“That is kinda understandable....I guess we are relics of a long lost era, the world is changing and we are too old to be running this race...a race that none of us can win...its better for the world to pass us by then die trying to compete with it.” Sam replied.
“The world is what you make it my dear friend....it is what you make it!” I retorted as I took in another deep intake of the night’s air.
“I believe our other guest will be arriving very soon, and I believe the players shall be arriving soon....the scene is set and the play shall begin.” I said calmly as I ushered Sam Mallows away to await in the shadows, so my guests could arrive....
The night’s cool breeze flittered through the old warehouse, as old bits and bobs flapped about as the breeze tickled past. The sound of a distant car pulling to a halt outside the warehouse, as I closed my eyes and realised that all the pieces were falling into place and all I needed was the final act and then the big finale could take place...
Patrick stepped from the car...the drink still sloshing through his head but his hand firmly upon the gun in his pocket, looking forward he could make out a single flickering candle in the room ahead...he began walking towards the light, as his thumb rubbed excitedly upon the gun’s side. As he disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, another car approached the warehouse with dim lights flickering upon the night, the car came to a halt and out stepped Karl Smith.
He was still clutching a folded note in one hand and his dagger in the other, as he too noticed the flickering candle in the room at the end of the corridor. He cautiously walked forward through the dark corridor into the room that lay at the end of the corridor.
Karl walked into the dimly lit room and instantly the gun that was hidden in Patrick’s pocket now lay firmly pressed against the side of Karl’s head...
“Ok Son, take it nice and easy and explain why you are here?” demanded Patrick.
“Hey cool it!....I was sent this note to be here at this moment and this time.” replied a nervous Karl, whose fingers trembled against the dagger in his own pocket. He began to unfold the note and the words Hal the Dark Poet written upon the bottom flashed in front of Patrick’s eyes as he pressed the gun further into the side of Karl’s head.
Then suddenly like the breeze around them, my voice rippled through the room like a sea amongst the shadows...
“Always the enthusiast my dear Patrick....please put away the gun and allow our other guest not to piss his pants, as you can see there are four chairs in the middle of the room....please take a seat!” I replied as Patrick cooly put down his gun and Karl gulped a deep breath as he released the dagger from his grip.
The two of them moved slowly towards the vacant chairs in the middle of the room, and sat down on opposite sides looking at each other...
“Introductions are in order I believe....this is Patrick, seasoned ass kissing Detective who relishes in stealing other people’s criminals and is after the Dark Poet copycat killer...
Patrick meet Karl Davis....trainee chef at Mary’s Crusty Cobs Café, naive timid and delusional...oh and killer of the young hooker and Mary the owner of said Café....former child of St. Lantos Children’s home.
“So he is Karl Summers the boy who is after revenge for the death of his mother by your own hands!” replied Patrick.
“Oh no...no dear Patrick there was a boy Karl Davis at the home, but the demons that are playing in his head are of his own making!!” I replied, still hidden within the shadows....
“I never meant to kill Mary....but the voices they bleat and bark at me every day, and every time the real me is weakened...the hooker pushed me too far and I regret what I did....but I need help...I need to locked away from the world.” retorted Karl who had begun to weep tears of sadness from remembering what he had done....
“But if he is not the killer then who is?” demanded Patrick...
“All in good time....all in good time.” I replied calmly...
“But where are my manners...here is our other guest to join our little party.” I announced...
“Come on in my dear....do not be shy, I believe the time of fun and games are at an end don’t you think my dear?” I replied.
From the darkness stepped forward Michelle looking nervous towards the two men before her sitting in the middle of the room and the ghostly voice of Hal that drifted around the warehouse...
“Please take a seat and I will reveal all that links us here today...but forgive me but to do so I must reveal certain things of my past to you all and what links you to them....” I explained
Michelle walked towards the third vacant seat between Patrick and Karl, and sat down...
“Good...good now let us begin from the beginning shall we...
It was that first night when we met Michelle, that I had an inkling something was afoot....you were the only reporter to request that interview with whilst others were too afraid. I knew that somebody was pulling the strings in the background, but my first thoughts were of the Warden...but he had his own agenda and he has his own destiny to face but that is a different story.” I explained.
“I congratulate on a performance well worth the highest award, you are indeed a great actor....you could fool anyone, but sadly not me. I played along with your little game but you see the moment it got too close....too very real, you began to panic....that’s why you pissed your pants didn’t you?, it was too real for you and you were beginning to crack....” I replied.
“But I digress....let us change characters and continue the tale....” I commented...
“Patrick oh dear Patrick, the desire to be the top dog rots deep in your bones doesn’t it?... I mean how many policeman’s careers have you destroyed to use as stepping stones to further your own career?” I asked.
“The years have been favourable to you haven’t they?...I mean you personally ended Sam Mallow’s career to improve your own and how hypocritical that you call Sam to do your dirty work once more...and no doubt throw him back upon the rubbish pile when you are done with him and lapping up the acclaim when all is over...” I continued.
“And then we have Karl Davis....a poor wretch whose voices inside his head born from the horrors witnessed at the Children’s Home, and tried to fight them but they were too strong....far too strong for your weak shell.” I explained.
“The smell of death bore deep and true within you and you took to the past crimes of mine like cultured reading, learning and visualising walking in my steps....but these are big shoes to fill sunshine, far too big for you. Lets see the hooker was messy but you say she deserved it...I wonder why?” I asked.
“She laughed at me...thought I was a joke...she needed to learn that I am no joke!” Karl blubbered out.
“Oh poor little Karl...I am afraid that she was right, you are nothing but a joke...an empty shell of no actual use, you could have been so much more but ended up another brainless killer with no part of imagination.” I explained.
“But did Mary need to die?....or was that a case of kill first think last?” I asked the boy who was now so nervous he had begun to shake violently in the chair next to Michelle.
“The Bitch got what she deserved!” came Karl’s reply.
“Did she mock you too?....Was it before you had sex with her or was it after?” I asked.
“What’s this gotta do with fucking you!” Karl’s dark voice raged and sent an echo through the abandoned warehouse.
“Everything and everything....all your choices have sent you upon a path...and this path has led you here to me, very much like Michelle’s path!” I replied.
“What do you mean?” asked Michelle.
“Well lets ask my final guest shall we?” I retorted...
“Come on down Sam....it’s your time to shine!” I asked.
Sam Mallows appeared from the corner of the room, and walked towards the centre of the room where the other three were seated...
“Ladies and Jelly-spoons....it is my honour to introduce the one man who kn
ows how my mind works....though he believes he knows me but I know him far too well!”
“Sam Mallows former Detective and now I believe a consultant to this case, though it seems to me Sam is the one who has been doing all the work... But again I digress from the facts that have bought us here tonight.” I explained.
“It was after the interview that I figured something was up, and Michelle trying to pry information from me in relation to the case, but something wasn’t right and when she got to close to the point of impact she panicked and pissed herself...now I thought it was because I had scared her at first but I would later learn that we all have secrets to hide.” I continued.
Michelle started to become nervous herself in the chair where she was seated...
“Let us continue our tale shall we.....after my successful escape from the Asylum, I begun to put the pieces of the puzzle together and soon found threads and strands that led me to the truth....and sometimes people like to put up walls to hide the truth don’t they ?” I explained staring at the four individuals seated before me....
“Sam I knew you were involved before Patrick called and got you involved in the case...you just couldn’t let ghosts sleep could you?....but then you needed somebody to get you the information needed from me, so up stepped Michelle Banks a fresh faced undercover reporter to do your dirty deeds..” I explained to them ...
“Wait a minute....you were working this case?....since when?” asked Patrick towards Sam...
“Since I put that Son-of-a-bitch behind them walls....I needed to find closure and after chasing that fucker for so many years...I still am!” replied Sam Mallows...
“So you been going behind my back all this time?” retorted Patrick.
“Oh shut up....you would’ve done the same thing!” Sam replied.
“Please do not bicker....it makes things drag and I haven’t finished the story!” I replied sternly....
“Where were we.....oh yes! After my escape I went to find the clues needed to trace me to the copycat killer and I found out that it was potentially three out of four people and you are seated here tonight....but only one of you is the real killer apart from the original which I am of course!” I explained.
“I needed more proof, and then a murder from my own past led me to the truth...and the secret that the killer has been hiding for so many years, waiting for that one moment....that one exact moment to get revenge upon me...but I found that secret out...” I replied
“Then tell us and stop dragging it out you egotistical bastard!” Patrick snarled.
“All in good time....all in good time!” I replied...
“My proof came from the Children’s Home where I found two names one was Karl Davis and the other was the son of a victim of mine Karl Summers, now I recognised the picture of young Mr. Davis here and I followed him to where he lived, I have seen the shrine you so lovingly worship and yet ashamed that you have no imagination of your own.” I replied towards Karl.
“When did you see my apartment?....I would’ve known if you had been in my apartment, I always keep it locked!” Karl asked back at me...
“My dear boy...I entered the same way you left, when you decided to leave via the fire escape...you left the window open for me to slip in, and I still had enough time to sneak out before those two policemen came to your apartment door.” I answered back at Karl, who looked embarrassed...
“So we come to the elusive Karl Summers whose only lead from the home led to the Police Headquarters after his arrest for attacking a member of staff at the home....now I knew I couldn’t just waltz into the Headquarters willy-nilly so I needed Sam Mallows to go to the Records Department within the building.” I explained....
“Please tell us what you found....Sam.” I asked.
“I went into the building as you asked and went into the Records Department, and traced the name Karl Summers to an old evidence box.” Sam replied.
“And what did you find in the evidence box?” I asked....
“Something.....that proved keeping my enemies closer was better than so called friends.” Sam answered....
Chapter Twenty: The Secret
“And what was that something?” I asked patiently.
I noticed the hot fiery eyes from Sam were now fixed upon those nervous ones of Patrick, whilst the other two guest still squirmed nervously...
“Tell everyone what you found....Sam please tell!” I asked once more.
“Inside the box were a number of documents from the past...some were too faded to truly see all exact details, but there was one document...fairly new that truly shows who the copycat killer is....” Sam replied...
At that moment the candle was blown out and the room was in pitch darkness, the noise of the four people jumping from their chairs as they scattered to the four corners of the room...
“You know there is no escape....the building is locked and I have the key.” I shouted out into the darkness before me...
I knew the killer would seek me out....but also wipe out all loose ends and the final loose end would be me...
“Sam....you there...I know you ain’t the killer and nor am I that leaves the other two, can you hear me?” Patrick whispered into the darkness...
A silent shuffling of feet echoed around the room as the four people stumbled around within the sea of blackness around them. Karl with his dagger firmly out of his pocket slowly ebbed towards the door to the corridor, as he moved quietly forward, his foot struck something....sending him tumbling forward across the ground.
His dagger fell from his hand as his body crashed upon the hard stone ground...he frantically cast his hands across the ground....across the coarse stone ground desperately looking for his dagger...until a shoe pressed hard against his outstretched hand and a soft voice hissed into his ear...
“Looking for this!.....goodnight Karl!” were the last words Karl heard before the sharp dagger was cast deep into his forehead and straight into his brain. The blood trickled from the wound and as the last few strands of life flowed through Karl’s body...the voices inside his head fell silent forever as the darkness took him.....
Sam silently moved to where he could see the path to the corridor....had he just seen a shadow there?....or was his old eyes playing tricks upon him?
He started to slowly move towards the exit....did he just catch another shadow moving towards where Hal had been?
He ignored it and moved towards the doorway to the corridor, his feet hitting something soft but dense beside the doorway...he lowered his hands down to reach and felt something wet, he moved his hand further across until the fingers touched the body.
After a brief exploration of the body, Sam calculated it was Karl’s Davis’s dead body, but before he could carry on....he was struck from behind by a large rock, sending Sam crashing to the ground, as he tried to focus....a dark shadow loomed over him and he could just hear the fading words ‘forgive me’ as another blow struck him across the head once more rendering him unconscious upon the hard stone ground...
Patrick stumbled through the darkness like a fool with his gun aimed straight ahead of him, he had followed where Hal’s voice had come from and he had discovered a secret passageway that led from the opposite direction to the room where they had all been seated....
He soon found himself in another dimly light room, but much darker than the room he had just been in. Then through the darkness.. Hal’s voice flickered through...
“Did you think it was so simple?”
“All these years lying to Sam....concealing the truth from him.”
“It matters nothing to me, as I have walked a path not many would’ve followed..but you had to didn’t you?”
Patrick frantically looked through the dimly lit room....desperately searching for me....
“I did what I had to do....I didn’t know things would have escalated this far...this would have been my Golden Ticket, but you had to escape didn’t you...and ruin the plan...ruin everything.” Patrick snarled towar
ds the shadows that surrounded him..
“But it ends tonight....you and me...everything!, you ain’t leaving here alive.” Patrick snarled once more as he fired a couple of shots into the shadows.
“Face me...or are you gonna hide in the shadows forever?” screamed Patrick.
“Oh my dear Patrick....I could kill you like a twig....just like that!” I replied snapping my fingers together....
“But it’s more fun to watch you all burn....and burn you shall!!” I cackled as my laughter echoed around Patrick, as he fired shot after shot into the darkness as every moment he fired a shot....more and more of his mind was lost to me.
Behind These Walls Page 13