by Caleb Meeks
“Hi, Kate, this is Matthew Newman again. My partner and I were just in to speak to one of your patients?”
“Yes, of course. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if I could speak with Doctor Dunn. Is he around?”
“Yes, actually, he just walked back into his office. I’ll transfer you.”
“Thank you.” I said, eagerly.
“My pleasure.” She finished, and the line went blank for a moment. It started ringing again momentarily, though.
After a few rings, he picked up. “Hello, this is Doctor Stewart Dunn. What can I do for you?”
“Hi Doctor Dunn, it’s Officer Newman. My partner and I were just in a couple hours ago?”
“Ah, yes, how is your face, son?” He asked.
“It’ll be better in time.” Newman replied.
“Fair enough. What is it that I can do for you, Officer? You think of something else?”
“I guess you could say that. I was wondering if you could give me some more information about Ms. Williams. My partner and I were discussing the situation and realized neither of us are aware of why she’s is in your facility. Could you fill us in?” Cadman was hanging on every word his partner said.
“Well, Officer Newman I would love to do that.” Newman smiled, and in turn, Cadman smiled too. “Unfortunately, that’s information I don’t have. You see, there was a time where I could just pull up her file, and it had all the information you could possibly want. One day, though, the file got corrupted, and our backup went missing. No one knows what happened. I could send over the file we created in place of it, but you heard everything we have when you were here. And, I would just relay the information to you, but at the time it happened, I wasn’t the resident doctor here, and the man who was suffered a heart attack and passed away years ago. No one seems to know what happened. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
“That’s ok. Thank you very much for your help.” He said, his facial expression changing. Cadman couldn’t read it, but knew it wasn’t good.
“Feel free to ring me again if you think of anything else.”
“Will do.” Newman said, then hung up the phone.
“So?” Cadman said, on the edge of his seat.
“They don’t have the file.” Newman blurted out. He wore a look of confusion, which Cadman quickly adopted.
“What do you mean?”
“He said they had a digital file that had everything in it, but it was corrupted.”
“What about a backup?”
“Went missing the same day.” Newman said, marveling in the irony.
“Of course it did.” Cadman said with a mix of anger, confusion, and a tinge of hopelessness.
“Nothing ever comes easily with this case.”
“What do you say we call it day?” Cadman suggested.
“As much as hate to say it, I think we both could use some rest.”
“Great, we can pick this up again tomorrow.” Cadman grabbed his jacket. Newman followed suit, and both men walked out of the office. Cadman turned and shut the door. “You ready to go? I’ll drop you at your place.”
“I’ll just get a taxi home. Thanks for offering though.” Newman said.
“You sure? It’s not a problem.”
“Yeah, it’s ridiculous of you to drive all that way. I’ll be fine. See you tomorrow, Leo.” Newman said, smiling.
“Alright. See you tomorrow.”
Both men headed off in their separate ways. Newman pulled out his cell phone and dialed a taxi service. Within a few minutes, a car pulled up, and Matthew was sitting in it.
“Where too, mister?” The man in the driver’s seat asked. Newman instinctively gave him the address, then drifted to the back of his mind. Between the intensity of the case, and his exhaustion, all he wanted to do was get home and go to bed. The driver picked up on it and kept quiet for the duration of the ride. Some twenty-five minutes later, they pulled up in front of Matthew’s apartment.
He stepped out and handed the driver a twenty-dollar bill. “Thanks. Have a great night.”
“You too.” The driver nodded and drove off.
Newman walked up the stairs to his door. A flashback hit him of when he was sitting outside his door just that morning. He blinked it away, pulled out his key, and opened the door.
“You’re home.” An unfamiliar voice said from the dark room in front of him.
Newman’s whole body froze. A dark figure was sitting on the couch just a few feet from him, and even though he didn’t recognize the voice, he knew who it was. “Judas?” He sputtered out.
“Nice to see you…again.”
Chapter Twenty-Three.
“What are you doing here?” It was a trivial question, but it was all the man in front of me could get out. I could see the exhaustion in his eyes, but there was intense fear that had edged it out.
“You know, Matthew, I really don’t know what I’m doing here.”
“How did you…” He stuttered before trailing off.
“Know your name?” I filled in for him. “Really, you’ve been on this case for a little while now, and you’re still doubting my ability to obtain information?” He stayed silent. I stood up. He instinctively backed up, but after two steps he reached the now closed door. His eyes were imagining a narrative I could practically watch play out in front of me. I’d walk forward. He’d be so panicked that he wouldn’t be able to move. From behind me, I would pull a bladed object. A gun would be too loud. Then, I would slip the blade into his stomach with agonizing hesitance. Not even a grunt would escape his mouth, and he would fall to the ground. I would walk out of the room, leaving him bleeding out to be found later. This was where his life ended.
At least in the narrative he had written for himself.
“What do you want?” He said, shaking with award worthy fake bravado.
“I already told you, I’m not really sure what I’m doing here.” I slowly advanced towards him across the small living room between us. His body froze, just as he had rehearsed in the narrative that was still on repeat in his eyes. “What I will say, though,” I stopped once I was just before him, “is that if it was my plan to kill you, you would never have known I was here.” Jury was still out if that calmed him down or sent even more terror throughout his mind. “So, you’re going to go unconscious, and when you wake up, we’ll talk.” I didn’t give him a chance to disagree. I already had a cloth with chloroform on it prepared. Cliché? Yes. However, I didn’t want to hurt him…at least I didn’t think so.
A few hours later, we arrived back at my old house. While it brought back old memories, it now also carried some new, positive ones. It was also incredibly remote, which meant that finding me would be a greater task, and that was a priority right now. With Abaddon’s strength the way it was, I couldn’t risk another run in too soon. I was recovering, but there was no guarantee how many of them I could handle.
He was still asleep in the basement. Alive, but somehow still asleep. I was eager to speak with him, but decided to leave him be. May as well let him get some sleep, if possible. I spent many nights in my childhood in his position…asleep, completely unaware of what was going on but somewhat unconscious to the situation. Funny how things come back around.
I’d been checking on him every now and then, just to make sure he wasn’t unattended for too long. After a few hours, he started stirring. I opened the door and took a seat, though it didn’t seem to faze him. The only light in the room came from the sun shining through the small, cloudy windows in the basement. The room itself was dingy…at best. There were cobwebs strewn about, dust covering everything, and the table I had him sitting at was rickety and splintered. Ironically, the way it looked now was the way it felt growing up.
Slowly, I could hear him start to rouse himself awake. His body was slumped over the table. As he picked himself up, I could see the emotions change across his face. It took him a moment to realize what had happened. At first, he seemed to glance
right over me, but once he locked eyes with me, the look he had when he first saw me settled over him again.
“Not just a bad dream.” I said, giving him an unnecessarily villainous smile. I wasn’t trying to be as evil as it came off, but it was all I knew, and it was the only way I knew to keep the pain I was feeling at bay.
He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the drowsiness. The adrenaline probably helped, because he quickly perked up. “Why did you take me?”
“I figured you’d ask that again. Here’s the thing, when I looked at you back at our accidental little meetup, something happened. Couldn’t tell you what it was, but I think we both felt something…familiar.” He was pushed back against the chair as far as he could be. As much as he wanted to deny it, he seemed to know what I meant.
“So, what was the purpose of taking me?” He asked, unsure of anything else to say.
“I wanted to pick your brain a little bit, see why it is that I felt some kind of…connection. I’m a little impulsive right now.” I said, somewhat jokingly. He didn’t seem to appreciate my attempt at humor. “Alright, I’ll say two things first. First, I’m not going to kill you. I probably won’t even hurt you, as long as you don’t try and get out, and considering that you’re on this case, I’d imagine you aren’t foolish enough to attempt that. Second, I’d imagine you have questions, and I feel like there is some information I could give you that might clear some things up.”
“In exchange for?” He said skeptically. I gave him a quizzical look. “People like you don’t just give out information out of the goodness of their hearts.”
“People like me…” I trailed off after a chuckle. He seemed to be questioning his choice of words. “That’s a fair assumption.”
“So, what is it that you want?”
“We’ll see. But I guess we could start with not just assuming that I’m a bad guy, just because I’m a bad guy.” Anton’s family picture flashed in my mind again. “Where would you like to start?”
▪
Cadman opened his eyes. For the first time in a long while, he woke up feeling like he actually rested. The case had been preying on his mind since he’d gotten on it, and before that, his failed marriage haunted him. He felt more alive than he had in a long while.
After lying in bed for a few minutes, he managed to get up. His phone was on the dresser across the room. He quickly checked it, expecting a number of text messages, but it was blank. Part of him was glad to have the morning to himself, but another part of him was aching to get back to the case. He picked up the phone to dial Matthew but decided to let his partner rest. It had been a long few weeks, and if he was able to get some sleep, he didn’t want to disturb it. Instead, he decided to get in the shower and start his morning off like a normal person.
Cadman looked himself up and down in the mirror once he got into the bathroom. He looked, to himself, livelier than he had in a long time.
He turned the knob in the shower, and the steaming water poured out from the head. It burned against his skin, but it helped wake him up from the sleep he still hadn’t managed to completely climb out of. Much to his surprise, he made it through his whole shower without thinking of the case once. His mind was surprisingly clear. He stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. After drying his hair, he wrapped it around his waist and walked back into his bedroom. His phone was still sitting right on the dresser where he left it before. Still nothing. He found it odd, so he picked it up and opened a message to Newman.
Hey, sleeping beauty, you ever gonna get up? – He sent.
He then set his phone back down and walked into the closet. Normally he would have reached for a suit, but he didn’t feel like it. Instead, he reached for a pair of jeans, comfortable sneakers, and a blue t-shirt. He walked back into the bathroom, parted his hair where he usually did, and brushed his teeth. His normal morning routine was a comfort to him, but the urge to get back to work was growing.
He walked back to his phone. Expecting a response, he opened his phone and peered down at the text he had just sent. It said delivered, but that was it. He pushed the call button at the top of the screen. It rang some eight or so times, and then rolled the voicemail speech. Cadman hung up before leaving a message. It struck him as odd. Even though he’d only known the young man for a few weeks, he’d learned he wasn’t a late sleeper. On top of that, he’d always responded to calls and texts in the middle of the night, even if he was sleeping. Cadman did his best to count it as coincidence and walked to the kitchen. This time, though, his phone was in his hand.
He turned the coffee pot on and grabbed two pieces of bread. After sticking them in the toaster, he turned back to his phone. Still nothing. One might call him paranoid, but he had a gut feeling, and it took the reins in his mind. He picked up the phone again and called a second time. Again, it rang for the full time, but still nothing. He obviously wasn’t on the phone, otherwise it wouldn’t have rung the full number of times. And if it was broken, it would have not rung at all.
He set the phone back down, and walked over to the toaster, which had just popped the two pieces of bread up. The smell of coffee wafted throughout the room. Autopilot took over, and he started buttering bread and pouring coffee without even thinking about it. His mind was running all the possibilities of why he wasn’t answering the phone and trying to find one that didn’t involve Matthew in danger. He came up with a few viable solutions, but the ones that put him in danger echoed far louder. He picked up the phone a third time and called again, completely overwhelmed by paranoia. He knew he was being overreactive at this point, but he didn’t care.
For a third time, he got nothing from calling. He hung up and opened their text conversation.
Everything ok, Matt? I can’t get ahold of you. Give me a call when you get this. – He knew it was pointless, but it was worth a shot at least.
His toast was sitting on a plate right next to his piping hot cup of coffee. He hadn’t touched either of them yet. Without a second thought, he walked to his keys and hastened out of the door. He got into his car, quickly turned it on, and started out of the driveway. He didn’t even put a seatbelt on.
He pulled the phone from the console and dialed the station. A woman picked up. “Hello, Bishop Police Station. What can I do for you?”
“Hello, this is Detective Leo Cadman.”
“Oh, yes, how can I help you Detective Cadman?”
“Did Matthew Newman come in this morning?” He tried to keep the adrenaline shake out of his voice.
“Let me check.” She went quiet. “No, he hasn’t been in since yesterday.” Cadman exhaled audibly. “Is everything ok, sir?”
“Yes, thank you.” He hung up before she could ask any more questions. His mind was racing. That was one of the last logical solutions he had come up with that didn’t involve Matthew in trouble.
He sped through the busy streets at a speed not exactly legal. The next logical step in his mind was to go check Matthew’s apartment, which was in a suburb on the outside of the city. He’d only been there once, but he drove almost instinctively. Part of him wanted Matthew to be there, but a bigger part of him almost knew he wouldn’t be. There was no reason to believe anything was going on, but something told him there was, and he couldn’t shake the feeling.
Fifteen minutes later he rolled up to the front of Matthew’s apartment. There were stairs that lead up to the door, which he took three at a time. His heart was pounding inside his chest, but he knew what he was going to find when he got up there. He reached the door. At first, he knocked normally. Quickly, though, it escalated into pounding. “Hey, Matt, you in there?” He repeated at varying volumes.
After a few minutes, the neighbor across the hall opened their door. “Hey man, everything ok?” A young guy in a white t-shirt stepped out, looking concerned by Leo’s behavior.
Cadman calmed down some. “Sorry, have you seen the guy who lives here anytime recently?”
“No, sorry. I think I might have heard
him get home yesterday, but nothing after that. Is he ok?” The guy asked, starting to share the same concerned look.
“I don’t know.” Cadman said. “I’m probably overreacting, but he’s not usually the kind to disappear without even a text. You’re sure you didn’t see anything, like an unfamiliar person hanging around?”
The man carefully scoured his memories from the night before. “I can’t say that I do. I got home from work around six, took a shower, and then was here all night. I heard the door open and close once, but I didn’t think to pay attention to it after that. He’s a nice guy, but he’s in and out at weird hours, so I’ve gotten used to ignoring it. As far as I know, though, there wasn’t anyone hanging around here.”
“Okay. Sorry to interrupt your morning.” Cadman said, trying to hold back the hopelessness in his voice.
“No trouble at all. Do you have a card or a number I could call if I were to see him come back?”
“Yeah.” He pulled out his wallet and handed the man a card with his phone number on it. “That’s my work number. Do you have a pen I could use for a second?”
The man glanced down at the card. “Detective? Yeah, I’ll be right back.” The man disappeared around a corner for a moment but returned almost immediately. “Here you go.” He handed over a pen.
“Thanks.” Cadman scribbled a few numbers on the back of the business card. “That’s my personal phone number. “I’m more likely to answer that than my work number.”
“Okay. I’ll keep an eye out for him.”
“I appreciate it.” Cadman honestly said.
“My pleasure. Good luck looking for him.” Cadman nodded in the man’s direction, and he closed the door. He turned around and headed back towards the stairs he had come up. His car’s engine was still warm when he got back to it.
“Where are you, Matt?” He asked to the open air as he dialed him again.
▪
“You killed fifteen guards four years ago. Along with those fifteen guards, you killed two police chiefs, and left a third with scars he will, probably, never recover from. How can you say you aren’t a bad guy when you’ve done things like that?”