“Jane you can’t take the case” my mother sighed on the other end of the phone, “I know I shouldn’t but something is off and you know once I get a smell of some funny business I have to uncover the truth” I heard her stifle a laugh, “you’re a great lawyer but this case is bad. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence. And what she claims she wasn’t aware of her actions?” I sighed rubbing my temples, the biggest case of my life just landed on my doorstep. Literally there was an envelope sent to me from my client. I had just won a big lawsuit against a company that was dumping chemicals into our drinking water. When I became a lawyer I vowed to only fight for the good people, but now I was stuck between what I thought was good and bad. “Mom, her letter really shed light onto this case, I can’t let an innocent woman go to jail. I think something is going on and I’m going to uncover the truth.” “I know Jane but..” was all I heard before the news caught my eye I saw my photo under the headline, ‘Good Lawyer turned bad’ grabbing the remote and turning up the t.v. allowed me to catch the last bit of the segment.
“I don’t know Dave. I think fame and money can make anyone change.” “You make a great point Beth, but we’re talking about a lawyer who does pro bono work for anyone who can’t afford the fees. I think there is more to the story.” The anchor looked at the camera before continuing, “Dave the evidence is there. Helen mur..” I couldn’t hear anymore, watching this could jeopardize the case. I have to hear it first hand from my client. Before I knew it I was heading to the prison. I pulled up to the guard station, “Drivers License please” after handing him my license he took it into the station, after a few minutes he walked back with a badge. “Alright Ms. Hanson go straight until you hit the stop sign, then you’ll take a left.” “Thank you” and with that I was heading through the gate.
After I found a spot to park and heading inside I was greeted with another gate, after passing through 3 gates, getting checked twice and receiving a new badge I was finally let through. The prison warden was waiting for me, he looked to be about my age and was definitely easy on the eyes. I felt myself blush as he took my hand, “Jane Hanson it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, I’m Dr. Steven Thomas, but feel free to call me Steve or Steven.” “Okay Steve it is. So where is my client?” His hand seemed to linger for a moment before dropping to his side, “right this way” and with that we set off. We made small talk until we finally stopped in front of a door, “we set her up in this room so you can have a confidential meeting, can I get you anything before you head in?” “Water would be great, thanks” “You got it, I’ll knock on the door when I’m back.” He gave me a sweet smile and headed off in the opposite direction.
I felt my hands shaking as I was about to grab the door handle, taking a few breaths I readied myself and opened the door. Sat in front of me was my client 78 year old Helen Smith, her age was just one of the bizarre things about this case. She was shackled to her chair, with handcuffs on, along with the ties that bound her to the chair. There was one guard in the corner, “excuse me, is this really necessary?” “Yes ma’am, this is an inmate under strict rules.” “Well can you at least take off her handcuffs, I think the fact she’s shackled and bound to the chair will be enough.” He moved to her handcuffs and took them off, “Thank you miss” “Call me Jane”
She gave me a sweet smile, how is this my client? She looks like she just came out of a Betty Crocker commercial. Helen had a white bob, with brown eyes giving her an innocent look. Although she was 78 she looked as if she could be 50. She had a hint of an accent I couldn’t quite place. “Okay Helen lets get down to business, the prosecution is calling for the death penalty. Although you’re not from Texas the crime was committed in St. Petersburg, and we have to abide by the laws. The state is calling for either the firing squad or electrocution. The DA will take the death penalty off the table if you plead guilty, and list the location and name of the remaining cult members.” She sat silent for a moment, “Jane I’m sorry I can’t, I don’t remember anything after going to the grocery store, and then I was being arrested. You have to help me. I didn’t do this.”
I have had my fair share of clients but nothing like this, and after going against huge companies; I knew she wasn’t lying. “Okay Helen can you walk me through what you remember, starting from when you first woke up on June 10th.” Before she could begin we heard a knock, I heard the door open and before I could turn to greet him I saw Helen tense. It was the slightest movement, but I swear this wasn’t something I imagined. “One water for Jane” as he was giving me the water our fingers brushed, I felt something electric in that moment and it was as if he felt it too. We locked eyes for a brief moment, “alright well I’ll leave you to it. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.” After the door shut we were alone once again.
“Helen is everything okay? Are they treating you okay?” “Considering the circumstances, yes.” “Okay I’m going to turn the recording device on before you begin, do I have your consent.” “Yes” I pulled out the recorder and placed it on the table, “Today is July 1’st 2022, my name is Jane Hanson and I am representing Mrs. Helen Smith, she is on trial for the murder of the Lint’s, Varon’s, and Dawson’s.” I took a deep breath, “okay Helen whenever you’re ready.”
“I have lived in St. Petersburg for the past 3 years in the safest neighborhood in the whole state. Nothing ever happened in St. Petersburg let alone Robins Peak. Robins Peak is a gated community and parents have no worries when their young children play outside unattended. On my left lived the Dawson’s, it was a single mom and her two boys. Jessa, Micky, and Mike. The boys were so sweet, I would bake them sweets and they would help with yard work around the house. To my right lived the Lint’s, Tommy and Lisa. Lisa is.. I mean was 5 months pregnant.” She stopped taking a shaky breath, “it’s okay Helen, lets keep going” “Okay, I didn’t talk to them as much they were both busy getting ready for the baby and working full-time. And the Varon’s lived directly across the street from me. James, Hillary, Sam, Ben, and Louise. Louise had just turned 2 a few days before the um..incident.” She couldn’t keep the tears in and they began to wet the table. I grabbed a pack of tissues from my purse, and slid them over. “Thank you Jane.”
“June 10th started out like any other day, I woke up at 8:30 AM, after getting my slippers I made my way into the bathroom, and started the shower. While I let that heat up I walked back into my bedroom and got out my clothes to change into after. I took my shower and got dressed before heading down to the kitchen. I had noticed there was another painting on my window, so I” “Wait Helen sorry to interrupt, another painting?” She seemed to look confused, “did they not tell you about the reports I filed?” “No I was not aware of this” I felt a sick sensation, why are things about my client being kept from me? “I had filed 4 police reports before the June 10th incident” I looked to the guard, “Call the warden down here immediately” After the guard got onto his walkie talkie, we waited. After a few moments Steve popped his head into the room, “Jane is there something I can do for you?” “Can we talk for a moment, privately.” “Of course follow me” After walking down the hallway and up some stairs we were in his office.
“Steven why wasn’t I aware of the police reports Helen filed?” He sat for a moment, his fingers tapping against the table, “what do you mean? You should have access to all of her information.” “Well it seems that I don’t, I need a copy of the reports immediately” “Jane you know those things take time, I can get them to you by the end of the week.” “No Steven you can’t, you’ll get those to me right now.” I felt confident, I wasn’t backing down. I watched as something sinister yet lustful flashed across his features. Quickly replacing it with his signature smile, “of course anything else I can do for you?” “No that’ll be all,” I returned to the conference room and found Helen waiting for me, “I’m getting those reports but can you tell me about each one?” “The first report was filed May 28th. I was taking a walk through the national forest outside of town, my usual route had been closed due to flooding so I decided to be adventurous.
I was walking when I heard something scream, it wasn’t human that’s for sure. I heard more screeching and I knew there was an animal in trouble. I blindly began to run through dense underbrush before coming out in a semi open area. I saw a group of young people, they were in a circle around the stump of what I assumed was either a tree that had fallen or been cut down. I heard them chant something in a different language, a large knife was brought up into the air and down onto what I thought was the stump, I heard the screech again. I watched as they began to struggle before I saw something with fur jump from the stump running around crazily. I quickly realized it was a dog, but the dog’s head was barely hanging on and after a few seconds it died. I realized they were decapitating the dog, and I couldn’t stop the blood curdling scream that erupted from my mouth. Every set of eyes turned to me, and something looked wrong. Their eyes were white as if they had been dead for years and they were painted with symbols far before our time.
I turned and ran as fast as I could, I was sure they would be right behind me ready to pounce. It wasn’t until I was back in my car that I knew I was safe, at least I thought I was.” At this point I could tell she was scared, “I called the police and they came out and did a search, they found nothing and thought I was just making a big deal out of nothing. On June 1’st I went to my grandson’s baseball game. He was staying with me that night. After stopping for dinner we made it home, I think it was just after 10:30. As we walked up to the door I stepped on something. When I looked down I realized it was the head of the dog from the park, screaming I grabbed my grandson and rushed back to the car.
Luckily he didn’t see anything, but I was terrified. I called the police after we had driven away from my house. I waited until they called me, there was no dog head, no blood, and no evidence either. That night I couldn’t sleep, I felt like I had been cursed. Every noise caused me to jump, I felt like I had to watch Silas. I couldn’t lose him.” My heart was breaking for her, I waited for her to continue. “June 3rd would be the next incident, I had gone grocery shopping and the store was packed. I had to park in the very back, after doing my shopping I came out to my car. I saw there was something red smeared on my back windows, in the smears I saw writing.” “Helen what did the writing say?” “It said ‘you’re next’ and a picture of a decapitated dog was below the writing. I threw my items into my car and drove straight to the police station. Finally I had proof, an officer looked at my car and began to laugh. I thought I had officially gone crazy, I asked why he was laughing and the officer replied “ma’am you’ll have to do better than that.” He took his finger and dragged it through what I now know is ketchup. I didn’t even care to make an official report. I just got into my car and drove home.” She said before sighing and running her hands through her hair.
“The 4th report was filed on June 6th, I woke up for some reason in the middle of the night. I was laying on my side facing the alarm clock and saw the time was 2:58 AM. I went to readjust myself when I realized I couldn’t move. It felt as if I was paralyzed. The only thing I could move was my eyes, it took me a minute but I finally adjusted to the darkness, and that’s when I noticed it.” “It?” I asked, she nodded her head. “I could tell there was someone standing in the corner, I tried to scream but my mouth wouldn’t move. I watched as it slowly moved to the floor, with the small bit of moonlight I watched as it crawled towards me. If it wasn’t for the fact I couldn’t move I would have been frozen in fear. I realized I had lost it and just chalked it up to my imagination. It wasn’t until I was slowly rolled onto my back that I realized it wasn’t made up. Once on my back I stared up into darkness, there was no light where this thing was. There were no features, it was a shadow of what I assumed to be a man.”
“Then I felt it, whatever this thing was, it uh” “It’s okay Helen take your time” “It proceeded to consummate with me, as soon as I felt it enter me my entire body was on fire. It felt as if I was being burnt alive, I was unable to move. My screams were horribly muffled, after what seemed like hours it stopped, and within seconds it was gone. I felt my body jolt up and I saw the time, 3:01 AM. I couldn’t believe it had only been minutes, I made a police report but nothing was ever done. The gossip spread everywhere and I had officially been branded a lunatic. Outside of my family, no one would speak to me or even talk to me. I lost all of my friends but the three families mentioned before were the only ones who didn’t turn their backs on me. I felt as if I had gained daughters, sons, and grandchildren, between all of them.
“Okay Helen, can you walk me through the June 10th incident starting where we left off” “Can we do this another day I’m quite tired you see” “Of course Helen, same time tomorrow?” “Yep Jane, thank you again” she pulled me into a warm hug, but what she whispered in my ear caused a chill to course through me, “be careful, I know they’re watching you” she pulled back giving me a smile and waited for the guard to cuff her once again. It wasn’t until I got to my car that I broke down, I’m not sure why but I felt as if something was horribly wrong here. I saw something dark and shadowy out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked I was all alone.
That night I dreamt of rituals and shadows, I was too afraid to go back to sleep so I pulled out Helen’s case. As I was looking over the notes I heard my computer chime, the subject line stated ‘autopsy photos, warning graphic’ I continued to read the email.
Jane,
I have attached the autopsy photos and cause of death for each victim below. Just a fair warning: the photos are graphic, but the prosecution will be using these in court. Proceed with caution.
Best wishes,
Dr. Jim Atkins
I sat for a few moments preparing myself for something I won’t soon forget. My heart beat as I downloaded the secure zip containing 3 folders; Dawson’s, Lint’s, Varon’s. I clicked on the Dawson’s. Inside the folder contained 3 more folders with names. Jessa Dawson - 38 F, Micky Dawson - 10 M, Mike Dawson - 8 M. Clicking on Jessa’s folder pulled up an array of photos, and a few documents. Clicking through the photos caused my stomach to churn, Jesus. And this was only the first folder. I clicked the document stating her cause of death and other injuries. Cause of death for the victim was suffocation. She had somehow been hung up by Micky’s intestines. Carved into the sole of her left foot were the initials H.S., she sustained a skull fracture from a severe beating, we believe the object used was something heavy and wooden; wood splinters broke off of the object and were lodged into her brain. She is missing her lungs, left eye, and entire lower jaw. I felt sick, I swallowed the bile that had begun to rise in my throat and moved on.
Bracing myself I opened the next folder, Micky’s was even worse. I had to step away from the computer and brace myself, after a few moments I clicked on the document. Cause of death for the victim was major blood loss. It seemed as if the victim was still alive when his intestines had been removed, along with his intestines he was missing his heart and liver. His scalp had been switched with his brothers and sewn back on. Thinking back, I couldn’t believe the sweet old lady that had been sitting across from me committed such heinous acts. And finally the last folder, after the photos loaded my stomach once again dropped, I clicked on the document. Cause of death for the victim was blunt force trauma, his face had been caved in by a Louisville Viper. We know the exact bat due to the horrific beating leaving a partial imprint of the brand on his brain. He is not missing any organs, but we were unable to locate his hands.
How can I stomach anymore of this?