An Evil Shadow by A. J. Davidson

I seized
the axe and ran outside. I climbed to my secret place as my mother had
instructed me to do.”
    “Did you tell all this to your attorney?”
    “No. Wells wouldn’t have believed me.”
    Val pulled a crumpled tissue from the pocket of his
robe and handed it to her. “It’s not an attorney’s job to make judgments.”
    Duval dabbed at her eyes, then scrunched the tissue
into a tight ball in her hand. “I know that now. I don’t blame Wells. He was
very gentle and patient when he broke the news that I was about to be arrested
for murder. Explained what evidence was and that the police had already
collected enough to make a case against me. When he asked if anyone else had
been in the room, I didn’t give him an answer. He admitted that it looked
pretty black for me, but he couldn’t begin to understand what was going through
my head. All I wanted was for the police to leave me alone. I thought they
would if I told them what they wanted to hear.”
    “What made you have my brother offer me a job?”
    “I’m fond of him and Angie; they’re good people. They
both said that as a cop you were so straight, you would have made a flagpole
look crooked. Angie told me about how you had resigned from the police
department. I was intrigued and pumped her for more information. Then I heard
about the campus police chief having a stroke and I thought it was too good an
opportunity to pass up.”
    “Who the hell for?” Val asked, more perplexed than
ever.
    Duval took another deep breath. “I need a white
knight. The man I saw kill my mother has resurfaced and has been following me.
I saw him in a car outside my apartment and again near the restaurant where I
work. The first time I thought I was imagining things, but the second time
proved it. Since then, I’ve been making it hard for him. Left my job and have
been sleeping at friends’ apartments, but once I start university, he’ll know
where to find me. Will you be my white knight?”
    “Go to the police department.”
    Her moisture-filled eyes fixed on Val. “They wouldn’t
want to know; not until it’s too late.”
    “Hire a private investigator.”
    “I don’t have the money for that. I want him stopped.
I thought if you were to accept the campus police chief’s job, then it would be
your duty to protect me.”
    “What makes you think he’s planning to do anything
after all this time? You’ve kept your silence for ten years.”
    “What other reason would he have for following me?”
    He shrugged. “What’s his name?”
    She smiled tentatively. “You believe me?”
    “I didn’t say that. What’s his name?”
    “I don’t know. I’ve made a sketch of him. I see his
face each night in my dreams.”
    Duval reached into her purse and extracted a folded
sheet of paper. She opened it and flattened it out on her knees before handing
it to him. “I’ll never forget the way he looked at me after he killed my
mother.”
    The pencil sketch was a good likeness. Duval had
caught the facial characteristics of ex-policeman Donny Jackson. Val refolded
the sheet of paper and slipped it into the pocket of his robe.
    “Do you recognize him?”
    “Yeah. You were right about him being a policeman.”
    Duval relaxed her face. “Now you have to believe me.”
    “No, now it’s time for you to leave. You’ve taken up
enough of my morning with your childish games.” He took her by the arm and
pulled her to her feet. “I don’t know what your motivation is, or what you were
hoping to achieve by this charade. It was well thought out though, I’ll give
you that. You almost had me buying into it. Blaming your mother’s murder on a
police officer would have helped to explain a lot: the lack of defense wounds
on your mother’s arms; your unprovoked attack on me. Especially when the
officer you’re pointing a finger at is one who was kicked off of the department
in disgrace. Give a cop a bad rep and the public is all too willing to believe
the worse.”
    He