Tainted: Origins of a Psycho

Scapegoat

Victor was driving down the road in his patrol car when he received the news that Jordan's body was discovered. Though he knew that it was bound to happen eventually, he hadn't anticipated it would happen this soon.

He was hoping he would have a little more time to pin the murder on someone else, but with the sudden discovery he was going to have to improvise. He wracked his brain for a solution until he gazed into his rear view mirror at the criminal in the backseat of his car, a man by the name of Timothy Crain whom he had just arrested for domestic violence.

Timothy was a typical lowlife that was arrested nearly every weekend for beating his wife and children. His reputation was infamous among the entire police force and there was even an incident where he threatened to beat the crap out of Jordan just for looking at him.

He was the perfect candidate to blame for the murder of his partner. There was just the matter of tweaking the evidence found on the crime scene, which would be simple for an experienced police officer who has already tampered with evidence of several occasions.

Victor chuckled darkly and drove his car off of the main road. His prisoner asked him where he was being taken, only to be ignored until they reached a cabin on the outskirts of town.

Terror rushed through Timothy's veins like a wild river and he began struggling against his handcuffs. "Where the hell are we!? You said you was taking me to the police station, man!"

His captor looked back at him with a sinister grin. "I decided to bring you to my fishing cabin for a nice chat instead."

"Nah, man! This don't feel right!" Timothy protested, "Take me down to the station!"

"I don't think so." Victor said as he climbed out of the patrol car. He opened the back door and hoisted his captive out, shaking his head as the man struggled uselessly in his grasp.

"Let me go, pig!" Timothy growled, kicking his feet against the dirt road beneath him. "This is illegal, ya know! You got no right to do this!"

Victor opened the door to the cabin and tossed his captive down to the hard wooden floor. He stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a roll of duct tape that was stashed underneath the sink, using it to bind his captive's feet together. "You sure picked a bad day to beat the shit out of your family, Timothy." He said as he placed him on the musty blue recliner that sat in the living room.

"Come on, man." Timothy said, tears slowly filling his eyes. "My wife burned the damn meatloaf and my stupid ass kid spilled milk all over the floor. What would you have done?"

"I would have done the same thing."

"Seriously!?  But if you're not mad then why did you bring me out here!?"

Victor folded his arms and chuckled. "Because you're going to help me get away with murder."

"Wh-what are you talking ab-" Timothy started to ask until Victor grabbed a clump of his dirty hair, ripping it from his scalp. A pained cry escaped his lips and he stared up at the officer with shock and horror painted on his face.

"Do you remember my partner?" Victor asked, carefully placing the stolen hair on a table.

"Y-yeah. Why?"

"I killed her a few days ago, and I need some poor bastard to take the fall. You, my friend, are that poor bastard."

Timothy's breath hitched in his throat as his mind processed what was being said. "No! You can't do this! No one would ever believe you!"

"Sure, they won't take my word for it." Victor said, pulling a small knife from his pocket and using it to slice his prisoner across the cheek. "But you're gonna be screwed when they find your blood under her finger nails."

"You're insane, man!" Timothy screamed, "I'm not gonna go down for your crime! No way!"

Victor shook his head with a chuckle and used a small baggie to capture the blood that flowed out of his prisoner's wound. He placed it next to the hair sample and prepared to fill another baggie with more blood, but the phone in his pocket began ringing. His lips pinched shut when he saw that it was his mother calling.

He pressed his pocket knife against Timothy's neck and gave him a warning.  "I'm going to answer my phone now, and if you dare make a sound I'll cut your tongue out and shove it up your ass.  Nod your head if you understand."

Timothy pinched his eyes shut and nodded his head, so Victor answered the phone. 

"Hey, Ma.  What's going on?"

"Have you seen the news?"

Victor's teeth clenched.  He was hoping that his family would not find out about the discovery right away, but someone from the press must have gotten wind of what happened. 

"No..." He sighed, "But the captain called me about an hour ago with the bad news."

"Are you okay?"

"I will be as soon as they catch the sorry sack of shit that killed her."  Victor said, winking at his hostage. 

There was a brief pause from the other line, then his mother said, "I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but do you think you can swing by later on this evening?"

"Sure thing, Ma.  Is everything alright?"

"I don't know."  Millicent answered, "Vincent's been crying in the bathroom for over an hour since he found out about Jordan.  I tried to get him to come out to talk to me, but he refuses."

Victor could feel his blood begin to boil.  He should have known that his son would not be able to handle the pressure. "Don't worry. I'll come talk to him as soon as I get off duty."

He disconnected the call and returned his attention to Timothy. "You were wise to keep quiet during my phone call."

"Please, just let me go, man. I promise I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Of course you won't." Victor said, patting him on the face with a smile. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut our visit short to go tend to my son, but before I go I need to do one more thing."

He stepped into the bathroom and returned a few seconds later wearing a pair of disposable latex gloves. There was a small plastic cup in his hands.

Nausea swept over Timothy and he gulped nervously. "What are you gonna do with those?"

"Oh, nothing serious."  Victor insisted with a small shrug.  "I'm just to collect a little of your semen so that it looks like you raped Jordan before you killed her." 

He kneeled in front of his horrified captive and slowly unbuttoned his jeans.   "Try not to look at me while I do this.  I wouldn't want things to get weird between us, you know."