Tax Man Cometh?

1

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t his own. Chris leaned over the bathroom sink to get a closer look at the pimple on his right cheek. He grunted in frustration as the view eluded him. “I hate these stupid glasses!” he shottered—his own made-up word for shouted and muttered. “I’m too near-sighted to see without them, but they’re not strong enough to see with them. It’s like I have a blind spot at the edge of them---what the heck was that?? Jase, did you see that?”

He turned to his roommate Jason who was also getting ready to go out for the evening. He was using the vanity three feet away in the large bathroom they shared at the college dorm suite. “See what, Chris, the giant zit on your face? Yeah, I saw it. Wait till Kaylee gets a load of it; she’ll run away screaming!” He cracked himself up. When his roommate didn’t join in the laughter, Jase stopped. “What happened, Chris? Your glasses playing tricks on your eyes again? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

What Jase observed on Chris’ face next drained all the humor from him. What he had just called “the giant zit” grew visibly, horribly, and overtook his friend’s countenance in pink, pus-and-blood-oozing gore. Chris reached to pop the pulsating pimple, and before Jason could stop him, his fingers pinched it, and his head exploded. Jase screamed as his roommate’s face disintegrated and splattered all over the room, drenching him in the zitty mess.

“JASE!! WHAT ARE YOU SCREAMING ABOUT??” Chris’ voice cut through the vile scene. How could he still talk?? Jason felt bile rising in his throat and he lurched to the commode, raised the cover, and launched his lunch into the water. “Jason?? Jason, are you okay?” How…the voice is echoing…it’s as if he’s still alive..Chris? I can’t look… .

Jason heard Chris calling to him, but he’d seen what happened to his friend’s face. Remembering brought fresh nausea, and he leaned over the toilet bowl again. Up came his breakfast. A wet hand touched his shoulder. He shuddered in revulsion and gagged again. “Get your slimy hand off me!” he shottered through the gag, using Chris’ made-up word. Jason grabbed some toilet paper to wipe his mouth so he could get away from the creature touching him. He stumbled standing up, and his eyes caught sight of Chris. His face was…normal. Wha--???

“Chris? I don’t understand.”

“Jase, are you all right? What made you puke so suddenly, bud? Why were you screaming?” The only difference in Chris’ face that Jason could see was tremendous worry. Two minutes ago he’d been complaining about his glasses, but now he was full of concern for his roommate. “What don’t you understand?”

“I..I…I can’t go out tonight. My head hurts so bad.” Jason didn’t speak after that. Chris called the girls they were scheduled to go out with in a few hours and broke the news to them as gently as he could. He explained that since his roommate had been physically sick, he was going to stay in, too, to make sure he didn’t have the same illness. Though disappointed, they were understanding. He sent his friend Kaylee fifty bucks by Venmo so they could at least get themselves something to eat. Then he turned his attention to finding out what happened to Jase.

2

Jason sat on the couch in the common room. He’d taken a brief shower to freshen up after getting sick, but instead of the jeans he’d had on, he was wearing a tee shirt and pajama bottoms. He was covered by a fleece blanket and was hugging his pillow. Chris provided him a bottle of water, a cup of hot chocolate, and a serving of saltine crackers. The two had been roommates for three years and knew each other well, but the day’s situation had both of them perplexed.

Chris allowed Jase some time to sit quietly and gather his thoughts, but eventually he needed to know what happened. He was about to ask when Jason began to speak. “We were both in the bathroom getting ready for tonight’s date. You’d already gotten all dressed, but you were distracted by the zit on your face. I’d only gotten my jeans on and was getting ready to shave. I was in a great mood, but you were frustrated because your glasses kept getting in the way of your being able to see how big and noticeable your zit is. For the record, Chris, it’s almost impossible to see.”

Jason shifted his legs. “You shottered something about your glasses, and then you seemed surprised by something and asked me if I saw it, too. That’s when all hell broke loose.” He looked at Chris. “What did you see that you asked me about?”

Chris blinked his eyes and tried to recall. “I was looking in the mirror…and just as I was finishing up…Yeah! It was like there was someone or something else in the room with us. It was totally creepy. But it happened so fast I couldn’t tell for sure. Why?”

“Because when I asked you about it, I started by making a joke, but then what freaked me out…” At this point, Jason shuddered when remembering the incident and had to raise a fist to his mouth to stop his gag reflex. “I s-saw you reaching up to pop your zit. I tried to stop you, but everything was in slow motion, and I couldn’t move at all.” His voice became quiet and small. “Your pimple had suddenly grown and taken over your whole face. When you pinched it, it exploded. Your head was gone. The gore covered the bathroom, including me. That’s why I was screaming and threw up. That’s why I freaked out when you put your hand on my shoulder.”

“And when I got your attention, you were still freaked out, huh?” Chris concluded.

“You got it, roomie. I was terrified to look at you. I was so sure I was going to see a monster where my best friend’s face used to be. It messed with my head.”

“Is that what it was? No wonder you were screamin’ and hollerin’ like the devil was after you!” Chris started to laugh at Jason, but when he saw the lingering terror on his friend’s face, he stopped. “Sorry, man. Look, I’m here, all in one piece. I promise. Well, except for that zit. I did pop that. Wanna see?” He turned his head to show Jase.

“No! No! No!” Jase scrambled away from Chris. He was sure that the horror was returning. Chris was laughing again. Why is he laughing? It’s not funny! Jase pulled the blanket over his head and curled into a fetal position.

“Jase! Jase! Jason!!”

Why won’t he leave me alone?? Leave me alone, Chris! Stop chanting my name! Jason pulled the blanket tighter around himself. If he can’t pull the blanket away, he’ll have to leave me alone. He –

Strong hands grabbed him and tried to turn him over. “Jason! Come on, let go!”

How dare he?? Jason twisted away and tightened his grip. You need to let go, Chris. I—I can’t breathe..I can’t—

“JASON, LET GO!! YOU’RE CHOKING YOURSELF!!” Chris roared in his friend’s face, but he couldn’t loosen the death grip Jase held on the blanket. “C’mon, buddy, please let go. You’re turning blue.”

Chris didn’t see any way around it. He took Jason by the feet, pulled him off the couch, and dropped him on the floor. His friend hit so suddenly that his grip on the blanket was loosened, and Chris was able to wrench it free. But Jason wasn’t breathing. Chris dropped to his knees and began CPR compressions. He struggled to find his rhythm until he remembered to sing the BeeGee’s “Stayin’ Alive” in his head. Almost a minute into the song, Jase coughed and began breathing on his own.

3

A month-and-a-half had passed since that scary night in their dorm room, and while Jason and Chris no longer talked about it, it was never far from their minds. When Jason had recovered enough strength they’d gone to the hospital for good measure. There were no apparent aftereffects from the evening’s events, but they both wondered what had transpired and why.

The semester was in full swing and both men were looking forward to spring break. Their respective girlfriends had made it clear that they had girls-only trip planned, so the guys began planning a final tour of historic unsolved murder sites, a hobby of mutual interest they’d discovered as freshman three years earlier.

Their first stop this trip was a motor inn that tried too hard to be swanky without pricing itself out of reach. The website showed classy rooms with great amenities, but the reality was peeling paint, trashy décor, drug dealing dependents of the state living long term in the rooms, and low-key prostitution as men and women came and went from room to room for straight and not so straight hookups.

In a cold case from ten years earlier, an apparently straight man of about 20 years old was slumming off the kindness of a homosexual man in his late twenties. The younger man would sleep in the same room, same bed, as the older man—just sleeping, apparently—for free, although if caught it would have gotten the older man kicked out. From the case files available, Chris and Jason had learned that the younger man took financial advantage of the older man constantly until one day the older man, allegedly, lost his temper and choked the younger man to death. However, the younger man’s body was never found, and no evidence ever linked the older man to the younger man’s disappearance. The rumor is that a large dog may have disposed of the evidence. Another rumor that circulated was that the alleged killer had a lover in law enforcement that took care of the body for him in some way.

At the second stop, Chris became uneasy. “Jason, I’m not sure I wanna keep going with these.”

Jason chuckled. “Come on, Chris. You can’t back out now! We just got started. What’s goin’ on?”

“I can’t put my finger on it, Jase, but, something’s not right. That last one...it was just weird. Do you believe there was nothing going on between those two?”

“You’re not making that point again? How many times do we have to go over the case, Chris? All the files said—”

“All the files said there was nothing there, I know, I know. But what if there was something there? I’m willing to bet something happened between them that the cop walked in on. You can’t tell me that they slept in that same small bed night after night without something going on.”

Jason scratched his head. “I suppose you could be right. But so what if you are? How does that change the situation?

“Don’t you see? If the cop walked in on it, then he’s probably guilty of the murder. And who would be better at covering it up?”

“Yeah. You have a point, but why are you so urgent about this, Chris?”

“Did you see the picture of the cops on the case?”

“Yup. What about them?”

“Do you remember that creepy thing that happened in our apartment about six weeks ago?”

“How could I forget? What do these things have to do with each other, Chris?”

“Remember how I asked you if you saw what I did in the mirror that night, just before all hell broke loose?”

“I remember, Chris. What’s your point?” Jase was losing patience.

“I saw one of those cops close to locking lips with the alleged killer.”

“Where?”

“In the mirror.”

“Here??”

“No, dummy. THAT NIGHT.”

“Oh, come off it, Chris, don’t be ridiculous. You couldn’t possibly—”

“DON’T tell me what I did or didn’t see, Jase. They were close to locking lips, must have realized they were being watched, and when he—the cop—turned and looked at me, he had murder in his eyes. I’m not kidding! It was creepy as hell, Jason. Think about it: You thought I was being killed, right? Then you nearly killed yourself because you thought I was out to get you. We were being haunted by this guy!”

“And you think that this cop from a case we just began looking at this week on our spring break trip, somehow knew we would be figuring out that he was the killer, so he came after us preemptively?? Aw, c’mon, Chris. Have you been smokin’ dope or something?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve looked into this case.” Chris’ voice was small.

“I’m sorry. Say that again?”

Chris sighed. “It’s not the first time I’ve looked into this case. I visited the scene when the murder happened because the victim was a friend of mine. That’s how I got into this ‘hobby’ of ours.

“Are you saying you’ve met this cop?”

“Yes.”

“Well, shit, Chris. It sure would’ve been nice to know these details sooner, don’t ya think? Let me guess: your friend and the alleged killer did have ‘something’ going on? Were you jealous of that? Maybe you’re the killer! Hey, I’ve been rooming with a killer for four years. How about that?”

“No, Jase. No! If they had something going on I would NOT have been jealous. That’s not my thing, all right? I’m not sure it was his thing, either, but it might have been something to do out of boredom. The problem is it might’ve gotten him killed. And yes, I should’ve told you sooner.”

“Geez louise, Chris. Have we been doing all this so you could get this one bad cop??” Jason was fuming. “What the hell have you gotten me into?” He paced the driveway at the second stop. A suspicion popped into his head. “Does this place have something to do with that case?”

“What makes you think that?”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Chris. Yes or no, please.”

Chris sighed. “Yes.”

“So you really did start this whole friggin’ hobby just to get this one killer?? You’ve been lying to me all these years? You sonofabitch!” Jason’s anger boiled over and he lunged for his roommate.

When Jason jumped at Chris, his roommate stumbled back and tripped over a rock at the edge of the driveway. He fell awkwardly and struck his head on the ground. It was enough to shake the fury out of Jase, who rushed to check on his friend. “Chris! Oh my god, Chris! Are you okay?”

Chris sat up and checked himself over. “I’m fine, dude.”

“But you hit your head!”

“Naw, not that hard, anyway. Really, dude, I’m fine.” He waved off Jason’s help and stood up. “Let’s go back to the motel. I’ve had enough for today. I’m hungry and tired.”

Jase agreed. He took the car keys from Chris and drove them to their motel. They weren’t the typical poor college kids, but they lived frugally and had split the cost for a second-rate motel. It was clean, had separate double beds, and standard amenities. On their way, Jase swung through a Wendy’s drive-thru for food. They each ordered a value meal and a salad so they’d have lunch and supper taken care of without having to go out again that day. They discussed the case and decided to spend the afternoon hours doing research online to learn as much as possible about the principal characters involved. Also, Jason wanted to keep an eye on Chris to ensure he was as okay as he’d proclaimed after his fall.

4

Several hours later, Jase realized he’d fallen asleep reading. The victim in the case had been a man named Mark. Mark had been staying with Phillip. Phillip had a record, and he expected Mark to be his transportation to various places around town for free. Mark understood that Phillip didn’t have a job, but he didn’t get why Phillip didn’t get one. Mark was also immature and a hustler and loved to get any money or advantage he could wrangle. Phillip was the same way, apparently, but didn’t like having the tables turned on him, and when Mark took advantage of him, Phillip became agitated and looked for ways to exact revenge.

At the same time, Phillip had broken up with his partner more than a year earlier, and options for a man of his tastes were few and far between in his town. He was almost certain the Mark didn’t bat for his team, but some of the younger guy’s body language confused Phillip, and the many nights of bed sharing got on Phillip’s nerves. It was only a double bed, after all, and though both men were slender and fit, it was still just a double bed.

One day when Phillip was at the grocery store, he went through the self-pay line and ‘forgot’ to pay for one item. He was flustered when the manager confronted him and made him wait for the police to come. The cop that handled the case Officer Arnold. Arnold took an immediate shine to Phillip and wanted to help him avoid jail time. The officer smoothed over the situation with the store manager, got Phillip to sign an agreement to stay out of the store for three months, and then had Phillip sit in the back of the cruiser while ‘handling the paperwork.’ After doing that, Officer Arnold suggested to Phillip that he could establish an arrangement with Phillip to ensure Phillip’s situation wouldn’t end in jail time. Phillip, who was desperate to avoid imprisonment and needed help to stay in his current housing, agreed quickly to whatever the officer had in mind.

The more Jason read, the crazier the story became. Officer Arnold was apparently the same age as Phillip, and already had two or three run-ins with Mark. He warned Phillip to kick Mark out as soon as possible because of the younger man’s reputation, but Phillip was unassertive. In the meantime, Arnold and Phillip began talking and getting to know each other, but they did not begin a physical relationship. They didn’t meet at Phil’s place very often, but Officer Arnold knew the motel from various calls he’d responded to there.

Apparently, the emotional intimacy he had with Arnold drove Phillip to greater need of physical relationship, because sometime after the officer told him to make Mark move out, Phillip and Mark began a physical fling. Their months of bed sharing stopped being platonic. Phillip insisted later that Mark had made the first move, and after two or three intimate times together, according to the older man, Mark had “flipped out” and “started hitting me, and accusing me of ‘making him gay.’”

One way or another, it was believed that Mark was murdered by Phillip and/or Officer Arnold and fed to a dog. It was gruesome.

When Jase woke up from reading, Chris was nowhere to be found, but a note was left on his bed. “Got a lead about the dog and Officer Arnold. You were passed out cold and I couldn’t wake you. Back later. ~Chris”

Jase shook the cobwebs from his brain. What is Chris doing? He went to the window and looked to the parking lot; their car was gone. He grabbed his sneakers and was just tying them when he heard the key in the lock. The door opened, and Chris entered the room, his face covered in blood.

“Oh my god, Chris. What happened?” Jase jumped up and pulled Chris along to the bathroom, sat his friend on the edge of the tub, and warmed the water in the sink to wash his face. When the temperature was comfortable, Jason prepared a washcloth and gently cleaned up Chris’ face, removing the bloodstains and revealing the cuts and bruises. Then he gave him a cup of cool water to sip and asked again, “What happened?”

Chris finally answered, “You fell asleep reading reports. I was online looking for information about the victim, Phillip, and the cop. I saw a social media post from this week about the cop and the dog, so I went to learn more about them. It turns out that the dog in the case belonged to Phillip, but the cop had taken a gentle, fun-loving dog and retrained it to attack, maim, and kill. Phillip wasn’t even aware that Arnold had done that. He just thought that Arnold was taking care of the dog so Phillip could get some life tasks done to prepare to move to an apartment. Anyway, the dog I met today was gentle and sweet and was giving me kisses and so wonderful until it heard something that turned it angry. What you see on my face is the result.”

“So, you’re saying the dog was trained to be good and then switch to evil?”

“Yes. In a heartbeat.”

“It’s possible, then, that the dog killed Mark.”

“And Phillip.”

“What??”

Chris nodded. “Yeah. Phillip’s dead now, too.”

“Since when??” Jace was bewildered by this change in the mystery. “By whom?”

His friend shrugged. “I’m assuming by whomever killed Mark. But listen, I need a shower. Do you mind?”

“Oh, no, not at all. When you get done, I’ll take one, too. It’s been a long day. I could use the refreshment.” Jason left the bathroom so his friend could get cleaned up.

Thirty minutes later, Chris left the bathroom. He was wrapped in a towel. “I’ll finish after you’ve had your shower. Just like our days in the dorm.” He smiled wanly.

Jason was still worried about him when he entered the bathroom. Chris just didn’t seem like himself. He shrugged and stripped for the shower. The water was hot and soothing. As he soaked in the heat and lathered up, he thought he heard a low growl outside the door, but he dismissed it as a ghoulish phantom. He’d brought his phone into the bathroom with him and turned-on music. It hadn’t gotten loud enough to hear before that odd sound occurred, but moments later, the tunes drowned out all else and Jase settled in for a relaxing water massage. By the time he was cleansed, he felt like a new man. He reached for a towel.

He was handed one.

5

“What the hell?? What are you doing in here??” Jase groped for something with which to defend himself, but he was naked, and the motel bathroom had nothing for him.

“Jase. Sounds like ‘Chase.’ You should have left us alone, Jase. Why did you come for us? Why didn’t you mind your own business, Jase??” The guttural growl drove shivers up and down his spine.

“Us?? Where’s Chris? What have you done with Chris?” Jason was aware that his voice was becoming shrill, but he didn’t care.

“We are Chris. We are Phillip. We are Arnold. We are Christopher Phillip Arnold, Jase. We are one and the same, Jase. You solved it, Jason. You cannot remain, Jase.” There was another growl, not from the terrifying man in from of him. “You hear my friend? You hear her? She’ll be here soon. For you, Jase. Just for you!”

Jason’s eyes darted to and fro, but there was nothing. No hope. No defense.

“Stinker, COME!”

Immediately, a beautiful dog entered the bathroom. Jason’s first thought was, “How could a dog like that be a killer?”

“Ah, so you see it, do you? How could she be a killer? How could she become the killer in the mirror? Like I became what I saw in the mirror..You see one and not the other; then you see the other and not the one. We become both. Both good and evil. Knowing both. Committing both. It’s your turn, Jase. Say good-bye. Stinker, phantasm commence!”

--Hilltop News

March 30, 2023

By Hilltop Staff

State Police were called to the County Motel this morning when two half-digested adult males were discovered in one of the rooms, along with a deceased canine. According to reports, one of the men is Christopher Phillip Arnold, former police officer and suspected killer from the Seaside Motel Murders several years ago. Allegedly, the canine was part of the murder scheme at Seaside and may have participated in last night’s deaths, too. More details will follow as they emerge. The other victim was not identified.