Into the Underneath: She Killz

By Paul Kool

Frankie Callahan is a man walking the thin line between sanity and insanity. From the time his father died when he was a child and his mother had to move him and his brother Pete to the notorious south end of Boston, life had become little more than a seemingly endless series of disappointments and heartaches.

At age twenty Pete was killed in a gang shooting; years later Frankie lost his mom to cancer; and then the final insult; finding out purely by accident that Naomi, his wife of ten years had not only been poisoning him for the money his mother left him but was also carrying on an adulterous affair with his stepfather as part of an insurance scam which was cut short by Frankies moms untimely and unexpected passing from cancer.

Frankie had become the new target. But after years of excusing her psychologically abusive behavior towards him due to his kind nature and the fact that he for some reason loved her deeply he reached his breaking point and decided that Naomi and his beloved stepfather would have to pay the ultimate price and die for their sins.

After careful planning and research Frankie decides to transform himself into the most unlikely of killers in this game of kill me if you can only to find himself hopelessly lost in the murky psychological abyss that exists in the desolate badlands between fantasy and realityhe had ventured too far; INTO THE UNDERNEATH!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475950243

Paul Kool

Paul Kool is the author of several books including the wildly popular three book series THE REAPER as well as the romantic comedy A PERFECT FIT, the dark psychological thriller INTO THE UNDERNEATH: SHE KILLZ: the quirky fictional crime comedy BALLONI AND RYE; and now the quirky and at times comical ‘who done it’ ALWAYS AND FOREVER Paul resides both in Canada and the United States and draws his inspiration for his writing projects from both sides of the border integrating both Canadian and American elements and ideals culminating in a truly unique approach and style.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Frankie arrived at security headquarters at 8pm sharp like he did every work night. His shift didn’t officially start until 9pm but he liked to be early so he would have plenty of time to change into his uniform, do a thorough circle-check of his security patrol car and get his gear together without having to rush.

As he walked into the office his boss was waiting with a guard he had never seen before, likely another trainee.

"Frank, this is Ben. He’ll be riding with you tonight; show him the ropes will ya?"

"Sure, no problem Bob" Frank said smiling as he reached over for a quick handshake.

Despite his apparent display of enthusiasm he was less than thrilled with the idea of having to put up with another newbie all night long asking stupid questions and generally just getting on his nerves.

Frankie had been a mobile patrol security officer for close to ten years and knew the job inside and out which is precisely why management wanted him to help train some of the new guards.

He was the ‘go to guy’ in the mobile patrol division; always kept his nose clean, didn’t openly complain and whine about training newbies like some of the other mobile patrol guys would do when saddled with a trainee. Frankie always did what he had to do whether he liked it or not.

Unlike most of the guards he didn’t mind working the graveyard shift one bit. He actually requested it when he first landed the position and hadn’t worked any other shift since.

This worked out nicely for management as well because they had been having a lot of trouble keeping overnight mobile guards; some couldn’t handle the isolation; some couldn’t handle the fear factor; and others got caught sleeping on the job or spending more time parked watching movies and surfing porn on their laptop computers than they did patrolling.

Management was lucky to have a guy like Frankie; he loved being out there at night; it was his thing; his own special dark domain . . . an escape of sorts.

Working nights had its perks; the traffic to and from security headquarters was always relatively light and getting around the city in the patrol car to the various client sites was a cinch; none of the traffic tie-ups and commotion of the day and evening shifts . . . and none of the politics and bullshit either.

He liked the fact that when he was out there he was his own boss. He could handle things his way if there was a problem and he could take his breaks whenever he felt like it; as long as Frankie turned in good thorough reports and took care of biz it was all good as far as management was concerned.

Over the course of the years Frankie had seen it all and had dealt with everything from break-ins to medical emergencies to water main breaks, running drug dealers and hookers off the grounds of various sites; and he had even discovered a couple of corpses in one of the parks he patrolled on foot.

There wasn’t anything that could shake him up. He had little fear of anything or anybody and could mix it up and use his fists and his boots just as well as any other scrappy Irish guy from Southy.

But he wasn’t a bully and never went looking for trouble. He was nice to everyone he encountered and as long as they were nice back everything was fine and he’d go out of his way to be lenient. But if you were shitty to him he’d be shitty to you.

He’d bring a small cooler with pop and bottled water with some snacks each shift and just cruise the night away listening to his favorite radio stations while going about his patrol duties at the various client-sites on his route which consisted of a strip mall and a huge residential housing complex where he’d spend the majority of his shift.

To most people this would hardly qualify as paradise but given the state of his marriage and the quality of his home life it was a welcome alternative.

Working the nightshift meant he didn’t have to spend evenings at home with his wife Naomi who was a receptionist at a downtown law firm and usually home by 6pm. Frankie would leave the house by 7pm and thus only have to put up with one hour of her nagging and whining.

Luckily she’d often go out with friends after work so he wouldn’t have to see much of her during the week . . . the weekends weren’t so great.

At any rate, the company had been on a hiring spree for guards and although there were no immediate openings in the mobile patrol division Bob wanted to train as many back-up’s as possible.

And this was one of those nights so Frankie launched into his standard spiel for the benefit of his trainee de jour.

"Ok Ben, you heard the man. I’m supposed to train you so let’s start right here; this little room we’re standing in is what we call the mobile patrol-guard office; only us guys that drive the cars and supervisors can come in here. If you land a position in our division or have to cover off a shift for us Bob will give you a swipe-card for the exterior door and this one. When you come in here at the beginning of your shift you grab a zip pack, make sure you’ve got plenty of reports and forms, grab a radio/phone, call the automated sign in system and log on for your shift . . . got it?"

Yes sir!

So what else do ya think we might need before we head out?

I dunno

Key’s Ben! We need keys for the patrol car; right there on the wall; grab number nine; if you have to cover a shift for one of us the boss will tell ya which car to take

The two left the office area and went out into the parking lot where Frank continued on with his spiel.

"Ok bud, if you’re doing a mobile shift you park your car over there in one of those spots and as you can see all the patrol cars are parked in these numbered spots along here . . . don’t park in any of the other spots because they don’t belong to us; they’re rented out to other businesses in this industrial park" he said pointing to the row of shiny patrol cars as they walked along towards pat-car 9 while Ben listened intently.

"The first thing we do is start up the patrol car and then do a circle-check using this form right here; make sure you record the mileage . . . never forget to do the circle check because these cars are used during the day and they get dinged up now and then; if the guard that did it didn’t report it and you miss it you might get blamed . . . got it?"

Ok chief!

"Now we load up our gear . . . wait here a minute" Frank said as he went over to his own car, opened the trunk, pulled out his work duffel bag and returned to the patrol car placing it in the back seat.

"Shit, that’s a pretty big bag you’ve got there"

So the ladies tell me

Pardon?

Never mind!

So what do you have in there?

Everything!

Whaddaya mean?

"Well let’s see; wet weather nylon pull on pants in case I have to get out of the car to check something when it’s raining; believe me, there’s nothing worse than riding around with wet fuckin pants for hours; a spotlight to light up dark alleys and areas that have no lighting, and there’s lots of them; umm . . . an extra sweater; portable mini-cooler to keep my drinks cold; gloves, an extra flashlight, snacks, a medical kit, bulletproof vest; a couple of hunting knives; a ticket book . . . some of us are certified to write parking tickets; a handgun and a few other things"

"Whoa, back up . . . what was that last thing?"

Ticket book

No, the other thing

Blanket

"No . . . knives and guns?"

"No, no; you misunderstood . . . just one gun"

But that stuff isn’t legal

And?

We’re not allowed to carry weapons

"So what? Look, if you’re willing to risk your ass for minimum wage because you’d rather follow the letter of the law then you go right ahead. I mean if three guys are kickin the shit out of you in some dark alley somewhere the law isn’t going to help you . . . but a knife or a handgun will . . . you decide what’s important to you. Personally what’s important to me is going home in one piece after every shift; does that sound so unreasonable?"

I guess not

"Well, I suggest you give it some serious thought before you commit to doing any mobile work . . . they expect us to be the first one in when there’s trouble but they don’t give us anything to protect ourselves with"

Aren’t we supposed to call the police?

"Yeah and we do if we have to; but sometimes things happen fast and if you can’t talk your way out of it you’re fucked and there’ll be no time for chatting on the radio or the cell phone or sitting ‘on-hold’ waiting for a 911 operator to come on the line . . . get real buddy!"

Ben had been with the company for six months and had spent his time working upscale condo buildings with at least one or two other guards on duty with him at all times so he had no idea what mobile work entailed.

The condos are low risk sites; one guard stays at the concierge desk and makes nice with residents and guests that pass through or hands out parking passes and watches the camera monitors for a couple of hours.

The other guards patrol the hallways, boiler rooms, well-lit clean heated underground garage areas, pool and exercise rooms and so forth checking for burned out light bulbs, safety hazards, plumbing leaks and mainly; a good place to hide for a nap . . . not exactly the epitome of danger; nice buildings in nice areas; not the inner city shit-holes Ben was about to be introduced to.

Frankie put on his turn signal and pulled into the entrance of a small townhouse complex. It wasn’t a regular stop, just a once a week drive-thru.

Well, here we are; our first site of the night; all we do here is just a quick drive-thru from one end to the other to make sure there’s no suspicious characters hanging around or any vandalism that’s occurred; we write down whatever we see in our report

Don’t they turn on their street lights in here? It’s pretty dark

it’s dark because no one gives a fuck; just write down whatever you see; if lights are out then write it down; if there’s a pile of dog shit in the middle of the street write it down; if there’s a hooker giving a guy a blowjob write it down; ten minutes max; in and out

They drove out of the complex and onto their next location, a strip mall a couple of miles away in a neighborhood that can swallow you whole and spit you out onto the sidewalk if you’re not careful.

You’re fuckin kidding me Ben said as they pulled in. Please tell me we don’t have to get out of the car here

In fact we do my friend! Frankie said while laughing. We’re going to park right over there by that stripped piece of shit car and then walk around the back, check all the doors and make sure the burglar-bars haven’t been pulled off any of the windows

Do I have to come?

"No, you can stay here in the car cowering like an old lady and I’ll put in my report that you’re a pussy and it’ll get around to every guard in the company . . . yeah that’s fine . . . you stay here"

"Just kidding . . . I’ll come"

Frankie saw right through Ben’s weak attempt at backpedaling but also understood that it could be an unsettling environment for someone that wasn’t used to it or didn’t grow up in Southy.

They walked along to the rear of the mall.

Got gloves?

No

"Get some if you’re gonna work out here . . . ya don’t wanna touch the door handles and burglar bars with your bare hands; could be blood and piss and all sorts of bacteria and stuff on em"

"Great . . . oh fuck!"

What!

Let’s go back Frankie

Why the fuck would we do that?

Those guys over there

What about em?

They don’t look friendly

So?

They might do something to us

Kinda makes you wish you had a knife or a gun on ya doesn’t it?

"Ok, you’re right; I was wrong; now let’s go back . . . please"

"We’re not paid to go back and hide . . . what did you think this job would be? When we see guys like that we have to go and talk to them and make sure they’re not up to no good"

Ben was scared to death as they approached a group of six tough looking guys in there twenties.

"Hey shitheads . . . I wanna talk to you ugly mutherfuckers" Frankie said to the group.

Go fuck yourself you Irish piece of shit!

Well the way my marriage is going lately it might come to that pretty soon

They all laughed as Frankie walked up to them and banged fists with the group as if they were long lost friends; in fact they had known each other for a few years.

Frankie boy; how’s things buddy?

Same old bullshit! So what’s shakin tonight boys?

Fuck all! Just hangin and bangin; you know how it is

"I do indeed! . . . this is Ben . . . he’s training . . . you might see him here now and then so make nice ok?"

Any friend of yours is a friend of ours Frankie boy

I appreciate that guys; well, we gotta jet; pop to drink, snacks to eat; probably see ya tomorrow night

Later!

Frankie and Ben checked the rest of the doors and made their way back to the patrol car.

Ben was visibly shaken.

You’re not from around here are ya Ben

No

Burbs?

"Yeah . . . that obvious huh?"

Uh huh Frankie said chuckling.

But he wasn’t trying to make fun of Ben or belittle him in any way; he was simply trying to educate him and introduce him to the reality of what the job entailed for his own good; and mainly so that he wouldn’t come back.

Frankie could see that Ben wasn’t cut out for inner city mobile work and in his own way was trying to look out for him and keep him out of trouble; and keep the company out of trouble in the process . . . Ben had liability written all over him.

They drove off to their next location; a huge residential housing complex; hundreds of units with multiple parking lots, plenty of dark alleys, two poorly lit parks and a series of winding streets that could potentially leave a new guard totally disoriented and lost.

Frank pulled into the site-office parking lot.

"Well this is where we are going to spend most of the night; we’ll go back for one last strip mall patrol later and then come back here for the night"

so what do we do here?

Drive around and do some foot patrols in the parks; like that one right there pointing to a massive poorly lit park that backed onto railroad tracks in the distance.

You mean we have to go out there?

Yup!

On foot?

Yup!

Alone?

"No, of course not; I usually bring a dozen or so Hooters girls with me . . . of course alone!"

Fuck!

But not right now; we’ll go out there later, it’s not even midnight; too early; we go at about one or two

Why then and not now?

Because that’s when the fun starts!

Great, I can hardly wait

"Humor . . . that’s good, I like that . . . that’s what’ll get you through the night in a place like this"

Gotcha boss

Frank took his now far less eager misinformed young trainee around the perimeter of the little one story administrative building that the property manager, admin staff and maintenance crews worked out of during the day and pointed out a number of things to watch for and document in the report.

Everything appeared to be fine; doors locked, exterior lighting functional, no audible alarm coming from inside the building, no signs of suspicious cars or people in the immediate area.

Ben pointed up towards the roof of the tiny building;

"Hey, they have cameras . . . like the buildings do"

"This is the only place you’ll see cameras around here . . . once you roll out of this parking lot you’re on your own"

When they were done checking out the site office they hopped in the pat-car and rolled off along the winding streets of the complex looking for anything suspicious or unusual.

As they rounded the corner of one of the streets they came upon an open gate at the rear of one of the townhouse units.

Open rear yard gate Ben; go check it out

What do I do?

"Run through the yard yelling ‘the British are coming, the British are coming!’

Funny!

"I try . . . just go over there and make sure no one’s in the yard busting into the place . . . all rear gates are supposed to be shut; if they’re not then we could have trouble"

Maybe you should do it

Hey, you wanted to be a mobile guard; this is what it’s all about; so go do it

Can I have a knife or something?

"Ben! That would be illegal! Now get going, you look like a tough guy; you can handle yourself just fine . . . I’ll be watching so relax; now hurry up; I think I saw something moving in the shadows over there"

Frankie could see that Ben was scared to death; and in reality he had no intention of putting him in harm’s way. He knew that gate was open for a reason . . . because the resident always walked his dog at that time of night and was likely fifty feet away in the unlit grassy area waiting for his dog to take a shit; but Ben didn’t need to know that; it would be far more amusing this way.

He watched as Ben approached the open gate looking like he didn’t have a clue what he was doing stumbling along banging into garbage cans in the still darkness.

Frankie could see Ralph the owner approaching with his dog from out of the shadows and rolled down his window so he could hear what was about to happen;

Hey! Ralph shouted at Ben from behind him; What the fuck!

Ben literally jumped out of his skin and tried to answer.

"I saw the gate open and wanted to . . ."

I don’t give a fuck what you wanted; stay the fuck out of my yard or I’ll let my Pitbull loose on ya he said while his dog Spike snapped his jaws at Ben.

Frankie was laughing hysterically in the patrol car but decided to rescue Ben.

"Ralphie! . . . it’s me Frankie . . . he’s ok . . . training . . . it’s all good bud!"

"Frankie . . . sorry pal . . . I didn’t know he was with you . . . i thought he was that other guy that I caught pissin in my yard"

"This kid’s never been here before . . . let’s go Ben . . . take care Ralph"

When Ben got back in the patrol car he said "you knew that was going to happen didn’t you"

uh-huh!

Why the fuck would you do that to me?

To teach you something

What?

"To watch your fuckin back when you get out of the car; you didn’t take one look around when you approached that gate; Ralphie could have been a drug dealer doing a deal not twenty feet from where you were and thought you were some guy that was going to rip him off or a cop and you could have caught a bullet right there . . . you get my point?"

Yeah, sorry, you’re right

Don’t be sorry; be careful and watch your back!

Ok boss

And do me a favor will ya? Cut out the boss and chief stuff; I’m just here to introduce you to what this job is all about and make sure you don’t get killed in the process; I’m not your boss; I’m just a low paid shithead like you; the only difference is that I’m a low paid shithead that’s been around longer; got it?

Yup

"Well, it’s that time buddy; foot patrol in the big bad scary park . . . ready?"

Not really, no

Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?

I think it went home about five minutes after we got here

"Well give it a call and tell it to get the fuck back here . . . we’ll be fine" Frankie said as he patted the pocket that contained his handgun with a big grin on his face.

Off they went on foot into the darkness.

This is pretty fuckin creepy back here Ben said as they reached the rear of the park by the railroad tracks; " . . . and you walk through here every night alone?"

"Ya get used to it; it’s actually not so bad after a while; sometimes I just sit on a bench and take a breather for five minutes and listen to the wind; it’s quiet and kind of relaxing in its own special way . . . a nice change from being inside the car for hours . . . until the train comes thundering through anyway"

Does anything ever happen out here?

Actually, I think it’s about to. See that?

It’s just a girl I think Ben said squinting, not used to being in the dark while working.

Look harder

Oh! Ben said obviously a little shocked by what he saw.

They started walking towards the area where the gulley and big sewer drainage pipe was situated.

It was a hooker ‘doing’ a John.

"Oh fuck . . . what do we do?"

Got fifty bucks? Frankie said as he started laughing. Ben didn’t laugh.

No, really

"We go over and tell them to move it along . . . actually you can do the talking . . . it’ll be good training for ya . . . I’ll be right next to ya"

Ben was terrified once again but felt better that Frankie would be with him and agreed to do it.

They approached the ‘couple’ just as they were finishing up their lascivious little rendezvous to find the guy pulling his pants back up and the girl getting up off her knees.

Excuse me Ben said. This isn’t appropriate behavior for a park; please leave the area immediately

Fuck you the John said and then pushed Ben.

Don’t do that Ben said now shaking; I’ll call the police

"Ooooh . . . I’m scared" the John said and pushed Ben again.

Frankie interjected as he could see that Ben was about to get his ass kicked.

Relax bud; we’re not here to hassle you; I like to get my dick sucked as much as the next guy but this isn’t the place; next time go down further into the gulley; kids live in this complex and they might see you

You want your ass kicked too pal?

Actually, yes please Frankie said as he stepped up close to the John’s face; "I’d like that a lot . . . things are a little slow tonight and I’m bored"

The John went to push Frankie; but he deflected his hand, grabbed him by the throat and took him down to the ground and mounted him in a split second.

Hey, I thought you were gonna kick my ass; can’t do it from down there; what happened tough guy?

The John knew he was at Frankie’s mercy and stopped tensing up and trying to struggle.

Frankie spoke to him;

"Calm the fuck down; like I said my friend we didn’t come to hassle you; you didn’t have to push my partner; he was trying to be nice to you and so am I so relax and I’ll let you up . . . or I can cave your fuckin skull in; what’s it gonna be?"

"Ok, Ok, sorry . . . I’m calm"

Frankie helped the guy up and said Sorry about that pal; are you ok?

Yeah, I’m fine

Then he turned to the hooker; You should know better; you work for Troy?

Yeah

I know him; you must be new; I’ve told him to make sure you girls know the rules if you come around here; take your tricks down into the gulley; don’t do them up here or I’ll have to turn you over to the cops and charge you with trespassing; got me?

Ok

You guys have a good night; sorry about the tussle pal; next time take it down into the gulley and you’ll never even see me; cool?

They nodded and walked back towards the parking lot . . . well, the hooker walked and the John limped.

Ben and Frankie walked over to one of the park benches and sat down to take a breather and engage in some chit chat.

Thanks for saving my ass back there

Your ass? C’mon; I was saving his ass; you woulda murdered him; he was like forty or something

They moved onto other topics.

"So are you married Frank?"

"Uh huh . . . ten years of pain and suffering . . . you?"

"Engaged . . . no pain and suffering yet"

"Got a good woman?

Yeah, she’s great!

"Good for you . . . you’re lucky; hope it all works out for ya"

Thanks; kids?

"Naw . . . she couldn’t have any . . . and we don’t have the money for the corrective surgery"

Sorry to hear that

It doesn’t matter; we couldn’t afford em anyway

Ever think about getting out of the security game and doing something else that pays better?

"Sure, I was considering a Neurosurgical residency at Boston hospital but this is so much more fun . . . what about you . . . plans . . . obstetrics and gynecology perhaps?"

Ben laughed.

You’re a funny guy Frankie; but I don’t know; I’d like to get on the police force but I need laser vision correction before I can apply and that’s going to cost money I don’t have so I guess I’ll just keep doing this until I save enough

Frankie thought to himself ‘you’re gonna need more than that pal; what you really need is a set of balls Nancy!’ but instead said; So you’re what; about twenty five?

Twenty three last month

"Well you better get on it bud . . . before you know it you’ll be in your thirties like me and stuck in a shitty marriage and a shitty job wondering what the fuck happened to your life"

That won’t happen to me

"I sincerely hope not . . . anyway, let’s get the fuck out of here and do some more patrolling"

They continued to chat on their way back to the pat-car.

So how come you’re not a supervisor? I mean you obviously know what you’re doing out here

Too much hassle; not worth it!

The rest of the night was uneventful and they rolled into the security headquarters parking lot at 7am, got changed, returned their equipment and went their separate ways.

Chapter 2

Frank arrived home at 8am after his usual Friday overnight shift.

There was a time many years ago that he actually used to enjoy the weekends but over the last three or four years in particular he had learned to dread them more than ever.

In fact he would often take extra weekend shifts to cover guards in the buildings that had called in sick just as an excuse to avoid being at home; with HER.

His marriage to Naomi was good for the first few months; the other nine years were shit.

Things were already deteriorating between the two but after they found out that she couldn’t have children things just went into a steady downward spiral getting progressively worse and worse month after month, year after year.

She had changed somehow; the sassy street-smart tough girl from South Boston he married had become self-centered and often downright mean and verbally abusive.

It was as if she somehow blamed Frank for everything; the crummy little house they rented, the crappy Southside neighborhood they lived in, their crappy old car and their crappy disappointing life.

Frank crept up the stairs quietly and looked into their bedroom. The bed looked like it hadn’t even been slept in.

He went through the entire house looking for her but she was nowhere to be found so he went downstairs to what he called his