The Eye Vol. 1: The Eye, #1

By Cay Reet

The first volume sees Maddie getting through these three cases:

The Mind-Control Beam

When during a college football game, the home team vanishes without a trace, full-time reporter and part-time vigilante Maddie Dempsey is on the case. When, in addition, her best friend is kidnapped by the infamous Queen of Hearts, she has to slip into her alter ego as The Eye and see things through, no matter the danger to herself.

The Hunter

What starts out as a regular Halloween party with a stupid dare turns sour when a young man is strangled to death on the stone bridge at night. When Maddie Dempsey stumbles over similar cases, she has to slip into her disguise as The Eye to find the serial killer behind the murders. It's not just an old spirit, that much is for sure, but who is using the old legend to sate their need for murder?

The Missing Professor

Covering a topic outside of her regular beat, Maddie Dempsey again finds herself drawn into a crime when a professor who just announced a new type of fuel is kidnapped on the stairs of the town hall, right in front not just of Maddie, but also of his niece and his assistant. As things heat up, Maddie has to become The Eye again to protect the niece and bring the professor back home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cay Reet
• Release date: Nov 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393104636

Book preview

The Eye Volume 1

by Cay Reet

© Copyright 2020 Text: Cay Reet

© Copyright 2020 Cover Design: Holz Vanderhuetten

All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems - except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews - without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

In memory of Jeff Zahn and Holz Vanderhuetten

You shall never truly die.

Contents

The Mind-Control Beam

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

The Hunter

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

The Missing Professor

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

More by the Same Author

The Mind-Control Beam

One

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The late-afternoon sun made Madison Dempsey’s brown hair glow warm and healthily. Her eyes were focused on the football field while her hand hurried over the page of her notebook, leaving the distinct hooks and squiggles of shorthand. Only every now and then did she glance down to make sure she didn’t accidentally write over her notes, but after four years as a reporter, Maddie didn’t tend to make mistakes like this one any longer. She was not regularly covering sports, but a summer flu had decimated the staff of the Oak Meadows Herald and Maddie, having grown up with two older brothers and a father who were football fans, knew enough about the sport to cover a college-grade game. So far, the game was balanced and still thrilling - both the home and the guest team could still win it.

Then, from one moment to the next, all members of the home team stood still, like living, breathing statues. Two of them were toppled over by members of the guest team in full run who couldn’t stop fast enough. From the sidelines, the team’s coach bellowed rough orders, trying to pull his boys out of their stupor, but to no avail. After about a minute, although it felt like an eternity, all of the players of the home team turned towards their own goal post and ran off the field in step, the two felled ones getting up and joining the ranks.

Maddie closed her notebook with a snap and pocketed both it and her pencil while already moving along the row of seats - luckily, as a reporter, she’d been in the front row, so there was more space. She hurried down the steps and out of the stands, congratulating herself on her relatively low heels in which she could run. Buying ‘sensible’ pumps, as her mother called them, paid off often in her line of work.

The footballers were running swiftly and they were a little faster than Maddie, but young men in full football gear were not a regular sight on campus - at least away from the sports field and changing rooms - and she could spot the last ones in the rank every now and then. Finally, she caught sight of the last ones passing through the archway which led from the campus to the street outside. By the time she had reached it, a mere minute later, there was no more trace of the home team. Maddie stopped and looked up and down the street. It was long and straight, but sparsely populated, so a group of young men in athletic gear should have been easy enough to spot. Close to the exit she had come through, a group of young women, arms interlocked and chatting, approached while an elderly man with a cane was in the slow process of crossing the street. A little down the street, two men in brown suits were entering a car, but they seemed engrossed in a discussion and probably wouldn’t have noticed something happening around the exit.

Maddie turned towards the three young women first - the old man was walking slowly, she could catch up with him easily enough. Putting a bright smile on her face, she greeted the girls: Excuse me, but can I ask you something?

The middle of the three girls, a pretty blonde in a light-blue sundress, smiled back. Of course. What do you want to know?

Have you seen some footballers come through this entrance? Maddie pointed behind herself to the arched entryway.

Yes, we have, the girl on the left, a brunette in a green sundress, answered. They ran out of the exit and right into a waiting bus. It drove off in that direction, she pointed down the street, even before the last one had sat down.

I thought it was weird, the third girl, a freckled redhead in a yellow sundress, added. My brother used to play football in high school and I’ve never seen his team leave any venue where they played in their football gear. I mean, they usually shower and change before they leave.

They do, Maddie agreed. That’s why I’m looking for them ... because they behaved weirdly. Was there anything special about the bus?

The blonde in the middle shook her head. It looked like a regular school bus, right down to the stop sign on the back.

Oak Meadows had enough schools to have a small fleet of school busses, so that wasn’t helpful at all. Not the girls’ fault, though. Did you notice anything else?

All three shook their heads.

Thank you for your help ... have a good day.

You as well, they chorused and walked on.

Maddie turned around and looked for the elderly man. The car with the two men in brown was gone already, but he had just about made it across the street. She ran after him.

Excuse me, sir, but may I ask you a few questions?

The man turned, glaring at her for a second before his face brightened. Maddie had a body which turned heads and she knew and used it, dressing to cover her weaknesses and show off her strengths. The elderly man wasn’t the first one who rethought his reaction upon seeing the owner of the voice calling out to them.

Ask away, young lady, he told her with a little smile.

Have you seen a group of young men in football gear coming out of the college and entering a bus?

Yes, I have. I was a bit surprised, you see ... played football in college myself and we never left in our gear. Youth these days...

You haven’t seen who drove the bus, though, have you, sir? From where he had started crossing the street, he might have.

He shook his head. The sun was glinting off the front screen. I would have liked to see who was driving it, you see, to know whether or not I could cross already. As it was, I decided to wait until the bus had left.

Did you notice something special?

Well, the way they moved, young lady.

What do you mean, sir?

I’ve been in the military for a while and I know how hard it is to keep in step while you’re running. Everyone has a slightly different stride, have they? Not quite equal, though similar in length, for one thing. While we were practicing to run in step, we would always sing songs to keep the rhythm. That helps, you know, because you keep the same rhythm as the others, so you also keep a step similar enough. But those boys were all silent, yet they ran perfectly in step. I’ve only ever seen special forces do that, not even the regular soldiers, let alone civilians like those boys.

I see what you mean now. Anything else?

Well, the driver drove off when the last of them had barely stepped into the bus. I’m sure half of them at least haven’t been seated then. Very dangerous if you ask me.

You’re right about that, sir. It would explain how they’d already been gone by the time she’d reached the exit. Thank you very much for your help ... and have a nice day.

Have a nice day yourself, young lady. With those words, he turned around and walked on.

Maddie pulled her notebook and pencil out and swiftly added all she had learned to what she had written about the game so far, then she hurried back to the field.

* * *

With all members of the home team - even those on the bench - gone without a trace, the game was forfeit and the guest team went into the changing rooms to get changed and leave. They surely wouldn’t treasure this win, as it was not deserved as a such. Maddie asked around for a bit, speaking to the dean and the coach for a moment, but none of them had any explanation for what had happened - or they didn’t want to share it with the public. So she left the campus and caught the next regular bus back to the newsroom of the Oak Meadows Herald. She hurried through the door and to her desk, but was called by her editor before she reached it.

Gerald Myers approached her as swiftly as his stiff right leg allowed. Maddie, why are you here already? What happened to the game?

The home team left the field and disappeared, Gerald.

He frowned at that piece of information. The home team did what?

They all went stiff for a moment, then they ran off the field in step and disappeared into a bus waiting outside the college for them. I have no idea where they are. Since every single member of the team has vanished, the game was forfeit and the guest team won.

Well, that goes without saying, so that’s not the news here.

No.

Do you have enough for a first article?

Yes, Gerald.

Then write it down ... this is your resort, anyway, more than the game. Give the information on the game to Billy ... he needs practice and can work from your notes.

I’ll have to translate them, though ... Billy can’t read shorthand.

Neither can I ... you’re the only reporter I have who writes it. The rest of us use a homebrewed system of shorts instead. Write your story, then translate your notes for Billy. With this title story, the game results will not be all that important.

Sure.

Maddie slipped behind her desk, pulled out her notebook, and put a sheaf of paper into her typewriter. She had an appointment to make later, so she’d better get to work.

* * *

Angela Foster glanced at herself in the small mirror of her compact, then she snapped it shut and put it back into her purse. Her hair and makeup were still perfect - as the daughter of a district attorney who wanted to make it in politics, she had an image to keep up as her parents never grew tired of telling her. Her eyes travelled over the crowd in the small cafe where she was waiting for her best friend. On a Saturday afternoon, the place was packed and more than one patron had glanced in her direction, wondering whether she’d share the table with them. She might even have done at other times, but she had secured a small two-seat table and needed the second seat, so she’d sent them off.

Finally, and quite a few minutes too late, she caught sight of her best friend. Angela would never cut her own blonde hair, but the chin-length bob, parted in the middle and without bangs, looked marvellous on Maddie. She lifted her hand and waved at her friend who spotted her and came over. Maddie had no problem parting the crowd, being unusually tall for a woman - unlike Angela, who was five full inches shorter than her friend.

You’re late, Angela greeted her friend.

Maddie sighed. I’m sorry, but I had to stay at the newsroom a little longer.

Was the game that thrilling? Or that long?

Thrilling? Yes. Long? Not really. It wasn’t the game itself which kept me at my desk for that long. It was what happened to the home team.

The home team?

Maddie took a seat and waved at a waiter who came over immediately. Coffee first, story later ... you’ll still be getting it before the paying customers. She turned to the man with her brightest smile. A coffee and one of your wonderful blackberry shortcakes, please.

The waiter nodded and turned to Angela. And you, ma’am?

The same, please, but with a strawberry shortcake.

Having taken the orders, the man disappeared. Maddie pulled out her own compact and checked herself for a moment, adding a bit of powder to her forehead, which had developed a slight shine.

Angela mustered her friend, not quite jealous but sometimes wondering what it would be like to live Maddie’s interesting life instead of her own much more boring one. So, what has happened to the home team?

It was scary ... they suddenly all went still for a moment, then they ran off the field, out of the college, entered a bus, and disappeared.

Angela gasped. And you saw all of it?

I followed them through the college, but missed seeing the bus. A few people on the street told me about that.

I’m always surprised people just talk to you.

Well, I have the right kind of face ... a pretty one. Maddie laughed.

Angela laughed along. Is that all it takes?

No, being polite is also a great way ... if you’re a woman. My male colleagues can get away with their brasher ways, but I can’t. I need to play it nice.

Maddie wasn’t always nice - in college, where they’d met, there had been a boy who’d been after Angela, not taking ‘no’ for an answer. One evening, when he’d followed her across half of the campus, they’d met Maddie on her way back from the library by coincidence. Being about as tall as the boy himself, Maddie had stared him down and told him that he’d find out what she’d learned from her father, the colonel, if he didn’t leave Angela alone. He’d never turned up again. It had been the first time Angela had been glad she’d had to share a room with Maddie. Over the years in college there had been many more moments like that, not just Maddie protecting her, also learning together, going on vacation together, doing all the things which best friends did. After they’d both found themselves in Oak Meadows, where Angela came from, but Maddie had only come to for a job, they’d still kept their friendship alive.

And then people talk to you?

Sometimes. The dean and the coach were very tight-lipped, but I can’t tell whether they don’t know anything or whether they don’t want for anything to go public. Perhaps there has been a threat against the college or something like that. Although how you get a whole football team to act like those boys did, I can’t tell...

Their coffee and shortcakes arrived and both took a small break to savour the wonderful shortcakes and have some coffee.

What about you? Maddie asked as she dropped the cake fork. What news do you have?

Angela sighed. I hardly have an evening off this month ... daddy is working society very hard this summer. And mama still has it in her mind that I should go out with this nice Brandon Summers again, because he’s such a nice young man and we’d look so nice together. She rolled her eyes. Brandon was the son of a family friend and she couldn’t stand him.

Too bad for you ... your mother is a force of nature when she’s made a decision.

At that, Angela giggled a little. She is. Even daddy doesn’t argue with her when she’s really concerned about something. He says that there’s no way law school prepared him for that.

Maddie laughed as well. That I do believe.

Two

––––––––

For the next couple of days, the disappearance of the football players was the talk of the town, but there were no new traces. None of the young men came home, none was seen somewhere, there also were no ransom demands or suchlike. Angela followed Maddie’s cover of the story, proud of how her friend made headlines - something few female reporters managed. If only she weren’t that much of a coward, then she could have adventures like Maddie, too! But Angela was who she was and her parents would not allow her to move to another town and hold down a job, either. Not only did they worry too much about her, it would also be bad for her father’s political plans.

She stepped out of one boutique and into the next one. It was window shopping more than anything else, she wasn’t looking for new clothes. If, however, there happened to be a nice party dress or sundress in one of the boutiques, there was no reason why she shouldn’t buy it. She was surely going to get a lot of use out of it.

Her eyes travelled over the many different clothes in the shop, not only looking for things which would look good on her petite body with its willowy frame, but also on her best friend. Due to her curvy figure and height, Maddie didn’t have it too easy to find good clothes - even though she surely did the best with what she could find and afford. Angela walked over to a very beautiful cocktail dress she could see herself wearing for the party her family was going to attend the next evening - and several others.

Behind her, the door was opened roughly and several people with heavy steps came inside. Angela turned to see four men walk through the shop towards her. Why had they even entered, since the shop didn’t carry any men’s clothes? Those men looked weird, too, their eyes were devoid of emotions, staring straight at her. Hadn’t she seen the faces already, too? But where? Her eyes widened in shock when the answer came to her: in one of Maddie’s recent articles, a follow-up to the first story about the disappearance of the football team. All four men were team members!

The first one reached her and lifted his arms! Angela was by no means cold-blooded or used to danger, but her instincts worked well enough. She stepped back, pressing her back against the mannequin with the cocktail dress. The man’s hands grabbed at her and she ducked aside, hurrying towards the shop girl behind the counter.

Call the police! Those are some of those football players who have disappeared!

The girl stared at her with wide eyes, too shocked to act.

Angela grabbed her shoulders, shaking them. Police, now!

The girl looked past her, her face a mask of horror. Before Angela could turn around, someone grabbed her roughly around the chest and pulled her back! She struggled against the grip, but the man’s arms were too strong and hers were pinned to her body. If only she were Maddie, who was taller, stronger, and braver than her!

Let go! she called out, still struggling helplessly. Help! Help! Help!

Not listening to her, the man dragged her back to his friends. One of them, not showing any emotions, bunched up his fist and rammed it into her stomach! Angela’s breath left her in a hurry, she fought for air and only moaned softly. Then the same man hit her on the side of her head and she lost consciousness! This finally shook the shop girl out of her shock and she ran into the back office to call the police, slamming the door shut behind her and bolting it for good measure. By the time the police arrived, however, the four men and their helpless victim were all gone.

* * *

Detective Robert Lamont was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the kidnapping, right after a patrol car. He walked into the expensive boutique in Willow Lane and aimed for one of the two policemen checking the room.

What have we got, Ericson?

The cop in question turned around. Well, detective, Miss Garcia over there says a customer was in here, looking at that flowery dress over there, when four men came in and one of them went over to her. She ran away from him and told Miss Garcia to call the police, but the girl was too shocked. Before she could recover, the man came over to the customer again and grabbed her. He pulled her over to his friends and when she started screaming, one of his pals boxed her in the stomach and then hit her over the head so she was out of it. That was when Miss Garcia came to and ran into the back office where the telephone is, locking herself in until we arrived. But that’s not the weird part.

What is the weird part?

She says the woman told her those four men were four of the missing college boys, detective.

Robert glanced at the young Latina who was still distraught, sobbing and dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, ruining her makeup. This place surely wasn’t somewhere you’d expect such a crime to happen; Willow Lane was full of expensive shops and the policemen in the town patrolled here more often than everywhere else - except, perhaps, Stonebridge Heights.

That is weird, alright.

Robert looked around. By the ‘flowery dress’ Ericson had pointed out lay a small purse, the kind a woman might take along for an afternoon in town. He walked over and picked it up. Purses were a mystery to him, even though he understood that a lot of clothing for women had no pockets, so they needed