Jeff the Killer: Scars of Corruption

Author's Notes: All credit to the characters of Jeff, Liu, Randy, Keith, Troy and Jane go to the original authors of their respective stories. This is the first installment in my series detailing horrific events that go on to haunt the small town of Mandeville, LA several years after the incidents of my contest winning story, Jeff the Killer 2015. I would like to give a special thanks to Kevin Tierney, who's adaptation of Jane the Killer inspired me to continue this story. I would also like to thank Kevin, along with Mike Rucker and Travis Kuhlman for their assistance in providing feedback and pointing out those pesky typos.

Enjoy!

From the prologue to Jeffery Woods: Brother-Friend-Killer: By Liu Woods

Before we begin this journey, I want it to be known that when I remember my brother Jeff, I remember a friend. I remember a big brother who taught me how to climb a tree, throw a baseball, play video games and about a million other things. He never beat me up, never took my share of the spending money our parents would send us off to the mall with or made me feel like the a tag-along when he’d hang out with his friends.

He was my best friend, someone that, should I live to be 100 years old, can never be replaced.

Lane Dermott turned the key in the door of his mother’s modest home in Mandeville, LA. Walking into the foyer of his home, he threw his backpack to the floor, creating a loud thud as the heavy books contained within strike the hardwood floor.

“Lane, what have I told you about throwing your books down like that, we just had the floors done!” his mother, Nancy Dermott scolds, unseen but most certainly heard, from the nearby kitchen.

“I’m pissed mom!” Lane replies, voice laced with the sort of angst that only a teenager who feels slighted by society can produce.

His mother lets out a patient sigh. “What happened now Lane, are those kids still giving you a hard time at lunch?”

“No, I told you already I don’t care about them!”

Lane’s book of poetry, which also doubles as his journal, had recently been fished out of his backpack by some mean-spirited peer or another and shared with the rest of the school. He’d had some problems with bullying since then, but Nancy had sincerely believed it was starting to slow down. Kids can only stay focused on one thing for so long in her opinion, and the expiration date on her son’s latest abuse should, in her mind anyway, be nearing.

She’d been raising Lane alone for some time now. Paul Dermott, her former husband and Lane’s missing-in-action father, had been out of the picture for the last four years or so. Since then she’d been doing her best to raise and support him, but Lane was not always an easy son to support. His obsession with what his mother thought of as “dark things” drove a divide between them. He was at an age where he felt she couldn’t possibly understand him or his interests, and had quickly established that she was an outsider looking in. His room, adorned with strange books on the occult, disturbing art and posters for strange foreign horror films caused her to avoid going in there unless absolutely necessary. She’d tried a time or two to explain to him that perhaps his interests in these disturbing pieces of culture are what caused him to become a target at his school. This, of course, only served to drive a deeper wedge between them, as he would insist that she didn’t know or understand him.

Now, on this otherwise lovely day in Mandeville, it would seem that Lane Dermott had found something new to be furious about. Nancy reached into her purse and fetched her favorite coping mechanism, her bottle of Xanax.

“This sounds like a two pill problem,” she thought to herself as she washed the medicine down her throat with a glass of tap water. Forcing a smile and resigning herself to play therapist, she proceeded.

“Come in here and tell me what happened?” she called to him.

“This happened!” her son replied, stomping into the kitchen and throwing two articles of literature on the breakfast table. “Mr. Kimble rejected my book report, he said that the subject matter was inappropriate!”

Nancy looked down at the table and saw the book report, neatly typed and placed into a document binder, and then observed the book that the report had been based upon. She quickly realized that she should have allowed the Xanax a bit more time to start working its euphoric magic before engaging her son.

“Lane… that book is banned in schools, you know that. The school sent out letters informing everyone. Why would you do your report on that?”

“It’s freedom of expression mom, why can’t any of you understand that?”

“You knew he was going to kick that report back son, why would you provoke the teacher?”

Lane had two other book reports rejected by his English teacher over the last few months. The first had been based on the long time banned The Anarchist Cookbook, while the other had been on a recently exiled piece of literature called Voodoo and Hoodoo, removed from schools because it allegedly gave step-by-step instructions on how to prepare and cast hexes.

Now that the school had blacklisted yet another book, Nancy couldn’t even feign shock that Lane had immediately picked it up. She didn’t mind that he read the book; she didn’t mind that he was interested in its content, but she knew that he intentionally wrote the report just for a reaction from the teacher. That couldn’t be denied.

Nancy picked up the small paperback, gazing at its dark cover. In stark white was the title. This book, an autobiography, hit the bookstores about two months ago. The residents of Mandeville, especially those in positions of power, were not pleased at the content found within the book’s pages. Corruption, cover-ups, privileged families, money, abuse and murder were the main themes. Mandeville was made to look like a haven for the wealthy and a pit of inequity for those without it. Her former husband’s name appeared a few times throughout. He’d been the Assistant Director of Internal Affairs for the Mandeville Police at the time, and the author of this book had not been kind to the authorities in his telling of the events from four summers ago, back in 2015.

Jeffery Woods: Brother-Friend-Killer By Liu Woods

“It’s part of this town’s history mom! Why is it okay for us to learn about all the other horrible events of our past but I can’t write about this?”

“This story just hits too close to home for too many of us Lane…” Nancy stated. She was feeling her temper start to rise a bit; not just because her defiant son once again found a way to irritate his teacher, but because the events listed in the book in her hands had partially led to her husband leaving her and Lane behind.

Lane would have likely been shocked to learn that his mother had purchased a copy of the same book his rejected report had been based upon. Nancy, like so many other residents of Mandeville, had been deeply impacted by the actions of Jeffery Woods.

Following the brutal slaughter of his parents, Jeff Woods had gone on to kill four more people before he finally vanished for good. Nancy hadn’t personally known any of the victims, but in a town as small as Mandeville, she’d at least walked past them once or twice at the grocery store or the park.

After killing his parents, Jeff the Killer targeted Officer Donald Williamson of the Mandeville Police Department. He’d been the officer who first investigated Jeff Woods for fighting with three other kids in the parking lot of the Village Shopping Center. He’d also been involved in the investigation of the now infamous flare gun incident in Randy Hayden’s garage. Liu Woods had the following to say about Williamson in his book:

From Chapter 4: Corruption in Uniform

“Never in my life would I have believed the ‘corrupt small town cop’ archetype could exist in such a larger than life capacity. Donald Williamson, my brother’s third victim, embodied so much corruption that one would almost think him a work of poorly written fiction. The woman at the video store called the police about the fight and it was none other than Williamson who was assigned to investigate.

He blamed my brother and I for the entire incident. He insisted that our failure to chain up our bikes somehow justified Randy, Keith and Troy taking them for a joyride. He said that the witnesses saw Jeff take the first swing at Troy.

Upon reviewing the police report that was made public long after the incident took place, it was revealed that only the video store clerk witnessed the event. Her statement indicated that she saw a group of boys fighting in the parking lot. At no time does it specify that my brother instigated the altercation.

Williamson would later be called to investigate the fight at Randy’s home, the injury with the flare gun and the ultimate blinding and disfigurement inflicted upon my brother. It was reported that Jeff shot himself in the face with the flare gun. Williamson once again worked his skills at corruption. Rather than investigating the incident, he merely took Randy’s statement. Paramedics on the scene later stepped forward and admitted that Williamson could be seen coaching Randy, Keith and Troy as they wrote their statements; practically feeding them their lines like a stage director in a play.

The next victim my brother would take was likely the only truly innocent one to fall. Bennie Rosenberg; Chief Editor of the NOLA Watch had been contacted by Jeff about two weeks after the murder of Williamson. By this time, the photograph taken of Jeff by Williamson’s son had made the national headlines. The picture, accompanied by USA Today labeling Jeff: Jeff the Killer, had by now turned my brother into a national sensation. Questions were being asked now, and I have no doubt in my mind that Randy Hayden’s father, along with officials in the Mandeville Police Department were scrambling to keep many of the facts of the case hidden. The Mandeville Police were only giving cookie-cutter answers; usually falling back on the excuse that all the facts would be revealed once the case was closed. No one close to the investigation would speak in any detail, and tough questions were often directed to the M.P.D.’s Public Affairs Department, which somehow never seemed to have their telephones staffed. Phone messages were left unanswered, reporters were ignored and everyone seemed to be in too much of a rush to stop and talk.

The encounter between my brother and Rosenberg is one that is well documented now. The tape recording that Rosenberg had been using to conduct the interview returned to the NOLA Watch about a week or so after Rosenberg’s death.

Monica Davenport, who’d been the Assistant Editor, released the tapes in her own news-documentary, ‘Jeff Woods: The Killer Speaks.’ The recordings, the only known testimonial by Jeff himself, tell of the real encounters with Randy and his friends. The tapes reveal how Williamson worked to whitewash the investigation and serve to cast further doubt on Randy’s explanation of events with the flare gun.

The tapes were released after the investigations in the M.P.D. and Maxwell Hayden had already begun to be looked into, however, they helped to shed light on other corrupt actions committed by Mandeville officials. Rosenberg’s death, for example, was not made public for almost 24 hours. The police on scene claimed that they couldn’t identify Rosenberg and had to conduct lab testing to uncover his identity. However, Monica Davenport, who’d actually contacted the police, testified that she’d given the 911 Dispatcher Rosenberg’s full name and had even explained why he was out in Mandeville that night. It is believed that due to Rosenberg’s connection with my brother, the M.P.D. were instructed to keep the matter quiet for as long as possible to protect the slowly recovering image of the town. The police did not want to have to admit that Jeff Woods was still on the loose two weeks after his last murder. There is also a darker conspiracy that I can only call such because no further evidence was ever discovered. However, considering the tainted reputation and obvious corruption within Mandeville, it stands to mention anyway. According to one of the EMT’s on scene, Rosenberg was still alive when the police first arrived. She believes that had the M.P.D. acted immediately, Rosenberg could have survived his attack by Jeff.

The official police report states that when officers arrived, they did not initially see Rosenberg’s body due to the lack of streetlights in the area. They claim to have searched the exterior of the small building where Rosenberg and Jeff conducted their interview. Then the police officer on scene claimed to hesitate to enter the building until he was able to confirm with his Watch Commander whether or not a warrant would be needed to enter. Davenport lambasts the police on this, as the regulations clearly stated that entering a building without a warrant is lawful so long as the officers have suspicion that a crime has taken place inside said building. Furthermore, the door of the building was ajar at the time of the officer’s arrival, and shining a flashlight into the door would have immediately revealed Rosenberg’s body. Once the larger conspiracy began to become public knowledge, the rumors continued to evolve that the police didn’t want Rosenberg to survive the injury due to the knowledge he’d gained from speaking to Jeff. They were not aware of the tape recording, and perhaps assumed that with Rosenberg dead, no further information about the Jeff murders could surface.”

Liu Woods’ book catalogued the next victims in a similar fashion:

“Keith Jacobson and Troy Lockett were Jeff’s next victims. This took place two weeks after the death of Williamson, and a night after the death of the journalist from New Orleans. Had the Mandeville Police not worked so hard to keep the death of Bennie Rosenberg quiet, perhaps Keith and Troy’s parents could have done something to protect them. They would have at least known that Jeff was still in the area. However, with Rosenberg’s death still not officially reported, the town was starting to relax again. Perhaps they all believed it was over with murder of Williamson.

The double homicide took place at Keith Jacobson’s home. Investigators believe that Jeff was able to gain entry into the house through an unlocked patio door. Keith was found brutally stabbed to death in the kitchen of his home. It is believed that Troy overheard the commotion and from the 2nd floor of the home and was in the process of descending the stairs to investigate. His body was found at the base of the stairs, his death also caused by multiple stab wounds.

Randy Hayden, who instigated violence in the encounter with Jeff and I at the video store, and who is also believed to have set up the attack on Jeff at his home on the day of the flare gun injury, was the only one to escape Mandeville alive. His parents, Bridgette and Maxwell Hayden, discovered that their wealth and influence could not protect their son from the ramifications of his actions. Randy Hayden and his family moved at once. A moving company was contracted to collect their belongings. It is believed that Randy Hayden and his parents went into Witness Protection. A moving company was hired to pack their home for them, as they were likely advised to avoid Mandeville until Jeff was captured.

It was in fact the movers who would end up uncovering the massive cover-up and outright lies committed by Maxwell Hayden along with the Mandeville Police Department.”

Nancy felt her anger boil at this point. Before Jeff Woods and his family moved to Mandeville, she’d had a great life. Her husband being a high-ranking member of the Mandeville Police meant that she enjoyed a certain degree of comfort within the city limits. Speeding tickets did not exist in Nancy’s vocabulary, nor did parking fines or the need to always ensure that she was sober when driving. Most of the officers knew who her husband was, and if they didn’t, they would learn soon enough should they decide to issue her any form of citation. She’d become accustomed to this, and therefore was not prepared for the public shaming that was soon to follow.

The book went on:

“I will never understand why those that commit crimes record them. Perhaps there is a foolish undertone within all criminal actions that compels the guilty to leave those little breadcrumbs. Perhaps it is simply hubris. Maxwell Hayden had in fact instructed his company’s Director of Loss Prevention to supervise the movers personally on each of the three days they were packing up the home. However, no one can be everywhere at once, and even under the watchful eye of Hayden’s guard dog, the movers were able to strike gold. My personal belief is that the loss prevention associate was busy watching over the jewelry and other valuables. He likely never thought that the real buried treasure would be found in a simple leather-bound day planner left in plain sight on Hayden’s nightstand.

According to the mover, he’d picked up the planner and stuffed it into his pocket so that he could pick up the nightstand and carry it out of the room. By his own admission he had no interest in the book. However, upon returning to his home that night after a long day of moving furniture, the mover discovered he’d forgotten to remove the planner from his pocket. He stated that he tossed the small book on his coffee table and had forgotten about it for a few days. By the time he realized that he still was in possession of the planner, the move was completed and the truck carrying all of the Hayden family’s possessions was on its way to wherever they’d gone to hide.

The mover reported taking the planner to Hayden’s office building and leaving it at the receptionist’s desk. From there the chain of custody is unknown, that is, until it appeared again in the hands of the local media. By the time the small day planner made its rounds, it had visited the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Louisiana State Justice Department, the Attorney General’s Office and about half a dozen other organizations. The little day planner contained meetings and lunches scheduled between Maxwell Hayden and Paul Dermott, who at that time was the Assistant Director of Internal Affairs for the Mandeville Police Department. The meetings all took place after the initial fight between Randy and Jeff in the shopping center parking lot. Other members of the Mandeville Police were penciled in for lunch or dinner, including Donald Williamson himself. This sparked enough red flags for the powers-that-be that existed above or beyond Hayden’s influence to dig deeper. By then questions were already being whispered about anyway. The physician at the hospital, Dr. Renaldo Diaz, had already demanded a complete ballistics report from the day of the flare gun incident. He did not believe, based on the angle of the wound across Jeff’s face, that the injury could be self-inflicted. He’d informed authorities that he’d initially waited on filing the formal request for the report because he’d assumed the police would have further investigated Randy’s questionable explanation on their own. It wasn’t until he realized that wasn’t going to happen that he’d taken it a step further. To accompany this allegation, Hayden’s planner showed a lunch scheduled with the Mandeville Police Department’s Director of Crime Scene Investigations, Lara Dubois. The M.P.D. went on to deny Diaz’s request for further information, instead assuring him that the matter was being fully investigated by their own personnel.

Once the planner was thoroughly analyzed, the deluge of Federal Investigators fell on Mandeville like a plague of locusts. The M.P.D. was gutted, with all of the top brass either resigning or being forced out. Many officials admitted to being bribed by Maxwell Hayden, while others attempted to claim they were blackmailed or pressured. Those that claimed pressure from above decided that a sacrificial lamb was in order, and Paul Dermott became said lamb. A picture was pained of Dermott and Hayden working side by side. Hayden’s money combined with Dermott’s position allowed them to play the City of Mandeville like a game of chess. However, the Dermott’s lawyer did an impressive job of throwing just enough doubt at the Grand Jury that they were unable to decide if he was truly a mastermind or simply a patsy. No indictments were made, and Dermott quickly resigned his post and left Mandeville. His wife received divorce papers in the mail sometime shortly after he left the town. His excuse was the he needed to start over from scratch, and could not drag his family through the mud with him.

“This destroyed us, you know that!” Nancy suddenly shouted, causing her son to startle a bit in surprise. “Jeff Woods caused more problems for this city than I can count. That’s why this book is banned at your school, because we want this forgotten, we don’t want Jeff the Killer to be part of our history!”

Lane began to argue back, perhaps to point out some hypocritical notion that his mother or his teacher was falling victim to, but Nancy continued to rant, giving Lane no time to speak.

“Your father had to leave because of this, left us here to fend for ourselves! Max Hayden, that bastard cut some sort of deal, testified against the city that he’d called home for so long. Now he’s living a new life with a new name, his son is probably getting ready to start college with his secret identity, and he’ll never have to face the consequences that you and I did Lane! And now four years later, when the dust has finally settled just a bit, when people no longer look at me and see Paul Dermott’s wife, when people no longer whisper about me when I turn down an aisle at the store, now this fucking book comes out! Everything that I’ve worked so hard to leave behind, now brought back to life for the world to gawk at once again!”

Nancy was crying now.

Lane, trapped in that realm between the sympathy he felt for his mother and the anger that he still harbored for his book report being denied, simply exited the kitchen with no further commentary on the matter.

He’d returned to his bedroom and took to the Internet to voice his rage instead. He logged on to his Facebook profile and began a long rant about censorship, freedom of speech, corruption and the hypocritical world that he was forced to exist within. He went into vivid detail about Liu Woods’ book, about how Jeff the Killer was the only thing that put Mandeville, LA on the map, about how his teacher was simply afraid of the truth and so and on and so on it went.

After Lane Dermott felt that his work in the field of exposing social injustice was done for the day, he collapsed on his bed and dozed off, still brooding over the unfair nature of life.

Several hours later he was awoken by a commotion from outside of his bedroom. The faded light coming in through the window told Lane that it was late in the evening. There was suddenly a loud crash followed by what he thought just might be soft cries. The whimpering tone sounded as though it belonged to his mother. Lane stood from his bed and placed his ear to the door. He was now certain that the voice belonged to his mother. At first he didn’t react. Over the years since her husband left, she’d fallen into bouts of depression and it was not too uncommon for her to suddenly begin to cry with no apparent provocation. The crashing sound though, that was something new. It had been too loud to just be a simple plate falling and shattering or a picture dropping from the wall.

Slowly Lane cracked the bedroom door open and could now hear his mother better. She wasn’t just softly crying but rather sounded as though she were begging.

“Please…. Please don’t hurt us… please just leave…”

Lane looked around his room for something, anything, that could used to defend himself. However, it had gotten dark outside, and he didn’t want to risk turning on his bedroom light and alerting whoever was terrifying his mother that he was back there. He didn’t have a cellular phone or a landline in his bedroom, and with nothing immediately visible to use for self-defense, his only options were to stay hidden or to go out and see what was happening. He could have likely stood in his doorway and debated this all night, but suddenly his mother screamed, raising her voice from the sheepish tone she’d been uttering her pleas, to a full on sound of terror and panic.

“No!! Please no!!” the voice of Nancy carried back to Lane.

Lane exited his bedroom and stepped into the darkening hallway of his home. What little light still came through the windows was that dull orange that only late twilight could produce. The house was small and within a few steps he knew that he’d be able to see into the living room. Still looking around for any means of self-defense, Lane’s eyes fell the small wooden stand that sat in the hallway of their home. Their phone stand that was never used for a phone since the only jack was located in the living room contained a small shelf underneath its base. Sometimes his mother would keep her few sewing instruments in there. He knew there was needles and thread, but what he now prayed for was her sharp sewing shears. They sprung to mind because Lane was told from the time he was a small child that they were dangerous, sharp as knives. Every time he touched them, as far back as he could recall, Nancy felt it was her duty to remind him to be careful.

As silently as possible Lane opened the drawer, feeling a degree of gratitude at how silently the shelf glided out. Look down he saw that the long scissors were in fact in the drawer. Being careful not to make a sound, he drew them out and, with a shaky sigh of nerves, once more began to move towards the sound of his mother’s begging.

Lane slowly peeked into the room, his eyes growing enormous and his heart freezing in place at the sight before him. His mother, cowering on the sofa, pushed back as far into the backrest as anyone could, was holding her hands up in a pleading gesture. She was crying loudly. This sight alone though is not what pulled Lane from his former state of cautious fear and into a new state of crippling panic, he’d seen his mother break down and cry many times, especially during the first year that his father left. No, it was the source of her current horror that froze Lane in his tracks.

It stood close to 6’ tall, dressed in ragged clothing with long, filthy black hair partially hiding one side of its face and a long kitchen knife gripped in its hand. It was tilting its head back and forth, almost as though it were some curious animal trying to figure out the best place to strike its prey first. It would change position before the sofa every few seconds, as though attempting to further torment Nancy, keep her unsure of when and from where it would strike. Lane risked taking another step closer, and suddenly the ghoulish intruder looked up at him.

It was at the moment that Lane found him self trapped deeply between disbelief and amazement. The face staring at him from across his living room was far too iconic to mistake. From one side an almost sane eye locked in. A smile formed as it realized it had trapped Lane in fear. The other side of its face though, that was something drawn perhaps on the tapestries of hell. The eye was nothing more than a milky-white bulb. Lane felt that this is what the eyes of some monstrous creature might develop should it spend its life swimming about in the pits of The Mariana Trench. From the mouth to the eye was a long healed yet still quite pronounced scar. The scar stopped briefly at the blank eye, but began again above the eyebrow, traveling up the forehead and onto the scalp.

Lane slowly raised the scissors to chest level, now gripping them with both hands. Understandably, Lane could not overcome the pure shock of finding one of the decade’s most infamous serial killers standing in his living room.

From Chapter 7: Denial and Truth-The Fate of my Brother

What used to keep me up at night most often, what caused me the most regret and pain was the fact that I slept through Jeff’s farewell. I only vaguely remember it now, my brother waking me up, telling me that I was free now. I remember feeling annoyed, because, well, who enjoys being woken up in the middle of the night? I remember he told me that he loved me and that I was his best friend. I remember saying something like, “Love you too, let me go to back to sleep…” or something to that effect. When I woke up the next morning, I just got up and started my normal routine. It wasn’t until I was walking down the stairs towards the kitchen that I realized that house was too quiet. Our mother always had the television on in the living room during the day. It was almost 10:00 AM and the house was silent. It would still be another hour before I decided to open my parents’ bedroom door.

The rest of that week is still a blur in my mind. I remember the police arriving, my parents being taken out, wrapped in white sheets. I was sure that Jeff had been kidnapped by whoever murdered our parents. Of course I’d remembered him waking me up with his cryptic goodbyes, but when it’s your brother, a trusted face you’ve known you’re entire life, it’s not exactly easy to apply that person to murder.

However, once the murder of Williamson took place, once the tabloids labeled him Jeff the Killer, well, by then it was pretty much impossible to deny. Once Monica Davenport released the Jeff Tapes, well, denial was all I had left. After the murders of Keith and Troy though, well, that was it. Months rolled on into years, and pretty soon Jeff was becoming a forgotten entity. By then I’d been moved from Louisiana. I had family in Texas, an Aunt and Uncle. They were very compassionate, they understood what I’d gone through and let me pretty much spend the next year healing. I can still remember sitting up in bed out there in Texas, feeling tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. My greatest fear was that perhaps Jeff was trying to find me; that he needed help. I pictured him waiting around our very short lived home in Mandeville, perhaps wondering where I was. Those sorts of thoughts kept me up for most of that year.

Sometimes a letter would come addressed to me out there in Houston. It would be forwarded from the old address. No return address usually. I would get so excited as I tore it open, convinced that Jeff had found a way to write me, to let me know that he was alive. When it would turn out to be a piece of junk mail, just some advertisement designed to look like a real piece of mail, my heart would sink and I’d feel that regret creeping back in. Regret for not waking up and talking to Jeff on the night that he left. At the very least, I could have told him goodbye….

“Jeff the Killer…” Lane whispered, still holding up the scissors.

Jeff looked down at Nancy; his face locked into a twisted mask of insanity, and drove the knife down towards her chest.

“Go to slee…. SHIT… FUCK!” Jeff screamed, suddenly releasing the knife and letting it fall to the sofa.

Lane looked over and saw that his mother had brought the point of her knee directly into the groin of her attacker. Jeff staggered back against the wall, gripping his crotch while trying to still threaten both Nancy and Lane. What the intruder didn’t account for was that Nancy Dermott spent the majority of her adult life married to a police officer. He’d dragged her to every self-defense course that he could. For years the training was drilled into her, always go for the soft parts; the eyes, the testicles, the throat.

Jeff suddenly lunged, attempting to dodge around Nancy and grab the knife that he’d dropped during the initial kick. Lane was still frozen in place. For all the dark poetry and journal entries that he’d created, many detailing the ways he’d like to exact revenge on those that didn’t appreciate him, (mostly girls and teachers) now that he actually had the chance to stab someone, he found that he simply couldn’t manage the act.

Jeff grabbed for the knife, got one hand around the hilt, but never had a chance to brandish it. At the very moment that he awkwardly attempted to rotate the blade, Nancy brought her living room lamp down over her attacker’s head. There was a grunt of pain as Jeff fell forward onto the sofa. The lamp shattered, but before Lane could blink, his mother grabbed the next closest weapon, the large crystal ashtray that sat upon their coffee table. She raised the object over her head and with a scream of rage smashed it over the young man’s head whom moments before had her under what he believed to be complete control.

“Oh God… Lane, are you alright?” Nancy shouted at her son.

“Yeah mom, are you?”

Before she could answer, Lane began to move closer to the unmoving body on his living room sofa.

“Stay back Lane, he might get back up!”

“Mom… I uhhh, I don’t think he’s getting back up… look.” Lane pointed at the blood pooling beneath the still body on the couch.

From the 2016 documentary; Jeff Woods: The Killer Speaks by Monica Davenport Interview conducted with local Mandeville youths addressing the cultural movement known as Jeff’s Killers.

Monica Davenport addresses the camera while standing outside of a small home that appears to be in rural St. Tammany Parish:

Monica: I am here on the outskirts of Mandeville LA, where a group of high school aged kids gather on a regular basis. What might be their purpose of gathering? Well, they call themselves Jeff’s Killers, and they view him as a sort of anti-hero, and many say that they are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet him in person.

The film cuts to a montage of various teenaged participants, many with scars artificially decorated into the side of their faces, some with contact lenses giving one eye a cosmetically enhanced whiteness. All of the teens give short answers, some just one word, others a short phrase, all the same message though:

“Jeff.”

“Jeff Woods.”

“We’re here to celebrate Jeff the Killer!”

“The Killer!”

“Always Jeffery Woods, always.”

Monica: Why do you come out here to celebrate Jeffery Woods? He’s a serial killer, he murdered his parents; how do you find a hero in that?

Girl 1: Jeff is like; he showed the world that you can do something about abuse. So many of us, we’ve grown up dealing with that stuff, and we can’t do shit. Jeff though, he did it.

Guy 1: Yeah, Jeff Woods, you know, he was a nice guy. He tried so hard to turn the other cheek and all that crap they teach us in school. He did everything the way we’re taught to do it. All the crap society tells us are the stepping-stones to being a normal and happy person. For most of us…

Girl 2: (Cutting off Guy 1) For most of us, if it works out, great! You get to be a cheerleader or some crap, you get to march in the Labor Day parade. Woooh! Jeff though, all the lies they try to tell us to be happy, well, he just snapped and did it his own way.

Guy 2: No, forget all that shit. Jeff the Killer is fucking rage turned all the way up! People out there, they see us, they see us walking around and they think we’re freaks or they think we’re weak, but Jeff the Killer showed the fucking world that you can only push someone say damned far! So keep pushing us motherfuckers! Go ahead!

Monica: (Addressing the group as a whole) Do you all believe that Jeffery Woods could still be alive? And if so, what would you say to him if you had the chance?

Various responses are shouted towards the camera:

“Hang Randy Hayden by his fucking balls!”

“Burn this town down!”

Monica: (Speaking directly to a young man) And you, what would you say to Jeff Woods?

Young Man: I’d say come hang out with us, come show us how you managed to let go of all the shit holding you down all those years. We just want to be free, just like you.

“Fucking freaks…” the haggard looking man mutters before dipping a glazed donut into his mug of cheap coffee. Although only in his early 40’s, Detective Dalton Bradshaw of the Mandeville Police Department looked much older. His hairline has begun to retreat from his forehead a bit more each year. The two packs of Pall Mall Reds that he smokes between waking up at dawn and returning home often times well after dark have done nothing to assist in preserving his once chiseled appearance. His teeth were now stained from the tobacco, his face bore wrinkles and his eyes always looked exhausted, regardless of how much sleep he might enjoy the night before.

He’d been watching various clips from Davenport’s documentary while waiting at the tiny and disgusting little coffee and donut joint for the better part of 2 hours. He’d actually been back at the police station packing his things to go home for the night when his Watch Commander had summoned him into his office.

Apparently a young man had broken into a residential and attempted to hold one of the occupants at knifepoint. The woman had fought back and the asshole died by his own blade. The woman and her kid were safe, and as far as Dalton was concerned, this shit could wait until the morning. Let the uniforms and the fucking coroner’s people come out and clean up the body. This was Mandeville after all; only one exciting thing ever happened out here, and that was 4 years ago. This guy was probably some meth-head from out in the backwoods that was trying to score some cash to buy some dope.

Then more information came in. That one exciting thing that happened 4 years ago in Mandeville, the only thing that could possibly keep Dalton on the clock and not at home, taking off his suit and climbing into a hot shower just happened to be the one fucking thing that was lying in a pool of its own blood on Nancy Dermott’s sofa.

“This crazy bitch thinks she killed Jeffery Woods?” Dalton asked his Watch Commander as he grabbed his notebook and slung on his sport coat.

“That crazy bitch just happens to be Nancy Dermott, as in ex-wife of Paul Dermott. The same guy that was running favors for Maxwell Hayden.”

“Relax Cap’n, I’m just going over there, going to do a nice little interview, make sure the body gets moved and we can pick this up tomorrow.”

“The hell we can!” the Captain replied in anger. “I’m arranging for a specialist from Baton Rouge to work with you on this. That is an order that came right down from the Mayor’s Office. The guy is on his way right now. Just go and stuff donuts down your face at that little shit dive you like. The specialist will meet you there. Uniforms already have the scene under control. If we can move the body to the morgue without causing a scene, we will. I cannot stress this enough to you Bradshaw, this shit stays on whisper!”

“Wait, how the hell does the Mayor’s Office know about this call already?”

“How? The woman’s jackass kid, that’s how. Lane Dermott has been a pain in the ass for a while. He likes to post his little opinions about his school and the town all over the freaking official website of the City of Mandeville! The site admins block him for writing about all this Jeff Woods crap, they tell him it’s a blacklisted subject, but then the little shit just goes and makes a new account and does it all over again. Anyway, while his mother was busy calling the cops, her 16 year old idiot was busy photographing the body and posting a picture of it right there on the town’s message board. The admins deleted the post, and we can only pray to God that they did so before anyone else saw it and copied it. The mayor sure as hell saw it though, and believe me, he’s just looking for an ass to kick right now!”

“And he thinks we need some sort of… what; expert on loonies and window lickers to come down here and tell us what a dead freak looks like?” Dalton asked.

“I don’t care what the Mayor thinks Bradshaw, but our Chief of Police does, so for right now, please, just go down there, drink your coffee and wait for this guy to show up and meet you there, then kindly go over to the scene of the crime and let this guy help you investigate it…”

“And I can expect to go home when?”

The Captain screamed some harsh words of motivation towards Dalton Bradshaw in response to his question, and finally the over-worked detective plodded out to his car and climbed in. Once on the road, Dalton reached into his glove compartment and removed a small zip-lock bag containing about 8 small pills.

“Damn, I’m running a bit low,” he stated with a frown, staring at the baggie. The pills were Adderall, although Dalton could not guess at the dosage or age of the pills. One of his on-again-off-again lovers, a woman who would often ask Dalton to go over and scare her ex-boyfriend into paying her overdue child support, had given them to him recently. They were her kid’s, but apparently the kid didn’t like them. Said kid’s mom and occasional evening companion of Dalton believed that the detective could use a boost of energy, as, according to her, he looked like reheated shit.

He swallowed two of the pills, even though he knew he should try and stretch the few he had left out for another week or so, but for the time he was more concerned about just staying awake tonight. If some suit from Baton Rouge were in fact coming to assist, this would not be a short evening to say the least.

Dalton was pleasantly elevated as he sat at the coffee shop feeling the artificial energy and euphoria from the pills start to gather in his brain and pulse behind his eyes. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with Gina-Marie’s kid if he doesn’t like this shit…” he mumbled to himself as he clicked play on the next video from Monica Davenport’s documentary.

From 4th Grade School Project: Who is your Hero? By Jeremy Lymon, Crestwood Elementary School, Baton Rogue, LA

My hero is my Uncle Simon. Uncle Simon works as a special kind of police officer who tries to arrest criminals who have already gotten away. His job is to study the clues and try to find the bad people even when no one else can find them. He keeps us safe.

“I’m going to go ahead and assume by the beard stubble and bloodshot eyes that you’re Dalton Bradshaw,” a voice suddenly spoke behind the detective as he was focusing on Davenport’s film.

Dalton looked up at the man addressing him. It would seem logical that this would be the specialist from Baton Rouge, but based on his appearance, Dalton almost had to second-guess himself.

The man standing before him was a lot younger than he was expecting for starters. He estimated this guy’s age couldn’t be any older than 30; perhaps even younger. He was skinny, had a small goatee and was dressed more for a day at the mall than a night investigating a murder.

“Do all the special state investigators walk around in jeans and t-shirts these days?” Dalton asked without smiling.

“Sorry dude, my boss had to learn to accept it, I don’t do suits unless it’s a funeral or a wedding. My name is Simon by the way. Or, if you want the official introduction, I am Agent Simon Lymon of the Unsolved Crimes Department of the Louisiana State Police.”

Dalton blinked and had to take a moment to compose himself, or else he feared he might laugh in this kids face. “Hold up, you’re name is Simon Lymon? Why would your folks do that to you?”

“Oh, you misunderstand, my parents didn’t name me Simon; they actually named me Solomon Lymon. I legally changed my first name to Simon when I turned 18.”

“Why in the hell would you do that?”

“Duh! So it would rhyme.”

Dalton found himself chuckling just a bit in spite of how annoyed he was at the ever-increasing lateness of his workday. He realized that now, even if they wrapped this up in record time, he still wouldn’t see the inside of his apartment until it was far too late to do anything other than go straight to bed.

“Well, we can get to know each other on the ride over there Rhymin’ Simon. I want to get home before sunrise though, so if it’s all the same with you…”

“Rhymin’ Simon, hell yeah! See, that why I changed my name, for shit like that!”

Dalton dropped a few dollars on the table to cover his food and coffee, and the two men left out for Nancy Dermott’s house.

The drive from the small coffee joint to the crime scene was less than 10 minutes, however Dalton quickly learned the Simon was not the type of person who let time pass without conversation.

“Okay, so I’m assuming you’ll be playing the bad cop in this little investigation, right?” he asked Dalton, a sarcastic tone lacing his words.

“Nope, I’ll be playing the ‘tired as hell’ cop who wants to go home. I tend to play that role every time my shift goes into overtime. And you’re playing the what… wiseass C.S.I. guy?”

“C.S.I.? No thank you. Too much blood and semen; I mean, who wants to spend all day studying blood samples? No, I’m Unsolved Cases, remember?”

“Yeah, well, I hate to tell you kid, but this one is probably already solved. The damned intruder is dead. The woman already confessed to doing it and her stupid kid posted a picture of the corpse to the fucking Mayor’s office. You might have wasted a trip down here.”

“You really think that the dead body we’re going over to see is Jeff Woods himself? You think after four years of no activity he’s just going to show back up and get killed by some bored housewife?”

Dalton glanced at Simon and smirked, “Personally, I don’t care one way or the other. Jeff Woods, Tiger Woods, James Woods, I don’t give a rat’s ass so long as I am home within the next couple of hours.”

“Really? You’re not even a bit curious? I mean, Jeff the Killer right? Exciting stuff!”

“Maybe to you and the rest of the world, I don’t know. I was still with the N.O.P.D. when the whole thing happened here in 2015. I didn’t transfer out to Mandeville until almost the end of 2016. Sure, I read all about the incident when it took place, but these yuppie fucks out here will freak out over anything. In New Orleans we investigated several homicides a week just in my District alone. Some kid having a nervous breakdown and stabbing a few people doesn’t exactly have the same impact when you work in a city where murders don’t even make the front page anymore.”

“Why’d you leave New Orleans then?”

“Look Simon, I’m sure you’re a nice guy and I bet all your co-workers love you, but let’s just stay on track here. If this case turns into a longer ordeal, I’m sure we’ll find all the time in the world to tell war stories, but for now let’s just focus on the task at hand.”

With that said, they rode the last few blocks in relative silence. Dalton only spoke again when they arrived at the scene.

“We’re here. Now listen, I’m not sure if you know this or not, but Nancy Dermott’s husband was somewhat tied into this whole Jeff Woods fiasco, so try and avoid making any stupid jokes.”

“Trust me Dalton, I know all about Paul Dermott and his ties to Maxwell Hayden. I’ve read Liu Wood’s book and all the other seedy little secrets that have been published… and a few that haven’t.”

The two men walked up to the Dermott’s front door where a uniformed officer who looked to be all of maybe 21 years of age was standing. The officer began addressing Dalton as he approached.

“Paramedics moved the body to a stretcher and I think the C.S.I. people are just about done. There was apparently a brief struggle but the intended victim really did a number on the guy.”

“Outstanding police work junior,” Dalton responded, stepping around the cop and walking into the home.

“Bradshaw! You finally here to take over this scene or what?” an older officer asked.

“Holy shit Frank, yeah, I’m here to take over the scene. Give me a briefing so you can get the hell home before you die from breathing.”

Frank, who’s age and weight suggested that he might in fact have difficulties should he ever try to jog more than a few feet waddled over to Dalton and began reading from a report form.

“Okay, the dead fuck is on his way to the morgue as we speak. C.S.I. determined he got in through the back door. What can I say, folks out here never heard of locks or something? Intended victim was Nancy Dermott. Her son Lane Dermott witnessed the struggle and the death of the intruder. Blah, blah, blah boilerplate bullshit… apparently 16 year old Lane believes that this intruder is none other than Jeff Woods. The victims are in the back of the house right now. Nancy said she was sick of looking at the blood on her sofa.”

“The morgue? I thought they were going to leave the scene intact until I got here,” Dalton stated.

“Yeah Dalt, orders were to keep this thing quiet. When they saw the chance to move the body without a lot of gawkers, they took it. Neighbors have been popping by every so often, knocking on the door, being nosy, typical shit.”

“You got pictures of the intruder?” Simon asked Frank in a casual tone.

“Who’re you?” the pudgy man asked in slight annoyance.

“I’m the president of the Dead Body Fan Club, now let me see these pictures so we can kindly sign your report and you can kindly head back to Sea World and get back in your tank.”

“This fucking kid got a problem here Dalt?” Frank asked, turning his flushed face towards the detective.

“Relax Frank, I’m the one that has to work with him. He’s from the State Police, investigates unsolved cases or something. Just give me the pictures.”

Frank handed the pictures to Dalton, at which point Simon immediately snatched them away. He looked through them slowly at first, as Dalton joined in on the viewing, but as he progressed through them, he began to flip them over faster and faster. The collection of photographs ranged from close-ups of the intruder’s face to shots of his corpse collapsed on the sofa. What information could be gathered on site by the C.S.I. crew were all catalogued, such as height, estimated weight, etc.

“Well, this isn’t Jeff Woods, that’s for sure,” Simon stated with no doubt, handing the pictures to Dalton.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well, the height is wrong first of all. This guy is taller. Jeff Woods stood 5’10” tall. Also, take a look at his clothing, if Jeff Woods really has been stalking the countryside out here for the last four years, I doubt he’d be wearing new clothes.”

Frank decided to chime in, “New clothes? Kid, are you blind? I saw those rags before they zipped him up and hauled him down to the cold storage. His shirt and pants were practically falling apart.”

“While I’m sure your C.S.I. crew will agree, allow me to save them some time and break this down for you guys. The cuts on his clothing are clearly made with scissors. Clothes that rip on tree branches for example tend to be torn in ragged fashion. These tears were done on purpose. Plus, the pattern of rips is far too intentional to be something caused by snagging branches. This guy was clearly attempting to create a costume of sorts. Plus, the shoes always give it away. He wants us to believe that he’s been wearing the same stuff for so long that it’s just falling apart, but his shoes are in pretty good shape from what I can tell from the photos. Plus he’s wearing hiking boots. If he was really living off the land all these years, he’d take whatever kind of shoes he could get, or maybe even still be wearing the ones he left home in. Instead, he’s wearing a fairly new looking pair of shoes that just happen to be perfect for escaping into the woods after he murdered a couple of people.”

“Kid, you know he could have gotten new clothes along the way or something, it’s not that hard to break into a store and…”

Simon interrupted Frank before he could finish, “Sure, maybe. However, if you look at these pictures of the perp’s face, you’ll clearly see that his ‘scar’ is smearing a bit. Now, I’m no dermatologist, but in my experience, scars don’t start to streak when you sweat. Also, that’s clearly a contact lens in his eye.”

Dalton couldn’t help but chuckle at this exchange. Frank Landry had developed the reputation of being a bit of a bully over the years, especially to the new recruits. Watching this skinny kid talk to him like he’s an idiot was good for a laugh or two.

An hour later, Simon and Dalton were driving to the morgue to see the corpse that was causing such a stir. They’d interviewed both Nancy and Lane Dermott and were not surprised to find there wasn’t much to be gained besides a rehashing of what they already knew.

“You were a little harsh on that kid, don’t you think?” Simon asked as they drove.

“That fucking kid is an idiot. Posting that damned picture for the world to see.”

“Agreed, but did you really have to threaten to ‘skull drag’ him, as you put it?”

“Lane Dermott needs to have a little understanding that he isn’t above shit. Since he father split town, he’s used that as an excuse to do whatever he wants. His mother clearly is too worn out to fix his ass. Plus, if that picture gets leaked around…”

“You Mandeville types really are afraid of the exposure, aren’t you?”

“Personally I don’t give a damn,” Dalton corrected, “but the old heads here, yeah, they hate it. Before Jeff Woods decided to go on a killing spree, Mandeville was advertised as the kind of place where you could sleep with your doors unlocked at night. But really, I think it was all the corruption that was uncovered that freaked them out. A murder can be explained away as just a crazy bastard being crazy, but all the cover-ups, that was bad.”

“Well, Maxwell Hayden didn’t exactly do himself any favors with the bribes. He certainly didn’t do his son any favors either. Randy Hayden may have escaped Mandeville alive, but from what I’ve heard, even Wit-Pro couldn’t protect his reputation.”

From the American news program Lies Exposed: Hosted by Leslie Mathews- Interview with activist Alexis Perry on her campaign against Randy Hayden

Leslie: Tonight we’re joined by Alexis Perry, who is speaking publically for the first time since being formally charged by authorities for ‘doxxing’ the personal online accounts of Randy Hayden while he was in Federal Witness Protection. Alexis is currently out of jail on bond, but will face charges in court for her actions. Alexis tells us that she is not dissuaded by her upcoming court date, stating that she would do it all over again. For our viewers that have not been following these developments, here is a brief recap of the events that have led to the 23 year-old college sophomore facing these serious charges. Operating on the popular website Reddit, Alexis, who’s online identity was ‘justinesroyalguard,’ a nod to a former controversial social justice group from Louisiana who’s founder was charged with several brutal murders back in 2015, Alexis spent most of her Internet hours targeting public figures that she believed used their wealth, professions or influence to avoid facing accountability for criminal activity. Alexis credits her exposing of Randy Hayden publically to the disgust and anger she tells us formed in her after reading the best selling autobiography Jeffery Woods: Brother-Friend-Killer, written by Liu Woods, brother of the infamous serial killer Jeffery Woods. Alexis has stated that she was furious that Randy Hayden, who she describes as a pompous child of privilege, was able to escape all accountability for his actions because of his corrupt father’s political connections within the small New Orleans suburb of Mandeville, LA.

-Select portions of the interview below, for the full interview please visit our website-

Alexis: It’s disgusting really. If Randy Hayden were poor he would have been hung out to dry in the media. He tormented Jeffery Woods but was protected by the local police. He arranged an ambush on Jeff and threatened to shoot him with a flare gun, which he then did! Then he, along with the crooked Mandeville Police, produced a lie that Woods shot himself in the face. Even when the doctor who treated Jeff in the hospital attempted to throw that story into question, Randy’s father started bribing more officials to make that disappear too. This kid was living in a world where he couldn’t be touched.

Leslie: So you read the book and then became motivated to look further into the whereabouts of Randy Hayden?

Alexis: Yes. It was common knowledge that he’d gone into Witness Protection along with his mother and father. It didn’t help that there were a lot of users who liked to troll message boards by pretending to be the real Randy Hayden. Most of them were easily dismissed as fake, but then someone doxxed some information from Maxwell Hayden’s old bank in Mandeville, and a pretty big clue came out.

Leslie: What clue would that be?

Alexis: Once again, it’s pretty well known that Maxwell Hayden, even after going into Witness Protection, lost his financial empire. His shares in his company were all sold off to a private investor, and what he had left went into the massive fines and penalties imposed on him by the Federal Trade Commission. I imagine that wherever Maxwell and Bridgette Hayden are now, that whatever names they were given, they’re probably living off of frozen food and tap water. However, they apparently had set up a Trust Fund for Randy when he was born. The conditions of the Trust Fund stated that he could claim the money, a sizable amount, when he turned 20 years old. We’re talking a little over a million dollars, all just sitting in an account that his parents, by their own agreed upon conditions, couldn’t touch. It could only go to Randy when he turned 20. So, about six months before what would be his 20th birthday, this user shows up on Reddit, and as I learned once I started digging into it, a bunch of other opinion based Internet forums, asking the same sort of questions.

Leslie: What was he asking that caught your attention?

Alexis: He was asking about Randy Hayden, questions about whether or not he should come out of hiding. This user created polls asking people if they’d forgive his reputation; stuff like that. Now, that alone wasn’t such a red flag just in itself. Lots of people talked about this, especially after Liu Woods’ book came out. There were a lot of people that supported Randy, painting him as just another victim in the entire Jeff the Killer debacle. Others, like myself, wanted to see him held publically accountable for lying to the police about the flare gun incident. What stood out though, was the tone of these posts and the user name for that matter.

Leslie: Right, the user name was ‘rah70048’ correct?

Alexis: Yes. I found this interesting because in everything I’ve read about this case, Randy’s middle name, which is Andrew, was never really stated. Sure, it could be found if someone dug enough, but it just struck me as odd. The numbers 70048 are the zip code for Mandeville, LA. Also, as I said before, the tone of the posts seemed, I don’t know how to really say it… personalized maybe?

Leslie: And it was at this point that you started to think that this could be the real Randy Hayden?

Alexis: Not exactly, but it was enough to make me want to dig more into this user. So myself and some friends essentially hacked the account for rah70048 for more information.

Leslie: And Alexis, you are aware that this is illegal, that you are essentially detailing a crime on national television.

Alexis: As I’ve said many times before, I don’t care. Justice is more important. My lawyer is going to kill me for this interview, but I’d rather sit in jail than sit idly by and allow a corrupted product of privilege like Randy Hayden line his pockets.

Leslie: (Looking briefly at the camera) Very well Alexis, please continue.

Alexis: We found out that ‘rah70048’ was someone named Sean Beckett, who was living in Park City, Utah. We dug some more and found that his online identity only went back four years, to 2015. It was as though Sean Beckett appeared out of thin air that year. We discovered more posts, mostly blogs and forum questions all centered around the reputation of Randy Hayden. We also couldn’t find a single picture of Sean Beckett anywhere on the Internet. All of his online profiles were for sites like Reddit, sites where you don’t make a real personal profile, like on Facebook or Twitter.

Leslie: So you continued to dig into this person’s information?

Alexis: We went further than that, we hacked his personal computer.

Leslie: And that’s when you hit the gold mine?

Alexis: Essentially, yes. We got into his pictures and found what we needed. The pictures of himself in his personal gallery were compared to the most recent pictures of Randy Hayden, which were his yearbook photos from Mandeville High School. Since I released all of this, well, everyone has seen them anyway, so I doubt there can be any question that the pictures we dug off of ‘Sean’s’ computer are clearly Randy Hayden. Four years of aging doesn’t change someone very much, and besides a different haircut, it’s obviously him. We also found a few documents of his. The pay dirt was the email we found saved in his documents. He essentially was writing to his lawyer, asking what his options were in collecting the Trust Fund.

Email from Sean Beckett to Attorney [Redacted] Subject: Trust Fund

Dear [Redacted] As you are aware, I will turn 20 this year. At that time I will be eligible to claim a Trust Fund set up by my father. As I am currently unable to use the name associated with the contract, I am wondering what are my options. I would like to have access to the Trust Fund as soon as possible, but do not wish to bring unnecessary attention to myself.

Sincerely, Sean

Leslie: So at that point you believed that you had all the proof you needed?

Alexis: Clearly.

Leslie: So, you released all of this information to the public via Twitter, Reddit and a variety of other online sources. Did you think about the legal retaliation? Did you know that you were breaking the law not just by hacking someone’s information, but also by breaching the identity of a federally protected individual? Did any of this concern you?

Alexis: Not even for a second.

“Yep, he’s following us alright, I made a few turns and circles just to test him out,” Dalton informed Simon while looking into this rearview mirror.

“I thought you were just lost there for a minute.”

“Be serious for once. I’m pretty sure that truck was parked on Dermott’s street. I wasn’t really paying that much attention, but after 10 minutes of the thing riding our ass I can’t exactly ignore it.”

“Well, we’re the damned police, let’s just pull over and see what it does.”

The road out to the city morgue ran through a few rather underdeveloped areas, and as luck would have it, both men were in a part of Mandeville rarely traveled at night.

Dalton slowed and activated his blinker, pulling his old Buick Regal to the shoulder of the road. The vehicle, a massive pickup truck that looked old but as solid as a tank slowed to a stop as well.

“They’re just sitting in the street,” Simon whispered.

Dalton lowered his window and reached his arm out, gesturing for the truck to go around them. The truck continued to sit idle.

“Fuck this, I don’t have time to play these little games with some bored hicks, reach into my glove box there Simon, get me that flashlight.”

Simon retrieved the flashlight and handed it to Dalton. The detective removed his pistol from its holster and opened the door. Simon followed suit, removing a small pistol that he wore on an ankle holster. Once both men exited the vehicle, Dalton aimed the flashlight at the truck’s windshield.

“Can you see anything?” Simon asked.

“Can’t see for shit, they got some dark tint on there or something. Just keep your gun down, don’t need to startle them.”

Drawing in a breath, he called out the occupants of the truck. “Do you need assistance?!” Both officers waited for any sort of reaction. The truck continued to remain in place, its engine rumbling. “If you don’t need assistance, keep it moving! You’re obstructing a roadway!”

“Okay, Dalton do you have a radio in your car? We should probably get some backup out here.”

“No radio, this is my personal vehicle. Use your cellphone, call the precinct and let the dispatcher know to send a couple units out here. We’re on HWY 21 about a mile north of HWY 190.”

Simon removed his phone and as he did, the truck suddenly sprung to life. There was no revving of the engine, no squealing of the tires, just a truck that was now tearing towards them. Dalton dove back into the car and shut the door behind his just as the truck sped by.

“Fucking shit, what the hell is he doing?” Dalton screamed.

Simon ducked back into the passenger side, his cell phone forgotten in his hand. “Look, it’s stopping again!”

The truck stopped yet again about 20 feet in front of their car.

“Do they have a plate? Can you see their plate numbers?” Dalton shouted in frustration.

“No plate that I can see, hold on, let me get a picture.” Simon raised his cellphone and snapped several pictures of the vehicle. “Okay, got it, I’m calling for backup now.”

“Wait… what the fuck are they doing now?” Dalton interrupted.

Both men watched as the passenger side window rolled down and what appeared to be a small brown box was thrown onto the street. No sooner did the box hit the pavement than the truck began to speed away.

Dalton dropped his transmission into drive and began to follow as Simon spoke with M.P.D. dispatch.

“Yeah, it’s a… brown pickup, looks like an older model Jimmy 4x4. No license plates. It just attempted to run us down out here on HWY 21. The vehicle just abandoned what appears to be a brown package on the highway. It is speeding north-bound, please send all additional units to intercept. No, I we don’t know how many occupants… no we don’t know if their armed. No, it tried to run us off…”

“Give me that shit!” Dalton snapped and grabbed the phone from his partner. “June, goddamn it this is fucking Dalton. Look, get some fucking units out here to reign this fucking truck in. I got pictures of it that I’m going to text to your damned cell phone, so make sure you send those out with the APB. Now stop asking stupid questions and do your damned job or God help me I will tell everyone your sleeping with Gus with the lazy eye!”

Dalton hung up and quickly dialed a new number into the phone. He tossed the phone into Simon’s lap as he slowed the car down next to the discarded little box in the street. “Hang on, we gotta grab that.”

“Are you sure… what if it’s an explosive… or some sort of chemical or powder or…”

“Look, they want us to pick it up. They could have smashed my car into a cube with that monster truck of theirs, but instead they went to a lot of effort to make sure they had our attention. Now, text those pictures you took of that truck to June, I already typed her number in for you!”

Dalton grabbed the brown box and threw it into the back seat before stomping the accelerator to the floor and pushing his old Buick to its limits.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Dalton mumbled to himself.

“I’ve seen lots of little dirt roads back here, they could have pulled off while we were calling for backup or grabbing that box. Hell, that truck is built for off-roading, it could have just found a spot and pulled into the woods.”

Pretty soon the lights of HWY 190 became visible, and the rural blacktop that was HWY 21 gave way to what passed as Mandeville’s main drag of businesses. As the men pulled onto 190 and back into civilization, a tangible relief began to settle on both officers.

“Okay, the APB is out. Every cop in town will be patrolling for the truck tonight. I’ll make sure the focus of the search is on those dirt roads back there. I say we stay on course here and head to the morgue. We’ll inspect that box while we’re there. Two birds with one fucking stone.”

“Dalton, I have to admit, the way you handled everything back there, that was badass! Like, I thought you were this old, lethargic dinosaur, but when the pressure kicks in, you turn into an old, modestly less lethargic dinosaur.”

“You had a strained relationship with your father, didn’t you Simon?”

“Me and weekend dad were pretty good, weekday dad was an asshole though.”

From the American Television Broadcast of ‘Not my Father’s Son’ Interview conducted by journalist Leslie Mathews with Randy Hayden

Leslie: Ladies and gentlemen, several months ago I sat down with Alexis Perry, a social issues activist who illegally exposed the identity of Randy Hayden. For those of you who did not follow the events of the Jeff Woods murders from 2015, Randy was a centerpiece in the chain of tragic occurrences that would leave six residents of Mandeville, LA dead; including two high school students, a police officer, a respected journalist and of course, Jeff Woods’ parents. (A correction would later be published stating that Bennie Rosenberg was a resident of New Orleans, not Mandeville.)

Randy Hayden was the son of a wealthy hedge fund guru and majority partner in one of Louisiana’s largest investment firms. Before the infamous Jeff the Killer murders, Randy was known around Mandeville as a promising legacy. Seemingly well liked by his peers, respected by his teachers and admired for the volunteer work he participated in throughout the small town, no one expected this young man with his entire life ahead of him to become associated with bullying, corruption and perjury. However, in 2015 Jeff Woods and his family moved from New Orleans East to Mandeville. Jeff’s father, Matthew Woods, had been promoted at work, and with that promotion came the opportunity to move to a better neighborhood and start a new life. Matt Woods would also find that he now worked for Maxwell Hayden. In the late summer of 2015, Jeff and his brother Liu would encounter Randy Hayden, along with his friends Troy Lockett and Keith Jacobson in the parking lot of a local shopping center. A fight would break out, apparently over bicycles, and the police would intervene. Officer Donald Williamson of the Mandeville Police Department responded. At the time, no one was aware that Williamson would take a bribe from Maxwell Hayden in order to protect Randy. Williamson would manipulate the police report, reshaping the incident to place all the blame on Jeff and Liu Woods. A week later Randy saw a chance at revenge. Bridgette Hayden and Shelia Woods decided that if perhaps Jeff and Randy were to get to know each other, they’d become friends and this issue could be resolved. According to the testimonial in Monica Davenport’s release of Jeff Woods’ interview with her former editor, Randy led Jeff into his garage and threatened him with a flare gun after the boys’ mothers left them home alone. Another fight took place, and in a moment of tragic misfortune, the flare discharged, disfiguring Jeff Woods’ face and blinding him in one eye. Once again, Donald Williamson arrived on scene to investigate. The official police report as well as the explanation given to Matt and Shelia Woods claimed that Jeff was carelessly playing with the flare gun when he accidentally shot himself in the face. After the murders began to accelerate, Maxwell Hayden entered his family into Federal Witness Protection. What would follow would be a flurry of accusations against Maxwell and his associates within the Mandeville city government. Lies were exposed, including the truth behind Jeff’s injury. Randy had been responsible for the flare gun. Interview responses with the parents of Troy Lockett and Keith Jacobson changed drastically after the cover-ups were exposed. After the deaths of Jeff’s parents, but before the murder of Donald Williamson, the parents of Troy and Keith described Randy Hayden as a friendly, helpful and promising young man who was always there for his friends. After Maxwell Hayden and his family left Mandeville though, their opinions changed. As more facts came to light, the same parents described Randy Hayden as a manipulative bully who used his father’s money and influence to lord over his friends. Four years have passed since Jeff the Killer stalked the streets of the sleepy little town. For most, life has returned to normal. However, for Randy Hayden, life recently has become based on a difficult decision. To remain hidden from society living under a government issued identity, or to step forward into the light and face the harsh criticisms of those like Alexis Perry. The citizens of Mandeville once praised him for being an intelligent heir to his father’s kingdom. Liu Woods described him as a spoiled bully who couldn’t accept losing a simple fight. Alexis Perry believes him to be a symbol of privilege and wealth, able to circumvent the law. But who is the real Randy Hayden? Who has the 16 year old ring leader of his friends grown into over the last four years? Tonight we sit down with Randy himself. He has voluntarily removed himself from Witness Protection and wants to tell his story.

Leslie: Thank you for joining me tonight. I realize that this must have been a difficult decision for you.

Randy: It certainly went against my lawyer’s advice, that’s for sure. But I figured the secret is out, so why keep trying to hide?

Leslie: So, who was the real Randy Hayden back in 2015? Were you a manipulative bully as so many have painted you to be? Were you the young blue-chipper with the boundless future? Or were you the young, community active role model?

Randy: I never saw myself as any of those things honestly. On paper I had the perfect life. I feel ridiculous even trying to complain about it. There were problems or course, but compared to what other people have to deal with I had it all.

Leslie: So what complicated that? How did you fall into this conspiracy of lies and corruption?

Randy: There was always a constant pressure on me, especially as I got older. My father was obsessed with molding me into this… I don’t know, mascot? I had to be the best at everything I did. Grades, athletics… anything, I had to be the best.

Leslie: And if you failed?

Randy: My parents would shun me for a while. If I came in 2nd place in a school contest or a sporting event, I’d be ignored for a few days.

Leslie: How so?

Randy: They wouldn’t speak to me. If I tried to ask a question during a meal, my father would actually look around and ask something like, ‘Bridgette, do you hear something?’ I think my mother felt bad, she’d make this face, you know, like regret. She went along with it though. So, anytime I tried anything, I had to force myself to succeed. I was more afraid of being ignored than I was afraid of being hit or grounded or whatever.

Leslie: It sounds to me like you could almost draw a parallel to the way your parents treated you to the way Jeff Woods described his own family life.

Randy: I’ve come to realize that more and more over the years. I wish I hadn’t been so damned stupid back then.

Leslie: You’ve mentioned in the pre-interview that your father would force many questionable actions upon you. Would you care to expand on that?

Randy: It’s going to sound stupid, and most of my friends back then were actually jealous. When I was 14, my father hired a prostitute for me.

Leslie: Now, just to clarify the obvious, what was the purpose of him hiring her?

Randy: He told me that I needed to get sex out of the way so that I could focus on my grades and activities. He called some escort service, spent a ton of money. Apparently he paid to have a full battery of tests done to ensure that she was clean. Then, about a day after my 14th birthday, he called her over.

Leslie: Would you describe the event? If there’s something you don’t wish to include, or if you start to feel uncomfortable, feel free to stop answering the question.

Randy: No, I’ve made peace with it. I remember that day, my mom and dad and I were in the living room together. My mother kept looking at her watch, and then, for no reason I was aware of, she suddenly announced that she had to go out for a bit. I remember her looking at my dad and asking something like, ‘So an hour?’ My dad nodded, then said ‘Better make it two, just in case he gets nervous.’ She gave that same sad little frown, like when they’d ignore me. She asked him, ‘Are you sure about this Max?’ My dad gave her this annoyed wave, like, shooing her out of the house. I guess he was sure.

Leslie: What happened next?

Randy: The woman arrived. She was attractive; I remember that. I remember feeling really shy, like I wanted to excuse myself from the room. I didn’t know who she was but I figured that she was there to see my father. I didn’t want to risk saying anything stupid, so I was preparing to go upstairs to my bedroom. She was discussing something quietly with my father anyway, so I didn’t feel like I needed to be down there. When I stood up to leave though, my dad told me to wait up.

Leslie: What did he say to you?

Randy: He told me that her name was Cherry and that she was going to give me the rest of my birthday presents. He said that he knew what was on my mind, you know, thinking about girls and all. He said that if I just got it over with, I’d be able to focus on the things that mattered. I asked him what he meant, and he just said flatly; sex.

Leslie: Did you want to have sex with Cherry?

Randy: Not really, no. It was like watching my dad smoke a cigarette. I was always curious as to what it was like, but whenever I had the chance to grab one and light up, I always hesitated. Sure, I found Cherry attractive, but I wasn’t prepared for sex.

Leslie: Did you tell him that?

Randy: Not directly, no. At first I thought it had to be one big joke. Then my dad started giving me specific instructions. It was so surreal. I mean, how the hell do you react to something like that?

Leslie: What happened?

Randy: My father broke it down, as he liked to say, ‘Barney Style.’ You know, like the purple dinosaur. He told me that I was going to take Cherry up to my bedroom and that she would guide me through everything. He told me that she had protection in her purse. I was freaking out a little. I mean, me and my friends would always talk big, you know, bragging or even lying about our experience with women. But now that I was actually face-to-face with it, I really just wanted her to go away.

Leslie: (Nodding for him to continue)

Randy: I must have given my dad a look, something that set him off. Maybe it was the hesitation, or maybe he was expecting me to be happier about the whole thing, but he got angry really fast. He pulled me into the den. I remember he was gripping my arm like a clamp, I’d find bruises there later. He got right in my face and told me that I should be grateful for this, that while other kids were sneaking Playboy magazines into their bathrooms, that I’d be a man. He said ‘You want to be a fucking man, don’t you Randy? Don’t you want to be a man, or are you a little faggot or something? Do you even like girls Randy?’ I told him yes, I liked girls, and then he let go of my arm and told me to go and prove it then. He told me that he spent a lot of money to arrange this visit, and that I’d better not waste his money.

Leslie: Was the woman, Cherry, aware that you were a minor?

Randy: I’m sure she was, but my father was probably throwing a lot of money at her; plus, he would have been in a lot of trouble too, so I’m pretty sure he took care of any potential issues. So, we walk upstairs to my bedroom. My dad waited downstairs. Once we got up there, I guess Cherry could tell I didn’t want to go along with this. It was embarrassing, you know, like I said before, this should’ve been a dream come true. She turned some music on and told me that we could just hang out; that she wouldn’t do anything that I didn’t want to. She said that she would lie to my dad, tell him that the job was done.

Leslie: What did you decide to do?

Randy: We sat on my bed and talked for almost an hour. She told me that she never felt right about the job, but for what my dad was offering to pay, she was willing to do it. She told me that she was ashamed. I told her that I was too. I told her that I was probably passing up the chance of a lifetime. I felt pathetic. She actually hugged me and told me not to worry about it, that someone’s first time shouldn’t be with a paid call girl. She said it’d never mean as much. Then we just sort of talked about other stuff. Life in general, you know? I guess in her line of work she hears a lot of guy’s problems. I told her about my dad always demanding I win at everything. I told her about how most of the people that were my friends were just pretending because of my family’s money. I told her that I was lonely a lot of the time, that I was jealous of other families that just loved each other because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Leslie: Sounds like what you needed was just a good listener back then.

Randy: Yeah, I think so. But then… I don’t know if I said something that upset her or whatever, but she suddenly got angry. Maybe I complained one too many times about the plight of being wealthy. I just remember that she grabbed my shoulders and really locked eyes with me. She told me that there were millions of people in America that would kill to have my life. She told me I was complaining about things that didn’t matter in the long run. She told me about her childhood, growing up sleeping at homeless shelters, watching her mother get beat up by different drunk boyfriends and having to watch her mother practically beg for whatever little handouts she could get. She told me that in a few years I’d leave my father’s house and never have to deal with him again, so I should just enjoy the comforts that I have and then leave as soon as I could. She told me to just fake it, fake being happy, fake that I wanted to do that things my father wanted. The sports, the debate team the student body government… all of it. She said just fake it until you make it Randy. She told me to just play the role for what it was worth; be a snob, spend my dad’s money… whatever it took to make it through to the day I could move out of his house.

Leslie: Was that advice valuable?

Randy: Well, I took it. Just like that, I stopped trying to care. Cherry and I walked downstairs and I gave my dad this big, stupid thumbs-up. I put on this stupid, cocky little smile and was amazed that, for one of the first times in my life, my father seemed really happy about something I did. From that day, until the incident with Jeff Woods, I just kept wearing that stupid smile. Whenever I’d feel guilty about something, I just ignored it and faked pride or arrogance or whatever emotion fit the moment. Things got a lot better at home that year. I played on the company softball team, brought home trophies that I didn’t care about. My friends became nothing more than commodities. I was the leader and they followed. When I walked past an old lady I’d say good morning. I held the door open for people at the grocery store; I manipulated people, bought friendships and dropped the ones I didn’t want anymore. Crazy to think, but that woman, Cherry, was probably the first honest person I’d met in my entire life.

Leslie: Tell me about the first time you and your friends encountered Jeff and Liu Woods. Why did you choose to antagonize them by tampering with the bikes?

Randy: By the time Jeff moved to Mandeville, I was embracing Cherry’s ‘fake it’ style of life to the fullest. I hated myself, don’t get me wrong, but I also found that I could fake that. I just pretended like I didn’t despise what I was becoming. I was 16 now and had been living the ‘fake’ life for two years. Either way, we knew that someone had moved into that house, Jeff’s, on Fairmont. It was a nice neighborhood and me and Keith and Troy would usually ride our own bikes or walk down that street to get to Village Shopping Center. There wasn’t much to do in Mandeville if you didn’t have access to a car, so Village was sort of the place to hang out. So, we saw Jeff and Liu coming out of that house that morning and jump on their bikes. By the time we got to Village, we saw their bikes leaning on the wall next to the video store that was there. It shut down shortly after the incident from what I’ve heard. So, it started with one of us, maybe Troy, maybe me, just looking at their bikes. Someone in my group commented that the bikes looked old or cheap, I don’t know. Then one of us kicked one of the bikes. We thought it was funny, so we kicked it again. This time it fell over, causing the other bike to fall with it. We laughed so hard at that. I don’t know why, but this… meanness just came over me. I had no reason to mess with a stranger’s bike, I knew it was wrong, I knew I’d be mad if someone did it to me… all the moral platitudes, but still, I was enjoying it. Keith and Troy were too. So, I decided to up the ante. I picked up one of the bikes and started to ride it. Keith followed suit. We were trying to damage them I guess. We’d peddle really fast and then jump off the bikes, letting them crash. I knew it was wrong, but I just kept going anyway. Eventually Jeff and Liu Woods come out of the store and confronted us. There was a fight. I didn’t really want to fight Jeff. I mean, when you’re the leader you can’t risk losing a fight in front of your friends. So I provoked Keith and Troy into fighting them.

Leslie: So, when Donald Williamson wrote in his official report that witnesses saw Jeff and Liu take the first swing at you, was that false?

Randy: Donaldson was in my dad’s pocket for a long time. I’m not sure if my father was just bribing him outright with cash, or if he had some information on Williamson, but Jeff and Liu never had a chance at a fair deal that day. The only witness was the video store clerk, and he didn’t even talk to her. When he arrived Jeff and Liu were gone, but I’d stuck around with Keith and Troy. When Williamson got out of his cruiser, the clerk came out to talk to him, but he just waved her off. We told him what happened; not all of it obviously, we did try to make it sound like Jeff started it. We admitted to messing with their bikes, and Troy, maybe trying to sound tough, said he took a swing at Liu. Williamson eventually just put his hand up and told us to listen. He said something like, ‘Ok, so you boys were just trying to find out who owned those bikes, right? Because they were just left out on the street, right? And when you tried to return them to their rightful owners, these kids accused you of trying to steal them and attacked you, is that right?’ We were a little confused, so he just repeated it again, this time stomping his foot at what he considered the important parts. We figured out that a foot stomp meant that was the part to make sure we remembered. We told him the kids that attacked us lived in that recently sold house on Fairmont, and he knew exactly where to go. I guess he called my dad after we all left and told him it was all taken care of, because when I got home that day, my father already knew the story, or at least, the false version that Williamson cooked up.

Leslie: Were you and your friends upset over this? Is that what led to the incident at your house with the flare gun?

Randy: Honestly I didn’t care. I mean, Jeff beat up Keith and Troy, never really touched me on that first encounter. But my dad wanted me to be mad I think. He told me that I let some new kids from the ghetto make me look weak. He asked me what was the point of taking martial arts and having a gym membership if I was just going to get run over by some kid from the gutter. So, I faked being mad, I faked caring about some stupid macho image.

Leslie: Did you set up the attack in your garage? Did you convince your mother that you wanted to make friends with Jeff Woods so he’d come over?

Randy: No, that was just dumb luck. His mother was trying to fit in and I’m sure the fact that my dad was her husband’s boss had created a lot of problems in their home. I think Jeff’s mom just wanted to try and smooth things out. So she called my mom and they talked and eventually set up a day for all of us to get together. So, Jeff comes over and we hang out, play video games and make conversation. Turns out that we had very similar dads. I let the ‘fake’ advice go for a while and actually started to remember what it felt like to just hang out with someone and not have to pretend to be someone I’m not.

Leslie: So what went wrong? What changed in such a short period of time?

Randy: I actually found out ahead of time that our mothers were planning to go out. My mom told me that she was going to show Jeff’s mom around town a little. I suppose you could say it was at that moment that ‘Real’ and ‘Rich’ started to argue with each other.

Leslie: Who are ‘Real’ and ‘Rich?’

Randy: ‘Randy-Real’ and ‘Randy-Rich.’ Those were the nicknames I created for when I was ‘faking’ life and when I was just being myself. ‘Real’ would have been happy to hang out with Jeff that day, playing video games and whatever. ‘Rich’ however started to think about how my father reacted on the day of the fight in the parking lot. How he’d told me to ‘handle my business’ and not be a weak leader.

Leslie: So you’re saying that you arranged the attack with the flare gun to appease your father?

Randy: Yes. I started thinking only in shades of victory, if that makes sense. I figured if we put a little fear into Jeff, made him regret the incident at the video store; that I’d be able to report to my dad that I’d taken care of things. I wanted him to be proud of me again, the way he was the day Cherry came over. Not just proud of me for making good grades or something, but proud of me for being a ‘man.’ I realize now how stupid all that is, but when you’re 16 and trying to decide if you should be ‘real’ or ‘rich’ every day, I guess stupid choices are bound to happen.

Leslie: Was it at that point that you called Keith Jacobson and Troy Lockett and told them the plan?

Randy: Yeah. I told them that our parents were leaving soon, and that they should come over if they wanted to get back at Jeff Woods for the fight. They were all for it of course.

Leslie: So, you had him outnumbered; why even introduce the flare gun? Seems as though it was overkill.

Randy: That was the idea. My father always told me that getting even wasn’t as good as getting ahead. While on the surface he might give the traditional ‘revenge is wrong’ type speech, depending on who was around; my dad always found a way to pull me aside later and correct himself. He was a firm believer in putting things back to balance, and to my father, being one point ahead of everyone else was his idea of balance. I figured that the flare gun would be that perfect one point lead. It was so stupid, I know, but that was “Rich” Randy for you, full of bad ideas.

Leslie: Did you have any intent whatsoever to shoot him with it?

Randy: Jesus no! The idea of a bunch of suburban kids shooting at someone over a fight…. that’s a work of fiction if ever there was one. No, I just wanted to let Keith and Troy get their hits in. Knock him around a little, that’s all.

Leslie: That didn’t happen though; did it?

Randy: No. I’ve listened to Monica Davenport’s Jeff tapes, if I’d have known how much that kid was dangling on the edge… we’d have left him alone.

Leslie: Now, one of the big pieces of controversy was your story. You reported that Jeff Woods shot himself in the face while playing around with the flare gun. However, the audio recordings released by Davenport told a different story. All of the corruption that was exposed about your family and their ties to the powers that be in Mandeville also told a different story. What really happened that day?

Randy: (Taking a deep breath and staring into the distance for a moment) I shot Jeffery Woods in the face. It was an accident. I dropped the flare gun and it discharged.

Leslie: So why did you lie?

Randy: Williamson cooked up the entire story. From the moment he arrived on scene. He pulled me and Keith and Troy into our living room. By then both my mom and Jeff’s were back, they were hysterical. The EMT’s were doing their thing and no one was paying a lot of attention to us. Williamson took us into the other room and handled it just like the fight in the parking lot.

Leslie: How so?

Randy: Fed us our lines, just like in a play. He asked us how much we’d already told the EMT’s or the parents, which honestly hadn’t been much. He asked me what happened, and I told him the truth, that I’d dropped the gun and it shot Jeff. Williamson explained to me that I could be charged with Aggravated Battery, that it was a felony and I could spend the rest of my youth in a juvenile detention center. He told Keith and Troy that they would be tried as accessories and essentially face the same punishment. He said that my father could be held responsible as well, since it was his flare gun and it wasn’t properly locked away. By then me and my friends were in tears. All that tough-guy garbage and yet we were crying like babies. I could practically feel my father’s shame. Williamson wasn’t done there either. He went on to tell us about how my family could be sued in civil court for this as well. How we could all be on the street before my first criminal court date even showed up. I realized years later exactly what he had done. He’d set a trap to ensure that we’d go along with the alibi that he’d prepared.

Leslie: So Williamson told you to lie, to say that Jeff Woods shot himself with the flare gun?

Randy: Told us? He wrote the whole thing and just showed us where to sign. We had to go to court only once. Just an inquest hearing to determine if the incident was accidental or not; everyone from the judge to the Distract Attorney were likely bribed. We showed up in our little suits and ties at 9AM and were home in time for lunch. No further investigation would be conducted as to the cause of Jeff’s injury.

“Like I told you before, that is not Jeffery Woods,” Simon repeated as he and Dalton stood over the corpse. They’d arrived at the morgue less than 10 minutes prior, and were waiting for the medical examiner to come give her report.

“Fucking make-up and a contact lens? Why?” Dalton mumbled to himself.

“Clearly this individual wanted the murder to be credited to Jeff Woods.”

“No shit Sherlock, I’m just wondering why now, why after four years try and do this?”

The Medical Examiner entered the room. “Well, I might be able to answer some of that for you,” Marla Darrow, Mandeville’s forensic expert informed them.

“Well shit Marla, don’t keep us in the dark,” Dalton replied.

“The young man on the table in front of you is Brian Antoines, 21 years old and just recently released from the Southeast Louisiana Psychiatric Hospital. According to his records, he got out of there just five months ago.”

“What was he in there for?” Simon asked.

“Standard onset of schizophrenia from the records I can pull. It’s a sad story for many kids, as the symptoms of schizophrenia usually start accelerating in their teenage years. Seems as though he was treated for depression and delusional behavior through the hospital’s outpatient wing, but eventually those treatments weren’t enough. Looks like they officially started inpatient treatment three years ago when his issues at school could no longer be managed by his foster parents.”

“Foster parents; so this kid was an orphan?” Dalton asked.

“His biological parents are unknown. State records indicate that he was dropped off at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office as an infant. The names of the parents weren’t recorded… likely were never given. He bounced around from foster home to foster home until his mental illness became too much for his guardians to handle.”

Simon rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “It’s like the great wordsmith William Smith once said; ‘Parents just don’t understand.’”

Dalton chuckled at this, causing Marla to give them a sharp look.

“Is this funny to you two? A kid is dead!”

“I’m sorry… Marla is it?” Simon began. “We’ve had a rough night.”

Dalton snickered again, “Shit Marla, I ain’t sorry. That’s the funniest thing this little weirdo has said since I met him. Plus, yeah, we were almost run off the damned street tonight and…. Oh yeah!”

Dalton walked quickly towards the exit, leaving Simon and the less than humorous Marla to entertain each other in the meantime.

“So Marla, I’m only in town for a day or so, but…” Simon Lyman began.

“I’ll save you the trouble; I’m married, I have a boyfriend, I’m a lesbian,” she replied.

“Wait… that’s all pretty contradictory, which is it?”

“Pick one Agent Lyman, I don’t care,” she answered, filling the room with an awkward sense that pressed down on Simon’s shoulders like a boulder on his back.

“So Jeff the Killer… exciting stuff huh?” he stated, trying regain his composure after the painful rejection.

“I can’t believe this is coming back, after the 2015 disaster, I think most people were hoping they’d seen the last reboot of Jeff Woods and his misadventures.”

“It’s almost like people can’t learn from their past mistakes. Why would anyone want to rehash all of this now?”

“Liu Woods’ book may have something to do with it,” Marla mused. “It’s banned from a lot of places down here. None of our locally owned bookstores will carry it. It was the corruption though, if you ask me, that everyone in this city wants to forget, more so than the murders themselves.”

Dalton returned to the room carrying the package they’d picked up off the road. “Okay Simon, let’s see just what these fuckers packed up for us.”

“Are you sure that’s safe to open?” Marla asked.

“Christ, you two should date each other, you’re both afraid of the same crap,” Dalton responded, causing Simon and Marla to smirk a bit at the observation.

Dalton removed a pocketknife from his back pocket and carefully cut along the packing tape. Marla adjusted an overhead examination light to illuminate the metal table where Bradshaw had set the package. Simon took two steps back.

Slowly the tape was removed.

“Here,” Marla grunted quickly, thrusting latex gloves into Dalton’s hands.

The package was opened and Dalton breathed a sigh of annoyance and relief.

“It’s just a fucking CD and… wait, there’s some pictures too, let’s see here.”

Contained in the small package were two photos and a DVD with no label. Dalton removed the photos and placed them on the table side by side.

The first photo was Liu Woods. A recent one from the looks of it, perhaps even the photo from the sleeve of his now infamous book. The second picture looked a bit familiar to Dalton Bradshaw, though he wasn’t quite sure until Simon spoke up.

“That’s Randy Hayden. It’s recent too. Looks like a screen shot from his appearance on the Leslie Mathews show.”

Dalton glanced over at the old clock on the wall and sighed. “Almost midnight, we’ve been at this too long. I’m tempted to pop that CD into the nearest computer and take a look, but we better play this one by the book. We’ll have our tech people look at it in the morning. Who knows what’s on that disc?”

“Why not have the tech look at it tonight? I know you’re tired, but this is just getting good and I really want to know what’s on that disc,” Simon asked.

“This is Mandeville, our techies go home at dinner time,” Dalton told the agent; he then turned his attention to Marla. “We’re going to need the name of the dead kid’s psychiatrist who was treating him at Southeast Psych. If there are more answers, I think we’ll find some there. The hospital will also have his most recent foster parents, and we’re going to want to pay them a visit as well. I think tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us Lymon, hence why we need to go and get some sleep.”

“I’ll get the information for you. What about the pictures of Liu Woods and Randy Hayden, any ideas on how that connects?” Marla inquired.

“Besides the obvious? I mean, one is the Jeff Woods’ brother, the other is the kid that shot him in the face with a flare gun.” Simon informed her.

“Yeah, but…” Marla began, gazing down at the pictures, before suddenly finding a new point of interest. “Both of you come look at this! I think there is another clue in here!”

Dalton Bradshaw and Simon Lymon joined her and peered down into the box. There was something written on the bottom interior of the box, however, it was hardly visible.

“Fuck it all, I can’t tell what it says. It’s too damned faint,” Dalton complained.

“Wait, I have an idea,” Marla stated, and reached up and fiddled with the lamp mounted above their heads. She toggled a switch, engaging the lamp’s black light function. Suddenly the three investigators were thrown into a warped world of strange color. Standing over a fresh corpse with the room glowing in odd hues of blue and black caused a small shiver to run down Simon’s back. However, the mystery writing on the bottom of the box suddenly became clear to them all.

114 Shortcut Road

The dead prophet speaks, but when his source of power fades, his words of wisdom will be forever lost.

“What’s it mean?” Simon was asking, but Dalton was already on his phone, calling for backup to meet them at the address hidden in the box.

“Shortcut Road, it’s a small gravel stretch out in the middle of no where. It’s got a reputation of being a place where bad things happen. When I was a kid there were urban legends about devil worshippers out there. There are a few abandoned houses back there, but that’s about it.”

“Not just any abandoned houses!” Dalton snapped as he hung up his phone. “Remember that video I was watching today, the one with the kids calling themselves ‘Jeff’s Killers?’ Back when that group was still active, they’d hold a lot of their meetings back there in those abandoned homes. Fuck and shit Simon, how the hell didn’t we realize this sooner? I bet this is all the work of those fucking sick bastards!”

“Detective Bradshaw, those kids haven’t been active in years! Not since they spent all that money to clear out Shortcut Road and…” Marla was attempting to explain, but Dalton was already on the move.

“Okay Simon, backup is on their way out there. Fucking Mandeville runs on a skeleton crew of cops at night, so they’re reaching out to the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office for additional units. Let’s get moving!”

Dalton grabbed the small box, throwing the photos and the DVD back inside before briskly making his way towards the exit.

“Wait, the information you wanted!” Marla shouted, holding up a small notebook.

“Here, I’ll take it!” Simon grabbed the piece of paper with the name of Brian Antoines’ shrink written on it before turning to follow Dalton out to the parking lot.

Dalton was already in his car with the engine running when Simon climbed into the passenger seat. He looked over at his partner with impatience in his eyes. “Took you long enough, what were you doing in there, trying to score a date or something?”

“I was actually.”

“How it go?”

“Apparently she’s a married lesbian with a boyfriend. Talk about covering the bases.”

Dalton snickered, “I know for a fact that she’s single and likes men, guess you just fell outside of her scope of interest.”

“Figures. So, give me the rundown on this area, Marla said that it’s a bad spot.”

Dalton reached into his glove compartment and grabbed another Adderall from the plastic baggie. Simon gave him a strange look but asked no questions.

“Mind if I smoke?” Dalton asked, already lighting a cigarette without waiting for an answer. He took a long drag and began to answer Simon’s question. “Shortcut Road used to be what one might consider Mandeville’s ‘bad’ part of town. There used to be a small neighborhood back there, if you could even call it that. The utilities were rough back there, always going out due to poor maintenance. Now, by the time I transferred out here they’d actually gone out there and cleaned a lot of it up. I don’t think anyone really lives out there anymore. Of course, that idiotic Jeff Woods cult turned some of the abandoned houses out there into their freaking clubhouses. My first couple months working out here I had to go back there just once for a call.”

“What was it?”

“Well, Jeff’s Killers were just about gone and forgotten by then. People were growing up and the legend of Jeff the Killer was losing its appeal to kids out here. There were still a few that would go out there to smoke dope or whatever from time to time, but they weren’t dressing up as Jeff Woods anymore. I think they just kept it going to piss off Drake Arkansaw.”

“Wait, Drake Arkansaw, he’s the guy that bought Maxwell Hayden’s shares of his company, how was he involved with Jeff’s Killers?”

“Oh, something the expert here doesn’t know? Well, Drake’s first act of business was securing majority ownership of Hayden’s firm. Hayden sold him 35% of the company, and Drake just threw his money around until he secured the other 16%. Don’t ask me for the details because I’m just a dumb fucking cop, but I know that once he owned 51% of the company, he basically owned Mandeville.”

Simon was looking down at his phone, pulling additional information to add to the conversation. “Falstaff Enterprises, that’s what it’s called now.”

“Yeah, Drake was a big public figure guy though. He knew that Maxwell Hayden had fucked himself royally with underhanded deals and backroom bribes, so he decided to go the opposite route. Drake was Mr. Limelight. He was making money hand-over-fist and started trying the ‘hearts and minds’ approach. He wanted to bring Mandeville back to its once glorious status as a suburban paradise, which of course meant getting rid of all the Jeff the Killer freaking residue.”

Simon looked up from his phone, “It says here that he hired a bunch of cops to work off duty for him, sort of like his own personal task force. Seems like cleaning out Shortcut Road and getting rid of the Jeff fan club back there was his first big act.”

“Technically second. Did you know he moved himself and his daughter into Jeff Woods’ old house? Yep, right there on Fairmont. Place burned down not too long ago, good riddance I suppose.”

“So, Drake Arkansaw pissed these kids off that were using the old houses back there to have their little Jeff parties, and you think the few that remained did so just to mess with the guy?”

“More than likely yes. I mean, it was like history repeating itself. They saw him as just another rich asshole trying to write the laws in this town. I guess the jokes on them though, Drake Arkansaw died last year; his daughter is still around here though, she pops up from time to time.”

The two men had become lost in conversation as Dalton turned down dark road after dark road, taking them further into the backwoods of St. Tammany Parish. It was the massive glow of red and blue lights up ahead that broke their chatter and brought them back to the present.

“That’s our backup, or in this case, I suppose we’re the backup now.” Dalton commented.

“Must be a dozen cars up there, they got here quick.”

“This is a boring town to be a cop in Simon. If this were New Orleans, that backup would arrive sometime next week. Out here though, the cops are chomping at the bit for something to do. I bet half of those guys up there are already preparing their bullshit stories to tell over cheap beers and…”

Simon suddenly cut him off, shouting, “Look out!”

From behind them an ambulance came speeding past.

“Okay shit, what the fuck is happening!” Dalton grunted as he stepped on the accelerator and sped to their destination.

Dalton’s eyes immediately fell on the news van parked across the street and felt his stomach flip over. “The media… how?”

From WDSU New Orleans: Grizzly Murder on the North Shore Reported by Helena Morrison

Helena: Tonight the residents of Mandeville are once again taken back to the chilling serial killings of 2015 involving teenage murderer Jeffery Woods, known in the media as Jeff the Killer. Last night police responded to an abandoned home located in a long forgotten part of Mandeville known as Shortcut Road. Local teens calling themselves Jeff’s Killers were once known to frequent these homes, however, in a statement by Mandeville Police Chief Mitchell Hardy, their activities had ceased over time. Now it appears that someone has taken an interest in the area once again, and this time they are stepping up their morbid fascinations to a terrifying new plateau.

(The scene now cuts from the newsroom to footage from the prior night on Shortcut Road. Helena Morrison can be seen standing in front of a small blighted home as dozens of police, EMT’s and other officials mill about the front yard, some entering into the dark home as others take photographs and examine the area. The screen then splits, showing Morrison in the newsroom as the footage from the crime scene continues to play on the other half of the screen.)

Helena: WDSU received an anonymous tip around 11:20 last night, informing us that if we wanted to be the first on scene for what the caller described as his ‘masterpiece’ that we should hurry to 114 Shortcut Road. We arrived around the same time as the first police cruisers began to show up, and we were not allowed to bring out cameras into the house. However, it soon became apparent from the reactions of the officers reporting on scene, that something horrific had taken place in the small town that once prided itself on its practically non-existent crime rate. I’m going to play for you the call that we received last night from the unknown tipster, however I must warn viewers at home that this audio recording is disturbing.

(The screen shifts to a grey screen with a stock photo of a telephone in one corner and the WDSU logo on the other. The call is played with the audio captioned across the screen.)

Male Voice (Modified slightly to raise the pitch): My masterpiece awaits those with curious eyes. He has much prophecy to share. Will it be heard before the soul within his voice dies forever? So many lies are told, so many false Messiahs speak and so many fools listen. I have the truth, if you will come and bear witness. 114 Shortcut Road. The dead speak there. Jeff’s Killers worship a false god. Only the truth can open the door to freedom. Come find the truth.

(Screen returns to Helena Morrison)

As I said before, we were not allowed into the crime scene. However, a source working on the investigation did share with us a first hand account of what he saw in the house. The witness describes the scene as something from a horror movie. The body of a man was nailed to the wall of the home. Rescuers believed the victim to still be living at the time of the discovery, as a faint voice was heard whispering from his mouth. However, upon further investigation it was discovered that a small MP3 device was forced into the victim’s mouth and was playing a recorded message on a constant loop.

(Screen cuts back to the scene of the crime the night before, where EMT’s can be seen wheeling the victim out of the house on a stretcher. The victim is covered in a white sheet.)

The identity of the victim has yet to be released, as the investigation is still ongoing. The contents of the recording are also being kept within police custody until further information becomes available.

In other news….

Four days passed and things were bad for Dalton Bradshaw and Simon Lymon. The news had spread like wildfire. The Internet was burning up with stories about Mandeville’s infamous Jeff the Killer. Rumors were flying about; had Jeff returned? Was there a copycat serial killer on the loose? Did the cult-like youths that once called them selves Jeff’s Killers finally organize and become violent? People were demanding answers and the Mayor’s Office along with the Chief of Police were struck with a deluge of furious citizens wanting the truth. Sadly, for all of their efforts, no truths could be solidified yet.

What the news had failed to report on the night of the murder on Shortcut Road was being pieced together by everyone from YouTube commentators to established news sources; however, the Mandeville Police who had the answers were ordered to remain silent. Any officer found responsible providing information to the press would be terminated on the spot. The Chief of Police, Mitchell Hardy, had raised the bar even higher by threatening his staff with criminal charges of Malfeasance in Office should any journalist become privy to information before he and the mayor were ready to have a press release.

What had been found was something far too terrible to actually broadcast on the nightly news anyway. Upon arrival to 114 Shortcut Road, police discovered the body of Trent Vickers, a resident of Mandeville and known troublemaker. Vickers was in his mid-20s, played in a heavy metal band and was a thorn in the side of law enforcement for years. Usually his crimes didn’t extend past drunken outbursts after a night at the Green Room, a local club in the neighboring town of Covington that hosted different musical acts. The Green Room was the closest thing that residents of the North Shore could get to a New Orleans rock bar without having to drive across the lake.

More than that though, Vickers was the self-proclaimed founding member of Jeff’s Killers. He’d been generous online with his master plan to create a sovereign community in the abandoned homes on Shortcut Road. This of course meant that he’d been in direct conflict with the Mandeville Police, but more so than them, Drake Arkansaw and his company. When Arkansaw began his task of clearing out the old houses on Shortcut Road, he’d been met with an abundance of resistance from Vickers. Lots of confrontations filmed on cell phone cameras that found their way to Vickers’ YouTube channel. Lots of blogging, calling Arkansaw a fascist, comparing him to early 20th Century mobsters, complete with accusations that the entire Mandeville Police Department was in his back pocket. There was a lot of mud slinging in the form of comparing Drake Arkansaw to Maxwell Hayden. Vickers claimed that Arkansaw’s desire to clean up Shortcut Road was just another attempt at hiding the truth of what Mandeville really was, and how the lies and corruption discovered after Jeff Woods’ rampage were simply repeating themselves under a different dictator. He created a few issues, such as blocking construction vehicles sent out by Arksansaw, but eventually, like so many others, fed himself enough rope to let himself hang.

In late 2016, when Arkansaw really started ramping up his efforts to clear out Shortcut Road, Vickers decided to up the ante and start targeting actual members of Arkansaw’s staff. He’d show up at the company headquarters with his cell phone camera rolling and conduct ambush interviews intending to humiliate anyone connected to Drake Arkansaw.

From YouTube Channel ‘Free Mandeville’ Posted by Trent Vickers

(Camera footage shot from first-person perspective shows cameraman-Vickers-approaching front office entryway of Falstaff Enterprises. Unidentified man in suit exits door and is accosted by Vickers)

Vickers: Sir, would you care to explain how you sleep at night knowing that your paycheck is coming from a fascist tyrant?

Businessman: Go away.

Vickers: I will not go away! Your company is attempting to destroy a community of sovereign, peaceful people who oppose corruption. We will not simply go away!

Businessman: Get a life!

Vickers: You’re a fucking pig bastard! Go suck on the dick of your boss!

(Uniformed Security Guard exits building and approaches Vickers)

Guard: Sir, you’re going to have to leave!

Vickers: I’m on a public sidewalk; piss off!

Guard: Sir, you cannot harass the employees!

Vickers: What’s your name and badge number!

Guard: Sir, you’re going to have to stop filming me without…

Vickers: Name and badge number you fucking pig!

Vickers would often be given citations and was occasionally arrested for such demonstrations. It wasn’t until he decided to target Arkansaw’s teenage daughter as she was leaving her high school that he finally found himself facing serious criminal charges.

From YouTube Video ‘Stupid People of the Suburbs’ Posted by Hippy Hater

(Video begins with Vickers filming as he approaches Mandeville High School’s student parking lot. A young woman, later identified as the daughter of Drake Arkansaw, is confronted as she walks towards her car)

Vickers: How does it feel to know you’re father is a fucking monster?

Girl: Who are you?

Vickers: You know who the fuck I am! I’m the guy that’s going to fuck your dad up the ass harder than he fucks you!

Girl: What did you say to me?

Vickers: You heard me! What’s the matter, ashamed of your father? You should be!

(Vickers then lowers his camera to demonstrate that he is grabbing his crotch and making sexual gestures towards the girl)

Vickers: Yeah, I’m gonna fuck your dad just like this! You like that you spoiled little cunt!

(Other students begin to gather and several teachers start to approach Vickers)

Teacher: Sir, you need to leave school grounds this second!

Vickers: This is a public school, my tax dollars pay for it and I have a right to be here!

(A uniformed police officer assigned to the school as security begins to approach)

Officer: Sir, I was informed that you made sexually suggestive comments to one of our students! I’m going to need to see identification right now.

Vickers: Fuck you, I know my rights, this is freedom of speech and freedom of the press!

Officer: Sir, turn around and place your hand behind your back!

Vickers, who’d found clever ways to skirt the law on several occasions, was finally caught. He was charged with Sexual Misconduct Towards a Minor for his comments directed at Arkansaw’s daughter. In a plea agreement with the Distract Attorney, Vickers was able to avoid jail time but was given 5 years probation with the condition that he cease targeting any associates of Drake Arkansaw. He was also banned from going within 200 feet of Mandeville High School. Afterwards he mostly vanished from the public eye. He played his gigs at the Green Room from time to time and would occasionally post one of his video rants about conspiracies and such, but his mission to bring down Arkansaw and his task force seemed to have vanished all together.

Then, four nights ago, he was found by police nailed to the wall of one of the last remaining abandoned homes on Shortcut Road that he’d once fought so hard to protect. Lodged in his mouth was a small voice recorder playing the same bizarre and ominous message on a constant loop. The message wasn’t saved though, and had the recorder’s batteries drained completely, the strange message of looming disaster may have never been heard at all.

From the recording found on the corpse of Trent Vickers Currently only accessible to members of the Mandeville Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies

Lies are locks, they keep us out… Lies are locks, they trap us in… Lies are locks indeed. Truth… truth is the key! The key to open the door of truth! What will we find there? The dead beg for nothing, the living beg for relief. Relief from the hell that I have brought to Mandeville!! No one is safe! Your lies protected you for so long, but now… now the truth shall shine bright! Liars fill their pockets with ill-gotten gold! Liars shall be held accountable! Liars shall be forced to stand before the door of truth and confess their sins! Only then shall peace return! Dalton Bradshaw and Simon Lymon… you are but bit players in the grand scheme before you. The true stars have yet to rise, though they shall soon enough! In the meantime, I promise that we will keep you both entertained. Be warned though, your lives are of no real importance, and may be snuffed out at any time. Perhaps you should make haste and bring my stars to Mandeville! The victim and the liar must face vindication! The longer you stall, the more death we shall bring to you! Remember, only the truth can open the door to peace! Lies will only bring more death!

Bradshaw and Lymon listened to this recording for probably the 100th time as they stood before the desk of Police Chief Mitchell Hardy. The chief was pissed, had been pissed since the incidents began happening again. Now he was moving beyond pissed into a new zone of rage that made Bradshaw cringe a bit. To make matters worse, Lymon had now taken a seat and was apparently scrolling through something on his cell phone as the chief was just getting started. Bradshaw felt his stomach tighten in anticipation for the ass chewing to come.

“You two… how! How did this get so fucked up?” the chief demanded.

“Sir, we did everything in our power to contain this, however…” Dalton began, but was interrupted as the chief continued his rant.

“You had some pretty simple orders Bradshaw, keep this shit quiet! All you had to do was write up the incident at the Dermott house as a B&E that ended with the perp being killed in self-defense. Was that too fucking hard? And you, Lymon, I’m not sure if your superiors in Baton Rouge told you or not, but your whole purpose as our ‘expert’ here was to conclude 100% that this had nothing to do with the Jeff Woods incident from 2015. Jeff the Killer is something that everyone just wants to fucking forget! The 2015 incident was a disaster for everyone involved here! So why in the hell is it that you managed to not only fail in your first goal, but then manage to somehow start a fucking sequel! No one wants a sequel to 2015! No one!”

Lymon looked up from his phone for just a moment to respond, “I don’t know about all that sir, some people thought that 2015 was handled well. I mean, sure, it wasn’t perfection, but let’s be honest, it didn’t help that half the brass in this town went out of their way to cover the whole damned thing up. Maybe if you’d all just done your jobs in the first place instead of worrying about protecting one rich old man, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now!”

Hardy looked stunned. He was not a man used to be spoken back to, especially in his own office where he made the policy and enforced the laws. It did the situation no favors that the man currently talking down to him was half his age, wearing a t-shirt with something called a ‘Homestar Runner’ printed on the front.

“Just who in the hell do you think you are?” Hardy asked, his voice more stunned now than angry.

“I don’t think I’m anything. However, I know that I am a State Agent. I know that my boss has the governor on speed dial; can you say the same thing? I know that my boss told me to disregard your request that I come down here just to whitewash the incident. I also know that you, as chief of police, must be aware that instructing a government agent to falsify a report is a pretty hefty charge. Maybe that’s the way you’re used to doing things here, but it’s not the way I do business chief. I was told to come down here and conduct a real investigation. You have a serious problem on your hands here chief. The fact that you haven’t held a press conference yet is making you look like shit as well. So, maybe I’ll just call one today. I have every legal right to seize the recordings found at the crime scene, and if you keep acting like a fucking asshole, I might just do that. Maybe I’ll go ahead and deputize Detective Bradshaw here as an official attachment to the State for the duration of this case, that way we don’t need to deal with you at all anymore. Do you think perhaps that would be a good idea? Or who knows, maybe I’ll call the governor myself today, let him know that you suburban snobs are obstructing justice down here… again! Yeah, how’d you like that?”

Chief Hardy was speechless. He wasn’t sure if Lymon could do half of the things that he’d just threatened to do, but the idea of this young punk calling a press conference was enough to scare him into compliance, at least for the time being. He took a deep breath and plastered on a fake smile.

“Gentlemen, perhaps I was a bit too harsh just now. This has been stressful for us all. I’ve had the mayor barking at me since this began, demanding that we close this case quickly. I shouldn’t have taken this out on you. Agent Lymon, I apologize.”

“No worries chief. Now, me and Dalton have some police work to do. I think I may have just found our next big break.”

Dalton, who’d been shocked into silence by his young partner’s sudden outburst, found his voice again. “What, did the CSI find something from the house?”

“Better, I found something on YouTube!”

From the YouTube Channel ‘Grubworm and the Canary’ Posted by Grubworm

(Video opens with the Podcast of YouTubers Grubworm and Canary, who host a channel dedicated to reviewing and critiquing video games, Internet literature and independent movies)

Grubworm: (Male, mid-30s) Hi-ho denizens of the wormhole! I am Grubworm along with my always-lovely co-host, The Canary!

Canary: (Female, mid-20s) Tweet, tweet! What’s cookin’ Grubs?

Grubworm: Well, today we have a special treat. Seems as though Jeff the Killer is making headlines down in Louisiana once again!

Canary: Oh God… not more Jeff.

Grubworm: Yep, he’s back apparently, or at least something is going on down there. So, remember last year Canary when we got our hands on the mysterious Jeff the Killer PC game? Remember how bad I wanted to play it?

Canary: Yes I do Grubs, and I’m afraid I know where this is going.

Grubworm: That’s right! You said the only way we’d ever review that game is if Jeff himself came back into the spotlight!

Canary: Yes, I did say that. But technically he hasn’t. I mean, most people seem to think this is the work of a copycat or something.

Grubworm: Too bad Canary, a deals a deal! So get ready folks, we’re about to strap ourselves in and ‘set fail’ into the harsh seas of Jeff the Killer, the video game!

Canary: I think I need more Vicodin…

Grubworm: Users are losers Canary, now let’s play!

(The screen changes to show the PC game; Jeff the Killer)

Grubworm: Now, what’s interesting here is that no one knows who made this game.

Canary: Why is that interesting?

Grubworm: Ummm… okay, so here’s the start-up screen. Pretty basic shit. This game essentially runs on an 8-bit engine, so we’re looking at NES level graphics and sound here.

Canary: Hmmm, that game is 8-bit and I’m up to 8 Vicodin a day… small world.

Grubworm: Now, now Canary, remember what Wally Bear said, ‘Be Smart, Don’t Start!’

Canary: Too late, sorry Wally.

Grubworm: Now, you play as Jeff Woods. The first level is supposed to be his neighborhood in Mandeville, LA. You see that little meter up in the corner there? Not his health bar, but the other one?

Canary: Oh yeah, so apparently that’s his ‘rage’ bar. If he gets mad enough, he transforms into the ‘Killer.’ This is just like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Tell me again why James Rolfe got to review that before us?

Grubworm: Because he is far more talented and we have less Twitter followers than the kid that played Johnny McFarley in The Paperboy!

Canary: Oh yeah… tweet, tweet.

Grubworm: Now, the first level is just Jeff jumping over dogs that run at him and fighting a couple of school bullies I guess.

Canary: So Randy Hayden has an army in this game?

Grubworm: I tried to join the Army, they told they could take a stupid recruit or an ugly recruit, but they couldn’t take both.

Canary: Umm… tweet?

Grubworm: Yeah, so the first boss is Keith! Fun fact, he’s based off of Keith Jacobson. Maybe that’s why the game developer stayed anonymous on this, he was probably afraid of getting sued.

Canary: Keith looks easy!

Grubworm: Yeah, he just runs across the screen with a knife. Hard to believe someone portrayed him with a knife, what a dedicated bully! Anyway, just punch him a few times and we’re off to Level 2! So, what did you think of the first level of Jeff the Killer the video game Canary?

Canary: Well, that was shit!

Dalton placed his hand over Simon’s cell phone. “Okay, enough of this shit! I don’t care about Inchworm and Canary! How the hell is this a clue?”

“It’s Grubworm, and this part isn’t the clue. I just really like their channel.”

“I hate you…”

“Check it out Dalton, this is the clue, you’re not going to believe who uploaded a video response to this.”

From YouTube Channel ‘Jane of Ark’ Uploaded by Jane Arkansaw

Jane: (Speaking directly into camera) So you think this is funny? You think this is a joke now? People are dying. Something much larger is behind this. If you’re crazy enough to think that some disfigured kid is running around in the shadows creating all of this, than you deserve it! I know things! My father received threats from lots of sources before his death. He was too close to all of it. He tried to erase Mandeville’s past with his money, but what lies beneath the surface is something so broken and rotting on the inside that money cannot clean. There are people out there with very close connections to the situation from 2015 that still have agendas and goals. None of those goals are good. I’ve spent a lot of time looking into this, trust me; this didn’t just start with the attack at the Dermott’s. This has been going for four years. Expelling Maxwell Hayden and replacing him with my father did not fix anything. Removing corrupt officials from office and allowing them to run and hide in the shadows did not fix anything. Lives were ruined, lives were lost and I’m pretty sure minds were lost as well. My father was on to something before he was murdered. He figured something out, something that runs much deeper than Jeffery Woods, Maxwell Hayden or any one person. If you want the truth, go back to the beginning. I will continue to release information as I put it together. To the law enforcement officers that are investigating this matter, know one thing right now, there is a massive smoke screen being put in front of you! That smoke screen is Jeff the Killer! Don’t let the sensationalism around his case distract you. Look deeper!

“Well I’ll be, the prodigal daughter returns,” Simon mumbled.

“How did she know about the incident with the Dermott family?”

“I would venture to guess that by now Lane Dermott has spilled the beans to at least a couple of people. That kid didn’t strike me as the type who could keep a secret for long.”

“Okay, we’re going to go and talk to Jane Arkansaw and find out what she knows. If her father really was receiving threats I want to know what those threats were and who they came from,” Dalton stated.

“It would make sense that he might be a target. He did step in for Maxwell Hayden and he didn’t exactly have a low profile while doing so. Between pissing off the crazies that hung out on Shortcut Road to probably pissing off a ton of Mandeville’s older and wealthier elite, his list of enemies could be a mile long.”

Simon’s cell phone chimes, indicating a text message.

“Oh hey, more good news I guess! Looks like the tech guys finally cracked that CD we found. Today is turning out to be interesting!”

“So where to first? Jane Arkansaw or the CD?”

Simon considered for a moment and then answered, “The CD for sure. We’ll have plenty of time to talk with Jane. Whatever is on that CD though is directly from these assholes and I just gotta know what’s going to shart out of there.”

“Okay, I was sort of hoping that the chief would be gone by the time we had go back into the station, but whatever, fuck that guy. Let’s get this done.”

Simon and Dalton returned to the Mandeville Police Station and prepared to view the contents of the DVD left for them the night they were almost run off the road.

“Hurry the fuck up Dalt!” a uniformed officer called as the two investigators walked into the control booth of the Mandeville Police Station. The techie looked as though he’d just discovered the Holy Grail or the Fountain of Youth. Without being asked, the tech immediately went into an explanation that neither Dalton nor Simon really understood. “It took several days but I finally cracked the encryptions on that DVD. Seems that whoever burned the information onto this disk used several variations of encryption software. Most likely the guy got a hold of EncryptDisc and just tampered with the codes a bit. He knew that we’d be throwing government grade decryption at it, so I guess he wanted to make sure we got the point.”

“Exactly what point would that be?” Dalton asked sharply.

“My guess, he wanted us to know that he knew what he was doing. He clearly wanted us to crack the code; I mean, why else leave us the disc? No, I think this was more or less a bit of computer saber rattling. Just a way of making sure we know he isn’t an amateur.”

“Well then, how about we stop torturing ourselves with delayed gratification and get down to business!” Simon stated jovially.

“Isn’t the chief going to come out and watch?” Dalton asked.

“He said he’ll watch it later. I think he’s preparing that press conference that everyone wants. I saw him going over paperwork,” another uniformed cop replied.

The techie pushed play and the video began.

From DVD Left Behind By Jimmy 4x4 During Investigation into the Attack on Dermott Property of Mandeville Police, Evidence# 2461022

(Gravelly Male Voice—Possibly Electronically Enhanced—Menacing Tone)

Why does one choose to lie? If you’re hearing this and believe somewhere that this is a meant to be a profound question, you can stop. People choose to lie because they are human. They are weak and pathetic. They hide. They cheat. They destroy. All of this is done so they can reside in the shadows for a short while longer before eventually being forced to face the truth. One of my most central of players has recently come forward, cast into the light, yet still hiding behind a mask of lies. Did he do it for money? Did he do it for forgiveness? That is one mystery that I intend to solve.

(DVD begins to display video footage—voice continues to speak as footage plays. What appears to be video shot on a camcorder or low quality video recording device appears. Footage shows two police cars parked outside of the former home of Jeffery Woods. Two youths, clearly Jeff and Liu Woods from 2015 are then seen walking up to the front door of their home. The time stamp on the video confirms that this was filmed on the day Jeff and Liu fought Randy and his friends at the video store.)

To the officers who are attempting to make sense of this, know that the events of today were set into motion many years ago. Nothing here is random, nothing here is chaotic. Everything, from the profound to the mundane has been analyzed and predicted.

(Video of Sheila and Jeffery Woods arriving at the home of Bridgette Hayden appears.)

Truth is actually far more delicate than lies. Lies are man made after all, products of intelligent craft. A lie can be built upon, improved upon and strengthened, much like a simple fort that eventually grows into a castle, which eventually becomes a village and finally a city. The truth however is fragile, as it can only exist as it is. It cannot be improved or fortified. It cannot be developed into a superior product by group collaboration. The truth is only the truth. Nothing can be added or taken away.

(Video of the ambulance parked outside of Hayden’s home appears on the screen. A stretcher is shown taking Jeffery Woods from the garage to the ambulance.)

The truth existed that day for only a brief period. Randy, Keith, Troy and Jeff all knew the truth. That delicate fact existed until the moment Officer Williamson arrived. At that point it was polluted into a lie.

(Video appears of Randy Hayden in court at his inquest hearing. The judge is smiling contently as he writes notes. Randy steps down from the stand and joins his father.)

Who can be trusted now? Now that blood has spilled upon the floor; who can we turn to?

(A still image of Liu Woods signing copies of his book at a New York City bookstore is shown.)

And even when the truth is told, some move quickly to pollute that truth.

(Video shows the outside of the fireworks booth where the interview between Bennie Rosenberg and Jeffery Woods took place. The footage, shot at night, shows Jeff Woods exit the fireworks stand and quickly look around before walking briskly into the dark woods behind the booth.)

There is much more truth to be found! If you’ve made it this far, let us continue our journey. Observe!

(The video continues to show the fireworks booth, and from the corner of the screen, a figure can be seen approaching the entrance to the tiny building)

The truth has become so twisted that by now I can safely assure you that you know nothing. You may learn more as you go, should you survive. Be warned though, I am not a friend, I am not some wise mentor hear to lead you to enlightenment. I am a bearer of truth, but never forget that honesty and peace do not always travel together. I shall guide you, but not with the gentle hand of a shepherd; but rather the firm hand of a taskmaster. This will not be a pleasant journey. You cannot escape this now; you cannot opt out.

Should you still question the severity of the infection caused by the lies and corruption within Mandeville, allow me to demonstrate just how critical this situation has become.

(The screen flashes to solid red)

KILL ONE NOW!

Dalton Bradshaw raised an eyebrow, his mind swirling with questions. He glanced towards Simon to voice his quandaries and suddenly felt all the color drain from his face. He drew in a breath to call out a warning; he felt his muscles tense as he prepared to lunge forward. However, everything happened far too quickly for any reaction to lend aid.

One of the uniformed officers, a guy who’s name Dalton wasn’t even sure he knew, drew his pistol from its holster. The officer aimed the gun directly behind Simon’s head. Simon, whose attention had been locked completely onto the video playing on the screen before them, never even realized what was happening directly behind him. In the next second, the officer fired his pistol at point blank range into the back of Simon’s head. The report was deafening in the small room, and every cop was momentarily stunned. Dalton, who’d watched the event unfold, reached for his pistol. His first instinct was to shoot this apparent rogue cop. Then he realized that if the rogue died, so too did the truth of what the hell just happened here.

As Simon’s corpse fell to floor in a graphic display of spraying blood and falling brain matter, the rogue cop placed his pistol to his own head.

“What the fuck are you doing!” Dalton screamed.

Smiling, the officer replied in a manic, rising voice, “Serving my purpose. The truth opens the door Detective Bradshaw!” In the next moment the officer fired his gun into his own head, joining Simon on the floor, brothers in death.

From Press Conference Held by Mandeville Police Chief Mitchell Hardy

Today is a horrific day that will go down in infamy within our beloved City of Mandeville. Today we mourn the loss of Louisiana State Police Investigator Lymon. Agent Lymon was tasked to assist us in the investigation of the recent attack on a local family by an assailant who wore a disguise that we believed was intended to mimic Jeffery Woods. Over the course of the investigation, evidence was discovered that led investigators to believe that at least one other individual was involved. Police were led to an abandoned home on Shortcut Road in unincorporated St. Tammany Parish, technically located outside of the Mandeville city limits, where the body of young man who has a long history of mental illness was found. The victim is believed to have committed suicide and left a recording, mostly containing cryptic messages that we now believe were nothing more than byproducts of his mental health issues. We are saddened that he was not able to get the help that he needed. Then today, while reviewing further evidence, Agent Lymon was murdered by a rogue police officer who we believe was suffering from work related stress. The officer, Brandon Crane, would then turn his service pistol on himself, ending his own life as well. At this time, we are confident that the threat is contained. The current evidence that we have available suggests that the initial attack was carried out by yet another individual with a history of mental illness. It is unfortunate that neither Brian Antoines, the young man who donned face paint to try and mimic the appearance of Jeffery Woods, and Trent Vickers, a youth who had a long documented fascination with morbid topics were unable to receive the proper medical assistance they clearly needed. And now we must face the most painful of truths, that Officer Brandon Crane, a young man who’d served our community for almost two years, was apparently also involved in this tragic set of circumstances. There will be a memorial service for Agent Lymon in Baton Rogue, LA. The time, date and location will be announced once preparations are completed. We, as brothers and sisters of the Badge are all deeply hurt at the loss of this great man of justice. At this time I am not taking questions. If anyone wants to further information, I encourage you to reach out to our Public Relations Office. Thank you, and God Bless!

“Load of shit right there…” a slightly drunk man grunted at the television mounted in The Abbey, a dive bar in downtown New Orleans, as the press conference faded out, replaced by sports and then weather.

“What you say there Detective?” the young bartender asked. She had a sleeve of tattoos on her arms featuring various sea-life. On this night, Dalton Bradshaw would have happily drowned among them.

“It’s not Detective shit anymore. I’m off the force Sherri. I guess it’s just Mr. Bradshaw from here on out.”

Sherri Willis, who’d served Bradshaw cheap drinks most weekends since she’d started working at The Abbey, showed genuine concern. She liked the man, although he was likely twice her age. Perhaps she just admired his pragmatic nature, or maybe she had some father issues, but either way, she always liked it when he came in.

“What happened? I thought you were one of those cop-for-life type guys.”

“Sherri, that’s a story I’d gladly tell you over breakfast. Which likely means you’ll never hear it.” He tried to laugh at his own situation, but in reality, Dalton was miserable, and very concerned for the future of the people he was once charged with protecting.

Sherri looked over the man before her. Sure he was old and his teeth were stained and a bit crooked. He smoked like a chimney and would probably run out of steam before her, still though, she fancied him for some strange reason that only a psychiatrist would understand. After all, she was 26, had a body full of tattoos and piercings and would likely be kicked out of her circle of punk-goth friends for sleeping with a middle-aged cop. She could tell though that he was hurting badly, and likely wasn’t even serious about his offer for breakfast story telling, but she decided to throw him a bone just the same; or perhaps allow him to throw her one.

“I close up this dump in about an hour. Stick around; you can be my security guard. Walk me home, I think I need someone to check my bedroom anyway, make sure there aren’t any monsters under the bed.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, anything that could get one of my regular drunks as down and out as this is something that I’d like to hear.”

Dalton managed to smile after all. In all honesty, he still wasn’t happy. He and Simon hadn’t exactly become friends, but they’d worked well together, and a friendship would have formed eventually. He respected the kid’s gumption. What was worse was how he was let go today. Just another fucking cover-up in Mandeville; history repeating itself once more just because lying and hiding seemed to be the nature of that particular beast. Hardy wanted Dalton out of the way, that much was clear. He wanted to steer this investigation back on his own tracks. The press conference alone proved that much. Hardy was clearly trying to tell the people of Mandeville that the case was all wrapped up, but Dalton knew much better. He and Simon had done a bit more investigating during the four days following the discovery of Vickers’ body. They’d learned much more. They’d both decided to keep that additional information to them selves until the case could be wrapped up without fear of yet another snow job. However, it would appear that for the time being at least, the forecast was quite snowy for Mandeville. Dalton threw back another shot of whiskey and waited patiently for Sherri Willis to take him away from his problems for at least a little while.

Meanwhile in Mandeville, a young woman sat alone in a large home surrounded by a massive gate. Jane Arksansaw examined the names and faces before her, photographs all tacked to her wall. Jeffery Woods, Liu Woods, Randy Hayden, Maxwell Hayden, Paul Dermott and many more stared back at her. She knew there was much more to this story. She knew that the chief’s press conference was a lie to hide a lie. She knew she had work to do.

“It’s starting again,” she whispered, as she tacked photos of Simon Lymon and Dalton Bradshaw to her wall. She’d inherited much of her father’s fortune when she turned 18. Now she was just entering her 20s, saddled with a fortune that she cared little about. She was aware that most women her age with her current level of wealth would be jet setting off to Europe, taking inane selfies and consuming cheap liquor in expensive bottles. However, Jane K. Arkansaw cared for none of those things. Her father had been murdered; her home had set ablaze. She’d escaped with her life, but in the process she’d inherited a dire mission, one which she would happily spend all of her newly acquired money to be rid of. But she knew better. She knew that this was not something she would allow herself to abandon. It compelled her forward, even though she was fully capable of hopping into the nearest jet and never looking back.

Jane reached up and touched the photos of Liu Woods and Randy Hayden. As she did, she whispered to herself, “there is a lot to do now, much to get in order. You boys are coming home very soon after all…”