Box of Crayons

Chapter 4 - Yellow

I ask, "Who is He?"

Andy replies, "What?  What do you mean?"

I say, "You said that you wouldn't have left the hair on the counter like he did. Who is he?"

He looks around like he doesn't remember where he is. Then like a switch being flipped again, the recognition comes back in his face. "Percy. Uh..  Me. I did it."

He might be crazier than a loon, but he is hiding something. I'm going to find out what it is. Even with a confession we might not be able to get a conviction on this guy. Neither of the girls he has mentioned are listed in the summary file. There doesn't seem to be any connection between the killer and this guy. "I have a feeling that you are wasting my time Andy.  You're not giving me any details of the crime. From your story so far, all I'm getting is that you are a stalker with a hair fettish. We could hold you for assault if one of the women pressed charges, but that's about it."

The surprised look on his face is priceless. I am about to leave the room and have him released when he says, "I have evidence! You have to keep me locked up! I don't want to hurt anyone else."

I give him an enquiring look. "Well where is it?"

He places two rings on the table. I use the end of my pen to slide them towards me. Both are made of plastic. One has a flat round surface with an embossed "P" surrounded by an embossed circle. The other has the face of a lion. I flip through the summary file to find a victim photo. The killer closed his victim's eyes, poured hot wax over their eyes, and then used something to press a design into the wax. The designs in the pictures match the rings in front of me. I collect the rings into evidence bags careful not to touch them. The shaved heads of the girls and the wax over the eyes are common knowledge from the newspapers, but the designs aren't. "I'll be right back Andy. Sit tight."

Locking the door behind me I leave the interview room. In the observation room Officer Tanley is typing at a laptop. I ask, "Did you find anything?"

He replies, "Yea I found Mandy Jones. She's living in Los Angeles now. Safe and unscarred. I can't find anything on the incident though. I'm just starting to look for Corrina Maxwell. Nothing so far."

I say, "OK. Keep looking. Go ahead and give Detective Brooks a call too. The design on the rings match the marks the killer leaves in the wax. Could you get another uni here to add these to evidence?" I place the evidence bags next to Tanley's laptop.

He responds, "On it."

I say, "Going back in.  Time to wrap a bow on this thing."

Switching rooms, I once again plop down in the chair across from Andy. "So where were we?"

He says, "I was about to tell you about the blonde."

I ask, "The Blonde? No name?"

He replies, "No. I don't have a name.  I think she gave Candy as her name, but I never believed that was her real name. I was out with a friend celebrating his promotion. I don't normally go to bars, but he wanted to drink. He went to go flirt with a girl he saw across the bar, leaving me with my Coke. He came back saying that he was leaving with the girl in a cab. He wanted me to come to the party they were going to, but I was feeling a bit tired. I'm not much of a party person anyway.

I had almost finished my coke when I saw her across the bar. I noticed her bright blonde curls immediately. They shone like the sun. Brilliant yellow that seemed to lift the darkness around it. She came over, and I was disappointed to find that she used extensions of fake hair. I told her that her natural hair was too pure to ruin with extensions. She admitted that she hated them herself, but it was an occupational hazard. That's when I found out that she was a hooker."

He starts fidgeting with something again. I'm betting he's pulling out a yellow crayon at this point.

He continues, "We went to a local motel where they seemed to know her. The manager said that I had a 'wild one', and to watch myself. I was more interested in her hair than any physical activity. After the last incident, I decided to carry scissors with me wherever I went. I handed the motel key to Candy, and let her lead me towards the room. When she slid the key in, I grabbed a handful of her hair to cut. The bitch tried to headbutt me. My scissors dug into her scalp threatening to turn her golden treasure red. I saved as much of her hair as I could before she broke free. She tried to spray me with mace, but I ran away. I looked over my shoulder. She was stomping her feet in anger, and that was the last time I saw them."

This is the first hit with the summary file. Linda Phillips, blonde, 32, and her occupation is the oldest one there is. She even goes by the name Candy, and had a healing wound on the back of her head similar to what he described. "So you killed her?  You never give details of the murder. Tell me what happened."

He says, "I don't remember. I woke up the next day with two samples of her hair. One I had cut out all the extensions. It was clean, pristine, and pure. The other sample had dirt and blood in it along with those nasty extensions. I couldn't leave her hair like that."

I yell, "I don't care about the stupid hair! How did she die?  You know don't you?"

He starts crying. "I don't remember! I don't remember. I-I.. I don't..  remember."