Terror by Night Read online

  The funeral director smiled and told us that he understood. He showed us a casket that cost only fifteen hundred dollars. But a service at the funeral home and the burial would be two thousand more.

  “We can’t afford that. Can’t you go any cheaper?” I said, now feeling really guilty.

  We spent some time looking at different options and finally got the price down to eight hundred for the casket and fifteen hundred for a direct burial with no graveside service. We would also hold the funeral at a church rather than at the funeral home.

  Penny and I cleaned out our already small savings account to pay for my father’s funeral.

  CLEANING OUT THE APARTMENT

  The rest of the week was a whirlwind of activity. My dad had been on a month-to-month lease at King Place, because he was thinking about moving to a different complex. Unfortunately, that meant we had only a week to clean out his apartment. Otherwise we’d have to pay another month’s rent, and we didn’t have the money for that.

  So in addition to preparing for a memorial service, we had to clean the apartment, pack my dad’s things, and try to sell them. We decided to hold an estate sale at the apartment on Saturday, the day before the service.

  To say it was chaos at my dad’s apartment that day would be a gross understatement. My sisters, Mary and Tina, along with Tina’s three grown children, assisted Penny and me as we sorted through all my father’s belongings, kept what we wanted, priced what we didn’t want, set the items out for the sale—which was running at the same time—and cleaned the apartment room by room. To complicate matters, all of our children were there. Between our three, Mary’s two girls, and Tina and her children, not to mention the people who’d come for the sale, it was standing room only in that little apartment. You could hardly move. That’s why we were delighted when Penny’s sister, Mandy, stopped by to see if she could help. When she saw the children running in and out of the apartment, she offered the perfect solution.

  “Why don’t I just take the kids over to my place for the day?” she asked.

  Mandy lived in Greenville, so the kids wouldn’t be too far away. And it would definitely make it easier for us to get our work done. We all agreed that this would be a huge help, so Mandy piled the kids into her car and took them to her house until we were finished with the sale.

  I had no idea then, but that decision set in motion a downward spiral of events that would ultimately lead to the murders of my family.

  THE FUNERAL

  We held my father’s memorial service on Sunday, February 24, at Grace Baptist Church in Garland, my father’s church. He’d maintained his membership there even after he moved to Greenville. Because we had paid for a direct burial, there was no casket or viewing. Dad had been buried a day earlier at Williams Cemetery in Garland, in a plot beside my mother. For the memorial service, we set a few pictures of Dad on the Communion table. About 150 people filled the little redbrick church building.

  Musically, it was a family affair. Music had always been an important part of our household. Penny was a member of the Southern gospel group called The Gaston Family Singers, and she could play gospel piano with the best of them. The children loved to hear her, and the sound of her piano filled our house daily. One of our favorite family activities was to stand around the piano and sing while Penny played.

  As the service began, Penny played, and our sixteen-year-old daughter, Erin, sang “Come Morning” and “I Want to Stroll over Heaven with You.” Later, my thirteen-year-old son, Matthew, and I played “Amazing Grace” on harmonica, and then my niece Courtney sang. Tyler, only eight, didn’t take part in the service. He was too shy.

  Pastor Allison brought a message from the Twenty-third Psalm. I don’t remember many of the details; everything was such a blur. I do remember that he told some good stories about my dad. The service wasn’t fancy, but it was a fitting tribute to a fine man. I went home that day sad but also happy that my dad was not suffering any longer and that he was in a better place.

  When a funeral is over, it’s time to slowly begin to adjust to a new life, a life without the person you’ve lost. But I had no time to adjust. No time to grieve. I took the next few days off and spent much of the next week wrapping up the details of my father’s life: turning off utilities, stopping his cable service, closing out his bank account. It was a stressful time, but at that moment I had no idea it was only the beginning. I didn’t know it then, but my father’s death was like the dark sky before a tornado. Soon a storm would blow through my life and leave devastation behind it.

  One week to the day after my dad’s funeral, Penny, Matthew, and Tyler would be dead. I would be in the ICU, fighting for my life.

  And Erin would be in jail, charged with three counts of capital murder.

  Chapter 2

  Charlie

  “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission

  to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that

  your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have

  turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

  —JESUS, LUKE 22:3I-32

  LOSING MY FATHER, having to drain our savings to pay for his funeral, and having to empty his apartment so quickly were all stressful situations. But they were intensified by our concern over Erin’s relationship with Charlie Wilkinson.

  Charlie hovered like a dark cloud over everything else that week.

  Erin had been working at the Emory Sonic drive-in for several months when she came home one September afternoon and told us that she had met the most wonderful guy named Charlie. Penny and I rolled our eyes and held our breath. Up to this point, Erin’s track record in choosing boyfriends had not been very good. She had been dating for only a few months, but so far she had gravitated toward boys we considered to be troublemakers or rebels. She also preferred boys who were not Christians. When Penny and I spoke to her about that, she simply answered, “I can witness to them.”

  The problem was, it didn’t usually work out that way. The boys Erin dated would even swear around us and around the church youth leaders. If Erin was trying to be a positive influence in these boys’ lives, it didn’t seem to be working.

  So, naturally, I was anxious to meet Charlie. Maybe he would be different.

  To say that our first meeting did not go well would be an understatement.

  It was a pleasant October evening when I pulled into our driveway and walked in the front door. Penny was in the kitchen getting supper ready. Matthew and Tyler were sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob. Erin was setting the table.

  And there was Charlie. He sat sideways in my recliner, hanging his legs over the arm.

  “You must be Charlie,” I said.

  He glanced up from the TV and replied, “And you are?”

  I stiffened. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I believe that a young person should be respectful when speaking to an adult.

  “Do you always sit like that?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said, looking back at the TV.

  I replied, “Not in my chair, you don’t. Why don’t you stand up and greet me like a man?”

  After a few seconds, he stood up and gave me a weak handshake, looking off to the side and chomping on his chewing gum.

  I walked over to Penny at the sink and whispered, “I’m not sure I like this guy.”

  She smiled up at me and said, “Oh, well. You know how kids can be these days.”

  All I could think was, This guy wants to go out with my daughter?

  Later that evening, Penny and I discussed Charlie as we sat together in bed.

  “He seems nice and all.” said Penny.

  “Sweetheart,” I replied, “he’s eighteen. He’s a grown man. Erin’s barely sixteen.”

  “He’s still in high school,” said Penny. “Let’s just keep an eye on things and see how it goes. He’s probably harmless.”

  “What he is, is disrespectful,” I said.

  I didn’t think he was harmless. I thought
I could see right through him. And I didn’t like what I saw.

  GROWING CONCERNS

  I didn’t like Charlie, but I was willing to go along with what Penny wanted. She thought he was kind of cute, although a bit of a know-it-all. Whenever adults were engaged in a conversation and Charlie was in the room, he was always quick to interrupt. And it didn’t matter what the topic was; Charlie always knew everything there was to know about it.

  As the weeks passed, he came over to our house more frequently. Eventually, he became a regular fixture. Penny was gracious and patient; that was just her way. But it wasn’t long before she began to have questions of her own.

  Penny had homeschooled the children for several years, but at the beginning of the 2007–2008 school year, Matthew and Tyler decided to go back to public school. Because Erin had a day job at Sonic, she decided to continue with homeschooling. However, about midway through the fall semester, she changed her mind and decided that she wanted to start public school again. We didn’t make the connection at the time, but later we suspected that Charlie was the reason for Erin’s decision. By going to public school, she could be with Charlie more, and without our supervision.

  As time passed, Penny’s concerns grew. One evening, she was getting supper ready. Charlie sat at the dining-room table, talking and getting in the way, while Penny and Erin tried to get the food prepared and the table set. Finally, Penny had had enough.

  “Charlie,” she said, “don’t sit there in the way. If you’re not going to help, go watch TV or do something else.”

  I was outside working in my shed. Charlie came out to see me, but we were like oil and water. Things were always tense when we were together. I didn’t know how to deal with Charlie. I didn’t want him dating my daughter, and I didn’t hide that fact. So he didn’t stay out there with me very long.

  A little while later, Penny walked toward the bathroom and noticed the door was open a crack. She pushed it open, thinking no one was in there. Instead, she found Charlie going through the medicine cabinet.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  Charlie scrambled for an answer. “I’m trying to find some ibuprofen. I have a headache.”

  Irritated, Penny said, “You shouldn’t be going through people’s things without permission. If you need something for a headache, ask first.”

  When Penny told me about this, I confronted Charlie: “There are boundaries in people’s houses,” I said. “You need to ask if you need medicine. Don’t just go through our cabinets.”

  Our talk didn’t help. A week later I found him doing exactly the same thing. I told him again that he shouldn’t go through our things without asking.

  By this time, both Penny and I knew we needed to keep an eye on him.

  GIFTS

  December went by smoothly, but not long after the holidays, things took a turn for the worse. Charlie began showering Erin with gifts. She came home regularly with roses, candy, and cheap jewelry. Penny and I couldn’t figure out where the money was coming from because Charlie didn’t have a job. We asked Erin, and she told us she didn’t know.

  One day early in January, Erin was going around and showing everyone in church a new ring Charlie had given her. One of the kids in the youth group came up to Penny. “Have you seen Erin’s new ring?” she asked.

  Penny said no and then went looking for Erin. Along the way she found me and told me what she had heard. Together, we went looking for Erin. We found her talking to some other girls and asked her to show us the ring.

  This was no piece of cheap jewelry; it was an expensive wedding ring.

  “Where is Charlie?” I asked.

  “Outside playing basketball,” said Erin.

  “You two stay here,” I said.

  I took a deep breath, trying to maintain control as I went out to talk to Charlie. He was on the basketball court, shooting hoops with a group of other boys.

  “Charlie,” I called.

  He looked at me—then started running toward me. Even though it was cool outside, he was all sweaty from playing basketball.

  “Yeah,” he said, “what do you want?”

  That was the wrong thing to say. I was already agitated over his giving Erin the ring, and his attitude just made me angrier.

  I showed him the ring. “What does this mean?”

  “It’s just a friendship ring,” he said.

  “It looks like an expensive wedding ring. Where did you get it?”

  “It was my mother’s.”

  “But what does it mean?” I asked again.

  Charlie looked upset. “It just means that I’m promising myself to her.”

  “It’s a very inappropriate gift,” I said. “Do you realize that Erin is only sixteen years old?”

  Charlie rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, Terry, I know.”

  I was tired of his disrespectful attitude. “From now on, you will address me with ‘Yes, sir, Mr. Caffey,’ not ‘Yeah, Terry.’ Tomorrow, you need to come over to the house. Penny and I want to talk to you and Erin.”

  Charlie showed up the next afternoon, just as we’d asked. When he arrived, Penny was in the kitchen, and Matthew and Tyler were in the living room. Erin was upstairs in her room.

  When I heard Charlie pull into the driveway, I said, “Boys, go upstairs to your rooms for a while. And tell Erin to come down.”

  Erin came down, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was worried. We sat them both down on the couch, and I took out the ring and handed it back to Charlie.

  “We’re laying down some new rules,” I said. “Charlie, you’ve been coming over here practically every night of the week, and that’s going to stop. You see each other at school every day, so you don’t need to be over here every night. From now on, you can come over one day a week, and you have to leave by nine o’clock. Not nine fifteen or nine thirty, the way you have been.”

  Erin and Charlie’s response was subdued, but they appeared to accept our terms.

  After that confrontation, we all hoped things would get better. But Penny and I still were worried and prayed often about their relationship. Erin and Charlie seemed to want to take it right to the edge.

  Maybe we should have forced Erin to break up with Charlie then.

  CHANGES

  Right around the time of the ring incident, in January and February of 2008, we noticed visible changes in Erin. She had always been careful about her appearance. She had never left the house looking less than perfect. Her hair, makeup, and clothes always had to be just right, and she’d get up early to make sure she looked good before she left for school. Now she stopped wearing makeup and quit fussing with her hair. Her clothing choices were poor too. Before, she was practically a walking fashion statement. Now she looked as if she just picked clothes at random, without caring whether they matched or looked good together.

  And it wasn’t just the change in Erin’s appearance that worried us. Her attitude was changing too. Before, she had always been a sweet, soft-spoken girl, but now she had begun to show attitude when speaking with Penny and me.

  Erin and Penny had always gotten along well, but now there were times when I’d come home and find Penny crying because of something Erin had said. One day Erin cut Penny deeply when she said, “You know, I can leave here when I’m seventeen.”

  When Penny told me that, I said, “If she wants to leave when she’s seventeen, I won’t stand in her way.”

  “No,” said Penny, still crying. “Don’t tell her that.”

  “Honey,” I said, “Erin has to understand that she has two younger siblings in this house. And I’m not going to let her disrupt their lives. If she’s that unhappy, I’ll let her go.”

  I went up to Erin’s room and sat down beside her.

  “So I hear you want to leave here when you’re seventeen,” I said.

  Erin nodded.

  “You’re going to have bills. You’ll need an apartment. Who’s going to take care of all that?”

  He
r voice was soft, almost childlike. “Charlie.”

  “Charlie?” I said. “Charlie doesn’t have a job. He can’t even take care of himself. How’s he going to do that?”

  Erin just shrugged.

  “Look,” I said. “If you’re that unhappy here, I won’t stand in your way. When you’re seventeen, you can go. But you need to understand that this house doesn’t have a revolving door. You’re not going to go out and party and live it up, come back six months later and stir things up here, and then go again. If you leave, you leave. I’ll always love you,” I said, “but I’ve got to think of Matthew and Tyler, too. I’m not going to allow you to disrupt their lives just because you think you’ve got to have your own way.”

  I didn’t believe there was much danger that Erin would leave home to be with Charlie. I just thought that was the kind of thing teenagers say when they want to leverage a little more freedom from their parents. Charlie couldn’t take care of Erin, and she knew it.

  MYSPACE

  On Wednesday, February 27, only three days after my father’s funeral, my cell phone rang. It was Penny. Her voice was strained.

  “Can you get off work a little early and meet me at the library?”

  “Penny, I’ve been off work almost a week. I really can’t afford to take off early. Can’t it wait until I get home?” I asked.

  Penny began to cry. “No, it can’t. I need to show you something.”

  Whatever it was, I could tell it was serious, so I agreed to meet her at the library shortly before it closed. I found out then that Penny’s sister, Mandy, had called her with some disturbing news.

  Because we didn’t have a computer, the kids would usually get on the Internet at Mandy’s or at the library. While Erin was at Mandy’s during the apartment sale, she got on Charlie’s MySpace page. But when she left, she forgot to log out. Mandy was aware of our concern about Erin and Charlie’s relationship, and when she saw Charlie’s page, she knew she had to talk to us. She didn’t tell us at first, because she knew we had our hands full with the memorial service and cleaning out the apartment. It wasn’t until that Wednesday that she remembered to mention it to Penny.