Violent Eulogy

The Doomed Deal

I glare at him, suspicious. How stupid does he think I am? Of course I'm not going to put the gun down.

He swings his arm again:" Watch this. I've placed a copy of this in someone's mailbox. Someone that I know won't be back home until next week. If you kill me, you're gonna pay for it."

He tries to sound confident, but as a cop, we learn very soon to detect guilt or fear. And right now, I can sense the carefully packed fear in his voice.

I gesture towards the TV: "Plug it in." And don't lower my gun.

He obeys.

And to my absolute terror, I see the footage of me shooting Ash on my TV.

I'm doomed.

I aim the gun to his head, tempted to shoot his brains out.

He reads my mind quickly and reminds me:" Hey! Mailbox!"

I lower the gun:" How?"

He looks visibly relaxed now that his brains are seemingly safe:" I had a different plan for my last murder. He was gonna receive an exclusive video. I was getting ready to shoot it when you came."

My eyes are shooting poisonous arrows at him.

"And well, you weren't really pay attention to me. So I took the camera and bolted. Funny how sometimes things just work out, huh?"

Captain and that vile man were right. Ashley's corpse really did affect my performance. Just not in the way they thought.

I put the gun back in my holster and sit on a chair, in front of him. He obviously doesn't want to hurt me, at least not now. Not until he gets what he risked his life and came here for.

"What more do you want? I gave fake information to the police and made them give out a wrong facial composite. You're fucking safe. You could go live your life or kill or whatever the hell you want." I say through my teeth.

He studies me intently, his lips lifting into a gentle smile:" Let's not pretend you did that for me. You thought if I was caught, I would open my mouth and that was basically your life sentence. I mean even if you got to dodge the execution bullet, a cop in jail? You'd be dead in a week. You did it for you."

I pout. Okay, that was worth a shot. Although I should've known better, a boy who gets to commit three almost perfect crimes, is not stupid.

He exhales deeply:" I want you to kill somebody."

My eyes widen, to the size of a frickin grapefruit: " The hell?!"

He rolls his eyes at me:" Oh come on! What did you think I was gonna ask for? To help me rent a place?"

"No, I was kinda expecting...money."

He flinches and shakes his head:" Money? No, no. That's blackmail. That's just dirty, and unfair."

My lips are pressed in to a thin line:" And exactly what's the name of this?"

He shrugs:" You pinned a murder on me, I'm asking you to do one for me."

My hands ball into fists, shaking with anger:" You already were a murderer!"

He abruptly stands up:" And now, so are you."

We glare at each other intensely for a long time. None of us backing down.

When I finally open my mouth, my voice is cracked:"Why don't you just do it yourself?"

His gaze locks at mine, and I realize in that second that whatever comes out of his mouth, will be absolutely true:" It wouldn't be fair. You killed a man, and you got away with it. You shouldn't live your life like nothing has happened, like you've done nothing wrong."

I feel my jaw clenching: "And what about you? You've killed three people, and you get to live like you've done nothing wrong?"

He licks his lips:" Yes. Because I haven't."

I could talk about how killing Ash is slowly but surly making me crazy, I could talk about how he's already crazy if he thinks there's any way in hell that he's more innocent than me, but I knew it wouldn't do any good. He had something that could literally destroy me, and I, apparently had to kill my way to get it."

"I'm a detective. What I did...it was wrong. But I save people not kill them. Don't ask me that." I plea quietly.

One last try wouldn't hurt anybody.

He raises his brows. Something in my words clearly intriguing his attention:
"You're right, people do make mistakes."

Wait, what? Did I just talk my way out of committing a murder for a serial killer?

His eyes shine brighter, visible even in the dim light.

It's disturbing how those beautiful blue orbs could make you want to throw up or run away. For at least three people, they were the last thing they had seen.

"I want to offer you a chance." He said in a cunning voice. Somehow, whatever 'This Chance' was, it scared me more than killing an unknown person.

I wait in silence, trying to control my breathing.

"You have six days. Either kill Charles Bridge or find out why I killed each of my victims."

He glances at my horrified face:" You're either gonna be a good murderer or a good detective, Eva. Take your pick."

And with that, he leaves.

I'm sitting frozen on the chair. Unable to even swallow.

We couldn't find his motives, when there were three of us working on the case. Now one of us is going through a long and exhausting procedure of sucking up to her wife and the other one is six feet under.

I felt sorry for Charles Bridge. I hope he lived a full life.

Because Whoever he was, He had very little to live.