The Conman Tale

As I am writing this, I am currently in prison, just going along as I am supposed to. As you will tell from the story I am going to share, I indeed do deserve to be here and face my past. I made mistakes I shouldn't have, but sadly, I did anyway because of my delusion and my failure to understand the privilege I had. The story I am about to share will focus on how my life as a conman slowly fell apart and led to me being in this cold jail. I will try my best to tell the story without changing anything or mixing anything up. The dialogue is the hardest part to remember correctly, but I will try. I hope anyone reading this will not make the same mistakes I did and live a comfortable and prosperous life.

Bill Ingram

PART 1

"Here are the results for the campaign, Bill." Susan, my assistant, passed me the sheet of paper.

"Thank you, Susan."

I worked at a car company in the city of Ruthville. A large, picturesque, bustling place sprawling with variety. The company was located in a large skyscraper in the city centre.

"The results are amazing, aren't they, Bill? Car sales went up rapidly!". Susan exclaimed. Susan always had a smile paired with a dress with a flower pattern on it. She must have had dozens of dresses with flower patterns. She was a reliable assistant with dark brown hair, gray eyes, and broad shoulders.

"Yes, the results are good; however, we could still improve." You are free to leave for the day, Susan; you have done enough." I said something along those lines.

Susan nodded with her smile and walked out of my office. My office was plainly furnished with a wooden desk and a very comfortable black chair that reclined. After she exited my office, I sighed and leaned back on my chair, thinking about the events I was going to partake in tomorrow. For the reader to know me more, I will describe my appearance. I was and still am a tall, slim, good-looking man with brown hair, green eyes, and a sharp face. I always wore a black suit to work that I very much loved. On the side of my personality, I was a quiet man who meticulously observed the surroundings around me. I did, however, have a serious habit that quite affected me. I had a habit of talking to myself. Everyone talks to themselves; however, in my case, I would do it regularly and even have conversations with myself. Anyway, I will continue on.

"The real fun will start soon." I mumbled to myself. I packed up my things, stood up from my chair, and exited my office to leave for the day.

"See you later, Bill; have a safe trip home," said the receptionist, Wendy. Just like Susan, she always had a smile along with her hazel hair and round face.

"I hope you don't overwork yourself too much, Wendy; you are always the last in the office." She was a lady who took her work very seriously and was never late for anything. I proceeded to make my way down to the parking garage and get in my savvy black car that I loved at the time. "Tomorrow will be a fun day." I drove out of the garage and made my way onto the highway to make my way home.

"Why do I even do the things I do? I have a steady job and a lovely wife. What do I find so appealing about it? "Will it change?" I said those words to myself. Those words would stick with me for a very long time. "John is expecting me; I have to do it or else."

It was late evening at that time, and the sky was reddish. I was close to reaching my home, which was located in the suburbs far from the city centre. "My wife doesn't have a clue what I do. I wonder what she would think if she found out. Will she be disappointed and sad? Probably". I finally arrived at home. It was a simple one-story house. Built with wood and painted white. The front garden was lovely thanks to my wife, and it had flowers of all sorts growing on it. I made my way to the door and opened it.

"Welcome home, Bill. How was work today?" My lovely wife was waiting for me, just like she would every time.

"Just the same as always, Millie." I took off my shoes and overcoat.

"Well, I made some spaghetti; get changed and come to the dining room. My wife, Millie, was a fine woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and delicate red cheeks. She was a confident and caring wife who loved me very much. I changed my clothes and made my way to the dining room. The dining room was simplistic and had green wallpaper and a single piece of obscure artwork hanging from it. Millie took great care in making the house look neat.

"The spaghetti looks very amusing," I said.

"Well, dig in and see if you like it."

I took a seat on the fancy dining chair and took a bite of the spaghetti my wife made with love and care. The spaghetti was indeed very amusing. "It's very good, Millie; you have outdone yourself again. I am glad you're my wife."

Millie blushed. "I knew you would like this sort of thing; I can read you like a book." That statement by Millie has really stuck with me.

"I guess you can, Millie."

Millie was about to go to the bathroom when she suddenly remembered something she was going to say. "Oh, I forgot to ask; tomorrow I was thinking about going to the national park. It would be great for you to take in nature since you are working so much."

I picked up a napkin and wiped my mouth. "I'm a little bit busy tomorrow; I have a work-related task that I have to do; however, we can plan to go when I'm free."

Millie had an obvious face of disappointment, and I felt guilty about it. "Alright, tell me when you are free."

"Thank you for understanding."

The following day, I got up early before my wife and proceeded to leave the house. "It's almost time." I got into my car and drove off to the meeting spot. "Hopefully we get a large reward like last time." A few minutes later I had arrived at a different neighbourhood that looked very similar to mine. I spotted my friend in his car and parked right next to it. I got out of my car and went into his car just as planned.

"I'm glad you were able to come, Bill. This elderly couple we're targeting has a fortune!"

"You always know the right people to target, John." John was a middle-aged man who was unshaven, partly bald, and had a round face with chubby cheeks. He wore the same gray T-shirt and black shorts every time. I had met John a few years ago in a bar downtown, and we quickly became friends. He had convinced me to take part in his conning, which he started doing recently before we met.

"We will lead the conning industry in no time." John said while in the car with an unserious look.

I was quite baffled by this statement by John. "The conning industry? Oh, come on and be serious." Despite being a tough-looking guy, he was quite a joking fellow.

John had burst into laughter. "I think you need to stop being so serious, but anyway, let's be more careful this time round."

"More careful?"

"I feel like either the police or an individual is catching on to what we're doing."

I must say that I was quite shocked by this statement made by John. "I haven't noticed anything like that."

"I think it has something to do with our latest victim. Unlike the others, it was a middle-aged man, not elderly like our other victims. He might have caught on to us or something."

"So, you're saying he contacted the police, gave our descriptions, and they're investigating us now?"

John opened his glove compartment, took out a cap, and put it on. "Maybe."

"You're overthinking it, John. We have covered ourselves up pretty well, and our fake insurance company cover-up can even fool the smartest of people." I think I got carried away with that statement. 

John took a deep breath and stayed inaudible for a moment, contemplating the situation. "You're right, Bill, let's just focus on this couple for now."

"So just the usual John?" I said.

"Yeah, like always."

We walked out of the car and walked up to the door of the house. The house was a classic one-story with beautiful arched windows, a bright beige colour scheme, and a fancy porch. John lifted his hand and knocked on the hard wooden door. We waited for a little bit until the elderly couple finally opened the door. John spoke first, just as always. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Gayle, we are from Wyvern Insurance, and we would like to offer you an insurance plan for your home."

The couple was obviously so very confused, so I started explaining to them. "The insurance plan for your home would pay for and rebuild your home in case a natural disaster damages your home. It will also pay for any damage your pet does to the house and the furniture. I have a paper for you to read if you want to know more."

The elderly man took the paper. "You can come on in."

We followed them into the house. The house was filled with antiques, and the colour blue was all over the house. As for the couple, they just looked like any elderly person with Gray hair, wrinkled skin, and soft clothes. We followed them into the living room in which we sat on the sofa with them facing us in front. The couple gave the paper a deep and thorough read.

"Are you satisfied with it?" John voiced with a polite grin, which was obviously fake.

The man spoke up. "Well, yes, we are. With the state the house is in at the moment, having this insurance wouldn't be bad. What are the prices for this insurance?"

We had hit the jackpot, I thought to myself. "The price is one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month." It's fairly reasonable."

The couple thought about my offer for a couple of seconds before coming to an answer. "Alright, we will accept this insurance," the elderly man proclaimed.

John was about to say something when suddenly we heard footsteps coming towards the living room. "Hey, Grandpa, Grandma, who are you with?" A tall, stern-looking man who looked like he would pick a fight with anybody entered the room.

"These people have offered us an insurance plan for our home," said the elderly guy. Both John and I knew that this was bad. We did not even know they had a grandchild living with them.

The stern man immediately knew what we were doing. I would later find out he also fell victim to these scams. "These people are con artists doing insurance fraud. They target elderly people."

John stood up from the sofa and talked back to him. "We are simply proposing an insurance plan to them. We're not con artists." This was a really poor attempt by John, I have to say. 

The man wasn't having any of it, of course. "I'm reporting you to the police for taking advantage of the elderly. How low do you people get?" At that moment, something in me changed. I suddenly got an urge to sort this out. I couldn't let this man get away, I said to myself. The man turned around and was heading for the telephone when I pulled out a gun in my pocket, which I always kept when doing this work, and shot him multiple times. "I have to keep going." I muttered to myself.

The couple went into hysteria. "Dan!" John quickly went over to the elderly couple and proceeded to cover their mouths and restrain them. "What have you done, Bill!" said John furiously.

"He was going to call the police. I acted on impulse."

John's face turned from a state of fury to a composed state. He knew being angry wasn't going to fix this. "We're going to have to do something about the couple."

I then did something I never thought I was going to do. I walked up to the couple and gave them a serious look. "You are going to tell the police that he got shot by armed robbers that got away in a red car. If you were to mention us to the police, you would get the same fate he did. You got that? If you mention us, the same will happen to you!" Looking back on it, that was probably one of the boldest and cruelest things I have done.

John took his hands off the couple. The couple nodded with tears coming out of their eyes because I had just shot their grandchild. "Let's go, John." We exited the house and, very cautiously, to not make us get seen, made it into Bill's car. I was sweating a lot from the ordeal we went through. "Let's hope they understood what I told them." 

John, understandably, was angry at me. He shook his head in frustration. "This has gotten a lot worse now. Let's stop our operations for now and focus on being cautious. Act like your normal self and don't do anything suspicious, Bill. Let's discuss the rest later." I agreed with him and got out of his car and made it into mine. "I can't believe I just did that. Why do I even take a gun to these things in the first place?" After trying to console myself, I started the car and headed home.

I had arrived home and started walking to the door. My mind was all over the place because of the incident. Did I do the right thing? I thought to myself. I opened the door and was greeted again, as always, by my lovely wife.

"You're back early, Bill. How did your work thing go?"

"It went fine." Saying those words made me feel a sense of guilt.

"Are you alright, dear? You don't look too well." She had noticed the unwell look I had on my face.

"I'm fine, Millie; thank you for looking out for me."

"Well, since you came home early, why don't we go to the national park? There's still time."

Feeling a sense of numbness and coldness from the incident, I agreed, hoping to feel better again.

PART 2

Soon after the bitter incident that took place, I was now in the national park with my wife on a bench. I was still reeling over what had happened.

"The lush gardens and the chirping birds. Isn't it beautiful, Bill?" She said this with such a beautiful smile.

"Just as beautiful as you, Millie." I thought that was smooth.

Millie blushed over my remark. "I really love you." She had said this many times before; however, every time she said it, I got an unexpected reaction. "I want to ask you a question, Millie." This question was so eager on my mind that I couldn't shake it off.

"What is it, Bill?"

"Am I enough to satisfy you, or do you need more than just me?" Millie gave a face of pure surprise at this statement made by me. She looked down with her cute, shining eyes and then gazed at me. "I don't need anyone else other than you, Bill; I am satisfied just by looking at you. Every time you're at work, I eagerly wait for you to come home. You make me want to live." Millie spoke with a voice of passion.

I was absolutely mesmerised by her lovely statement about me. "There isn't a single person here that would be a better wife than you, Millie. I am lucky to have met you."

Millie said something in response to that; however, my eye had caught on to something behind her. It was a dark figure standing by, obviously watching us.

"What's the matter, Bill?" Millie had noticed me looking behind her.

"Just stay right there'; I am going to take a look at something." I walked past Millie and started going after the figure. As soon as I took a few steps, the figure ran away sprinting. I didn't bother chasing after him, so I just went back to Millie."Let's go somewhere else, Millie; I'm not feeling this place."

Millie sensed my desperation, so she complied. "Where do you want to go then?"

"Sorry, Millie, but let's just go home and call it a day. I'm not feeling well." I was not in the mood anymore, and I also wanted to ring up John. 

"Alright". Said Millie

On the drive home, my mind couldn't stop thinking about the figure I witnessed. Was it related to what John was saying earlier about us being followed? Were we in trouble? On the way back, I made sure no one was following us.

We had arrived home a few minutes later, and I went straight to the bedroom to call John about what I had seen. I rang up his number and called him. John took a few seconds to pick up. "Hey John, what you said earlier about someone catching on to us, you might be right. I decided to go to the national park with my wife to calm myself, and while we were there, I noticed a strange figure looking at me. I made sure there was no one following me coming home; however, I'm not satisfied."

John was interested and proposed to meet up in a café somewhere in town.

"Tomorrow morning at ten would be a good time to meet up. I'm just so tired of all that happened today."

John agreed tomorrow at ten would be a good time to meet up and discuss what to do. "Alright, John, see you later." I hung up and then proceeded to lie on the bed thinking about the eventful day that happened. I knew that things were going to get tough.

The next day, I got up early and got dressed for the day. My wife was already up making breakfast. "I must not get caught; I must endure this." I muttered to myself before leaving the room. I made my way into the dining room where the breakfast Millie made was on the table.

"I made you French toast. I hope you like it."

"Thank you, Millie. I have a meet-up at a café at ten with someone. I will be away for a while."

Millie smiled at me. "I will be awaiting you."

"What's wrong, Millie? You look a bit on edge." I had noticed Millie was biting her lip, something she does when she is nervous.

Millie finally let in. "Did you hear about the armed robbery that happened yesterday? It happened to an elderly couple, and the robbers shot at their grandson, and he's now in the hospital. I'm just a bit worried."

My eyes widened with shock at Millie's statement. I couldn't believe he didn't die. Things could get a lot worse, I thought to myself.

Millie noticed my disbelief written all over my worried face. "Are you alright, dear? You look pale."

Not wanting to concern Millie more, I toughened up. "I'm fine." I ate my breakfast, said goodbye to my darling, and then got in the car to go meet up with John. "He didn't die? I shot him multiple times. This is bad." I said to myself in the car. After a few gruelling minutes of me thinking about the unfortunate things that had affected me, I arrived at the café. It was a quiet café located at the corner of the building I worked in, and I would go for lunch there regularly. It might seem a little strange to go to a café to discuss such matters, however we were a bunch of lunatics. 

I walked in and immediately noticed John sitting at the very far back. He had given a slight wave, and I made my way over to him. "Hey Bill, how have you been?" He said as I sat down.

"You already know it's been hectic. Oh, thanks for ordering a coffee for me".

"I thought it would quicken things up. But anyway, have you read the news, Bill? That guy you shot is still alive in the hospital".

"My wife mentioned it, and I'm shocked about it. How could one survive multiple shots?"

John put his elbows on the table and gave a sigh. "Our luck has been terrible. We have to hope he is too damaged to say anything." A long pause preceded that statement by John. We were both thinking about what to do now. After a few more finger taps by me, I suddenly got an idea. "Or we could finish the job ourselves."

As soon as I said that line, John looked at me as if I was a lunatic. "Are you crazy, Bill? We can't do anything about that; we just have to hope he passes away." Looking back on that statement by me, I think it's one of the most delusional things I have said.

"Well, let's forget about that for now. I wanted to talk about the figure that was watching me at the national park."

"Are you sure that thing was looking at you?"

"I am sure of it. When I tried to confront him, he ran away". I said adamantly.

John shook his head in what looked like disbelief. "That means there's someone who knows or suspects us. We have to find out who that is, or else it could get bad. Another silence followed. We didn't know how to handle this situation properly. After a while of sighing, I finally decided to break the silence. "So are we stopping our things for good now, or should we still continue?" Just when John was going to answer my question, which I'm sure he would have said not to continue, a man walked up to us. He was a well-built man, clean-shaven with combed brown hair, and wore a tailored Gray suit with high-end leather shoes. 

"It's nice to meet you gentlemen." He said joyfully. We looked at him in confusion. What did he want with us, we thought. "My name is Ruben, and I'm a private detective that owns an agency near here. I want to discuss something with you guys."

At that point, John and I knew that things were going to get much worse for us. "What would you like with us?" John said.

Ruben pulled up a chair and sat down. "I know the truth about you guys and how you are con artists that exploit the elderly and trick them with your fake insurance company.

I tried to play the situation calmly. "What proof do you have?"

"I have photos of you coming in and out of the homes of the victims. I couldn't get one yesterday; however, the police will be able to link you with that."

At that point, we knew that there was no getting out of this; we had gotten caught. "Were you the person following us?" I said.

Ruben put his hands up and snapped his fingers with a smile. "Correct, I must say that you guys are quite crazy."

"If you have proof, why don't you go to the police and submit the evidence? Are you trying to taunt us by coming here?" John cried.

Ruben gave a slight bit of laughter that I would never forget. "Because I want to be involved in your little game." At that point, we knew that this guy was just as crazy as us or perhaps even more. A silence followed after by us. We were speechless.

Feeling the sense of distrust coming from us, Ruben gave more details. "I find no reason for myself to turn you guys into the police. I don't get anything out of it, and I also don't have a very good relationship with the police. So I ask you again, Let me join your business."

John responded. "Before getting to that, I want to ask you a question."

"Sure go ahead."

"Since you're a private detective, you must have been hired by someone or a group to look into us, right?"

Ruben gave a face as if he knew we were going to ask that. "I would see why you would presume that; however, this investigation was something I was interested in solely on my own accord. You two did a good job of manipulating your victims; however, you were not nearly as cautious as you should have been. If I'm to work with you guys, I can assure you that we will never get caught."

Bill and I both glanced at each other. We had no other choice but to accept. "Fine, we have no choice but to include you. You will get twenty percent of the pay, understood." I said, hoping that would satisfy him.

"That's reasonable. I have already picked out a household to go to. We can go there tomorrow. I already have your contacts, so don't ask."

This guy was totally wild. At that moment, I just had to say my true thoughts. "I hope you understand how much annoyance you fill us up with. We have no choice but to comply. However, we will not let you have full control over us."

Ruben grinned as if he also knew we were going to say that. "That's fine by me. Well, I'm going to head off now. I will call you tomorrow after you two come home from work to tell you the details. Bye." With that, Ruben walked out of the café while we watched him in anger. "Were we really that naive to have someone completely make a fool out of us?" I blurted out.

"That guy is a genius, Bill; we have to play his game for now, at least."

"Yeah, I know; it's just annoying how he can just walk in and dictate to us. We have to get back at him in some way."

John proceeded to lean closer to me to tell me something. "Popping one onto him would just make things worse, and plus, he probably has something that would expose us if that were to happen."

I let out a sigh and stood up from the table. "I'm going to head home now, John. I guess I will see you tomorrow. We will get through this." I was already tired from all of this.

With that, I exited the café and made my way into the car. "Why did all of this have to happen? Just why? We were doing great." I hit the pedal and went home.

"Hey honey, how was your meetup?" My wife once again greeted me when I arrived home."It was eventful to say the least," I said as I took off my shoes.

"Are you hungry, Bill? I can make you something if you like, or do you already have enough?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm going to head to the study to do some work. Please don't worry about me." I was actually hungry, but I didn't want to tire her. I then proceeded to go to my study and think about the events that transpired today. "How did this whole thing even start? Did John come up with the idea of this fake insurance business, or was it me? How can I not remember? I need to calm down; I must stay strong."

PART 3

"Thank you very much for the coffee, Susan." It was the next day, and I was at work like usual.

"Do you need anything else, or are you fine?"

"You're free to leave, Susan. "Thank you." With that, Susan exited my office.

"Today will be interesting." I mumbled to myself. Ruben, the detective who exposed us, was on my mind all day. I continued my normal work duties until there was a knock at my office.

"There's a letter for you, Bill," Susan said from outside.

"Come In."

Susan walked in and gave me the letter. I checked to see if there was a sender anywhere; however, I couldn't see any. Regardless, I opened the flap and pulled the piece of paper out and started to read the contents of the paper. As soon as I finished reading the letter, I just stared in disbelief. "Sorry, Susan, but I have to go somewhere right now. Tell the boss something urgent happened." With that, I exited my office and made my way down to the car. "What a pain." I muttered to myself while driving.

Minutes later I arrived at the place the letter specified going to. It was a small, run-down apartment complex further downtown with a trashy parking lot with only two cars. One of which was John's car. I parked my car and got out and noticed two people sitting in the other car. The two people were John and Ruben.

Ruben rolled down the stained window of his car. "Come on in, Bill; we have a few things to discuss first."

I opened the car door and got in the back seat. "I thought we were doing it after work. Why did you change the times?" I exclaimed with annoyance.

"I got too impatient to wait that long, so I personally came to your office and gave you that letter. As for John, I called him to come over since he hadn't started work yet." 

"So, this is the place where we're going to do it right?"

Ruben put his hands up and snapped his pale fingers again. "Yes, it is. There's only a single lady living here at the moment, and she has a fair amount of money despite living in this dump."

John then proceeded to chime in. "Can't you do this all by yourself? If you really want to do this sort of thing, why not by yourself?"

Ruben laughed and hit John on the back playfully. "I could, but I would feel lonely if I did it by myself. I like a bit of company."

"You really are the most peculiar person I have met," John exclaimed. 

Ruben gave a slight smile to that statement by John. "Well, let's get on with it. I will get out first and go check to see if she is the only one there. I will come back to get you. We will then go to her apartment, and you will do your usual thing. You got it?." We both nodded; we had no choice but to agree to what Ruben told us to do.

Ruben opened the car door, got out, and made his way into the old apartment building. "Hey John, I have my gun on me just in case." I said after I saw Ruben enter the apartment complex.

"Only use it if you have to. We don't want a repeat of what happened before."

"I know." We had only had to wait a minute or two until Ruben came back. "Alright, let's go." We got out of the car and followed Ruben into the apartment building. The apartment looked very old. The wallpaper had come off, and there was trash everywhere. After getting through the trashy ground level, we started climbing the dusty steps to the third floor where the victim was. "Is she actually the only person living in this apartment complex? It seems hard to believe," John asked.

"This complex has been abandoned for a while. However, the lady we are going to has refused to leave and insists on staying here. The only other people that come here are homeless people; however, there aren't any here at the moment". By the time he finished with his explanation, we had arrived at the third floor and at her door. "Go on," said Ruben.

John pulled out the paper from his pocket and proceeded to knock on the old wooden door that looked like it could break with a bit of force pushed on to it. 

"Coming!" Yelled a voice from the other side of the door. Seconds later the door was opened and we were greeted by the owner of the house. The lady was small, had Gray hair along with a pair of hazel eyes, and wore a pair of glasses.

John spoke up. "Hi there, madam, we are from Wyvern Insurance, and we would like to offer you an insurance plan for your home. Can we come in to proceed if you are interested?"

The lady thought about it for a while before she finally decided to let us in. We walked into the apartment and straightaway noticed how old and rugged the interior looked. There were stains everywhere and rubbish on the ground. "Sorry about the mess; I can't be bothered to clean up." The lady said.

"It's no problem; we all have our problems." Ruben said cheerfully.

The lady directed us to the living room, which looked very tacky and also had no sofas or chairs. I didn't know someone could live like this.

Anyway, we sat down in front of her. "If you would like to know more, please read this." John handed the woman the paper.

The lady started reading the paper thoroughly. We waited in silence until she had finished reading, "I'm not convinced by it; there's been a lot of these scams around recently, and this seems to be one of them." She said. John and I were both surprised by this. All of our victims were completely fooled by it. "Madam, I can assure you that we are a real business." I said desperately.

"I need some more proof." The woman proclaimed with a face that meant she wasn't fooling around.

I was about to speak when Ruben chimed in. "I will give you some advice, lady. If you don't accept their offer, something bad will happen to you. The person next to me shot someone because he got in the way of their business."

At that moment, John and I looked at Ruben in horror. We could not believe what we had just heard from him at that time. "What are you talking about? I never did such a thing," I said nervously. Ruben was about to respond when the woman responded. "Alright, I will accept your insurance. "How much will it cost?" Ruben's statement worked perfectly.

"One hundred and thirty dollars per month," Ruben said, smiling. The woman nodded at Ruben and stood up and walked out of the living room to get the money.

"Ruben! Why would you say such a thing?" I yelled angrily.

The detective scooted closer to me. "Because she wasn't going to accept it. I had to do something."

John then chimed in. "So what if the woman tells the police about what you said? We are done for."

Ruben laughed at John's sense of worry. "Don't worry, we will be fine." The woman came back to the living room minutes later. "Here is a hundred and thirty dollars for this month. Ruben took the money and put it in his pocket. "Thank you very much, ma'am. Also, you had better not tell anyone what I said, or else."

The lady nodded. Ruben stood up from the floor. "Let's go now."

We followed Ruben out of the ragged apartment. "Let's do it again soon. That was great fun." Ruben happily said with a smile while walking to the parking lot with us.

Words cannot describe how angry I was. However, I was trying my best to conceal it. "You were too reckless; we are still at grave risk of being caught."

Ruben laughed at my justified statement. "Says the one who almost killed a guy who got in the way of your plans."

That was my absolute breaking point. "I have had enough of you." I stopped and proceeded to pull out my pistol, which was lying in my pocket, and pointed it at Ruben. He turned around to face me.

"Don't do it, Bill; the situation will get even worse," John said desperately. However, I didn't care now. I just wanted to kill the guy who made our lives worse. "If you interfere, John, you will get killed as well." John nervously backed away.

"If you kill me, everything will go out," Ruben spoke in a very proud voice. I was confused by that statement at the time.

Ruben rubbed his hands together and breathed heavily. "You know that guy you almost killed." I stared at him in silence, listening to him. 'Well, I was able to visit him in the hospital. I told him who was the person who shot him and also John as well. I then proceeded to make a deal with him. I would pay him a certain amount of money every month to make him keep quiet about it. If, however, I were to die, then he should tell what I said to the police. If you were to kill me, you would be caught in no time. Also, there's no point in trying to hide my death since I also told him to consider me dead if I don't see him tomorrow."

John and I just looked at Ruben in utter shock. He had total control of us. We were playing his game. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, Ruben then said another few lines that filled me with horror.

"Also another thing, Bill. You haven't realised this, but your habit of talking to yourself has been noticed by your work colleagues. You have been saying things related to you being a conman while at work, and your work colleagues heard it. Although what you said wasn't close to a confession or a dead giveaway, the police have been looking into you."

My heart had started beating like crazy then. I wasn't ready for all this to be spoken to me. At that moment, I knew I was crazy. I thought I only talked to myself when no one was around. "What is your reason for doing all of this in the first place? Why did you play this little game with us?" I said to Ruben while I was still processing all he had said. My gun was still pointing at him.

Ruben's attitude suddenly changed. "I'm simply a detective who got bored and wanted to have some fun since I had never done something interesting in my life. However, my feelings have changed. I want to propose something. Let's have a classic cowboy standoff in the parking lot instead of you just shooting me right now." I can tell you don't care about being caught now." Ruben proceeded to reveal the gun he had in his pocket as well.

I stood silent for a few seconds. I could have killed him there, but I just couldn't do it like that. I was interested by his proposal. "Fine, let's do it."

Ruben clapped his hands happily. "Good. John, you will be the one to say draw when ready."

John, who had no choice, nodded. We put our pistols back in our pockets. Ruben and I made our way to the middle of the gray, bumpy parking lot, facing each other a few meters away. We both had our guns ready in our pockets, ready to draw them. John was also ready in position.

"I have only used a gun once before, but I must say that I'm pretty good," Ruben said that with the excited childish look he had. I didn't say anything to him; I just looked at the detective with pure focus.

"Alright then, John. Say draw whenever you are ready to," Ruben spoke. John must have looked at us with sweat pouring down him.

Ruben and I were fully focused. The silence that followed was brutal. It felt like minutes had passed.

"DRAW!"

The two of us quickly drew our pistols and aimed at each other. What followed next was two banging noises, which were obviously from the guns we had.

Ruben let out a scream. He put his hand near the wound he had gotten by me. I myself, on the other hand, was fine. The bullet completely missed me by a fair margin. I walked up to Ruben, who was by now on the gray ground without his gun. "That was an utterly pathetic shot by you." I said to Ruben. 

"You won fair and square. I hope you are happy now." Ruben mumbled while I was hovering above him like a predator about to devour his prey. "That thing you said about visiting the person was a lie, wasn't it? He should be in no condition to even listen and understand what you said."

Ruben, in his last breaths, mumbled, "Correct." I smiled at him and then walked away from the corpse and went over to John, who was still in the same position, looking blank. "Even if he lied about that, I don't think he had lied about my work colleagues hearing me talking to myself. Our game is over now, John." 

John looked at me with a blank face. "I do not regret what we did. I found a purpose, and we made a fair amount of money. But the money doesn't matter to me. I will stay here until the police come and get me. You have a wife, Bill, unlike me. Go and talk to her." This statement concocted by John proved how different we were.

I gave a smile at John. "I was planning on that." I said my goodbyes to John and proceeded to walk to my car and get into it. While driving off, tears started falling from my eyes. "I will tell you my true feelings."

After a stop, I arrived at home. I got out of my car and opened the door for the last time.

Millie, who was in the living room, made her way to the doorway. "Welcome home, Bill, you're here early." Millie had the same cute look she always had.

"I need to talk to you about something, Millie." I had never sounded so serious like that in my life. Millie noticed the serious look on my face, filled also with despair. "Alright."

We walked to the living room and sat down on the sad gray sofa. "I was foolish, Millie. I wasn't grateful enough to have you. I didn't need anyone else or anything else. I only really needed you, and I couldn't see that. Because of my foolishness, I made a mistake, and that mistake will make me stop seeing you again."

Millie was confused by my melancholy statement. "What are you talking about, Bill? I don't understand what you are saying."

I put my sad, dreaded hands around Millie. "You will know soon, Millie. Before arriving here, I made a call on a pay phone. I need to atone for my mistakes. "I'm sorry, Millie, I should have had the same love for you as you had for me." Tears were coming down my face again.

Moments later, police sirens could be heard from outside. "Thank you, Millie, for all the nice things that you did for me. I won't forget them."