Authors: Jesse Abundis
“ Stop,” She pleaded with him, sobbing under her breath doing her best to wipe the tears away before she turned to face him . “ I just need some time, ok, just give me sometime.” She did her best to smile, convince him all was well. She even caressed his hair the way she used to, when they would lay down in his parents living room, Ryan resting his head on Karen‘s lap, watching old Doctor Who marathons, laughing at the bad props that were consider modern at that time. Enjoying their time together, being kids, nothing more. “ I promise, baby.”
Ryan ate it up, he was willing to accept her affection as the honest truth, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew everything in front of him was a lie. “ Say you love me.” He playfully demanded.
Karen knew better as not to deny his request. “ I love you.”
His face lit up with joy as those cold words came from her mouth. “ I wanted to surprise you, but I can’t hold it in.” He kissed her forehead and lips, before revealing the gift he had for her. “ I picked out a house for us, I think you’re going to like it.” He grinned.
“ Really.” Her voice crackled with false happiness and a barrel of grief.
“ It’s a nice big house, free from all the noise, a lovely oak tree a few yards away from the house, I was thinking we could put a swing there, wouldn’t you like that?” Karen just nodded her head, agreeing with whatever he had to say. “ It’s just amazing, this is the house I wanted us to have since we we’re kids, I’m telling you, it’s the portrait of paradise.” At least for Ryan it was.
Chapter 58
Midnight Caller
He was lost in a beautiful world, a world of his own. A slaughter house that reeked of blood and fear. Hanging on hooks laid collages of his faces, all from yesteryear, all sharing an expression of shock, horror, sadness, regret. The skin that he wore now was his, yet, he know there was something different about it, he could feel a permanent smile imprinted, one that had not been there long ago.
He was dressed as a butcher, wearing the white apron that would no doubt earn it's pay. Droplets of blood danced in the air like a mist of rain, he could hear the footsteps of his human cattle, all walking shoulder to shoulder confused in where they were going, their naked bodies pressed against one another as they moved closer to their deaths. The sound of his butcher knives grinding together, scared the poor cattle that inched closer to him. He could taste their succulent flesh, he could hear their dying screams calling out to him from a non distant future.
“ That's it, boy, just enjoy the moment.” He could hear Alan Smith cheering him on, with other old faces he had put away. Each one banging their plates, wanting to have a slice from the cattle that was racing to their deaths.
From the corner of his eye, he could see someone staring into the slaughter house window, he couldn’t see who the figure was, he could just see the shock expression in their eyes. This person knew what was going to happen next and was helpless to do anything about it. Klecko smiled at his peeping tom, hoping deep inside they would enjoy the show. He raised his knife at the first victim who came in tears, trying to find a way to live, little did it know, that it's life had come to an end--- the phone rang before he could enjoy his paradise, it awoken him sharply, knowing it wasn't coming from his phone, but the one his Guardian had provided.
“ I was wondering when you were going to call.” He yawned half way through his sentence as he answered. “ What took you so long, busy fucking around?”
A loud chuckle from his Guardian. “ You sound more lively.” His voice still masked, refusing to give Klecko an inch into who he was, part of that was knowing how hungry of a dog Klecko could be, giving him ammunition would either lead to the greatest mistake this masked caller would have ever commit. “ That’s good, I wasn‘t sure how you‘d accept the change.”
Klecko rolled his eyes at his mythological approach to his words. “ I killed someone, I’m not turning into a werewolf.” Klecko mocked him.
“ I’m surprised, in your time at the force you’ve never killed a man, have you, Detective?”
“ No, I haven’t.” Klecko admitted.
“ But, you’ve seen many deaths in your time.” His Guardian asked.
Klecko could see flashes of all the cases, children mutilated, mothers raped, body parts toss around the room, like they were a child‘s plaything.“ Yes, too many.” He cleared his throat. “ What does this have to do with anything?”
“ A soldier goes to war, he trains himself to kill, but never does. Soldier is sent to kill for the first time, murders one person, life is altered forever.” Klecko wasn’t sure where this was going or what a soldier had to do with him. “ His first kill, is the one that can make or break him. I’m still seeing what yours does to you.” His Guardian’s let out a sad sigh.
“ You seem worried, didn’t know that was possible.” Klecko snorted.
“ Why do you still doubt my motives, detective. Everything I’ve done to this point, is to keep you safe, prepare you for what’s to come.” His guardian scolded him. “ You say you have everything under control, but a man that has a hissy fit in his own car,” Klecko knew deep inside his soul he was being watched that night. He arose from his bed as his Guardian continued to speak. “ is far from capable in handling this change on their own, I can’t guide you down your path, detective, without knowing you’re ready to accept the truth in how you got here.”
He peered out his bedroom window, knowing he was out there somewhere watching from afar. “ Trying to find me, Detective?” Klecko jump back sightly as he was caught red handed. “ You never will. Besides, if you saw me there’s no telling what would happen. It’s the only reason I keep myself hidden, to keep you in one piece.”
“ So this little game, the head ,the blackmailing, the spying, the phone, these late night calls and secrecy it’s all part of a grander scheme to things?” Klecko did his air quotations, knowing he could see him. “ To help me find closure, a new outlook in life, harmony, what?” Klecko shouted at him.
“ Call in sick tomorrow, it’s time we undid the blindfold tightly wrapped around your eyes.” His Guardian’s voice grew darker, putting the fear of God into Klecko and making him regret for mocking his judgment in the first place.
“ What about Rita Vazquez ?” Klecko stuttered . “ If she see‘s me gone..”
His guardian interrupted him.“ Don’t worry about her, I have something arranged to keep her busy.” He spoke with confidence.
“ Where am I going?” Klecko asked.
“ I’ll text you at crack of daylight, be ready. Get some rest, Detective.” And like that, he was gone like a ghost.
Klecko tossed the phone on the bed, drew the blinds shut to keep his guardians eyes off him for at least for the night. He wasn’t sure what was going to await as the sun rose, but this next step, would take him into Satan’s pit where he would do his dance with the devil.
Chapter 59
Doppelganger
She wasn’t a fool, she had seem him twice through out the morning. Once when she went to get breakfast, the second as she went to throw out the trash. Karen made sure to act as clueless as could be, she wanted this detective to feel at ease, give him the satisfaction of thinking he had the upper hand. He was parked down the corner of the street, a perfect advantage to see the entrance of the building, keeping tabs on who came and go. He was watching her parked inside a Black tinted SUV, one of the biggest mistakes he could have made. No one that lived around here could afford a car like that, even some of the drug peddlers would have to work an extra job just to make the down payments, second, no one would be stupid enough to leave that kind of car parked in this kind of neighborhood, not if you were looking to find everything stripped clean in a blink of an eye.
Karen ponder various scenarios to defuse this situation. The best one so far was getting a bat, smash his car windows, then drag him out in the middle of the street and crack open his skull. It was easy, fast and downright soothing, but the aftermath of the hours of explaining to authorities seemed to drain the fun out of the idea. So she was back to square one, finding a way to deal with her four eyed parasite.
“ Carl said we needed to see this asap, don’t know what it is, he didn’t have anytime to tell me, they got him running around like a dog over at that place. But the look in his eyes the moment he handed me this,“ Peewee shook his head in disgust. “ prepare yourself.” Peewee was busy setting up her DVD player as she stared aimlessly at the blank screen, having her mind wonder on the detective lurking outside the streets. Even as Peewee spoke to her over the phone before arriving, her attention was only half there. “ I just got a bad freaking feeling about this.” Peewee said as he connected the wires into her old clunky outdated t.v.
“ Huh?” Karen cocked her head, barely coming back to what was happening in front of her. She ran her hands down her face to wash away the trans state. “ Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” She could only hope those were the words he was looking for, but Peewee's attention seemed out of focus as well, nothing around him matter, only what was on the disk.
“ Ok, I think I got it.” He turned on the t.v, hit play, the screen came to life with an ATM surveillance tape. “ What do we have here?” Peewee ran over to take a seat beside Karen on the couch, both wearing matching outfits of long sleeve black shirt and ripped camo type baggy cargo pants, there laundry outfits so to speak.
“ Who gave you this?” Karen asked.
“ Carl?” Peewee stared at her, wondering if she was alright. “ I ranted about this on the phone remember?”
Karen scratched her scalp nervously. “ Yeah, right.”
“ He wouldn’t tell me anything. This is going to be bad, I know it.” He shivered at the idea of another blow of defeat, how many lumps could they take until they found out what they were investigating led to nowhere.
The tape ran for a few minutes, showing random people coming and going from the ATM machine in the middle of a night, a pair of girls flashing their tits to the machine. Peewee rewind that part two times, claiming he saw something in the back.
After a hour ahead a shadowy figured circled across the street, almost debating to step forward, after a good minute or two the figure steps out of the shadows and walks into the light. “ No fucking way!? ” Peewee shouted in outburst tossing the remote to the floor. There taking money of the ATM was Janet Morales, her hair pulled back, dark sun glasses on as she withdrew everything out of her account. A minute later she’s holding a fist full of hundreds with a smile on her face as she counts the money in her hands, she blows a kiss at the camera saying her goodbye and without wasting further time she runs across the street disappearing out of view, ending the tape. “ Girl doesn’t get taken by anyone, guess we should be glad, right?” Peewee looked over at Karen who was still staring at the screen. “ What’s the matter?”
“ It took her two minutes to cross the street,” Peewee chuckled, as he saw Karen‘s eyebrow raise, always the same expression when it came to doubt. “ she’s was awfully nervous in withdrawing something that belonged to her.”
“ Maybe she’s on drugs, feels guilty that she’s ruining her life, thinks about it for a minute, tries to talk herself out, fails and just goes with it.” Peewee added his own explanation to the delay, but Karen wasn’t buying it. “ What, you think there’s something more to it?” He asked.
“ Why wear sunglasses in the middle of the night,” She pointed out. “ it’s not like she’s wanted by the FBI, she could have walked up calmly without the glasses and taken the money.”
Peewee ran over to grab the remote, he rewind the tape back to where Janet is visible in the back, debating whether to move in or not. “ She looks out of it to me, her hands are moving a lot, like she‘s talking to herself?”
“ Pause it!” Karen snapped her fingers at him as the moment Janet’s head keeps looking down the street. “ Right there, she keeps looking at someone.” Karen raced over to the t.v thumbing her finger at the visible figure that is Janet, looking down the street. “ Play it again, I wanna see how long she keeps looking in that direction.” It’s a good thirty seconds until Janet head turns away and races across the street to the ATM. “ When she entered frame, did she enter up or down the street?”
“ Let’s see.“ Peewee rewind the tape back, Janet’s shadowy figure comes walking up from the south, the same way her head is turned to. “ What side does she exit.” Peewee said to himself, forwarding the tape again, seeing Janet leave down south again. “ So, there was someone there waiting for her, is that what we’re getting at, I’m confused as hell.” Peewee flung his arms in the air, wanting Karen to explain all this to him.
“ How long has Janet been missing?”
“ A good week.” Peewee said to her.