To Clean For Murder-Chapters 4-6
Jason Huber

 

Chapter 4

The reports took Mark longer to write than he had thought they would and by the time he finished he was too tired to think about going to the mine. He barely had enough energy to get to his car.
The drive home was longer than he had remember and when he walked into his apartment he didn’t even make it to his room before he fell asleep. He collapsed on the couch completely clothed.
When he woke, the room looked like a prison cell. The light that crept through the blinds on the window laid bars of light along the walls. It reminded him to much of work. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to try and clear the thought out of his head. He wanted to relax for a few minutes without work being the one thing he thought about.
Once again he stepped into the shower and was greeted by cold water. It was another quick shower and he dressed in the same clothes that he had worn the day before. Before heading out the door he grabbed a small left over burrito from his fridge and ate it cold on the way to his car.
He walked along the sidewalk for a block and turned into the two story parking complex. Lucky for him, his parking spot was on the ground lever and near the exit. He opened the door to his white 1986 Pontiac Bonneville. It was an old car and need work. It rarely started on the first try and when it was started Mark was lucky to keep it started for long. It was a morning routine to fight with the car to keep it going but Mark usually won the fight.
Mark pulled out of the parking complex and instead of taking the usual right to head to the station; he took a left and drove through a small neighborhood before leaving into the hills.
The hills where a main reason people lived in Belton. They had their own personality and made a person feel free. Mark didn’t get the feeling that some people seemed to get, but he did enjoy the view of trees, rivers, and small canyons. It relaxed him rather than making him want to pack up and take on the wild. What the hills did for some people rather than relax or hype was hide secrets. They could hide small secrets such as a cave or a small stream, but they could also hide big secrets. The one secret that Mark was interested in was the lab that was being hid beneath the ground. He had to find what they were doing down there and why John had acted weird when he was telling him what they did in the lab. Rather than dwelling on what he might find, he decided to enjoy what little personal time he had.
When he pulled up to the old mine it still looked deserted. There were no cars or people, just a locked gate. He opened the gate himself and drove in and headed towards what looked like the main building. He parked right in front of the building and walked to the door. There were no signs of life inside the building and Mark thought it might be a better idea to knock first. He knocked but there was no answer so he walked into the building. There was nobody there.
“Hello! Is anyone here?” Mark called out.
No answer came back, so Mark went through the only door in the room other than the front door. When he walked through, it looked as if he walked into another world. There was a large metal door on the floor, tables along every wall, filled with computers, radios, papers, and other scientific looking material. But yet there were no people. Mark walked along the tables looking at the papers and the computer screens filled with number and formulas that he didn’t have a clue how to decipher. Mark followed the tables all the way back to the door where he came in at, and switched his attention to the metal door on the floor. Why is there a door on the floor he thought to himself?
He walked to the door and tried to open it. He could move it but it was too heavy to open by himself. He would have to call for back up. He walked back to his car and got on the radio.
“Dispatch I need backup at the old mine. Send detective Tom Shivers.”
“Copy that. Detective Shivers will be there in about twenty minutes.”
It was enough time for Mark to poke around the area. Look in some of the other buildings and see what he can find. Maybe he would find someone that could tell him what goes on here.

Chapter 5

Tom Shivers was delicate looking man, but his looks were deceiving. He was strong man that was often underestimated. He had jet black hair that was cut close to his head giving him a military look. His blue brown eyes could drill a hole in any suspect. He was a skinny but muscular man and compared Marks height of six-foot-one, Tom was about five-foot-six and one hundred and forty pounds. Tom didn’t like to be late and when his new blue Ford F-150 pulled through the gate of the mine early, Mark wasn’t surprised.
When Tom stepped out of his truck, he was dressed in much better and more expensive clothes than mark. But surprisingly it looked the same, just brand name. He walked with a sort of swagger to him that said back off.
“Hey Mark. What we got here?” Tom greeted
He had a sort of Texan accent, which at times was hard to understand.
“Well, I got a door in this building behind me that is on the ground. I can’t really figure out why a door would be there, but it seems to have something under it. I just can’t lift it by myself.”
“I always knew that you were kind of a pussy.”
Tom laughed and followed Mark into the building. They took the same path that Mark took before and went back to the door.
“This door right here? I can tell you where that door goes, I used to work in a place like this when I was a younger lad. It goes down to the mine itself, but it looks like this door is a little heavy duty for just that reason.” Tom said as he looked at the door.
“I guess I never looked at it like that. Well let’s get this damn thing open.”
The door gave both of them a fight to open. Once it was open they were left staring into high tech computer room.
“Holy shit we have just opened the door to the fucking twilight zone” Tom said.
“Yea no shit. They must have completely covered up the mine.”
There was a ladder that Mark went down and Tom followed behind him. When they were in the room they were surrounded by more computers but these ones looked as if they were hooked up to cameras throughout the labs.
“Well look at this Mark. I think we landed ourselves in the security room.”
Mark and Tom went the closest computer screen and watched. The screen was over looking, what looked like a testing area.
“I wonder what goes on in that room?” Mark asked.
“We could go look around and see where everyone is.”
“Ok, but make sure that we stay within hearing distance. It looks like we could get lost pretty easy down here.”
They walked out of the room and followed a hallway that had glass windows on both sides. Each window had a view into a different room and a different mystery.
“You know Tom, you would think that there would be some people down here but I don’t see a single person or even a hint that someone was here.”
“Yea I noticed the same thing.”
They kept walking until the hallway ended and there was only one door to take. They walked through the door and into a locker room. There in the corner was the first person that they had seen since they entered the labs.
“Shit Mark there is a man over here” Tom said as he saw the body.
They ran over to the body and knelt down to him. Mark grabbed his should and shook the man.
“Sir? Sir are you ok?”
As Mark shook the man, Tom kept looking around for anything that could help them figure out what was going on down there. He walked into the shower area and found nothing out of the ordinary. In the background he could hear Mark panic and heard a sound like a body falling to the ground. Tom ran back into the room and saw what Mark had seen. The man’s face was almost completely gone leaving only a small part of the eye and hair line.
“Shit Tome this looks like the vic that was at the crime scene I am working on right now.”
Tom knelt down by Mark to examine the body. It was the first time the tom had seen anything like this and had to step back so he didn’t lose his lunch. On the other hand Mark had seen this before. He noticed that whatever was eating away their skin, it had gotten more on this person than it had on Rachel Luts. Everything was the same except for the amount of skin gone.
“We need to find if there are any survivors who can tell us what is being tested down here. John, the wife of the vic from earlier, said he worked here and that they were testing cures for major diseases. I don’t think he was being totally truthful with me earlier. So, let’s get a quick look around then head out to call a team to come check this place out and I will go find John.”
They spent another hour looking in all of the various rooms and didn’t find anyone else. They backtracked until they got outside to their cars.
“Ok Tom you call in a specials team and have them look at this place. I am going to go try and find John and see if he can tell us what the hell is going on down here.”
Tom gave Mark a nod, got in his truck, and drove away. He still looked like he was going to lose it. Mark got in his car and headed back down through the hills. He took out his cell phone and dialed the station.
“Benton police station. What is your emergency?”
“This is Detective Mark Bents and I need all police officers looking for a suspect by the name of John Luts.”
He gave the dispatch the description and hung up. Where are ya John he thought to himself. If I was you and I knew about something like this where would I hide? Mark came out of the hills and drove into the middle of town. He stopped at the library hoping that someone there would know where they lived.
He walked up to the round plump lady behind the checkout station. She had rosy red hair and a face just as plump as her body.
“Hi, my name is detective Mark Bents and I need to know where Rachel Luts lives.”
‘Oh Rachel, I heard she passed yesterday. Her husband came in here all tore up. Said something about taking a vacation or something like that.”
She typed in her computer and waited while it hummed and clicked, searching through the employee records.
“Ah, here we go. She lives on 111 Ballpark Road. That’s right by the new school the city is building.”
“Thanks, and when did John say he was leaving for vacation?”
“Well he didn’t say when, but he looked like he wanted to get out of town fast. He was in here about a half-hour ago.”
Mark ran out to his car and put the siren on the roof of it so he could get through town quicker. Well John it looks like you are hiding something after all he said aloud to himself.

Chapter 6

Mark drove through town with his lights flashing on top of his car. It was just about three o’ clock and the school where getting out. He weaved through traffic to Ballpark road and raced up the road. He took the first right past an old folks home and then took another right. He drove down until the middle of the street and stopped at the largest house on the street. It was a black and white house that was neatly kept. The yard was not at all big and didn’t take Mark long to reach the front door.
“This is detective Mark, John open the damn door.” He yelled as he beat on the door.
There was no answer from inside and Mark contemplated breaking down the door. He knew it was against procedure and that he could possibly lose everything he had on this case by doing it. Under the circumstances he didn’t care. He wanted to know what was going on down in the labs.
Mark took a step back and ran through the door. He fell into the living room and got to his feet. He looked around and noticed that it was completely empty and silent. He walked down a hallway that led into a kitchen with stairs in the corner that led upstairs. The kitchen looked like any families kitchen with dirty dishes in the sink and left over food on the counter. He walked to the stairs and looked upstairs.
“John? This is Detective Mark. Are you up there?”
Again he was met with silence. He walked up the stairs, taking it slow. He reached the top floor and noticed that there were five doors, all closed. He walked to the one that was directly in front of the stairs and slowly pushed it open. It was a bathroom that looked like it barely got used. He then walked to the door that was to the right of the bathroom and slowly pushed it open. In the room was an office of some sort. There was a cheap desk that looked like it came from a second hand store and two cheap Walmart book cases. They were filled with books that looked as if they came from the lab. There was a small TV in the corner opposite the desk and was turned on. That was a relief to Mark because it was the first sign of life since he had entered the house.
“John, are you here? I need to ask you a few more questions about the lab.”
Still nothing. Mark walked across the hall to the next door. He walked in and there laid John face down on the ground barely breathing.
“John. Are you ok? What the hell is wrong with you?” He asked as he knelt down to John.
John didn’t answer, he didn’t even move.
“John!”
Mark turned John over and found that his eyes were blank with death.
“John what is happening to you. Tell me damnit!”
“I… I couldn’t stop it” John said in between forced breaths.
“Stop what?”
Mark placed a hand on John chest and noticed that his hand sank with no pressure. He opened John’s shirt and found that his chest had basically been eaten away. It was the same way the skin had been eaten away from the other two people.
“What the hell? John, you need to fucking tell me what is going on here and how to stop it.”
But it was too late. Mark had killed John when he crushed his chest.
“Shit, shit, shit! My only lead and I killed him. Fuck!” Mark said aloud to himself.
Mark sat back against the wall and called the station on his cell phone. He knew that the three people had died from the same thing, but he didn’t know what the thing was. He hated not knowing what killed someone because he was a man of fact and the only thing fact here was that three people were dead and he didn’t know how or why.
The police arrive not long after Mark called the station and soon the house was busy with uniformed people. One of the good things that came along with the uniforms and dead people was that Lauren usually came along and this was no exception. Mark walked down to the main floor and went outside. Lauren was just pulling up in a police cruiser. She was let out of the backseat by one of the officers standing guard.
The sunlight bounced off of her blonde hair and her face looked refreshed and sharp. She mad Mark feel warm inside, something that rarely ever happened inside him and it scared the hell out of him. He didn’t want to be attracted to Lauren or anyone as a matter of fact. She walked up to him, giving him the butterflies when she talked to him.
“So you found two more with the same wounds?”
“Yes. John here was our only lead and I killed him. He was probably going to die soon anyways but he could have told me something. Anything that could have given us a clue about this disease or whatever it is.”
“I am sure it wasn’t your fault. But I have to get upstairs and look at the body. I will let you know what I find.”
Mark watched her walk into the house and out of sight. She was a curios woman who likes to know everything about the dead and that is why he liked working with her so much. He knew she would find out what was killing these people faster than anyone he knew.
Back in his car he drove back to the station. He didn’t have anything now. He killed his only lead, a man that worked in the lab that, from what Mark knew, was making this thing killing people. The only thing he could do was wait and see what the team at the lab found and what Lauren brought back from the house.

 

 

Copyright © 2008 Jason Huber
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"