Page 48 of Zen's Crash

I shoot Siege a quick glance before making up some bullshit in case she’s playing us for information. “He was working security at an apartment complex I own and left the place a mess. I had to hire someone to clean it out. I wouldn’t normally track someone down for damages and such, but some equipment turned up missing from our property. Since it was fairly expensive, I had a mind to track him down and see if he knew anything about it.”

“If it was anything valuable, I’m sure Terry’s fenced it by now.” Looking from one to another of us, she adds, “My son was raised mostly by his father. And let’s just say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

“When was the last time you saw or spoke with him?” Rigs asks, keeping his tone polite and respectful.

She sighs and takes another sip of her wine. “I last saw him three incarcerations ago. That’s how we track time in Terryland.”

“So, about seven years, right?”

She smiles at me. “Aren’t you a smart little cookie.” Taking another sip of her wine, she finally tells us the truth. “Terry came here desperate for drugs. He demanded money, and when I refused, he pulled out a knife. I turned to run, and he lunged after me, leaving a gash on the back of my arm that took thirty-one stitches to close.” I watch her tear up a bit before she adds, “That wound still bothers me every damn day.”

She closes her eyes, looks up, and I hear her softly counting to ten under her breath. When she composes herself, she says, “My second husband died in the line of duty ten years ago. The police chief is a close personal friend. Terry knows lawenforcement in this town would shoot to kill if he shows back up here. So if you gentlemen came here looking for my son, you certainly won’t find him in this town. He’d have to be flat-out stupid to come back here.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you. It must have seemed like a nightmare having your own son attack you.” I shake my head, angry over what this asshole has put his mother through.

“Thank you for saying so. Yes, it was horrific. And if I’m being honest, gentlemen, that’s why I drink. It’s not the best coping skill, but it takes the edge off, you know?”

“Yes, ma’am, I surely do. Would it make a difference if I told you he’s been stalking a lady friend of mine?”

“Damn that child of mine all to hell.” Turning, she stalks into the house and comes back out with a key ring. “There are three sheds behind my house. The smallest one has everything Terry left behind, boxed up in there. If any of it leads you to him, the world will be a safer place. That’s the best I can do for you.”

Rigs murmurs, “That’s more than we dreamed possible when we knocked on your door.”

“Do me a favor,” she says crossly. “When you’re finished going through it, burn it. I don’t want any connection to my son moving forward.”

Damn, this woman is absolutely not joking about her son being a gigantic, dangerous piece of shit. “We appreciate it, ma’am. I hope you stay safe, and your son never comes back this way again.”

She looks me dead in the eyes, then drains the rest of the wine out of her glass. “It’s a crying shame I was only able to have one child, and he turned out to be rotten to the core.”

“Like you said, that fell on the man who raised him.”

“Well, I hope they both rot in hell.” With that, she does an about-face, goes into her house, and shuts the door behind her.

“Goddamn, I ain’t never seen a mother reject her own son like that,” Siege says.

Rigs looks down at the key in his hand and responds, “Terrance sounds like a psychopath. They tend to leave a trail of destruction wherever they go.”

I tell them, “Let’s get to that shed and load up those boxes before she changes her mind.”

“That woman is finished with her depraved son. I don’t think she’s gonna change her mind, but we’d best get on with this so we can make it back home for dinner,” Siege says.

We go around the side of her house to find the three sheds she mentioned. They’re all lined up in a row. Rigs slides the key into the lock of the smallest one, and it clicks open with no problem. When the door swings open, we see the entire shed is empty except for a stack of boxes in the middle. We make short work of loading them into the vehicle. It turns out to be a tight squeeze. I end up squeezing my big body into the backseat, surrounded by boxes. The trunk barely closes on the ones we stuffed in there.

On the way back to Las Salinas, curiosity gets the better of me, and I open the box on my lap. It’s mostly comic books. I grab a stack and begin going through them. I guess my facemust have alerted Rigs that what I found was more of the same creepy shit we found in Harris’ apartment because he turns over his shoulder and says, “The color just drained out of your face. Did you find more fantasies of violence in those comics?”

“Yeah, it’s different women’s faces but the same slasher-style naked bodies.” I hand a stack of them to Rigs. “This must have been his thing from way back. I can’t imagine his poor mother finding this depraved shit in his room after he moved out.”

Siege glances at me in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, I can’t imagine what that must have been like for her. I feel fucking terrible for her.”

Rigs just ignores our whole conversation as he flips through the comics. When his head comes up, he asks, “Do you think these women are the same ones you found on his flash drive? The ones who were murdered?” he clarifies.

My eyebrows shoot up. “You mean like the sick comics we found at his abandoned apartment? It’s possible, but unlikely. Terrance left these behind at least seven years ago. That would mean he’d been targeting them far in advance.”

Siege speaks up. “I think it’s more likely that he fantasized using women when he was in Reno—probably women he had some sort of grudge against. It took these ideas a while to develop in his mind as he matured. Then, when it came to killing, he settled for victims who were more accessible.”

Rigs muses out loud, “Something doesn’t feel right, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

I huff out an exasperated breath. “Welcome to my world. I’ve been saying that ever since I started looking into this situation.”

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