“Ok thanks....I will take a look around, has anybody seen Sam Mallows?” Patrick asked..
“He has been contacted, and he is on his way here.” the officer replied.
“Good let me know when he gets here.” Pat asked.
“Will do Pat...” the officer replied as he left Pat alone with the dead body laying before him..
Pat stared around the office, there was the musky smell of death still lingering around the air with a faint overtone of bleach masking most of the stench that was being produced by the body beside his feet.
“This was you wasn’t it.....but this is different somehow....something went wrong didn’t it?” Pat said to himself...
“You try to make it into a normal crime....but the bleach, a normal criminal wouldn’t take the time to cover his tracks, and the tape....did it record you in your prime...stripping the life from this woman, I bet you wanted the tape as a memento so you could see yourself in action didn’t you....you fucking freak!” Pat mumbled to himself as he examined the dead body of Mary with more detail..
“First sign of madness that!, talking to yourself...” replied Sam Mallows as he appeared by the doorway...
Chapter Fifteen: Huff And Puff...Blow It All Down!
Karl awoke with a distant knocking upon his apartment door, it was supposed to be his day off....then he quickly remembered the events from last night...damn he thought it was just a bad dream. But dream became reality as he peered towards his prize wall to find it bare...it wasn’t a dream after all.
The knocking continued as Karl collected his thoughts and stumbled towards the door to his apartment. He peered through the peephole to see two police officers on the outside...waiting to come in...
“Just a moment...be there in a jiffy!” called out Karl, desperately trying not to panic before he took a deep breath and opened the door wide open...
“Karl Davis...is that your name?” said the first officer who was a rather stout fellow who looked to enjoy too many fried breakfasts...
“Er...yes that’s me....what’s this about?” replied Karl, who tried to look tired as he replied to the officer’s question.
“Approximately nine hours ago, there was an incident at the café in which you are employed with. The manager Mary Condell was found murdered this morning in the early hours by the waitress who is also employed there by the name of Maria Jones. Miss Jones is quite distressed and we would like to ask you a few questions if that would be ok with you?” explained the second officer who was slimmer than the first officer, but lacked muscle to compliment his slim tones.
“No...no problem, I just got up myself and was about to make some coffee...you want some?” Karl cooly replied towards the officers. They both shook their heads and mumbled ‘No, thank you’ at Karl.
“Ok then....ask away!” replied Karl as he poured the strong sweet coffee into a mug, adding some sugar and a spot of milk also into the mug, then stirring rigorously as he awaited their questions...
“What time did you work yesterday from and until the moment you left the premises?” asked the first officer.
“I started at 5:00am until 6:00pm, the café closed at 5:00pm and I usually spend an hour prepping food ready for the following day, I am a chef within the kitchen...well one of two chefs, the other being Henry who should be there about now.” Karl answered.
“When did you leave the premises yesterday approximately?” asked the second officer.
“Just after 6:00pm and came straight home here, where I have been since.” replied Karl.
“Did you see anybody hanging around the café... acting suspiciously yesterday? Anything you can remember may help in our enquiries.” asked the second officer.
“There’s not much to see stuck in the confines of a kitchen, the only time I did see anything was passing the orders onto Maria, just the regulars mainly...the old couples passing through and some young drivers stopping to fill their tanks up...oh there was this older man at the counter, trying to chat up Maria but he didn’t stop long though...never seen him before but like I said probably a passer through.” Karl replied as he took a large gulp of coffee down his throat.
“Did you see anybody hanging around at the time you left the premises?” asked the first officer.
“Er....no I don’t think I did see anybody hanging about, but it’s hard to say as there is a lack of lighting around that area, and I suppose somebody could have been hiding in the shadows.” Karl replied as he gulped down the last few drops of coffee from his mug.
“Anything else you would like to know?” Karl asked the two officers.
“I think that is all for now...but we will return if we have anymore questions for you.” the second officer replied as they made their way towards the door of the apartment. The first officer stepped upon the mat and the loose floorboard creaked beneath his step.
“You need to get the landlord to fix that...before somebody has an accident.” the first officer replied.
“Yes, no problem officer....I will get straight onto him about it.” Karl retorted as a bead of sweat trickled from his brow, as the two officers left the apartment closing the door tightly behind them. Karl slumped to the floor as panic began to fester inside his mind....
“Hey crazy bitch!, wake up....it’s time for you to rise and shine.” the guard growled towards Kirsten as she slowly opened the one eye, and realised her right hand was still nestled deep within the damp panties she was wearing.
“Oh fuck off screw....before I rip your eyes out and blow them out of my ass for fun with a big fart!” replied Kirsten who removed her hand from her panties and lick the faint remains of her juices from it.
“You disgusting bitch....you been flicking yourself off again ain’t ya!, is it over him again I bet it is.” replied the guard.
“I’m gonna break that fucking heart of yours...you fucking crazy whore!, your big bad boyfriend ain’t here no more....that fucker escaped taking down two guards, a fellow inmate and injuring the Warden himself...but the best news is he left you alone to rot in here...all by yourself.” the guard sneered towards Kirsten....
“Go fuck yourself....and leave me alone!” mumbled Kirsten as she fought back the tears, and tried hard to contain them as the echoes of the guard laughing trickled away into the distance....
Kirsten lay back upon her bed...her mind was a mixed bag of emotions, she was happy that her love Hal had escaped the Asylum, but was upset that he had not taken her with him....
She needed to be near him...to feel his embrace...the touch of his strong arms around her body, holding her softly and tightly. She could feel the faint tremble of desire trickle aimlessly through her moist delicate areas...she fought off the desire to let her fingers tenderly flicker back down into the depths of her damp panties...
The squeak of the magazine and book trolley allowed Kirsten come to her senses just in time...Dorothy who worked in the Asylum’s library often walked the corridors asking the almost sane inmates if they required reading material. She came to a stop just outside the cell of Kirsten...
“Got something for you today young Kirsten....a special book just for you from a dear friend.” Dorothy replied as she passed the thick book through the service slot opposite the door. Then with a big heave upon her trolley she vanished into the shadows of the corridor with the faint squeaking getting fainter and fainter into the distance.
Kirsten rose from the bed and opened the service hatch, and removed the book from within...attached to the book was a handwritten note...
“To my sweetness that I adore,
this book is for you to enjoy, as we may be separate by walls and I may be away further than you think...my heart belongs to you.
While I am away this book will keep you company until we can be together. Read between the lines my sweet.
Forever Yours...
Hal”
Kirsten’s panties moistened once more as her fingers caressed the thick bound book, taking in it’s musky smell and soft to
uch as her mind became engrossed with dark and sordid desires. She let her fingers glide across the cover for a few moments as she contemplated opening it, waiting until the first waves of ecstasy drift from her nether regions and trickle down her soft legs...
She opened the book’s cover and inside the first page read ‘Grim Tales by Hal’, Kirsten’s heart melted with anticipation as she began to read.....
Sam Mallows sat beside Pat as they discussed the recent murder at the café.
“Something doesn’t quite fit right with a robbery gone wrong, something’s not right with it.” replied Patrick.
“So tell me what’s bugging you about it?” replied Sam.
“The bleach...the tape....and so far forensic’s found no prints anywhere...not even of the employees there...it’s like the whole place has been scrubbed clean. Forensic’s found traces of that bleach all around the building.” explained Patrick.
“Sounds like somebody was definitely cleaning his tracks...you got any suspects?” asked Sam.
“The Waitress is clean....two officers questioned the chef who was working on the day of the crime...came back empty, but he was the last to speak to the victim so I may question him further....oh there was an old man chatting up the waitress but seems harmless enough and quite possible not strong enough to force open the back entrance on his own....so I could do with a fresh pair of eyes if you are up for it buddy?” asked Patrick.
“Ok I will have a look.” replied Sam.
Sam made his way into the service area of the café...a faint smell of car oil and stale coffee filled the air as Sam walked over towards where the payphone was sited. He didn’t really acknowledge it until it was close up to his face. Upon the dialling pad of the phone was a folded piece of card forced deep into a crevasse beside the buttons.
Sam prised the card from the crevasse and unfolded it slowly, he then looked at the writing upon the card. ‘Still got it old man...here’s my first clue! If it’s too hot you better stay out of it! H.’
“Kitchen....you bastard!...I gotta play this stupid game following your breadcrumbs now.” mumbled Sam to himself, as he made his way to the kitchen area.
The kitchen area was a chrome kingdom full of chrome cookers and kitchenware, the counter before Sam had an assortment of implements such as cleavers, rolling pin, and an assortment of kitchen knives all glimmering stainless steel and sharp like hell. Sam stared at the knife block and the row of pristine clean knives...Sam began to investigate each and every one of the knives until he brought out the largest of the knives from the block.
“Mmm....clean blade but I wonder....” thought Sam as he looked and use his own pocket knife to scrape between blade and hilt....then there it was faint but distinct...traces of blood and what looked like a human hair. Sam placed the evidence in a containment bag and sealed it closed.
“So you bought her into the kitchen....to use the knife...but also the bleach, you needed to clean the blood didn’t you...but you panicked so you made it into a robbery to hide your crimes....that’s why you cleaned everything so you could clear your tracks from the scene of her death and the path of where you cleaned up your mess.” thought Sam as he walked towards the main office.
“So this is where you had sex with her...and killed her, dragged her to the kitchen....did what you needed to do in there....dragged her back and dumped her in here, whilst you began to put the next steps into action.” said Sam as he investigated the open safe in the corner of the office.
“You left the body upon the floor...to just rot away in the warmth of the room.” thought Sam noticing the temperature of the heating display fixed to the wall, he stopped to work out the time of death.
“You changed the heating...so the time of death would be different to the actual time of death...so probably about 4 hours earlier than the notified time of death.” thought Sam as his eyes returned to the safe.
“No apparent force marks on the safe so either the victim was forced to open it or it was already open when the crime took place.” Sam muttered to himself.
“Or....you left it open to make it feel and look like a robbery.” Sam thought to himself as the streaks of age flittered down his aching back.
“So you dragged her back in here....but why did you rag her neck like that?...this is the work of a amateur not a seasoned killer..” Sam contemplated this thought for a moment.
“Of course....fingerprints, you had to cut the skin away from the neck, to remove the fingerprints upon it...you sick fucking freak!” Sam muttered as he realised that this was the work of one person not a gang or even a group of people.
“But why here?....this is not something Hal would do...this is all wrong!” muttered Sam.
“What’s all wrong?” asked Patrick as he appeared by the office door.
“This case...it’s all wrong, nothing feels right at all about it.” Sam replied.
“Why what is wrong about it?” Patrick retorted...
“This killer made a mistake by killing here, this if it is the copycat killer...it doesn’t follow the Dark Poet’s methods...not blood...no painted message...no arrogance to it..
The killer looks to have been sloppy killing once and clearing up after his messy mistakes, then returning the body here and then remembering he had touched her neck...so he mutilated so we couldn’t lift his prints off it, then he staged the facade of a robbery gone wrong.” Sam concurred.
“So we will catch him easier then if he is making mistakes!” replied Patrick.
“Maybe....or he will become something else.” said Sam.
“Something else?” replied Patrick.
“Every killer has a starting point and a end point, this copycat killer is trying to use the Dark Poet’s methods and combine it with his own...I fear he may leave the warm nest of Hal’s and evolve into something more deadly.” Sam softly spoke, looking Patrick dead in the eyes as he said the words...
“Ok I believe you....so how do we catch him?” Patrick asked.
“We don’t....we set a trap and catch two birds with one stone.” replied Sam.
“Two birds?” asked Patrick.
“The copycat killer...and the Dark Poet himself!” replied Sam.
“How the hell are we to get them two in the same room?” asked Patrick.
“That’s the easy part.....containing the two egos in the same room is the hard part....the copycat will want to show Hal that he is better, and Hal if I know him will want to put this young upstart in his place....we are gonna need backup for this...a lot of men.” replied Sam.
“And where are we gonna set the trap...it’s gotta be somewhere special to get these two to come together?” asked Patrick.
“Leave that to me...I know the very place!” replied Sam.
The two men took one last look at the slowly decomposing body of Mary and signalled to the mortician to collect the body, the two men walked into the fresh morning air as the early sunrise filtered across the rooftops before them.
Sam lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale of nicotine and tobacco.
“Them things will kill you in the end.” replied Patrick, as they stood looking out towards the sunrise of a new day.
“They ain’t kill me yet!...anyway....my death will come when it is ready to come, no point in bitching about it....we all gotta go sooner or later. It seems my time is later.” replied Sam as he took a glance down at his wrinkled skin upon the back of his hand....
Chapter Sixteen: A Needle In A Haystack
Michelle rifled through the vast mountains of paperwork that piled sky high above her, the desk in her apartment was chock full of old cuttings and crime reports from The Dark Poet’s past killings and misdemeanours.
The files all dated back from the early 2000's up until the present day...or should that be including the apparent copycat killer’s crimes as well...the thought nestled deep inside Michelle’s mind as she partook another deep gulp of strong coffee down her throat.
She rubbed her eyes until the first
few signs of raw redness appeared, she yawned like a lioness....wild and untamed as the heavy knocks of sleep began to tap upon her head like a doorknocker upon a door. She had been working nonstop for the last ten hours trying to figure out where this killer would strike again, then the droll tones of the telephone echoed through the apartment.
Michelle made her way towards the phone, removing herself from the swarm of paperwork that tried to contain her. She eventually allowed a pile of paperwork to fall and flitter down amongst the floor of the apartment, as she answered the call...
“Hello...Michelle here!” Michelle replied...
“Michelle....It’s Jonah, you need to get to the Café near the outskirts...I think it’s called ‘Mary’s Crusty Cobs’, there has been a murder or a robbery of sorts...that old Detective Sam Mallows has been spotted....you know that one that caught the Dark Poet originally...
Behind These Walls Page 10
