Ruin Quickens

By Bill McCausland

Pete Devon encounters a beautiful woman with a black lab. He invites her for dinner that evening at his cottage. Carol Fairchild's amorous side comes through and she spends the night. The next morning she walks on the flat and Pete runs the hills. On his way back he sees a man with a rifle that is pointed at Carol. Pete is a veteran and uses

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Lacquer Press & Marketing Inc.
• Release date: Aug 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948288286

Bill McCausland

Bill McCausland has a doctorate in clinical psychology and is APA board certified in the treatment of alcohol and other psychoactive use disorders. He has treated addicted physicians for numerous years and has a wealth of experience. He also has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.

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CHAPTER ONE

The Beauty Steps In

I was putting in a few flat miles on the path in Marin that went along the waterway. I passed an attractive woman who was walking in the opposite direction who had a beautiful black Labrador Retriever on a leash. I ran about another eighth of a mile and doubled back.

I couldn’t help but notice what a handsome dog you have. The pooch must be a really good buddy. I was talking about the dog, but I was also talking about the fine-looking woman.

Why thanks, and yes he’s a real sweetheart, alright. She batted her eyes. I’m glad you picked up on that.

I do have a soft spot when it comes to dogs like yours. I did it again—talking about the dog, but feasting me eyes on this lovely woman.

His name is Bosco. It’s kind of an old fashioned name, after the chocolate syrup they used to mix with milk. I got the idea from my parents.

I recall that stuff. It was still around when I was a kid. By the way, my name is Pete Devon.

Pete. That’s a good solid name. I’m Carol Fairchild.

Carol, I like that name. What was not to like about her? Are you taking Bosco on a long walk?

Oh yes, and I rely on him to take me on long walks so I can stay fit. You look like you’re in good shape. Do you run a lot?

I detected that she was into making some conversation. I run and ride a road bike. And do some surfing.

That sounds like quite a mix. You must do it for pleasure first and not necessarily to keep in shape.

That’s spot on. I sized up her figure. Nice on the eyes. Carol, do you live here in Marin?

I do. Nearby in Corte Madera. And you?

I live up in the hills in Kentfield. I noticed that the sun had moved westward and was beginning to drop behind Mount Tam. It’s getting a little late in the day and I’d like to carry on this conversation with you. I looked down at her left hand and noted she was not wearing a wedding or engagement ring. If you’re not doing anything, would you like to come up to my place for dinner? And by all means, please bring Bosco.

Well, sure. I’d like that. But I have to tell you that I’m not into late nights. I’m an early riser.

That’s exactly the same for me.

She took off her backpack, which had a water bottle in a mesh pocket. She unzipped the pack and took out a pen and paper. I printed my address for her and gave her the left and right turns up the hill to get to my place. I live in a cottage behind a big house. You can enter on the right side through the gate and walk down the garden path. You can’t miss where the cottage is, since it stands out. Is six o’clock okay for you?

Perfect. See you then.

I finished my mileage and returned to my car. I forgot to ask Carol about her food preferences, so I thought that salmon, organic broccoli with a mock hollandaise sauce and brown rice would fly. I also got a fresh loaf of whole-grain bread and brie cheese. I went down the wine aisle and picked out what would be considered a high-end chardonnay.

I heard a knock on the door as soon as the second hand struck six o’clock. Carol had Bosco in tow and amazingly she brought a bottle of the same chardonnay. The dog’s eyes were happy and stuck on me while his tail was wagging like crazy. I gave him a good loving and he was responsive to the petting. He smelled so clean. Carol said, I expected your place to be small since it’s a cottage, but it’s big. You really have a charming and quaint home.

I really scored getting this house and I love it.

I told Carol the choices I made for dinner and she smiled and said what I selected was right on the mark. She was good with the brie cheese as an appetizer and I opened one of the bottles of wine. We had a lovely chat about health and exercise and then sat down to dinner. She seemed slightly impressed that I was a man who knew how to cook, but this was a very simple meal.

I didn’t presume that Carol would be so inquisitive and a wonderful interviewer. She told me that she had an advanced degree in communications and then her style made sense to me. Pete, I have a question for you. At first I cringed, but then I had a trusting feeling since Carol was soft, not pushy and interested. How did you get that scar on your face?

I was in the war and pieces of shrapnel hit my face and deltoid muscle. I bled like hell from my face and the military doc did a good job sewing me up. My dad was a physician and had a friend who was a skilled plastic surgeon and he did a revision when I got home. It was quite an improvement, though there are still the telltale signs of the scar.

She asked me more details about my war experience. And this led to me telling her about the other losses in my life. I told her about the recent rescues while cycling, diving and surfing. I was very modest about it and didn’t make myself out to be some grandiose hero. I really downplayed it. Okay Carol, your turn. I have to say you’re sharp when it comes to interviewing. The way about you really made me open up.

Pete, I have losses, too. Not like yours, but with my parents. My dad died early in life from a heart attack. That’s one reason I am so attuned to exercise and eat well. But the worse shock for me was my mother. A couple of years ago she was on her way home from a bridge game with her friends and a drunk man with a very high blood alcohol level hit her and she was killed. He was arrested because his BAL was point three seven and there was a court hearing. Now he’s serving a few years for vehicular manslaughter. He’ll probably be out soon.

Natural deaths of parents are hard to take. But the way your mother was killed must have been very traumatizing for you. And unexpected. I’m very sorry she slipped away from you that way. I paused for a second. So many random things happen in life that we can’t control. And if we did try to control them we would all be paralyzed trying to protect ourselves. I looked way for half a second and then fixed my eyes back on Carol. You must have a lot of unsettled anguished grief. The best compromise is that you just get more used to it as time goes on. The major mindset I have come to is that loss is never truly resolved. My mind constantly hinges on this idea and it works for me. Does that fit with you in any way?

You know, it does. I know that I will never get over the deaths of my parents and especially the way my mother died. But I have noticed over the past two years, especially the last few months that I’m more accustomed to her being gone. But that doesn’t take the fact away that she is gone.

Yes, that jibes for me. I hate the saying, ‘Time heals all wounds.’ Time doesn’t do that at all. It just makes things get better if you work on it and don’t get bitter.

I tie in with that train of thought.

I looked at Bosco curled up in the corner; what a sweet dog. I got Bosco a little jerky treat at the market. Is it okay if I give it to him?

He’d love it.

I notice that he didn’t beg while we were eating. He must be a well-trained pooch.

He is. And Bosco is a smart dog who picks up quickly on things. I think he likes you.

I like him. Maybe I can say I kind of love him, even though I just met him today. Sometimes I have that reaction to fine dogs.

I quickly cleared the table. We sat in the living room and equally finished off one bottle of the chardonnay. Do you want any more wine?

That’s enough for me.

Me, too. Would you like some sparking mineral water?

I sure would.

The conversation lightened up. Carol became very friendly. And I followed. A good stroke of luck happened. She spent the night. I wakened at six in the morning. Carol was not in bed. And then I heard the burr coffee grinder going in the kitchen. I got up and joined her. She had found the ceramic coffee cones and filters. I checked to see how much coffee she had put in the cones. She made a strong cup of coffee just like I did. We sipped coffee and looked at the view of the lush garden.

Say Pete, what do you say we get out on the trail and I go for a walk with Bosco while you get a run in. I noticed your place is very near the end of the road where a Mount Tam trail begins.

You are on. I hesitated for a second. I have another treat for Bosco. Should I give it to him before we go?

Good idea.

We walked together to the trailhead. Carol wanted to walk on the mostly even trail. I needed to get some hill training in, so I told her that I would take the spur that went up and eventually evened out, but there was a significant amount of hill climbing involved. She took the lower trail and I headed up. I ran several miles out and then did an out-and-back turnaround. As I was nearing the spur that took me down to the trail that Carol was walking on I saw her on the way back.

Then the shocker came. I saw a man in the bushes with what looked to be a deer rifle, a thirty odd six with a scope, and he had it pointed directly at Carol, taking aim. I sneaked up on the man and ripped the weapon out of his hands and threw it on a bush with the muzzle facing away from us in case the rifle fired. My army training and hand-to-hand combat were automatic. I executed a hammer strike to the left side of his neck, and then a fist punch to the middle of the chest that knocked the wind out of him. And this was followed by my heel strike to his left knee, which incapacitated him. He was down on the ground. I grabbed the rifle and held it on him. He was groaning. And what flashed in my mind was a newspaper article a month ago of a man who shot a lone woman out at Point Reyes on one of the desolate trails. Some hikers at the Bear Valley trailhead saw the man chuck his rifle into his car. They knew something was amiss. They contacted the park ranger and gave him a description that was in the newspaper and the authorities had been looking for the man ever since. The hikers were so disturbed that they missed the make of the car and didn’t get the license plate number. But they did describe the man and the weapon he threw into the car. This seemed to be a match.

Get on your feet, you son-of-a-bitch.

I can’t; my knee is destroyed.

I picked up a branch that was four inches in diameter and threw it to the man. Use this to help you walk back to the trailhead. If you don’t get your ass up and right now, I’ll break your goddamn ribs.

He struggled to get to his feet. He lumbered back using the staff to help him walk. From time to time I poked him in the back with the weapon. Stop that, he said.

I’ll do whatever it takes. I have combat experience at war and I have no trouble shooting your ass if you give me any trouble. Now walk. I knew this was probably the guy that killed the woman at Point Reyes. You’re the guy that shot the woman out at Point Reyes last month, aren’t you?

None of your goddamn business.

I take that as a yes. He was silent after that and I marched his limping body down the hillside.

We met Carol at the trailhead. Carol, this guy was taking aim to shoot you when I came up behind him. I spoke in an excited, almost in a panicky voice. Did you hear about the shooting at Point Reyes last month?

I did.

Do you have a cell phone in your backpack?

Yes.

Call the police and we’ll hold the guy here. Tell them what happened.

We uncomfortably waited for what seemed forever, but actually the police showed up in less than fifteen minutes. I turned the rifle over to them and again told them what happened and how I disabled the guy.

The policemen said, Good going.

Well, I have to tell you that I’m combat-trained through the military and I say that this man had his sights set on Carol and was about to shoot her. And afterward, I figured it was the same guy who killed the woman out at Point Reyes last month. The person you have had a manhunt for.

One of the officers said, He fits the description we have and the rifle looks the same as the hikers described. It’s the same caliber as the ballistics people determined. We’ll turn it over to them to see if it’s a match. He nodded. I think it will be.

They took the man’s identification and suspiciously examined it. The officers opened the police car door and shoved the man in. We need you two to come down to the station and give a statement. I expected this.

Okay. I live in the cottage behind that house. We’ll shower and change and be right down.

Carol and Bosco and I walked to the cottage. Carol said, So this is rescue case number four for you this year.

I looked at her. I hope this is the last one.

Pete, I have to say one thing. Thanks for being there.

Amazing how serendipity works, isn’t it? I mean, I came up on the guy just as he was taking aim at you. It’s hard for me to believe, but I believe it.

We stopped. Carol kissed me. Bosco licked my leg and I petted him.

Carol I must admit that I’m jolted and I feel a little numb by what just happened. I want to check in with you. Do you feel similarly?

I didn’t quite go through what you did. But yes, there is some disbelief on my side measured by a huge dose of astonishment. The numbness part is there and I wonder when it will thaw out, and possibly overwhelm me.

I’ve been caught by surprise at times when I least expected it, then something happens as a reminder.

I know. I was shopping and went to a restaurant for lunch. I saw a woman across the room that was my mother’s twin. I thought maybe she really didn’t die after all. I realized I was in a fantasy world and the memory of her death completely broadsided me.

I get it.

…

We went to the police station after indulging in taking a shower together. It was sweet. We simply went through the story. I had more to tell. I wasn’t faulted in any way beating the man with hand-to-hand combat. The officers saw that by my actions I had protected Carol from being shot.

Do you think it’s the same man who e shot the woman on the trail at Point Reyes?

Officer Logan said, We’re almost sure of it. We’ll confirm it with the ballistics report that should be back within a very brief amount of time. Pete, can I let you in on something?

Please do.

We had a similar situation on Mount Tam about twenty years ago. The man shot a woman who was also walking a black Lab. We never caught him. Then there was an episode up north near the Oregon border and the same MO, where a woman was walking alone and she was shot by a sniper with a high-caliber rifle. We are starting to get reports filtering in with a string of these murders. One in Idaho, another in Utah, a further incident in Yellowstone National Park. Then they started drifting south and east. We’re hearing reports from Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. It is the same modus operandi. A woman hiking alone on a trail. And now he returned to Marin County. The way we are piecing this together is the murderer’s style of killing and he has used the same type of rifle. By moving around, this man has eluded the authorities. But at this moment the word is out and investigators are contacting us who have drawn a zero for a long time.

You’re saying we are talking about a serial killer?

Most likely, that’s the case.

Tell me what’s behind it.

The killers are typically damaged in some way as children by their mother and there is an absent father or a dead father. I’m not a forensic expert, but something gets sexualized about women and transmuted to killing. A pressure builds up, like a sexual tension and that is when the man erupts and commits murder to satisfy the need. It’s twisted. And that’s my understanding of it.

I’ve heard something along those lines in an article about a serial killer. Would you do me a tremendous favor?

What’s that?

Either keep me posted or let me check in with you?

I was amazed that the communication expert had been quiet during this back and forth with Officer Logan. I said, What are you thinking, Carol?

I’m just taking in what you two are saying.

Logan said, "That happens sometimes because