chapter 27

word count: 1097

it was all over the news.. police chief nolan had abdicated all authority in the “piano wire killer” case over to suffolk county.. buzz had been temporarily relieved of his duties,, and his shoes were to be filled by the chief himself until buzz was in a position to re-assume them. 

“be assured, the investigation will not be hindered in any way by this change in chain of command.” the chief had admonished the viewing audience.. 

“bullshit!” had been buzz’ flagrant response, as he heaved the land line in the general direction of the tv,, and watched it shatter in so many pieces, littering the bedroom floor in its wake..

“jeannie!! get me the other phone!!” he yelled out, caught up in a sea of complete and utter frustration over his lack of control..

‘god, just let there be another body,‘ buzz assuaged himself, as he laid there, in a state of suspended animation,, the collar on his neck and the casts on his legs,, underscoring his willingness to sacrifice yet  another innocent young victim in order to draw out the "piano wire killer' case,, until he was out of this fucking bed,, and back on the job.. 

“jeannie!!” he barked once again.. where was that bitch?? 

that bitch.. buzz didn’t have to be reminded.. if it wasn’t for that bitch, the one who had attacked him in the dead of night, in the assumed safety and security of his own driveway, none of this would be happening.. that bitch, alright.. ‘just wait till I get my fucking hands on you!’ buzz mused as the visual of him slamming the black masked bitches head into a brick wall almost brought a smile to his lips...

jeannie silently rounded the doorway, “here you go buzz,, i was just getting adam.. “

buzz cut her off mid-sentence, “i don’t give a fuck what you were doing. just give me the fucking phone..” jeannie extended it to him, keeping a safe distance.. he snapped it out of her hand.. 

“now go on, get out of here..”

“can i get..” jeannie started sheepishly.

“get the fuck out!! i will let you know when i need something!” 

as jeannie turned to leave,, she instinctively bent down and started picking up the broken pieces of shattered landline that laid strewn about on the bedroom floor..

“out!!” buzz bellowed.. 

seriously,, it took everything he had not spike the fricking phone off her head..

***

it had been an unremarkable few of days in the life of jake leichtenstein.. his most recent failure well behind him now, jake assuaged himself by pouring over the clippings that he so meticulously kept of his past successes,, a virtual holy grail, in which he could immerse himself during a dry spell such as this..

in silent victory,, he stroked a lock of his most recent success’ hair, as he read and reread his precious clippings.. no one even knew about his beloved locks of hair.. or if they did, they had not made it public.. he had watched every sound byte of broadcast,, clipped every morsel of print,, and nowhere had it mentioned that a lock of hair had been stolen from the innocent head of each of his conquests.. as far as he knew,, the secret of the sweet locks of hair was his,, and his alone.. 

he ran the carefully tied lock of hair over the soft skin of his cheek.. he breathed in what he still believed to be its heady scent.. he replaced it ever so gently into the folds of the weary harley davidson wallet he always wore on a chain, safely tucked in his back pocket,, secure in his belief, that no one the wiser.

“first things first.’ he reminded himself as he returned to reality and lifted himself off the soft surface of the motel mattress.. if he intended to keep this room,, and doing so was pivotal to his future success, he had to get out there and get the remainder of the $53.50 it was gonna cost him to stay yet another night.. 

as the sun made its way slowly over the horizon,, jake leichtenstein took his usual place on the corner of elmwood and the main highway.. this corner had always been good to him.. and the fact that it was located in the direct foot path to westide elementary didn’t hurt either.. 

his ever familiar presence on that corner had afforded him the opportunity to become a comfortable fixture in the daily commute of any number of  young succulents that traversed the same path to and from school every day.. sure,, more than a healthy number of parents had taken up depositing their offspring directly on school grounds in light of the discovery of his most recent ‘friend’s’ mutilated remains,, but that had just made it easier to ascertain which children had the least amount of parental supervision.. it helped narrow down the playing field to those that were least likely to be missed.. those he would have the maximum amount of time to entertain,, before anyone would even notice they were not where they were supposed to be..

jake exhaled heartily into his own cupped hands.. he rubbed their hardened surfaces together to distribute the warmth,, and picked up his well-worn cardboard sign.. “i ain’t gonna lie,” it proclaimed, “i just need a beer!!”

jake chuckled to himself as he did every morning. ‘people are so fucking stupid!’ he thought to himself as he allowed the glow of those words to take over his scraggly, bearded face in the shape of his most sincere,, albeit ever so staged smile.

 

“help a brother out??” he called out from his place on the corner into the slow moving, morning rush hour traffic. all the while not being able to take his eyes off the feast of tender young flesh that stood alone, on the corner, waiting to cross the busy street..

well,, if it wasn’t little tommy kennedy,, headed straight into the path of his aching arms .. 

“tommy, my boy, how’s it hangin’?” jake’s voice rang out merrily above the drone of the morning commute,, as he clutched tightly to the corners of his cardboard sign in an unsuccessful attempt to mask the near violent spasm that overtook him at the mere sight of the delicious little tow headed boy..

“dude, you do need a beer!” a voice shot out from a slow moving vehicle as it crept to a stop at the intersection,, a voice, generously accompanied by the first five dollar of the day..