Richard exited the building and climbed back into his vehicle. He checked the next address on the list, it was roughly ten minutes away using shortcuts. He brought the engine to life and began the journey, in the back of his mind he held concern for his new friend.
Chapter Twenty Two
The water brought life to his face, his reflection looked like an older version of himself. The skin appeared leathered, the wrinkles prominent. His eyes were dull, drawn deep into the back of his skull. He gazed into the glazed pupils, the black dot widened, the droplets snaked down his nose and dripped upon the sink. Jack stepped back, ashamed by his recent acts in the office. The memories came flooding back as he awoke from the short snooze upon his desk, his neck, sore from the fall, cracked when he tilted his head. He raised his chin, the skin on his throat slightly red, the scarring from the old suicide attempt still remained, barely visible and unnoticeable to anyone else. He shook the guilt free from his mind, no one had seen him, nobody knew of his selfish performance. He made a vow to the man looking back at him from the mirror, the vow to never drink again, to forget the past and move on with his life, a vow to do all that was possible to finish the man hunt and close the case. He headed back to the office, drying his hands and face with a paper towel. He rearranged the furniture that had been moved, he binned the empty bottle of whiskey, feeling sick at the sight of it. He opened the drawer and pulled out the compact sleeping bag, it had been there since the split with Helen, used when he needed a place to stay. It smelled of an old aftershave he used to wear.
The floor was by no means comfortable, but Jack decided to punish himself for the mockery he had taken part in whilst intoxicated. His coat made a suitable pillow and as the light was killed off he passed out, thoughts of things to come flooding his tired mind.
***
Richard stood at the door. The house seemed dead, no signs of life could be seen or heard. The estate seemed welcoming, trimmed bushes and leafless trees along the road side. This was one of the unsuspecting places where a beast could live, the outer shell creating a family environment, a place that held smiles and warm hugs. The inside, well, Nathan knew what to expect, he had seen it before on many other assignments. The spacious kitchen would harbour a large oak table, the units housing an array of machines to make fresh coffee and tasty snacks. The living room would be perfect for entertaining, a large LCD television, forty eight inches or so, used for a family film night, the large sofa capable of occupying several rears. The walls, cluttered with smiling photographs and holiday snaps, expensive art work in gorgeous frames.
He crept around the rear of the house, choosing the back door as a weak access point. He anticipated the building being alarmed with an up to date security system, it was. He located the fuse box, knowing what he had to look for. The small box was pulled free from its home; the white sticker upon it read Alarm. Obvious to his eyes but not so obvious to an untrained one. He closed the door of the fuse box and moved aside to face his entry point. He placed the bag down and removed a small contraption form his coat pocket. The lock-pick consisted of two pieces of long thin metal secured at one end. The shortest was pushed into the lock first, the other metal arm was bent to one side and slipped in above its counterpart, he twisted left and right slowly, attempting to click down each tumbler in the mechanism. The click told him he had succeeded. He removed the device and stashed it away for later. The knob was turned slowly and he entered the building.
The kitchen welcomed the waning moon as it peered through the open blinds. The lines of light revealed segments of his body as he sneaked through the room. The screwdriver extended from his hand, in anticipation that the occupant owned a pet that may want to confront him. Nothing had appeared yet so he hoped for the best. The interior was how he thought, minus the family snaps. This person was obviously not a recluse like the last two. The house held fine furniture and wall art, it was the type of building that Richard had hoped to get for him and Megan, a lovely place to raise a child.
He pushed through each room on the bottom floor, no one had been seen yet. He stood at the base of the stairs, the top floor sat in complete darkness. He removed his phone from his pocket and selected the torch accessory, the dim light guided a partial path up the stair. He stepped carefully, not wanting to create any noise. The hairs upon his neck stood to attention, the effect he suffered every time he entered an unknown house or building on his lonesome. He neared the top, the creak froze his body. Fuck. He stood still, cursing the stair in his mind. Nothing occurred, he pushed on. The landing led both left and right, he scanned each way with the phone, all seemed quiet. Deciding to move left first, he kept low and close to the wall to minimize his size. He passed the bathroom door, the white tiles glowed as the moons light filled the room. He turned his head to face the rear, making sure no one was behind him. Darkness followed his movement.
The clicking sound startled him, he turned to observe the sound…..shadows engulfed him as the phone was lowered to hide the light. The eerie quiet surrounded him. Nothing appeared. He stood, arched slightly and pushed on. The creak from behind caused him to turn sharply, the fist connected with the side of his head. He fell to the ground, kicking his legs up to stop any further attack. The punch had taken him by surprise, his heart rattled his rib cage as he panicked. His foot connected with the invisible body, a grunt came from the shadows. His phone was poised towards the attacker, the half-naked man shielded his eyes. Richard rolled to his knees and sprung toward the occupant, striking his torso with his shoulder. They crashed to the floor, the man’s arm struck the wooden bannister. Richard climbed upon him and fired two rapid punches to the head area, unknowing where they landed. The crunch indicated a square strike with the face. He followed with another heavy blow to the face. The groan escaped the unconscious man’s mouth. Richard got to his feet quickly, he searched with his phone for the light switch, the landing was illuminated as he found the button. He gazed at the sleeping giant, the man’s body was well toned and muscular. His heart raced and he prepared himself for another session of hand to hand combat, positioning himself and awaiting the man to get to his feet. He didn’t.
Richard checked the remaining rooms, ensuring that there were no more persons to lunge at him. It was clear, he looked for a suitable chair to secure the large male into. He found a solid wood chair within the study and lifted the beast into it. His back strained with the weight of the man. He located his bag, kicked away from the fight. The similar method was applied, tape around the limbs to secure his victim, although he used more tape on this one. Judging by the size of his enemy, it was going to be a hellish interrogation. Larger people could normally withstand more pain, he knew that the choice of weapons would have to be frightening and inflict as much pain as possible, otherwise he would end up killing the men as the lack of information from his mouth would raise his temper. The slap around the cheek woke the sleeping beast, he was startled as Richard stood before him.
‘What the fuck do you want?’ he shouted, the saliva fired out to the floor.
Richard held his words, instead of threatening the man he decided to calmly remove the items from his bag and place them upon the desk behind him, making sure that the objects were seen by his victim. He moved the lamp that sat upon the oak surface to one side, carefully the contents were retrieved and placed down on the desk.