by Mason Black
“I want my lawyer now,” Abrams said calmly.
“Tell me, why do you remove their limbs?” Agent Petty curiously asked.
“I won’t say another word until you let me call my lawyer.”
“Fine, get me the phone. You can call your lawyer in here. You’re going to need it,” Agent Petty smirked.
An officer brought a cordless phone into the room, and Abrams told him the number to dial. The officer held the phone up to Abrams face. “It’s me. I’m in a bit of trouble and would really love it if you could come down here – just turn on the TV and you’ll know where to find me,” Abrams said.
“A bit of trouble. Boy, that’s the understatement of the year,” Agent Petty remarked.
Chapter 73
Sean, Jack, Amanda, and Will were separated and taken to different interrogation rooms. Pitman entered Amanda’s room, as Shazhad entered Will’s. Jack and Sean waited alone in their rooms.
“Ms. Martin, I wish I could say it’s so nice to see you again so soon, but we both know that’s not the case. You and your friends are in a lot of trouble, Ms. Martin. Aiding and abetting a serial killer – well, I could not think of anything worse.” Pitman walked behind her.
“What are you talking about?” Amanda shouted.
“Abrams Freeman is about to be charged with 17 counts of first degree murder. They think he’s the Miami Mangler,” Pitman explained.
“Abrams is not the Mangler; that’s ridiculous,” Amanda quickly responded.
Pitman walked around to the front of the desk and sat in the chair. “That may be so, but the FBI is now involved and they think you are all connected. So, that makes you in almost as much trouble as Freeman. Just tell me about Kirshner. What did you and your friends do to him?” Pitman asked.
“I want my lawyer now. I’m not saying another word.”
Pitman stood up and walked out of the room without saying a word. He walked back to his desk and threw the file onto it. He knew the FBI had it wrong, but the wheels of justice were rolling quickly and he was not about to get in the way.
Chapter 74
Will’s eyes lit up when he saw Shazhad Ahmed enter the interrogation room – this is what he wanted. Shazhad was the one who could make his plan work, and here he was. Shazhad held a large brown folder with Will’s name plastered on the front of it, but Will paid no attention to it.
Shazhad sat directly across from Will. “I’m going to be completely straight with you, Will, and I hope that in turn you will be with me. Okay?” Shazhad asked.
“Fine,” Will mumbled.
Shazhad explained to Will that Abrams was the Miami Mangler and was being charged with 17 counts of murder. Shazhad also explained that Will and his three friends were being charged with aiding and abetting, unless they fully cooperated with the FBI.
Will sat quietly and did not interrupt Shazhad as he spoke. “Now, where is Kirshner’s body?” Shazhad asked.
“What makes you think that we were involved? Why arrest us with Abrams? If he’s the Mangler, then go after him. Why us?”
“We know that Kirshner caught the five of you cheating on your mid-term a day before he disappeared. We know that Kirshner had your brother thrown out of school several years ago. We recently discovered that Kirshner represented the man accused of killing Amanda Martin’s father – apparently he got the man off. We know that a few weeks before he went missing, Kirshner’s neighbor reported seeing Kirshner chasing four males and a female; Amanda Martin used her Lexis/Nexis account to look up Kirshner’s address on the same night as that incident. We also found blood at Kirshner’s home that matches Abrams Freeman’s rare blood type. We have a witness who overheard the five of you planning to kill Kirshner … I could go on if you like.”
Will sat up in his chair and looked Shazhad straight in the eye. “You could go on all night, but you have it all wrong. We did not kill Professor Kirshner and Abrams Freeman is not the Miami Mangler.”
“How can you be so sure that he is not the Mangler?” Shazhad questioned.
“Because, I know who the Mangler is,” Will whispered.
Chapter 75
Shazhad collapsed into the back of his chair. “What?”
If Will’s plan was going to work, he knew he had to tell Shazhad the truth. “What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room. You have to promise me that what I tell you stays between us.”
“I can’t promise you that,” Shazhad whispered, looking at the surveillance camera.
“I think you’ll change your mind when you hear my story. So, turn off the camera and I will tell you everything,” Will whispered back.
Five days earlier …
Abrams sat in the front seat gazing out the window; he turned around to look at Amanda, Will and Sean. They were all staring out the window, too. None of them were comfortable with their decision, but knew it was necessary. Abrams finally could not take the uncomfortable silence anymore, and hit the power button on the radio.
He went through the stations looking for something good to listen to when he came across a news station. “This breaking story… reports have been leaked from the Miami/Dade police that the Miami Mangler may have been arrested earlier this evening. Early reports are telling us that a man walked into a police station in south Miami and confessed to being the Mangler. The Mangler has terrorized Miami now for eighteen months. Up to this point, it appeared that the police had very little evidence to go on. This is a major turn in the case. Police are currently trying to verifying the validity of the man’s claim. Obviously, all in the city of Miami pray that the Mangler’s reign of terror is over. News 10 will keep you updated as we get more news.”
“God dammit!” Abrams shouted.
“What the hell are we going to do now?” Jack yelled.
“Nothing, the plan is shot to hell now. Let’s just go back home,” Will responded.
“This has to be divine intervention or something. What are the chances of this happening on the very night we were planning on …” Sean said.
“I highly doubt it was divine, just more bad luck. Let’s just go home,” Jack interrupted.
Jack got off at the next exit and hopped back onto I-95 heading back to the dorms. Abrams was enraged. The perfect plan was ruined, and now they all might be thrown out of school. All of their short legal careers were over. “What the fuck are we going to do now?” Abrams shouted.
Sean was relieved that they could not go through with their plan. He jumped out of Jack’s Escalade and said good night to everyone; he had been through enough. Jack, Will, Amanda and Abrams sat in the Escalade when Jack’s phone rang – it was his cousin that worked in the police station, calling about borrowing some DVDs from Jack. Jack could not help but ask his cousin about the newly captured Mangler.
“This can’t go beyond us, but we don’t think it’s him. At first he seemed to have some knowledge of the murders, but when the FBI questioned him about the fine details, he was not able to confirm. So, most of us around here think we got the wrong guy. Right now, they’re just trying to figure out how to save face,” Jack’s cousin reported.
“Holy shit, my cousin says they got the wrong guy. He’s not the Mangler.”
Chapter 76
“What does this mean? What do we do now?” Abrams asked.
“We go ahead with the plan – just like we were about to do. Exactly the way we planned it,” Will responded.
“What about Sean?” Amanda asked.
“Forget Sean, it’s better if he’s not involved. Didn’t you see how relieved he was that we couldn’t go through with it?” Abrams said.
They all agreed. Jack started the Escalade and they pulled away toward the highway. A fine mist of rain began to fall, but Jack waited until there was a large accumulation of water before he put the wipers on.
Although it took them nearly twenty minutes to arrive, it seemed like hours. Jack pulled the Escalade into an abandoned field behind some large trees and bushes, and Abrams made sure t
he Escalade was not visible from the road. Will and Jack carried two large duffle bags and sprinted across the field to the opening in the gate they entered last time.
Abrams kept checking behind them, making sure no one was watching. They were at Kirshner’s house in a matter of seconds. Crouched in a circle, they all took a deep breath and looked at each other one last time. They were no longer law students, children of their parents, brothers and sisters, friends – from this point on they would be something very different. They were killers.
Amanda stood up and walked to Kirshner’s front door and rang the bell. Will, Jack and Abrams hid on the side of the house. Amanda waited a few seconds, then rang the doorbell again, but he did not answer. She could hear Kirshner moving around inside, and then heard the door unlock. The door flew open to reveal a rather disheveled Professor Kirshner.
“What do you want?” he shouted.
“Professor, it’s me Amanda Martin,” she mumbled, realizing he had no idea who she was.
“Who?”
“I’m in your Criminal Law class.”
“Oh yes, Ms. Martin. You’re one of the cheaters, aren’t you?”
“That’s why I am here, I want to explain that we …”
“Did you come alone?”
“Yes, I’m here alone.”
“Come in, you’re letting bugs in, for Christ’s sake,” Kirshner mumbled.
Amanda grasped her purse strap tightly as she entered the house. Kirshner looked both ways into the street before he closed his front door and locked it.
Chapter 77
Kirshner’s house was very dark inside with only a small light on in the living room, along with the kitchen lights. Amanda turned to face Kirshner, who was slowly walking behind her. She grasped her purse extremely tight and took a deep breath. She yanked out a Taser gun and plunged it into Kirshner’s chest – nothing happened.
Kirshner yanked her wrists and twisted the Taser gun out of her hand. Amanda turned away, trying to run toward the front door. “If you’re going to Taser somebody, missy, at least learn how to use the damn thing first,” he yelled as he pressed the Taser gun into her back. Amanda’s body vibrated as she fell to the floor in horrible pain. “Now, that’s how you get it done, Ms. Martin. You’ve got to hit the right button.”
Kirshner grabbed Amanda’s left arm and dragged her across the cold tiled floor. Her eyes fluttered into the back of her head as she tried to get oriented. “You think you can come into my home and do this to me – you and your three friends hiding outside,” he screamed.
Amanda’s fingers lightly touched the door frame as he pulled her into a room. She wanted to scream, yell, kick – anything. Kirshner grabbed the Taser and shocked Amanda again. This time her eyes did not open – she was out.
Chapter 78
Will, Abrams, and Jack hid on the side of the house crouched in some tall bushes. Will frantically kept checking his watch. “She’s taking too long.”
“Give her a chance, she has to find the right moment,” Jack responded.
Abrams finally agreed with Will, and he crawled along the front of the house and peeked through the window – Amanda and Kirshner were nowhere in sight. “I don’t see them,” he mumbled.
“We have to go in now, she may be in trouble,” Will argued.
Abrams had been a pro at picking locks ever since he was a kid; growing up, his older brother was always involved in some kind of trouble, whether it was breaking into someone’s house or stealing cars. Will paced back and forth as Abrams attempted to pick Kirshner’s lock.
“Damn,” Abrams mumbled.
“What? What’s wrong? Can you do it?” Will asked anxiously.
“Yeah, but it’s just a tough lock.”
Finally, Abrams could feel the pin slip in the lock. Will slowly opened the door enough to look inside, but there was still no sign of Kirshner or Amanda. They entered Kirshner’s house carrying the duffle bags. The few lights that lit the dark home turned off – it was completely dark.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jack whispered.
Will moved closer to where he thought Jack was standing.
“Where are you?” Jack asked.
“I’m right here, Mr. Biel,” Kirshner whispered into Jack’s ear.
Will saw a flash of light around the outline of Jack, “He’s got the Taser,” Will yelled as he fled across the room. “Jack, are you okay?” Will screamed.
A second flash of light sparked from the ground where Jack lay on the floor. Will quickly moved along the furniture to get away, trying to remember where the duffle bag was. He finally felt it on the ground, unzipped the bag, and pulled out an ax. The bag fell onto a table, knocking over a vase that crashed to the ground.
Kirshner left Jack and moved toward the sound of the broken vase. Will moved along the wall, feeling with one hand, as he gripped the ax tightly in the other. He could hear someone moving toward him. He grasped the ax tightly with both of his hands, as he could see, helped by the street lights, an outline of a figure moving toward him. His heart pounded, practically out of his chest, as he lifted the ax into the air.
Chapter 79
Amanda awoke in a completely darkened room; her wrist was killing her where Kirshner twisted it, and she felt exhausted. Her body felt like it used to when she had an all-day soccer tournament. She moved her head around and sat up, trying to pick up her leg, but it stuck to something on the floor. She rubbed her hand along the ground to find some kind of plastic covering the floor.
Amanda crawled along the ground until she found a wall; she stood up, leaning against it, and made her way down the wall until she found a light switch. She flicked the switch on, and the room lit up extremely bright. Amanda squinted her eyes, trying to shade them from the strong halogen lights. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus them.
“I’m at the hospital,” she mumbled to herself, confused.
The room looked exactly like a hospital surgery room; there was a long metal hospital bed with restraints on either end. There were trays of surgical instruments laid next to the bed, and a large surgical light was attached to the floor hanging over the bed.
“What in the world?” Amanda cried.
She stumbled around the room trying to figure out where she was. She looked down at the floor and saw the thick plastic that covered it. She saw a door on the other side of the room; it was the only door in the entire room. She stumbled toward it and passed over a large drain in the floor. Amanda looked up and saw several cameras hanging in the ceiling.
She grabbed the knob on the door slightly, peeking through the crack. She realized no one was there and opened the door all the way. “Oh my God!” she yelled in terror.
Chapter 80
Will’s ax crashed down, plummeting hard. He was not sure what he hit – it could have been Kirshner’s skull or a table. Will pulled the ax, but he could not twist it out.
Jack fumbled with the flashlight, as it rolled away from him. For a moment, Will was able to see the ax was buried into a solid wood table. He yanked the ax one last time but was unable to pry it from the table. Kirshner slammed Will into the wall, knocking him to the floor. Will’s nose filled up with blood and quickly rolled down onto his lips. Kirshner pounded his foot into Will’s stomach, over and over.
Jack pulled himself up, leaning heavily on a couch, and picked up a lamp and ripped it out of the wall. He flung the lamp, hitting Kirshner in the face. Kirshner felt his eye swell as he did his best to focus; Will quickly crawled out of the way wiping the blood from his nose. Kirshner moved toward Will again, as Jack pulled a small, silver gun from his back pocket.
“Don’t move, Kirshner! Don’t you fucking move a muscle,” Jack shouted, pointing the gun at Kirshner, who stopped moving, but did not look up at Jack.
“Where’s Abrams?” Jack asked.
The lights suddenly came on in the house. “I’m right here. I was looking for the circuit breaker box,” Abrams said, coming from the kitchen. Abrams grabbed Kirs
hner’s arm and twisted it behind his back, slamming him into the wall.
“Get on your knees now,” Abrams yelled.
Kirshner immediately complied, dropping to his knees. Jack stumbled over to Abrams and handed him the gun; he knew he was still out of it from the Taser, and was in no shape to watch Kirshner.
Will panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. Then he realized Amanda was still nowhere in sight. “Amanda!” he mumbled. “Where’s Amanda?”
“What did you do with her?” Abrams yelled, now holding the gun to Kirshner’s head.
“Ms. Martin? Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She’s in a nice, safe place.”
“Where the fuck is she?” Abrams screamed.
Kirshner did not respond. Will stood up and walked over to Kirshner with his fists clenched.
“You have no idea who you are dealing with, boy,” Kirshner screamed.
Will pounded his fist into the side of Kirshner’s face. Kirshner’s head turned away, but he slowly turned to face Will again with a big grin on his face – almost unaffected by Will’s punch.
Abrams noticed something wedged in the back pocket of Kirshner’s pants. “Wait,” Abrams yelled as Will went to strike him again. Abrams pulled out a small plastic box with a red button on it – similar to a garage door remote. “What’s this do?” Will shouted.
Kirshner was silent. Abrams pressed the red button, but nothing seemed to happen. “You have five seconds to tell us where Amanda is or I am going to pull the trigger,” Abrams shouted.
“Say goodbye Kirshner …”
Chapter 81
“Abrams, don’t,” Amanda yelled, appearing from the hallway.
Will ran over to her, making sure she was alright. He could tell she was shaken up, but she did not appear to be injured. Jack also walked over to Amanda to make sure she was not hurt.
