Byron Starr - Doppelgänger

As soon as James was out the door, Emilio said, “Sheriff… ”

“Call me Bill.”

“Bill, you saw the autopsy reports. You saw the reports from A&M. They all say the injuries were caused by some sort of large animal. And we both saw those tracks out where Greg had his accident. You know he wasn’t involved there. Surely you don’t think he had something to do with the other deaths.”

“I’m not sure what I believe right now. I’m certainly not one-hundred percent certain we’re dealing with an animal here. The one thing I am certain of is that boy’s the only suspect we’ve got.”

“Think of all this guy’s been through. In the last ten days he’s lost his wife and kid, been accused of their murder plus two others, and now he’s lost his best friend.”

“I know. If it turns out he’s innocent, I’ll never be able to apologize enough to that poor kid. But I just can’t release him right now.”

James woke up the next morning and tried to remember what he had seen the night before. Once again the beast had crawled out from under its lair. James had paid particular attention, trying to note landmarks, but in the dark pine forest there were very few distinguishing landmarks to go by.

The beast had continued through the woods until there seemed there were quite a few houses in the area. Occasionally it would peek out of the trees and look around. James recognized some of the buildings. The creature was inside the city limits. It looked around seemingly taking in the sights, as well as the smells and sounds, then lumbered back into the woods.

As soon as Bill came in, he went back to see James. He gave James some magazines. This confused James at first; then he realized the hard-assed sheriff might be showing signs of a guilty conscience.

James told Bill about last night’s dream, especially about the fact that the beast had been in the city limits. This time the sheriff seemed interested.

Later that afternoon, James finally saw his court-appointed attorney, but his visit was very brief. The young lawyer found his client highly uncooperative and left without accomplishing a thing.

That night James went to bed again, hoping to see something useful.

As Bill strode through the first security door at 3:45 a.m., he was greeted by Clara McClelland. “I’m sorry to wake you, Bill, but he wouldn’t quit banging on the door. He was demanding to speak to you. I didn’t know what else to do but to call you.”

“You did fine, Clara.”

Bill could hear a steady banging coming from the back. He walked through the second security door and turned the corner. He could see Chad standing in front of the door to James cell, looking through the window.

Chad turned and said, “I would have shut him up, but you said not to go in their cells when they’re freakin’ out unless you’re here.”

“I know what I said,” Bill snapped. He still hadn’t forgiven Chad for his lapse a few days ago.

Bill walked up to the window and looked in. James had been repeatedly kicking the steel door as hard as he could for over fifteen minutes. He was out of breath, and his face was red from the exertion. When he saw Bill in the door he stopped his frantic efforts and supported his body by putting his hands on the wall. “Good morning, Sheriff,” James panted with a twisted, sarcastic smile on his lips. “It struck again last night. This time inside the city limits.”

Bill just nodded, then turned to Chad, “Go back up front, tell Clara to open cell number two. Then go get his things and meet us in my office.”

“We releasin’ him?” Chad asked, shocked.

“Probably. Now hurry!” Bill snapped gesturing toward the security door.

Bill and James got out of the patrol car on East Street, just across from the playground at Newton Elementary School. James was now out of his orange jumpsuit and in blue jeans and a t-shirt. He looked small alongside Bill’s tall stature. Chad walked behind them with a shotgun. James told them the beast was no longer in the area, but Bill wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’m not sure where it struck, but we’re in the right place. I remember the playground,” James said.

“Lead the way,” Bill said, as he gazed across the playground and its empty monkey bars and swing sets.

Even though Bill knew that this beast, if it really did exist, was more than likely nocturnal and no children would be at the elementary school at night, the idea that a monstrous killing machine had been this close to the elementary school bothered him tremendously.

They walked along the outside of the playground’s tall chain-link fence until James came to a stop. He pointed at some hedges in front of a small white house across the street and said, “I think it was looking out from those bushes when I got the good view of the playground. From there it went that direction,” he said, pointing up the street.

“How far?” Bill asked.

“Not far, three or four houses at most.”

On the way over, James told Bill that he thought tonight’s victim was an elderly black lady who had worked in the Newton High School cafeteria when he was still in high school. Bill had a good idea who James was talking about. Now that James had practically pointed out her house he was almost positive. Alma Carroll had worked in the cafeteria at Newton High School for years. The old widow had retired four years ago. She lived only four houses down from the one James said he’d seen the playground from, but, for right now, Bill was going to play it dumb. He wanted James to take him to the house, just to be sure.

They walked down the street, which was brightly lit by streetlights and security lights. However, Bill could see how someone — or something — could skirt along the shrubs and trees in the yards and hug close to the houses and easily remain in the shadows.

After passing three houses, James pointed to a small, yellow, wooden house. “That’s the house.”

It was Alma Carroll’s house all right. “Are you sure?” Bill asked.

“No, but we can go see. She should be lying in the doorway.”

They started across the street toward the house, then Bill stopped. He saw that the front door was open. James, who was in front of Bill and didn’t see him stop, continued into the yard. When he got to the start of the sandstone walkway leading to the front door he stopped and looked back at Bill, who was now coming up to join him. “Now do you believe me?”

Bill walked up beside James and saw the poor old black lady lying face down in the doorway. Blood was all over the small front porch and the floor of the entrance hallway. Bill walked on up for a closer look. Alma’s arm, severed at the shoulder, was lying over to the side a little way. Judging by the blood splattered on the porch and the walls beside it, something seemed to have shaken the arm like a dog shaking a toy in its mouth. Bill remembered Alma had big arms with fat hanging down from the upper part, but there was hardly a strip of meat left on the arm lying on the porch.

Chaos was quick to descend on the small town after Alma Carroll’s body was found. The murders had been the biggest gossip to hit Newton County since County Commissioner Alex Harrison had been caught in the drug bust, but up until now the rumors floating around hadn’t caused much panic. But now one of the horrible killings had taken place inside the city limits, and within full view of the elementary school playground. The morning that the body was found, a handful of parents arrived at the elementary school, demanding to take their kids home. Despite efforts to stem the panic, the rumors spread throughout the day more and more parents arrived to pick up their kids. By the end of the day, three quarters of the elementary students had gone home and half of the students at Newton High School had also gone.