From the Smoke Club to the Ridge, the Smoke Screen Unveils (Part 3) | 4 August, 2024 @mariannewest's Freewrite Wrting Prompt Day 2454 | Prompt: dangerous discovery

Part 2

As an investigative reporter, any evidence I compiled was required to be substantiated beyond reproach. Attempting to connect a suspect to serial killings simply by a pipe smell wouldn't fly.

Requesting a leave of absence and moving into my boyfriend, Jordan's apartment should have helped. But it didn't. Nagging questions remained. The most important: how did the suspect learn of my whereabouts that weekend at the lake cabin?

Other unanswered questions followed that probably prompted the ongoing nightmares.

Thought gremlins scurried through my mind formulating nightmares as though plucking bits and pieces of information, then rearranging them. All I could see was the man enjoying his pipe, blowing out smoke while his menacing eyes stalked and devoured me.

As I reached the clearing where I'd left my vehicle, heart pounding hard. I would turned around and glanced upward as the ax hovered above my head. Frozen, all I could do was scream for Jordan, waking in a panic.

A distaste for the lakeview landscape set in. Not wanting to return, Jordan arranged for the sale.

The only item left now was to retrieve the phone and purse from my car left at the scene of my encounter with the suspected serial killer.

Now Part 3

Coming face to face with a killer and being his next victim to silence me from disclosing his heinous acts wasn't in my plans when I woke this morning. Jordan volunteered to drive me to retrieve my phone and purse from the lake cabin. Troubling thoughts nagged me the entire way there. How was the Smoke Club entangled in this investigation, the more I delved into the cases of the female victims, the more the Club signage pulsated in my thoughts. It wasn't a patron. It was an aroma.

And I had no idea that I was about to embark on a dangerous discovery.

We arrived at the lake cabin. Tiredness set in. Not so much from my trip, but a weight my shoulders couldn't carry in the responsibility I felt as the investigator. For some inexplicable reason, I felt the women victimized in the caverns were spurring me on to discovery. I just didn't know what direction to search.

The midday sun beat down something fierce. Sweat poured down my back. And now listening to my boyfriend standing here advising me to return to the scene of the attack rattled me.

"You disappoint me," Tracie. It would benefit you to visit the place so that you can take your power back." Jordan implored. "This is unlike you to be afraid of anything."

No, I wasn't afraid. But at that moment I was scared.

Spiderlike fingers crawled up my spine as he reached to embrace me. I felt no love, only disgust.

Thinking quickly was my forte. If nothing else, my car was nearby. The only obstacle; Jordan had my keys in his pocket. Immediately, I saw again from the corner of my eye a man emerge from the brush. He disappeared as quickly as he came into view.

"Jordan, think. You don't want this!" I pleaded shaking my head. "Whatever you're mixed up in, we can figure it out. You're not a bad person."

I'd never seen a more sinister grin or heard a more evil voice that drawled. "You're a smart woman, Tracie. You can't escape. Running won't save you from us both. I'll have you first, then Melvin can claim what's left." Jordan's eyes grew dark as he lunged for my shirt.

An understanding frown dawned. At least the explanation of how so many women became victims in a short span of years. I didn't have time to figure out the "why". I shouldn't have been scared. I know Jujutsu, a bit, if all else fails.

So I swiftly stepped aside to avoid contact. Panicked, for a second I froze as the few weeks of training evaporated with the sweat. I recovered enough to move an inch to his right. Grabbing his extended hand, with my left foot, I kicked him hard in the gut, but instead, my foot landed in his ribs.

Jordan gasp for air. My gut punch missed, so he shouldn't be falling.

The reason quickly materialized. I half noticed, as he'd grabbed my foot. Adrenaline mixed with dread enveloped my body as he yanked my leg, hit it as hard as he could, then pulled me to the ground. I landed in a small patch of gravel in agonizing pain.

"She's mine! You promised!" a strange but familiar voice from behind him shouted as Jordan tumbled over.

I gasped as my eyes widened. "Oh, my God," I murmured, horror stricken, as Jordan fell to the ground with an axe in the middle of his spine.

Standing facing me was the man from the Smoke Club and at the cliff. Unlike before in the forest near the cliff where he was covered, his forearms were bare and exposed chiseled muscles. A pinched face, rigid features, and a mouth twisted into a sneer with his nostrils flaring rounded out his appearance I hadn't previously noticed as the pungent odor of cigar smoke waffled toward me.

In a shaking, rage-filled, crackly voice, he spoke slowly. "Witch! You seduced my cousin with your intoxicating smell. You'll not bedevil me! You'll pay for your wickedness!"

Apparently named Melvin, he quickly removed the axe from Jordan's blood-stained shirt and lifted both arms over his head in my direction. I could safely assume he meant to deliver a deadly blow with the axe. It was then I stared at a deeply disturbed man with hatred in his eyes when he jerked his head up. He closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, then lifted his head to the sky.

It was either fight or flight. A difficult position. I didn't have a weapon. I wasn't a good runner. But my life depended upon escaping this place.

I attempted to scramble backward, but winced as my ankle wouldn't cooperate. Of all the advice I recalled from defense class, hit and run stuck. At least Melvin would be temporarily disabled.

I could barely lift myself off the ground. My level of expertise wasn't to the point of wrestling the axe from him. Instinctively, I grabbed a handful of dirt, threw it in his face, then struggled to stand.

I know it was foolish, but I tried to retrieve Jordan's or my keys from his pocket. Dead weight prevented that.

My entire body shook. If only I'd attended class this week. Perhaps a new technique I could use. My heart thumped wildly, nearly exploding. I struggled to my feet. My mind told my trembling legs to run. Leg muscles tightened, hoping to prepare my body to flee. Suddenly, I realized the leg I kicked Jordan with wasn't working.

Glancing furtively over my shoulder, a decision had to be made, and quickly.

Either the cabin or the cave.

Whichever direction, a trail of breadcrumbs had to be left.

[to be continued.]

For my theme, I was inspired by and utilized the @daily.prompt's publishing of two prompts:

4 August 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2454: dangerous discovery

7 July 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2426: trail of breadcrumbs