Chapter 9

BOB
(Friday 11/25)

Natalie bustled around and delivered water bottles to everyone, then sat back down beside me on my left side. She sat down close enough to me so we just touched; I felt the warmth from her shoulder, hip and leg and it felt so good. She glanced over at me, winked and kissed me. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Ana took a deep breath and told us, "All right, it's time to get down to the business at hand. Natalie and Bob, after what you told each other and us yesterday, we have to consider Bob really to be part of this family.

"As part of the family, Bob, you deserve and need to know what went on and what's been going on. Don and I discussed this last night; we have no reservations about your being discreet or tight-lipped about family business. Don's only concern was if I could go through this again.

"Don knows pretty much everything I'm going to say. Natalie probably knows only some, since she was away on a sleepover and you, Bob, might have guessed a few things. Some things I'm going to tell you I found out myself only recently." She looked around at us for a moment, gave a big sigh and started.

DON

Ana and I had discussed this last night. She got me to agree when she pointed out a) going over it again would help as her counselor had said and b) she owed it to both Natalie and Bob for the continued pain and discomfort her actions and inactions had caused. So be it. My job now was to support her and offer my strength as best I could.

Ana asked, "Oh, by the way, Bob, where in Ohio do your grandparents live?"

What does that have to do with it? Bob told us, "Akron, on the east side."

Natalie, Ana and I exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

Ana said, "I thought so. Well anyway, you all need to meet Mr. Pete Simms of Akron, Ohio. He's male, Caucasian, six foot three and weighs 275 pounds. He's built like the guys you might see at Venice beach; not much fat and all muscle.

"Pete Simms likes girls a lot, like most guys. He likes slender dark-haired women, in fact. Unlike most guys, however, he shows it in a different way. His way of showing it is to drag her off into the bushes, rip off her clothes and strangle her.

"He strangles her unconscious then lets her recover. He does it again ... and again ... until finally he tires of his fun that way and chokes her until she dies."

Natalie grabbed Bob's hand and squeezed it so hard her hand went white. Bob went still and lost every bit of expression on his face.

Ana was panting; I put my hand on her arm until she slowed down.

She said stiffly, "Then he gets to the good stuff. He relieves his sexual tension on the body. At least three times, sometimes more. Always in every major orifice."

Natalie collapsed against Bob's side. He freed his left hand, put it around her shoulders and held her gently. He reached over with his right hand and held both of hers.

Ana told us slowly, "Over six months, the police found three bodies; there may have been more. All had the same bruise pattern, the same sexual defilement and had the same DNA in and on them.

"The public was aware of the murders but not necessarily how they were done or that they were by the same person. Women were encouraged to stay in large groups or be constantly escorted and they did. Emotions died down a bit after the first one; after all, it was only one. After the second and third murder, though, we were terrified.

"Don taught at one of the local high schools. Every afternoon he drove three of the women teachers to their homes and personally escorted each of them inside until their doors were locked. While he was escorting the first two women, the others inside the car would lock the doors and keep watch. We took to carrying pepper spray and loud alarms and knew how to use them.

"I worked at the hospital on the evening shift. My escort was one of my colleagues, Steward Mays. He was a big man, in good shape and very concerned about my safety. Every night after shift, we would walk to the bus stop together and ride together. We had one transfer to make at the park. He would ride with me all the way home and stay with me until I was safely inside and had locked the door."

Ana stopped and took a drink from the water bottle. She was white and trembling; still she nodded at me to show me she was okay.

She shared her emotions and sensations with us all as she spoke, "One evening at the transfer stop, Steward and I were waiting for the next bus. We were chatting quietly, just waiting. Suddenly, I felt a hand over my mouth, and my head was slammed backwards into something hard. I was so dazed by it I couldn't get my body to do anything.

"I heard Steward groan and saw him slump backwards. Later, the police told me he'd been stabbed through the heart from the back. That was my introduction to Pete Simms."

Ana's voice was even, as if she were telling how she'd gotten a flat tire or something. It was nearly as frightening as what she was describing. Underneath it all, we felt the terror she had experienced but at a considerably lower volume.

"Simms kept his hand over my mouth and picked me off my feet by my head. He grabbed Steward's body with the other hand and dragged us both off into the park.

"He dropped Steward's body behind a bush, took my legs with his other arm, and ran deeper into the park. The police figured he'd scouted for several days to get the right mixture of cover and light he wanted."

We felt the pain of Simms' holding her. "He ran for several minutes. I was kicking and struggling all I could, but it didn't affect him in the least. It was like being in a straitjacket, I guess. I couldn't reach my purse for my pepper spray or alarm and frankly, didn't even think of it.

"He finally stopped, dropped my legs and grabbed my throat with his left hand. I could barely breathe and was so scared ... no, so terrified I pissed and shit myself."

Natalie buried her head on Bob's shoulder and sobbed quietly but still watched her mother. Bob's hands were clenching and loosening while his body would go hard then relax a bit. He had tears coming down his face, but his attention was still on Ana and on Natalie.

I wasn't in much better shape. I'd heard bits and pieces from Ana before but never the whole thing from the start.

"I could see Simms just a bit in the dim light. He acted like someone enraged, with his mouth and jaw working and he growled. He methodically ripped my clothes off, one hard, rough pull after another, just as you might tear paper off a package.

"He ripped off everything above my waist then closed his hand tighter around my throat so I couldn't breathe at all. I kicked at his legs and crotch as hard as I could, but he just moved around so I couldn't really do much damage. I dug into his arm with my fingernails as hard as I could, but he'd just pull my hands off if they got buried too deep.

"I saw things gray out and couldn't move my arms or legs any more -- then I went out. No idea how long I was out."

Ana took another long drink of water and rested until her breathing slowed down a little.

"When I had some awareness come back, I could breathe some again; his hand was still around my throat, holding me up. He grinned again and went to work ripping off my skirt and stockings. I think I lost my shoes some time before.

"When he ripped off my panties and found I'd soiled myself, he threw them down and growled, "You filthy slut!" I still fought him all I could, but it didn't seem to make a bit of difference to him.

"I saw in his eyes what he was thinking. It didn't matter I had a loving husband, a lovely daughter and helped people every day at my work. To him, I was something to be destroyed as painfully as he could. There was no Ana Matthews there, just something to kill, to punish just because it was alive.

"He gripped my throat tighter and again I went out. Nothing I could do seemed to make any difference.

"I finally came back again and he'd put me on the ground on my back. He was between my legs with his left hand still on my throat. His right hand was at his crotch, pumping away.

"I kicked as hard as I still could and buried my fingernails in his arms as deep as possible. He just shook his head and growled out, 'I'm going to fuck you in the ass when you're dead, cunt!' He clamped down with his hand and everything went gray again. I felt my body lose its strength and all went black."

We felt her lose consciousness, despairing of ever returning again. She was pale and shaking again. I felt her heart pounding, and she fought for her breath as she lay back. I held her gently and looked over at the sofa.

Bob had wrapped both arms around Natalie and was rocking her slowly back and forth. Every few seconds, he'd kiss the top of her head and say, "'Sokay, I'm here. Sokay.'" His face was set, and I could see his pulse throbbing in his throat.

Ana lurched herself upright and gasped out, "All right ... obviously I'm still here, so something else happened."

She took another drink and waited until everyone was looking at her again. "According to the police reports from the physical evidence around the area, a 'person unknown' had intervened. The tracks and scuff marks on the ground showed a short fight, with blood on the ground.

"The person unknown won, because I lived. The person unknown had called the police and medical services from a phone at the edge of the park; they came and cared for me.

"They didn't have much trouble locating Pete Simms. When the person unknown left for the phone, he'd dragged Simms bare-assed across several hundred yards of park grass, dirt and gravel then across a cement sidewalk. Simms' blood from his ass and legs was spread all the way there.

"The person unknown made the phone call to the police then duct-taped Simms arms behind him around the pole the phone was on. He taped Simms' ankles together then, according to the medical report, crushed his left knee with his boot. Simms was going nowhere even though he was alive.

"Several perpetrators in the past have claimed to be innocent bystanders who were attacked. Simms tried that line but wasn't very successful even from the start since the person unknown had used a permanent marker to write "THE RAPIST" across his forehead.

"They took Simms off to the police hospital and me to my own hospital. Sometime during the night after Simms woke up and complained of pain, the doctor gave him an injection -- a widely-used pain-killer. Apparently he had an allergic reaction to it. He died in about an hour, very painfully."

We felt Bob mutter, "Too bad," still without any emotion on his face. His eyes were blazing.

Ana continued, "Simms' autopsy showed three major wounds besides the crushed knee and the pain-killer reaction. First was on his head. It was a blow to his face which had crushed his nose and cheek over a half-inch deep. The police said it was made by a steel-toed work boot.

"The next wound was a bruise entirely around his right wrist. The medical examiner found several of the wrist bones cracked and said the bruise was made by a hand being wrapped around it and squeezing.

"They found prints from Simms' right hand on a long, large knife near where Simms had taken me. The knife had two types of blood on it; one was DNA'd to Steward and was matched as the murder weapon. The police speculate the other blood was from the person unknown since its DNA was neither mine nor Simms and for other reasons.

"The last wound was a massive bruise over Simms' solar plexus. The medical examiner would have ordinarily found such a bruise had been made by a blunt instrument. He said it looked like Simms had been hit with a 20-pound sledge hammer; the sternum was splintered along with several nearby ribs, and there was extensive internal damage.

"However, the examiner found knuckle marks in the bruise and concluded he'd been hit with a fist. By measuring the marks, he theorized both the wrist and the solar plexus bruises were made by the same size hands, one left hand on the wrist and a right hand on the plexus.

"The police never found this person unknown; he simply disappeared after the paramedics and police arrived. The police found some fingerprints on the phone but couldn't match them to anyone.

"And really, they didn't care. They had Simms with DNA matches to three other women, and I'd managed to leave two of my fingernails in his arm."

Ana held out her hands with the fingers curled up. "And I had Simms' skin under the rest of my nails. Rapist and murderer dead through no one's fault, all evidence pointed at him.

"The person unknown has never come forward. There were no injuries reported from the hospitals and doctors within several states around, even though there was plenty of his blood left at the scene. Since the police didn't need him to wrap things up, they simply left it be."

Ana took a deep breath and let it out. "So from then on I've been terrified or at the least afraid of any man but Don. It has been so bad for me I let the fear spill over onto Natalie, and I basically demanded she be around men as little as possible so something like this might not happen to her.

"That's where the no-dating and no extra-curricular activities policy came from. She and I agreed to those awful baggy clothes she wears and her plain hair so she might not appear so attractive."

She smiled a little at Bob. "It appears we weren't very successful, right?"

Bob got out, "That's right; she's beautiful no matter what she wears."

He looked at Ana and said, "Ana, I can only hope someday I can understand some of the pain and fear you've gone through. I'll try to help you in any way I can."