The Demise of Mayor Frye

Chapter 12: The Final Walk

At the moment that for Detective Walker seemed to be dragging about half an hour, he grabbed the handcuff in the car and handcuffed Max, drove the car to a warehouse in the suburb, put Max inside, and locked the door from outside. Neither Max nor Detective Walker was aware of how all these were done. It was only after locking the door of the warehouse that Detective Walker realized what had been going on.

"I'm sorry, Max. I have to do this. I spent years planning the answer to the things they'd done to me. I can't stop now," Detective Walker said as he was walking away from the warehouse.

"Boss," Max shouted. "I need an explanation, Boss. Who? Why? How?"

Detective Walker stopped walking, and without turning back toward the warehouse, he said, "As I told you, Max, I never wanted Detective Stone to die. I thought he'll just get hospitalized, and the case would be mine."

For a moment, he thought of going to the precinct and telling everything to Detective Carter, but imagining Kobe Mason walking freely while he would be in a trial caused him to continue what he had already planned.

"Explain it, then, Boss," Max began hitting the iron bars of the door of the warehouse. "Why did you — I mean, did you really murder Emerson Frye?"

Detective Walker walked back toward Max, whispering random words out of despair. Sitting on the concrete bench in front of the door, he started to tell Max everything. "I guess you deserve to know, Max. And also, you need to know to be able to tell others in the future. You're a clever detective. You did what Brian couldn't."

"He could if you didn't kill him," Max barked.

"I did not mean to. I DID NOT MEAN TO," Detective Walker yelled, imagining Detective Stone all over the place. It was as if every single memory of the two of them was marching toward him. "I didn't like him, but I didn't mean to kill him, Max. I really didn't."

"But you did mean to kill the mayor."

Detective Walker stood up, right in front of Max. "I already told you about my nightmare, Max. Do you know who was the boy who burnt that house? He was Emerson Frye. I saw him there. I heard him saying that Mr. Ford wasn't home. 'Let's burn his trees,' he said. And yet, it all turned against us. They framed me.

"My father tried to prove that I hadn't been there at the time, but Robert Frye was just too powerful. They took our house from us, and they took my father's job from him. They made my father feel miserable and leave the city, and until now, I have no idea where he is, or whether he's alive or not."

"Why are you trying to frame Kobe Mason, Boss? I don't even know how to feel. I don't know what to think."

"Robert was too powerful, but he couldn't do it on his own. He used his friends, particularly Kobe Mason. I've been with my father when he used to go to Kobe's office, and the only sentence I remember he kept saying was reminding my father that he was in no place to do anything.

"He took all the charges off Emerson and his father once. He's now free to try to do it for himself this time."

"You tell me, Boss. What am I gonna do? I've known you for a long time. I've been with you a lot. I see you have a point. But still... I don't know. What should I do? Sit and watch?"

"The footage that shows my phone, it'll get removed automatically in a couple of days. It has a limit of one month. I'll keep you here, Max, until I see Kobe on trial. There's also food and water back there in that room. You can feel free later because you were locked up and could stop me."

"It might seem weird, but," he chuckled, "I kinda feel proud of you, Boss. What have you done to the footage? What about the hair?"

"I did nothing to the footage, Max. I just put on wigs, beards, and stuff like that to become Kobe Mason. And his hair... well, it can be found in a barbershop. You just have to follow anyone for a few days and you'll see him go and cut his hair."

"What about the city hall? Wasn't it too much of a risk to get to the mayor's room by yourself?"

"That wasn't me. I told Freddie and Brent to say those things in interrogations."

"You told them to confess that there were two stories?"

"That's right. In fact, the second story is partially correct, except for the fact that it was Freddie who went to the room and did all that stuff. I had to tell him to act this way. We had to mislead the investigation, Max, though it would be much simpler the case was mine."

Detective Walker walked back to get to his car, but when he opened the door, Max said in a loud voice, "But I have to turn you in, Boss. You killed Detective Stone, for God's sake. That's not how being a detective works. I can't just wait and wander around this place."

"I'll turn myself in. I can't get away with what I did to Brian. But you, feel free to try to escape, Max," Detective Walker got to the car. He ignited the engine and drove back, seeing Max hitting the iron bars of the door of the warehouse. Although Detective Walker had no intention of getting back there, he knew Max wouldn't be there forever. Detective Walker had already put a key in one of the bottles of water that was deep down in the refrigerator. It would take a week or so for Max to reach that bottle.

. . .

For the next couple of weeks, Detective Walker did anything necessary to accuse Kobe Mason and send the case to court. There, despite all the attempts of Mrs. Simmons, Kobe Mason, in front of Robert Frye and his family, was declared guilty of murdering Mayor Emerson Frye and Detective Brian Stone, and many other minor charges such as bribery and disturbing the peace.

"Given your position and all the works you have done for our city, you might think there must be a reduction in your charges," the judge said, "but I must inform you, Mr. Kobe Mason, that the crimes you have committed are not, by any means, forgivable; therefore, you are hereby sentenced to death. You may choose the method yourself, between lethal injection and hanging."

And he eventually chose death by hanging and was hanged in public.

. . .

After watching Kobe Mason's execution, Detective Walker grabbed his phone and called an agency to rent a private helicopter. Initially, he had intended to go to the precinct, but then, he changed his mind and decided to do something else.

He told the pilot to take him to Montara, about a hundred miles away from Irongate, and leave him in the middle of Montara Desert. "I'll call you when I need a ride back," he told the pilot. But right after the helicopter left, he broke his phone intentionally and dropped it in the sand.

Wearing his backpack containing a few bottles of water, he began walking forward, thinking of his childhood, his father, his last home with a family, and Detective Stone. He didn't care where he was going. He didn't have any idea for how long he would go. And he didn't know when the lily of the valley he had ingested would affect him. But somehow, deep down, he was certain that the last image he would see would be Detective Stone walking toward him with Chloe.