CHAPTER THIRTEEN

COME UP INS

Phil felt the tingle of arousal in his groin when he entered the reception area of the Cunningham County Coroner's Office and saw the receptionist, Guadalupe Sanchez, dressed in a tight fitting black dress and black feathered boa, lounging behind her desk reading a magazine. This was nothing unusual for him except that this time mixed with his desire was hatred.

How many times had he made his feelings for her clear just to have her laugh in his face and brush him off, like so much dirt.

“Hey Lupe.” Phil said as he approached the desk. “Is Doctor Bob in the back?”

“What you think?” She said, with pouty fire engine red lips, barely glancing up from her magazine. “The doc's been working his ass off on those autopsies of the jocks and cheerleaders because someone wasn't here to help.”

“I was at home sick.” Phil said.

Guadalupe looked up at him with stone eyes. “I called your place six times yesterday.”

“Sorry. Whatever hit me really knocked me for a loop. I had to crawl to the bathroom to puke.”

“I feel sorry for you.” She said, though it was obvious that the opposite was true. “You still should've called. Then the doctor could've gotten some backup while you got over whatever was hanging over you.” Then she went back to her magazine.

So that was it. He thought. So this bitch actually thought he was getting over a drunken stupor, which was amusing since he never drank liquor. How little she really thinks of me. He thought.

Well, soon both she and this town will know your true value. The voice said.

“Oh yes they will.” He said, under his breath.

“What?” She said, glancing up from her magazine again, annoyed.

“Oh, nothing.” Phil said. “Just talking to myself.”

“Uh ha.” She said absently, “Well, everyone needs to have somebody in their life.”

“Well, as much as this has been the pleasure of my day,” He said, sarcastically, “I have to leave you now. I need to see Doctor Bob.”

“Whatever.” She said, this time without looking up at him again.

Heading down the hall to the examination room, Phil cursed under his breath. “Fucking bitch!”

I see the lady has hit a cord with you. The voice said, amused. What was it? Did that lovely rose back there catch you with her thorns and draw blood? Or was it that she didn't feel you were man enough for her?

“That's none of your fucking business.” Phil said, insensed.

Oh, yes, I sense the fire burning in you. I sense the anger that can only come from one who has been spurned. The voice told him.

“I said shut up about that.” Phil said, his anger increasing.

Wouldn't it be a pleasure to show that bitch who's boss.

“Oh, I will when the time comes.” Phil said, with an unpleasant smile.

“What are you babbling about back there?” he heard Guadalupe yell from the reception desk.

“Oh nothing important.” He said, trying to sound pleasant.

“I don't doubt it.” She said dismissively.

Heading through the swinging doors of the examination room he saw Doctor Bob standing in the corner bent over a burned looking naked male, which was laid out on a gurney. “.......Though the subject is partially burned I've determined that this wasn't the cause of death. The cause of death was from blood loss due to nearly a thousand rodent-like bites covering the body.” Doctor Bob said into the micro tape recorder he held in his right hand.

As Phil approached DoctorBob must have heard him because he turned off the recorder and put it on the edge of the gurney. Then the doctor turned toward him. “Ah, finally making an appearance I see.” Doctor Bob said, though his tone was less than casual.

“I'm sorry about that, Doc.” Phil said, trying to sound sincere. “Guess I caught something. I was totally out of it all day yesterday.”

“Really.” Bob said. “And what about today? You should've called.”

“Well, what can I say.” Phil said, picking up a long, thick, needle-like probe from a nearby instrument table as he passed. “I guess it totally crossed my mind.”

Then, before the Doctor Bob knew what was happening, Phil rammed the probe into the his gut.A look of shock mixed with disbelief and pain crossed Doctor Bob's face as he spasmed and jerked the probe free from Phil's grip.Doctor Bob stumbled backwards and bumped into the gurney, sending it and it's contents careening into the wall.

What in the name of Hell are you doing! The voice screamed in his head.

Doctor Bob fell to his knees, a look of terror on his face. “Why?” He asked, his voice a pained croak.

“Let's just say I got tired of living in your shadow.” Phil told him before he pulled the probe out of Doctor Bob's gut, sending a stream of dark blood spilling on the floor.Doctor Bob spasmed one final time and fell to the floor in the puddle of his own blood.

Have you totally gone off your nut? The voice asked in disbelief. We needed that man.

“No. I needed that man to be just the way he is now, dead.” Phil said, with satisfaction.

But the plan....The voice said, now sounding thoroughly confused.

“The plan is going just the way it's supposed to. This way we don't have to go to the trouble to convince Doctor Bob to write out the paperwork to get Steven into the evidence room.”

But who's gonna sign the order?

“You forget who gets stuck with all the paperwork around here and who, on occasion, has had to forge the signature of a certain lazy assed coroner.” Phil reminded the voice, with pride.

And what are we supposed to do about the sheriff's signature?

“We have files cabinets full of documents with the sheriff's signature on them.” Phil said. “All it'll take is maybe an hour and a couple pieces of paper and problem solved.”

That still leaves us the problem of when we get to the sheriff's office and present the request. The voice said.

“And why do you think that is a problem?” He asked, feigning ignorance.

I'm thinking about the sheriff. The voice said, now intrigued.

“Oh, I'm sure the sheriff will be too busy to notice.” Phil said, with an amused smile.

And what shall we do with your receptionist friend?

Phil didn't answer, but his smile widened and he felt that tingle in his groin again.

“Hey Lupe.” Phil said, fifteen minutes later when he came into the reception hall dressed in a blood splattered surgical gown. “Doctor Bob needs you in the back for a moment.”

Guadalupe looked up at him with a mix of surprise and annoyance. “You must be fucking kidding me.”

“The Doc was very insistent.” Phil said, feigning annoyance.

“I'm not going back there.” she said. “I've never had to go back there.”

“Well, now you do.” Phil insisted. “And I'd get my butt back there if you want to keep this cushy job.”

Reluctantly, Guadalupe got up out from behind her desk and slowly started down the hall with Phil following right behind her.

“I'm gonna want a raise if I'm going to be expected to do anything like this again.” She told him.

“Oh don't worry I'm sure you'll get what you deserve.” Phil said, amused.

Heading inside the examination room Guadalupe looked around the empty room and turned to Phil. “What the fuck's going on here?” she said, glaring at him. “Where the hell's Doctor Bob?”

“He was here just a moment ago.” He said, sounding convincingly surprised. “Actually, he was right over here when I last saw him.” He maneuvered her in front of one of the three examination tables. This one had a sheet covering it's occupant.

“Can I leave now?” Guadalupe asked, clearly insensed by her surroundings.

“But I thought we were looking for the Doc.” he said, heading over to the table and tapping on it's metal frame a couple times.

“I want out of here.” She said, as she started backing up. “You're freaking me out.”

“Oh, I'm sorry.” He said, amused. “Am I really freaking you out?”

“Where the fuck is Doctor Bob?” Guadalupe demanded, now frantic.

“Doctor Bob?” Phil said, tapping the table one last time. “Oh, I remember now. He's right here.” Then he pulled the sheet off the corpse on the table. It was Doctor Bob. Phil had cut him open from his collar bone to his groin. Then he'd removed Doctor Bob's stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys and placed them on the table next to the body.

Guadalupe let out a terrified scream and started to run for the door. But before she could make it to the door Phil was on her. He grabbed the ends of her feathered boa, which she had wrapped around her neck, and pulled hard, jerking her back. Then, before she could do anything to stop him, he looped the boa around her neck again and pulled it tight.

Gagging, Guadalupe started jerking around and clawing at the boa, which was now cutting off her wind pipe.Then she started pounding him in the ribs with her elbows and stomping on his feet, but none of this had an affect on him. He was committed.

Yes...yes..that's the way to do it! The voice in his head said. I have to say, my boy, you are a natural.

In his mind Phil was reliving all the Saturday nights he'd spent at Smokey's Pub watching Guadolupe throw herself at the low life loggers from the Ampex Logging Company. It had always bothered him because she always treated those scummy, sweaty, uneducated, tree choppers like gold while treating him like dirt. With every memory that passed through his skull he pulled the boa tighter. And, as he tightened the boa he found himself becoming more and more sexually excited.

After a time he noticed that her pounding on him became steadily weaker and her gagging deteriorated into a faint gurgle. Then she went limp, and her head rolled to the side. At that moment his passion burst in his pants.

Phil released the boa and managed to catch her in his arms as she fell forward. Then, leaning her against him, he slipped his arm around her waist and used his free hand to turn her face toward him.

Her face was frozen in an expression of terror. Her mouth was opened with her tongue hanging halfway out of it.

With his free hand, Phil softened her expression and closed her eyes. Then, putting his lips to hers, he kissed her and pushed her tongue back into her mouth with his.

Forget what I said before. The voice said. You are more than worthy.

This brought a smile to his face. He looked at his victim again. “And now, Lupe, I can finally get to know you more intimately.”

Then he bent down, lifted her up fully into his arms, and headed for the empty examination table next to Doctor Bob.

Ryan sat in his reclining chair and watched as Micki and Rashid looked over Pamela Voorhees' diaries. They had been going over the diaries together for the last three hours, and Ryan actually felt like a third wheel. Except for refilling the tea pot with fresh boiling water and putting on a new pot of coffee.all he was able to do was watch. It was clear that over the years Micki and Rashid had established a routine for researching and he wasn't included.

Finally, Micki closed the last of the books and shook her head. “How tragic.” she said, looking over at Ryan.

“Yes, I concur, most unfortunate.” Rashid said.

“Would you two care to clue me in.” Ryan said sitting forward in his chair.

“It's just it's clear that after Jason killed Elias the trauma drove Pamela insane.” Micki told him. “In her last entries all she writes about is her grief over Jason's death, yet she mentions nothing about Elias' death. It almost seems like in her mind she'd gone back before she and Lewis resurrected Jason. And, it becomes blatantly clear that when her mind erased her past it also erased her memories of having another child. She mentions Diana as Elias's bitch child, and even goes so far as saying that she had to be the product of an affair Elias had. It seemed that no matter how strongly people insisted Pamela wouldn't accept the idea that Diana was actually hers. Then of course eventually Pamela gave Diana over to the state, because she felt she could never love another child as much as she loved Jason.”

“That explains a lot about her behavior during the murders at Camp Crystal Lake.” Ryan said. “But I still can't understand why the dagger didn't work on Jason when Pamela used it on him.”

“I believe I can offer you an explanation on that subject.” Rashid said. “Based upon my readings and upon my own knowledge of these things, I would say that the reason the dagger didn't work was because it was both Mrs Voorhees and Lewis that resurrected Jason thus for the dagger to work both parties would have to be there. In the case of you and Jessica you were both representative of the individual bloodlines, thus the requirements for the dagger to work were met.”

“But Lewis should've known this.” Ryan said.

“I'm sure he did.” Micki said. “I think he wanted Pamela to fail. I also think it was his plan for Jason to kill Pamela.”

“What makes you believe that, Micki?” Rashid asked.

Micki went on to tell Rashid and Ryan about the vision of the cave on Crystal Hill and Lewis' conversation with Creighton Duke. “... and Lewis said something about a plan he was having to advance and how they wouldn't be safe around Jason after it was executed. I later asked Creighton Duke about this and he showed me a vision of the incident where Jason killed Elias.”

“That does make sense.” Rashid said, after Micki finished. “It does sound like Lewis was trying to insight a murderous rage in Jason, a rage that would destroy the last vestiges of his humanity and turn him into a remorseless killing monster.”

“And the one thing that would definitely do that would be the trauma of having his own mother try to kill him.” Ryan added. “What a total bastard.”

“So Lewis was using his own sister as a pawn.” Micki said with disgust.

“You should have realized by now that Lewis never allowed anything, even family, to interfere with his ambitions.” Rashid told her.

“But there's still something else odd.” Ryan said. “After the incident in the woods there weren't any killings until the ones in 1979 and Jason didn't actually start his killing spree until a year later when he supposedly killed the counselor who killed his mother.”

“The reason for that is quite simple.” Rashid said. “Upon reading Mrs. Voorhees diaries I got the distinct impression that Jason wasn't very close to his father. From what I could gather Mr. Voorhees was still very much a Mennonite in his attitude toward his son, so their relationship was very formal. Thus, I believe that killing his father didn't have the same traumatic affect on Jason that killing his mother would have.”

“So I guess you're saying that when the counselor cut Pamela's head off it was what finally set him off.” Micki added.

“We can only assume.” Rashid said.

“But...” Ryan started to say, but was cut off when the phone started to ring.

Ryan quickly got up out of his recliner and picked up the phone, which was sitting on the side table next to the couch. “Hello?”

It was Phil Raman. “Hey Steven, got some good news. Doctor Bob talked to the sheriff and he gave us the ok to check out the stuff.”

“Great.” Ryan said.

“thing is you only got an hour and I've got to go with you. Which is fine with me, because I need to go over there anyway and check out something myself.”

“That'll be fine with us.”Ryan agreed.

“Great.” Phil said. “How many people can I expect?”

“There's gonna be three of us. My cousin brought in an expert in antiquities to look at the book.”

“Sounds interesting.” Phil said. “Let's meet, say, at around seven o'clock in front of the Sheriff's Office.”

“Sounds good.” Ryan said.

“Great.” Phil said enthusiastically. “I'll be waiting.”

Phil Raman put down the phone, leaving a bloody hand print on the receiver. Others might have been concerned about leaving evidence, but Phil wanted to leave his calling card.

“I love it when things go my way.” he commented half to himself.

He looked around at his handiwork and marveled. To him it was a work of art. He could only imagine what the sheriff will think when he sees it.

You surprise me, Philip. The voice said. I thought you'd want to get this over with.

“Oh, I do.” he said, now fully aloud since he didn't have to worry about anyone hearing him. Well, anyone alive that is. “But I need a bit of time to make myself more presentable for my big performance.” He looked down at the blood soaked surgical gown and tennis shoes.

He figured he'd have more than enough time to go home and get cleaned up before the time came for him to call the sheriff's office and start the drama he'd so obsessively scripted to begin.

RETURN