Free The Hum by D.W. Brown Page B

killed them.”
    “Yes, I did. I stabbed them all three, and I still don’t know why. I’ve often questioned why I didn’t just leave after the incident? Why didn’t I ask for a divorce? You know Sheriff, it has been seven long years now, and I’m glad to finally get it all out in the open. They’re not the only ones that I killed, though.”
    “Since its confession time, you might as well tell me about the others.” Russell said, more than a little interested.
    “My madness began with my rotten brother, Wayne. I started hearing the hum shortly after he attacked and beat up one of my friends. Even though I regret killing Wayne, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel better after I committed the act. For some reason he just never liked me. We went back and forth for many years, until I decided to poison him. I was only eight years old at the time, but I knew enough to understand that killing was wrong. That’s why I wrestled with it for so many years later. In the end, I can assure you that Wayne had it coming. It really was survival of the fittest around the farm that we grew up on. If I didn’t get to him first, he would’ve eventually killed me.”
    “Are there any more that you’d like to tell me about?”
    “After I killed my wife and kids, I tried to move on and start a new life. But the humming came back, and it demanded I do it again.”
    Russell couldn’t believe the way this guy was spilling everything so nonchalant, so matter-of-fact. It was like sitting down talking about the weather, but this wasn’t the weather, it was murder. He said.
    “That’s quite a lot to keep in all these years. What else?”
    “My former boss’s son was next, and then an old girlfriend of mine.”
    “What happened with your boss’s son?”
    “Let’s just say I got tired of the way they gave me all the crap jobs and gave Junior all the good ones. I spent countless hours working my butt off for that insurance company and in walks the boss’s son, and takes everything away from me. Junior received the best sales leads while I got the scraps. I wasn’t able to make quota for my last six months there, until I got rid of the competition. I remember that night just like it was last week. I asked Junior if he wanted to grab a drink down at the bar one Saturday night, and when he accepted, I made sure he didn’t come back to work, ever.”
    The perpetrator stopped at that point, and Russell wondered if he’d continue. He appeared to be replaying the events in his head, and he didn’t want to interrupt.
    He finally said, “I could tell right away that Junior couldn’t handle his liquor, so I made sure he got plenty of doubles, while I slowly nursed mine. He drank more than his fair share of whiskey that night, and I ended up carrying him to his car. I drove him to the top of Lookout Branch, and then I pulled his liquored up body over to the driver’s seat. Satisfied that I hadn’t left any prints inside the car, I put the gear in neutral, and watched it roll over the cliff into the gulley below.” The man’s tone grew very serious at that point and
    he said, “I’ve seen plenty of movies where vehicles immediately catch fire upon impact, but I can assure you that wasn’t the case here. That car flipped numerous times until it hit the bottom of that gulley where it just sat on its side, wheels spinning like a potter creating his latest masterpiece. Just as I turned to leave, the gas tank must’ve ignited, because the thing blew up in a great ball of fire.”
    “You mentioned an old girlfriend also. What happened with her?”
    “I caught her sleeping with another man. We’d only been dating for about three months, but I couldn’t let her get away with that kind of betrayal. She had to die. Her sins begged it. Besides, her death silenced the humming inside my head.”
    “So what did you do to her?” asked Russell, completely dismissing the humming that the nut job kept referring to.
    “I found them