Terror on the Beach Read online

  I didn’t introduce Judith as doctor, “Sarah, this is Judith McCain. She’s going to try to help you.”

  “What do you mean, Robert, help me do what? Just go arrest Kevin and bring him in and I’ll be safe and we can go on with our lives.”

  “Sarah, I hear you have a boutique on the beach. I’d like to shop there sometime. I love to shop but not as much as my grandmother, Mimi. She’s a true shopaholic. I should have brought her with me. She’s always looking for new places to shop. What kinds of clothes do you carry?”

  Sarah became animated, “It’s mostly beach and cruise wear. Some of the things I designed myself.” She stopped talking and frowned.

  “What is it, Sarah?” Judith asked.

  “I don’t carry children’s things. The shop is too small to have both but I evidently ordered some little girl’s swimsuits. I don’t remember doing that.”

  Judith looked at me and nodded toward the door. “Sarah, I have some work to do so I’m going to leave you two here to talk about fashion.” I kissed her on the cheek and left.

  Judith was with Sarah for almost two hours. When she came out she looked worn out. “Is there a place in town to get a good cup of coffee, where we can sit and talk, Sheriff?”

  She had told me she didn’t care for designer coffee so we walked down to TJ’s. I watched as she stirred three sugars and a lot of cream into her coffee. The coffee was light tan in color and I cringed at the thought of trying to drink it.

  She took a sip of the terrible concoction and sighed like it was delicious, “What I’ve found so far are three different personalities. There’s Sarah and the little girl you’ve met twice, who by the way is four and one half, she told me so herself. There is a personality who is not much older but is a boy. He’s a mute. My guess is that he’s the one who was responsible for making sure the others didn’t tell what happened to them. I haven’t met Twoon yet.”

  “Do you know yet what did happen to them?”

  “No, that will take some time.”

  “I’m surprised you learned as much as you did.”

  “Now I’m wiped out and I would like to go to Lily’s and rest. I can do a quick crash course in the morning if you want. What’s a good time for you? Not too early, I function better later in the day.”

  “How about eleven a.m., that way it won’t be a hardship for any of the shifts to make it.”

  “That sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”

  CHAPTER 14

  I gave up trying to sleep at around five the next morning and got up, took my shower and headed over to TJ’s for coffee to go. When I got to my office, Brenda came in and shut the door.

  “There’s a lot of conflict going on between your deputies. They’re arguing about whether or not Sarah is mentally sick or trying to snow you. Some are saying you are so involved with her you let her get away with murder.

  “When I got here a few minutes ago I thought Freddy and George were going to come to blows. I won’t mention any names but one of them said he was going to call in the state police.”

  Brenda was a pretty girl but big. Not fat but tall with broad shoulders and long blond straight hair. She always wore jump suits and combat boots. She was 37 years old and, unlike most women, didn’t mind telling her age. I believed she could easily break up a fight between any of my deputies.

  “Brenda, I want you to gather everyone in the conference room at 11:00 a.m. Doctor McCain is going to give a crash course on multiple personality disorders. Everyone needs to be educated before they go mouthing off about something they don’t know anything about.”

  After Brenda left I walked out to the bullpen and looked around. It’s usually noisy out there with everyone either booking someone or joking around. Today everyone was working silently.

  To go from having a peaceful town, where the most major crime was domestic violence, to having a serial murderer was taking its toll. Emotions were running high.

  “All right, people listen up. I’ve been told about all the conflict going on about Sarah. I know some of you think because I was involved with her I have blinders on.

  “We already have the FBI involved and don’t need the state police as well. At eleven this morning, Judith McCain will be here to give you a crash course in multiple personality disorders. Brenda is calling the deputies who have gone home. It is a mandatory meeting.

  “Dr. McCain is a psychologist and a consultant with the FBI. She spent over two hours with Sarah yesterday. She diagnosed her and has agreed to try to educate some of you bozos about this disorder.”

  “Does this mean she is going to get away with murder?” Someone asked. I didn’t see who it was.

  I didn’t care who it was, it made me madder than hell. “Don’t be spouting off until you know what you’re talking about,” I said and walked back to my office and slammed the door.

  I planned to wait until Judith came to give the crash course before going to see Sarah. I didn’t want to be interrupted. She came in at ten thirty looking fresh in a mint green suit and alligator pumps.

  All the deputies were staring at her. One of them whistled and she rolled her eyes at me. “I want to see Sarah before I start the seminar if you don’t mind,” she said.

  I took her back and excused the deputy sitting in front of her cell. I hadn’t told anyone to sit back here but didn’t ask for an explanation just then.

  Sarah was asleep. “Perfect,” Judith said, “I wanted you to see the little girl again and see what her relationship to you is now. Her name is Beth and she’s four and one half years old.”

  I unlocked the cell door and we went in. Judith put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder, “Beth, wake up honey. I want you to meet someone.”

  Sarah looked like she was still half asleep and she said in a little girl’s voice, “No, mommy. Don’t make me sleep with daddy again. He hurts me. You sleep with him this time. I don’t want to twoon, I don’t want to twoon, I don’t want to twoon…” She said this over and over and then started crying.

  “It’s okay, Beth. Go on back to sleep. You never have to twoon with daddy again. I promise.”

  We left the cell and started back down the hall. Judith looked shaken up. “That answers some of the questions as to why she split off into other personalities.”

  “But does she mean when she says twoon? And why did she take that name?”

  “I don’t know yet but you can bet it’s sexual. I wish I had more time because this is the most interesting case I’ve ever come across. I think I could learn a lot from it. But, I’m just here to evaluate.”

  I felt panicky. “Why can’t you stay? What if Simon clears it with the FBI? We need you here, Judith. I need you to help Sarah, I love her still.”

  “Well, I still have my private practice back in Houston. I have someone covering for me right now. But he has his own patients too. He’s semi-retired. He doesn’t want more patients. We’ll talk to Simon and see what he says after the seminar.

  “Actually, it’s sort of been in back of my mind for some time to give up my practice and concentrate on consulting with the FBI full time. The consultation job is taking up more and more of my time and I have to keep getting someone else to see my patients.

  “It’s not fair to my patients, they need continuity but I don’t want to sell my practice to just anyone. It would have to be someone with similar beliefs about therapy as I have. In the meantime we need to find someone local to see Sarah.”

  “I don’t know any local shrinks,” I said and saw her cringe. I winked at her and realized I was flirting. Simon had warned me not to flirt with her. He said she was a very happily married woman.

  I took Judith to the conference room and introduced her. She spotted Simon and went over and shook his hand.

  As I started back to Sarah’s cell Brenda ran to catch up with me, “Mr. and Mrs. Sikes are here and they are demanding to see Sarah.”

  My mind was blank. I couldn’t think who these people were.

  “You k
now, Sheriff, Dennis’s parents, the boy who was stabbed but survived?”

  “Uh oh,” I said, “Hold them off, Brenda, tell them I’ll be with them in a few minutes. I want to make sure that Sarah is back there before I even think about letting them see her.”

  “Are you going to let them see her, sheriff?”

  I thought for a minute, “Tell them I’m in a seminar for about forty five more minutes. Give them coffee. I want to consult with Simon and Judith first.”

  After she walked off I headed back to the conference room and stuck my head in, “…Fugue is a type of amnesia,” Judith was saying, “The difference is that with fugue, the person actually takes on another life and maybe even moves to another place and takes on a new line of work. He or she doesn’t remember who he or she was before taking on that life.”

  I decided to listen for a little while before going back to see Sarah.

  “Depersonalization is also a form of dissociation. The person has the feeling of leaving the body and floating above and watching the trauma going on. Sometimes, if the trauma is ongoing, they will depersonalize for several months or years before they start splitting off into different personalities. Are there any questions so far?”

  I slipped back out and went to Sarah’s cell. She was still asleep and lying on her stomach. I sat down on the edge of the cot and started rubbing her back

  She stretched and yawned and turned over. She smiled at me. “Hi Robert,” she said. It was my Sarah. She held her arms out to me and I put my arms around her and held her.

  “Robert, how long have I been here?”

  I looked at my watch, “About thirty eight hours.”

  “I’m so scared, Robert. I’ve missed some more time.”

  “I know, sweetheart, Dr. McCain will be here shortly to talk to you about it.”

  “Something’s wrong with me isn’t it? Do you know what’s wrong with me, Robert?”

  “I do know but I can’t explain it as well as Dr. McCain.”

  CHAPTER 15

  The seminar was over and I began to have high hopes when I saw some of the deputies gathering around Judith asking questions.

  I pulled her aside and said, “Later guys,” to my deputies. “We have a problem,” I told her. “One of the victims, Dennis Sikes survived and has been recovering in the hospital. He was a run-away from Memphis. His parents are out front and are demanding to see Sarah.”

  “I’ll go talk to them. Where are they?”

  I took her to my office and called Brenda and told her to bring them in.

  Mrs. Sikes was small with bird like features. Her nose and chin were pointy. She looked too young to have the almost all gray hair she had. Her hair was parted in the middle and chopped straight across all the way around and had waves. She walked with a stoop and she looked like life had beaten her down.

  It didn’t surprise me to discover that her husband was a bully. He was short and overweight but not by much. He walked into my office demanding his rights.

  “We have a right to confront the woman who attacked our son. We overheard the talk around town. Y’all are going to say she’s crazy and get her off.” He was pacing the whole time he was talking while his wife sat wringing her hands.

  I stood up from behind my desk and leaned over with my fingertips on my desk. I was at least a foot taller. “Have a seat, sir,” I said and pushed the ash tray toward him so he could put his chewed up cigar in there.

  He looked up at me and sat. “Now, Mr. Sikes, this is Dr. Judith McCain. She’s a psychologist from Houston and she consults with the FBI.

  “Mr. Sikes,” She began but he interrupted her.

  “Please call me Sunny and my wife is Cheryl. We’ll call you Judith. And what’s your name, sheriff?”

  “I’m Sheriff Kola,” I said without smiling. His name was so incongruent with the way he came across that it was hard to keep a straight face.

  “Mr. Sikes,” Judith repeated, “Sarah has a condition called…”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” He said. “You’re going to say she’s crazy and try to get her off so she doesn’t have to go to jail.”

  “She is not crazy, but she is sick. She needs long term therapy.”

  “We want to see her. We want to see for ourselves.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir,” Judith said. “We need to get her more stabilized. She’s very confused. She doesn’t remember doing those things.”

  He snorted, “If I did something that bad I would make sure I didn’t remember them either.”

  Judith stood up so suddenly I jumped. She started out the door and paused and looked back over her shoulder. “I’m sorry sheriff, but I don’t have time for this. We’re wasting our time. They can come to the trial if they want but I will not approve a visit with Sarah.”

  After Judith left I said to the Sikes’, “Why don’t you folks pick up your son and go back to Memphis and let us do our job. From what I understand, he’s being discharged today. And while you’re at it I would ask myself why he ran away to begin with.”

  Mr. Sikes shoved the cigar, which was almost bitten through, into his mouth and grabbed his wife’s arm. She winced as she stood up but followed meekly in his wake.

  I wished I had time to deal with them but I didn’t have time or energy to deal with the Sunnys and Cheryls of this world. It was all used up with Sarah. I didn’t know what would happen to her. Judith had indicated she had a long rough road ahead. She may be in a psychiatric ward for years but I would wait for her.

  When I got to Sarah’s cell I found her curled up in Judith’s lap and Judith was singing to her. I noticed she had a good voice.

  Sarah opened her eyes and said in a little girl’s voice, “Hello, are you the sheriff?” She pronounced it “sherith.” “I’m Beth. Doctor Judith said she was going to call my mommy but I told her no, don’t let her sherith.” I noticed the names Judith and Beth were easy for her to say because she tended to put extra th sounds in everything she said.

  I sat down next to them on the cot and looked at Judith. She gave a slight nod of her head and I was afraid to ask any questions. I figured Judith would tell me what I needed to know.

  “As soon as I asked Sarah where I could reach her mother or any relative, Beth came out. Do you know where she’s from?”

  “She moved here about three years ago and bought the condo and the shop. She told me she was from Macon.”

  “Do you have a key to the condo?”

  “Sarah has the key,” Beth said.

  “Do you know about Sarah?” Judith asked.

  “Of course I do. I watch her sometimes and I play dress-up in her clothes when she’s not there. I don’t think she knows about me though.”

  “Do you think Sarah would mind if we went to her condo and let ourselves in?”

  She suddenly looked at me and said, “I remember you now. I tried to twoon with you once but Sarah kept getting in the way. I like you. I wanted to be your sweet baby. It made me mad when Sarah took over.

  “I love Sarah though so it was okay. She won’t mind if you go to her condo. You have a key so you don’t have to worry.”

  I was beginning to think I was really talking to a small child and I loved her so much more than I already did. I bent over and kissed her on the cheek, “Thanks Beth.”

  CHAPTER 16

  I was going to drive us over to the condo but Judith asked if we could walk to clear our heads. Of course you can get along without owning a car in Monroe Beach so I agreed.

  We took the back way along the beach instead of the highway. As soon as we got to the sand Judith took off her pumps and jacket and I noticed she was wearing only a lacy sports bra underneath.

  “This feels so good,” she said as she stopped to dig her toes in the sand. “Let’s sit here on this dune for a minute while I explain something to you.

  “From what I have been able to determine so far, Sarah doesn’t know anything about any of her other personalities. She only knows th
at she sometimes loses time. Of course this is when one of the other personalities takes over.

  “Beth knows about Sarah for sure but I don’t know who else she knows about. I still haven’t met Twoon but, from what your deputy Freddy told me, when he arrested Twoon he tried to blame everything on Sarah.

  “The young mute boy, I don’t know much about yet. I don’t even know his name. I tried to get him to write it but he’s too young and can’t write yet.”

  “Have you noticed how Beth puts a ‘th’ in a lot of her words? I’m wondering, this character Twoon, the tw sound a lot like a th. She called me sherith. I’m wondering how we would pronounce the Twoon character’s name. Do you understand what I’m saying, doc?”

  She stared out at the ocean and nodded slowly, “Yeah, I didn’t think of it that way but, yeah. I can’t come up with anything right now can you?”

  I shook my head and stood up and offered her my hand. I pulled her up and we went to the condo.

  As soon as we got inside she started searching. “What are we looking for?” I asked.

  “Anything that will help us but I wanted to see if Twoon kept any trophies. A lot of serial killers do.”

  I started in the kitchen and she started in the bedroom. I opened drawers and cabinets but didn’t find anything. Sarah wasn’t much of a cook so she didn’t have much, only a few dishes and pots and pans.

  I opened the door where the hot water heater was. Sarah kept her broom and mop in there. I knew that because I once saw her get the mop to clean up a coke she had spilt, but I had never looked in there myself.

  It looked like the edge of a paper bag sticking out from the back of the hot water heater and I pulled it out. When I opened it I felt like I was in the twilight zone.

  Inside the paper bag was several pieces of jewelry, watches, a headband, and a glove. They all had blood on them. “Uh, doc? I found something.”

  She came into the kitchen, “So did I. There’s stuff everywhere in the bedroom and bath.” We switched bags. Hers was a big black garbage bag. Inside were items of clothing: sweaters, jackets, and jeans. Some of the items I remember wondering why the victims weren’t wearing. There were also a lot of purses.