"No Mitch, I can take it from here." Susie Stanza said as she looked up from the journal.
"Okay, see you back at the office." Mitch replied as he followed the coroner out the door.
How could no one have seen this? How could the her little town have been so blind? Susie got up from the couch and looked around the house one more time. All the horrors that must have gone on here. She was actually glad Miss. Blackstone had died a horrific death. Especially after reading her journal.
She had gotten the call early that morning, someone said they heard screaming coming from the Blackstone residence. Miss. Blackstone always had kept to herself so the screaming was something that brought concern. Susie herself had decided to take the call. She wasn't expecting to find what she did at the house though once she got there. Miss. Blackstone lay on the floor burned and smoking. From all accounts it looked like she had been trying to fix her own TV and electrocuted herself. Sad, really sad actually, because from what she knew, everyone in town liked Miss Blackstone.
As the coroner arrived, Susie started walking around the house to look for anything that might show this was anything but an innocent electrocution. She was not prepared to find what she did in the basement though. As she walked down the stairs she got a horrible whiff of something foul. Burnt flesh? Was that was she was smelling? Rounding the stairs she saw cells lined against the walls.
"What the hell?" she said to herself.
In one of the cells was a man eating plant, luring his cake for any unsuspecting victim. In another cell was a poisonous jelly bean plant. Those plants were known to kill people if eaten to much. In another cell she saw what looked like a living room, she didn't even want to know why that one was set up like that. Then she saw the graves. Ten to be exact. All with pictures above them, all on beautifully carved marble stands. This was just too weird, even for a serial killer.
Susie looked at the pictures, noticing faces she had seen on flyers at the precinct. All of missing men and women that had been reported missing over the many years. What was this? Why were their remains down here with pictures over them?
Susie left the basement in disgust and headed back upstairs to look around some more. She entered Evangeline's room, and on the nightstand she saw the journal. She put her gloves on and headed back into the living room to read what was in it. The contents shocked her. Not only was Evangeline delusional, and a serial killer, but she also thought she had raised fourteen children successfully. She even thought she had grandchildren out there! Had no one ever asked any questions?
Susie headed back to the precinct to write up her report on the case. She knew everyone in the office would get a kick out of this, but there was something inside her that felt sorry for the little old lady. How could someone go through life living in such a fantasy world? Vampires? Elves? Werewolves? Witches? These were all things in children's books, not in real life. Sure Dragon Valley was named after a mythological creature, that didn't make it real! If it weren't for all the dead bodies she would of found, Susie would of felt sorry for Evangeline. She still kind of did, even knowing what she did.
She wrote her report as she always did, in truth. She knew the truth of Evangeline's life had to come out, and that the murdered victims families deserved to know what happened to their loved ones.
As she went to put her report in the captains inbox, something on the wall caught her eye. She headed over to the bulletin board where they kept their missing person pictures as she saw a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye. There mixed with a bunch of missing person, was a flyer on Evangeline. It was old and torn, her face was very young. But there was no mistake it was her. How had they never seen this?
The flyer read:
Missing from Hidden Springs Mental Institute.
Evangeline Gibbons
Very Dangerous!
Delusional and unstable
Has killed staff and other residence.
Do not approach!
If you see her, contact Ashlynn Blackstone at (555) 628-2547
Susie grabbed the flyer down from the wall. She then went back to her desk and dialed the number. It rang and rang and then she got voice mail. "Hi, this is Ashlynn, leave me a message!"
"Hi, Miss. Blackstone, this is officer Susie Stanza of the Dragon Valley police department. I just wanted to let you know that we have found Evangeline Gibbons. She electrocuted herself this morning, and has since passed away. I saw your flyer and thought I would call and let you know. Have a good day, bye." Susie hung up the phone.
She didn't leave her number for Ashlynn to call her back, what else could she say? That her department had failed the town and they have ten murders because of it? No, that would just make things worse. The case was closed. She knew what that woman had done, she knew she was going to have to explain it to all the family. She knew her and the rest of the precinct would have to live with this for the rest of their lives. It didn't matter what this Ashlynn said, it couldn't change the past. They had failed Dragon Valley, and had let a Black Widow loose in their town.
The End
