Letters to Ashley by David Knapp

Author:David Knapp [Knapp, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Dying in Delaware

Ashley looked at the newspaper in disbelief. Her legs felt numb as she collapsed onto her couch. The headline made her shake.

LOCAL MAN FOUND DEAD IN GRISLY SCENE

Deacon Stills (28) of Concord was found dead inside his home Friday morning. Neighbors stated that Stills was known for his habit of watching violent movies at loud volumes.

“We simply thought he was watching the newest Hell Walker movie.” Eric Crosby 65 of Concord told reporters. “We thought the screams were just his movie.” Friday morning when he failed to report to work a co-worker went to check on him. It was then that his corpse was found. Police chief and former FBI profiler Harold Nash (59) had this to say.

“I have worked cases of a heinous and disturbing nature in the past. I was even on the teams that investigated notorious serial killers such as Gacy and Bundy. But in all my years I have never seen anything like this. Whoever did this is vicious beyond description.” Sources state that Stills was seen talking to a man at the newly erected art wall. The wall was erected as a way to deter graffiti artists from defacing public and private property.

Ashley read the rest of the article. But she wasn’t interested. The mural wall she had seen. K had even painted a piece. It was of the lighthouse from his childhood. Seeing the scene in color had brought tears to her eyes. It was life like in the pencil sketch. But in color she expected to see the old sea captain breathing. Even hardened local thugs were impressed. They had all made a pact that no one would touch the part K had painted. The part of the article that made her shudder was the timeline.

The medical examiner determined Stills died between midnight and one A.M.

K had arrived at the hotel just after three. And they stayed up until after five. They spent the next day together. He had complained that his left wrist was bothering him. And he had some bruises on his arms and chest. “I slipped on the stairs at the local office. A billion dollar company and they can’t afford a box of salt for the icy steps.” He had said when she asked him.

The two of them discussed much in their short time together. Including Helen’s disappearance.

“My wife was named Helen.” He commented. That had piqued Ashley’s interest.

That had led to her gingerly asking about her. He shrugged. “I have no idea where she is. Or even why she left. I came home one day and found divorce papers. She had already signed them. I tried finding her of course. But to no avail. It’s as if she dropped off the face of the Earth.”

The conversation soon turned to flirting. She could tell something was weighing on K’s mind. It was during dinner she had asked him what was wrong. He smiled and slipped his hand over hers. “I’m just sad because I know the few stolen hours will soon be gone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.