365 Nights of Fear

Night # 55 Guest Checkout

This next chilling tale is about a guest who leaves a cold trail that no one can seem to follow.

Shelby was looking at the file on her desk sifting through all the pictures and information trying to make sense of the case. It had been ten years since his murder spree began and they were still searching for him. She looked at the first murder file. At a motel in Arizona, a young man had checked in alone. The next morning after he checked out the maid went into the room and entered the bathroom to clean it. When staff found her she was frozen in place in the doorway of the bathroom. They called police after seeing what the maid had encountered. In the tub was a garbage bag with a dead woman's body in it and on her forehead was the number 1 written in blood. They watched surveillance video and found him within 24 hours. He was brought into the station where he was questioned and asked to give a sample of his DNA. A couple of days later they got the results back and it was not a match. Police were stunned because they all could have sworn it was him in the footage.

Every few weeks a body would be found in a motel in a different state. They would not have thought it was the same killer but each time a number would be on the victim's body or something close to them. Another clue was the fact that each number was placed upon them or the object based on the number kill it was. One very odd thing about the cases was the fact that the killer managed to change his appearance drastically with each new kill and when they thought they had him right where they wanted him the DNA would not match.

This bothered Shelby greatly. One way or another she had to catch the killer. She would not rest until they had him in custody. She was so wrapped up in looking at the case she did not realize that everyone had left for the day. As she sat at her desk something was sent by fax. When she pulled out the piece of paper her eyes widened in shock. One huge number covered the entire page and her brain put it together rather quickly. The last number engraved on a victim was 99. She knew what this meant that she would be the next victim. 

At this moment Shelby's mind raced. She did not want to be alone in the office but going home was not a good option either. She started to call the police but knew that even that might not be good enough, after all, he seemed to have no problem getting away with murder. She stood up to leave the room and get a cup of coffee to calm her nerves and stay awake. When she got out into the hallway she suddenly panicked. "Oh no, the fax came from a number in this very building."  

She ran to sound the alarm underneath the front security desk and that eased her mind a little. She had been in the building before when the alarm had been set off and the police had arrived within a few minutes. She stood by the entrance to wait for the police when she heard an elevator door opening. Her heart beat heavily as her eyes stayed fixed on the hallway next to the elevator. When she heard the police siren she thought she was safe but as she heard a voice behind her she knew that was not the case. "A motel is my preference but this is nice too. I know you have been looking for me for a long time. I saved a special number just for you, 100."

When the police arrived Shelby was slumped over the security desk with the number 100 branded on the back of her neck. Police received a fax later that night that could not be traced which said, "You will never catch me. I am capable of things you could never understand as mortal humans.By the way, science is no match for me."