Revenge is Love

Part II

     To begin, I had to gather every piece of information on the serial killer I could find. There was a huge amount of news articles, police reports, theories and other things I needed to dig through, considering this person was everywhere. The killings had been contained in our rural state of Wyoming, which has a low number of serial killings to begin with, causing the panic to be even worse. People never expect the rural, lesser known states to be a target of something like a serial killer. The panic had spread to the entire country, people wondering if this killer would begin to target other rural areas. Since the story was widespread, there was a lot of misinformation I had to dig through. I decided that for the brunt of my research, I would use the police reports I could find.  Although not all police reports were accurate or truthful, they would be my most reliable source.
I spent two days compiling all the information I could find into my own mini report. By the time I was done, I felt like I knew this killer on a personal level. They were assumed to be an average to short male with dark hair. They always dressed in an all- white outfit, which was different from the norm for serial killers. There were no survivors of this killer yet, which meant there were almost no witness testimonials. This killer was extremely smart. They had only been caught on a camera once, only for a few seconds. It was like they knew where everything was all at once, like they had studied every location they went to meticulously before committing their crimes. Despite the fact that it seemed like they had been to all of the locations multiple times, the police couldn't find any person in common on the security cameras or through witness reports. It was like they were there all the time, but had never been there. The only thing I couldn't seem to figure out was what their motive was, or what all their victims had in common. With a serial killer that prevalent, though, and with that many kills, I felt like the police had to have found a connection between the victims at this point. In the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't right, but I decided to move on and continue compiling information to help save Deon.
     A week out from the first court date, I felt like I knew everything I needed to be able to properly defend Deon. While I wasn't really sure how often I would get to be on the stand or how all of the court processes worked, I was sure I would be able to figure everything out quickly. I was always able to pick things up a bit quicker than most, which has benefited me in just about every aspect of my life. Before I got up on the stand, though, I needed to talk to Deon. While I was almost 100% sure he didn't kill anyone, I needed to know for sure before I put my research to work. Deon was being held in the county jail, and while he wasn't technically supposed to be able to talk to anyone other than his lawyers and the police officers, I had a feeling I would be able to sneak in and see him one way or another.
     When I walked up to the front desk of the Court Office, I immediately knew that my plan would work. What better way to get what you need than to manipulate a man with your looks? It seemed like every time I needed something from a man, I could get it without fail. There was just something about a petite blonde woman that most men couldn't get enough of.
     "How can I help you, ma'am?" The man asked me.
     "Good afternoon, sir," I responded, "I was wondering if you could help me out and do me a favor?"
     "Well, that depends on what it is," he said, eyeing me up and down.
     "I'm needing to visit someone in this jail you're watching over," I started.
     "Now ma'am, you know just as well as me that I'm not allowed to let anyone but those lawyers and officers back there," he interrupted.
     "I know, I know, I'm sorry. It's not really that I want to visit or talk to him, but I'm needing something from him. It's a rather… private matter if you can understand that. I suppose I can tell you about it if you really want to listen. I can promise you I'll be quick, though. No one will ever know you were kind enough to let me through," I said, giving him a wink and grin.
     "Now, I'm sure you're a lovely girl, but I'm not quite sure I'm comfortable with letting you back. Some of those people back there can be pretty dang dangerous."
     "I could show you just how lovely I am if you just let me back for a couple minutes, you know," he looked me up and down again, his eyes clearly showing he was interested in my offer. I would never actually touch this man, but I knew that my offer would work. He got up and unlocked the door that led to the jail cells and gave me a wink and licked his lips as I walked past. As soon as I walked through the door, it slammed shut behind me. I kept my composure and walked steadily through the hall of cells, even as rugged looking men eyed me up and down and the women looked at me in shock, as if they couldn't believe that someone like me would be back there.
     I kept scanning the cells as I walked, looking for Deon. I had no idea if he would even be in this hall or somewhere else, but I had to hope this was where he was. As I was approaching the end of the long hallway, I was beginning to get worried that I had assumed wrong and that he wasn't being held here, but when I got to the very end, there was one cell slightly isolated from every other one. The cell seemed to be higher security than the rest, not that that was very difficult to achieve. There were a couple of extra locks on the door, no windows, and the bars appeared to be thicker than the standard cell bars. I peered inside and saw Deon laying on the bed with his hands over his face.
     "Psst," I whisper-yelled, "Deon." He removed his hands from his face and peered at me before jumping to his feet and running to the door.
     "Everette? What are you doing here?" He exclaimed. "They aren't supposed to let civilians back here."
     "Oh I know, but you know me. I can always get what I want. I just needed to talk to you before court. I have to make sure I'm right."
     "Uh, okay. Shoot," he said, looking around nervously. I stared at him for a moment, trying to gauge if he was just nervous that I was in here and we were talking or if there was something else. I filed the thought in my brain and decided to ignore it for now.
     "I need to know the truth. If you really are the serial killer or not. I won't tell anyone. I won't incriminate you, but if you are, I can't testify for you."
     "Everette," he started, pausing for a moment, "I feel like you know just as well as I do that I could never kill someone. I'm a vegan for God's sake, I can't even fathom killing an animal!"
     "You do have a point there… I didn't even think about that. Well, you know there are some crazy people out there who don't seem so crazy. A lot of the worst people hide in plain sight, after all." He raised his eyebrows at me, as if trying to ask if I really thought he was crazy.
     "Yeah, yeah," I said, "I know you aren't crazy. I believe you. I just had to confirm, you know? I couldn't just put all that work into defending someone who was actually guilty." He nodded his head and was about to say something before he was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door.
     "Young lady," the man who was working the front desk shouted, "Your time is up! You better get back out here." I gave Deon a wink before briskly making my way back up to the door where I came in from. When I got up there, I gave a light knock to signify that I needed the door open, and a few seconds later I heard keys in the lock and the door swung open. I gave the man a quick smile and then quickly slipped past him and out the door, ignoring his shouts of protest.