Free The Dark Place by Sam Millar Page B

Polaroid pictures hid inside an old rotting tree at the back of his house. Very shocking and extremely graphic. Dildos, spanking devices … things of that nature, all of the same woman.”
    “Well, at least he liked women, as well,” quipped Karl, trying to look on the bright side of things.
    “The pictures were all of his mother.”
    Naomi paled. Karl reddened.
    “Then one Saturday, we were all gathered for the annual hunt. It was horrible. All these adults roaming about like mercenaries in their camouflage clothing, shooting and slaughtering tiny defenceless birds. Absolutely disgusting people. My job was to go and chase out the grounded birds along with the dogs, when suddenly I looked back at Bobby, just in time to see him point his shotgun directly at his mother’s head and pull the trigger.”
    “
Dear God!
” whispered Naomi, placing her hand to her mouth.
    “Was she killed?” asked Karl, ignoring Naomi’s histrionics.
    “Yes.” Ivana shuddered.
    “What happened afterwards, to Bobby?” enquired Karl. “Was he arrested for her murder?”
    Shaking her head, Ivana answered, “No. He claimed it was a tragic accident. No one saw it happen – except me, of course. Besides, whowould have believed me? His word against mine? I told my father what I had witnessed, and he belted me across the mouth, telling me if I
ever
dared to repeat that disgusting lie again, he would give me the beating of my sorry life. Shortly after that, Bobby was sent away to some posh school to learn medicine.”
    “And that was the last you heard of him?” asked Karl, not too sure where the connection was being made.
    Ivana looked at Naomi and then back to Karl before answering. “Remember about three years ago, when I was attacked and stabbed in the arm and shoulder, late at night outside Billy Holiday’s?”
    Both Karl and Naomi nodded. Karl remembered it well. Both he and Naomi had rushed to the hospital, fearing the worst.
    “You got a busload of stitches,” nodded Karl. “I had to take you home in my car. Do you know how long it took me to get the blood off the seats?”
    “He’s only winding you up, Ivana. Just ignore him,” said Naomi, giving Karl a withering look.
    “It was some right-wing, anti-gay nutcase,” stated Karl. “Isn’t that right?”
    “That’s what the media and the cops said,” replied Ivana.
    “What
should
they have said?” enquired Karl.
    “At first, I didn’t recognise the man who attacked me. He kept talking ever so calmly in the most chilling voice I had ever heard. ‘As far as I’m concerned you are dead to me, you filthy traitor and cunt of a whore.’” Ivana shuddered before continuing. “It was only afterwards that I remembered his eyes. They were the same eyes I saw on Bobby Hannah when he shot his mother. I
think
it could have been him, even though my attacker was tall and extremely masculine – a far cry from the Bobby of my childhood.”
    “You
think?
You’re not having selective amnesia, are you?” said Karl.
    “Don’t you dare start accusing me, Karl Kane! I told you from the moment I walked in here that I wasn’t one hundred per cent. But when I read in the newspapers about the young girl found cut open, almost surgically, I kept seeing Bobby’s face. And it wasn’t a knife that was used to stab me, but a scalpel.”
    There was a moment of silence in the office before Karl asked, “You think he’s used his surgical skills to kill these young girls?”
    Ivana let out a sigh. Her shoulders appeared to shrink. She seemed on the brink of tears. “It’s possible … I don’t know …”
    “I was going to ask why didn’t you go to the cops, but I suppose I could answer that for you, remembering how they treated you, as if you were the perpetrator instead of the victim, the time you were stabbed.”
    “I’m so sorry I didn’t come here earlier,” said Ivana, her voice a whisper. “You probably both hate me because I didn’t come with this sooner. I … I