Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [133]
Fifteen minutes later, as she paused outside the half-closed door of room 107, she heard Tyler Owens speaking softly to his mother.
“I have to go now, Mother. You get a good night’s rest and I’ll be back in a few days to see you. If you need anything, anything at all, just do your best to let someone here know and I’ll see to it that you have it.”
Terri moaned again and again, trying her best to speak.
Lila started to open the door fully and go into the room. But just as her hand touched the door to give it a gentle shove, she saw Tyler reach inside his shirt pocket and remove a newspaper clipping.
“Here it is, as promised,” he told her as he placed the folded clipping into her left hand, the hand unaffected by her recent stroke.
Lila pushed open the door and entered the room. “I’m here to check on Miss Terri before I leave for the evening.”
“Please, Lila, come on in,” Tyler said. “I was just on my way out.” He leaned over and kissed his mother’s forehead.
Sitting perfectly still, no emotion showing on her slightly warped face, Terri gripped the newspaper clipping tightly in her good hand as her son walked past Lila and out of the room.
“Want me to put that away for you?” Lila asked as she paused at Terri’s bedside and held out her hand.
Terri shook her head.
“Is it something you would like for me to read to you?”
Again, Terri shook her head.
“All right, then, is there anything you need before I say good night? Juice? Water? Help going to the bathroom? Another blanket?” She patted the cotton blanket lying across Terri’s legs.
Terri nodded, unfolded her hand and shook the newspaper clipping as if it were a salt shaker. And all the while she kept mumbling, “Mu…mu…mu…”
“It’s something about the newspaper clipping Mr. Tyler brought you?”
Terri nodded again and held up the clipping.
Lila took the clipping from her. The heading read: MIDNIGHT KILLER SLAYS 4TH VICTIM. Lila scanned the brief article. Shontee Thomas had been shot and killed in her fiancé’s Atlanta nightclub. The victim was a former porno star, the fourth one murdered since January. All four murders were believed to be the work of a serial killer dubbed the Midnight Killer by the press because the four victims had all starred in the movie titled Midnight Masquerade.
“Merciful heavens,” Lila said. “Why on earth would Mr. Tyler bring this to you?”
Terri patted her chest with her left hand, the gesture speaking for her.
“You’re trying to tell me that you knew these people, aren’t you?”
Terri nodded and again tried to speak, but without success. She then reached over and slapped at the drawer in her bedside table.
“You want me to open the drawer?” Lila asked.
Terri nodded.
Lila opened the drawer and there beneath a silver mirror and brush and comb set lay several other newspaper clippings. Lila eased them out of the drawer and hurriedly skimmed each article. They were all about victims of the same serial killer.
When Lila looked at her again, Terri patted her chest.
“Oh, sweet Jesus. You’re trying to tell me that you were in that movie?”
Terri nodded as tears misted her eyes.
Lila laid aside the clippings and grasped Terri’s hand. “I don’t understand why Mr. Tyler brought you these. He told the staff, of course, about the killer and that you were in the same movie as the victims. But we assumed you were to be kept in the dark so you wouldn’t worry. We immediately tightened security to make sure you’re kept as safe as possible. I don’t know why Mr. Tyler…” Lila huffed. “There was no reason for you to know, no reason for you to worry.”
Terri frowned and shook her head frantically.
“If you’re concerned about that crazy man getting in here, don’t be. You’re well protected here, Miss Terri.”
A lone tear escaped her left eye and trickled down her cheek. She tried again to speak, but when all that came out was a mumble of moans and groans, she pulled her hand out of Lila’s, laid