(BOOK 2) MARK/HOFFMAN: A Saw Fanfiction

TWENTY

Today was the day. 

Mark was going to be very busy, so he had tried to sleep as much as he could the previous night to prepare. 

He wished he had more time to set the game up and make sure everything went to plan, but with the feds on his ass he would have to take the risk of kidnapping these people without much information. 

He went on a coffee run for some of the officers at the department, but the only reason he volunteered was because he needed to get the envelopes from Jill. Around 9am, he pulled into the parking lot of the Homeward Bound Clinic and made his way inside. 

The lobby was full of junkies and people that clearly weren't in their right mind. He made his way to the front desk. "Is Jill here?" He asked the receptionist.

She looked up at him. "Not yet Detective. She should be showing up any minute." She smiled at him. 

"Okay, thank you." 

He decided to sit at a desk in the back of the room. There was a pamphlet sitting on the desk. Curious, he unfolded it and skimmed over it.

Cherish your life. 

It brought him back to before Detective Matthews died, when Kerry was found. Rigg had noticed the same saying written in blood on the wall. Amanda had done that. It wasn't planned by John, at least that Mark knew of. 

It never sat right with him, what they did to Kerry. 

If he had a choice in the matter, he would have let her live. He'd been where she was toward the end; so engulfed in work that it becomes your whole life. But she was a good person. She'd made a mistake with Matthews, but Mark had always judged Eric more because he was married. Plus, he'd seen the way Eric would make the little comments, brush against her intentionally, get her to the point that she wanted him. While in the end, he felt a bit bad for Eric, he was much more deserving then Kerry. 

He glanced up and noticed that Jill had walked in. She intervened with a small group to calm down a stressed out woman before noticing him. 

He saw her shock and slight annoyance. Jill tilted her head toward her office, indicating to follow her. He did, tossing the pamphlet back on the desk and  following close behind. 

She unlocked her office and took her purse and coat off, hanging them on her coat rack. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon," she said. Mark closed the door.

"Change in plans. The game begins tonight." 

Jill looked at him in confusion as she put her lab coat on. "Why?"

"Because somebody knows about the box that shouldn't." 

He hadn't told her specifically who it was the last time they had spoken, so naturally the first question out of her mouth was: "Who?" 

Mark's patience had grown thin. "That's not your concern. All you need to know is that from now on, I control all aspects of the game." 

"That's not what John wanted," Jill said, fixing her collar. 

He looked at her for a moment. After some more thinking, the question of enlisting in her help had gone out the window. It was fine. He didn't trust her much anyway, especially because she was so ready to sell him out to Abby. He didn't care what John wanted. He was the one having to deal with this while John was peacefully laying in a coffin underground. 

This was his gig now. And it was almost over. 

"Give me the envelopes. And that's not a request," he snapped.