Managed another burst of 1,000 words, pushing me just a smidge over 5,000. 10% done! Nothing much to add regarding the process, other than having come up with the twist I mentioned earlier, I’m seeing a lot more potential to this story than I did even yesterday. I just need to make sure the excitement is enough to provide the momentum I need to get me to the other side. And now, the next 1,004 words!
hastily stepped off and made my way to the row of police cars parked in the lot.
This place had seen better days. The large sign that greeted potential overnighters had cracks in it, and even a broken corner which was probably from someone throwing rocks. The light was off, but it was not much use during the night either. The sign was dim and not easy to see from a distance. If you were coming to the Twin Palms, it’s because you already knew it existed.
Empty beer bottles and crushed cigarette butts littered the lot as well. I imagined the staff at this motel was not the most concerned with hygiene and shuddered to imagine having to wash the linens in this place.
“Leon!” Alistair shouted from the second-floor landing. “Quit your gawking and get up here!”
I double-timed up the stairs, and in seconds found myself standing before the captain as he straddled the entrance to one of the rooms. “Before you go in,” Alistair warned, “I just wanted to prepare you. This is a strange one.” The other officers were gathered around the doorway, shooting strange looks in my direction. Even Ernie was giving me the side-eye.
I shrugged, unconcerned. If he’d seen half of what I’d seen in my lifetime, he would have felt no need to warn me. After covering my shoes with paper booties and putting on my gloves, I walked past him. And he had been right. This was a strange one.
A young girl was lying on the bed, couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Her expression was peaceful and she could have been thought to be fast asleep, if not for the vast pool of blood that she lay in. But that was not the strange thing. I had seen this too many times throughout the years. This looked like Jack’s handiwork. Even if I had doubted that possibility, the writing was on the wall. Literally. Scrawled in the young girl’s blood was a simple and direct message.
HELLO LEON LONG TIME NO SEE
It was him. After all this time, it was him. And he was taunting me. This was new. And strange.
I turned to face Alistair. “When did this happen?”
“Why is your name on that wall?” Alistair asked.
I shrugged again. “Leon’s a common enough name. Doesn’t mean me necessarily.”
“Check the bathroom.”
Intrigued, I did as he said and made my way deeper into the room, making sure not to touch anything. Other than the bed, there was not much in the way of furniture. A stained table and an upholstered chair held together at points with duct tape. A dresser with one drawer that jutted out just enough to catch an unaware knee. A television set bolted to the wall that probably was used to view movies that would make me blush. And an open door that led to the bathroom. The light was already on, so as soon as I moved to the doorway, I saw them.
The walls were covered, from ceiling to floor, with photographs. Of me. I stepped into the bathroom and looked at myself a hundred times over. Pictures of me at the station. Pictures of me walking out of my apartment. Pictures of me at coffee shops. On the bus. Pictures of me with Cat. And not all the pictures were recent. It looked like Jack had been amassing a collection for years. What was the point of this? What was he trying to do?
I stepped back out of the bathroom and right into Alistair’s frowning glare. “So, why is your name on that wall?” he asked again.
“I…I don’t know,” I said, knowing as soon as I hesitated the captain would sense I was hiding something. If he did, he did not let on to the fact.
“Do you know the girl?” He pointed toward the bed.
“I’ve never seen her before.”
“Were you sleeping with her?”
“Captain, I swear to you, I’ve never seen her before. I don’t know why all those pictures of me are hanging in the bathroom.”
Alistair said nothing, just stared at me. “If that’s true, then there’s someone out there who doesn’t seem to like you very much. Any idea on who might have it in for you?”
Absolutely, Captain. See, there’s an immortal I’ve been chasing for three thousand years, and it seems he’s decided to chase me instead. “No idea. But I’ll start checking old cases to see if there’s anyone I put away who might hold a grudge.”
“Good idea. You can get started on that. After we take you in for questioning.”
“Come on, Captain. You can’t be serious. You have to know I had nothing to do with this.” My voice cracked as I told this half-truth. While I may not have killed this girl, I was indirectly responsible for this. For not stopping Jack when I had the chance. But now, I knew he was here. Finally, I would get my chance at justice.
“Well, as long as you have a solid alibi for last night, you should be fine. We just have to dot our eyes and cross our tees.”
Great. I had no alibi. No witnesses other than Cat, who would probably not serve as a good witness on the stand. I found myself wishing I had gone to that party last night after all.
I sat in the interrogation room, waiting for what seemed an eternity before Alistair finally showed.
“Sorry about the wait, Leon. Had to take care of a few other things. But let’s get this out of the way as quickly as possible, so we can catch who really did this.”
I nodded as he pushed play on the tape recorder. And yes, it was an actual tape recorder. Police stations tend to fall far behind the technology curve, in my experience.
“So, Officer Hart, can you confirm your whereabouts last night?”
“I can. I was at home. In bed. Asleep.”