Succulent Prey

Detective Montgomery had called ahead to his partner to meet the Hayward police at the home of Lionel Miles. He then called the Hayward police chief and gave him a rundown on the situation.

‘If he’s heading home I doubt it’s to reminisce over old times. He’s got a major bloodlust going and if we don’t get there fast you’re going to have a body to clean up-and believe me, Joseph is quite a messy eater.’

The detective set his phone in the charger and waited for the chief to call him back with what would hopefully be some good news for once─like, that they’d captured Joseph Miles. He stared out his windshield, barely aware of the traffic, barely even seeing the road, thinking only about the big, maneating college kid as he raced down the highway back toward California. He’d been on the road for over an hour when he finally got the call.

‘We missed him. He must have gotten there just a few hours before us.’

‘So what happened? Did he kill his father?’

‘He did more than kill him. Much more.’ The previously robust voice of the Hayward police chief faded to a faint whisper. Montgomery recognized the symptom. The man was going into shock. Whatever he’d found at the home of Lionel Miles must have been more horrible than the detective had been able to prepare him for. Montgomery stomped down on the accelerator as the chief filled him in on all the ghastly details. Six and a half hours later, he pulled up outside the home of the late Lionel Ray Miles.

If Montgomery hadn’t prepared the police chief for what he might find at the home of Lionel Ray Miles, he had prepared himself even less.

‘Jesus Christ!’

Lionel Ray lay on the hood of his prized 1969 Lincoln Continental with his chest torn open and his heart ripped out. The gaping chest cavity had been filled with garlic and a rosary lay atop the piles of fresh cloves. A wooden stake, driven through the spot where his heart should have been, pinned him to the hood of the car. His head had been removed and lay on the floor at his feet, stuffed with cloves of garlic. The body was smoldering from where his murderer had tried to set him on fire. The Hayward police had arrived just in time to douse the fire before it did much damage. The entire street smelled like roasted garlic and barbecued pork. The most disturbing thing was how delicious the aroma was. It made the detective even more aware of the fact that he hadn’t eaten in almost twenty-four hours.

Montgomery knew that the arson had not been an attempt to destroy evidence but rather a way to ensure that this demon would never rise again. He walked over and looked down at the sizzling corpse.

‘You poor bastard. What did you do to deserve this?’

‘Detective!’ A young officer, who looked like he was fresh out of high school, ran into the garage with his eyes wide. He was sucking in breath in big gulps like a guppy in an empty tank.

Montgomery turned around quickly, recognizing the excitement in the young rookie’s voice. He knew that excitement. It meant they had found something unexpected.

‘What is it?’

‘We found more bodies. Lots of them! In the basement. ‘

‘What? Show me.’

The young officer led the detective quickly out of the garage, around the back of the house, and into the basement. There a big German shepherd from one of the K-9 units was busily digging up the dirt floor. Two other officers were down there beside him with brooms and shovels, uncovering a skeleton. There were already two others partially exposed. ‘How many are there?’

‘I don’t know. They’re piled on top of each other. Some of them are pretty old.’

‘They-they’re children!’ Montgomery started to get woozy.

‘How old did you say the suspect was?’ one of the officers asked. ‘Because these bodies look pretty old. Look at the clothes. I haven’t seen shoes like those since the eighties.’

Montgomery stared down at one exposed leg wearing an old pair of British Knights. He had owned a pair of sneakers just like them years ago back in 1992. That would have made Joseph around ten years old. These weren’t Joseph Miles’s victims. They were Lionel Ray’s. That’s why Joseph had come back here, to destroy the real source of the curse.

His own father.

It took them several days to unearth all the bodies. When they were done the count stood at twenty-five, ranging in age from six to sixteen. The oldest corpse was at least a decade old. They had all been cut to pieces. A slash across the throat was the killing blow. None of them bore any of the marks of cannibalism, confirming the detective’s theory that the senior Miles had been the culprit rather than his son. It looked as if Joe had done the world a service by taking out his father. But where was he now?