Chapter 5: Murder Gone Viral by Stephen Simpson
‘Bad to the bone’, Gareth’s ringtone echoes through the kiddies play area, where he is sitting next to the Spanish nanny, who is the caretaker for the cute, little eight-year-old Emily.
Emily has big blue eyes, and her hair is tied up in two pigtails on the sides of her face. Gareth knows she will go far in the competition to be the one and only survivor of his online reality show.
Gareth answers the phone after he smiles apologetically to Maria. He has been meeting her here every afternoon between three and four. “Yes.”
Richard asks, “So is everything ready for me to collect the package this afternoon?”
“It is. Be there at ten to four.” Gareth ends the call.
He sighs melodramatically as he looks back at Maria. “My mom. I have to go and help her move some boxes this afternoon.”
Maria smiles up at him. She could not believe her luck that this handsome young man, the same age as her, has taken an interest in her. She is here in America, far away from home, and he is the first person who started speaking to her as if she was a human being and not just an employee. The way he looks at her, makes her feel special and he has nagged her since the second day he met her here on the bench on the verge of the kiddie play area to go out with him. She has declined shyly each time, but if he asked her today, she would say yes because tonight it is her night off.
Gareth laughs and jokes with Maria, and he knows the effect he has on her. He can see the little signs she is sending him, like the way she averts her eyes shyly every now and again, the way her cheeks flush pink every so often. He would have enjoyed having a brief romantic liaison with her, but he had to concentrate on the bigger picture. They are halfway there. They have three kids, and there is only three more to go. If they can kidnap Emily successfully today, there will only be two left to go and the last two will be the easiest. They have set a goal, and next week the online video must be uploaded to their video channel of choice.
At a quarter to four, Gareth says to Maria, “If I give you money, why don’t you go to that ice-cream vendor there and buy all three of us an ice-cream?”
Maria glances at Emily where she is sliding down the slide. “I can’t.”
Gareth smiles enigmatically. “I’ll keep an eye on Emily. Besides, you’ll be just over there, and you will still be able to see her.”
“I suppose it will be okay.”
Gareth lifts himself a little from the bench as he reaches into his pocket to pull a few notes from his wallet. “Buy us the most expensive ones there are.”
She takes the money shyly and then she gets up from the bench. She glances at Emily and then before she walks away, she asks Gareth, “What flavour do you prefer, Chris?” Yes, he lied to her. He did not give her his real name, because although this is another jurisdiction from the police officer who questioned him the other day regarding the disappearance of Samantha, you never know when there will be an overeager detective putting two and two together. It will not help if his name keeps cropping up every time a young person is stolen. He is not worried if she will be able to describe him to the police because he looks astoundingly just like every other typical American youngster—blond hair, blue eyes, perfect features, fashionably dressed.
Maria walks away and for a moment he enjoys watching the sway of her hips. He looks away from her annoyed with himself, and then he pushes himself up from off the bench. He chose today specifically. He has been coming here for two weeks, since the night they agreed and decided to put his idea into motion. He knows today it is the quietest day of the whole week. There is a group of nannies on the other side of the park, but they are huddled together gossiping and laughing amongst themselves.
He walks into the fenced area, directly to Emily. When he gets to her, he smiles down at her kindly. “Do you want an ice-cream?”
She does not yell stranger-danger because she has seen him every day for two weeks, excluding Sunday. He has talked to her every day and now, unfortunately for her, she trusts him.
She jumps up with glee. “Yes.”
“Then come with me, little one.”
She takes his hand and her tiny hand disappears into his. It is warm and grainy with sand from the sandpit.
He walks with her out of the fenced area and then they walk back to the bench.
Gareth sees Richard waiting there for them. Richard is standing in the shadows of the trees around the perimeter of the park area. When Gareth and Emily approach the bench, Richard steps out from between the trees.
Gareth goes down on his one knee in front of Emily, after he glances across his shoulder quickly. Maria has her back turned to him, and she is bending over double as she rummages through the ice-cream icebox.
Gareth smiles widely. “My friend says he will take you to get an ice-cream while I stay here and wait for Maria. When Maria comes back, I’ll tell her and then we will come and get you.”
Emily shakes her head in denial. “I don’t know your friend. I can only go with you. Maria and my Mommy will be angry with me, if I go with somebody I don’t know.”
Gareth struggles to continue smiling, as he straightens himself out. He takes Emily’s hand in his again and then he says, friendly, “Very clever, Emily. I am proud of you for not leaving with a stranger. I think you deserve a double scoop. What flavour do you like? My favourite is chocolate chip.”
Emily skips playfully next to Gareth as they walk away from the play area. “I love strawberry and chocolate ice-cream.”
Five minutes later, Maria’s panicked scream echoes from a distance toward them.
Richard scoops Emily up into his arms and he walks as fast as he can with the child in his arms to the panel van. Emily cries out loudly, and although there are people looking at Richard suspiciously, nobody stops him.
Gareth turns away and shakes his head in disgust when an overweight woman stops to look back at Richard hurrying away. He says with loathing, “Some fathers are really terrible at looking after their kids. The poor child was probably having fun at the park, and now she doesn’t want to leave.”
The heavyset woman looks back at Gareth and he can see her accept this as the only possible explanation.
Richards buckles Emily into the front seat of the panel van as Emily continues screaming at the top of her lungs. Obviously, he cannot shove her into the back of the panel van, there are too many witnesses.
A man and a woman walk past and Richard smiles across his shoulder at them with a flustered look. He turns back to Emily and he says admonishingly, “Emily. Stop that now, we must get home. You have been at the park all day.”
Hopefully, Emily looks up at him. She stops screaming as she asks expectantly, “Are we going home?”
The lady standing on the sidewalk smiles sympathetically and then both the man and woman continue walking away.
Richard hisses, close to Emily’s face. “You see, nobody cares about you, so shut the fuck up.”
Defeated Emily slumps back into the seat and then tears start running down her cheeks as she softly moans, “I want my Mommy.”
Her crying is starting to work on his nerves and after twenty minutes of continuous crying and moaning, he yells annoyed, “If you don’t shut up now, I am going to hit you so hard, you will have a fucking reason to cry.”
Emily glances up at him sideways, but she starts crying even louder, as fear fills her little body.
He hits his palm against the side of her head violently, and her head thuds against the side of the door on her side loudly.
Emily huddles away from him and continues to whimper softly.
Richard increases the volume on the car stereo, and he drowns out her quiet snivelling.
When they arrive at the cabin, it is still light out.
He walks around the van and then he pulls Emily roughly from the passenger seat.
Holding her horizontally in his one arm, he carries her to the wood structure. He unlocks the door and immediately he notices the stink of human excrement. It fills the air and cloys annoyingly in his nose. He makes a mental note to discuss the toilet facilities with Gareth. Someone is going to have to clean all that shit from the floors and from the kids and it is not going to be him.
Emily kicks violently, squirming to get out of his arm. She screams loudly.
Richard holds onto her tightly as he starts to laugh agitated while he carries her down into the basement. The basement is dark because there is not a single window down here.
He switches on the faint light, and then he takes Emily to her cubicle. He shackles her to the metal ring on the floor and she begs, “I want my Mommy. Please get me my Mommy.”
Richard ignores her.
Systematically he fills the food bowls. He fills the water bowls from the five-litre container with the magic sleeping potion. While he works, he remembers the time he volunteered at the animal shelter during a summer holiday a long time ago, and this feels the same.
Alex looks dead, so he kicks him hard with the tip of his shoe in the ribs. Alex groans.
Sarah’s wrist is raw, blood caked grossly around her arm like a grotesque bangle, and Samantha is still in the same position as the day before.
The sedative they are giving them is strong, maybe too strong, but it keeps them quiet and next week they will lessen the dosage, they cannot have zombie looking kids on the video footage. The world must choose the typical teen and surely drugged out and dopey looking will not do the trick of turning Richard into an overnight anonymous internet sensation.
The crying child is irritating him, so before he does something he will regret, he walks away to go back to the city.
As he switches off the light and everything becomes black, Emily screams in terror, “No! Please leave the light on. I am scared of the dark and I promise I’ll be good. Please!”
He walks up the stairs and then after he locks the door securely, he drives away.
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