Empathica

by Ruth Watson

  Bitter? Niam had become a bitter broken mess.

  *

  Some days later…

  “Are you sure you are ready to do this?” George asked Niam.

  “I need to get behind who did this George, thanks so much for calling in this favour.” Niam assured his friend.

  “What if we find out who it is?” George asked. “I believe you have an idea who it is already!”

  “I will have done the police’s job and we can inform them that they are shit and that we have uncovered who is behind the death of my girl!” Niam said a little agitated. “You’re right, I have my suspicions. Maybe I will go to the police with them”.

  “Why do I not believe you!” George said a little worried.

  Niam shrugged as they climbed into the cab, he wasn’t going to get mad, just even! He thought to himself.

  They got to the CCTV office in the town centre and sat down to start the long trawl through a lot of footage.

  “Can you recollect the time about?” George’s friend Zee asked.

  “It was roughly 8.30pm I think.”

  “Okay, it may be faster to get to that time or just a few minutes before that on all the footage we have for that area. It will take a while. What cannot be seen by one camera may be seen by another? Niam, are you sure you want to do this. Potentially you are going to see the accident again. If it doesn’t reveal number plates or people, you may have to watch this repeatedly.” Zee said.

  “I get it! Let’s just get on with it, the sooner we can get through this the better.” Niam said, irritated.

  The search began.

  Fast forward got them to Niam and Laryssa getting out of the car and into the restaurant. Niam’s heart went to his mouth as he saw her for the first time since that night. ‘God he missed her so much.’

  “Are you okay?” George asked.

  Zee had been right the first time he saw the accident again Niam was brought to tears. George suggested they stop but, Niam couldn’t.

  Hours past as his agony began to show, he was tired and he couldn’t bring himself to look beyond her death.

  Suddenly…

  “STOP!” Niam shouted.

  “What, did you see something?” Zee asked.

  “Go back… there!” Niam said pointing at the screen.

  Zee slowed the footage right down and zoomed in to a face of the driver’s side of a gold car that had left Niam’s girl dead.

  “Can we make this clearer?” Niam asked as he got to his feet.

  He couldn’t see the drivers face through the car windows, but there in the mirror at the front of the car as clear as day. He spotted a face.

  “Jaydan!!!” Niam said, snarling out the name of his best friend. “I knew it had to be that mad son of a bitch! He cares about no-one except himself”.

  The men looked stunned at the picture on the CCTV.

  George had admired this man, he had been friendly and often gave George large tips at Christmas and other times of year. He was respected!

  Jaydan Barker the truth was finally out.

  He was a beast!

  A murderer!

  Fifteen

  Falling to sleep wasn’t easy. Niam liked to sleep so he could dream of her, he did this every time he closed his eyes and sometimes when they were open too.

  Mixed emotions of sadness and anger came as Niam wanted to kill his so called ‘best friend’.

  This was why Jaydan had vanished, because somehow, somewhere, Niam would have seen him on the video footage, Jaydan knew the payback was gonna be a bitch!

  He dreamed he was in the white room. She was sat next to him, both sat crossed legged on the floor side by side.

  “So, what is Empathica like?” He asked her.

  “I don’t know, I have never been.” She laughed. “It is said that the world is filled with sunshine, with green grass on the ground like an ever-growing garden. As you walk along the grass tickles your feet and the skies are blue with no clouds.” She began.

  “You sound like a guru!” He laughed.

  “Hey, don’t knock the guru, they can be wise.” She said.

  “So, could Albert Einstein, but I don’t believe in his teachings much either!” Niam replied.

  “Mmm, scepticism! You don’t have to have faith, I have been at this game for a long time although your spirit is old, you have only just started to connect with it. Give it time, you will see.” Laryssa moved to stroke his arm.

  He awoke!

  Noise was coming from outside his room there was someone there!

  As Niam stepped quietly from his bed, he slid open the wardrobe taking out an old baseball bat that he had collected at an old warehouse auction. Glad that he had at least put on his pyjama bottoms he commanded the two dogs to ‘stay’.

  As he opened the bedroom door he heard the sound of the lift door opening.

  “Shit!” he whispered.

  They were already leaving. By the time Niam got to his lounge, the lift had shut and the sound of it making its decent made Niam mad!

  He looked around.

  Nothing was out of place.

  He spotted a postcard of Pisa in Italy, Niam picked it up.

  9.30am 24/03/2532

  Which was in four days…

  “George!” Niam panicked as he put on his dressing gown, “I am on my way down.” He began calling to his dogs and pressing the button to the lift. There was quite a wait before the lift arrived; Niam decided the police would be a complete waste of time.

  He put leads on the dogs and got himself and his pets into the lift.

  Niam hadn’t called the police and strangely neither had George?

  “Did you see anyone?” he asked George, who appeared to have been disturbed.

  “What, seen… Erh, no nothing.” He said a little confused.

  “No one new has entered the building, there has been no-one come through since Mr Barker five minutes ago!” he went to say more…

  “Barker? He’s been here? Is he…” Niam asked heading back to the lift.

  “Yes I called the police, but it was too late. That’s when I saw him leave the building!” George said. “I asked him if he knew about…” George nodded not wanting to say the wrong thing.

  “What did the bastard say?”

  “He didn’t, he ignored me, put his head down and left quickly.” George said. “I did consider telling you, but you did tell me not to disturb you sir, so I left it and tried to use my head. The police should be on their way!”

  “NO! NO!! Did you catch what car he had?” Niam said angrily.

  “It was a CAB sir, he wasn’t here long, a couple of minutes. I did inform the police, they haven’t yet responded. After all he is only wanted for… for…” George hung his head. “Sorry sir!”

  So, if he left five minutes ago, who was in his apartment only a few minutes ago? Niam turned quickly and headed back to the lift.

  “Call when the police arrive!” Niam said.

  “Sir.” George acknowledged.

  *

  Nothing came of the police the sighting of a known killer wasn’t enough to drag them out of their office.

  The days before Italy moved on fast.

  Niam stuck to work (the other place he had a chance of showing up).

  *

  Niam decided to go visit relatives in Rome, His aunt and uncle had been so pleased to see him, he was a small child the last time they did.

  He headed up towards Florence and then to Pisa. He drove the slow route, he loved it. Although Italians drove like maniacs he loved the whole experience, waving fists, shouting expletives he had forgotten existed.

  The place always made him smile.

  He had booked himself into a local bed and breakfast type hotel he wasn’t planning on staying any longer than he had to, after all he wasn’t there to sightsee.

  The tower was closed for repair; quite funny really, considering the whole point to the place was it leaned, so why did it need repairing?

>   Niam waited, it was 9.23am when he arrived. No sign of anyone there. It was even too early for tourists; well, March wasn’t really a tourist season anymore.

  9.35am still nothing, Niam was getting edgy.

  He phoned the switchboard at home just to make sure this wasn’t some kind of ploy to rob his apartment whilst he was away.

  It wasn’t, no one had been since he left for Italy.

  The place had a gathering, but this was the famous Pisa, although Niam was still trying to work out what all the fuss was about. Surely the place would look and be more structurally sound if they fixed the damn place.

  He was trying to distract himself he had the feeling that he was being watched. He tried to stay calm and look cool, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.

  The day was warm, the skies clear. Niam expected to see that familiar face, he just knew that he was here meeting Jaydan. He was hoping in the back of his mind that it would be someone else.

  “Why would Jaydan, the man he had grew up with, who he trusted for many years, do this to him?”

  He would strangle the bastard with his bare hands, he had seen the CCTV, Jaydan would go out of his way to try and persuade him that he wasn’t the one driving that car.

  At the end of the day, Niam’s office had a big account with Jaydan’s firm. What’s a little life in comparison to a big business deal?

  Niam could feel himself getting angry.

  Paranoia was setting in.

  He didn’t want to convince himself that – that was what it was.

  He would wait a while longer!

  9.45am “Oh, this is taking the piss!” Niam got up to walk away.

  “Come on! Grow a pair, show yourself!” Niam shouted.

  “I didn’t do it!” A familiar voice said. “Honest Niam, I swear. What would I want to kill Laryssa for?”

  “Jay?” Niam said, he didn’t move or turn his head at first to see his friend’s face, but he wasn’t that surprised.

  “I swear!” Jaydan began again.

  Niam stood up, walked over and punched his friend hard in the face!

  “I saw you, you bastard!” Niam said angrily.

  People began to crowd a little as the two argued it out.

  “Someone has doctored the camera footage, I swear, it wasn’t me. I have no alibi. I was home alone, but the police came for me when you were in the hospital I have no idea who did this.” Jaydan continued.

  Niam stopped. They hadn’t found the camera footage until after Laryssa’s funeral?

  “Really? How do you know about any camera footage? You’re a liar!” Niam said. “How could you take her from me, she was all I had, all I trusted in this world. She wasn’t malicious, just curious!” tears began to stream down his face.

  Jaydan stepped forward looking very guilty, hoping that this would make Niam have a little sympathy.

  But he didn’t.

  As he went to take another swing at his friend, Jaydan ducked in a panic and took out a gun.

  “You would have believed me before that poisonous bitch came into your life, she made you distrust me… killed my prize exhibit! What did you fucking expect?” Jaydan was shaking.

  The small crowd that had gathered had already called the local *‘Polizia’, and in the background now the sound of the sirens was getting closer.

  Jaydan could see he was going to have to disappear quickly, he shot into the air as the people around them crouched or jumped to safety. He threw the gun into the crowd, they moved trying to avoid it.

  Niam watched on as it flew into the air towards the crowd.

  By the time he turned back, Jaydan had vanished.

  **“Corse in quel modo!” an old man shouted.

  ***“Grazie.” Niam said, as he headed after him.

  But it was too late, by the time Niam had turned past the large building with the tower on it, Jaydan had disappeared.

  His phone rang.

  “See you soon, mate!” Jaydan said, the phone went dead.

  Niam dialled home, spoke to George. He then phoned Laryssa’s father and told him to get hold of the British police after all Jaydan had just more or less confessed to his daughter’s murder!

  Niam got back into his car, headed to the airport in Florence where he boarded the first flight back home.

  Translation:

  * Polizia = Police

  ** Corse in quel modo = He went that way

  *** Grazie = Thankyou

  Sixteen

  The apartment was cold, his dogs had been taken to Luton in London This was where his sister lived. Arriving intact Niam climbed into the bed his sister had made for him, he was exhausted.

  He quickly fell into a deep sleep; Niam began dreaming of her as usual. Only now he was troubled. It was only a day ago he had come face to face with her killer.

  Heartless cold blooded killer.

  His dream switched suddenly.

  Gaia was sat in front of him, just the way Laryssa used to when they meditated together. They looked so alike; he could see Gaia had the same eyes, the same shaped mouth.

  They really were mother and daughter; he smiled; only he would fall for a daughter of a Goddess he only wished that like her mother, Laryssa had been immortal.

  “Come back to me Niam.” Gaia said. “I need you to understand more about your destiny.”

  “Destiny? What destiny? How could I possibly have one without Laryssa? I don’t have a destiny, just a lonely life. I am bitter, I am angry, she was taken from me like she meant nothing in this world, she meant something to me…” Niam found himself getting worked up, his breathing was erratic.

  “I understand your grief, but understand that you have not lost her, she has just moved on. Miss her, stay in love with her, as she has with you for many lifetimes. You will find each other again, in every life you both live.” Gaia told him.

  “I wanted her to stay, I need her here now!” he began to sob.

  “Take comfort in knowing her at all, you have become a part of each other in this life Niam, you are allowed to feel sad, you are allowed to be angry. Use this to avenge her death!” Gaia put a picture of the white room in his mind. “Come back to me there.”

  His dream switched back again, or was it a dream?

  Jaydan, oh yes! He thought to himself.

  He knew Jaydan had a lot of places he could hide, almost anywhere on this earth. He was a billionaire; he could have stayed in Italy for weeks and got absolutely nowhere, on the other hand he could actually be anywhere.

  “I will find him!” he said.

  The dream went back to Laryssa lying lifeless at the side of the road, the blood on his hands; he wished it was Jaydan’s!

  He still convinced himself that if he hadn’t gone back for his wallet, she would still be with him.

  He would never stop blaming himself for her death, it was all his fault!

  A wet nose nudged him.

  He woke up, he’d been crying in his sleep.

  His German Shepherd Dog was sat by the side of him on the bed.

  He got up quickly; walking into the front room his sister was asleep with a warm fur blanket on her.

  He went over kissed her forehead and pulled up her blanket passed her shoulders, then went back to bed.

  “You taking up all the room again?” He tried to ask Leesi, cheerily.

  She looked at him sadly.

  It didn’t faze her, her head tilted to one side.

  Niam smiled, he stroked the dog’s head, her fur was soft for a German Shepherd’s but she was one quarter wolf. Maybe that was why her coat was a little fluffier than a normal pure bred.

  She settled back down and laid her head on his stomach, Niam continued to stroke her.

  “How could my best friend have been such a coward, a fucking psychopath? We grew up together, played in the same playground at school. How did I not notice…” he fell silent for a few seconds!

  “The Vault!” he said, sitting up in bed. “I bet he’s h
iding something there!”

  He got dressed quickly, then started messing about in the drawers, the pass key! Niam wondered if the guy had come to change the system, after the accident happened. If not Niam had the key and the combination to get back inside it!

  He buzzed George on the desk.

  “Can you get me into Jay’s apartment?” he asked.

  “Sir, I… it’s against the rules…I could get… fired!” George began to stammer a little.

  “Okay, George as my friend and the only person who has stood by me in this, will you come with me to the apartment. Where I promise I am up to absolutely no good, we could both get into serious shit, but if I can find anything that will make the police take notice…”

  “Yes, okay!” George said before Niam could finish.

  Niam laughed.

  “Meet me in the lift, you can be lookout!” Niam said.

  “I am in the lift, just locked the front door, I can come with you!” George said as the phone went dead.

  Niam got dressed, and was waiting for George as the lift door opened on his floor.

  “Going up?” George whispered.

  Niam held on tightly to the pass key, it had been stashed in a drawer on the night Laryssa had broken into the vault.

  Now Niam had it and was about to go back, he needed to see anything and everything. He needed to bring in the police. The stuff in there was illegal, he was sure the police hadn’t found it.

  If they staged a break-in, the police would have to come, especially if George believed the burglar was still in there!

  But first he wanted to look through paperwork. Surely there was something that linked Jaydan to Laryssa’s death. He was tired of the slow process the police followed, as they investigated the case. It seemed to Niam and George that money meant you could get away with everything, even murder!

  *

  George stayed put in the lift whilst Niam climbed out heading through the apartment.

  George got brave, so headed down to Jaydan’s office and looked through drawers, one was locked and Niam had told him not to disturb anything, so he left that.

  Niam made his way down through the first room of ‘legal’ artefacts, hoping that by some miracle the locksmith had not been.

  As he moved the books, there it was!