Read Online Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Quinlan
Tags: General, True Crime
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didn’t like the work and hated spending time in a dull town like Madison. Whenever she could, therefore, she took advantage of her new mobility and drove to New Albany or Louisville to see Kary, the Leatherburys, and their strange circle of friends.
By this time, however, those friends were beginning to tire of Laurie. Even in this group where eccentricity was glorified and weird behavior prized, Laurie had become too bizarre. She often spoke about a dream she had about charred, mutilated infants hanging from trees. She said there were times when multicolored hands would come up through the floor of her bedroom and try to pull her down into Hell.
Laurie told Kary she’d enjoy killing someone because it would be fun to get the publicity. She went on at great length about how she’d love to stick a knife in someone’s stomach just to see what it felt like to push it in. She also said she’d like to watch someone being set on fire. She even offered to kill Kary’s grandmother, who was giving her friend troubles at the time.
Laurie was also taking her habit of self-mutilation to extremes. At a party attended by Kary and the Leatherburys, Laurie drank her own blood after cutting herself, then tried to talk others into letting her drink their blood.
Larry Leatherbury had often held the others spellbound with his so-called ability to channel—to speak in the voices of people caught in the spirit world. But Laurie was starting to upstage Larry, saying she had learned to channel with the dead.
“She’d sit there and go into a trance and her voice would change and her mood would change,” Kary recalled. “Everything about her would change. She said she could bring back people. She would bring back her great-grandmother. She’d put curses on people. She’d bring vampires back. She’d say she was Deanna the Vampiress and that she would love to kill somebody.”
Larry took his occult practices seriously, so he was peevedat Laurie. He felt she was degrading these channeling ceremonies by faking her communication with spirits. At the same time Kary was also withdrawing from her friendship with Laurie, who, she felt, was trying to control her mind. Kary had struck up a relationship with another lesbian by now, and she told Laurie that she didn’t want to hang around with her anymore.
Suddenly Laurie was on the outs with the circle of friends she’d tried so hard to impress. Desperate to find her way back in, she began calling Melinda.
Melinda had always been wary of Laurie. She knew about her penchant for cutting herself and her channeling. Kary and both Leatherburys had told her that Laurie once killed a cat as a sacrifice to Satan. But Melinda had also had an argument with Kary recently, so she responded to Laurie’s offer of friendship. Laurie was unlike anyone Melinda had ever met. She just didn’t seem to give a damn—not about herself, not about other people, not about anything. (Actually Laurie cared deeply what others thought about her; she just refused to show it.)
Now an outcast among a group of outcasts, Laurie was determined to become better friends with Melinda, to whom she was sexually attracted although too intimidated by the girl’s beauty to make any advances. (All of Laurie’s other sexual conquests had been as plain-looking as herself.) She was sure that Melinda didn’t like her in that way, but she held out hope. Maybe if they became close enough, Melinda’s feelings for her would change. But even if they didn’t, Laurie had to be sure she didn’t screw up this friendship. She’d tried hard to make friends outside of Madison, and if she lost Melinda she’d lose her connections in New Albany.
Melinda also had her reasons for cultivating Laurie’s friendship: She knew that this was someone with a capacity for violence, someone who could help her get back at Shanda.
Laurie knew all about Melinda’s problems with Amanda and Shanda, which was all Melinda wanted to talk about. Even after
By this time, however, those friends were beginning to tire of Laurie. Even in this group where eccentricity was glorified and weird behavior prized, Laurie had become too bizarre. She often spoke about a dream she had about charred, mutilated infants hanging from trees. She said there were times when multicolored hands would come up through the floor of her bedroom and try to pull her down into Hell.
Laurie told Kary she’d enjoy killing someone because it would be fun to get the publicity. She went on at great length about how she’d love to stick a knife in someone’s stomach just to see what it felt like to push it in. She also said she’d like to watch someone being set on fire. She even offered to kill Kary’s grandmother, who was giving her friend troubles at the time.
Laurie was also taking her habit of self-mutilation to extremes. At a party attended by Kary and the Leatherburys, Laurie drank her own blood after cutting herself, then tried to talk others into letting her drink their blood.
Larry Leatherbury had often held the others spellbound with his so-called ability to channel—to speak in the voices of people caught in the spirit world. But Laurie was starting to upstage Larry, saying she had learned to channel with the dead.
“She’d sit there and go into a trance and her voice would change and her mood would change,” Kary recalled. “Everything about her would change. She said she could bring back people. She would bring back her great-grandmother. She’d put curses on people. She’d bring vampires back. She’d say she was Deanna the Vampiress and that she would love to kill somebody.”
Larry took his occult practices seriously, so he was peevedat Laurie. He felt she was degrading these channeling ceremonies by faking her communication with spirits. At the same time Kary was also withdrawing from her friendship with Laurie, who, she felt, was trying to control her mind. Kary had struck up a relationship with another lesbian by now, and she told Laurie that she didn’t want to hang around with her anymore.
Suddenly Laurie was on the outs with the circle of friends she’d tried so hard to impress. Desperate to find her way back in, she began calling Melinda.
Melinda had always been wary of Laurie. She knew about her penchant for cutting herself and her channeling. Kary and both Leatherburys had told her that Laurie once killed a cat as a sacrifice to Satan. But Melinda had also had an argument with Kary recently, so she responded to Laurie’s offer of friendship. Laurie was unlike anyone Melinda had ever met. She just didn’t seem to give a damn—not about herself, not about other people, not about anything. (Actually Laurie cared deeply what others thought about her; she just refused to show it.)
Now an outcast among a group of outcasts, Laurie was determined to become better friends with Melinda, to whom she was sexually attracted although too intimidated by the girl’s beauty to make any advances. (All of Laurie’s other sexual conquests had been as plain-looking as herself.) She was sure that Melinda didn’t like her in that way, but she held out hope. Maybe if they became close enough, Melinda’s feelings for her would change. But even if they didn’t, Laurie had to be sure she didn’t screw up this friendship. She’d tried hard to make friends outside of Madison, and if she lost Melinda she’d lose her connections in New Albany.
Melinda also had her reasons for cultivating Laurie’s friendship: She knew that this was someone with a capacity for violence, someone who could help her get back at Shanda.
Laurie knew all about Melinda’s problems with Amanda and Shanda, which was all Melinda wanted to talk about. Even after
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