To Tell a Tale (Season One)

“Do we know where we’re going?” Smitty asked as he watched the scenery go by them.

“South,” Nash replied.

Smitty snorted. “I got that part.”

“Like Mr. Williams said, South of Airianna. So, we just continue south until we see something that’s in her paintings.”

“What is Granny Williams like?” Smitty asked, looking at Nash.

Nash chuckled. “A tough old broad that wouldn’t like you calling her granny.”

Smitty chuckled. “I have a feeling she wouldn’t like you calling her a broad, either.”

Nash laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Nash’s phone rang. “Hey, Seri,” he called out to his phone. The ding sounded, showing she was listening. “Answer the call and put it on speaker.”

“Answering call on speaker.”

“Nash,” Doctor Sterlington said once she was on speaker.

“Whatcha got, Doc?” Nash asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

“The DNA from the needle and brushes are a match. The woman from the apartment was kidnapped on her way home, just as your seer said.”

Nash sighed. He knew Airianna was right, but by law, they had to prove it.

“Thanks.”

“Are you on your way to the destination?”

“Yeah, we figured out more of the clues and are searching for the land as we speak.”

“Good. Oh, one other thing, the girl is pregnant, so be quick about it.” Doctor Sterlington said, then hung up.

“Fuck,” Smitty grumbled.

Nash took in a deep breath. Now there are two people they need to save, the girl from the painting and her unborn child.

They drove in silence for another ten minutes when Smitty shouted and pointed out his window. Startled, Nash swerved for a moment and corrected his steering. He looked out the passenger window and saw the building from the paintings the Williams seers have painted throughout the years.

“We found it,” Smitty whispered.

Nash slowed and pulled off to the side of the road.

“We walk from here,” he told his partner as he turned off the motor.

Smitty nodded and stepped out of the cruiser.

Nash picked up his phone and called his captain. He gave directions and hung up. He stepped out of the cruiser and joined his partner in the field that led to the building from Airianna’s paintings.

“Here we go,” Smitty whispered.

Nash nodded, and they headed through the field, making sure to stay hidden so the killer didn’t see them and kill the girl before they could save her.

As quiet as mice, the two detectives made it through the field and around the building to a place they knew as if they’d lived there for years. Studying a painting for days marked the sight in your mind for good. The sight before them was as if they had stepped into the painting. The young woman was on the ground, her hands shielding her face, while a man stood above her, a gun pointed at her.

“Please,” they heard the woman beg. “Please, let me go. My baby doesn’t deserve to die like this. Please, my baby….”

“Shut up,” the killer ordered with annoyance in his voice.

“Please,” the woman begged.

“All sluts claim to be pregnant to persuade me to not take their life. But in the end, you’re all lying whores!”

The girl whimpered when the man kicked her thigh.

“That’s it,” Smitty grumbled as he moved to attack the bastard.

Nash took hold of his partner’s arm to stop him. “Wait for backup.”

“Back up?” Smitty looked at Nash. “By the time they get here, she will be dead.”

Nash looked from his partner to the man standing over the girl and grumbled. Smitty was right. If they wait, the girl will die.

“Let’s go,” Nash said with a nod.

Smitty grinned, and the two detectives moved out of their hiding place.

“Freeze,” Smitty growled.

The killer turned to them; his gun still pointed at the woman on the ground.

“How the fuck did you find me?” the killer asked.

Nash and Smitty grinned. They weren’t giving up their seer, not to this piece of trash.

The girl on the ground moved her hands down and stared at the two men with guns. Has she finally been rescued? After three days of being this beast’s prisoner, she didn’t think she would ever see her freedom. And here are two very handsome men here to rescue her.

Well, she hoped that’s why they were here.

“Who the fuck are you?” the killer demanded.

“Police, now step away from the girl,” Smitty growled, pointing his gun at the man’s chest.

Nash aimed his gun at the man’s head, just in case he needed to put him down permanently.

“You have no right to be here. This is private property,” the idiot argued.

Nash snarled. “You lost that privilege when you abducted her and brought her here to kill her,” he said, nodding to the girl still on the ground.

“This is my property; I can do with it whatever I choose. So, you can just leave….”

“Are you serious here? You think you can kill whoever you want because you’re on your own property?” Smitty stared at the dipshit—stunned.

“Daddy always says—what goes on, on your land is your own business.”

Nash looked at his partner and then back at the bastard before them. They need to check into who this property belongs to. Because there may be more to this story than what Airianna and her grandmother have seen.

“Put your gun down and your hands above your head,” Smitty snarled.

“This is my property!” the man bellowed. “I don’t have to do shit you say!”

“Put the gun down now!” Nash ordered, steadying his gun on the man.

“There ain’t nothing you can do to stop me on my own property!” the man cried out, aiming the gun at the girl’s head. “All whores deserve to die!”

The girl covered her face again and cried out.

Nash and Smitty saw the man’s finger start to pull the trigger and fired at the same time.

The girl screamed as two shots were fired in the quiet. When she heard a thud and felt no pain, she moved her hands from her face and looked up at the two men holding smoldering guns. She looked to the ground and quickly got to her knees. Her abductor was on the ground, a hole in his chest and one between the eyes. She whimpered and scurried away from the body.

“It’s all right.” Nash looked at the girl trying to get away from the fallen man.

“Well, I guess we won’t be asking him questions,” Smitty grumbled.

“Who… who are you guys?” the girl asked, staring at them with wide eyes.

Smitty smiled at her as he moved slowly toward her, trying not to frighten her.

“I’m Detective Smitt; that’s my partner, Detective Jackman,” he said, pointing behind him at Nash.

“Detectives,” she breathed with relief.

Smitty stopped at the girl and helped her to her feet. “Are you harmed?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“What did he do with you for three days?” Nash asked, watching Smitty help the girl around the body of her abductor and would-be killer.

“He shoved me in a cage in that building.” She pointed to the old building behind them. “He told me to repent and ask God for forgiveness for giving myself without his permission.”

“Oh, dear Lord, one of those,” Smitty grumbled.

“He called me a whore and told me if I didn’t ask God for forgiveness, he’d kill me in three days. I… I did what he asked, but he didn’t believe me. But I guess that’s because I wasn’t honest. I know God wasn’t angry with me; he gifted me with a child.” She placed her hand over her stomach. “Jimmy is the love of my life. He’s the only man I have ever slept with, and he’s the only man I will ever sleep with. He’s my fiancé, and I love him.”

She looked down at her stomach, a tear sliding down her cheek. “And our child.”

“It’s over now.” Smitty placed his arm over her shoulders and led her away from the scene behind them.

Nash looked at the man on the ground. He moved closer and squinted his eyes. This man looked no older than twenty-two/twenty-three. There is no way he killed the others… unless he was twelve when he started killing.

That meant only one thing.

Nash looked at the woods that surrounded the area and cursed. This man isn’t the only killer. - “What goes on, on your own land is your own business.”-

‘So said his daddy,’ Nash thought, looking back at the dead man.

“Are you coming, Nash?” Smitty called from the field where he and the girl were heading toward the road where the cruiser sat.

Nash looked at his partner. “I don’t think this case is closed….” He looked back at the man on the ground. “Yet.”

~🔮~

That evening, they stopped at the Williams’ house to tell Airianna and her father of their success and that it wasn’t over. Airianna was thrilled they had been on time to save Ally and her unborn child. When they told her about the girl being reunited with her fiancé, Jimmy, she was happy to know the girl wasn’t alone. The Williams invited the detectives to dinner, and Nash stayed until midnight—talking and holding Airianna.

When the father was informed of his son’s death, he attacked the police station with threats of a lawsuit.

It didn’t take long to get a warrant to search the property, especially with the victim’s testimony. No one spoke of Airianna or her grandmother’s paintings—the witness’s testimony was more than enough for the judge to sign the warrant.

When they arrived at the father’s house, the father yelled at them that it was no one’s business what they did on their own property, that they had no right to kill his son and no right to search his land.

They found two women alive in the building and blood trails from where the bodies were shot and dragged off. The father was arrested, along with his other two sons.

Airianna didn’t need to be summoned to court with three witnesses and the blood trails. Not to mention the stupidity of the man and his sons shouting that they can kill whoever or whatever they want on their land, that the law has no right to interfere.

Nash and Smitty discover that it hadn’t started with the old man. This went back several generations of the men in the family kidnapping and killing women who weren’t pure—according to them. Especially blond women…

Even one of the boy’s wives was murdered by his brother when they found out she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night. They found the girl’s body buried beneath a tree in the backyard.

~🔮~

“To think they got away with this for so many years,” Smitty grumbled as he signed another piece of paper attached to their newest solved mystery.

“To think they would have continued to get away with it if it weren’t for Airianna and her dreams.” Nash looked up from his papers to smile at his partner.

Smitty nodded. “So true. So, what do you think is next? Another serial killer? Or how about bank robbers who leave no trace but the horrible dreams of their victims in their wake….”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Nash asked his partner, staring at the man as if he’d gone insane.

Smitty shrugged. “I like the high we get when solving an unsolved case.”

Nash shook his head. “I’m not putting any pressure on Airianna; she has been through enough already.”

Smitty nodded. “True. But I can still dream, can’t I?”

Nash shook his head while Smitty laughed at his own dumb joke.

Someone cleared their throat, and Nash looked up into the most beautiful grey eyes. He smiled and moved to stand from his seat.

“Not here for kisses,” Airianna said, holding her hand up to stop him.

Nash eyed her for a moment, then looked at the paper in her hand. Did she have another unsolved case for them already?

“I drew this the other day. I didn’t want to dampen your mood after solving a case like the Twisted Twisters.”

Nash chuckled. She’d named the case that once she discovered their last name. The last name, Twisters, should have given them away ages ago. Then again, you can’t go by a person’s last name, or people would think he’s an Australian Movie Star/Sex Object.

“What is it?” Nash asked, eyeing the paper closely as she held it out to him.

“Please don’t be angry with me,” she whispered.

Nash’s eyebrows drew together at her words as he took the paper from her hand. He looked at the paper and the blood drained from his face as his heart plummeted to his feet. He looked up at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

“You drew this the other day?” he asked, trying his best to hold back any anger that may arise in his chest.

‘She didn’t do anything wrong,’ he kept telling himself.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Nash closed his eyes, then opened them again and looked at the drawing.

“Why?” he whispered.

Airianna looked uncomfortable at that moment. Nash didn’t feel the need to soothe her, not with a picture of his mother she’d drawn just days ago clenched in his hand.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It just came to me, and I immediately knew who it was. You have her eyes.”

Nash closed his eyes. Why was fate doing this to him? Unless… He opened his eyes and studied her face. Maybe they will finally solve his mother’s death with the help of a Williams seer.

He pulled her into his arms and held her. She cried against his chest. He could tell she was happy he wasn’t angry with her. How could he be angry with her?

She may be the clue to finally putting his mother’s murder to rest.