“Are you still wondering about that Wrath Walker guy we talked about before? Have you seen him again?”
“No, I haven’t seen him, but we can get to that later. I just came from Joey’s Kitchen.”
“I love their lunch specials.”
“Yeah, that’s great, Phillip, but I went there and had a conversation with Joey about the Wrath guy possibly coming after him.”
“You did? How did that go?”
“Not as good as one might think.” I looked around the room, kicking myself internally again over the arrogance of my actions. I should have known better than to think Joey would ever listen to me.
“I can only imagine someone wouldn’t be happy to hear that they’re being targeted by a... What was this guy again?”
“He said he was a Wrath Walker, that he was the living embodiment of God’s wrath on the earth. You’re right by the way, Joey didn’t take it well. He told me to never come back to his restaurant and if I did there would be serious consequences. You know he’s mobbed up, right? He and the rest of the Amaras are responsible for the majority of the crime in this town, but they are paid up with the right people, so no one ever arrests them.”
“I’ve heard rumors about him and the people he associates with, but I try to stay out of all that. The Bible teaches us to avoid gossip, since the majority of people can’t confirm if what they are saying is true.”
“If the Amaras are good at anything, it’s covering their tracks and leaving no loose ends.”
“I can see you do not care for Joey or any of the Amaras. So, tell me this if you will, Brandon, why did you try and warn Joey that someone might be after him? You had to have known he wasn’t going to listen to you and would respond to you in the way that he did.”
“I don’t know. I guess I thought... Well, maybe if I could... It started last night, when I went through some of my old case files and figured Joey would be his next target. I figured I’d warn him, so he could at least be on the lookout or something.”
“That was nice of you. Some might even say, it was a very Christianly of you to do that for one of your enemies.”
“Truth be told, I’ve wanted to kill that guy for years. I think some would say that’s not Christian of me at all.”
“That’s not Christianly or moral, so why did you go warn him? Why not just sit back and see what happens?”
“Because that’s not how I was raised, as much as I hate to admit that. If my dad hadn’t filled my head with always doing the right thing, no matter what, I would have sat back and waited to see what happened.”
“So, you did the right thing, and now you regret it. You’re blaming your dad to deal with your feelings of regret.”
As much as I hated to admit it, that’s exactly what I was doing. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” I looked away from him.
“And now, you’re beating yourself up about warning the guy, wanting him dead, and being mad at your dad.”
I nodded. “Right again, Pastor Phillip.”
“You have all of these conflicting emotions pent up inside literally eating you alive. You don’t sleep very well at night, do you?”
“No. Something tells me, I’m not the first one you’ve talked to that has had this kind of problem.”
“That’s what I thought, Brandon, and it’s a big church with a lot of people who have problems like you. Anyway, you don’t sleep well because you’re being eaten alive by guilt over things from your past. Some were out of your control, while others were very much your fault, but that’s life. You have to forgive yourself and ask God to forgive you for your sins as well. It’s clear to me that God is pursuing you, and that is why you’re so conflicted about everything.”
“You’re probably right,” I said, knowing full well that he had hit the nail on the head. “But I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“None of us do. Our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to his, but that is why Jesus shed his blood, to make us worthy.”
I was quiet for a moment as his words sunk in, but I couldn’t receive what he had to say.
“Have you tried talking to God lately, Brandon?”
I quickly changed the subject. All the God talk started to go too deep for me, and only made me feel worse. I started talking about an even worse topic without realizing it.
“I saw Lizzie’s fiancé at the restaurant today too.”
“You saw Scott? He’s a nice guy. I’m officiating their wedding next year.”
I released a breath that sounded like someone had just punched me in the gut, and in a way, I had been. It seemed like the universe was determined to make me suffer for however much time I had left in the world.
“Great. Tell me, do they still do the objection part in the ceremony?”
“That’s not really done anymore, and I take it you’re still not fully over Elizabeth.”
“No, I’m great. Totally good. What gave you that idea?”
“That’s just another hurt in your life that you need to give over to God, Brandon. You have to let God heal your broken heart.”
“Look Phillip, I get that since you’re a pastor, your go-to line has to be let go and let God. But when I needed God, he wasn’t there for me. I can honestly say, he’s not here for me now. I’m not a little kid, so can you please spare me the God will make everything okay if you just believe that he will speech.” My anger bubbled up to the surface for Phillip to see.
“If you knew what I was going to say, why did you come see me today?”
His voice was calm. He never seemed to be fazed by people when they displayed emotion. I chalked that up to years of being a pastor and counseling numerous people in the church. I’m sure he’d seen about everything over the years.
“That’s a fair question, and I’m sorry for getting angry, Phillip. I’m not mad at you. I came by today because I needed someone to talk to with about everything that’s been going on. Things have been so bad for so long, it’s like it’s one crushing blow after another after another. I’d thought I might be able to turn my losing streak around.” I held back some tears that wanted to come. “Whatever we talk about stays between us, right?”
“Of course, Brandon. I will never tell anyone anything you share with me.”
“Right. Thank you. Well, I thought if I could catch Ron’s killer that maybe it would change how people in this city see me, including Elizabeth. I hoped that maybe, just maybe, she would see that I am still the same guy she fell in love with and wanted to marry.”
“You two were going to get married?”
“Yes, but she told me that if she would have married me, she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself. I mean, who says that to someone? I wasn’t perfect, but I was never bad to her.” The tears I desperately tried to hold back filled my eyes. I quickly dried them and continued before Phillip could offer me a tissue or tried to come around his desk for a man hug. “I didn’t say that to you to make you feel bad about doing their wedding. I think if they want you to do it then you should do it. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
“Thank you for saying that, and I hate to see you torn up like this, Brandon, I really do. But listen to me when I say, this too shall pass.”
“What?”
“My mother use to say that to me when I was a young man. You see, I wasn’t always a pastor. I used to have a regular job at the old airbrake plant a couple of towns over. One day, I made a mistake on the floor, and got a lot of people hurt. I was immediately fired, and many of my friends who worked at the plant all stopped talking to me. After that, no one in the town would hire me, and the girl I was dating ended it with me. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, things got so bad for me I had to move back in with my mom. Can you believe that a grown man in his early twenties having to move back home?”
“That sounds like the people today, to be honest,” I said.
“That’s true, but it wasn’t th
e case back then, and I still remember my first night back home. I sat at the kitchen table after only being able to eat a little of the home-cooked meal she made, and she knew I was beating myself up over everything. She saw the look of hopelessness and desperation in my eyes, much like I see in yours, and she sat down and took my hand. She said this too shall pass. I asked her what she meant, and she told me that everything I was feeling and everything going on in my life at that time would be over one day. She also told me I needed to forgive myself, just like I’m telling you to do.”
“What’d you do?”
“I took it one day at a time. I had to forgive myself every day for the accident that hurt my co-workers, and I eventually moved on with my life. It was my mother’s kind words and encouragement that led me to become a pastor. I wanted to help others like she had helped me. What I have found to be the case is that time is long, and people’s memories are short, except for our own. I relived that accident everyday multiple times knowing I couldn’t change anything, and all it did was add to the guilt I already felt. I have to make peace with what happened every day, and I do that by giving it over to the Lord, because he bears my burdens. But you don’t want to talk about God, and so I will not continue any further on the topic. Hopefully one day we can talk more about him, but until that time I will leave you with two things. The saying this too shall pass, and some information that I think might help you track down Ron’s killer.”
“What would you have on that?” My sadness turned to excitement in the blink of an eye. Finally, I might have something to stop that guy, and that would be the start to things turning around in my life.
“When I was about ten, I remember my parents talking about a big story in the newspaper about the city leaders who were being investigated for corruption and a series of other crimes they had been committing for years. They talked about how they were obviously guilty due to all the evidence, and then one day all the charges were dropped.”
“Do you remember why?”
“I don’t remember why, and I don’t even remember what positions they held in the city. I was just a kid, but my parents and a lot of people in our neighborhood were really mad about it all.”
“I’m sorry, but how does this story help me figure out who this guy really is?”
“Be patient, my friend, I’m getting to that. Shortly after those people were cleared of all charges, they all were murdered, and their killer was never caught. You said Wrath killed Ron with a knife because he had killed other people with one. Well, these people were well respected leaders like Ron who had seemingly fallen from grace, and they all ended up dead, days apart from each other. Maybe you could look in the digital records at the Black Castle and find something to help you. I told you about it last time we talked.”
“I’ll go check it out right now.” I got up to leave.
“You can’t, Brandon.”
“Why not?” I snapped back. It was the first good lead I’d had.
“Closed for the day. Government building.”
“Right. I’ll check it out first thing in the morning. Thanks for talking with me, Phillip.”
“Any time, and remember, this too shall pass.”
I thanked him again and went back to my car. It had been a long day. I needed to go straight home and get some rest. Lack of sleep the previous night wore on me, so when I got back to my place, I put my gun on my bedside table and took a quick shower. The sun was still slightly visible in the evening sky when I laid down, but it didn’t stop me from falling asleep.
I slept better than I had in months, and I didn’t even wake up once during the night. However, I was awakened in the morning by a knock. I checked the time on my phone. Nine forty-five. The knocking sounded again, and I heard a muffled voice. I rolled out of bed and pulled on sweats.
Lizzie stood in the doorway and looked amazing as she always did, and my heart skipped a beat before it started pounding hard enough for her to notice. I had dreamt about her showing up at my door, and then she would fall into my arms, and everything would be right with the world again...
But the look on her face told me she wasn’t there for a social visit, and this was no dream coming true.
“Hey Lizzie, I mean Elizabeth, look yesterday when I ran into Scott, I didn’t mean to upset the guy.”
I could tell by her demeanor she was more than mad, and I needed to explain myself before she arrested me.
“Before you say anything, I wasn’t following him. I saw him as he was leaving Joey’s Kitchen, and he talked to me first. He made it very clear how he and you felt about me, so message received loud and clear. Like I said before, I won’t be bothering you or him. I’m sincere when I say I just want you to be happy.”
“Um, thank you, and Scott told me he talked to you yesterday. He told me everything you two talked about.”
“Great.” I steadied myself against the door. “Look, whatever he said, I never threatened him or told him I was going to hurt him or anything like that.”
“I’m not here because you talked to Scott, Brandon. Did you talk to Joey Abbate yesterday when you went to his restaurant?”
“Yes. Talking to people isn’t a crime.” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“You’re right, talking to people isn’t a crime but murder is.”
“What are you talking about, Elizabeth?”
“Joey was found murdered this morning in his restaurant. I need to ask you some questions.”
Chapter Twelve
Brandon Farmer
Black Castle Police Department
I REPEATEDLY PROTESTED but Lizzie insisted that she question me at the station and not at my place. She wanted everything to be official and by the book, so again I had to go into the precinct and hear comments from my former brothers in blue who thought I had betrayed them and the badge we all swore to uphold.
When we got into the interrogation room, she said one of the employees at Joey’s Kitchen who found Joey the next day, had told police they had also seen me talking to Joey earlier on the day before. Since Lizzie knew the history between the Amaras and myself, she decided to place me right at the top of her list of suspects. So, for the second time that week, I sat in the interrogation room on the side of the desk reserved for the accused.
Lizzie opened her notebook and took out a pen and looked up at the cameras in the corners of the room and made sure the red light was on that indicated they were recording.
“Okay Brandon, I’m going to ask you this one time, and I want you to be straight with me. Did you kill Joey Abbate last night?”
“I did not kill Joey, Elizabeth, you know me. You know I would never do something like that. We both know Joey makes a lot of enemies in his line of work, and if you check the security cameras you would see that I never returned after I left yesterday.” I leaned forward. “You have checked the security camera footage and saw who did it? I’m not telling you how to do your job, but that’s the first place I always checked before I questioned a suspect.”
She set her pen down and leaned back in her chair and gave me an annoyed look. “Yes Brandon, thank you for the refresher in Detective 101, and I’m aware of the standard places to start. It just so happens that I checked all the cameras first thing, but all the drives were taken, and the central monitoring system looked to be beaten as badly as Joey was if not worse. You can still somewhat make out that the victim used to be a living human being.”
“What are you talking about?” I tilted my head, intrigued, and slightly sickened by the graphic story I expected to come next. Lizzie didn’t move, and she had her best poker face on as she took in and studied every movement and expression I made to see if I had a tell that would give myself away. After all the time we had spent together she knew me well enough to know when I was telling the truth.
“Joey was beaten to death last night in his own restaurant, and it appears the killer used his bare hands to do it. We are dealing with a sick and twisted individual who is also incredi
bly strong. When I first saw the body, I saw right away his face was smashed in so badly that not even the most skilled undertaker could fix him up enough for his family to have an open casket. Joey also had several compound fractures, one of which being one of his rib bones that stuck out like a jagged blade. There were also some bones that were pulverized to the size of small pieces of gravel. All and all, it was pretty hard to look at. A couple of our seasoned officers and medics had to step outside so they wouldn’t get sick and contaminate the crime scene.”
“That sounds terrible. I’m sorry you had to see that. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine Brandon, it’s all a part of the job. I would like to show you some pictures of the crime scene though. Given the nature of the murder, I naturally thought of your story about how Ron’s killer was strong enough to pick him up off the ground by one hand. I would like for you to let me know if you think this is the same guy that killed Ron.”
I had no desire to look at any of the crime scene photos after Lizzie’s description, but maybe they contained something I could use to stop Wrath. “Whatever you need me to do.”
Lizzie thanked me and then gestured towards the one-way mirror. Within seconds, an officer came in and handed her a manila folder then immediately left. She pulled out the photos and slid them to me one-by-one.
“Please take your time and let me know if anything stands out to you.” Her tone was cold, and she never took her eyes off of me.
There were a few overturned tables and chairs, which clearly indicated the struggle, but it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it would be. Which told me Wrath had gotten to Joey quickly before he could put up any sort of fight, or even had a decent shot at trying to get away.
“It doesn’t look like there was much of a fight or struggle in Joey’s killing,” I said as I glanced up at Lizzie.
“On that we agree,” she said as she began to hand me the numerous pictures of Joey’s body taken from every possible angle. I didn’t need to look at all of them to know that Joey had literally died at Wrath’s hands. A wave of nausea hit me as I realized I would suffer the same fate as Joey if I couldn’t stop that guy, and I could only imagine how he would make me suffer while he snuffed out my life.
The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) Page 11