Chapter 18
The next day Cooper was dejected and sad so he got up and went into town to talk to Ashley. When he got there he told her what had happened to the dogs and told her that he'd found the guys camped out in the desert and killed them. Ashley was numb to all the bad things that Cooper had done and told her about. It didn't seem to faze her when he told her about killing the two young bikers out in the desert. She seemed more upset that Cooper had lost Skeeter and Samson than anything.
He spent the next several days going back and forth to see Ashley and spending time with her. It was during one of his visits that she told him about other campers finding the two biker's bodies that he killed out in the desert. She said, "The Ridgecrest coroner's office found dog teeth marks on one of the guys and he thought that was a little strange, considering how they had been run over several times and killed by a pick-up truck.
The coroner called in the chief of police in and told him what he'd found on all the bodies of the people that had recently been killed around the Red Mountain area. He told the Chief that all the bodies had evidence of large dog teeth marks on them. Even the ones that had been burned had teeth marks that were indented into their bones. He told him that he believed the guy that had been killing all the people around there used a big dog or dogs to help him capture and kill his victims.
The following day the Chief called the Sherriff Department and told the Sherriff what the coroner had found. He told him he needed to let all his deputies know and to be on the lookout for anyone traveling around with a large dog or dogs.
When Deputy Richard Gilbert heard the news about the big dogs he immediately went to his boss and told him about the young guy he'd talked to in the desert several weeks earlier. He told his boss that the young guy was probably still in his teens, and he had two huge dogs with him. "I never thought too much about it because he was such a nice kid. He was at the old Shack out in the desert where Charles Staples kept the young girl captive for several years. He said he was from Ridgecrest and was just getting water for his dogs when I saw him. I think we need to check around Ridgecrest and see if we can find him and his dogs."
The Ridgecrest police put out an alert for a white male driving a pick-up and carrying large dogs with him. They spent the next few weeks stopping every pick-up that came through town that had a large dog traveling with them.
After a few weeks and no luck, Deputy Gilbert went back to his boss and said, "Why don't I take a couple of men with me and we can go out to that old shack in the desert and see if we spot anything. Maybe that kid was staying there. We can check it out and see if he is." His boss said they had nothing to lose so they might as well give it a shot. Deputy Gilbert took two deputies with him and it wasn't long before they were on the little dirt road heading to the old shack.
When they got there Cooper was still in town with Ashley so they slowly got out and started looking around the place. They had their weapons drawn, but soon found the old shack was empty. They believed that someone had been living there from the looks of the place, but he was nowhere to be found. They found what they believed to be a freshly dug grave and the pit full of rattlesnakes out back. Deputy Gilbert starting thinking about how Frank Townsend was bitten all over his body by snakes and dumped at his house. Now he believed he found the pit full of snakes the killer used for him.
Deputy Gilbert called his office and gave his boss the news. He said, "We think someone has been living out here boss. He's not here right now, but you need to send a forensic team out here to dig someone or something up. We found a fresh grave and who knows what's in it. We also found a pit full of rattlesnakes and I think it's the pit where Frank Townsend got all his bites."
It wasn't long and the entire area was crawling with the local police and people from the Sherriff department. They soon had Skeeter and Samson dug up and laying under a sheet. They were doing fingerprints of the house, but they weren't going to get any that would help them in their investigation because Coopers prints weren't on any police files.
Later that day after Cooper was through visiting with Ashley he drove back toward the road that led to the shack. Just before he turned into the road two police vehicles with their lights on had turned onto the dirt road and headed toward the shack. Cooper then realized they had somehow figured out where he was living. He kept going straight and headed back to Red Mountain. When he got to the ravine he drove down and hid out for the rest of the night.
The next day Cooper knew he couldn't stay camped out in the ravine forever. He had to have a place where he could sleep at night. He decided he would go check out his Uncle Tuckers old house and see if anyone was living in it.
Once it was dark enough he took Charley's truck and headed into Randsburg. He drove by his Uncle Tucker's old house and found that it was still empty, but it did have a "For Sale," sign out front. He drove the old pick-up down by "The Joint" and parked it in a secluded spot. He walked back to Tucker's house and found a rock and broke a window in the back of the house. He then climbed in and quickly made himself at home. The water and electricity was still turned on so he was able to stay there during the nights. He was careful not to turn any lights on to bring any attention to himself. He figured he would go back to the ravine during the day and just hang out there and then come back to the house at night and sleep.
He stayed at the house every night and then went back to the ravine during the day and continued to do that for about two months. He kept moving the pick-up from place to place so people wouldn't get suspicious. He broke into a few houses around town at night and was able to steal enough food to take care of himself during that time. He also drove to Ridgecrest and visited with Ashley ever chance he could.
His money was starting to get a little low because most of what he had left was hidden in the Mason jar in the secret hiding place at the old shack. He decided he had to go back there and try to see if he could get the money. He figured it had been long enough and law enforcement agencies had probably given up on him ever going back there again.
That night when he got to the shack he drove around it to see if there were any vehicles around. Not seeing any, he parked around back, like he always did. He took off the little door to the back and slowly went inside. He quickly went over to the spot where he'd hidden the money and he was relieved that it was still right where he'd left it.
He took the jar and sat down on the couch. He'd only been there a few minutes when he heard a megaphone from out in front. It was Deputy Gilbert, "We have the place surrounded so you might as well come out now. If you don't then we'll come in and get you." Cooper figured he was bluffing because he hadn't seen or heard any vehicles drive up. Deputy Gilbert was bluffing because he was alone and his truck was parked a little ways away from the shack. He had hiked back to a spot near the shack and was hiding and waiting to see if anyone would show up.
When Cooper heard him say the place was surrounded he kept real low and quickly ran out to the pick-up and grabbed the five gallon can of gas he carried as a spare from the bed of the truck. He took it back inside the shack and poured the gasoline throughout the inside. He grabbed the jar of money and went through the back door opening. On his way out he lit a match and the little shack instantly went up in flames.
He quickly jumped in his truck and took off through the desert. Deputy Gilbert was firing his gun at the vehicle as Cooper sped away. By the time he got to his vehicle Cooper was a long distance away from him out in the desert. He tried to pursue Cooper, but finally got his vehicle caught up on some large rocks during the chase.
Cooper had spent enough time out in the desert that he'd found another route back to Red Mountain without taking the little dirt road. It was a lot slower and tricky in some places, but it was another way out of that part of the desert. By heading west from the shack and then cutting around the bottom of the mountain he could get back onto highway 395. I
t was a little harder to find at night, but he was able to make it back without getting caught by the law.
He drove his pick-up down into the ravine and exchanged it for Charley's truck. He then went back to Randsburg and his Uncle Tucker's house and tried to relax. He had the money he needed, but he was thinking about how close he had come to getting caught. He was feeling lucky that they didn't capture or kill him. He also felt a little lost that he could never go back to the old shack that had given him and the dogs so much security and protection.
The next day he decided he was going to go into Ridgecrest and talk to Ashley and see if she had any ideas for him. He wanted to tell her that the shack was now gone, that he burned it to the ground.
While he was traveling along the main road toward Ridgecrest a California Highway Patrol officer pulled in behind him. He was only a few miles from Ridgecrest when the patrolman put his lights on Cooper's truck. Cooper said, "Oh man! I don't have a gun or anything to protect myself!" He pulled his pick-up off the side of the road as the officer pulled in right behind him. He was saying to himself, "Ok Cooper, Just keep your cool and see what this guy wants."
As the officer got out of his vehicle Cooper looked at him from his driver side mirror. He thought the officer looked like he might have been with the force for a while, because he was in his mid forties and a little over weight. He figured he could get away from him if they got into a fight.
When he walked up to the pick-up he had his book out like he was going to give Cooper a ticket. He said, "Hey son, can I have your license and registration please?" Cooper thought, "Man, I'm dead, I don't have either of those things he's asking for." He said in a deep accented southern drawl, "I'm sorry officer, this ain't my truck, it belongs to my dad and I don't know where the registration is. We just got here from Tennessee and someone broke into our truck on our way her and stole my wallet with my driver's license and everything. I haven't even had a chance to get a new one from the D.M.V. yet."
The officer said, "Did you know the license tags have expired on your truck? That's why I pulled you over." Cooper said, "No I didn't know that officer, like I said, it's my dad's truck and he takes care of those things." The officer said, "I'm going to give you a fix-it ticket and you'll have thirty days to get your tags and license squared away." He then asked Cooper for his name and address and Cooper quickly gave the officer the name of Cooper King and his Uncle Tucker's address in Randsburg.
Everything seemed to be working out fine until the officer started to walk back to his vehicle and a call came in from the radio dispatch. Cooper had already jumped out of the truck and was walking back behind the officer when it came in. The person on the other end of the call said, "The person driving the vehicle is a suspect in the murders around Red Mountain and he needs to be apprehended. All Cooper heard was that he needed to be apprehended. As soon as he heard those words he ran as hard as he could toward the officer. By then he'd already started to pull his gun out when Cooper hit him like a football lineman tackling a running back. He knocked the officer to the ground and when he did that he grabbed the officer's gun from him.
While he was lying beside his patrol car Cooper shot the officer three times from a short distance. Two of the bullets were to the chest and one hit him in the shoulder. He tucked the gun in his belt and then ran and jumped back in his pick-up and headed straight to Ashley's house. The officer he shot was wearing a vest and the two bullets to the chest just temporarily stunned him. The other one ripped a hole in his shoulder.
After a few minutes he was able to get back on his feet and radioed for back-up. He gave the description of the truck that Cooper was driving and what he looked like. Just as Cooper got to Ridgecrest and turned off on Ashley's road two police cars came speeding by the street going in the opposite direction to help the wounded policeman.
When he got to Ashley's house he went running up to her door beating on it wildly. Ashley heard the commotion and came running to see what was going on. When she saw that it was Cooper, she quickly let him in. He was breathing hard and talking loud as he told her he had just killed a highway patrolman. She tried to get him to calm down enough so she could talk to him. After talking for a few minutes he was gradually starting to get control of himself.
Ashley's mom and dad had been in the other room when Cooper first came in. Ashley's mom heard him say that he had killed a highway patrolman and she immediately ran to the phone in the kitchen and called the local police. While she was calling Ashley's dad went to the vault where his wife kept her weapons and grabbed a 45 pistol. He loaded it and took it with him as he ran into the room where Cooper and Ashley were standing. He stood there with his feet apart and the gun aimed in Cooper's direction.
Cooper froze and pointed the highway patrolman's gun at Ashley's dad. Her dad said in a somewhat slurred speech, "Is this the guy that kidnapped you Ashley? Is he the one that raped you all those years? If he's the one then I'm going to kill him." Ashley went over to her dad and calmly tried to talk to him and tell him that Cooper was the one that had saved her not the one that had hurt her. Cooper had the gun ready to fire as he yelled, "Tell your dad to put down the gun Ashley, or I'm going to kill him! You need to move away from him Ashley!"
Ashley then told Cooper that her dad was supposed to be watching her the day she was abducted, but he got a phone call and went into the house to talk to someone. When he came back out to check on her, she was gone. He blamed himself for her disappearance and one day, not too long after she was abducted, he put a gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. It didn't kill him, but it left him with brain damage. "He doesn't live here most of the time; he's in a convalescent home. They just let him come visit once and a while." Cooper always wondered why he'd never met her dad and why Ashley didn't talk about him. Now he understood why.
Ashley pleaded, "He doesn't understand a lot of things Cooper, he gets them mixed up. Just put down the gun because I don't want you to kill my dad." Cooper held the gun steady, "I can't do that Ashley, what if he decides to shoot me once I put it down?" She said, "Just let me try and talk to him and see if I can get him to give me the gun. He isn't even supposed to have a gun. I don't know where he got it. It must be my mom's."
Ashley tried to get her dad to put the gun down, but he wouldn't. He said to her again that if that was the guy that kidnapped her then he was going to shoot him. She told him that Cooper wasn't the guy. She told him once again that she had killed the old man that did that to her. Not understanding exactly what she was trying to tell him, he thought she wanted him to kill Cooper so he fired one wild round at him. It didn't hit him, but Cooper wasn't sure if he was going to try it again. He ducked down and told Ashley she needed to get the gun or he was going to put a bullet in her dad. At about that same time the police sirens could be heard coming in their direction. Cooper quickly went to the window to look out and see what was happening. When he did that Ashley took the gun away from her dad and put it behind her back. She then went over to Cooper and tried to talk to him.
Cooper was starting to panic as she put her arms around him to try and calm him down. He didn't know she had the gun in her hand. While she was hugging him, she looked up at him and told him she loved him as she kissed him. She then quickly put the gun to his heart and pulled the trigger. She held him there for a brief moment while he was dying, her eyes unseeing and her voice flat and cold as she said, "I had to draw the line there Cooper, I couldn't let you kill my dad. I know you understand. I'm sorry."
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Special Thanks
I would like to give a special thanks to my daughter, Danielle Nicole Derby Carter, for helping me with the computer work on this book. She also designed and made the cover of the book.
I would like to give a huge thanks to my sister, Sharon Duvall, for her help in giving me ideas and editing the book. I am grateful for her help.
***
Sources
of Information
Wikipedia - The free Encyclopedia
***
Twenty One Months
From the Darkness of my Mind
The American Terrorist: A Grandfather’s Revenge
The American Terrorist: The Revenge Continues
Unearthly Realms
Night Crawlers (the original story)
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