The Mysterious Coat

by Nicholas Walsh

  ‘I wonder what’s going to happen to Tyler now.’

  ‘I don’t know Angelique. Maybe we better ask the police to check if Tyler is okay from being hurt by Robert again.’

  ‘Good idea,’ says Angelique as she turns around and shouts to one of the uniformed policemen. ‘Excuse me!’

  ‘What do you want, lady?’

  ‘Is my fiancée going to be all right?’

  ‘I don’t know, lady. I’m sorry.’

  Angelique is upset.

  ‘What’s wrong, Angelique?’

  ‘The policeman doesn’t know anything about Tyler.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because he just doesn’t understand about Tyler. What the bloody hell am I going to do if Tyler is killed or injured by Robert?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Angelique. Just be patient.’

  Peter and Angelique continue watching the siege with the other people, but on the other side of the street, Inspector Mack Young, Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter and Constable Troy Williamson are standing and waiting on the road.

  Nick frowns and says to Mack, ‘I believe Robert is not going to leave from the Duke of York Hotel.’

  ‘Bugger!’

  ‘I’m going to get this mongrel now!’

  Mack spins around and says to Troy, ‘Constable, can you get a megaphone for me now please?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Troy. He leaves and walks to a police car to get a megaphone for Mack.

  Nick says to Mack, ‘So, what the bloody hell are we going to do about Robert now?’

  ‘We’ve got to call the ambulance and then, we’ve got to call the doctors and psychiatrists including Dr Van Airhardt to get physical and medical intervention for Robert,’ replies Mack.

  ‘What about food?’ asks Nick.

  ‘All right, we’ll also get food for him. For God’s sake, we don’t want him to die and we’ve got to stop him before it’s too late!’

  ‘Here’s the megaphone, Inspector.’

  Mack takes the megaphone from Troy’s hands, puts the megaphone to his mouth, and shouts, ‘This is the police, we want you to leave this building, I repeat, leave this building!’

  But no one answers because the front doors of the Duke of York Hotel are locked. Inspector Mack Young puts the megaphone to his mouth again and shouts, ‘You’ve got three hours to leave this building or I’ll call the Special Forces team to come and arrest you again!’

  ‘I think Robert is ignoring us, Inspector. Maybe he’s trying to get rid of us.’

  ‘All right,’ says Mack, as he finishes using the megaphone. ‘You and Troy get the rifles from the Special Forces team while I go to the police car and talk to Tyler on the two-way radio to check if he’s okay.’

  ‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Nick, and then he says to Troy, ‘Come on, Constable, let’s get the rifles.’ He and Troy walk to the Special Forces truck to get the rifles while Mack walks to the police car to check how Tyler is going in the Duke of York Hotel by using the two-way radio.

  At the Duke of York Hotel bar, Robert walks around in the bar again, and says to himself, ‘I hate myself and want to die, I can’t fight this feeling and I can’t take it anymore.’ He walks to the window and sees both the police and the crowd, followed by the media. He turned around and says, ‘That’s it! I’m going to kill myself!’

  He walks to the bar to have a last drink of beer and then to the corner to commit suicide by shooting himself to death.

  Who is going to stop him from taking his life?

  CHAPTER 43

  I

  n the secret room of the Duke of York Hotel, Tyler is walking around in circles. This room has a stage with a pole, as well as a bar, tables and chairs, stools and a disco booth. It also has lights, an up close and personal area, and other types of areas in the room, just like a gentlemen’s club. It is a stylish and classy room. Suddenly a voice, which turns out to be Inspector Mack Young, comes over the walkie-talkie which is in the pocket of Tyler’s pants.

  ‘Tyler, are you there?’

  Tyler stops walking around and takes the walkie-talkie out of his pocket. ‘Yes Inspector, I’m just in the private room.’

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes I’m fine.’

  ‘Did you help Robert?’

  ‘He didn’t need help, Inspector.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he just wanted me to leave him alone. I tried to help him, but he just wanted to be alone, and now I just want to be alone as well because he has been dismissive of me.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Yes, I found a note from Robert on the stage with the pole. The note is about Robert’s request to the dancers of the Duke of York Hotel’s secret room. He seems like a sick man.’

  ‘Look, Tyler, you will need to decide whether you will wait there at the private room of the Duke of York Hotel, or just leave. The reason being is that we are using a task force to recapture Robert and pull him out from the Duke of York Hotel. We’re going to bring him to justice again. It’s your choice and your decision. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Tyler as he puts the walkie-talkie back in his pants pocket and walks around again.

  Meanwhile, at the bar of the Duke of York Hotel, Robert finishes drinking his last beer. He walks to a stool, puts his foot on top of the stool, stands up on top of the stool, jumps from the stool and lands on the bar. He turns around and he takes Troy’s pistol gun out of the pocket of his unwashed jeans. He puts the gun on the right side of his head and shouts loudly. ‘I’m the mysterious person who wears the mysterious coat!’

  Robert pulls the trigger of Troy’s gun, and fires at himself. Blood comes out of his head.

  Outside the Duke of York Hotel in Fritzeg Street, the crowd, the police and the media hear the gunshot and are shocked.

  Angelique and Peter are standing in front of the same crowd and they are also shocked.

  Angelique screams loudly, ‘Oh my God!’

  Peter shouts, ‘Oh, Jesus!’

  On the other side of the same street, Inspector Mack Young steps out of the police car and shouts himself, ‘What was that?’

  Outside of a cafe in Fritzeg Street Mr Pluck opens the door and also shouts, ‘Oh my God! What’s happened?!’

  Back inside the Duke of York Hotel Robert falls down from the top of the bar and collapses on the floor tiles. His head is cut open and he is bleeding to death. He dies.

  In the secret room of the Duke of York Hotel, Tyler stops walking around and says to himself, ‘What’s going on here?’ He runs to the door and goes to the bar. He enters the bar room, looks around and shouts ‘Robert?’ No one answers, and Tyler repeatedly shouts Robert’s name. Mack’s voice comes over again on the walkie-talkie in Tyler’s pants pocket, ‘Are you okay, Tyler?’

  Tyler takes the walkie-talkie out of his pocket. ‘Yes, Inspector, I’m all right, but I’m totally shocked now, and I’m looking around the bar of the Duke of York Hotel because I’m looking for Robert and I’m wondering what’s he’s doing.’

  ‘Why don’t you check on him?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector.’ He puts the walkie-talkie back in his pocket and runs behind the bar. That’s when he sees Robert’s dead body laying down on the floor tiles. There is blood pouring from Robert’s head. Tyler walks to Robert’s dead body and checks his pulse. Robert’s pulse has stopped and Tyler is shocked. In an upset voice Tyler says, ‘Oh no! Robert!’ He stops checking Robert’s pulse, runs to the hallway and exits from the bar. In the hallway, he runs to the fire alarm on the wall, smashes the glass of the fire alarm and presses the button of the fire alarm. Tyler runs to the emergency exit door and leaves from the Duke of York Hotel, leaving Robert dead.

  At the left side of Fritzeg Street, Angelique and Peter move away from the crowd as they are in shock about Robert’s suicide. ‘Oh, Peter. I am totally shocked about Robert shooting himself to death, it’s terrible.’

  ‘Me too, Angelique,’ says Peter. ‘Ro
bert was such a crazy psychopath and now he’s dead because he was also a poor and depressed man. I wonder what happened to Tyler now after Robert’s suicide.’

  ‘I think he’s in a safe area of the Duke of York Hotel,’ says Angelique. ‘Maybe he’s in the secret room.’

  Peter spins around to Angelique. ‘Angelique, here comes Tyler now!’ Tyler is running to Angelique and Peter from the Duke of York Hotel. Angelique turns her face towards Tyler. She is shocked. ‘Tyler!’ She runs to Tyler and Tyler runs to her. They hug tightly and squeeze each other hard. ‘Thank God you’re here, Tyler. What happened?’

  ‘Robert’s dead,’ says Tyler.

  ‘Oh, I see.’

  ‘Yes, he shot himself to death. Sadly before that, I tried to help him, but he wanted me to leave him alone,’ says Tyler. ‘I felt sorry for him.’

  ‘I feel sorry for him too, even though I was threatened and stalked by him after I finished work at the Duke of York Hotel,’ says Angelique. ‘I need a security guard for next time.’

  ‘Look, Angelique, we both feel sorry from him, all right? That’s it, no more.’

  Peter walks to Tyler and Angelique. ‘Stone the crows, are you all right?’

  ‘Yes, I’m fine, thanks Peter.’

  ‘What happened?’ asks Peter.

  ‘I entered the back area of the Duke of York Hotel because the front door was locked. When I entered the bar to check how Robert was going, he saw me. He took a gun and pointed it at me even though I was trying to help him. I told him to take it easy and during a chat with him, I told him to give the gun back to me but he didn’t want to do this. He told me to leave him alone or he would shoot me; so I said goodbye to him and walked away.’

  ‘Then what did you do after that?’

  ‘I entered the secret room and walked around having a look.’

  ‘Did you check anything in that room?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘After Robert shot himself to death, what happened next?’

  ‘I left from the secret room and ran back to the bar, but when I arrived back at the bar and walked back behind the bar, I saw Robert’s body lying down on the tiled floor. I checked his pulse and his heart had stopped. After this, I left from the bar, pressed the fire alarm for an emergency and then left the Duke of York Hotel.’

  ‘Gee, mate, that’s a tragedy,’ says Peter.

  ‘Yes, Peter, it is. I feel sorry for Robert now, but it’s no use.’

  Inspector Mack Young and Mr Pluck walk over to Tyler, Angelique and Peter.

  Mack says to Tyler, ‘Are you all right, Tyler?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector. Robert is dead now. I saw his body lying down on the tiled floor, and I saw blood pouring from the open cut in his head. I didn’t see a bullet from the gun in Robert’s head because maybe it’s stuck in his brain.’

  ‘I think Robert’s suicide is a mistake and a failure for you and me and the force,’ says Mack.

  ‘I know,’ says Tyler. He takes his borrowed walkie-talkie from his pants and gives it back to Mack. ‘Here’s the walkie-talkie back, Inspector. The first one is still in my apartment.’

  ‘Oh, thank you, Tyler.’

  ‘No worries, Inspector.’ He then takes the keys out of his other pocket and gives them to Mr Pluck. ‘And here’s the keys for the Duke of York Hotel.’

  ‘Thank you, Tyler.’

  ‘All right, everybody,’ says Mack. ‘Let’s wait and see Robert’s body.’

  Mack, Mr Pluck, Tyler, Angelique and Peter walk to the police cars. They are going to see Robert’s body when it’s removed from the Duke of York Hotel.

  Five minutes later inside the Duke of York Hotel, a group of policemen and a forensic team enter. They see the bar is a mess. There are lots of empty bottles of alcoholic drinks, empty bags of snack foods, a telephone which is unplugged, and a smashed drinking glass on the floor of the bar.

  ‘Looks like we have a bit of vandalism in this place.’

  ‘Yeah, what a mess.’

  ‘I think we’re going to clean this mess up everybody,’ says the first policeman. ‘We are also going to investigate Robert’s suicide, so we will be bringing his body to a stretcher first, and then investigating the scene of his suicide with the help of a forensic team.’

  ‘I’ll bring Robert’s dead body and organise the stretcher.’

  ‘Okay, mate, go for it.’

  ‘All right, everybody, let’s clean up this mess and investigate Robert’s suicide.’ The rest of the policemen start to clean up the mess by removing all of the rubbish and putting it in a bin and putting the telephone back into the barman’s office. Another policeman walks behind the bar to see Robert’s dead body. A photographer of the forensic team with a camera in his hands enters behind the bar and walks to Robert’s dead body.

  ‘Okay, mate, can you just stand back so I can get ready to take a photo please?’

  ‘No worries,’ says the policeman as he steps back. The photographer of the forensic team puts the camera to his face and clicks. He then leaves from behind the bar while the policeman walks to Robert’s dead body. He lifts his body up.

  ‘Excuse me, mate, can you help me please?’

  A member of the forensic team arrives. ‘Are you finished yet?’

  ‘Yes, I’m going to take Robert’s body to a stretcher, because other people, including my boss, want to see his body.’

  ‘No worries,’ says the member of the forensic team who then leaves.

  The policeman, who is still holding Robert’s dead body, walks to the stretcher and puts this body on the stretcher. The other members of the forensic team, including the member who has recently talked to the policeman, walks to the bar, as he, and the rest of the forensic team are going to investigate Robert’s suicide. There is blood and other things on the tiled floor of the bar at the Duke of York Hotel.

  CHAPTER 44

  O

  n the left side of Fritzeg Street, Tyler, Angelique, Peter and Mr Pluck are standing and waiting for Robert’s body to come out but Peter says to Tyler, ‘I’m bored, Tyler.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Peter, just take it easy,’ says Tyler, but Inspector Mack Young and one of the policemen who is pushing the stretcher with Robert’s dead body under the sheet arrives and walks to Tyler, Angelique, Peter and Mr Pluck.

  Mack says to them, ‘We found Robert’s dead body at the bar of the Duke of York Hotel. Have a look at his body.’

  He walks to the stretcher and removes the sheet and it is Robert’s dead body, his head still cut open with blood running out.

  His eyes are open and Angelique screams and Tyler is shocked and says, ‘Ugh, yuk!’

  ‘Ewwwww, gross!’ says a shocked Peter.

  ‘Oh my goodness!’ says Mr Pluck.

  ‘You see, his head was cut open and the blood was pouring out which is just like famous Hollywood actor William Holden, who died after having drinks because he was an alcoholic in 1981,’ says Mack. ‘And his eyes were open when he shot himself.’

  ‘Is this a strange death or the worst death?’ says Tyler.

  ‘I don’t know, Tyler,’ says Mack. ‘We’ll have to wait for a coroner’s inquest of his suicide.’ Mack puts the sheet back over Robert’s dead body on the stretcher and then, one of the policemen push the stretcher and walk to the other policemen to put Robert’s dead body in a body bag and send it to the morgue, next door to the police station.

  Mr Pluck says to Mack, ‘This is the most shocking death I’ve ever seen, Inspector.’

  ‘Yes it is,’ says Mack.

  ‘It’s hard to believe that lonely people shoot themselves to death,’ Peter says.

  ‘Well, suicide is a death trap for lonely people when their lives are down,’ says Mack.

  Peter takes a deep breath and says, ‘Oh well, hopefully this tragedy will make people think.’

  ‘Excuse me, Inspector,’ says Tyler.

  ‘Yes, Tyler?’ says Mack.

  ‘Does Robert have a family?’ says Tyler.

  M
ack takes a pause and says to Tyler, ‘Why don’t you, Angelique and Peter come to the police station and then, I’ll show Robert’s file to you?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Tyler. ‘That’s a good idea because I’m not sure how many criminals, murderers, killers, robbers, thieves and other types of bad crime people have traumas in their past lives before their first crime. It’s terrible.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Tyler,’ says Mack. ‘Let’s go.’

  Mack walks to the police car but Tyler, Angelique and Peter walk to Mr Pluck and Tyler says to Mr Pluck, ‘Angelique, Peter and I are going to the police station to have a meeting with Mack and talk to him about Robert’s past life so Angelique and I will be back at the Duke of York Hotel tomorrow or the day after.’

  ‘That’s okay, Mr Brown,’ says Mr Pluck. ‘The Duke of York Hotel is under inspection and it’s closed due to the police now investigating Robert’s suicide, so why don’t you and Angelique just wait until the police have left the Duke of York Hotel?’

  ‘Yeah, all right,’ says Tyler. ‘See ya.’

  He, Angelique and Peter walk to the police car and join Mack going to the police station, but Mr Pluck says to Tyler, ‘Goodbye, Mr Brown.’ He walks to the Duke of York Hotel to check what is going on inside the hotel.

  Inside the Duke of York Hotel, the police are still cleaning up the mess on the floor and the forensic team are still checking Robert’s suicide scene at the bar but Mr Pluck enters, sees the room with the bar covered in blood and says to himself, ‘Good lord.’

  One of the policemen enters, walks to Mr Pluck and says to him, ‘Are you all right, sir?’

  ‘No,’ says Mr Pluck. ‘Just don’t call me sir, call me Mr Pluck!’

  ‘Sorry, Mr Pluck,’ says the policeman.

  ‘What happened to the Duke of York Hotel after Robert shot himself to death?’ says Mr Pluck.

  ‘We’re just investigating Robert’s suicide and using the forensic team to check the scene of his suicide at the bar and also, there’s a little bit of vandalism with lots of empty bottles of alcoholic drinks, empty bags of snack food, a telephone, a smashed drinking glass and other things on the floor so we’re cleaning up the mess,’ says the policeman.