by Sean Stone
“I haven’t been told what I’ve been arrested for or read my rights, you know,” I said, looking up from the book. His facial expression was stoic. I got the distinct impression that he did not like me. A lot of people don’t like me but they usually get to know me before coming to that conclusion.
“Do you remember our last conversation?” he asked. His eyes never left my face. They were searching for some minor admission of guilt.
“Vaguely. You thought I saw Killian’s death,” I said. I kept my tone casual to try and annoy him. I like annoying people, especially when they treat me like cattle.
“Actually, I think you killed him,” he said. His attitude was puzzling, last time we spoke he was less cold towards me.
“Sorry, I’ve forgotten your name…”
“Richards, Inspector Mark Richards,” he said plainly.
I snorted and he raised an eyebrow. “You said that like you’re James Bond,” I explained. He didn’t smile. He was obviously one of those cops without a sense of humour. “I didn’t kill Killian,” I lied. I did kill him; I exploded his head with magic but it wasn’t a good idea to let Richards know that.
“I think you’re lying,” he said quietly.
“I thought you said the world was better off without him anyway?” I asked. That’s what he told me last time we were in this room.
Richards nodded. “That doesn’t mean murderers can roam free, though. And I looked into you after our last meeting and I’ve got to be honest, I’m not convinced the world is any better off with you in it. Warlock for hire? Selling magic spells and potions? It all seems very fraudulent to me,” he said.
“I don’t think its against the law.”
“Conning people out of their money? I think you’ll find it is.”
“You’d have to prove I was conning them, though. Wouldn’t you? You’d need evidence that my services were false. And you can’t do that. I mean if you went down that road you’d have to arrest all those mediums and herbal remedy sales people. Do you have any complaints from unsatisfied customers?” I asked. I already knew he didn’t. The majority of my customers left satisfied and those who didn’t would never go to the police.
He stared silently at me. His eyes were cold and penetrative. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you. You have a habit of kidnapping people and taking them across town to a storage facility.” That was surprising. I hadn’t realised I was being followed.
“Kidnap? I don’t remember kidnapping anyone. Has someone pressed charges?” I already knew that they hadn’t otherwise my arrest would’ve gone down a little more professionally. Also, if he had even one complaint of kidnapping then he would have a warrant to search my facility. Judging from the fact that I was there not so long ago I guessed that he had no such warrant. Of course, the big tell-tale was the fact that the tape recorder was turned off. This whole interview was off the record.
“Eddie, you are sloppy,” he said matter of factly. “You take no care when you go around kidnapping people. I haven’t seen you doing it personally otherwise I would have arrested you far sooner than today, but others have seen your… odd behaviour. Unfortunately the victims have no memory of the events. Do you really think you can carry on for much longer without giving us evidence to use against you?”
“So, what? I should just come clean now and be done with it? Confess to all these ludicrous things your saying?” I said.
“That would be the best option,” he said and shrugged. I wasn’t sure whether he hadn’t picked up on my sarcasm or he was choosing to ignore it.
I chuckled. It was an amusing prospect. “So, to be clear, you’ve arrested and detained me illegally and now you’re asking me to confess to crimes that you have no evidence I actually committed? Is that right?” I asked, giving him one of my most annoying grins.
“Pretty much,” he admitted. By the look on his face he actually wanted me to confess right now.
“You know I could press charges against you for the way I’ve been treated today, right?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I could but I had a hunch.
“You won’t. If you do that then you’ll draw attention to yourself and then you’ll have more than just me to worry about,” he said smugly. He was right. I couldn’t risk more cops keeping their eyes on me. One was enough.
“I’m just going to go home now,” I said and stood up. He didn’t try to stop me.
“I will find something, Eddie, you’re too careless to get away with this for long,” he said quietly from his seat.
“I guess I’ll see you again soon then,” I said, keeping my annoyance concealed. Then I walked out of the interview room and after taking several wrong turns and getting lost in the police station, I managed to find my way out. Embarrassing really because the interview room was right near the exit.
I met Ashley for a late lunch after I left the station. If you’re hoping that something’s going on between me and her, I’m sorry to burst that bubble but no. There’s nothing happening. We’re just friends. Nothing more. Yes, I’ll confess she’s hot as hell and I wouldn’t mind… you know, but no, nothing’s happened. In fact, its been over a month now so I’m pretty sure I’m in the friend zone and everyone knows you don’t get out of that.
We met at the Riviera, a greasy cafe near the river. It’s quite close to the place where I killed Killian but I wasn’t squeamish about going back there. Ashley was, seeing Killian’s pulverised head did not have a good effect on her, but the Riviera is far enough away that she wasn’t fussed. My usual venue for lunch was the Muggleton Inn but since everybody knows that’s where I hang I’ve had to find a new place. I still use Muggs for business but that’s all. Maybe when Rachel’s gone I can go back there.
“So, he actually accused you of killing him?” Ashley asked. She wasn’t shocked, she was more amused than anything. She’d been questioned about Killian’s death back when it happened as well; we’d both been seen at the scene of the crime by other police officers. Richards didn’t have it in for her, though. In fact, she came away thinking he was rather lovely. Her words.
“Yep. Accused me of fraud and kidnap as well,” I told her. “Glad to see you’re finding it so funny,” I added when she grinned at me.
“Sorry, but I mean, you have kidnapped a few people haven’t you?” she said.
“And I did kill Killian as well,” I confessed. Her grin slipped away as my words reminded her of Killian’s death.
“You sure you want to admit that? What if he’s got someone following you?”
“Well, unless he’s that guy I think we’re in the clear.” I pointed at the only other diner in the cafe. He was a frail old man who kept coughing all over his roast lamb. If he was an undercover cop then they seriously needed rethink their retirement policy.
Ashley laughed and her features all sparkled in the grungy environment. I smiled at her without realising it. There were times like right now when I just seemed to realise how beautiful she was and in those moments I wanted to make a move, lean forwards and kiss her but for some reason I never actually did. I was thinking about doing it then but then the waitress came over and dumped a full english in front of me. Totally killed the moment. For the best really. Trust me, the Riviera is not the place to make a move on a girl. I know I said there was nothing there between us, but… Just shut up, I don’t need to explain myself to you. Ashley had ordered the same meal as me but we both knew she wasn’t going to eat it all, she never did. Eyes were bigger than her belly.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the cheap thermometer before plunging it into my beans. I’d enchanted it to detect any potions or spells that might have been sneaked into my meals. Since Rachel had acquired the mind control serum I’d had to be a lot more careful. I had been preparing all my own food and drink but that got too troublesome so I’d made the thermometer instead. If it detected any magical tampering then it would shatter. On this occasion it remained in tact and I tucked in.
“
Are you sure you won’t come to the party tonight?” I asked. Matt and Emma were having a housewarming party at their new place and I’d invited Ashley. Matt and Emma were my closest friends but Ashley didn’t know them and I think for that reason she was reluctant to come. She always made other excuses but I thought it was just a case of shyness. Not that she’d ever been particularly shy around anyone else.
“I can’t. My dad’s not well and my mum wants me home tonight in case he needs me,” she said. I didn’t believe her. It was surprising enough that he was even home. He was always out working. I didn’t know what his job was only that he was very dedicated to it. To the point that I’d been to Ashley’s a fair few times and never met the guy.
“Okay,” I said, not wanting to call her out in her lie. She had her reasons for not wanting to come and I wasn’t going to be difficult about it. We finished our meals and then I headed home to get ready for the party.
“Eddie! I was starting to think you weren’t coming!” Matt called above the music as I entered his new house. He approached me, grabbing a couple of bottles of beers on his way. He pulled a bottle opener off his belt and open them both, handing one to me. I don’t really like beer but I took it anyway. It’s the polite thing to do at a party.
“I nearly didn’t. You know how much I hate crowds,” I reminded him. I have a bit of a reputation as a loner.
“Yeah, yeah. Good that you came, though.” He took a hearty swig of his beer and I did the same. The taste was vile and I had to force it down. After two or three I wouldn’t notice the taste anymore.
“This is a nice place,” I commented, looking around the spacious living room. His former living room could barely fit three people in it whereas this one could easily hold fifteen or more. There were probably about that many in it as we spoke. It was nicer looking too. Smart wood flooring rather than the tacky carpet of the old house.
“Yeah, it’s such an improvement on the last place. Things are really looking up for us,” he replied.
“How so?” I asked. As far as I knew they’d only moved because their former landlord had evicted them. Last we spoke he was still wondering how they were going to pay the rent each month.
“We’ve been struck with luck, mate. The first day here I got a job offer from Winters Research,” he said. His excitement was barely contained and I didn’t blame him; Winters Research was a huge nationwide company. I did have one question, however.
“Isn’t that a pharmaceutical company?” I asked. Matt was a computer specialist and had no pharmacology knowledge whatsoever.
“I’m going to be working in the IT department,” he explained.
“And that’s not all,” Emma said as she sidled up next to him. She leaned into Matt and took a sip of his beer. Judging by the look on her face she felt the same way about the stuff as I did. It made me wonder why she’d had some.
“Go on, tell him,” Matt said excitedly.
“I got a letter from the tax office this morning. Tax rebate of four-thousand pounds!” she yelled above the noise. Several of the people around us cheered in unison.
“I wish some of your luck would come my way,” I said.
“You need a bit of luck with Ashley, eh? We were hoping to finally meet her tonight,” Emma said brimming with disappointment.
“She couldn’t make it. Sick dad,” I said. That wasn’t the area that I needed luck in. I was hoping for some luck with the Rachel situation. Maybe she could walk in front of a bus by mistake and be out of my life. Not that she’d actually returned to it yet. Or even a little luck in the work department; I hadn’t had a customer for two weeks now. Money was running low.
“Sounds like a brush off,” Matt said, slurping beer.
“Yeah, I think…” I trailed off as my attention was snatched away by a familiar face moving through the crowd. The face was too close to be mistaken this time. It was Shay. He was sneering right at me as he moved towards the door.
“Eddie?” Matt asked.
Shay saw what I intended to do and ran just before I did. I pushed people aside as I rushed out into the street after him. I ran down the road full pelt as did he. He turned left and I mimicked him. He threw wheelie bins down in my path but I blasted them out of my way without expending much effort. It confounded me that he wasn’t using magic to help him get away. He still wasn’t used to using it apparently.
Shay shot down the next alley and I followed. He took a right down another alley but when I got there he was gone. There was nothing there, just a dead end. I came to a halt and stared at the brick wall in front of me. There was no way he could have vanished, nor climbed over the wall. It was far too high. He must be hiding in the shadows. A quick look around revealed that he was not. I turned to go but then noticed just the slightest smudge of red on the wall to my left. Blood. It wasn’t the only smudge. Several more blood stains trailed down the wall until they reached a slim wooden gate which I had not noticed before. There was blood over the lock. I placed my palm on the gate but it took no magic to open. The lock was already broken and the gate swung inwards. A small concrete garden lay on the other side. Two wheelie bins were to one side and blood had dripped in an almost perfect line up to the back door of the house. The blood had not spilled accidentally. It had been left for me. Suddenly it made sense why Shay hadn’t used magic to escape. He was leading me here. It was a trap. Knowing that it was a trap didn’t change anything for me. If Rachel had chosen this moment to step back into my life then so be it. I had spent the last thirteen years running from her. I wasn’t going to run this time. I took a deep breath to settle myself and then followed the bloody trail. Like the gate, the door needed no persuasion to open. I walked into a small kitchen that was barely larger than a cupboard. A bread board had been left on the side. A loaf of bread remained on the board with a couple of slices next to it. The knife which had been used to cut the bread was missing. I turned and saw that the wall leading up to the door to the next room had a trail of blood across it. Dreading what I would find, I pulled the door open and entered the next room. The telly was on the BBC news channel and some man was nattering about trouble with the EU. The carpet had once been cream but now it was soaked red. The walls were splattered unnecessarily with blood. The knife that was missing from the kitchen was covered in thick blood and had been thrust into the arm of the sofa. On the sofa were two people. A man and a woman, both in their late thirties and both dead. Their throats had been cut so deeply that I could see their insides clearly. Their fronts were coated in their own blood as was the sofa which they’d been left on. Their eyes were wide and horrified and their mouths open in an eternal scream. It was no accident that they bore a striking resemblance to my parents who had been murdered in the exact same way. My eyes moved up to the wall behind them and the words written in blood on it. The words read:
RUN EDDIE.
And I did.
CHAPTER THREE
I didn’t stop running until I was a good few blocks away. I stopped at the corner of an unfamiliar road and caught my breath. My heart was going at fifty beats a second and felt like it was going to combust right through my ribcage.
Now, let me take a moment to explain. I didn’t run because I was scared. Oh no, it takes more than a body or two to scare Eddie Lancaster. I was shaken a little, but not scared. No, the reason I ran was because… Oh, alright I was scared. So what, who wouldn’t be? It was so much like my parents. Rachel had planned that meticulously.
When I was thirteen she first came to visit. She told me who she was and what she wanted. She wanted me to leave home and go with her. She wanted me to gather magic for her and be her obedient little servant. She’s not the only person to have asked me but she was the most forceful. Obviously, I said no. As did my parents. Rachel responded by having her loyal boy, Cameron, kill my parents. He slit their throats in front of me and left them on the sofa. The worst part was that she’d sent Cameron to spy on me months before. He was the same age as me and
joined my year group at school. We became friends. Best friends even. Obviously Rachel had told him to get close to me which he did. So when he murdered my parents in front of me — the same parents who had cooked him dinner and let him stay over so many times — it quite naturally came as a shock. That was Rachel’s intention. She never does anything by accident or on impulse. Every step she takes is meticulously planned out. Like a great chess player she knows how to rig the board. And here she was, playing the game again. Only this time she was not going to win.
You my have noticed that I said Cameron was the same age as me when he killed my parents. Yes, that does mean Rachel made a thirteen year old boy murder two people. Do you have a nice clear picture of the sort of person we’re dealing with now?
The murder of my parents was exactly the same as what I’d just witnessed a few minutes ago, right down to the channel the telly was on. Rachel wanted to remind me of that. But that wasn’t all. She was sending me a message. Showing me the consequences of my actions. If I ran more people would die. If I fought her more people would die. If I didn’t do what she wanted and only what she wanted more people would die. And next time it wouldn’t be strangers. For years I’d kept on the move and never got close to anyone. If I was never still then she could never find me and if I had no friends then she had no leverage over me. Now I’d been still too long and I had too many friends. Considering I only have three friends that’s a bold statement but when it comes to Rachel one is too many.
I wanted to run. Right that moment. Just pack my things and get the next train out of town. Destination anywhere. But I wasn’t going to run. Not this time. This time I was going to stand and fight. If she killed me then so be it, but I was not going to live my life like a rat. She could keep playing her games for now but sooner or later she would reveal where she was and I would find her and face her. And hopefully, I would walk away and leave her in the same bloody mess she’d left so many people.