He planted his foot on the accelerator, speeding back up to fifty. Unless they caught sight of him, he would have appeared to be just any other Joe driving past. He laughed to himself at his own pun.
Then he saw it. A brake light lit up. Someone was in that car. Did they suspect him? He shouldn't have slowed down so much to watch, but they had surprised him. Too sloppy; that's what it was.
His mind raced, thinking. Joseph had planned for this, but he had allowed himself to grow complacent and not drilled himself enough for it. He calmed himself and allowed himself to speed up. The pursuing car was still some distance off, so it was worth a try. Allowing his foot to press the accelerator more, but no more than the speed limit, he approached the corner and turned it. His eyes scanned to the sides, looking for driveways, until he found an empty one.
Wouldn't you know it? There were none! At least, there weren't any he could try.
He felt his breath catch in his chest, just a little tight, but it was only adrenalin thrilling him. His eyes flicked to the mirror, watching the corner, and he could see the glow of the following car. It looked like it was coming closer. Joseph closed his eyes a moment, opening them again, as he thought. The engine's sound provided the only replying voice and he swore.
The best thing to do, he decided, was to continue driving. They hadn't flashed their lights at him yet, nor had they hit the siren; but he still felt the anticipation clawing at his belly. He drove the car towards the motorway, which still had plenty of moving traffic on it at 1am. Reaching the on-ramp, he pressed the accelerator, speeding up to keep the traffic flow. All the time, he kept an eye on the police car through the rear view mirror. It was still following. What now?
Keep going, he told himself, imagining it was The Other Guy telling him. His heart almost stopped when he saw the car speed up, changing to the lane next to him. Joseph tried to control his breathing, but his heart kept pounding like a loud drum as the other car came up level on his side. He allowed a casual glance to the side, expecting to catch a glimpse of a police officer flagging him down. A teenaged girl, about nineteen years old, sat in the front passenger's seat. He thought he recognised her, but he couldn't be sure; she could have been one of Rachael's neighbours. He sighed with relief, feeling his stomach relax. The girl had probably been giving a blow job to the driver and felt spooked when they saw his headlights approaching.
Joseph thought to himself, chewing the end of his thumb, and debated if he should take the next exit to double back to Rachael's place. This time he was lucky. What if it had been the police? A thought flashed through his mind. What if the neighbour's teenager was in a second car? He hadn't noticed if the driver with her had caramel skin, and he was certain the driver he passed back there had it. That could mean he was right; perhaps they were police officers staking out his sister-in-law's place. They just hadn't noticed or recognised him because the light hadn't shone on him. That changed things. He didn't want Rachael and her kids involved. While Shane was in a coma, it was his job to look after them. He couldn't do that in jail, could he?
No, he decided. Something didn't feel right, and he couldn't afford to take undue risks yet. There was too much at stake, and with what he had in the car's boot, he couldn't afford to stuff everything up now; not when he was so close. He had only just finished building them now. That settled it then, didn't it?
He had to move to another place.
Chapter 22
Joseph took a breath as he looked at his handiwork, a couple of black boxes attached to a car battery. He had hardly dared to breathe earlier while setting it up. If he made one little slip, people would be scraping his guts away from the bottom of the maintenance walkway and wherever else it landed. He flicked a switch he had attached to the battery. Two of the boxes lit up, emitting a soft green glow, and he smiled as he watched them. Feeling sure that they were working, and safe to leave for now, he let his breath out.
He covered the lights to make sure they weren't obvious to passers-by, and once he was sure, he climbed down from the walkway. After dropping the final two feet to the soft ground below, he dusted himself off and took a final look upwards. The lights were invisible from below, even in the semi-darkness. A person would have to be up there looking for them to notice, and even then they would have to trip over it first.
Joseph trudged away from the bridge's supports and headed towards a path leading into the city's botanical gardens. A cloud of steam billowed from Joseph's mouth as he trudged across the grass, and his shoulders shivered. He wiggled his torso about in his jacket to warm up.
Earlier, he had placed one of these devices at the Statton Entertainment Complex. Breaking into the venue's building had been an easy job. The security guards may have looked tough, but their shiny tin badges were just for show. Their uniforms failed to disguise their bulbous stomachs, which were too large from eating too much rich food and too little exercise, and hung over their groaning belts. "LA Law" is what he used to mutter every time he saw one of them walking by with their keys jangling with each step. Even while carrying the heavy load in his hands, taking two trips, he had dodged them as though they never existed. They didn't even stir from their Playboy magazines when he stifled a sneeze. Bloody amateurs, he thought to himself. Just a lot of bulk for show with little brains between their ears.
There were just a few more of these to plant around the town.
He opened the door on the 1979 Suzuki Carry van; this was not a stolen vehicle, but one he bought in a private sale with a fake ID for registration. Although it was old, it's engine worked well, and its owner, a retired mechanic, had serviced it well. Its engine may have been noisy but it still sounded healthy when he turned its ignition and started driving.
Joseph braked at the junction to wait for a passing semi-trailer and looked into the back of the van. A thin smile appeared on his tired face, as he looked at the remaining units, before disappearing a moment later. He turned back towards the road ahead and felt a trickle of satisfaction come across him.
"I love it when a plan comes together," he muttered, driving to his next target.
Chapter 23
It was Thursday 29th June. Things were somewhat quieter and more relaxed for Brianna as she watched the sunlight spreading into the hospital room as the sun rose in the sky. The nursing staff had moved her into a private room as soon as the doctor felt certain she was stable. It was two days since the shooting, and she was surprised to find the road deaths had dropped a significant amount in that time. Apart from the sniper killing by his SR-98 at random positions, and a few genuine accidents that didn't appear mobile phone-related, there were no other incidents. She knew this because Inspector Myles had come in to visit the previous night.
"I don't know if our friend Craig Ramsey had something to do with it," he told her with his gravelly voice, "but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth."
Brianna recognised the Inspector's attempts to bait her. Maybe Myles wanted her to admit her mistaken scepticism of Craig's abilities, but Brianna only smiled back at him with a knowing look.
He noticed her expression, having made a similar one some months earlier when he had first met Craig and seen his psychic abilities at work. "Of course, if it is, I would like to know what he did and how he did it... My only problem would be in knowing how to fill out the report for it." He grinned for a moment, watching Brianna's face for another reaction, before answering his question for her. "That's why I have you to do the paperwork, isn't it?"
Brianna avoided the question by feigning greater interest in her meal: a medium rare steak with mushrooms, gravy and vegetables. She had needed the break, she knew that, but had been too absorbed in work to take annual leave. Now that the gunshot wounds had forced her to take a break, she didn't like the thought of going back to work!
Inspector Myles asked Brianna again if she knew Craig's involvement had stopped most of the killings.
She shrugged, indicated she was still eating the food in her closed mouth, and m
ade him wait before answering his question.
Craig had already told Brianna his side of the story on the Wednesday morning; he had made her wait a whole day first as he wanted her to rest. Craig Ramsey hadn't known straight away that the spirit was in fact a living man's astral body. Despite having experience in astral travelling and receiving training in astral combat from Jing Yong. After all, an astral body is another form of a spirit - often referred to as a ghost. Yes, it seemed strange that a dead man would come back from the grave to exact revenge, killing people. But, to Craig, it wasn't unheard of. He knew of another man who had died years earlier and come back to wreak vengeance as an unholy vigilante targeting paedophiles. (Brianna had found that a strange tale to swallow as well despite the stories she heard from both criminals and authorities. of paedophile rings breaking under unusual circumstances. The criminals were always blaming a ghost that burned tattoos into their skin. She thought it was an urban legend among the police and the criminals.)
Craig also observed the strange road deaths started just a month ago in May 2016. That matched when the sniper's brother, Shane, had the accident that threw him into a coma. A search of the newspapers in the library confirmed it too. But, that's not what inspired Craig to visit the hospital. It was a hunch, and a stab in the dark, to possibly track down the sniper. Craig's initial hope was to find something that could lead him to the sniper.
"And has he found anything?" Myles asked, engrossed in the progress and awestruck by Craig's abilities. He didn't care how they found the killers, only that there would be enough evidence to back it up in court. Without it, the judge would laugh the psychic evidence out of court and the negative publicity would not help.
Brianna didn't know at the time. Craig had spent most of Tuesday afternoon in the hospital with Brianna before he went home. He had only been in once on Wednesday morning, saying he was visiting someone else in the hospital too. She knew he meant Shane Denton's room. There must have been other things there he could "feel up" for clues.
Inspector Myles nodded at that. "I have officers outside Shane Denton's room now," he confirmed. "No one outside of hospital staff, his wife and kids, and Mr Ramsey can go in there. And we have an APB out for Joseph Denton too. He'll turn up sometime soon."
A knock at the door interrupted Brianna's thoughts and she looked up towards the sound. Craig entered and Brianna noted his eyelids looked almost as heavy as the dark bags under his eyes. Despite that, Craig still appeared happy and energetic; or he projected that appearance anyway. What had he been up to? "Hey there," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"
Brianna noticed Craig's suit. It looked well-pressed and fit him well, making him look even taller than his six foot two. She wondered for a brief moment how he managed to look after himself so that he always looked so damned good. Even despite today's lack of energy, he otherwise looked smart. She smiled back, aware that he had seen her perving on him. "I'm feeling great today," she said, moving her left arm. "I can't believe how mobile my shoulder is."
Indeed, she did feel a slight twinge still, but it had otherwise healed completely. There wasn't even a scar. A part of Brianna felt disappointed by that as she was getting used to relaxing for a change. Besides, scars are sometimes great to show off too. But, Brianna knew she needed to be active again.
Craig's head started to tip forward and he quickly corrected it. He looked back at Brianna and smiled, trying to cover his tiredness. "You were lucky the bullet passed through your shoulder," he explained. His eyes twinkled a bit as his smile broadened more. "I bet that surprised your poor doctor. A normal bullet would have injured you for longer."
A distant look crossed Craig's face for a moment and Brianna wondered if he was starting to drop off again. It disappeared soon when he recovered. "Inspector Myles was here yesterday afternoon," he said in a matter of fact tone.
Brianna nodded. "He's impressed that the road accidents have dropped back a lot," she replied.
Emily started to speak and Brianna, who still couldn't see spirits, jumped in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear," Emily said in slight amusement. "I forget you can't see me yet. What I was about to say is the killings were bound to drop once we calmed Shane Denton. Craig has just been looking for clues on Shane's brother, which is why he looks so tired."
Brianna had spilled some cereal on her lap when Emily surprised her, and now she was wiping it off. "What did you find?"
Craig shrugged. "It took me a while to go through the gifts and such in Shane's room," he answered. He spied a banana on Brianna's breakfast tray. "Are you going to eat that?"
Brianna shook her head, and Craig picked up the banana as he continued speaking. "Most of the things in his room gave me some glimpses on his wife and their kids. His wife, Rachael, has been doing what she can. Seems to be coping well, thanks to the help of a few friends. Their oldest son is starting to show he's the man of the house, and Mr and Mrs Denton's little girl Rebecca seems to be speaking to an imaginary friend. At least, that's what Rachael thinks. She might be right, but I think Rebecca might be a gifted child."
Brianna's eye rose in curiosity. She wasn't sure how this related to things, but she knew Craig sometimes rambled. "Gifted?"
Craig grinned. "Yes. I think it's related because the visions were so strong. I'm just not sure how. It could be Shane's astral self she spoke to, or it could be an imaginary friend. Or, it could be both. In parts of my vision, I thought she referred to her Dad."
"And did you pick up anything about Joseph?"
"Ah!" Craig's eyes lit up. He knew he was keeping Brianna in suspense and he loved it. "None of the cards or flowers were from Joseph, but I did find a cricket ball there. It gave me a lot of information, and it still is. It's just that the information has been mostly a history of the cricket ball in their lives."
"A history?"
"Yes. It's hard to explain, but the two brothers have had a game between the two of them. It's like the party game, Pass the Parcel, where they pass it to each other whenever they meet. The difference is that they pass it to each other, but they try to do it so that the receiver doesn't even know they have it. For example, Shane might hide it underneath all the things in Joseph's backpack, and it could be hours, days, or even weeks before Joseph finds it. They have been playing that game back and forth for years now."
Craig paused, looking at Brianna's coffee in its paper cup. He appeared to be about to ask for it as well, having finished the banana, but he changed his mind.
"Is that all you got from it? I thought you could get everything from it."
Craig shook his head. "Not always. Sometimes I get things that don't even seem related, and so far, I have been picking up more of their escapades as children... Except for one thing, I can confirm that Joseph is the sniper."
"Well, that's something, right?" Brianna said. "We can't use your vision to take him to court, assuming we catch him. Have you got anything tangible that could lead us to him?"
Craig's face lit up, a bright expression replacing his tiredness. "I'm glad we got to that," he told her. "I think we may actually have something."
Brianna couldn't help look up at this point. "What?"
Craig shook a finger, beaming with a cheeky grin. His eyes moved towards the final triangle of toast on Brianna's plate as he spoke. "One of the visions I picked up showed me a little cabin in a forest. It seems to be a fresh vision too. I reckon our friend Joseph has visited it a few times in the last month."
Brianna noticed where Craig's eyes looked and picked up the toast, which smelled nice from the layer of butter and strawberry jam. His eyes followed it like a hungry dog's, and Brianna laughed. "Tell me more and you get the toast."
Craig swallowed, still feeling famished, and watched the toast as Brianna moved it side to side, which made her laugh. "I not only saw it in the vision, but I believe I know how to get there too," he told her. "I was thinking about calling old Myles-ey up and letting him know about it. Do you think he'd let me tag along?"
She tossed the toast, which Craig caught easily in his hands, and stepped out of her bed to get her clothes on.
"Not without me, you're not."
Chapter 24
Sally let out a scream, but the handkerchief in her mouth muffled it. Her eyes strained in the darkness, and her body felt cramped. She felt ropes on her wrists and ankles, biting into her flesh. It sounded like she was in a car or truck, which was driving somewhere. Something had woken her, some kind of bump. Could it have been a pothole? The tyres made sounds on bitumen.
What happened?
She remembered being at a pier, the one at Bluecliffe. It was a bright sunny day, but that did little to warm against the biting winter wind. Seagulls in the blue, almost cloudless sky. Then something stung her shoulder, something with blue feathers. It felt like a punch in the arm. Everything went black. Then she was here, in the dark.
What was she doing at the pier? It was out of her way.
Oh, yes, it was the story. Sally knew she should have gone to the police but she didn't want to miss the exclusive. It would have been her next best story since she first brought Orion, the masked mystery man, to the public's attention in 1987.
'It was a simple message on her voice mail. She hadn't even heard the phone ring; she had been in the shower. If she had, Sally could have had a chance to get more information again. The caller's voice sounded distorted, as though to hide the caller's identity, but its words were distinct.
"Sally. I have a story for you." The voice sounded deep, distorted, but not so distorted she couldn't catch its cheerful expression. "I know the Statton sniper, and I know why he kills, and more. Meet me at Collins Pier, Midday. Be on time. Be alone."
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