Age So Crammed With Madness

Chapter IV: The Murder

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. -- T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

I froze. The gun remained aimed right between my eyes. I hardly dared look away from it to the person holding it. But when I did look away, I got a shock almost as severe as when I first walked into my rooms to find I was being held at gunpoint.

The gunman -- or in this case, gunwoman -- was a short, thin woman who looked barely old enough to drive. Her blonde hair and wide brown eyes made her look innocent, almost childlike. She wore a white blouse and black trousers.

"Who are you?" I was quite proud that my voice didn't waver. "What do you want?"

"I'm Susan's friend," the woman said, confirming my suspicions. "I'm here to ask you a few questions."

"Put the gun down and I'll consider answering them." I sounded much less worried than I felt. "You can't use it here, anyway. The sound of the shot would bring the entire neighbourhood running to see what had happened."

Eulalia wavered. I didn't dare move. I hardly dared to breathe. Finally, she lowered the gun and put it in a holster by her side. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What questions do you want to ask me?" I asked.

She looked up. There was something in her pale, incongruously childish face that made me think of a wolf stalking its prey.

"I want to know who you've spoken to," she said calmly. She kept her hand near her gun. Her hand shook almost imperceptibly. I realised suddenly that she was as afraid as I was. It was a disconcerting thought. "Who have you told about me?"

"Told?" I repeated. It took a moment for understanding to sink in. "No one! I haven't spoken about you at all!"

Eulalia scoffed. "You expect me to believe that Susan told you I was here, and you didn't go and spread the news all over the town?"

"No, I did not."

The assassin looked at me as if I was a difficult mathematical equation. "Why not?"

Good question. Common sense dictated that the proper response to being told an assassin was on the premises was to go straight to the police. And yet, I hadn't. I had had good reasons for not doing so -- or at least, reasons that had seemed good at the time. They seemed decidedly less good now, with an armed and dangerous assassin standing opposite me in my own home.

"I didn't want to cause a fuss," I said. This was a lie. "And I was afraid the police would arrest me as an accomplice." That was true.

Eulalia "hmm"ed. "And do you promise never to tell anyone I was here?"

Her hand drifted towards her gun again. I followed it with my eyes. My heart leapt into my throat.

"I promise," I said.

She smiled. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Then I will leave you now."

She stopped as she swept past me. "It will be best for everyone if you keep your promise."

"I never make promises I don't intend to keep."

That was another lie.

~~~~

Eulalia had hardly left when Susan burst in.

"Are you all right?" she cried. "I'm so sorry that happened. I tried to stop her, but the minute she heard you knew about her being here she stormed off and I couldn't do anything. She didn't frighten you too badly, I hope?"