Chapter 13

Arthur tries to look away but Officer Margaret seems to be controlling his gaze. She has the authority that even without permission you can't even look away from her. "What's wrong with your hand?" Officer Margaret asks. "A glass broke in my hand," Arthur replied. "Check the car thoroughly, we have a glass breaker here," Margaret taunted and threatened at the same time.

Arthur's heartbeat was on the rise. What if they find something? They had not carried the girl in this car. But the girl was with them for a few hours. What if there is some clue? Brian had gotten rid of the hair. That was one relief. A long hair, in a man's car, is no big deal until it is the same colour as a recent murder victim.

Arthur looked at Brian, he either was hiding his stress or doesn't have the capacity of a normal human to process this kind of terrible situation. Maybe he was okay with going to jail. But Arthur didn't want this. He had a family. What if they were distant right now, they will be together soon. And he had to write a novel too. An image of his fingers falling on a typewriter behind bars immersed him in his mind. He quickly brushed that thought away.

Of course, his publishers will love this marketing opportunity. Ex-cop behind bars writes a crime thriller. "You are sweating," officer Margaret broke Arthur's mental rumble. Arthur looked up, "Yeah, summer sun! I don't go out much." Officer Margaret offered a tissue. Arthur took it and wiped his forehead.

While Arthur and Brian stood there. The officers turned Arthur's car upside down. They took out the mats and seat cover. They left no corner untouched. The officers checked the car in and out. The glove box, the trunk, every nook and corner were checked. "It's all clean," one officer called out. Brian stepped ahead, "Can we go now?" Officer Margaret smiled, "Yes you may, Sorry for the inconvenience." Arthur and Brian got in the car and left. Arthur checked in the rear-view mirror; Officer Margaret was still looking at them.

"I think she will follow us," Arthur said. "I don't think so, looked like a routine check to me," said Brian. "There was nothing routine about the check, the only thing left was to take a big knife and spread my seat cushions on the road. We will have to be careful," said Arthur. Brian laughed, "you worry a lot, Arthur! Chill." Brian stretched his seat back and closed his eyes as if he was on a road trip.

But then he started talking like the cold killer he was, "Tonight we will go hunting again!"

"What? Why? The last case is still hot right now. And I think Officer Margaret has her eyes on us," reasoned Arthur.

"All the more reasons to show that spunk that we are not scared of her! Tonight, we hunt and this time you will choose the target, you spot them and you pull the knife," said Brian.

"But I don't think, I can do it," said Arthur. "I'll guide you," said Brian.

They reached the pharmacy and waited for the sun to go down. After ten o clock, Brian closed the store and came to the storeroom with Arthur. Brian removed a row of boxes that covered a wall. When Brian removed the boxes, a door appeared to Arthur. Brian took out a small key and unlocked the door.

"Keep with me," Brian motioned towards the hidden room. As Arthur entered inside, he saw a board with names of victims. There were more than seven names. Brian understood Arthur's confusion. "Sometimes, they don't find the body. Obviously, I have killed more than seven girls. Nowadays I make it easy for them to find the bodies," said Brian.

On the other wall was the row of jars, and in the jars were hearts, filled in some kind of liquid to preserve them. "I was saving that hair, so you can have your collection too, but alas we had to burn it," explained Brian again.

Arthur didn't like when Brian mentioned them was 'we' they were not a team or a school rock band. Brian was doing his job and Arthur was doing his. What was the need for creating any bonds here? Still, he found that it was thoughtful of Brian to save the hair for his collection. But it was weird too. Arthur was not planning on making in his small house a room full of totems from murdered people. What if Nadia or Daniel ever walks into that room?

But what if they found out what Arthur was doing, he had killed a girl and now he was also going to kidnap one. He was climbing the ladders of the serial killing business. But what choice did he have it was this or a lifetime of being tagged as a failure. People die in mines to bring out diamonds for some businessmen, these girls are dying to get my book published on time. There was not much difference between the two.

 The third wall was the real deal, this is where Brian kept his tools. True to his name, there was everything on this rack that you would find inside an autopsy room. Scalpel, Scissors, skull hammers, eye safety glasses everything. A pair of fresh gloves, aprons and his trademark blue overall were there too. Brian handed over a size smaller overall to Arthur. This time he didn't care to explain if this too was a wrong size online purchase or if Brian had specially ordered it for Arthur.

Brian put all his equipment in a bag and handed it to Arthur. They came out of the room; Brian locked the door. And covered it back with the boxes. Then he picked up another box labelled as a portable pregnancy test kit. "What do we need these for?" Arthur asked. "I'll explain on the way," said Brian.

They brought out the truck, but the stuff in it and left to find a girl who was destined to die tonight.