A Family Affair

1 The Long Years

A truly evil person will pursue truly evil actions. REM

Zelda had hired the best lawyers that were willing to take her case. There were almost none when they found out the number of men she had buried along the Canadian-US border. When they learned she had killed both her sister and her mother the number willing to represent her dropped to only one who charged an exorbitant rate. It cost her a million Canadian dollars and she still got life in prison, but the lawyer did get her a possibility of parole in thirty years. She added thirty to her current age and figured she would be close to eighty by that time. If she survived to that age she wondered what her physical shape would be.

The prosecution had argued against the possibility of parole but had lost on a technicality.

She laughed about parole, but she realized that it did give her some hope that she might one day be able to get out and see the ocean she loved. She also thought about the fact that it might also be an opportunity to extract the revenge she so desired.

She was taken from the courthouse straight to the Millhaven Institution, a maximum security prison in Bath where she was assigned to the MSU unit that held habitually violent offenders. Most of the inmates had killed someone, were unrepentant and hostile. She soon learned that she was in one of the most dangerous places she could possibly be.

She like them was unrepentant but she was not hostile. The fact that she was the most prolific serial killer being held did not escape her but she smiled and thought about the fact that those men had died immediately after sex and were happy.

The Millhaven years, as she called them, ended when she was singled out by some prison rioters and was almost killed. When she was attacked she had fought back and her tenacity saved her life. The beating that she sustained left a knife scar on her left arm. After a month in the hospital ward, she was transferred to Edmonton Maximum Security Penitentiary located in Edmonton, Alberta. This sent her most of the way across Canada. She was taken there by train and several rides in prisoner transport vans.  The journey was one of the more pleasant experiences that she had during her prison time.

Her new home felt more confining to her than Millhaven. When she was allowed to go out to exercise, the view around her were the walls that surrounded the Edmonton central courtyard. Her only view of the outside world would come much later when she worked for the prison supervisor.

Her behavior and general positive treatment of everyone she was in contact with slowly changed her designated status from violent criminal to a repentant individual that had done some horrible things. She had not changed one bit, but she had convinced those supervising her that she was not a physical threat and that prison had changed her for the better. This opened several doors for her.

One door led to the small library at the penitentiary. Every morning, she went along the rows of cells delivering and recovering books from inmates that were interested in reading. This allowed her to become friendly with many of the inmates and guards. Her movements were monitored but they were never obstructed. She carried this job out religiously, courteously and with a smiled and good words flowing from her mouth. She figured that showing a bright, friendly face was to her advantage.

Another door that opened was that of being an assistant in the infirmary. There she attended any prisoner that was brought in with an injury or was undergoing a routine checkup. This provided her with great training in handling small wounds and other injuries. She found she had a knack for bandaging wounds and she learned what supplies were needed to do so.

She took the initiative to make a first aid kit for herself.

The third door that opened to her was one that leveraged her management skill and was made possible by the good ratings she got from the first two doors.

She became an assistant to the facility director and managed his office. There she earned gold star after gold star for being so efficient as she organized the records that for years had been left in piles or just dumped into various filing cabinets.

There during all the organizing of files she found the blue prints for the facility. Whenever she could studied the blue prints as she tried to find a way to escape. It became clear to her that there would be no escape by climbing over the exterior prison barriers. The three layer design for them, the cameras and the guard towers made that path a no man’s land worse than the landmines that were used in World War I and II.

She, however, figured out a way that she could leave unchallenged through the front entrance of the prison. She would need a key card, a camera failure, and a car key. She began to arrange to get those three things.

She dropped her participation in the infirmary but kept the small library functioning by adding it into her daily routine at the director’s office. It took her three years to get a duplicate made of his key card, getting a key made for his car and to arrange to be able to turn off the cameras at the time when she was making her exit. She had to do those three things and not be discovered.

The opportunity to escape came at an unexpected moment, and she almost did not take it. Two days after a riot had been suppressed, a meeting of all the prison leaders was convened by the director to review the event.

She prepared the meeting room, had the refreshments brought in and had everyone make their lunch selection. After the lunch selections were made she arranged for the kitchen to deliver the lunch and then after a moment’s hesitation she gathered the things she had selected to take with her and she executed her escape.

She turned off the three security cameras that would show her leaving and used the directors key card to get out to where his car was parked. She dressed in one of the directors casual outfits, had his dark sunglasses on, had his favorite Canada men's national soccer team shirt pulled over her outfit and the hat pulled low on her head. She hoped that the disguise would get her out of the parking lot and out to the highway. The moment of truth came as she waved to the guard as she slowly drove out.

She held her breath as the gate opened. She made her way to the highway and headed east until she came to a truck stop. She found a parking spot in the very back of the parking area along side of a long dumpster. The car was sandwiched between the bushes on the right side and the dumpster on the left. Unless one stood in front of it the car was out of sight.

She sat for a moment contemplating her next steps. She then got out of the car, put the keys on the driver’s seat with a note that thanked the director for the loan of his car. She turned and walked casually in to the snack and refreshment area.

She strolled along the short isles as if selecting some snacks. She watched several truck drivers entering and listened as they chatted with each other and the station attendant.

One rather handsome driver commented that he had a load that was going all the way to Montreal and he needed to get there as soon as possible.

This was what she had been waiting for.

She approached him and offered to help him drive. She was stretching her skill in being able to drive a big rig but she did know how to handle one. She had learned from a truck driver that she had later buried.

He asked how far she was willing to go.

She smiled at him and said, “All the way.” She let her behavior imply that she would do more than just drive the truck. And as she thought about it she knew that after many celibate years she was ready.

With a big smile he said that she had a deal and asked what it would cost him.

Zelda thought to herself that it would likely cost him his life but what she said was, “you pay for the meals, switch driving every two hours, and pay me what you think is right when we get there.”

He smiled again and put out his hand and said that his name was Zackary Mason and she had a deal.

A broad smile spread across her face as she replied that she was Zelda Mulhaney. She knew at that instant that it was going to be a very good ride to Montreal after all they both had the same initials, ZM.

Zackary had a broad smile on his face as he let her know she should call him Zack. He suggested that she grab whatever she wanted to snack on and then they would leave.

Zelda looked around and decided to get several sandwiches, some soft drinks, and a variety of fruit. While she was doing so she commented that she would take the passenger’s seat and Zack should spend a few moments familiarizing her with his truck. Then she would take the driver’s seat and demonstrate her capability.

Zack commented that it was a great way to get started. He added that the truck almost drove itself and there were only a few features she would need to get the hang of. The key he said was that he always kept the speed limit so that he would not be stopped by the highway patrol, and he never let the gas gauge go below a quarter of a tank. He had a reserve tank but wanted to keep it available for a real emergency that he had no control over.

Zelda had learned to drive a semi from Henley, one of the men she had buried along the Canadian border before she drove the dagger through his heart. She silently thanked him as she contemplated crossing Canada with Zack.

She was very nervous as she took the driver’s seat and slowly drove three times around the perimeter of the parking lot. She quickly adapted to the way Zack’s semi handled and was ready when he told her to take the entrance ramp and head east. She made a smooth entrance and as Zack had requested she kept the speed slightly below the limit.

Her smooth entrance gave her the feeling of gliding up and away from ever again being confined to a six by ten cell.

The four day drive was only broken by stops at service centers where they would both get into the bed in back, have a tryst, go take a shower, fill the gas tanks, and then drive on. She really enjoyed doing the driving, getting into the trucks bed, and enjoying the warm showers. It was so much better than her last ten years. She knew she had made the right decision to make her escape.

The ability to drive around the clock resulted in them making record time in reaching Montreal. On their arrival Zack asked if Zelda wanted to continue being his partner.

Zelda smiled and replied, “I really enjoyed the ride across Canada but now I am leaving to visit an ailing cousin that is on her death bed and I need to be there when it happens.”

She thought to herself that he was lucky to be going on with his life and not getting buried by her in some isolated location. She also realized that she had no desire to kill him so the time in prison had in fact changed her.

This realization caused her to think about her current goal of getting even with that black Cincinnati detective that she still had a burning desire to kill. She smiled and thought of the many scenarios she had envisioned of how to get even. The one she liked the best was the one where she captured her, tied her down and proceeded to torture her with hundreds of small cuts to her body. The sound of her screams was the sound she wanted to orchestrate. As she got ready to go she realized that not everything about her had changed.

She asked whether Zack had determined what her pay would be.

He smiled and said that he was going to pay her the same hourly rate he paid himself and he would also share half of his bonus for getting the load in ahead of the designated time. He asked if nine thousand dollars would make her happy.

Zelda was surprised that it was that much. She smiled and said that it would make the trip across Canada one of the best trips she had ever made, and it tempted her to take him up on driving with him. She gave him a hug and a kiss and thanked him for being so generous.

The amount was a relief. It would allow her to accelerate the time to execute her plan to get even because she would not need to stop and get work to accumulate enough money to get to Cincinnati.

She thought about her situation and realized that so far she had made her escape by staying below the authorities radar. Luck had a lot to do with it so she knew that she would need to continue to maintain a very low key approach.

She needed to find out if she was being pursued and if the authorities knew where she was. One source of that information that would be free would be the library. But she was sure they would have cameras recording the people entering and leaving.

Her best bet would be to stay at one of the small villages on the outskirts of Montreal that had chosen not to modernize their surveillance technology. She was familiar with the various small villages and selected the one she could reach by public transportation.

After taking a bus to that location, she found an inexpensive motel that had only one camera that watched the parking area. She paid for a week’s stay saying she was visiting a friend.

She decided to change her appearance and dyed her hair a light brown. Bought a pair of scissors and cut her hair as she tried to alter her looks. She bought a pair of sunglasses with a tan frame and as she gazed into the mirror she decided that she looked completely different.

A small nearby old fashioned coffee shop provided the internet connection and she was able to find out what was going on in the news.

She was relieved that her escape was not on the air. Perhaps it had been immediately after her escape, or it was relegated to the western part of Canada. It only mattered that her face was not being broadcast with a warning of a dangerous person on the loose.

She now had the time to think through her next steps. Her years of experience being a border process inspector made it easy for her to decide where she could get across undetected into the US. The issue then became how to travel without being detected and how to arm herself with the weapon that she desired.

She knew that the best bet to get a weapon that she wanted was to go to a gun show or a flea marked that also sold weapons. She figured she could buy the weapon and use it before it was reported as sold.

She used the coffee shop computer to search the internet and found an upcoming gun show just south of Cleveland on the coming weekend. She did a search on rifles with retractable stocks that were small enough to carry on her back beneath a jacket. She learned that she would most likely be firing a two twenty three caliper bullet which was dramatically smaller than the 407 that she had fallen in love with when she almost successfully shot her black adversary. She hoped to be able to find a similar gun at the gun show. She made plans to get to the gun show. Getting there was the next challenge she faced.

She thought about taking a bus but again she was afraid of being identified if her face was captured on a camera at the bus station. The next thing that crossed mind was getting a ride with another truck driver but she did not want to trust in being lucky for a second time.

A continued search on the internet yielded a third solution. An advertisement by a motor scooter and motorcycle sales business in Champlain, USA caught her eye. It advertised same day sales and gave a ten percent discount for a cash sale. That fit her desire to pay in cash and not be looked at as an unusual payment method.

She now had a picture of how to get to Cincinnati and take her shot.

That night she walked across the border, walked the two miles to the sales lot, and waited for it to open.

The sales representative began by showing her some beautiful new motor cycles that were well beyond anything she could pay for. She let him know that she had a limited budget and asked if there were any used cycles that would fit a budget of only a few thousand dollars.

He took her to a used motor cycle that had just come in on trade that he could sell to her for just seventeen hundred dollars.

She asked if she could first ride it before closing the deal. He handed her a helmet and helped her adjust it for her head size and told her she could ride the cycle around the lot.

After getting the feel for the bike, she bargained for the helmet to go along with the bike, paid cash, and rode out of the lot.

By this time, she was hungry and rode to the local Subway Sandwich shop where she bought their five dollar special and went out and sat on a bench. She looked at her new possession and enjoyed the feeling of having gained control of her travel.

Her next stop was to get to the gun show and purchase her weapon. The fact that she was on a motor cycle now made her think about the weapon. She would need to figure out how to carry a rifle on her cycle in a manner that it would not be a big red flag.

As she sat eating her sandwich she realized that she had at least an eleven hour ride to Massillon, Ohio where the gun show was being held.

She decided that she needed a jacket, and a warm blanket that she could use when she needed to stop and get some rest.

She stopped at a second hand store and found a black leather jacket that fit loosely on her and a blanket that came in a plastic carrying case.

The bike had a smooth ride, but the hours rapidly wore her down. She stopped at every rest stop and took several naps. The ride through that night tested her ability to concentrate on the road but she made sure she was never above the speed limit. The sun was just coming up to her left as she headed south out of Cleveland.

She arrived at the gun show that was also a flea market as everything was just getting set up. Her bike looked like a miniature when she parked next to a large Harley Davidson that featured flames across its gas tank. She figured it was a good spot since the Harley would get all the attention and her bike with a temporary license tag would go unnoticed.

She walked the rows of tents looking at the variety of rifles that were featured. Rifles that shot 308 caliber bullets were numerous as were various AR 15 models. She admired them but they were too large for her to carry. She spotted several smaller caliber rifles with retractable or folding stocks. She needed one of them because she needed to be able to hide the rifle as she rode her cycle.

She spotted one that featured a thirty round magazine, fired a two twenty three caliber bullet, had a scope mounted on it and was on sale for eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars. It was a big chunk of the money she had but it was what she needed.

She engaged the shop’s owner and asked if he had a place she could shoot the rifle to get a feel for how it handled.

He took her to the test range that had been set up for the gun show and she fired five rounds. She liked the feel of the rifle and the scope let her be very accurate.

She bargained for a carrying case and sixty rounds of seventy seven gram bullets.

The owner was impressed with her knowledge of guns and the bullet powder load. He asked her what she did for a living.

She smiled and answered that her role in life was to rid the world of vermin, so she had educated herself on a variety of weapons to do so.

He handed her the target that showed that she had hit it with all five shots, complimented her on her accuracy, and said that the vermin better run and hide.

She handed him the cash and he handed her the bill of sale that he had her sign. He let her know that he was required by law to send in the information about the sale but it would take him a few days and then it would take a few more days for the paperwork to reach her at her address.

Zelda gave him a fake address back in Champlain figuring that it would take several weeks for that to be discovered.

She put the rifle in its carrying case, put the strap over her shoulder and realized that the six pounds the rifle weighed was hardly noticeable. She felt that it would do the job and she would be able to travel without being noticeable.

She got a chicken lunch special at one of the concession stands and found a table where she could relax for a moment before once again getting on her bike and riding for three and a half hours to Cincinnati. She felt she was so close to getting to her target that her chicken tasted as sweet as the flavor she expected to savor when she got her revenge by killing the person who had ruined her good life.

The ride to Cincinnati was uneventful. She arrived and decided to get a room for the night before going out and scouting the area. She chose an off the street room where her motor cycle would not be seen. She did not expect to be looked for, but her temporary plates might draw attention and get checked.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes she left on a ride to the apartment building where her query lived to find the spot where she could position herself for a good accurate kill shot. AS she rode down the highway she was shocked to see a large billboard wishing Alex Evercrest, one of Cincinnati’s finest, best wishes on her new venture. The billboard had a large picture of her and in the background was Lake Michigan with a red dot just north of Chicago.

Zelda let out a groan, got off the highway and began to back track to the motel. Her mood had gone from one of exhilaration at reaching her goal to one of despondency. Once she got back to the hotel she went to the front desk and asked about the billboard that wished Alex Evercrest the best on her new venture. She asked whether the clerk knew what that new venture was and if she knew anything more than the billboard.

The clerk shared the fact that the city had held a parade in her honor and had put up the billboard that was now at least six-month-old. She had heard that Alex had moved back home to her parents’ home that was located in Evanston.

Thank You for reading this far.