The Skull Man: Part 8

DANTE

The word; frustrated didn't do his mood justice. Dante felt like the answer was right underneath his nose but he couldn't pin point it. The crime scene photos in his possession all displayed the same M.O. for the Skull Man. He spent more time on the younger females, giving them most of the torture while he went softer on the males. The girls all had the same cuts on their lower abdomen but it wasn't the same jagged shape that resembled Hazel's scar.

Why was she so special?

His frustration hiked up a notch when he remembered Hazel's episode in her office earlier. She was close to telling him everything, he could feel it. He'd just have to keep seducing her in the meantime. He was her stimulant, which allowed her mind to relax and process things more clearly, according to Elle, who he still didn't trust, but took her words into consideration anyway. He planned on using it to catch his big break. He needed answers more than the air in his lungs, and he knew it was going to get him in trouble again. It was only a matter of time.

"I ran the sample you gave me. It didn't match any of the recent victims," Lena declared as she handed him back the plastic bag full of bloody clothes. The same clothes he'd told Hazel he burned. It took time to gain the DNA samples from the recent murder victims since he technically wasn't supposed to go anywhere near the investigation. But at least he'd gotten another piece to the puzzle.

"That means there's another dead body they haven't found yet," Dante concluded as he rubbed his scruffy chin and stared at the graphic photos scattered on his desk. His mind was consumed by questions he didn't have answers to and it was creating a brand new platform of Hell he had to deal with.

"Are you sure you're in the right head space for this birthday party tonight?" Lena asked him, crossing her arms as he narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn't and Lena knew it. But if he was going to draw the Skull Man or the copy cat out, he wanted to do it on his turf. Which was why he suggested Hazel have her birthday party on his estate tonight. Like it or not, she was his only bargaining chip against the Skull Man. There was nothing more telling than the desperation of a man who had nothing to lose. At this point, Dante was willing to try anything to gain knowledge of who the Skull Man was, and if he had to use the woman they both couldn't let go of, then so be it. If Elle was right, and Hazel really was the Skull Man's killing machine, then Hazel would want him to stop her. She said so herself by urging him to bring a gun while they went camping this weekend. Not that he had planned on using it. He didn't need a gun to stop her. His love for her would have to be enough.

"Not at all, but it's too late to cancel now," he explained, rubbing his tired eyes as he yawned. When Lena went silent, Dante looked at her while she stared at the graphic images on his desk. He watched her put them in some kind of order and stood from his chair to get a clearer perspective of her point of view.

"What is it? What do you see?" he questioned, but the sound of the alarm at the front gates alerted them to an intruder and Lena went to go see who it was before she could answer him. He followed her after retrieving his father's revolver from his safe, and tucked it into the back of his waistband.

"I don't see anyone," Lena observed as she peaked through the blinds of the living room, which faced the front gates, while she punched in the code for his new alarm system. The sun had finally set and the town was covered in nothing but dark skies and a chilling wind that howled in silence.

"No one's supposed to be here for another two hours," Dante mentioned as he went back into the den and checked the security cameras. He couldn't see anything that would trigger the alarm system but he wouldn't put it passed anyone in town who still hated him to show up and cause trouble.

"Someone left a note on the door, along with this," Lena informed him when she re-entered the den. She held up the ice pick with the sleeve of her cool gray sweater, while it punctured the white piece of paper right in the middle. Dante removed the paper with a spare napkin he had on his desk and began to read it.

YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TOMORROW TO FIND HER. OR YOU'LL LOSE HER FOREVER.

The letter wasn't signed by anyone this time but he assumed it was from the Skull Man.

"Shit," Dante cursed loudly, running his fingers through his hair as he began to drill the explicit details of the case into his mind once again. Whoever he wanted him to find, she'd be dead if he didn't figure all of this out soon.

"These people, did you know them?" Lena asked and he nodded. All of the recent victims were the parents of the same kids he went to school with, and who he could only assume were all killed by the same sadistic bastard who killed his parents. No one ever found the bodies ten years ago. They'd gone missing weeks prior to Hazel and everyone had thought they decided to run away. They'd taken some clothes with them, just like Hazel had, which was why they hadn't taken it as seriously as they should've.

"They were the parents of the missing kids I went to school with," he answered, and he sighed when he realized Elle had purposely left that part out. She enjoyed pissing him off.

"Were the women pregnant as well?"

"What?" Dante's attention went straight to her as she traced their scars over the photo's.

"The scars, they look similar to a cesarean section scar. I worked at a hospital a few years ago and I saw these often on women who either scheduled them in advance, or were forced to have the baby surgically removed due to complications," she clarified and Dante's memory took him back to the night before Hazel went missing. She'd been acting weird. More on the quiet side. He wondered if this was the reason why.

"She was pregnant," Dante deduced as he braced his hands on his desk before his light-headedness made him collapse onto the floor.

"Who was?"

"Hazel. The other girls were too before they went missing. That's what their parents told the police in their missing person's report," he stated, spacing out as the realization began to plant roots into his worn out mind.

"Whoever took them sounded intelligent, methodical even. They took their time in learning what he could about your friends so he would know when to strike. I think you might've known this man as well. He knew it would be easy to pin this all on you." Lena answered as she began to put away the photos, tucking them back into the folder she'd put them in.

"I need Elle. Can you give her a call for me? I need a shower and some time to process all of this."

"No problem," Lena replied, reaching for the landline on his desk to call the incorrigible cop.

"Oh and Lena? You're brilliant and I don't deserve you," Dante complimented as he sent her a wink and she smiled, waving him off.

By the time Dante exited his shower and got dressed for the party, Elle was already downstairs in the living room waiting for him. The white body-hugging dress she was wearing did little to diminish his sexual appetite and Dante knew it would bring him nothing but misery. Her eyes caught him staring at her as he entered the room, and he cursed when he saw her smug smile frame her lips.

"Like what you see?"

"I need a fresh pair of eyes. Follow me," he ignored her flirtatious words and gestured for her to follow him into his private den. Once they were in, he handed her the file full of the crime scene photos.

"What do you see?" Dante asked the cop in all white as she took a seat in front of his desk and crossed her long legs. For his viewing pleasure, he was sure. She'd been blatantly obvious about her attraction towards him thus far. If Elle was anything, she was determined and almost always got what she wanted.

"They all have the same scars. So what?"

"And here I thought you were one of the smart cops," Dante challenged her, purposely trying to get under her skin. He loved watching her squirm around him.

"Fuck you. And these look like the same scar Hazel has on her stomach."

"They're cesarean section scars. But none of the female victims were pregnant at the time of their deaths."

"So they've must've gotten them when they were younger," Elle claimed as she pondered for a moment and handed him back the file.

"The missing kids I went to school with, these recent victims are their parents, Elle. If we find out who had access to their medical files, we find the overlap and we catch this guy."

"It doesn't explain why he decapitated them and didn't take the heads. Usually, with sexual sadists like this, they take their heads as trophies, even perform sexual acts with them as a means of desecrating them, regaining their power over the person who he lost it to."

"Maybe this new guy just wants to make a point," Dante responded, reaching for a the copy of the note that had been left at his door earlier. Lena had made sure to take any prints on the piece of paper to analyze it and the ice pick before putting them into his safe, according to the encrypted text she'd sent him while he was in the shower. She'd been teaching him all things technology and he honestly didn't know what he'd do without her.

"He's not talking about Hazel," Elle said as she kept re-reading the note.

"Who else could he be talking about?"

"If you're right about the scars, he could be talking about a child. Whoever she is, he has her, or at least knows where she is."

Dante dug into his drawer for the note the Skull Man had written him while he was in prison and handed it to her as well.

"Different speech patterns. Different choice of wording. These are two different people."

"It's not Hazel. Why would she kidnap her own kid and demand for me to find her? Especially when she didn't even remember having the surgery," Dante explained, and watched Elle's face relax. She'd been silently hoping Hazel wasn't a part of the recent murders, even though the cop in her refused to admit it.

"This doesn't prove she's innocent, Dante. This just says; hey, there are more of us psycho's out there than you realize. She could still be behind all of this."

Dante exhaled deeply while he glared at her, trying not to picture what she looked like without that dress covering her up all that bravado.

"Did you fuck her that night?" Elle questioned abruptly, as she stood up and walked towards him. Her perfume smelled expensive and the way her breasts were pressed up against each other, practically spilling out of the fabric made his cock transform into solid rock.

"That's none of your business."

"Was it nice and slow or more on the rough side? I can't imagine you being a slow fucker," she purred into his ear, running her fingernail along his jawline. His throbbing cock ticked and he turned her around, bending her over his desk as he lifted her dress up to her waist. The panties would've been an obstacle for him had she been wearing any.

He reached inside his pocket for some protection before he slipped right into her from behind. His hand unzipped the back of her dress, pulling down the straps so he could grab a hold on her full breasts. As he pinched and pulled at her nipples, he drove into her hard and deep, causing her gasps and desperate moans to echo around the room. He didn't want to take his time with her, like he did with Hazel. He wanted to show her who she was constantly antagonizing every time they were in the same room.

Dante released her breasts and gripped her hips, bringing her up and down onto his swelling shaft. He tugged at her messy pony tail as he plunged in and out of her wet and tight walls. The warmth of her juices as she spilled all over him, made him reached his own climax, forcing him into a high he wasn't prepared for.

The victorious grin on her face as he slipped out of her and discarded the condom into his trash can, made him second guess taking her to begin with. She was reveling in the fact that she had succeeded in getting what she needed from him. He wasn't about to let her leave without ruining her inflated ego.

"Do you always go after what Hazel already has?" Dante countered, and this time, she looked at him differently. Elle didn't like it when someone else held the mirror to her face. The fury in her eyes confirmed it for him.

"There's a little girl out there waiting for us to save her. Get your head in the game, Jones."