‘Do you know what the time is?’ says Tyler.
‘It’s nine o’clock,’ says Peter.
‘Okay,’ says Tyler. ‘Wait while Angelique and I go to take a shower and get dressed. After this, we will all go to a little cafe to have breakfast, and then we will go to Fritzeg Street to check how the Duke of York Hotel is going because Robert is still there.’
‘Okay, okay, okay, that’s fine,’ says Peter. ‘I’ll join you and Angelique for breakfast.’
‘Good,’ says Tyler, and he walks to his bathroom. Angelique walks to the coffee table and picks up a CD, walks to Peter, gives the CD to him and says to him, ‘Here, Peter, take this borrowed CD back to its owner who lives in one of the apartments, his address is written on the back.’
‘Did you have a night out with Tyler last night?’ says Peter.
‘Yes,’ says Angelique.
‘Where?’ says Peter.
‘At Tyler’s flat,’ says Angelique.
‘What did you do with him?’ says Peter.
‘I’m not telling you,’ says Angelique.
‘Why?’ says Peter.
‘Because it’s private, Peter,’ says Angelique. ‘It’s a secret.’
‘Hang on, were you and Tyler wild or not wild last night?’ says Peter.
‘Just a bit of wild, but it’s also private and it’s a secret too,’ says Angelique. ‘Anyway, I’m now going for a moment with Tyler.’
She walks to Tyler’s bathroom as she waits for Tyler to finish having a shower. Peter leaves and walks to one of the rooms in the hallway of the apartment and knocks on a door of one of the rooms, but the problem is, the man who’s been living in this room is not here in that room. He’s at work, working for a newsagency, so Peter puts the CD on the floor of the hallway, slips it down and pushes it under the door and walks back to Tyler’s apartment.
Peter now waits for Tyler and Angelique to join him before they all go to breakfast.
At the Duke of York Hotel, Robert is lying down on the floor, but suddenly he opens his eyes, wakes up, and stands up. He feels strange after being so drunk last night and is becoming dizzy, so he puts his hand on his head saying to himself, ‘Holy crap! I feel strange.’ He stops getting dizzy, removes his hand from his head and then says to himself, ‘I’m hungry, I need breakfast because I’m starving and I don’t want to be starving to death. I’ve got to survive, and I’m totally starved.’ He walks towards the bar, jumps from the bar stool and lands on the tiled floor. He sees a snack basket which has chips, nuts and beef jerky in it, and he shouts to himself, ‘Food!’ He walks to a snack bar and takes everything back to the bar. He walks to a sink, takes one of the empty beer glasses out of a tray and holds it in his hand, takes it to the beer tap and pours a beer. He put his glass of beer next to the bags of potato chips, nuts and beef jerky on the bar. He sits down on the stool, opens one of the bags of potato chips and starts eating breakfast because he hasn’t had anything to eat since he escaped from police custody.
Fifteen minutes later at Fritzeg Street, a police car arrives and stops again, followed by a Special Forces team truck. They are both parked on the left side of Fritzeg Street, while other police cars and motorcycle cops also arrive. Inspector Mack Young, Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter and Constable Troy Williamson open their doors, stepping out of the police car and then shutting their doors.
Mack says to Nick and Troy, ‘All right, men, it’s time to capture Robert Taylor again. So have we got the Special Forces team?’
‘Check,’ says Troy.
‘Have we got a speaker for a megaphone?’ says Mack.
‘Check,’ says Troy.
‘Have we got a police sniper?’ says Mack.
‘Check,’ says Troy.
‘Where’s the sniper?’ says Nick.
‘He’s in the Special Forces team truck, Sergeant,’ says Troy.
‘Oh, okay, I see,’ says Nick.
‘Well, if you excuse me for a moment,’ says Mack, ‘I’m going to talk to the leader of the Special Forces team about Robert Taylor, so I’ll be back shortly before Mr Pluck arrives.’ He walks to the Special Forces team’s truck, and says to the leader of the Special Forces team, ‘All right, you may hop out; I need to have a word with you.’
The leader of the Special Forces team opens the door, stepping out of the Special Forces team’s truck, shuts the door, walks to Mack and says to him, ‘Yes, Inspector?’
‘If Robert Taylor sees us and then turns crazy, what’s our plan?’ says Mack.
‘Well, we will bring a police sniper in and put him on the top of a nearby building to shoot Robert if he runs out first, and also, I will call my boys to raid the Duke of York Hotel and recapture him if he doesn’t run out of the building,’ says the leader of the Special Forces team.
‘Is that your plan?’ says Mack.
‘Yes,’ says the leader of the Special Forces team.
‘What’s a police sniper look like?’ says Mack.
‘He’s looks like a bit of an action hero, Inspector,’ says the leader of the Special Forces team. ‘But I don’t know what his personality and behaviour are like.’
‘Where is he?’ says Mack.
‘He’s in this truck, and he will be sitting next to me,’ says the leader of the Special Forces team. Mack sees a police sniper sitting on the inside of the Special Forces team truck and the sniper sitting and waiting, and Mack says, ‘I see, I think he’s waiting to kill.’
‘Yes, is there anything we can do for you, Inspector?’ says the leader of the Special Forces team and Mack. ‘We will wait and see if Robert is going to continue to escape from us. We’re not going to give up, so just wait until Robert goes nuts before you call your boys in to stop him.’
‘Yes, Inspector,’ says the leader of the Special Forces team. The same leader walks back to the truck, opens the door, hops back into the truck and shuts the door, while Mack walks back to Nick and Troy.
Nick says to Mack, ‘Any luck, Inspector?’
‘I told the Special Forces team to wait until Robert turns crazy, especially if he sees us, but don’t worry, there is plenty of time, so we will wait and see,’ says Mack.
‘Inspector, Mr Pluck has arrived,’ says Troy.
‘All right, bring it on,’ says Mack.
Mr Pluck arrives and walks to Mack, Nick and Troy.
Mack says to Mr Pluck, ‘Good morning, Mr Pluck.’
‘Oh, good morning, Inspector,’ says Mr Pluck.
‘How are you today?’ says Mack.
‘I’m fine, Inspector, what about you?’ says Mr Pluck.
‘Just okay,’ says Mack.
‘What’s the news about Robert Taylor? Is he still here at the Duke of York Hotel?’ says Mr Pluck.
‘Yes,’ says Mack.
‘What about the plans?’ says Mr Pluck. ‘We have over twenty staff members at the Duke of York Hotel and they do good jobs working hard in the rooms and even the bar.’
‘I have an idea for you, Mr Pluck,’ says Mack. ‘I’ll call one of your staff members, Tyler Brown, and get him to check how Robert Taylor is feeling, and it might help Robert and also it might help us capture Robert again.’
‘All right, that’s a good idea. I have the keys of the Duke of York Hotel,’ says Mr Pluck.
‘Where are the keys?’ says Mack.
‘In my pocket,’ says Mr Pluck.
‘What’s the best door for Tyler to use if Tyler is going into the hotel?’ says Mack.
‘I think the back door is the best one,’ says Mr Pluck. ‘The front door is shut.’
‘Oh, why don’t you go to the cafe and wait for Tyler to come with Angelique and Peter?’ says Mack.
‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Mr Pluck. ‘See you shortly, goodbye.’ He leaves and walks to the cafe.
Mack says to Mr Pluck, ‘Bye.’ He turns around, looking at The Duke of York Hotel. Then Nick and Troy join him as they all waiting for Robert’s next move.
At the Duke of York Hotel, Robert is sitting
on the floor and thinking about his suicide plan, whether it will be shooting himself, or hanging himself to death. There are lots of empty bags of chips, nuts and beef jerky on the floor, and this floor is a mess. It’s got lots of empty alcoholic bottles and now, lots of empty bags of snack foods, and Robert burps and says to himself, ‘Aaaahhhh, pardon me.’ He continues thinking about his suicide plan and also continues to feel lonely and depressed.
CHAPTER 42
A
t the left side of Fritzeg Street, Tyler, Angelique and Peter are walking to where the crowd are watching the siege at the Duke of York Hotel. Tyler sees the crowd and says, ‘I can’t believe the crowd are watching the Duke of York Hotel.’
‘Yeah, it could be just like a bank robbery siege,’ says Peter. ‘Where’s the media circus?’
‘There in between the crowd and the police, Peter. I wonder who the media or the paparazzi are watching; me or us.’
‘Tyler, we’re going to be overnight celebrities, don’t you think?’ Angelique says.
‘For what?’ asks Tyler.
‘For helping Mr Pluck, my dancing colleagues and the other staff members to get out of the hotel before Robert arrived yesterday, remember?’ says Angelique in a raised voice.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ says Tyler who also raises his voice. At the same time the crowd turns around and sees Tyler, Angelique and Peter. Tyler says to the crowd, ‘What are you all looking at?’
‘Um, sorry everybody,’ says Angelique and the crowd turn back around and continue watching the siege.
‘Come on, everybody, let’s go and see the police to see how things are going at the Duke of York Hotel,’ suggests Tyler.
Still on the left side of Fritzeg Street, Tyler, Angelique and Peter are walking when they see three men: Inspector Mack Young, Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter and Constable Troy Williamson. They walk towards the three policemen and when Mack sees them he says, ‘Oh, hello, Tyler.’
‘Hi, Inspector,’ says Tyler.
Mack turns back and says to both Nick and Troy, ‘Excuse me for a moment.’ He walks over to Tyler, Angelique and Peter.
‘Now, Tyler, can I have a word with you?’
‘Yes, what is it?’
‘Yesterday when I interviewed your boss of the Duke of York Hotel, Mr Pluck, he told me about how you, Angelique and Peter called him and the rest of the people to get out of the building, and walk to your apartment block before Robert arrived. This was followed by taking other people home safely, one-by-one after arriving at your apartment. Was that your idea?’ asks Mack.
‘Yes,’ says Tyler.
‘Well Tyler you’re going to be a hero now.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes,’ says Mack.
‘Oh my God… Strewth!’ Thank you, I feel lucky.’
‘You’re dreaming, Tyler,’ says Peter.
‘No, Peter, it’s true,’ says Tyler.
‘Are you sure?’ asks Peter.
‘Yes, I’m a hero and no one is telling me that I’m dreaming because I’m learning to be a private investigator.’
‘Now you …’ says Mack as he turns to Angelique.
‘Who me?’ asks Angelique
‘Yes you. Are you Angelique?’
‘Yes, my real name is Angelique Robinson and when I was working as a dancer at the Duke of York Hotel, I was using my first name as a stage name so I protected my real name.’
‘Now Angelique, I read your story about Robert when I interviewed Tyler and Peter at the police station two days ago. What did you do when Robert was the mysterious person and wore the mysterious coat during hiding somewhere in St Kilda?’
‘He threatened me.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he was going to try and rape me.’
‘Oh no! You poor innocent little lamb!’ says Mack in a shocked voice.
‘Yes, I stayed away from him and I survived.’
‘Angelique, we have a sexual crimes squad and we get them to investigate sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Have you called us about Robert before?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you ask us about him?’
‘No, I didn’t, Inspector. I was disappointed when Robert disappeared from the scene where I stopped him from taking me hostage; it was a shame for you guys investigating this scene.’
‘Yes, Robert was disguised as a mysterious person and he wore the mysterious coat, so he was hiding somewhere in St Kilda and going back to do crime.’
‘I don’t care, Inspector. I don’t believe it.’ Suddenly, Mr Pluck arrives and walks to Mack, Tyler, Angelique and Peter.
‘Is Tyler here?’
‘Yes, Mr Pluck,’ says Mack. ‘He’s right here with Angelique and Peter.’
‘Good,’ says Mr Pluck.
‘Now, Tyler,’ says Mack.
‘Yes, Inspector?’
‘I want you to go inside the Duke of York Hotel and check how Robert feels. He wants us to just ignore him because he just wants to be alone.’ Mack then takes a walkie-talkie out of his suit pocket, gives it to Tyler and says to him, ‘Here, take this walkie-talkie in case of emergency.’
Then, Mr Pluck takes the keys out of his coat pocket and gives them to Tyler.
‘Here, take these keys. There’s a back door outside of the Duke of York Hotel.’
‘Am I going to be okay, just like last time?’ asks Tyler.
‘Yes,’ says Mack.
‘Okay, I’ll be back,’ says Tyler as he puts the walkie-talkie in the left pocket of his pants, turns around, looks at Angelique, puts his left hand on his lips and blows kisses to her. He walks to the back area of the Duke of York Hotel as Angelique says to him, ‘Be careful, Tyler.’
‘Don’t get taken hostage by Robert again!’ yells Peter as Tyler walks to the back area of the Duke of York Hotel.
At the back area of the Duke of York Hotel, Tyler walks to the door, puts one of the keys in the lock of the door, unlocks it and says to himself, ‘Well, this is it.’
He opens the door, enters and shuts the door. He’s going to check how Robert feels and also, maybe save him from taking his life.
Inside the Duke of York Hotel at the bar, Robert is walking around in the bar area when he hears footsteps which turn out to be Tyler so he ignores them.
‘Robert, are you there?’ Robert didn’t answer so Tyler says to him again, ‘Robert?’
Robert is shocked and says to himself, ‘Oh no!’
When Tyler enters the bar, Robert turns around and sees him. He takes Constable Troy Williamson’s gun out of one of his pockets, holds the gun in his hand, points it at Tyler, frowns and says to Tyler, ‘Hold it there!’
‘Robert, it’s me again, Tyler Brown.’
‘What do you want from me?’ Robert shouts.
‘I just want to talk to you. I’m sorry for calling you a big drongo when I talked to you about you being the mysterious person with the mysterious coat. That made me crazy and you nearly took me hostage at your secret hideout but now, I’m going to help you.’
‘I don’t need help!’ Robert shouts.
‘Robert, please! Take it easy!’
‘Just go away and leave me alone!’ shouts Robert.
‘Look, Robert, I’ll take you to Dr Airhardt’s office so you can talk to him about your problems during your life and then, I’ll take you to the police station before the cops come to arrest you.’
‘I don’t want to go to jail.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m going to kill myself.’
‘No, Robert, don’t do it! If you’re going to kill yourself, what’s going to happen to your family?’
Robert doesn’t answer and Tyler says to him, ‘Robert, many families miss their loved ones who suicide. Their family will be sad and they will cry for the next fifty years. They will still be sad and they’re not going take it anymore and they can’t fight this feeling.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. If you’re going to kill yourself, your family
will be sad.’
‘Why?’
‘Because they will miss you.’
‘I was crazy, but now I have depression.’
‘What do you mean?’ asks Tyler.
‘I was waiting for you and the people at the Duke of York Hotel when I entered the hotel while I was on the run from the police and the law. After the announcement at the police station I was going to take you and the people hostage at this hotel, but you the people were gone and I was disappointed yesterday. It’s no use!’
‘I’m sorry, Robert, it’s my fault. But you’re going to be just like a gunman taking the children hostage at Hanging Rock, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, I was going to be just like a gunman!’
‘Now, gimme the gun.’
‘No!’
‘Robert, don’t get angry and mad at me and don’t be mean to me!’
‘I don’t want to see you again!’
‘Listen, Robert! I am trying to help you and I’m going to stop you from committing suicide and killing yourself, so please, don’t do it!’
‘You stay away from me or I’ll blow your head off right now or else! Now, get out!’
Tyler swallows, pauses and says, ‘All right, I’ll go. I don’t care if you crack it with me. Go ahead, just do yourself a favour and think about your life and your future. Goodbye.’
Tyler backs off as he walks backwards and leaves. But at the hallway, Tyler walks to the door of the secret room, opens the door and enters. When he enters the secret room he sees lots of money from Robert’s four shooting victims and a note from him as his request to the dancers of the Duke of York Hotel. He takes the note which was written by Robert and reads it. After Tyler reads it, he says to himself, ‘That’s stalking! I don’t believe Robert is going to be a sick man and a dirty old man.’ He stops reading the note, puts the note in his pocket and leaves.
On the left side of Fritzeg Street, Angelique and Peter are standing in front of the crowd as people watch the siege at the Duke of York Hotel. They are protected by the barriers in front of the hotel and controlled by a group of uniformed policemen.
The Mysterious Coat Page 24
