI had asked him about the matchmaking account he had created for Tom.

Curiosity got the better of him. He knew he shouldn't have, but the whiskey was controlling his actions and Kevin clicked a new screen where he entered in a username and password. He was surprised the account was still active. He read the last message that was received.

“Are you getting shy on me? I’m even cuter in person.”

Kevin smirked and typed, “When did you want to meet?”