by Matt Troy
Mystery:
The Killer:
Made it
Matt Troy
3
Copyright © 2016 Matt troy
All rights reserved.
Table Of Content
Copyright
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter3
Free Book
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Copyright 2016
All Right Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Summary
As far as I could see, the discovery of the vast quantity of money meant getting home probably wouldn't pose that much of a problem. We'd just have to head to the British Embassy and say we got mugged or something. Paying for some airline tickets home would be relatively uncomplicated and we'd have a whole eight hours or so on the plan to concoct a passable story. Later on, i made my way into the centre of town. Self-obsession wasn't going to get me anywhere this time. All I had to do was find Callum and think of some reason to stick with him. Some reason that didn't include him thinking I was hitting on him or stalking him. I paused for a moment to think, but nothing was really coming to mind. It looked like I'd have to wing it. Assuming, that is, that I actually saw the guy again sans dripping knife -which would definitely indicate I'd got my arse in gear a fraction too late.
Made it
Chapter 1
As far as I could see, the discovery of the vast quantity of money meant getting home probably wouldn't pose that much of a problem. We'd just have to head to the British Embassy and say we got mugged or something. Paying for some airline tickets home would be relatively uncomplicated and we'd have a whole eight hours or so on the plan to concoct a passable story. All we actually had to worry about was working out how the fuck Callum was going to kill William before our parents decided to freak out about our whereabouts. Absently I tapped one chopstick against my lip with a frown. Perhaps that concocting a story idea should be shifted forwards somewhat and accompanied by a few explanatory phone-calls home.
The waiter turned up again and showed surprise at seeing my empty bowl. I grinned sheepishly and told him how good it had been before asking for the bill. Then I wondered what else I could do to kill time before meeting the others. The thought occurred to me that maybe finding out where the Norrington house was could be a good start.
When the waiter returned I smiled in my most charming fashion and politely asked if he could give a stranger a few directions. At his nod, I enquired as to the location of the Norrington house but his answer was drowned out by a voice from behind me. "What's this? I appear to have my very own green-eyed stalker. Do you really have that much trouble socialising with people that you have to hunt them down?"
Glaring, I turned to face Callum Norrington. The teen was lounging against the counter watching me with an insolently raised eyebrow. Fixing my features into the standard London Expression of Distain, I let my eyes travel slowly up him before snorting quietly in dismissal. "Obviously lacking brains as well as any social competency, you must have failed to notice my accent. I'm here to see Naomi not some snot-nosed punk."
I dropped some money onto the counter to cover my bill and a tip and walked out of the noodle bar. Yeah, so I was supposed to keep an eye on the guy, but fuck he was annoying. I heard the door open behind me and someone grabbed my arm.
I was spun around again to face Callum, the youth now looking more than a little suspicious. "You know Naomi?" he demanded.
I jerked my arm free and tried to look like I wasn't about to start lying desperately. "Why else would I be here?" I countered, doing my best to avoid direct confrontation for as long as possible. "To spy on you?"
Callum frowned at me. "Then why did you approach me this morning?"
Good question. I couldn't exactly say 'because the friend who was reading your part last night was convinced you were the bad tempered murderer-to-be' … at least not without giving the game away. Instead I tried to think of something plausible. "I'm new in town and don't know anybody. Naomi's only ever given vague descriptions of anyone that isn't her beloved William so how was I supposed to know who you were. And if you'd bothered to be civil back then, I'd have probably asked for directions and not have had to spend my morning getting assaulted by baseballs in the park!"
Something flickered across Callum's face and he stepped away from me, placing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Right. Of course." Without another word, the guy spun on his heel and began to walk away through the crowded streets. I watched him go, ignoring the fact that I was meant to be following him in order to work out in my mind whether the guy had somehow been upset by something I said.
I finally managed to find the Norrington house – or should I say mansion – and low and behold, Matt and Kate were nearby 'sketching' each other. I rolled my eyes as I stopped next to them. "Lame cover guys. Really lame."
They jumped at the sound of my voice and Kate gave me a look worthy of her sister. "Blake! What are you doing here? Where's Callum?"
"I followed him as far as a Kindergarten and figured practising his butchery skills on the kids would probably keep him occupied for the rest of the afternoon," I replied nonchalantly and received a sharp slap for my troubles.
"Blake!" Kate hissed, looking absolutely mortified. "I can't believe you!"
I scowled back. "Well I'm sorry, but adopting the mentality of a murderer doesn't come naturally to me. Finding one guy in a town this size is like looking for a needle in a haystack. So I decided to wait here until he showed up." There was something else about the guy bothering me, but I couldn't quite work out what. I slumped to a seat on the curb beside Kate and Matt to try and work it out.
Matt sighed. "Keiran and Carly are probably still waiting for us back at the motel. Seeing the amount of people we saw wandering into that place, William's probably safe for long enough to let us all meet up."
"Carly said she and Keiran had thought of some additional ideas," Kate added, ignoring the look of terror on my face.
The lovebirds dusted themselves off and looked at me expectantly. I looked back. "What? I just sat down and you guys are going to make me get up again? That's just bloody charming."
Matt laughed and pulled me to my reluctant feet. "We aim to please. Now come on. We're late."
"You're late," Carly greeted us from her sprawled position on the bed.
I tried not to stare, but couldn't help it. "What the fuck happened to your hair?"
Carly shook her head at me, making the multitude of braids shake. "Rather good, ain't it?"
I tried to formulate my thoughts into words. "Well this is just fucking rich. I'm saddled with the task of tracking down the rabid killer and you're off having grooming sessions!"
Kate scowled at me. "Don't be petty, Blake." She turned to her twin with an enthusiastic smile. "It looks fantastic Carly! Did it take long?"
"A couple of hours," Carly noticed my darkening expression. "But it was time very well spent. Research-wise."
I raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Oh? Planning to go undercover as Naomi's hairdresser?"<
br />
Carly rolled her eyes and flumped back on the bed. "Blake, Blake, Blake," she sighed. "Try and get your masculine mind to cope with this scenario. A salon full of women. A hairdresser with a client whose hair will take her several hours. Do you honestly think the friendly newcomer isn't going to be told every single piece of gossip that's floating around town?"
Keiran shook his head in admiration. "You've got to hand it to Carly; she knows how to get her finger on the pulse." He grinned at me. "Oh yeah, and we came up with another idea. Code-names."
This was just getting better and better, I reflected wearily. "Code-names?"
Carly nodded again and virtually sprang off the bed to grab a bag. "Yeah. We programmed them into the phones Matt bought earlier. This way when we text each other, people won't know that we're stalking." She started to hand out the phones. "We figured an overriding theme would make it easier for everyone to remember the names."
Kate was nodding in agreement, I was pretty much speechless. Matt just smiled as he accepted the phone. "What was the theme?" he asked.
"Well, seeing as we're Brits, we chose tea," Keiran admitted to Matt with a grin. "So you're Earl Grey, I'm Darjeeling, Kate's Camomile and Carly's Jasmine."
I noticed an omission. "Wait a minute, what am I?" A thought occurred to me and I glared at the others warningly. "And if one of your arseholes dares says Tetley, I'm abandoning this whole idea here and now."
Carly laughed and rolled her eyes. "What kind of sadists do you think we are? We wouldn't do that to you Blake."
I sighed, slightly mollified. "Good."
"You're PG Tips."
"What?"
Everyone laughed at my expression and I accepted that my friends were all pillocks. With another sigh, I flipped on the phone. "Has everyone already got their numbers programmed in here?"
"Yup," Keiran grinned. "So there's no delay in you getting back out there and tracking down Callum."
"Yay," I muttered. Then the thought that had been bothering me earlier suddenly came into clearer focus. "Hey, if I asked you lot what colour my eyes were, what would you say?"
Keiran shrugged. "Hazel, mate."
"I always thought they were bluer," Carly disagreed.
"Can eyes be blue-hazel?" Kate asked. "Because they're not quite either really."
"Dark grey?" Matt suggested. "Why are you asking us anyway?"
I waved a hand dismissively. "No real reason. Forget it." Inwardly though I was wondering how observant a guy had to be in order to correctly know my eye colour after the briefest of glances in a diner when my friends for years couldn't even get it right. It seemed following Callum wasn't going to be easy at all. And following him discreetly was apparently right out of the picture.
With a small wave, I turned and headed back out onto the streets, chewing on my lower lip in thought. Callum noticed the colour of my eyes. Big deal – wasn't I getting a little worked up and pessimistic here? After all, it had always been pretty obvious to me what colour they were, even if these days I mostly hid them under overlong strands of hair. But ever since I could remember no one was able to guess the colour of my eyes. Of course, once I told them they were green, they'd peer up at me – staring intently at me before leaning back in surprise and muttering something along the lines of 'oh yeah, so they are. Never really noticed that before. So, anyway…'
I shook myself out of my thoughts and began to make my way into the centre of town. Self-obsession wasn't going to get me anywhere this time. All I had to do was find Callum and think of some reason to stick with him. Some reason that didn't include him thinking I was hitting on him or stalking him. I paused for a moment to think, but nothing was really coming to mind. It looked like I'd have to wing it. Assuming, that is, that I actually saw the guy again sans dripping knife -which would definitely indicate I'd got my arse in gear a fraction too late. I looked at the shops idly as I sauntered past. In the meantime, I could always buy a book. Maybe something about a group of lit students who mysteriously wake up one day to find themselves magically at home in their beds and in no trouble with anyone, whatsoever? You know, fantasy shit.
"Oh hey! Blake isn't it? How are you?"
Turning in surprise, I saw the girl from the park waving at me enthusiastically. I managed to drum up a small smile and wave in return. "Hi … Ree, wasn't it?"
"That's right," the teenager confirmed with another sunny grin. "So what are you up to?"
"Not much," I confessed with a slight roll of my eyes. "I'm mainly trying to find some way of killing time in this place that doesn't involve alcohol."
Chapter 2
Ree giggled and looked at me appraisingly. "I could help you there," she offered. "It'll make up for this morning and maybe convince you that this place isn't as dull as it looks."
This sounded like the best thing to happen to me all day. I grinned back at Ree and offered her my arm. "Sounds like we have a deal," I agreed. "But I don't think this place is boring. Just big … and kind of intimidating."
The American teenager gaped back at me. "How can you say that? You're from London! That's the capital city of the UK."
"Well yeah," I conceded. "But when you live there, it doesn't feel like a city … more like a bunch of towns that border one another. Chilling in Camden is totally different to taking a walk through Soho. But here, everything just feels like it's on a much bigger scale." I looked around and then fixed Ree with an expectant look. "So what can you recommend to a guy like myself?"
Ree paused to consider, taking in my appearance. "Going by how you dress and the places in London you just mentioned, I'd guess you're not much into the mainstream stuff. Do you like alternative music? There's this really cool bar type place that plays great music and has an awesome atmosphere for just hanging out."
I sighed. "It sounds perfect. Lay on MacDuff."
The place was just as good as Ree had promised. I stepped instead and closed my eyes briefly, inhaling the wonderful coffee aroma as I soaked up the sounds of Lost prophets. I could definitely spend quite some time here. Opening my eyes again, I turned to Ree in absolute gratitude. "You are a saint; an angel and my current salvation from what would have been an extremely boring afternoon."
Ree laughed. "I take it that means you like the place, then?"
I laughed back. "It's brilliant. And now you've led me here you have to let me get you a coffee or something to say thanks."
Ree paused to study the large blackboard behind me, which listed the selection in a variety of colours. "The iced chocolate is really good here."
I turned to the counter. "Done." Ree wandered over to one of the over-sized couches and collapsed into the middle of it as I ordered two iced chocolates. Taste aside, the drinks certainly looked impressive, I mused as I carried them over to where Ree sat. "I take it this morning is now all forgiven and forgotten."
Ree took a sip of her drink and nodded. "Sure. Did you ever meet that person you were waiting for at the park?"
I suddenly remembered the cover story I'd given the girl and shook my head. "Nah, he didn't show up."
Ree looked sympathetic and petted my arm. "Well then he's an idiot and isn't worth it."
"Thanks," I smiled then paused as something hit me. "Wait a minute … you thought I was meeting a date?" I shook my head with a sigh and glared at the cream on my iced chocolate. "Why does everyone in this town think I'm gay?"
Ree's dark eyes had gone saucer round and the girl looked positively mortified. "You mean you're not? Oh God I'm sorry! I didn't offend you or anything, did I?"
I waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I guess if I thought about my sexuality a little more other people wouldn't feel the need." I winked to show her I wasn't being serious and grinned when she smiled hesitantly at me. "In truth, you could be right, but for me to know, I'd have to find a guy I wanted to have a relationship with. Or a girl for that matter."
"So should I mark you down as undecided?" Ree enquired.
I shrugged. "Good
enough. Just as long as I'm worshipped, I don't care who's doing it."
Ree shook her head at me in disbelief. "You're one of a kind, that's for sure."
The music changed at that moment and a familiar song began to play. I sagged back in the seat in utter bliss. "I love this song."
Ree finished off the last of her drink and then sagged back as well. "I don't think I know it. Who is it?"
"Muse," I informed her. "The song's New-born by Muse." I felt the weight on the sofa shift as Ree leaned forwards and called a greeting to someone, but I wasn't paying attention to anything but Matthew Bellamy's voice. "First thing I do when I get back to London is buying their new album," I commented.
I was aware of someone stopping to stand in front of me only moments before a voice answered my remark. "That'll be their third one then? Is it any good?"
Wondering how much weirder this day could get; I snapped my head forwards to find myself staring at Callum for the third time today. He saw my expression and raised a languid eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not stalking me?" he asked.
I matched his stare head on. "Well one of us has to stalking the other as three times in a day is a little frequent." Callum didn't make any immediate response and so I shrugged. "But then again, bad luck always comes in threes."
Chapter 3
To my surprise I thought I caught the hint of what could have been a smile on the guy's face. "For me or you?"
Unsure of what was actually happening, but also aware that this was the first non-openly hostile conversation I'd had with the guy, I smirked. "The one being stalked I guess."
"Cal, do you know Blake?" Ree asked from beside me, making me jump. I'd almost forget the girl was sitting there.
Callum turned that intense stare of his away from me and looked at Ree with a shrug. "We've run into one another. He's here to see my future sister-in-law so meeting him was only to be expected, I guess."