Backstab Chapter II

            The police station was only a few minutes away, making it easier to get back to the crime scene using their carriages. Whilst Dresden updated Chief Landen on the situation and what he had been up to, Parsley kept shouting at the coach to go faster. The wheels clanked and the carriage’s old wood creaked in a strange rhythm with the horses’ hurried hooves. Sparing a few glances around and outside, Dresden noticed the bad state in which the city was, made him think him leaving really did make that big a difference after all. The lamp posts bathed the cobblestone in light, showcasing the pieces of damp moss that made its way through the unsightly cracks, which some apartments had too. Except for his friends there were two other officers, wearing long-sleeved blue shirts and black pants, a small black cap in the shape of a bucket on their big heads. While their fashion was questionable, the rounded batons strapped to their hips by their belts were somewhat frightening.

            ‘And here we are,’ the low voice of the coach was heard.

            Inside the carriage everyone had to duck before getting out, the vehicle too small for their height. In front of them all, now, was the small block of apartments on Ghost Street. It was named so because of the unusual amount of fog that appeared in that area all year round. Chief Landen ordered the coach to go back to the station, turned around to his men and, pointing with his thumb behind him, told them to check the place out.

            ‘God almighty!’ cried an officer. ‘Do you smell that?’

            There was, indeed, a most terrible stench that came off from the house. It instantly struck Dresden as odd when he saw the door -which he’d previously left open- now closed. After mentioning this, the officers opted for kicking the door open rather than getting too close. Once it flung open, the smell became nearly unbearable.

            ‘I’m going in,’ Parsley said, taking in a big breath and keeping his nostrils closed with his thumb and forefinger.

Dresden did the same, though not successfully, for he couldn’t hold in his gasp. At once he noticed the absence of the body, a pool of blood forming in its place. There was no trail of blood to lead anywhere, nothing out of place.

‘But how…’ he muttered, dumbfounded. ‘Check the other rooms,’ he said, turning around to the officers.

‘Looks like there’s a dead man missing, Miles,’ the Chief said. ‘A murder fitting the street’s name, isn’t it? To disappear like a ghost,’ he continued, his arms crossed. ‘Tell me how he lay on the ground. You said he was stabbed in the chest, didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Dresden responded, his head dizzy. For some odd reason he couldn’t properly recall the exact location, even though it was clear in his mind all night until that moment. ‘His head was… well… about over there,’ he said, pointing to the left wall. ‘And his legs were pointing to the door.’ There was something else that was not as he remembered, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. By the time it revealed itself to him, the other two officers had come back with pale faces and trembling hands.

‘Chief… there’s another one in the kitchen,’ one of them said while the other rushed outside, covering his mouth with his hand. ‘It’s ugly.’

‘Offi-’ Dresden began, but was cut off by Landen asking how bad it was.

‘You should see for yourself, Chief,’ the officer responded with a shudder. ‘That’s where the smell came from.’

‘Let’s go,’ Parsley said, trying his method once more. His eyes widened as soon as he looked into the kitchen, glancing at Dresden in pure shock. He beckoned for them to come, his eyebrows raised, the skin on his forehead pinched in thin lines.

‘Holy…’ Chief Landen said, pushing his hat further back on his bald head, heaving out a breath so big it looked like his beige pants were a size too big for his waist. He was, indeed, a very good swimmer and the best at holding his breath under water, though his appearance gave off the complete opposite, much like Dresden. The two seemed to be different halves of the same whole, which made for a great partnership during investigations. It was said they were the best “good cop-bad cop” duo in the whole world.

The kitchen was small, only a small stove, few moldy cupboards and a bloodied chair upon which the same dead person lay, the corners of his mouth carved into a smile. Blood trickled from his cheeks and unto the floor, drying up by the time they’d arrived. The very familiar wound in his chest was still there, even more frightening without the knife to plug it, most of his torso and side reddened.

‘If he wasn’t going to die from the stab he would’ve from the bleeding alright. Can’t remember you saying he had such a decorated face, Miles,’ Landen said, stepping away from the kitchen, along with the other two.

Outside, after taking in few big breaths to calm down, Dresden began: “He was laying on the ground when I first came. The maniac must have come back and done that. Even when I left the door was open, and when we came to it wasn’t.’

The blood in his veins rushed at the speed of light, his head throbbing like popcorn, making him clutch it with his hands and grind his teeth to bear with the pain. Somewhere distant, in the background he heard Landen order the officers to bring backup and secure the area. The pain subsided as quickly as he got started by Parsley’s hand on his shoulder, asking if he was okay.

‘I’m fine, I just couldn’t rest properly,’ Dresden said, shrugging off his friend.

‘Now that’s something you don’t see every day,’ Landen said after a whistle. ‘It ain’t at all. What kind of idiot would’ve risked to come back and do such a thing? Well, there’s one thing I know, you’re going to have to help with this,’ he said, pointing towards the two.

‘Nothing’s been like it was a few months ago when you were still around, Miles, it truly hasn’t,’ Parsley began. ‘And I have a feeling someone well known by the police struck again. I’m surprised Landen didn’t mention anything about it.’

‘You think… D’you know what? Maybe it’s not that far-fetched,’ the Chief said, holding his chin in his hand. ‘Maybe not…’

‘What? Tell me what it is,’ Dresden said, intrigued.

‘There was this murder a few weeks back, haven’t managed to catch the guy who did it. He went by Miss Hailey’s a few blocks down, on Em Street, tried to rob her in the middle of the night. He’d managed to get an ugly cut on her arm before she screamed for help. Thankfully, a patrol was near and scared the guy away, managed to save her by taking her to the hospital. Doc Mitchell was less than pleased.’

‘Why would it be the same wretched murderer though?’ Parsley asked. ‘How could one know if it was meant as a robbery and not simply an attempt at murder? It makes me sick to my stomach.’

Dresden began walking towards the house once more. ‘Hold on for a second,’ he said, stepping into the first room. Looking around, he noticed the drawers ever so slightly pulled out. After yanking on them as hard as he could -for they didn’t move easily- he saw they were completely empty, except for a ripped photo inside a broken picture frame. He motioned for the other two to come in, saying ‘Look at this.’

The photo was ripped, only the left half remaining. It showed the murdered man in the kitchen, standing upwards, alive, with an arm swung around the back of his head in a friendly fashion, somewhere near a forest. The rest of it couldn’t be seen.

            ‘I think the other person could be his brother,’ Dresden said, putting it inside his pants. ‘We need to go to him quick, before anything happens. I have his address right… here,’ he said, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper with “Em Street Apartment 4” written on it. ‘I knew it sounded familiar. The guy probably entered the wrong house when he meant to kill the brother. I haven’t told anyone yet about the inheritance, but I figure you two should know… It’s three million pounds.’

            ‘Three million?!’ Parsley blurted out, his eyes wider than when he first laid eyes on the corpse. ‘I’m starting to think he wasn’t quite so mad for trying to lay his hands on that kind of money. I have but one question, though. If he kills all of the heirs how will he get anything?’

            ‘That’s the catch, he isn’t trying to kill all of us. He’s trying to take out two and scare the third into submission, and I think he’s keeping me for last,’ Dresden said.

            ‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Landen interrupted. ‘Maybe it was so when you were gone, but back in the detective’s seat I’m not so sure. He might see you as too much a threat.’

            ‘Now hold on…’ Parsley said. ‘Who said there had to be someone outside of the three to go for the money? Of course, that only leaves… the brother missing from the picture.’

            ‘Just the more reason to go to him now,’ Landen said, motioning for the approaching carriage to move faster.

            ‘Ever seen his face?’ Dresden inquired. ‘Otherwise him ripping the photo only meant covering his tracks.’

            ‘I don’t go to every block and memorize people’s faces, so, no, I haven’t seen him. The other people must have though, surely Miss Hailey can help. You lot search the place and talk to the neighbors, we have a lot of work to do,’ the Chief said, getting into the carriage. After the other two entered, he told the coach to get them as quickly as he could to Em Street.

 

            Upon arriving there, they noticed nothing out of the ordinary. They were halfway to the second floor when they heard a woman’s shriek.

            ‘Miss Hailey!’ Landen shouted, racing up the stairs and driving all of his force into the closest door to the right. ‘Open up!’ he shouted once more, bracing himself and smashing his shoulder against the heavy door.

            ‘Step back,’ Parsley said, pressing his strong hands on the metal door handle, pushing so hard his face turned red and Dresden thought he was a few seconds away from a popped carotid. Then, the handle finally gave out with a strong clank and the door opened.

            Silence filled the room, the door’s creak twice as loud in the anticipation filled ears of the three. Dresden was dizzy, heard the air entering and coming out of his lungs at too fast a pace. He noticed Landen’s hand slowly yet steadily flicking up his coat and gripping the gun at his side, his sweat visible in the light. The fully opened door revealed a thin corridor that lead to an unmade bed, the pillows and half of the sheet on the ground. There were no doors to the sides. Right above it a window was fully opened, the moonlight washing through it from the sky. Parsley licked and bit his lips as he made one noiseless step inside the room, Landen following right after with a swift nod. He had to get past Dresden, who was rooted to his spot, avoiding as best they could any brush of clothing. Suddenly, they heard the neighing of horses from downstairs, somehow pushing Landen into pulling his pistol out and rushing into the room, aiming first to the left and then right. His breaths were so big and fast it looked like a pufferfish bloating and deflating with every inhale and exhale.

            ‘Shh, be steady now,’ Parsley whispered, slowly reaching towards his panicking friend. ‘Don’t fire, it’s me, Parsley. There, there, slowly lower the gun. Beautiful.’

            When Parsley turned to where Dresden was to show off his calming technique, he couldn’t see him anymore. He’d already gone down the stairs and began hissing madly, knowing the killer was sure to steal the carriage. He went into the bedroom and from there to an opened door to the right where the two stood, looking over Miss Hailey’s dead body.

‘She must have screamed when he stuck the knife in her chest,’ Parsley said. ‘This confirms it, we’re dealing with the same murderer, whomever he is. The wretched smile is there.’

‘When do you think he had the time to do that, though?’ Landen asked. ‘She must’ve screamed worse then.’

‘Unless she was knocked out, under some sort of anesthetic,’ Dresden responded, crouching close to the disfigured face. ‘The skin isn’t so neatly cut, you can see he took his time with the first victim; here it’s just a botched cut out.’

‘He must’ve done it to show us he’s here. Must be a narcissistic kind of guy if he took the time for it,’ Landen said. ‘Poor old lady, was just unlucky to get into this mess.’ After a short silence he continued, with a sigh. ‘Might as well check out apartment four. Parsley you stay back and check to see anything out of the ordinary, maybe some kind of clue to how the b*****d got in.’ Parsley shot him a questioning look. ‘Ah, what the hell… You know how to do your job.’

By the time Landen turned to the corridor Dresden had already knocked on the apartment’s door thrice with no answer. Miles nudged the Chief, as though saying “Get us in.”

‘This is Chief Landen of the police!’ he shouted, unholstering his gun and aiming it at the handle. ‘You’ve got three seconds to comply! One! Two!’ he began.

‘That pistol’s not good enough, do you want to kill us?!’ Dresden shouted.

Then a bang rang out from his gun, reverberating in the hall and inside the detective’s head. The bullet sent splinters flying upon impact, pushing the door out with it.

‘This here’s the oldest wood and lock I’ve ever laid eyes upon, Miles. Don’t worry, I’m not the Chief for nothing.’

There wasn’t a single light on, forcing the Chief to advance with his gun at the ready. Thankfully Dresden found a light switch a few steps from the entry, on the left wall. Upon turning it on, few small flickers of light came out of the single light bulb that hung from the middle of the ceiling. It was just enough, though, to show them a glimpse of the darkened body of a person standing at the end of the room, no more than five steps away from Dresden.

            ‘Make way!’ Landen shouted, shooting two more bullets, each lighting up the room for a few milliseconds at a time, just enough to notice the body wasn’t moving.

            There was no groan, no movement, no thud of something hitting the ground.

            ‘What the hell?’ Landen asked. Looking at the gun he only saw three bullets left.

            Doors began opening down the hall, allowing the Chief to ask for someone to bring him a lantern and alert the police. A man quickly dressed himself and offered to go by horse to the police station, saying he only needed to go to the stables. The light from the lantern revealed that Landen had shot a hanged man’s body. His face was completely battered and unrecognizable. Gasps and mutters of panic came from the civilians when they saw it.            ‘Back to your rooms now, back! The police and detectives are on it,’ he said, with an accent on “detectives”. ‘What the hell is happening, Miles?’ he asked, resting a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

            ‘I have no clue. Let’s see if Parsley has anything for us. Judging by his smile he probably does.’

            ‘I’ve heard your making a fuss, is everything quite alright down there?’ Parsley asked, a small, ripped photo of a man in his hand. ‘Look what I’ve found! Quite the nice piece of evidence; this might be the other part of the photo we found on the first victim. More than that, I think I know how everything happened, but I’m not quite sure in some areas. The point of it all is that he made his way into the house somehow.’

            ‘What’s the picture like?’ Dresden asked.

            It was a picture ripped on the left part, the right part straight. It showed a man with his face cut out, standing with a cup in his left hand, his right hand out of the picture. The background was the same forest as the first one.  

            ‘Guess we need only one last piece… But what about him getting inside?’ Landen asked.

‘He must’ve climbed through the window, for, you see, there are quite enough spaces to grip around the walls. Then, he’d thrown himself onto her, choked her and set to work. Though, I don’t know why he’d let his grip go and let her scream when he was so close,’ Parsley said.

            ‘And then out through the window?’ Dresden asked, suspiciously.

            ‘Right as Parsley forced open the door,’ Landen added.

            ‘That can’t be right,’ the detective said. ‘What if the window was closed before he got it? You think he just knocked on it for her to let him in?’

            ‘What if it was open?’ Landen said.

            ‘No old lady keeps a window open at night and in her room, especially above her head. No one does. The cry for help tells us everything we need to know, friends! Judging by the absence of a door chain all he needed to force his way in was for her to open the door even slightly. Then, he clutched her neck so she couldn’t scream nor breathe and began cutting her.’

            ‘Still, how could she scream then?’ Parsley asked with an exasperated sigh, his arms resting on the window at staring blankly at the moon.

            ‘Can’t know everything,’ Dresden said, heaving a big sigh. ‘All we can do now is rack our brains until we find anything’

            ‘The fun part of the job, ain’t it?’ Landen asked, trying his best to lighten the mood. His smile succeeded in doing so -for his smile was warm and welcoming, his fat cheeks making him look like a jolly old man who hands out presents.

            ‘Indeed, you are right,’ Parsley said. ‘May I take a look at the other victim? We may still get some food for thought tonight.’

            Meanwhile, another carriage had arrived, officers storming the two open rooms and searching for clues. They took the hanged body down, sending it to forensics and then to be given a proper burial.

            ‘Poor guy must’ve gone through a lot. Imagine getting bashed in the face -seems like it’s with an iron pipe- and then having your body hung like that. It can’t be anyone but the second brother, right? The killer must’ve known we’d check.’

            ‘Don’t be so sure,’ Dresden said. ‘Maybe that’s exactly what he wants us to think. We just don’t know enough of this guy yet. That reminds me, don’t be so happy about the picture. He must’ve left it there intentionally, a kind of apropos to the first death.’

            ‘A note of hello, is it?’ Landen asked with a short laugh. ‘That means we’re on duty to respond, doesn’t it?’

            ‘Very much so,’ Parsley said, now smiling. ‘We should rest for the night and meet tomorrow at… let’s say ten AM at the police station.’

            ‘Sounds good to me,’ the Chief said. ‘Hey, get some more patrols around the city until dawn and make sure there are at least two officers at the crime scenes,’ he addressed an officer. ‘Let’s go, there’s still that carriage outside.’ When they arrived and sat down, he continued. ‘I’m sure your back hurts by now, eh, Miles?’

            ‘Excuse my intrusion, gentlemen,’ the coach butted in. He looked very young to be a coach, his short, blonde hair with red tips getting the attention of everyone. ‘The man who requested the carriage here -quite tall, well dressed, on a horse-, specifically asked me to tell the man who has back aches to... Well… It’s a bit crude…’ he said, muttering more to himself at the end.

            ‘What?’ Dresden asked, his headache returning once more, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

            ‘He told you to watch your back, sir,’ the coach responded, ‘for who knows what kind of pains there may be in the future.’ After a few seconds of anxious silence, he continued. ‘Where to, Mister Landen?’

            The Chief didn’t respond for a few seconds, dumbstruck himself. ‘To… uh…’

            ‘I’ll be sleeping over at Parsley’s tonight,’ Dresden interrupted.

            ‘To the police station then,’ Landen said.

            ‘Very well, off we are then,’ the coach said, his voice trembling, whipping the horses.

           

The three stood silent the whole ride, bidding their goodbyes to Landen and heading to Parsley’s.

            ‘What a strange, strange unit this man is,’ Parsley said, but Dresden didn’t seem to notice. His friend went on anyway. ‘Such attention to detail… I’m telling you, Dresden, this might be our most difficult and most rewarding case yet! I’m sure of it, I’m completely certain. After all, how much will it take for the will to be split?’

            ‘About a week days until it arrives at the city hall and from then on two days until the secretary can write the proper forms and split the money to the ones still alive,’ he answered mechanically, recalling just what had been said after the death of his step-mother.

            ‘That gives him at most nine days. That’s a lot to work with, you know! For someone like him… He’s taken one member out and who knows who the hanged man was… Maybe all three were executed in a single night!’

            ‘Don’t get too excited or you’ll be the next one hanging, Parsley.’

            ‘I know, I know,’ his friend said, with a great sigh. ‘I was just trying to burry all of my fright underneath the fighting spirit I guess. But one can only wonder…’

            ‘Shut it. No more talk about the incident until tomorrow morning. You can’t expect to function properly without rest, even-’

            ‘Even as a detective, I know, I’m aware, Dresden, you’ve told me many times. I’m sorry, I really am, I am just so forgetful sometimes, silly me!’ Parsley said, covering his face with his hands. ‘You know what will cheer you up? A good drink and a book, how about it, Dresden? Capital, isn’t it? As soon as we get back I’ll have something made. Unfortunately you’ll have to sleep on the sofa, I don’t think it will be much of a problem thou…’

            Parsley’s voice slowly faded into a set of muffled chatter that he couldn’t and didn’t care to properly decipher. His mind was in other places as he pulled out the pipe from his pocket and lighted it up, fully enjoying the aroma with every inhale.

            ‘Good old,’ he said, more of a whisper.

            ‘I was sure you were going to like it!’ Parsley said, wrapping his arm around the back of Dresden’s head in a friendly way. ‘What kind of partner would I be without helping out my ally? We’re just a few steps away,’ he said, pulling out a small, iron key from his pocket.

            Dresden already knew by heart the walk to his comrade’s quarters from anywhere in the city. “I guess carriage rides to crime scenes helped me remember this place.” The two had been in many cases together, more than even the police department could count, for at least a quarter were on the down-low, spies for hire. “How else could one earn a living as a freelancer without getting their hands dirty once in a while?” is what their clients used to say. Of course, Parsley didn’t always approve and neither did Dresden, but the men were right. A little extra pay never hurt. Thinking about this reminded Miles of the apartment he was supposed to be in now, but he didn’t dare try go there by himself, especially at night. Their killer -or better yet killers- were up to plenty of mischief tonight, and he didn’t want to test their methods. He was more than sure that if someone wanted to find out where he lived all they need to do was find out the pattern every morning. Dresden cursed himself for making the exchange between him and Jerry so obvious, thought it wise to change things up a bit. If he’d stay much more in the city that is.

            ‘There we are, home sweet home!’ Parsley said, taking in a big breath and smiling, shutting the door behind them and locking it twice. ‘Never can be too safe, especially with how things are going as of late,’ he continued, noticing Dresden’s inquisitive look. ‘Three murders in one night, can you believe it? There hasn’t been this interesting a case in years! I would say I’m excited but the walls have ears, you know… Well of course you do, what am I even saying? I’m sorry, I’m rambling, of course I am, but how can I help it knowing there’s such a maniac out there? You must admit, my Dresden -also have you noticed everyone else calls you Miles?- you must admit that it’s both exhilarating and scary, but that’s what we’ve signed up for.’

            ‘A bit of silence, please,’ Dresden said, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the hanger. Parsley had to stop it from swinging, afraid it might fall. Then, he went back and properly put both of their shoes next to each other.

            ‘I’d advise you to take more care of your clothing… You’ve much changed in that aspect.’

            ‘Had to go incognito,’ he said, knowing it slipped out but going on without having the time to stop himself, ‘Can’t let anyone else know it’s me.’ Dresden’s heart started beating faster than when Parsley was breaking down the door, sweat forming in mere seconds on the back of his head and around his ears. He saw a glimmer of curiosity in Parsley’s eyes, relaxed himself when he smiled lop-sidedly again.

            ‘You’re truly right, what a mind you have! What if the murderer were to have seen you and, knowing you’re Dresden the detective, would’ve tried to kill you?’

Dresden tried to hold in his breath of relief, changing it into a yawn. He began taking off his socks and shirt.

‘Have any pajamas spare?’

‘Goodness me it’s so late, we should get some sleep before we have to meet with the rest. And, yes, of course, I’ll bring you some.’

Parsley handed him pajamas with black and orange stripes on them, made out of some weird drape-like material, a size too big for him. He also brought a pillow and a sheet to use as a blanket. “Only got one” was his excuse.

 

“God…” Dresden thought to himself, hearing Parsley’s loud snoring. He was a room away, the kitchen door closed and it still passed through. Thankfully for Parsley, though, it wasn’t the only thing that was keeping Miles up. His mind was a mixture between beating himself up for letting the information slip and nearly alerting Parsley to what he’d done and trying to solve the mystery at hand. “Why,” he thought, “Would someone change the position of the murdered man? I left him lying there on the ground for good, and then it all changes when I come back. Who is this person? What kind of calling card is that? Is he smiling at me out of pity or because he knows who I am? Maybe he sees in me an ally… after all, he might think we’re both after the brothers.’ He kept tossing and turning in his makeshift bed, not enjoying his being alone at night by himself while not at home. For a detective that spent much of his time alone, he hated the dark, it was his biggest fear. The incident that brought about the fear and the visions that warped in the dark also made him want to become a proper detective, and highlighted his talent for it.

When he was no more than twelve years old -he couldn’t quite remember when, his childhood memories were mostly a blur- he noticed something on the side of the road, where a small river was. Crouching near it revealed the mangled body of a dead man, his face crushed to mush, much like the one he’d seen hanged just a few hours ago. He panicked and started screaming until his throat ached and he couldn’t any more, cried until he got to the police office and then some more. They congratulated him for alerting them to the murder, but that wasn’t all, not by far. At that time a very well-known detective in the whole country -Dresden had forgotten his name long ago, but he could never forget his long, fresh shaved face and clothing style, which he copied all his life in the man’s honour- was passing through town. The man took pity on the child, saying something similar showed him the path to becoming the detective he was, offering to take Dresden under his supervision as his second, showing him the ropes and solving the mystery together. In truth, it wasn’t hard at all to guess who the murderer was, by the shape in which the body was. Dresden pointed out small patches of hay in the man’s clothes, which, though unnecessary to the brilliant detective, earned him a pat on the back. The man deduced that the killer was a farm owner not too far from there, because of the bullet wound inside the man’s chest. It originated from a special revolver that only the gun enthusiast of the city had. But Dresden, being somewhat annoyed that he hadn’t done good enough a job, did the detective one better, by explaining that the man had battered the body as to hide the gunshot wound. Only now did both the detective and the officers acknowledge the boy’s skill and offered to employ him when he’d grow up to work for them as a main detective.

Though all was well in the end, the sight of the body covered in blood took a big tool on Dresden’s psyche, which paired with his vivid imagination -that very much helped in solving cases- proved to be a less than pleasant experience. As he slept by himself he could, at first, notice the darkness forming into strange shapes, not quite people, more like whirlpools in mid-air. Then, as time went by and he saw more and more dead people, faces and eventually full bodies started to form in the dark, just standing and staring at him, not out of spite but what seemed like pure curiosity.

            Now he could see the first and last murdered people he’d seen, side by side. He at first tried talking to them, always too scared to turn their backs to them or get too close. A great icy feeling would come over his body were he to do those things, but at the same time he could feel his heartbeat all over his body all at once, providing heat that fought with the coldness of his fear and sweat. They never tried to move, even when he did, always keeping a comfortable distance and disappearing during the day. He’d never told this secret to anyone for he could guess the answer: “You should go to a psychotherapist,” or something of the sort, for which he was both too busy and lazy to do. In the end he came to not mind them much, but at nights like that one they quite hindered his thinking process. Then, they slowly faded as an idea took hold of his mind.

            He got up quickly from the bed, opened the door to the kitchen and went to Parsley, shaking him awake.

            ‘Parsley, Parsley, I’ve got it!’

            ‘Go away…’ his friend muttered. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ he said, turning suddenly in his bed as though awake all along. This sudden change scared Dresden at first. ‘What is it? You are well aware that if it isn’t anything satisfactory I will be forced to call the police on you.’

            ‘But it is very satisfactory! I know why she let out a scream.’

            ‘Who let out a what? A scream?’

            ‘The old woman you… Okay, keep up with me here. The blasted woman that was murdered today that we didn’t know what happened to her. Remember her?’

            ‘Oh, right, quite right. Tell me, then, genius.’

‘Something must have threatened his whole operation,’ Dresden said, ignoring the snide remark.

            ‘Would a sound work? A sound to make him think someone was coming…’ Parsley added, quickly.

‘Our carriage!’ Dresden nearly shouted. ‘When he heard our carriage he knew he had to get things done quickly. He’d already committed a murder just minutes before, he must’ve been giddy and frightened, didn’t organize his moves properly. Locking the door was his top priority; it would’ve given him enough time to finish, but in his hurry he eased his grip just enough for her to alert us. Then, he knew he had to end it and just stabbed her after locking the door, and out the window he went at the perfect time. He made his way to the carriage with his weapon and threatened the coach to drive and make his getaway.’

‘I know he’s a murderer and a despicable human being, but he’s not an idiot, not at all…’ Parsley said.

            ‘It’s good you say that. It means I have some more good news for you then,’ Dresden said, laying his hand on Parsley’s shoulder.

            ‘What?’

            ‘We’ve a real case on our hands,’ he said, grinning and nodding.

            A few seconds of silence hung in the air. ‘Is that all? I have some bad news for you, then. I’d recommend working on your timing to improve suspense.’

            ‘Goodnight,’ Dresden said, with a sigh, shoving Parsley’s face in his pillow, then getting up and leaving for his makeshift bed, still smiling. His grin faded quickly, though, the first rays of dawn making their way through the old and torn curtains, getting into his eyes. He turned around in anger multiple times, hearing a soft laugh from Parsley that made him even more upset.

            In the end he managed to fall asleep due to exhaustion, as he’d always done since his first vivid nightmares.

           

            Dresden felt himself being shaken awake, with some sound close to his ear, thought it was a fly and went to slap it away, felt Parsley’s thin face stop his hand.

            ‘Good morning to you too!’ Parsley said, pushing Dresden off the couch.

            His barely woken up body thudded against the cold, hard wood, underneath, head first. He let out an “Ow”, moving his hand in the air, trying to clutch something he could use to get up. Finding Parsley’s arm he took it and had a thought about pushing his friend down, but didn’t want to risk upsetting him so he didn’t.

            ‘Rise and shine,’ Dresden said. ‘Do you have any food around here? My stomach’s rumbling.’

            ‘You don’t look like a morning person,’ Parsley responded, already wearing long, dark brown pants and a mint shirt with its cuffs pulled to the elbow. ‘Come when you’re dressed. Pick out anything from my wardrobe if it strikes your fancy,’ he continued, walking towards the kitchen. ‘I beg you, refrain from wearing the same outfit over and over again.’

            ‘I’ll… make sure to heed your important advice. Got to look sharp when I’m investigating dead bodies. Wouldn’t want my bad clothes stained now would we?’

            Parsley scowled with a deep sigh, his hands on his hips, then went back to his smile. ‘You must only be in time for the meeting. We have no more than thirty minutes left, chop chop,’ he said, checking his brown leather watch.

            ‘Sure,’ Dresden responded, going into his friend’s room. There, he opened the door to an imposingly big closet, revealing tens of hangers on which stood, already prepared, shirts and pants to match Parsley’s style. ‘Bright green shirts with dark blue pants, red with purple… What kind of strange clothing tastes does this man have? I’m short of calling him a maniac…’ Dresden said, more of a mumble.

            ‘Heard you,’ Parsley said from right behind. ‘I knew you were going to criticize my style, I fully did!’

            ‘It’s not my fault though, is it? I’ll just pick… this,’ Dresden said, not looking at the other clothes.

            ‘See? A beautiful blue shirt and some gray pants. They’ll fit you just right. Come now, make haste to the kitchen, we don’t have all day.’

            Dresden dressed up and had breakfast in the kitchen, a meager cup of tea that was mostly water and a boiled egg. By ten AM they were at the police station, welcomed in by a surprisingly tired Landen, a cup of coffee in his right hand.

            ‘Morning, both of you,’ he said, with a nod. ‘Haven’t seen you with bags under your eyes in a while,’ he added, talking to Dresden. ‘Rough night?’

            ‘Can’t say I had my beauty sleep when we have this case underway, but it wasn’t all bad. We figured out how the murderer got inside the room and why Miss Hailey screamed.’

            After Dresden told Landen everything, the latter asked ‘Why’d he leave her in that room then?’

Dresden shook his head and shrugged, letting out a hiss of anger.

‘Coming with the hard questions so early? Haven’t even had a proper waking up yet.’

            ‘I’m surprised, with the cold air around here and all. Let’s go into my office, we have some reports to check on, from the crime scenes,’ Landen said, nodding to some of his officers when he’d entered, making his way to a door at the end of the station’s hallway. It had written “Chief G. Landen” on it, needing a key to unlock. Inside the dark room there was a ceiling fan with a light bulb that hung from its center, above a big, dark wood desk, a small stack of papers on it.

            ‘What’s the “G” stand for?’ Dresden asked as Landen sat down on his big chair, Parsley opening the window on the side of the room and leaning his elbows on it.

            ‘George,’ the Chief responded, taking out a cigarette out of one of the drawers, balancing it on his lower lip and lighting it. The gray, metal zipper opened and closed with a tough clank.

            ‘Thought you’d quit smoking,’ Dresden said, leaning on the wall next to the door.

‘Old habits…’ Landen trailed off, motioning a circle with his arm. ‘Round and round.’

‘You okay there, Parsley?’ the mood seemed awfully strange and awkward to Dresden, like the two were plotting something and he couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

            ‘He meant to do so,’ Parsley said, after a minute of silence in the room. He turned from the window, his gaze moving from one man to the other. ‘If he would have left her in the middle of the passage it would have been easier for us to rush him, flush him out. However, because we didn’t know he wasn’t holding her as a hostage -for that is why we advanced so slowly- our only choice was to go slow, giving him enough time to escape. He is no ordinary fool, I’m afraid. This will be quite tricky.’

            ‘Looks like we the old duo hasn’t lost its power yet, eh?’ Landen said, taking a big puff out of his cigarette. ‘Dresden would you be so kind to find Officer Elena for me? I’m sure she’s at the desk near the entrance, I forgot to ask her for the reports,’ he continued, a soft and pitying smile on his face.

            ‘Y…yes, I can go do that,’ Dresden said, hesitantly, opening the door with a sharp creak. ‘It’ll only take a minute.’

            The station had three floors, the ground flood being the least occupied. Here were few tables and chairs, with officers discussing their respective cases. Everyone wore the same uniform, their hats hanging from their belts when inside. It didn’t happen once for Dresden to hear how one of those eggshells saved a person’s life. Once, when he was a child, he heard that an officer threw it at a criminal to block a bullet mid-air, but never stopped doubting the validity of the more unreasonable stories.       

            As Landen had said, a woman was sitting behind a kind of counter near the entry, a police badge on the wall next to her as well as various magazine headlines of cases being solved and a panel for “Officer of the Month”. He felt a bit sore for not realizing she had been there all along when he first entered. Except for Landen Dresden never enjoyed the company of the police, unless they were trying to save him or passing by during the night.

            ‘Good morning, I’m Dresden Miles, detective paired with Chief Landen on the triple murder case.’

            ‘A very good morning to you too, good sir,’ the woman started with excitement. She was much shorter than him, at most 1.60 meters tall, her long, red hair caught in a tail. She had small, golden flower earrings that reflected light from the lamp on her desk right into his eyes. ‘What can I help you with? It must be the reports if I’m not mistaken,” she continued with a broad, white toothed smile. Dresden was positively impressed by the perfection of the woman’s… whole face. No traces of the lipstick on her teeth, her eyes the perfect shade that made one ask if they were blue or green, everything was perfect to the smallest detail.

            ‘Yes, quite so… the reports,’ he responded after a few seconds of silence, realizing he had been staring.

            She turned around at once, facing many shelves stacked with papers that she began lifting and peeking into.

            ‘So,’ she began abruptly, visibly nervous, ‘I know you’ve probably been told this a lot in your time, but I admire your work.’

            Normally, Dresden would have thought “Here we go again” but the beauty of this woman really made it seem like a first-time compliment, receiving it with warmth. He checked himself just after, remembering that he would allow no woman to thread through his personal life, no matter what. It would be for the best of both people involved.

            ‘I’ve applied for a job here just in hopes that I’ll ever be half as good as you,’ she continued, on tip toe, trying to reach for a pile just above her reach. Dresden needed to once more avert his eyes, when she suddenly turned her head around and asked how old he thought she was, with a smile of self-satisfaction.

            ‘I can’t tell, but if I had to guess-’

            ‘You have to,’ she interrupted unceremoniously.

            ‘I’d say twenty.’

            ‘You’re generous,’ she responded, turning fully around with a stack of papers as thick as her finger. ‘Off by two years.’

            “And I’m guessing I don’t get to know more than that,” he thought to himself. “Good, I don’t even want to know.”

            ‘Well,’ he said, turning over the reports in his hand, trying to show his not caring as much as possible ‘Thanks for the help.’

            ‘Best of luck on the case,’ she responded, with a serious face. ‘I’ve read through those papers and spoke to some officers when they came off their night shift… It looks grim.’

            ‘No one said it would be fun or easy,’ Dresden responded, waving goodbye and making his way back to the office. He heard mumbling from the inside, slowly crouched and put his ear to the door.

            ‘I don’t like this, I really don’t,’ Landen said. ‘There’s something off about him, isn’t it? Don’t worry, he’s probably still there flirting with the girl. Plus, we aren’t plotting against him, I’m just… Look, you’ve seen how he drags himself along. He’s even let himself grow a beard for Christ’s sakes, and you saw how he was dressed yesterday. I’m telling you, something ain’t right, and I think these murders’ll take a toll on him. Maybe not now, you’re right, but later they will.’

            Dresden’s thoughts were positively reinforced about his old friends, though he didn’t like them questioning his sanity. He spent a few seconds to consider what he was doing wrong, realized it wasn’t the time nor place for it and got up. He took a few silent steps back, then walked harder and louder on purpose as to announce his coming. He opened the door and saw Parsley back looking out the window, with Landen putting out his cigar.

            ‘Here they are,’ he said, bringing the papers up to his face.

            ‘Put them on the desk ‘ere and let’s see what’s going on,’ Landen said, with Parsley coming from the window and leaning his arms on the side of the desk. He let out a long sigh as he rested his head on his closed fist.

‘Looks like the officers haven’t found much about how everything happened,’ Dresden said, glancing at him after looking into the files. ‘But… hold on, look at this,’ he continued, pointing to a summary from a dialogue between a certain Miss Anderson who lived at apartment seven and a police officer. He read it out loud.

‘Miss Anderson claims she has never seen the man that came out of apartment number ten and volunteered to help the detectives. Moreover, she says he had been dressed already, something she found strange so early in the morning. She also kept repeating that, while her eyes might have deceived her, she saw blood on the man’s white shirt cuff, which, she says, is the reason why he went back inside and put on his coat.’ Continuing was a description of the man that they all saw. His height was unknown and so was everything except his clothing and his hair, which was long and dark, caught in a tail at the back.

‘Now that’s mighty interesting, isn’t it?’ Landen asked, a big grin on his face. ‘I think we’ve got someone who we can pry some answers from.’

‘If we take a hold of him that is,’ Parsley said. ‘We must remember what the coach told us and heed his threat. If not… who knows what might happen? I dare not even think of it.’

            ‘A pain in the back’s what he said, eh?’ Landen asked, looking at the nervous Dresden. ‘I think he meant a knife in the back by that, friend.’

            Dresden grinded his teeth and tried his best to shake off his worries. ‘I know,’ he responded, with a concerned, barely existing smile. ‘But if anyone that wanted me dead would have succeeded I’d be long gone by now. Our first priority is the case and making sure other people don’t die.’ While he said this he noticed the hurried exchange of worried glances between his two friends. He looked down at the papers once again, trying to bury his anger and troubling thoughts under his work.

            ‘This, too, is important,’ he said, pointing to another extract. ‘It says that blood has been found on the carpet in the hall, which proves my theory of how things happened right. There was also a mark on the wall there, which could be seen as a scratch or punch, but they can’t be sure because of the poor state of the walls themselves.’

            ‘We’re slowly getting closer to him, even though we’re moving on the tips of our feet,’ Landen said, encouragingly. ‘That’s what one must do, isn’t it? Take the best out of everything they can.’

            ‘That’s right,’ Dresden said, slightly surprised by his friend’s sudden lightened mood. ‘We need to get into the mind of the killer first of all, and we’re managing it so far. Now, about the hanged man we haven’t been able to find much. Not one of the residents has given any solid information on either of the persons, though now that they heard Miss Anderson’s statement they’ve all begun thinking the same thing -about how the man living there had never shown up before. Moreover, people find it strange that anything at all was in the hanged man’s room, for they all thought it was an unmarked supply closet. Apparently there is someone that owns the place, a man named Oliver Green, but he’s only shown up once, and that was when he bought it a year ago.’

            The three sighed and tried to form theories, starting with “What if…” or “Maybe…” but breaking off before they could articulate something worthwhile. 

            ‘Wait, you missed something there,’ Landen said, pointing somewhere Dresden had skipped. ‘It says a man by the name of Giggs swore he’d seen and talked to the actual owner of apartment ten, an Italian man that looked quite different from the stranger that had come out in the morning. He also said that he kept to himself most of the time, never seeing him but once when he attempted to make small talk about taking out the trash but failed.’

            ‘Quite right,’ Parsley added after a few seconds of silence when everyone else read the full paper. ‘And there, you see, his description of the Italian man -short, plump and bald- is nearly identical with the hanged man’s body, though no one was allowed to see him. It can’t be left to a simple coincidence.’

            ‘What do you mean?’ Landen asked, frowning at him with a raised eyebrow.

            ‘Wait!’ Dresden cried. ‘You can’t think…’ he broke off, his eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open.

As Parsley began explaining himself, Dresden’s lip quivered and Landen’s frown grew harsher and meaner.

‘There is but one thing I see here, one thing!’ he nearly shouted, throwing his heads up, scaring the two. ‘The man that came out that morning out of apartment ten is at least a friend of the murderer’s or the murderer himself, it’s quite clear! Let me explain. Both of you, shut up and stop looking at me with those angry faces. I had to say it to express my idea. Look, it isn’t complicated at all. The killer knew he had to pick a target out of the whole apartment block and on that exact corridor, fairly close to Miss Hailey’s door and I’ll show you why. Firstly, he looked into them all, noticed their habits. Of course, it would have been quite foolish of him to mask as a woman, that couldn’t do, you can agree. Though, he could have passed it as being as the woman’s one night stand at that time, but why risk it? Anyway, as I was saying, he found out there were only two men that fit that criteria there. The first was the Italian man and the second was the man living where the hanged man was found. Well, hold on now, you might say, why is there only one man dead and not two? Well, we can figure that out easily! What if, listen here, I know you might see it as far-fetched but just wait and you’ll see in the end, I tell you. Where was I? Oh, of course, to why there aren’t two dead bodies, thank you, Dresden.

At this point, as Parsley said, everything seemed far-fetched but, as it was their only possible lead, Dresden and Landen only looked at each other and nodded to wait and hear out their friend until the end.

‘So, the killer finds out the first apartment’s man hasn’t lived there in a while but is rumoured he could come back at any time. The chief problems are that if he just tried to hide there he doesn’t only not have a key to the apartment but even if he did he could risk the man coming back while he was returning from the murder -coming out of the woman’s room with blood on his shirt. If he tried to simply kill the Italian man, who, as everyone knew, never left the house, he could stay there but then again might risk the first man coming in randomly and catching him in the act. His best chance was to buy the apartment from the first man so he wouldn’t go there -for a random tip would require the killer finding the man and risking the chance of making him go to the police with the information- and disguising himself as the Italian,’ Parsley concluded, an actual straight smile on his face, feeling so giddy they thought he might begin dancing at any second. His happiness was cut short, though, when he saw the other’s faces. ‘What?’

‘Parsley, look…’ Dresden began, a tone of sadness in his voice. ‘What you said kind of makes sense but it doesn’t add up at the end.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, first of all, how did he keep tabs on all of the people? Second, how did he even find the man and then proceed to buy his apartment without the police having any record of it?’

‘He’s right,’ Landen said, shaking his head with a tight lipped smile of pity. ‘It’s a story too good to be true. And even if all of this happened, how did he escape out the window then get back in his room while we were in the corridor?’

At this, Parsley looked away from his friends, his lips shut tight in anger. Nobody said anything for at least two minutes.

‘Good job,’ suddenly broke out from Parsley, hoarse from talking so much. ‘I’m not upset, we must be realistic, don’t we?’

‘Parsley…’ Dresden began, stretching his hand out to lay it on his friend’s shoulder.

‘No, no, don’t worry,’ Parsley said, waving Dresden off. He licked his lips, dug his nails into his palms. ‘I’m sure you’ll all do much better without me, isn’t it? I have a proposition for you, a bet, if you will! I’ll investigate my story,’ he said, nearly shouting the “story”.

‘We’re supposed to be a team, all of us,’ Dresden said, trying to stop his friend.

‘And you’ll try your luck with yours,’ Parsley responded, ignoring Dresden completely. ‘After all, if we all put our resources into a bad story nothing good will come out of it, yes? It’s better we split then, and check everything together in…’ he trailed off, trying to dig his watch out from under his cuff, nearly digging at his skin, mumbling “Where are you, you filthy…” before finding it. “In a week’s time. On exactly eleven and a half AM, a week from now I’ll be here, at the police office. From then on, please try to forgive what I’ve said and forget about me. We’ll match our findings then,’ he concluded and made off for the door before anyone could stop him.

Silence hung in the air, the two men staring at one another completely taken aback.

‘What the hell was that?’ Landen said, more to himself.

            ‘I think he’ll come back to normal soon, or, at least, he’ll be okay out there,’ Dresden said, trying to calm both of them down. ‘Maybe he’s right, but, as he said, we must find out another way for this. Don’t forget, he’s still on our side and always will be, we both know him. He’s just… fixed on his target I guess.’

            Landen heaved out a huge sigh, sounding like a whistle.

            ‘I have high hopes for the kid. I know he’s good but can’t have someone like him blow his brains out with work.’

            ‘That’s what we do,’ Dresden said, right as the woman at the counter came in.

            ‘Mister Landen, a man you came in just went outside, and he looked pretty furious… is everything okay?’ she asked, looking from one man to the other, smiling when she noticed Dresden was there.

            ‘Yes, he is,’ the Chief responded with a dismissing wave of the hand.

            ‘Don’t beat yourself up, Landen,’ Dresden said, nudging his friend on the shoulder. ‘You said what you ought to, we can’t agree with him just because he’s our friend. He must’ve just spent a lot of time to get the idea and, when he was dismissed, he just lost it. It happens to the best of us from time to time. Think back to how you, or me, were at the start.’

            ‘I suppose you’re right,’ Landen said, after a few seconds of silence that nearly made Dresden give up. ‘He was just too eager to prove his point. I just handled it badly, that’s all.’

            ‘We both did. I’ll go over his place tonight and see if I can talk him into coming with us again.’

            ‘Yeah…’

A few more seconds of silence passed.

‘Well, we still have more things to look at, we didn’t even take into account the first crime scene,’ Dresden said, searching for the appropriate papers.

Somehow, though, there was only one sheet of paper there that reported the things they’d already seen, except for one detail.

‘You ought to look at this,’ Miles said, gasping, handing the Chief the paper.

            ‘What in the name of…’ Landen trailed off, reading the report. Apparently, there was another victim found in the room next to the kitchen. The report described a man with his face bashed in until not recognizable with a picture torn on both the left and right parts, as though from the middle of a bigger one, of a taller man that had a red devil mask over his face.

            ‘We need to find out who that man is, as well as the Italian man’s history and… Just search everyone that we don’t know enough about,’ Dresden said, looking down and letting out a great sigh. ‘I’m going to go to the crime scenes today, maybe they’ve missed anything. Coming?’

            ‘Not now… I’ll spend some time and think about what Parsley said, maybe there is a way he’s right.’

            ‘Landen,’ Dresden began, after a few seconds of silence and awkward staring, ‘That’s up to him to figure out, remember? We need to find new way to explain everything. I’d also say not to search for him, you might put him in an even worse mood.’

            ‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ the Chief responded, nodding. He picked up the papers again, looked up and waved his friend goodbye, then lit a cigarette.

            ‘Goodbye!’ the woman at the entry said, surprising Dresden. ‘Need a ride?’

            ‘Uh… sure.’

            ‘I’ll send for one, don’t you worry,’ she said, stopping and officer that was leaving and telling him to signal for a coach to come to the station, then thanking him. ‘Meanwhile, what was all that about?’

            ‘Parsley, you mean?’ Dresden said, forgetting she hadn’t known his friend’s name. ‘The man that walked out.’

            ‘Walked is a bit too light… I’d go for a stormed outside. And, yes, it’s him I’m referring to.’

            ‘Why do you want to know? Trying to get into the action, Miss upcoming detective?”

            ‘Oh, no, just curiosity. We don’t have many cases like that in our city do we? Plus, I’d never be so good to steal Mister Dresden’s spotlight,’ she said, leaning forward, closer to him, with the same broad smile.

            ‘Trying your luck at impressing me isn’t going to work either, you know? I don’t know what your boss would say about your curiosity… Maybe you could ask him and he’ll let you tag along,’ Dresden said, shrugging and with a pitying smile.

            ‘Do you really think so?’ she asked, clasping her hands together, her eyes glowing and widening. ‘I’d owe you one if you could help me with it, I promise!’

            ‘I’ll think about it,’ Dresden said, hearing the coach outside. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me I have a murderer to catch. See you around, Elina.’

            ‘Of course, good luck!’ she shouted as he exited the station, the cold wind making her shiver.

            ‘Good day sir,’ the coachman said, tipping his big, gray hat. ‘Where to?’

            ‘Heard of the murders as of late?’ Dresden asked, pushing the hair that was getting in his face due to the newly formed wind.

            ‘Of course I have, it’s in the newspapers already, though there’s not much information about them. Shall we go to Ghost Street, perhaps?’

            ‘Let’s.’

            ‘Very well,’ the coach responded, whipping the horses as a signal to go. ‘I must say, Mister Miles, I am quite glad you are back in town and ready to help the police with the case. More than that, I can assure you the only one that isn’t glad of your contribution is the killer himself. Though, some folks have joked he must be honored to have such an influential and well-known professional searching and analyzing his every move.’

            ‘Looks like these folks know a thing or two about my expertise,’ Dresden said, knowing it was true, but his own ego didn’t refrain from seeking compliments. He’d always believed one should be vain and is allowed to brag about his achievements if they were truly worthy of praise, and he, and everyone else, thought so regarding his skills in finding out the truth.’

            ‘Of course they do, Mister Miles, who doesn’t? Though, it seems, there are still few people who try to question it. Who knows their motives? Maybe they think they’ll escape this time or are in it for the thrill… but none can say. I have a bad feeling about this fellow, though, already committed so many crimes… but maybe I’ve said too much.’

            ‘No, no, go ahead.’

            ‘I must think you’re much too occupied about this case to think about anything else. Also, I’ve heard about the man that threatened you in the morning, the rumor between us coaches is he’s one you should be out looking for. I may have some information on that man…’

            ‘You do?’ Dresden asked, evidently surprised. ‘I’d appreciate it if you told me all you know.’

            ‘I’ve seen him before, walking out of Ghost Street. I can’t remember how he was dressed like, but I am sure I heard him panting along. I asked him if he wants to go anywhere and he turned to me with this, well, killer look in his eyes that just screamed he wanted to do something bad to me, then he looked away and left. He was bleeding from somewhere on his face, but I can’t remember where either, I’m sorry if I’m not much help,’ the coach said, hanging his head. ‘Well, we have arrived, sir. No toll for this, I’m thankful I can help you solve this case sooner.’

            ‘Say, coach, what’s your name?’ Dresden said, crouching out of the carriage.

            ‘My fellow coachmen call me Adam, so feel free to use that same name as well,’ he responded, smiling, his cheeks flushing.

            ‘Well, Adam, I would very much appreciate it if you kept in contact with me, for I need all the information I can get. Considering I’m… we are all faced with a terrible case, one would ask the other coaches for clues. If you find anything, don’t hesitate to report to the police station or leave a letter there for me,’ Dresden said, extending his hand.

            ‘It would be an honour,’ the coach replied, shaking his hand. ‘I’ll make haste to ask around.’

            ‘Thank you. Have a good day, Adam.’

            ‘You too, Mister Miles!’ the coach said and turned the carriage around, grinning from ear to ear all the while. He would brag about his conversation and being of use to the people close to him, which, in time, will have irreversible effects on solving the murders.

            Until then, though, the only thing on Dresden’s mind was trying to see if the police officers had missed anything, knowing any little clue would help. He saluted everyone as he went in, checking the windows, the door, everything. But there was nothing new.

            “Damn it,” he whispered to himself, hissing out of frustration. He was still in the kitchen when he turned around and asked an officer if they’d cleared out everything out of the cabinets, to which he responded they didn’t, only looked for a bit.

            Knowing this, he proceeded to take out everything he could from the kitchen and the other rooms. When he was about to quit, he noticed out of the corner of his eye something glinting, at the end of the cabinets. He went there but noticed nothing, went back and positioned himself so the light struck him in the eye once more. It seemed that there was a piece of metal somewhere from which the few sunrays that came in from the window bounced off. The problem was there was nothing that could have, for everything was dusty and made out of wood. Or at least so he thought, until he went to the end of the cabinets once more and noticed a small space, no more than the width of a nail, with something sticking up from it. Something like a blade.

            He picked it up as best he could with two fingers, trying not to cut himself when he felt the cold metal. Pulling did nothing, the blade was stiff, as though glued to the wall and wood. He asked a policeman to investigate, and, after ten minutes of trying without any luck, they thought it best to destroy the wooden, unusable cabinets and pull the iron out. Of course, the officers were reluctant even if he had a warrant from the Chief for it -which he didn’t- and told him he needed one before they could obey his orders.

            Angry, Dresden waved them off, left the house in a hurry and made his way to the late Miss Hailey’s apartment. The people passing by kept out of his way, for one could easily tell he wasn’t in a good mood. His jaw was clenched, like his fists, and with every swift and thudding step the dust flew from around his feet.

            He had already calmed down by the time he arrived, acknowledging he was under too much stress, both from the case and because of Parsley. He couldn’t help thinking about his friend and what trouble he might find himself in. If the killer was brave enough to leave a threat to the coach that morning, knowing he’d be seen, Dresden reckoned him brave enough to try to knock him out of the case entirely. And the last thing he wanted by the end of the day was another murder when he couldn’t figure out the first three. Or four.

            As he went up the stairs he heard women weeping and the sound of bells, but above all, a priest’s singing voice. There were people gathered in Miss Hailey’s apartment, and the people stopped and turned around to gaze at the surprised intruder.

            ‘I’m sorry, please, do go on,’ Dresden said, with a small bow to the priest, who turned around and continued talking. Dresden wasn’t much of a religious person, never thought too much about the whole thing yet wasn’t influenced by people’s opinions on it. It helped him go to sleep at night sometimes if he prayed, and that was enough for him. He did know it was all a mental thing, a kind of placebo to ward away his own mind’s inhuman creations, but it was the best he had at his disposal, for, once more, he would have never gone to a doctor for help.

At first this was because he thought they would go away, but soon he found out, by himself, that they were there, in his mind, to stay. Proud he was, truly, of his intellect, above all. He was a man who would never back down when he knew he was right, but could easily admit he was wrong when he really was, except when his mind was involved. Everything told him his skills were based on his mind, and he, even though it was so obvious, didn’t even once admit it was being tampered with by his subconscious. He had great mood swings when thinking about things like these. Some nights he pretended not to even notice the shadows, think of them as mere objects, not his friends nor his allies. Other times, though, he was either flaming with anger or scared out of his mind. There was one thing he admitted, though, that they were part of him, as insignificant as they were. “After all,” he thought to himself “There has to be something to keep me from being perfect.” Those were his good days, for on his bad days… Well, one must not talk nor remember any of it, in hopes they are gone and never to return.

            He hated anyone that tried to pry into his mind, though he felt a sense of self-worth whenever it happened -and inevitably failed. He was calm by nature, easy going, but quick to anger whenever something extraordinarily bothered him. He thought it fancy to dig into his own consciousness, see if he could unearth anything from it, maybe dig out his “problem” once and for all, but at the same time too afraid for he had done it before, and not with good results.

No… not at all. He both shuddered and wanted to laugh at those times, those not so good days. One might have assumed he was talking to himself when trying to solve a crime, but he was, in fact, having a full blown conversation, without anyone knowing. He had, by the time of his latest case, managed to keep it to a minimum, even avoid it when outside his home, but it wasn’t the same when he was by his lonesome.

Dresden fancied his “second personality” as he called it both useful and a straight bother. Of course, he never talked to a specialist so he just assumed he had a split personality, though he did talk to himself when he was at his wit’s end. He talked to Miles, who was always happy to help, always preaching how he was never called upon. Neither Dresden nor Miles wanted anyone else to know their secret, which would positively cost them their license or much worse, so they acted as normal as possible.

“It isn’t that bad of a thing, really,” Dresden thought. It just so happened that whenever Dresden could not, as much as he tried, solve a crime, good old Miles would come knocking and have a chat. He would often ask Dresden to calm down, to have some tea, he was a most pleasant ally. When it first happened the detective thought he was truly going mad, when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror -incidentally after he had finished reading a well-known book about a doctor and his second personality. His appearance hadn’t changed, none of that, but he was smiling when he instead felt most anxious about everything going on around him. It was around the time of his biggest and most serious case of his carrier, which everyone attributed to his rise to fame.

As he unraveled all his past once again, he was still standing in the hallway, making the people around him ask themselves why he was there. An officer behind him gently tapped Dresden on his shoulder, which was enough to wake him up from his daydream.

‘Mister Miles,’ the officer began, ‘Are you here to look at the rooms?’

‘Y-yes. I’d like it if I went in here first,’ he responded, still feeling off. The room was now clearly lit by the new light bulb, no sign of anything being moved by the officers. The first room was just a corridor at the end of which, to the left was a bathroom and to the right a small bedroom with one bed and a closet in which he could barely fit. He first checked inside the bedroom, but there was nothing inside or under the closet or the bed.

He shook the mattress, only heard the wood’s creak and was nearly out the door when he saw something white from underneath, looking like the white blade in the first house. He tried to bend it but it was hard, got up and began lifting up the mattress. Unfortunately, it was somehow connected to the bed, making it impossible for him to move. Not only that, but the creaking was awfully loud, and Dresden knew if he kept it up any more the officers would come and it would be the same story again, and he wasn’t in the mood for waiting. As expected, trying to pull on the thing didn’t work either, and he couldn’t find exactly where and how the mattress was glued to the wood.

With this in mind, he went to the bathroom, which had nothing out of the ordinary in it. What interested him most was the unopened cabinet under the window. The officers couldn’t open it because it had a lock and they needed a warrant for that too, considering the owner of the house hasn’t been found, in comparison with the risk of destroying evidence in the other cases. Dresden more than despised the new laws regarding what an officer could and couldn’t do which were set up by Mayor Bruce a few months ago. Both he and Miles felt like all they did was slow the investigation process down for no real reason. He peeked out to make sure none of the officers would come and he looked at the box, trying to figure out a best way to get it open. There was the smallest of cracks in the glass on the top right corner, just enough for him to get his pinky finger in, which he did, trying to feel around and see if there was something he could touch, a bottle of some kind. Then, he could easily be granted permission to access it. The same fictional dialogue played in his head, in the mayor’s voice, telling him how the glass wasn’t transparent and so they couldn’t open it because of the law. However, if he could prove it was worth-while it would be allowed.

‘There!’ Dresden whisper-shouted, trying to hide his enthusiasm from the officers outside. He walked up to one and told him to follow, showed him how there could be evidence that would help in resolving the case if he would open the box. The officer sighed, saying he’d allow it only because of his reputation and opened the lock with a key.

When he heard the clink of the lock, Dresden couldn’t stop himself from grinning, opening the door as the officer looked on. There were three small pill bottles, completely white, the instructions and names ripped off.

‘Need to get these checked at a chemist’s,’ Dresden said, picking them up and shoving them in his pockets. ‘I’ll report to Chief Landen right after, I promise,’ he told the worried officer that looked at him awkwardly. ‘Thank you for your help.’

As the officer walked out, Dresden stopped to check the cupboards that were on the right side of the wall. They were hard to open and he found nothing inside them, even when he shoved his hand as deep in as he could and felt around the walls.

When he was done he asked one of the officers to inform Landen about the object underneath the bed and of the pills, and open the door to where the Italian man lived. This apartment was bigger and prettier than any he’d seen before, paintings hanging from every wall, few artificial plants in strangely coloured vases sitting on the main table. It was made out of four rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and a two person bedroom.

Even at a first glance one can notice it was more likely two people lived here at the same time, for rent couldn’t be cheap in such a place. As the kitchen was closest to the door, exactly to the right, he went and checked it out. The counters were coloured bright red, with at least six cupboards above and underneath them each, with windows that revealed what was inside. He was surprised there were still bits and pieces of what he could guess were tomatoes inside the sink. On the top part there was simply decorated china with few roses on the sides, as well as spices.

On the bottom part there were towels, cutlery and cleaning equipment, nothing out of the ordinary except for a small switch he found, on the upper wall of the first cupboard. When he turned it on, a loud rattling noise burst out, scared him so bad he closed it immediately and jumped back, his back to a large refrigerator. He waited to see if any officer would come in due to the sound, and when they didn’t he went back and turned it on again. He had the feeling he’d heard the sound somewhere before, tried to figure out where and what it was. When he straightened himself he noticed something moving somewhere inside the sink. He tried turning the water on and he heard it splashing against something. When he turned it off and leaned forwards he saw the glint of steel moving down the tubing. He pushed the button again, the sound stopped, and he could now see the two blades that were whirling around before, and they didn’t look clean.

Dresden crouched and opened the cupboard directly underneath and noticed a small, dark container attached to the bottom of the sink. It wasn’t bolted in so he only needed to unscrew it by hand and it came out. It was made out of some hard material that wouldn’t bend, though lighter than iron. He brought it into the light and tried to look at its contents. There was no unpleasant smell coming from inside, which he felt lucky for. He asked himself why he spent the time to dig in through trash like that, remembered his hardest case was solved due to Parsley finding a clue inside a garbage bin.

He took a spoon and began searching around, trying to find anything that wouldn’t belong, like a ring or another damned blade. As he laughed at the idea of there being a blade like before stuck to the side of the canister, he bumped into something hard. He drove the spoon into it a few more times, just to make sure it wasn’t some food that was stubborn, but it still resisted. He tried his best to spoon it to the surface, digging it from the bottom. When it began surfacing, Dresden couldn’t believe his eyes, but two more tried and it was out in the daylight: the tip of a finger with a red coloured nail on.

As soon as he saw it he flung the spoon with it next to the sink, his hand trembling. He glanced back and forth between the finger, the spoon and the container, not knowing what to do. His breathing started to get faster, feeling his sweat all over his body, going down from his hair down his back. He began seeing everything blurry, and that is when he suddenly lifted his hand to support his face and a gentle breeze of composure tried to calm himself down. Before he knew it, he opened his mouth, but the words he spoke aloud wasn’t his.

‘Relax, you have to relax,’ Miles said. ‘Listen to me, listen. Put the container on the table behind you, let it fall, nobody will care. Stop staring at the finger-’

‘B-but it’s… right there,’ Dresden said, pointing at it with his trembling hand.

‘We both know it’s right there, and that’s good, remember? We have some evidence now, someone must have been tortured here. Something tells me those bits inside the sink aren’t tomatoes after all…’

After saying this, Miles knew he had made a mistake and hoped Dresden wouldn’t get any more anxious, but, instead, it somehow helped. Dresden took in just a few more big breaths in, whispering to himself he needed to stay calm. His vision was normal, though the sweat was getting in his eyes and he had had to use his sleeve to dab it away. Noticing this, Miles decided his help was needed no more and faded away, as he always did.

‘Okay,’ Dresden muttered to himself ‘Saved by the Devil once again. Can’t just let this human finger stay here out in the open,’ he said, pointing to it and shaking his hands violently. He was truly disgusted at it. He didn’t want to get a better look at it, but his trained mind had already memorized all the details: the red nail cut diagonally, as well as the finger itself not being cut clean through, going slightly above the first phalanx, the bone barely sticking out. He swallowed the vomit that was going up his throat, took in more big breaths and calmed down for good. He went outside and told the officers all that had happened, with one of them assuring him that he looked like death warmed over him. When they came out of the kitchen they pat him on the back saying they now understood his stress and that they will send for the Chief immediately.

Landen arrived half an hour later, his face pale and not being able to muster a smile at the sight of Dresden, leaning with his back against the wall.

‘Is it that bad?’ the Chief asked.

‘Go and check,’ he responded, shoving his thumb in the air, towards the Italian’s room. He followed Landen, whose face really lost all colour at the sight of the finger.

‘What has this city come to?’

‘That’s another body on our list,’ Dresden said, ‘Unless we manage to find a girl with a missing finger walking around town.’

            ‘Let’s go to the other room… I’ve heard from two crime scenes now you needed a warrant for something. I went to the brother’s apartment and the officers showed me, and it looks to me like it isn’t anything we should bother the mayor with.’ He then leaned closer to his ear and whispered ‘You know how he is and all… we only have a limit to how many things we can ask of him before he kicks us out of the case.’

            ‘Yeah…’ Dresden said, nodding. ‘Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if we’ll need them for something better, so, in the meantime we’ll just leave them there.’

            ‘We already do have something more important,’ Landen said, nearly yelling at Dresden, then checking himself and apologizing. ‘I’ve heard you’ve found some medicine. Tell an officer to take it to Barbra at the chemist’s a few block down from the station, they’ll know what I mean.’

            ‘I’d rather go myself, if that’s okay,’ Dresden said. ‘I want to hear it from the wolf’s mouth.’

            ‘You mean horse’s mouth?’

            ‘I know Barbra. And anyone that knows her knows she can tear a man apart.’

            ‘Oh, right… Wasn’t she the one who beat that one guy you caught a year or two ago to a bloody pulp with her own hands?’ Landen asked with a shudder. ‘I don’t even want to remember.’

            ‘That’s her. Anyway, I’ll have her tell me what those pills are then report right back to you.’

            ‘They might very well change everything, you know,’ the Chief said, pulling out a cigar and lighting it just as the people and priest came out of Miss Hailey’s room. ‘Hope to God you haven’t touched anything!’ he shouted at them, making them turn around and cross themselves, muttering something, probably insults. ‘If they messed up something of use I swear…’

            ‘Calm down, Landen,’ Dresden said, laying a friendly arm on his shoulder. ‘Everything will be fine.’

            ‘I bloody sure hope so. Come on, I’ve heard you didn’t look through the whole of the apartment after you found that finger. Who knows what other things we can find? Maybe the rest of the body shoved under a rug.’

            Dresden tried his best to crack a smile but the thought of how he felt when he first saw the finger stopped any chance of that happening.

            ‘Who told you what I did and didn’t do in there?’

            ‘One of the officers. Plus, you didn’t say I’m wrong.’

            ‘Fair enough,’ Dresden said with a shrug, heaving out a big sigh. He took in another deep breath as they entered, looking straight ahead.

            ‘I’ll take the kitchen then,’ Landen said, noticing his friend’s concern. ‘You can take the living room.’ But he barely finished the sentence that Dresden had already gone.

            The detective first checked under the photos and around the corners of the furniture, hoping there weren’t any more hidden blades he had to request warrants for. Thankfully, there weren’t any and there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary inside the tall, glass cabinet next to a couch that only had champagnes and old wines inside.

            ‘The man had some refined tastes,’ he said, so that Landen could hear. ‘He, she, or they, that is.’ He only received a guttural “Yeah” as a response. ‘Glad to know he’s supportive,’ he whispered, with a sigh.

            ‘The kitchen’s clear,’ Landen said, joining him in the living room. ‘Except for the finger, everything is fine. I’m guessing there’s nothing interesting here either.’

            ‘Unfortunately, no. We still have the bathroom and the bedroom, though, so don’t get inpatient. I get the latter,’ Dresden said, going to the left.

Inside, the two-person bed took up most of the room, a trash can next to it, emptied. There was only one thing that hung from the wall, which was a pop album, the glass shattered on the ground. Behind it was nothing. He found nothing under the bed or the mattress, pillows or empty nightstand. The last thing he had to check was the closet, who initially didn’t give in to his pulling. In the end, there was nothing inside except for two gray suits on hangers. He reached into their pockets, found nothing except a crumpled piece of paper on one of them that had “Washe” on it, the rest faded out.

When he turned to call for Landen, he was surprised to see his friend already leaning in the doorway.

‘Nothing,’ the Chief said, shrugging. You?’

            ‘I’ve… I’ve got some things,’ he responded, pointing to the glass on the ground and pulling out the piece of paper.

            ‘Washe, huh? It’s probably from somewhere that washes clothes in the city. The broken glass is strange… why would someone do that?’ He asked, checking with his hand along the edges of the record case, finding nothing. ‘Maybe there was something inside, or the guy outright forgot to steal it.’

            ‘I’ll leave the Washe to you and I’ll come by tonight and see if you’ve found any places that match.’

            ‘Sounds good,’ Landen said, shoving the paper inside his pant pocket. ‘I’ve talked to some people and I’ll get some proper information on the victims in a few days. Until then, try to steer clear out of trouble.’

            ‘You know me, the keep out of trouble kind,’ Dresden said, finally able to smile after all that had happened. ‘I’m going to go to Barbra now, see what those meds are for.’

            ‘Invite her out to dinner while you’re out there, will you?’

            ‘I don’t want her to break my head with a tea cup,’ he said and the two shared a hearty laugh, nudging each other.

            The two shared a carriage to the police station, then Dresden walked by himself to the chemist. Thankfully, it was still open, but not for long. Usual Barbra, with her strong arms nearly bulging out of her suit, was at the counter, her face gaining some colour and a big smile as Dresden walked in and said hi.

            ‘What brings you here?’ she said with a strong Slavic accent.

            ‘Well, I need some help, it’s for a case. Here,’ he said, pulling out the pill bottles from his pockets -nearly shaming himself because they wouldn’t come out- and putting them on the counter. ‘I need you to identify what they are.’

            ‘This is cough medicine,’ she said after picking one up and merely glancing at the contents, then putting it back on the counter. ‘This one is…’ she trailed off, needing to pull a pill out and have a closer look at it. ‘It’s neck pain medicine. And the last one…’ she said, doing the same as before, but now frowning at it. ‘This one is hard to say,’ she concluded, after a few seconds of looking at them and turning them around. ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you, okay?’

            ‘Thank you so much, Barbra,’ he said, grasping one of her hands with both of his, then kissing it. ‘I’ll be here tomorrow. This is very important.’

            ‘Yes, yes, I know,’ she responded, her cheeks flushing but clearly not wanting to show it. ‘Now go out before someone sees you!’

            ‘What would they say? They’d be jealous, I’m telling you!’ he joked as he went out, waving goodbye, knowing she liked the compliment. ‘Where to now?’ he whispered, with a big sigh. He didn’t have his watch on him, which was something he needed to stop forgetting. Timing his actions was vital for him.

He passed by “The Life” -the best restaurant in town-, heard his stomach rumble, decided it was best if he ate something proper. He only saw a free table, at the right-most corner of the room, a waiter informing him that it was booked. When he turned around to exit he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder.

‘Good day,’ the man said. ‘What brings you around here?’

‘Hello,’ Dresden replied, turning around and shaking his hand. ‘I’m sorry but I can’t recall ever seeing you before.’

‘I expect so, we haven’t met since. If I’m right, which is more than likely, you are famous detective Dresden Miles.’

‘Well, yes. Though famous is a bit too much,’ he said, with a half-smile. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’

The man he was talking to was nearly as tall as Dresden, wearing a black three-piece suit with a brown shirt underneath. He looked thinner than him, his jawline emphasized by his clean shave. Smiling, he showed a pair of white teeth, one of his canines missing. He stepped closer, their noses nearly touching, his short, dark hair reaching to his chin.

Before Dresden could react, the man leaned right next to his ear and whispered “I’m the murderer.” He then kissed the detective’s sweaty temple and brushed past him, leaving the restaurant.

Dresden, stunned for a few seconds, couldn’t move, even though he knew he had to do something. If it weren’t for Miles shouting at him to get his act together and chase after the man he wouldn’t have broken out of his panic induced state. He turned around, nearly slipping on the restaurant’s tiles and rushed out of the place, looking left and right frantically for the man. He noticed out the corner of his eye a black suit’s vent flicked up in the air as the man turned left at a corner. Dresden took in as big a breath as he could and sprinted down the sidewalk, sometimes stepping out into the street, feeling like a lake was forming in his formal attire. When he got to the corner he couldn’t hear the man’s footsteps, slowly edging forwards for fear of the murderer waiting for him. To his surprise and horror, the turn lead to a path between to apartments, which, after twenty meters, had a dead end. There were no garbage bins nor doors that led into the apartments, just a fault in design that lead to the unused and useless spot. He went to the end, trying to search for a manhole cover, ladder or any other thing that would’ve allowed the man to escape.

And yet he found nothing, nothing at all. He turned around, looked up, felt along the walls for some sort of hidden lever but to no avail. It was like the man had vanished into thin air.

Dresden hanged his head in shame, knowing that only if he were faster, only if he wouldn’t have frozen up, he could’ve prevented more murders, but he didn’t. He barely dragged his feet along to the police station, his appetite gone but his stomach in pain. When he entered he noticed there was a different woman at the counter.

‘Mister?’ the woman asked.

‘Uh… I’m looking for…’ he began saying, his mind still in a flurry of disappointment, anger and confusion.

‘Officer Elena? She’s just left a few minutes ago, at four. It was a quick shift.’

‘That’s how it is then? Well, okay,’ he responded, turning and leaving. Only when he touched the door handle he remembered what he truly had come for. He looked over his shoulder and asked if Landen was there, to which the woman replied he wasn’t. Dresden waved goodbye and told her Miles had searched for him.

The detective looked up and squinted at the blue, cloudless sky, seeing the moon as clear as at nighttime. He stared at it for a while, as though the two were sharing some kind of bond, nodded that he understood and appreciated its advice -which was actually Miles telling him he should get something to eat before he dies of hunger then check on Parsley. He went back to The Life, where one of the waiters told him the man that had left specified the only person he’d allow at that table for the day was Dresden and that he’d paid for it and anything he might want to buy. The detective nodded, not being able to fake a smile, slowly dragging back the chair for everyone to hear and sat down as though he were a sack of potatoes thrown from a carriage. The creak of the chair made the others wince. None said anything about it nor turned to glare at him, the only thing being muttered was how they recognized “the great detective.”

‘Do you maybe have…’ Dresden trailed off right as the waiter brought him a menu, without even opening it, at first with newfound confidence then fading to a mumble.

‘Yes?’ the man asked after ten seconds of silence, trying his best not to offend the important guest. ‘Are you feeling well, sir? Shall I bring a glass of water?’

‘Yes… yes, that’s good.’

‘And some ice?’

‘And some ice, thank you. I’ll…’ he continued, pursing his lips, then motioning to the menu. ‘Yeah…’

‘It would be better if, when you have decided, to wave for me and I’ll come right here,’ the waiter said, knowing he could have phrased it in a better way and biting his lip for it, relaxing when Dresden didn’t seem to care.

‘Thank you,’ he responded, opening the menu and beginning to read the foods. By the time the waiter got back with the water he still wasn’t ready to order even though he’d read the menu twice. For some reason the words couldn’t stay in his mind for more than five seconds, trying his hardest to balance what he liked to eat most though not being able to decide. It was like his thoughts concerning the murderer and the case kept kicking out everything and anything else, though the pain in his stomach finally gave him some level-headedness. He looked at something and faintly recalled he had eaten chicken breast before, had to read it a few times and kept saying it over and over in his mind as to not stumble when he ordered. He waved his hand to the waiter and he came.

‘So,’ he said, flicking open a thin notepad, ‘what would you like to order, Mister Miles?’

‘I’ll have…’ he began, completely forgetting what he was thinking about. For a few seconds he was in a pure state of panic, his heart throbbing in his head worse than before. He nearly froze once again, decided on glancing at the menu and saying the first thing he saw.

‘Very well, that’s a beefsteak for one. What would you like with that?’

‘Pardon?’ Dresden asked after a few seconds of trying to understand what the man meant.

The waiter sighed through his nose, maintaining his smile. ‘Well, how about fries and… more water?’ he said, looking at the now empty glass.

Dresden looked at the waiter, wiped some sweat off his face and nodded licking his lips. ‘More water, definitely.’

The waiter made a small bow and left, coming back with a two liter bottle of cold water. When he went to pour a glass, Dresden put a hand to stop him. The man raised the bottle back up and went through a corridor to the right. It took Dresden a few seconds to realize he didn’t want to stay anymore and got up, grabbed the water bottle and nearly left. When he pushed the door halfway open, the barman asked where he was going, to which the detective said he wanted to have his food brought to his apartment and backed away without any details.

In the street he felt even more anxious and dazed, like he had drunk twice over his limit and the strongest impulse was to rush somewhere safe -home- to vomit and to put the freezing cold bottle down. He opened it and took a few mouthfuls which helped him stabilize himself, pouring it into his palm and splashing it on his face a few times in the middle of the sidewalk. He bent his knees, resting his arms on them and lowering his head, finally being able to focus on one thought at a time, taking in big breaths to calm himself down. He flung his body upwards, straightening himself back up and drinking some more water. When he glanced at the bottle he noticed he had chugged over half a liter. His throat burnt because of how cold it was and his face stung whenever the wind blew, but he was thankful for keeping him sane. He looked around and noticed the baffled expressions on people’s faces, ignored them all and walked as fast he could back to his apartment, deciding he was in no shape to check on Parsley. In reality, Miles decided for him.

Walking was a bother for him: if he walked too slowly he would grow impatient and walk too fast. If he walked too fast he felt his insides jump with every hard step and forced himself to walk slowly again, never crossing his mind that there could be a medium between the two. When he got home the bottle was halfway empty and somehow there was a delivery boy from the restaurant already there, eager to hand him the food. Dresden accepted, forgetting he had talked to the barman, something he wouldn’t remember until the next day morning. Opening the door was more than frustrating, missing the lock a few too many times for it to be considered funny. When he got in he locked the door and stepped on the heels of his shoes to fling them off. He went to pull his shirt open in a vicious rage, calmed down remembering it was Parsley’s and settled for the next best thing -unbuttoning it in a vicious rage. He took off his pants as he went to his room, hopping half the way just to get his right foot out. He pulled out some random pajamas from his small closet, put them on as fast as he could and took another mouthful of water before laying down on the bed. The sunrays would normally put off his sleepiness but now he didn’t seem to notice a difference between night and day, falling asleep as soon as he pulled a blanket over himself.

 

He woke up, feeling sweaty from head to toe, instantly flinging the cover off him. Dresden didn’t understand what was going on, wiping the sweat off his forehead and taking off his pajamas, walking to the shower without noticing the water bottle that, in the meantime had gotten hot. The shower helped him wake up properly, though the water was either scorching hot or burning cold. Looking around and seeing his -actually Parsley’s- clothes thrown around everywhere made him slowly remember what had happened before he got home and he shuddered. His panic attack didn’t return and he didn’t feel dizzy anymore. He looked at the food on the table and the water bottle next to the bed, cursing himself for acting like a drunkard and not keeping his cool. The one thing that bothered him most, though, was how that man had disappeared in the alley. It only now occurred to him that maybe he was a liar trying to throw him off the track and performing some sort of act to escape after. He also thought he might’ve seen the man go down the wrong path. After all, there was another corner to the left a few blocks down, but he decided to put those aside for the time being.

            He got dressed once more in his own out of fashion clothes and picked up his watch from the table. Seven PM. So he’d slept for three hours, but now what? He guessed the best thing he could do was to go to the police station again and see if Landen was there. As he thought about doing that, though, his stomach reminded him he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and he took twenty minutes to take care of the problem.

Stepping out into the cold evening air made him feel grateful for the lack of wind. By the time he got to the police station the lamp posts were lit up and the sky was mostly dark, few stars already shining. When he arrived the same girl was there, and when he asked for her name she told him it was Elena.

‘Elena, huh? Interesting name,’ he said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Has the Chief been around?’

‘Thank you, and, yes. He’s just come in, actually. He looked a bit nervous, even upset.’

‘Thanks for the heads up,’ he said, making his way to Landen’s office. ‘Delivery!’ he said after knocking on the door a few times. He heard Landen heave out a great sigh.

‘Not hungry!’ the Chief said. After a few seconds, he continued. ‘This better be worth it. Come in!’

‘Evening,’ Dresden said, trying to smile, though it nearly faded when he saw in what state Landen was in. ‘What happen to you?’

‘I can ask you the same thing,’ he responded, lighting up a cigarette. Judging from the ashtray it was the fourth one in a row. His face was pale and his usual well-being was replaced by a frown. It looked like in half a day he got smaller, his clothes slightly hanging from his hunched shoulders. ‘I’ve heard you weren’t really on top form today.’

‘I wonder where you got that from.’

‘People talk.’

‘But, really, are you okay? You don’t look so good,’ Dresden said, bringing a chair on the opposite side of the desk. ‘You know you can tell me.’

‘Had an interesting report today,’ Landen began, ‘one of my officers told me a guy came up to him and whispered in his ear that he’s the murderer, then vanished outta nowhere,’ he said, motioning with his hands.

‘You don’t say…’ Dresden muttered. ‘How’d he look like?’

‘The officer didn’t tell me much, but, he was just shorter than you, had a bit of a stubble, long, blond hair, but that’s about all he saw.’

‘Well what do you know? I had someone pull the same trick on me today at the restaurant when I came back from Barbra. He was different looking, though, surely not the right man,’ Dresden said, holding his chin with two fingers. ‘Unless there’s a team of them.’

‘Why would a team reveal their members? No, that can’t be it… they must’ve been bribed. Have you met Parsley today? ‘Cause I didn’t, the same with all my men.’

‘No. I forgot to check his apartment, I’ll do it first thing after leaving. He’s not the kind of man to spend his nights around town.’

‘He looked pretty serious, but I’m not accusing him of anything.’

‘Accusing him? What could one accuse him of? He was just upset and left.’

‘Seems he’s upset enough to not show up at all today. And, well, you know... I still think someone tipped the two fake murderers to put sticks in our wheels. As I said I’m not accusing him of anything but we need to find out who’s behind it all.’

‘Remember what we said in the beginning? About there being two of them? Maybe they both thought it would help and went for it.’

            ‘But neither of them fully match the woman’s description.’

            ‘Unless… Hand me the papers with her interview will you? There we are... Here. It says that the man that came out of the Italian man’s house had long, dark hair, caught into a tail. He could’ve cut it and came to me.’

            ‘Or dyed it blonde and come to one of my officers. In what you said you’d know if he was the one because we saw him, but my man didn’t see either of the faces,’ Landen said, but curbed his enthusiasm when he remembered he could’ve not shown up in either case and just been a lunatic who killed the people inside the apartment he’d stolen.

            ‘Should we put up posters?’

            ‘It’s only been a day…’

            ‘And look at how many things have happened. But, still, I know what you mean. Plus, the killer or group might take it as an open challenge. We don’t want to rattle them, not now when we know so little. Ever found out what those things I tried to take out were?’

            ‘Not yet, unfortunately. We’ve barely sent a letter to the officials and it’ll probably take a few more days until we get an answer,’ the Chief responded, shaking his head.

            ‘Okay. I must go now, see if Parsley’s home. Try not to overwork yourself. As you said, it’s barely been a day. What kind of killer that takes himself seriously would get caught in less than three?’

            ‘I know, I know. Doesn’t make it any easier though.’ After a few seconds of silence he began again. ‘Take care out there alright? I don’t want to think what would happen if those two meant their pranks as a threat.’

            ‘I will, don’t worry,’ Dresden responded before closing the door and heaving out a great sigh. He went out again, feeling the need to drink something for the first time in a long while. Even so, he knew he was a lightweight and most of the time after getting drunk he’d spend his nights in a state at least two times worse than what he had been through before taking his nap. He shook the thought, the same dizziness slowly coming back. It took him less than twenty minutes to go to Parsley’s, who didn’t respond even after Dresden called out to him, to his embarrassment.

It was strange for this friend to not be at home at that hour, thinking it understandable if Parsley ignored him because he didn’t want to talk to him. It wasn’t a pleasant thought at all, but Dresden was a man who could understand generally everything, allowing him to not take things like that one too personally. They had been best friends for the longest time and he expected his partner to apologize for everything. Just to make sure, Dresden made a small speech -that began with “I’m sorry”- in front of the door, nearly shouting it to make sure that if Parsley was inside he could hear it.

In the end there was no answer and, looking at his watch, he realized he had a lot of spare time to kill. He would never forgive himself for going to sleep at close to eight PM. Turning around, he went to The Life again and apologized, explaining that he was feeling extremely bad due to a fever “or something”. Profiting while he still could off the supposed murderer’s back, he asked that some more food and wines should be delivered to his home. With that out of the way, he went to Barbra to check his luck, hoping she’d suddenly remembered what the pills were, and she did.

‘They are Seroquel, for schizophrenia. These are hard to buy… You need a doctor’s note and a lot of money.’

‘Schizophrenia, is it? Thank you so much Barbra,’ he said, pocketing the pill bottle. ‘It’ll help our investigations a lot.’

‘I should send a letter to the police?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows.

‘No, no, don’t worry yourself with that, I’ll just bring them in. The Chief and I trust you with our lives,’ Dresden said, smiling, but on the inside he was most intrigued.

A few steps after waving goodbye and leaving the shop, he pulled out the bottle once more and took a good look at the pills. For one he realized he knew nearly nothing about the man in the first apartment and didn’t know what to make of the possibility that it may have been one of the murderer’s. ‘On the other hand…’ he whispered and felt Miles’s presence in his mind. ‘No, no way. I am not a schizophrenic and I don’t need to use such a thing. I’ll bring it to the Chief just now,’ he concluded, pointing somewhere between forwards and upwards, as though he was charging with a spear into battle.

His footsteps were quick and noisy, though without the element of anger they had in the morning. With every minute that passed, he began walking slower and slower, taking out the bottle and examining it, at first for a few seconds and then nearly stopping before convincing himself it was best to rid himself of it. When he got to the police office, though, he went straight past. Somewhere in his mind he wanted to stop, but his body kept moving, and even though he tried to put up a fight at first, he let himself get lead back to the restaurant, where he picked up the food and repeated the same sequence of actions as when he was in the state of panic, although in a much more calm and tidy way, but not before taking one of the pills. When he finished eating the clock showed it was eight and a half, making him wonder where all his time had gone. He tried counting it up from what he could remember, barely adding up.

Before bed he looked at the pill box on the table and told himself he didn’t need nor want it and tried to ignore it by laying on the other side, thinking it would be bad if he were to take two so quickly one after the other.

He appreciated that Miles wasn’t trying to con him into taking any pills, which, as he did so, he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips -probably Miles’s own happiness. Still, he couldn’t sleep and decided there wasn’t anything entirely bad if he took one more and saw for himself what a specialist would prescribe. He went to the bathroom, opened the light with the long, gray pill in his palm, took a mouthful of water and swallowed both. It hurt a bit going down, made him take a few more mouthfuls of water until he decided it was time to sleep. He then realized there probably wasn’t going to be much of a noticeable change considering he’d go to sleep right after, blaming himself for the lack of judgement. The shadows weren’t anywhere to be seen either, which both calmed him and made him anxious. When he finally relaxed both his mind and body and went to bed, he whispered “Good night” and fell asleep. Miles.

 

In the morning he didn’t feel anything except the poor quality of his sleep, though he was thankful enough that he hadn’t been as sweaty as before. It took him only a few minutes to get dressed with his last pair of clean -almost stylish- clothes and got to cleaning his apartment a bit. He tried to fit the expensive wine bottles he had bought in the fridge, forgot if he was supposed to do that and just stuck them in a cabinet which had glass doors, away from the sun. He looked at the leftover food from last night and, although he knew he liked it very much, frowned at it and found it repulsive. Dresden hated ingesting anything more consistent than tea in the morning, and so, for two hours after waking up, he refused to put anything in his mouth. His stomach was once again at war with his body though, forcing him to give in and sheepishly eat the food and throw it out as soon as he was done. Slowly, the food started to taste strange in his mouth and he was chewing with his mouth open without realizing it. His head began to feel dizzy and he cursed himself for taking so many pills. Everything began to not feel right, sweat forming on his body though he couldn’t feel his heart-rate raise, a faint then stronger ringing in his ears that he couldn’t get rid of even when he forced himself to yawn. He tried to wash his face but as the water came up he felt as though he was picking up twenty kilograms of steel. When he did get it to his face it all felt a bit solid, as though it was trying to avoid contact with his face. He rubbed his eyes, which made him see the annoying light everywhere he looked, just a few centimeters away from the center and they began to ache. He’d forgotten he absolutely detested getting water in his eyes. When he turned to use a towel his left food skidded off the bathroom tile and send him face first into the wall, the towel acting as a thin curtain between the two. He lifted himself slowly and managed to get the sting out of his eye, though the small spots were bigger and covered half of whatever he looked at. He sighed, pitying himself for the nightmarish morning he had, though urged himself to get ready for all he needed to do and get on with his day quickly.

He had finished everything and was ready to check up on Parsley once again by eleven. Reminding himself of what had happened the day before, he was on a lookout for any men that fit the description of the supposed killers, at the same time making sure they weren’t after him. Attempting to meet Parsley was once again unfruitful, which made Dresden go to the police station. There, at the entry, was the same unknown woman from yesterday, looking slightly out of it. At first he thought she was glaring at something, but when he turned around there was nothing. It took her a few seconds to, blink, look at him and blink some more times before she moved, like a snap back to reality.

‘Good morning,’ Dresden said. ‘I thought Elena was supposed to be here.’

She was slightly taller than Elena, though the similarities stopped there. Her short, curly hair was blond, in perfect contrast with her tanned, chocolatey skin and full, red lips that she kept in a tight pressed smile.

            ‘You do take some interest in her,’ the woman said, to which Dresden sighed. ‘She just came in a few minutes and told me to work her shift. I owed her one so I’m here.’

            ‘Was she-’

            ‘In a bad mood? I knew you were going to ask that. Honestly, she looked a bit pale, with her hands in her pockets -which she never does. She even said only insecure people did it, but, anyways… She didn’t look into my eyes much, which is strange for her to do too -I just got a weird vibe from her all around,’ she concluded, waving her arm in the air.

            ‘Vibe, huh?’

            ‘A feeling, let’s say.’

            ‘Thank you for your input,’ he suddenly said after a few seconds of silence, making her jump, and began making his way to the Chief’s office. Seeing how she didn’t stop him, he knocked at the door. No answer. He pressed on the handle and it gave way, smoke coming out as he slowly opened the door. A pale Landen was sitting in his chair, staring the same way the first woman did, at the wall, somewhere to his right.

Taking a better look there was a small portrait of his father’s stern face. Landen’s childhood was a boring one, with his mother leaving the family at a very early age -so early he couldn’t even remember anything from back then. Everything he did was to impress the memory of his late father, the same thing he did when he was a child, at school and in his first years in the police force. The only time his dad had shown any true feelings for him was when he’d fail, and then Landen would be met with both compassion and reprehension. Dresden knocked a few more times on the open door, trying to get his friend’s attention.

‘Hello,’ he said, when Landen finally looked at him. There was only a half-smoked cigar in the ash tray. ‘Did I come at a bad time?’

‘No,’ the Chief responded with a firm nod, his fat lips and chin jiggling. ‘Come right in.’ His voice was raspy and he spoke as though he was out of air, though Dresden figure the cigars didn’t help much.

‘You look well awful,’ the detective said, sitting on a chair opposite the desk. ‘Anything new about the two pranksters?’

‘No. How about another murder?’

‘Pardon? There’s been yet another one?’

‘It seems like the killer -or killers- know we have found that woman’s finger because today, when I came back to the office the coach gave me a package.’

‘Did he?’

‘Apparently a cloaked man gave it to him telling him to give it to me. The coach says he didn’t see his face and couldn’t remember how tall he was.’

‘Perfect.’

‘Quite. Well, I did meet that coach and he gave me the package. I don’t have it with me now, unfortunately, but it was as big as my fist. The actual thing he wanted to send me was the object inside the brown paper that made up the cover. Would you like to guess what was inside?’ Landen asked, suddenly moving forwards, leaning on the desk to reach closer to his friend. ‘A human hand with a missing finger, with the nails painted exactly like the one we found this morning,’ he said, without waiting for a response.

They stared at each other for a few minutes, Dresden’s eyes bulging out of their sockets, his mouth open while Landen was barely frowning, as though it was a story he was sick of telling to everyone.

            ‘In other news,’ he began, leaning back on his chair, ‘we have some information on the other murders. Let me find the files… there they are. As I was saying, my officers-’

            ‘What?’ Dresden half shouted.

            ‘What “what”?’

            ‘What do you mean severed hand?’

            ‘At first sight it looked as though it was cut from the wrist, but it was awful I’m telling you. I’m surprised there were no blood stains on the bag, though it does make sense if it was in a brown bag, it couldn’t be seen well that way. It’s in the forensics office I think. When I saw it I closed the bag back and just handed it to an officer with a “Here you go”. Believe me I didn’t want to see any more of that thing.’

            ‘This is insane,’ Dresden said, barely louder than a whisper, his hands clenching in his hair.

            ‘Careful you might pull some of it out.’

            ‘How are you so casual about this?’

            ‘Oh for God’s sakes,’ the Chief said, flinging his head back. Believe me, Miles, if I’m any degree of casual it’s because this case and all the murders have forced my nerves to boiling point and I can break any moment. I’m sure your composure-filled self would’ve come up with something better. What would you have done differently? Taken it to a hospital?’

            ‘No… you’re right. I’m sorry,’ Dresden began, seeing how his apology calmed his friend down, ‘we’re both under pressure from too many things. I… still haven’t managed to find any trace of Parsley yet.’

            ‘Didn’t think you would,’ Landen said, not realizing it would come off as rudely as it did. ‘But, as I was saying, we’ve got some new reports from the crime scenes. Look at this: you’ve got a keen eye for clues, I’m telling you. We got approval for moving things around to pull out those things you said were blades. In fact they were envelopes. Very, very, very sharp, glued envelopes. I don’t have them with me either, unfortunately, my officers are trying to find how they were so sharp -it cut one of my men’s hand if you could believe that- but I’ve written down the contents.’

            ‘That’s quite interesting.’

‘By the way,’ Landen asked, blowing off another puff of his cigarette. ‘How many pill bottles where there? They never mentioned it in the report and the officer who was with you says he doesn’t remember.’

            Dresden stood silent for a few seconds, looking straight into the Chief’s eyes.

            ‘Only three. They were flu medicine, nothing important, but one of them only had one pill, which Barbra identified as being… what was it…’ he tried remembering, suddenly confused out of his mind, nearly asking what he was doing in his friend’s office. He felt his body get hotter and hotter, touched his forehead to wipe off the forming sweat. ‘Oh, right, it was called Seroquel, made for dealing with schizophrenia… and things like that.’

Noticing Landen’s questioning look he tried to calm him down, saying he hated the wave of warm weather that had been coming for the last few days.

            ‘Warm?’ Landen asked, putting the cigar down. ‘Miles are you okay? It’s been nearly freezing outside for the past week… Sit down, you’ve probably got a fever,’ he continued getting up from his chair.

            ‘I-I’m fine,’ Dresden said with a dismissive shove in the air. ‘I’m just fine, I’ll just go home and rest.’

            ‘No you aren’t,’ Mile’s voice suddenly broke out of his throat as he turned around, barely a whisper, not loud enough for Landen to hear.

            ‘Maybe you should take some of that cold medicine you found,’ the Chief said. ‘And go see a damn doctor!’

            Landen shook his head. It was bad enough Parsley had been missing for two days now and even the police couldn’t find him. The Chief thought everything was weighing down on his friend too much, as he’d feared when he talked to Parsley the day he stormed out of the station.

            ‘God damn it,’ he said, finishing his cigar. “He’s having it rough,” he thought to himself as an officer came in to report that Elena hadn’t come in today at all either and nobody knew why. She hadn’t been seen since she’d gone home after the early shift that ended at four PM. The Chief dismissed the officer, holding his head in his hands.

            ‘We must get on with it… Letter one. This is the one from the first crime scene, found glued to the wall. “Good day or evening, fellows of the police department. I’m sure that by the time this letter has been found and opened, a few days have already passed from the finding of the murdered man in the kitchen. It would be stupid of me to say who I really am -I don’t want to ruin the fun anyways- but I can say I wasn’t the man who first killed Alex, I just made some finishing touches and left you all a clue. I hear a carriage coming, I guess that’s someone trying to come back to the crime scene, I should run. I could give you a tip so here it is: I’ll always work alone. Goodbye.” What a nice fellow, isn’t he?’ Landen asked as he folded the piece of paper he was reading off of.

            ‘Well that means-’ Dresden began but the Chief interrupted him.

            ‘I’m sure you have plenty of questions but allow me to read the second one. The one where we found the hanged man,’ he said, pulling out another piece of paper and unfolding it. ‘Something I found interesting, and I’m sure you will too about this one, is that the writing was different, making it clear that the one who wrote this letter didn’t write the other.

Here we go. “I write I write I write. I write while my hand messes up the paper and my pen, I write while I’m nervous though I shouldn’t be. This man was a bad man, he deserved to die, and I’m ready to take some more down. I write while I pray for that unnecessary victim, I write while laughing at you while you read this. I write with intent of leaving this at the scene, though I know it’s most likely I’ll be too scared to during it. I write while I look at my bat, it stays there, motionless. I have written enough.” What do you think?’

            ‘This guy’s an absolute lunatic.’

            ‘That’s as much as anyone can figure out. He said “bad man” and “unnecessary victim”, so that helps.’

            ‘It’s obvious the first one was written while the murderer was at the crime scene, but when did the second guy write it? The difference between the two is their writing and the way they killed their victims. Or, at least, the way they left them.’

            ‘You mean the smiles?’

            ‘If that’s what the first murderer meant, that means it’s the same person who killed Miss Hailey, which is also the same person you tried to catch before and hadn’t managed to.’

            ‘Clever… but what about the second one? We’ve only found three people murdered in a different way: the hanged man, the Italian man and the woman.’

            ‘But we’re not sure the woman is dead. And, if the Italian man turns out to be the hanged man -as Parsley said- then where is the first man he killed?’

            ‘He only said bad man and unnecessary victim but there were three killed. Wait, what if he’s just trying to throw us off the right path?’

            ‘The only logical explanation was that he killed the Italian man -who he deemed bad- and the woman, who he had to kill so that she wouldn’t turn him in to the police, thus being an unnecessary victim.’

            ‘But why would he leave it in the hanged man’s room?’

            ‘To buy some time? Maybe he just figured no one would check? After all, if the first man didn’t work with this second killer, then neither of them would know about the other’s letter.’

            ‘Or maybe he reconsidered his options.’

            ‘We still need to find the two other bodies, though -a man’s and the woman’s. Before we do that and identify them we can’t go on much on that track. Anything new at Miss Hailey’s?’

            ‘Unfortunately, nothing. I went myself and checked. Not a single thing. Can’t expect for every crime scene to flow with evidence.’

            ‘Guess not,’ Dresden said. ‘About the first letter, though… There’s still not much we can extract, except for the fact that the man’s name is Alex.’

            ‘Which it actually isn’t. That man’s name is Alexovitch Pomaczo. Interesting family name, isn’t it? It looks like your step mother had married a Slavic man named Dimitra Pomaczo, who she had two children with -Alexovitch and Dmitri. It’s a shame it took so long to find this out, considering it’s an inheritance problem as well. In any case, the murderer is thought to have known Alexovitch in a closely-knit way, to call him Alex. Unfortunately, though, we’ve just started sending out disguised officers to act as spies and ask around town about the two Pomaczo boys.  Still, there’s a third man in that picture, his face cropped out, and we don’t know who he is either.’

            ‘That’s still some help, and we can do with it no matter how small. I guess I should check back tomorrow to see if any reports come in about the cut hand, other bodies or anything else your officers may find.’

            ‘Maybe a stray Parsley, too,’ Landen joked. When he noticed Dresden being concerned, he tried his best to console him, telling him Parsley was more than capable on his own, and he’d proven himself. Miles just needed to give him some time to think his plan through.

            ‘You’re right, I shouldn’t act as though I was his parent or something. We’re close, that’s all.’

            ‘People get protective of the things they care about, Miles. I know you can relate to that.’

            ‘Anyway… I’ll go to Barbra and see what she has to say about the medicine I guess. If anything happens you should send an officer to my apartment, I’ve nowhere to go today. I’m plenty sick of looking at the same dead bodies anyway. Take care, Landen.’

            ‘You too, Miles,’ he said, with a faint smile.

            At the counter there was the same unknown woman, waiting for him, her arms crossed.

            ‘I’ve forgotten to ask for your name, I’m sorry.’

            ‘I’m Neveah, and I’m sure you’re Detective Dresden.’ When he jumped back slightly, she asked what was wrong.

            ‘Nothing, it’s just… most people call me Miles. But, don’t worry, I like Dresden too. How well do you know Elena?’

            ‘Already with the questionnaire, I see. Well, I’ve only known her for a few weeks, we haven’t interacted much.’

            ‘How did you come to owe her?’

            ‘Well I told her I was going to miss a shift because I had to meet up with someone and she agreed to do it as long as I did the same for her whenever she needed it.’

            ‘Is that so… Who did you need to meet, if I may ask?’

            ‘I know it’ll sound suspicious if I say that it’s a personal matter, but it really is.’

            ‘You’re right. It does sound suspicious, considering what’s been happening. How much do you know about the case?’

            ‘Nothing more than you or Chief Landen do, except for what you two might have found out by talking in there. Honestly, I just thought the two of the guys were crazies.’

            ‘Well, anyone could figure that out, they killed people.’

            ‘You don’t have to be insane to murder someone, but I’m sure you knew that already,’ she said, winking.

            ‘Considering one of them is an adept for cutting up his victim’s faces and the other bashes them to oblivion, I’m fairly certain they’re not completely right in the head. Or anything close to it.’

            ‘You know, I might be able to help, but only if you help me.’

            ‘And if I don’t?’

            ‘I’ll forget.’

            ‘You know that’s withholding information from the ones that are leading the case, who are me and Landen. I don’t think you want him to know that.’

            ‘I’ll just tell them I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, crossing her arms.

            ‘Who do you think he’ll trust more, sugar? Let’s find that out,’ he said, bringing his hand to his mouth in the form of a circle. Neveah slapped the detectives hand and face at the same time, making him ask what it was for.

            ‘Fine, you win. I know one of the guys that pretended they were the murderer. Long, blond hair, likes black suits? He told me someone went up to his carriage once and paid him a lot to pull off that stunt. When we met a few hours later he told me he nearly pissed himself when he saw you come for him.’

            ‘Wait, wait, what? I knew they must’ve been bribed. How did he escape? It was a dead end.’

            ‘He hasn’t told me the details of it, just bragged and went to get drunk on the opposite part of town. I could help you meet him, though I don’t know if he’d agree. If you help me though, I might be able to convince him.’

            ‘What is it you need help with?’

            ‘Now I have to tell you something about him,’ she said, leaning forwards and whispering. ‘He used to live where the hanged man you found was. Hold on, don’t make a scene and hear me out. Good. So, the day before, while he was dead drunk and he shouted at the top of his lungs in the middle of the street that he would exchange his apartment -worth about five thousand pounds- for one about the same amount. After a few minutes a guy wearing all black with a hood and mask over his head and face came up to him and offered him his apartment -the one my friend’s living in right now. He just accepted it and walked past, that’s all I know. I couldn’t tell him about the hanged man or any part of the case, it’s confidential after all, so he doesn’t know how lucky he was. Well, I want you to spy on this friend of mine for a few days.’

            ‘Why? What’s he done? You suspect him?’

            ‘No, no, it’s just… One day he came by and we talked and I had to go to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I don’t know where he went or what he’d done, but a few hours after he left and I went to put on my favorite bracelet it was gone, and I swear it was there.’

            ‘Spy on him… for a bracelet?’

            ‘Not just any bracelet, okay? I’m not five years old. My mother gave it to me the day she passed away.’ When Dresden raised an eyebrow she continued ‘And it’s very, very expensive.’

            ‘I guess that’s a fair bargain… deal,’ he said, shaking her arm. ‘Where does he live now?’

            ‘Do you know the Fog Statue?’

            ‘That black artillery thing that’s a few apartments South of Ghost Street?’

            ‘Yes, that. You know how it aims directly towards the third floor of an apartment? Well, he lives directly under it. His name’s May Bale, and you already know how it looks. I just want my bracelet back.’

            ‘And if he says he doesn’t have it?’

            ‘I’m sure you can extract some information from him, detective,’ she said, with a sly smile.

            ‘Sure I can. How’s it look like again?’

            ‘It’s a big, blue rock tied with black knots. It sticks out like a sore thumb, don’t worry, you’ll know you’ve found it when you see it.’

            ‘Very well then,’ he said, pushing the exit. ‘Good day, Neveah.’

            ‘Goodbye!’ she responded, waving.

           

            He knew the Fog Statue’s neighborhood secret allies by heart, yet still he decided to go by carriage. On the way there, the coachman told him about Adam and how he asked for the other’s help in solving the case. He assured Dresden he had the support of the coachmen, for which the detective was grateful. When they got to the statue, Dresden was once again told he needn’t pay for the trip, and waved goodbye to the coach.

            ‘The apartment right under, was it?’ he whispered to himself and was ready to walk towards it when he heard a loud “Hey” coming from somewhere to the left.

            There was a small park there, next to the apartments, with no more than four benches and a little water fountain. He walked slowly, silently, trying to eavesdrop for anything important. When he got to the building closest to it, he edged his head as much as he could without being spotted. His eyes went wide as he saw Neveah’s friend talking to another man who had his back turned towards him, the blue bracelet hanging loosely from his wrist. “What a great way to hide something,” Dresden thought to himself. He couldn’t get a proper hang for what the two were talking about, for they were too far, until the two began raising their voices, and he swore he recognized the other man’s voice. He couldn’t see anything except his jacket and boots, his head covered by a hood, looking like one big dark blue pylon. Suddenly, the unknown man grabbed May’s shoulder and knocked him down, shouting “What do you know?!” and punching him in the face.

            ‘What are you doing?!’ Dresden asked, running towards the two. He grabbed the attacker’s arms and brought him up, barely holding him in his struggle to escape. The man bent forwards and propped himself backwards again, smashing his head into Dresden’s mouth and nose, sending him reeling backwards, taking the assailant with him to the ground with a loud thud. He let go of the unknown man who got up quicker than him, but he managed to catch him by the boot and trip him, making him fall on his face and turn around. Both of them stopped when they saw each other.

            ‘Parsley?’ Dresden asked mesmerized, his grip on the food loosening up. ‘What are you-’ he began asking but Parsley took in a big breath and hit with his leg as hard as he could, making Miles let go and allow his friend to escape. He tried to rush after him, but the difference in age and lifestyle took its toll. Dresden couldn’t keep up with Parsley’s sprint, leaving him in the middle of the road, panting.

            He wiped the sweat off his forehead, and flicked it at the ground. When he got back to where the two had fought, May was still on the ground, not moving. Dresden could feel his pulse but he was knocked unconscious and had to call for a coach. Before letting the coach take the man to a hospital, he undid the knots on the bracelet and took it from May’s wrist, pocketing it. He also tapped on May’s pockets and found a single silver key, which Dresden assumed was for his new apartment. As the carriage drove off he made his way to the man’s door, and, strangely, the key didn’t work. He tried it on all of the doors on the second floor, and, obviously, they didn’t work either. To his luck and misfortune, when he tried it at the last door on the floor, a woman came out, cussing him out for trying to break into her home. He showed her his detective badge and his ID -to show her he was indeed Dresden Miles- and she apologized.

            ‘Say, do you have a minute to spare? I’d like to ask some questions about a man that’s moved in here recently,’ Dresden asked.

            ‘Sure, go ahead, anything. Why don’t you come in? Don’t get anxious, now. I’m sure you have plenty of women that flock after you. I’ll have you know I just want to be a Good Samaritan and offer you a cup of tea for all your hard work.’

            ‘I appreciate it, truly. After all, I haven’t much else to do all day… Fine, one cup of tea won’t be that bad. Say, you’ve got some certain accent, where are you from?’

            ‘What an ear you have! I’m from the U.S. of A., New Orleans to be exact. It’s strange, you know, you’re the first person to ask me about it. I didn’t know it was that noticeable after living here for so many years,’ she said, pouring some green tea out of a bright blue teapot, holding it with both of her hands. 

            ‘Truly, the British accent has this sort of pull on a person. As do all accents after one has lived listening to it and adapting to it for a long enough period of time, I’m sure,’ Dresden said, picking up the cup and barely taking a sip, quickly taking back his lip because the tea was too hot. ‘In any case, I must find out something about the man that has moved into this floor as of late. It’s… paramount to solving the case.’

            ‘It’s really important then, right? I see… Well, who d’you mean? There hasn’t been anyone who moved in for a few months.’

            ‘Are you being honest?’ Dresden asked, squinting his eyes and leaning forwards. ‘I have received some information claiming that a man with short, dark hair has recently moved in an apartment on this floor. I’ve been told exactly which one, but I haven’t gotten the chance to speak to the man yet. He’s… not home,’ he said, smiling to himself. ‘That is why I need some information on him from someone else. Who knows what people can hide these days?’

            ‘Very true, Mister Miles,’ she began, then stopping for a few seconds. ‘I haven’t told you my name yet, have I? Well, I’m Neveah Pride, and I’ve lived here for the past six or seven years, in this exact apartment. You're quite unlucky, though…’ she trailed off, looking at the ground.

            Neveah looked very much like Elena did, but much older, at least by ten years, though the former was much taller and had short, dark bangs, with small, white square earrings.

            ‘Why is that?’

            ‘Well, you see, not many people live in this apartment anymore, and except for me and the person who lives on the opposite side there’s no one that lives on the third floor. If it’s him you’re asking about, well, I don’t know much about him. He does have short, dark hair and he’s tall. I saw him come here with a girl the other day, a cute little thing.’

            ‘You’ve seen Neveah?’

            ‘Is that her name? Weird, but, not my business… She was short and had this kind of dark skin, but not too dark, you know what I mean?’

            ‘Yes, I do, that surely is Neveah. And you’re absolutely sure that man moved in a few months ago here?’ he asked, slipping in another Seroquel in his mouth and finishing his tea.

            ‘One hundred percent sure, I haven’t seen anyone else come in. Except for that one girl… Maybe I should tell you about her too. This man’s quite the Casanova.’

            ‘He brought another girl?’

            ‘Yeah, about three days ago, maybe. She was shorter than Neveah, but she had this beautiful long, red hair and this huge white smile. I can see why that guy was after her.’

            Dresden blinked a few times to make sure he heard everything right. He liked his lips and took in a big breath, rubbing his temples.

            ‘Is something the matter, detective?’ she said, alarmed. ‘Did you not like the tea?’

            ‘No, no, it was good, thank you. It’s just… how many times have you seen this red haired woman? Do you know anything about her, maybe you’ve overheard them talking. Any strange behavior? Anything.’

            ‘I’ve seen them together twice the same day. The first time I was taking out the trash and I heard him say something about her not needing to worry about her shift at work to which she said that he was right and that she needed to calm down. The second time I saw them coming out when I was looking at the balcony. I thought they were a random couple.’

            ‘Did they kiss, hold hands? Any couple-like touching if that makes sense?’

            ‘Why aren’t you the jealous type? I can happily tell you that there was no touching I’d seen. Actually, she seemed to not even show her hands, she just kept them in her pockets, with her shoulders kind of shrugged. If I think about it she didn’t look comfortable much.’

            ‘Well thank you for everything. Everything you’ve told me is very important and it will be of great help in solving this case. Is it okay if I write your name down and quote you on what you’ve told me here today?’

            ‘Oh absolutely, go right ahead,’ she said, with a big smile, crow’s feet at the corner of her blue-green eyes. ‘If there’s anything else I can help you with,’ she continued, not much more than a whisper, laying her hand on Dresden’s arm, ‘don’t hesitate to come back.’ Dresden jumped slightly, making her laugh. ‘It’s so fun to see how flustered men get sometimes. Say, what were you doing with that key?’

            ‘Well, I’ve obtained this key from that man -his name’s May Bale, isn’t it?-, and tried to open his house door but it didn’t work. Looks like no-one’s home.’

            ‘May Bale you say?’ she asked, frowning. ‘I haven’t heard of a May Bale before, not in this apartment. Have you checked the mail boxes below? Wait, there are only the apartment numbers on them. You ought to check back at the police station and see who actually owns this place.’ After a few seconds of silence, she took in a big breath and said ‘I’m sorry to say this, detective, but I think your information’s a bit wrong.’

            ‘We’ll see about-’ he began, when a thud came from inside the man’s apartment. ‘Did you hear that?’ he asked, pointing towards the door.

            ‘I definitely did.’

            ‘Anyone there?’ Dresden asked, approaching the door, but when he looked down he stepped back shortly. ‘Jesus…’ he said, staring at the small streak of blood coming out from under it. He tried the handle but it didn’t work, knew he wasn’t strong enough to force it open. ‘Don’t you have a gun?’ he asked, turning towards Neveah.

            ‘That’s a bit racist,’ she said, going into her apartment and coming back with a brown shotgun within twenty seconds. ‘But of course I do.’

            ‘Let me use it a bit,’ he said, taking the gun from her. Dresden didn’t want to ask any questions about whether she had a permit. ‘Get away from the door handle! I’ll count to three and shoot this door open. One! Two!’ and a shot rang out from his gun.

His inexperienced hands trembled and he had to put a foot behind him to make sure he wouldn’t fall. The bullet made a hole next to the handle but the door still didn’t open. He pulled on the forestock, fired once more and then the lock gave way, the door flinging back but stopping when it hit something behind it. A high pitched groan came out after the impact.

‘Are you okay?’ Dresden asked the person inside, handing Neveah the gun and slowly making his way inside the apartment.

There was no light and he was scared someone might jump out and stab him from behind the door.

‘Grab my hand and I’ll pull you out,’ he said, extending his arm, but nothing followed. He heard movement coming from the other side of the door, but a kind of rubbing against the floor. A few seconds later two legs came into view, trying their best to move on the ground, tied at the ankles.

‘Oh, God,’ Dresden said, walking inside and grabbing the person, bringing them up. They had a black bag over their head, which quickly inflated and deflated. He took a strong hold of the bag and pulled on it, ripping it and showing the woman’s face underneath. ‘Elena!’ he said, not believing his eyes. ‘Call for a coach, quick!’ he told Neveah. ‘She’s got blood on her clothes, we need to go to a hospital.’

‘Help… me…’ Elena whispered, breathing so hard between sobs Dresden thought she was hyperventilating.

He took her from inside the house and put her down, managing to undo the knots around her ankles. When he turned her over his vision went blurry and his face went pale, the sweat on his body freezing. Her forearms were tied, with a bloodied bag tied to her left wrist. ‘No…’ he whispered as he untied her forearms. After he did so she sprung up, clenching her wrist with her right hand, all out crying. She had a bruise on the side of her face and dried blood on the corner of her mouth. He put one hand around her shoulder and guided her down the stairs, where the same coach as before was waiting for them.

‘Neveah, you go back and search the place. You have my permission to question anyone that tries to enter that apartment and you may use lethal force in case of self-defense. I’ll take the blame for everything that may happen because of what I said,’ Dresden said as they passed her.

‘Goodness gracious!’ the coach said, whipping the horses to gallop as the two got in. ‘We must rush to a hospital. You are very lucky Chief Landen sent for you so I came back.’

Dresden kept telling Elena that it was all going to be okay and that they were on their way to a hospital, but her crying wouldn’t die down until she’d receive pain medicine. He was scared she would have a panic attack, though, he didn’t want to imagine what happened all the time she was there, and decided to not question her about it all yet.

The day turned out to be way more eventful than it seemed, with him possibly catching one of the murderers. Still, he got sad when he remembered Parsley’s struggle to get away from him. It was even stranger that he had managed to find May Bale and question him for answers, using such a brute method. “Something has definitely changed in Parsley’s mind to go rogue like that,” Dresden thought.

A few minutes later they arrived at the hospital, where Doctor Mitchell gave Elena a shot of morphine and helped her fall asleep. When he took off the bag around her wrist he called for an operating room to free up. Dresden wouldn’t get to know why until a few hours later, after he had told the hospital staff to not allow May Bale to leave because he was a suspect in the case. Chief Landen also came twenty minutes after Dresden first arrived, talking to him about everything that had happened since morning.

‘I’ve been told May is awake,’ Landen said. ‘We should take him to the police station and question him, before he comes up with any plan.’ After a few seconds of silence he began again. ‘Are you sure he’s the one we’re after, Miles?’

‘Yes. One of them. I think he’s the second guy though.’

‘We’ll see after we find out all we can from him.’

It took five minutes to bring May out, bruised face and all, and take him to the interrogation room. The two tried to take advantage as much as they could from his light-headedness.’

‘First off, what’s your name?’ Dresden asked.

‘May Bale.’

‘Are you sure? We have someone-’

‘Fine, fine,’ he said, raising his arms and letting his head fall back in exhaustion. ‘It’s Bay Male,’ he said, with a small laugh. ‘Look, my name is really May. Well, Maylik Bale. I think you can see why I’d rather go by May, but even my ID say Maylik, it’s my signature.’

‘What was Elena doing in your apartment, one of her hands cut off from the wrist?’

‘I’ll tell you all you want, but you should know something very important. I’m on your side, okay? I didn’t kill that brother or that old woman.’

‘So you’re saying you did kill someone else,’ Landen said.

‘If, let’s say, hypothetically, that I did and admitted to it, would you both properly hear me out?’

‘Sure,’ Dresden said, smiling on the inside.

May took in a big breath and sighed, looking at his feet.

‘Yes, I did murder someone, but they deserved it. I guess you found my letter already, though. He was… the man’s name was Lucio Bolgi, an Italian mafia leader that ruled with an iron fist on where I used to live, back in Italy. You see, my poor parents and I, we were just a small little family trying to enjoy our lives together as much as we could. Though, for Lucio, that wasn’t going to cut it. He put taxes on everyone, killing whoever didn’t pay, and the police couldn’t do anything. We were lucky, we had money to pay and he left us alone, but my best friend, Giorgi, didn’t. You know what happened to him? One night we were playing outside and in the morning bam,’ he said, making a gun out of his fingers, ‘he was shot dead with his parents and grandma.’

‘I’m sorry you had to go through that,’ Dresden said, but May motioned him to be silent.

‘I appreciate it but you said you’ll properly hear me out. So, when that happened, my parents told me I can’t live with them because they’ll come and kill us too if one of them gets fired or something. And like that they gave me all of their money and sent me to England. This happened a few months ago, when I first moved in to that apartment near the Fog Statue. At first people didn’t like me, I wasn’t English. They thought I was a part of the mafia too, with everything that was going on in my home country, and they ignored me. It took me a week to get a job at a small shop so I could finally eat. Then, I got hired as a waiter and a week ago I found out Lucio came here. He lived in that apartment. I knew I had to do something to end what he did, all of his killings.’

‘So you went and killed him,’ Landen said.

‘Yes, sir. But, there was another woman there, that Elena. I never asked her why, but I couldn’t let her out, what if she told the police about me? So I just took her with me.’

‘And the wrist?’

He rubbed his chin and licked his lips, looking away for a few seconds.

‘I was very upset, I wasn’t thinking, okay? I never meant any harm to her,’ he said, the interrogation table with his index finger. ‘I promise that. It’s just… she tried to protect him when I swung my axe and it hit her wrist.’ He stopped for a few seconds, looking away again and rolling his eyes. ‘When I went there I didn’t think at all. I just got an axe, gloves, and a big jacket and went to the door. I knocked, saying it was mail and when she opened the door I slammed into it and went inside the house. I told her to shut up and hit her in the stomach so she couldn’t scream. Lucio saw me with the axe and told me he would give me anything I wanted: money, women. I told him I want him to go to hell and I tried to kill him with my axe. It got stuck in her wrist and I had to pull it out and cut it again to get her out of the way. Then I killed him. That’s how it went. I know that’s what you wanted. But the man was a bad man.’

‘But murder is still murder May,’ Dresden said, pitying the man. ‘We’ll see what we can do. In your letter, you said something about an unnecessary victim…’

            ‘That was Elena. I don’t know what she was doing with someone like him. That you can ask for yourselves, she never told me.’

            ‘Did you talk much to her?’

            ‘No. I just gave her food.’

            ‘Where did you hide her when Neveah came over?’

            ‘Who?’

            ‘Neveah. The short girl with the tanned skin? Curly, blond hair?’ Dresden asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘She’s told us about you, May. Well, told me,’ he said, when Landen glanced at him.

            ‘I don’t know any Neveah.’

            ‘She won’t get in trouble, May. She’s a police officer. Without her I wouldn’t have known you. Looks like she cares about her bracelets.’

            ‘Fine, good. I put her in a closet. She never staid much. She doesn’t know anything about Elena, okay? I didn’t tell anyone.’

            ‘Why did you smash up that guy’s face? What did you even do it with?’

            ‘I bought that room from someone. They were drunk on the street and I gave them money for more drinks and he gave me they key. It was on me this morning… small, silver?’

            ‘I know which one,’ Dresden said. ‘We’ve sent it to see if it works on the apartment.’

            ‘Yeah, that. I took Lucio to that room and I came next day with a hammer and rope. He got the end he deserved.’

            ‘What were you going to do with Elena?’

            ‘I don’t know. I didn’t have time to think about it. I still went to my job and this weird guy just came at me today and kept asking me about the murders and then beat me up. Next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital and get interrogated.’

            ‘You didn’t know that man? Parsley?’

            ‘No, I’ve never heard of him. Promise.’

            ‘How did you kill that man? Did you ever kill before?’

            ‘No, never. I just… was too mad at him. I got mad at other people on the street on the way there for nothing too, I remember. It wasn’t far, you know. I came, did everything and left. No regrets.’

            ‘Did you have some kind of hit list? Now’s the time you have to tell us what you have in that apartment of yours,’ Landen said.

            ‘It’s a normal house. You’ll find the axe and the hammer, but nothing else. The only one I wanted to find out more about was the other guy. I’ve heard he killed a man and an old woman, cut their faces up. I don’t think that guy’s up to anything good.’

            ‘That’s none of your concern,’ the Chief said. ‘Now, it seems like we’re done here.’

            ‘Wait a second,’ Dresden said. ‘You told us you’re on our side. What did you mean by that?’

            ‘Well, I killed a bad person. Isn’t that justice? And don’t tell me crap about that I had to report to the police. He’s too influential for that, you both know. That was the only way to get rid of him and stop him.’

            ‘And what if you, let’s say, went to catch this other killer, how would you do it?’

            ‘What’s this about, Miles?’ Landen asked, angrily. ‘We’re done here.’

            ‘I told you to wait. Now, as I was saying…’

            ‘Well, I wouldn’t have done anything bad to the police. I don’t know. Is this an invitation for partnership? Because I won’t take it.’

            ‘Why not?’ Dresden asked, ignoring Landen.

            ‘I work alone. You don’t like how I work, and I don’t like how you do either. Let’s work separately, for a better future.’

            ‘So noble,’ Landen said, ‘too bad you’re a cold-blooded murderer.’

            ‘Why are you so worked up about this?’ May asked, frowning. ‘What did I do wrong?’

            ‘Officers! Get this guy outta my sight,’ Landen said, pointing to May, with a big smile on his face. ‘You’re going to be in prison for a long time, boy.’

            ‘I’ll see what I can do to help,’ Dresden whispered in May’s ear, to Landen’s dismay. ‘What? I would also like to know why you’re so harsh on him. Sure, he’s killed someone, but he’s also technically done something good, right?’

            ‘There is no place for moral uncertainty, Miles. We’re the law, and we have to make sure people don’t go bonkers like this guy. What if everyone killed someone who did them wrong? It would be mayhem. Well, anyway, you’re slightly right. We’ve heard of that guy, Lucio Bolgi, and he was a very mean mugger. Glad he’s not with us anymore.’

            ‘Still, this leaves us without knowing who the other person is. He’s the one who killed Dmitri, after all. And I’m guessing the pills we found in the cabinet are going to be useless after all, they weren’t May’s.’

            ‘I want you to tell me everything you find, okay? Who knows, after all?’

            ‘You’re right. I’ll come back later tonight around the police station, at about seven. I hope those doctors will manage to sew Elena’s hand back.’

            ‘Me too,’ Landen said as the two exited the investigation room.

            At the counter there was Neveah, her eyes wide opened.

            ‘Here you go,’ Dresden said and put the blue bracelet on the counter. ‘As promised. Thanks for everything,’ he said and left, but not before overhearing how Landen said he was going to fire her if she kept secrets from the police like that again.

            The outside air was fresher than normal, just like Dresden himself was, knowing he had eliminated a third of the problem. Now, he only needed to find Parsley and catch the other killer, though there was a chance that his friend would come back. Still, he couldn’t help thinking about the two people they hadn’t identified from that picture, and, considering May barely moved in from Italy, he couldn’t have gotten close enough to either of the two.

            He thought about going to the chemist’s to ask Barbra about the Seroquel to know as much as he could about it, but when he was halfway there, he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. And a cold feeling on his neck.

            ‘Don’t turn around, just keep walking. I only want to talk,’ the man said. ‘I know you, Dresden Miles, detective Dresden Miles. I heard you’ve found the other killer, huh? What a great boy you are. Now, Alex is dead, I have the knife and that only means you have thirty seconds to give me a good enough reason not to kill you.’

            ‘If you do kill me, the police will find you.’

            ‘And do what? The money still comes to me, you know. I can buy my way out. What’s that? You want to say something brave like “Justice won’t let you”? Don’t make me laugh. Justice is nothing against three million pounds. With fifty thousand I’ll make the Chief and his whole department kneel and lick my feet.’

            ‘Then there’s no reason.’

            ‘Really? Is that it? The great Dresden Miles has nothing to say to save his own life? What happened?’

            ‘Unless you want to play.’

            ‘Huh? Play?’

            ‘Someone like you isn’t in it for the money. If you were you wouldn’t come here and left me a chance to live. You’re doing this because this assassination attempt is also a game, to see how I’d react. You just want to play with the whole department.’

            The man let out a small laugh, the blade shivering against the back of Dresden’s sweaty neck.

            ‘You know what? I didn’t think about it like that at all, but what you’re saying can, you’re right, be pretty damn fun. You know, my favorite piece in chess is the pawn, and Parsley’s becoming a very strange and unnerving pawn. You don’t have any idea what the poor boy’s been going through. Imagine I’ve met and talked to him at least ten times like this. The kid’s probably turning in his bed at night ‘cause he’s scared he’ll meet me again. Well, anyway, that’s all fun and games but the problem lies in you. Chief Landen is merely the bishop and his officers are blind horses. You know, the bishop is called “the crazy one” in some languages, and he’s crazy for thinking he can do anything without you. Dresden you’re both the king and the queen. You can go anywhere and you’re strong, but if I take you out… game’s over. And, as you said, I’d be too bored to let it be game over. I can run this town into the ground with killings and these idiots still wouldn’t catch me, but you… God, why have you made humans in this way? Do you know humans are the only ones that enjoy spicy food? We’re the only ones that can hurt ourselves and be happy about it, even like it! Well, that’s what I’m doing now. You’re one hell of a pepper but I’m one damned man resistant to heat. Let’s see if you’ll come back to burn my throat,’ he concluded and the knife moved from Dresden’s nape. When he turned, the murderer was gone.

            ‘What the hell was that?’ he said, out loud. ‘People don’t just… disappear…’ he mumbled. Then, he saw a small piece of paper glide through the air, slowly, above his head. Left, right, left, right, left, Dresden’s palm. It read “But they can.” He looked up, took in a big breath and walked faster to Barbra.

            By the time he got to the chemist’s, sweat formed everywhere from his face to his back and his underwear. Worst of all his underwear and socks. When he got there, though, the door was closed and the lights were closed inside.

            “Didn’t know she had a shorter schedule on Fridays,” Dresden thought. “Might as well come later. After all, it’s only a pill. I’ll just need to take another one tonight and it’ll be enough.”

            He looked at his watch. Four pm already.

            To some it was already but to Dresden it was barely. He, as always, couldn’t think of what to do for his remaining time. Suddenly, his stomach hurt again and decided to go to The Life. Luckily, he had some money left after the trip, so he was sure he wouldn’t die. Yet. He was pretty sure the money was going to be sent to the remaining heirs in two days’s time, which meant he didn’t have much time to solve the case.

There had to be something, anything, which could help him. He went back and looked over and over again at the rooms, the murders, but he couldn’t find a single clue.

Seven PM.

Time sure flew by sometimes, especially when he did nothing. Miss Hailey’s room was completely cleaned out and nothing had been found. He went back to Landen’s office but Neveah told him the Chief had left, told her to tell him that he needed to talk to him tomorrow at ten in the morning. She told Dresden that the Chief wasn’t going to be there before twelve and he said twelve was alright too. He was ready to spend the night awake. He ate again and eight PM rolled around. Still nothing to do, nowhere to go. He called for a coach and ask him if any news had spread. Nothing. He suddenly remembered of May’s apartment and asked the coach to drive him there. When he arrived, Neveah had been waiting for him on the staircase, still holding the door to the man’s apartment closed.

‘Took you long enough,’ she said, frowning, her arms crossed. ‘Are you this punctual all the time, or-’

‘I get it, okay? I really do. It won’t happen again. Have you found anything?’

…

‘No. Nothing.’

‘Figures,’ Dresden said. ‘Still, I want to take a look around.’

‘Go for it,’ she said, opening the door as widely as she could. It creaked as the holes from the bullets groaned in pain. From the entry he could see the blood on the walls and ground, where Elena had rolled around. ‘That thud we heard was probably her falling here,’ he said, pointing to a bigger puddle of blood. ‘It’s the one that went under the door.’

‘What a great detective you are.’

‘Did I make you miss anything? Or did I just happen to be on your good side when I first got here?’ he asked, turning around, his eyebrows raised.

‘Both. If you’d like to know, I had to meet someone today.’

‘Who?’

‘Can’t tell, sugar.’ Dresden winced. ‘You’re just jealous. You know, I didn’t know so many people had food names. Neveah, Parsley, that’s strange.’

‘Sure is,’ Dresden said, pretending he didn’t know who Parsley was. ‘That there’s the axe he cut her arm off with if you’d like to know,’ he continued, pointing to it, ‘and that beauty’s the hammer he used to bash a guy’s brains in.’

‘What a charming and enlightened gentleman.’

‘He knows how to deal with his problems,’ Dresden replied, shrugging. ‘Either do it the easy way or the hard way.’

‘Oh yeah?’ she asked, and Dresden heard the c**k of a gun behind him. ‘I like the hard way.’

‘Considering the circumstances,’ he said, grinning, ‘this very much looks like the easy way for you.’

‘To each their own. You made your own bed now lay in it, right? You think I don’t know who you work with? Pretending like you don’t know your former B-F-F.’ She got closer and put the gun right against the back of his head. ‘Imagine if I press the trigger by mistake.’

‘That would certainly be unpleasant. For the both of us.’

‘Both of us? Don’t you think you have too big an ego?’ she asked, laughing.

‘If it’s not unpleasant, then shoot me.’

‘Oh, come on, now you know I can’t do that to my favorite little detective,’ she responded, pinching his cheek with her left hand and moving it up and down. ‘These sloshing noises are pretty lewd, aren’t they? Hey, don’t oppose me! Would you rather make slurping sounds or have your brains spattered on the ground? There we go. Argh, I’m already bored. What do you even do all day?’

‘You know, that’s what I ask myself every time I see it’s four PM, and then, suddenly, here I am at gun point.’

‘I’m guessing this is your average night then.’

‘You have no idea.’

‘Do you usually escape?’

‘Most of the time. When I don’t, though, someone comes and brings me back from the dead. I leave a sweet tip, don’t worry.’

‘Wouldn’t want the Magician to die of hunger now, would we? I guess that means doctors are some kind of angels, aren’t they?’

Dresden didn’t respond. An awkward silence ensued.

‘Wouldn’t you rather not do this?’ Dresden asked. ‘I can put a good word in to Parsley for you.’

‘You’re very sweet, but I’m afraid my teeth aren’t what they used to be. They hurt when I eat too much chocolate.’

‘Doesn’t seem like it.’

‘You either called me fat or you told me I’m not that old. So you either die or get a mildly-interested thank you.’

‘Isn’t that what always happens though? Not only when a girl points a literal gun at a guy’s head.’

Neveah sighed. ‘You’re right. My devilish plan has failed. Well, I’ll just assume you’re smart enough and meant it the latter way. And for that thank you. Not many people tell old women they’re not that old anymore, you know?’

‘Thirty isn’t old.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘That’s what I thought you were.’

‘Now that earns a sincere thank you. It’s not nice to ask a woman’s age though, you know?’

‘Not unless she tells it by herself.’

‘I’m thirty-six.’

‘Might as well tell me your real name while we’re at the introductions level.’

‘You don’t believe me? What a jerk! Well, good job, but I’m still not telling you my real name. I really do like Neveah though, you want to know the story behind it?’

‘Go ahead, I’ve got all day.’

‘There was this girl, about sixteen, called Neveah. A real mean piece, you know? And she kept fighting all the boys around the neighborhood -something for which I appreciate her for- but she’d always steal from my crabapple tree. One day I told her I was going to kill her if she stole one more apple. At two in the morning I woke up to some sounds in my garden. I took my shotgun with me and went in. There, I saw her and slowly went up to her. When I was a few feet away she told me she’s sorry and that she wanted to see what I would really do. Well, I pulled out the shotgun and shot her head off. It really was loud, you know, louder than when you shot it today, because it was night and there was no background noise or something. Well, anyway, that night I went to her parent’s house and put their kid’s head on their front steps like a pumpkin’s head. You have any idea how much I wanted to shoot you when you gave me back my gun? I kind of felt violated, you know… She’s my most prized possession. Really, guess.’

‘On a scale from one to ten I’d say a seven.’

‘I’d give it a seven point five, but you’re close enough,’ she said and the gun lifted from his forehead. ‘You’re free.’

He turned around and saw her with her gun to her side, just looking at him.

‘That’s it?’ he asked. ‘Did you stall for time or something?’

‘No. It just seems like the most honest way to have a conversation with someone is when they know they’re going to die. That way there’s no point in lying, you know? I got sick talking to a mounted shotgun that would never react to danger, is all,’ she said, shrugging and turning around. ‘Oh, and, the story about the little girl is true. Her family name started with “A” if I remember correctly. It’s been a few years since then, you know? I can’t imagine what would happen if that Fog Statue would all of a sudden be armed and would get shot. What about you?’ she asked.

‘I don’t want to.’

She waited a few seconds and said ‘Damn shame.’

As she smiled he heard a thud so loud he thought his eardrums would rupture. The whole building shook, like a small bounce, making his legs feel like gelatin. And then came hell. He heard people scream and debris fall, the upper floors falling downwards like a broken elevator. He grabbed her by the hand and pulled to run but she shook it off, turned back and lifted her in his arms and ran downwards anyway, through the crashing of steel against steel, of her fists against his chest and of his feet against the trembling stairs. Somewhere behind him pieces of the roof feel, shaking his feet in his boots some more. Neveah managed to punch him so hard in the jaw it send him reeling back a few steps, crashing against a wall who gave way under them, making them fall from the first story.

Dresden felt the pain in his jaw and back, then for a split second he was stuck in time. Gravity came up as fast as a bull to meet his body, and then he fainted.

 

‘Hey, hey! Wake up little buddy,’ a distant voice said. ‘Come on, I know you’ve got it in you. There we go!’

Dresden’s vision was clear, though he couldn’t understand where he was. He was laying on the ground, and a man was bent forwards with his hand extended towards him. All around was a white background.

‘Come now, I’ll help you up. You’re not in the best shape.’

Dresden accepted the man’s hand, who brought him to his feet quickly.

‘I’m so glad to meet you, Dresden,’ the man said. He was as tall as Dresden, wearing a matching suit and pants, both brown with yellow stripes and pitch black shoes. Just like his face. ‘Don’t concern yourself with my face, you know it all too well. Well, how do you like it here? I’ve cleaned everything up for you,’ he said, then frowned. ‘Actually, that was a lie. You did,’ he continued, pointing at Dresden. ‘That was a pretty bad fall, you know? I’m not sure how good the doctors are going to be at patching you up. I felt it too, you know!’

Dresden shook the dust off his clothes, feeling something viscous and wet down his back. When he brought his hand up it was stained with blood.

‘Not to worry, friend. You’ve been through worse… maybe. I can’t remember. Well, all that’s important is that you’re here. I would very much appreciate it if you stopped taking those pills. They are bad for you. They will be very bad for you. Look, I know why you want to take them. Heck, I would if I were you… but that meant you’d tell me I shouldn’t and I’d listen to you because you were always there for me. You might even want to get rid of me -which, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t appreciate in the slightest-, and that could kind of make sense I guess but why get rid of your advisor? Oh, right, you must’ve figured by now,’ he said, a gray bowler hat appearing above his black mist of a head, ‘I’m Miles, at your disposal.’

Dresden shook Miles’s hand and suddenly felt weak, as Miles’s grip strengthened. He fell on his knees and his vision started to blur.

Miles’s face came close to his and whispered ‘It’s now my time to work, Dresden,’ and let his arm go, making Dresden fall into a pit of darkness again.

 

He felt himself struggle against something and get angry, furious that he couldn’t get it off him. All of a sudden he let out a cry and he opened his eyes.

He was home. It was dark and he was sweaty again. The sheets were on the ground and his pillow was sticking to his nape. He tried to lift his head but it hurt and let it limp again. His arms felt burnt, but worse was his back. He could tell there was some kind of lotion on it, making him feel disgusting. There were lotions and bandages all over his body, and with every second that he woke up more he began feeling the pain and viscosity more. He tried to clench his fists and teeth, but if he did so his forearms burnt and his head burst into a massive headache. All he could do was breathe, and even then he fought against his back and a burning somewhere under his sternum. He heard a knock somewhere, but it was as though someone had knocked against glass. It happened a few more time and heard a distant “Hello?”

He turned his head left and right but there was no one there. Then, he heard grunts getting closer and closer, as though someone was doing pushups always on the edge of giving up but always managing to do one more. Suddenly, with one last push, the same suit came out from under his bed. Miles.

‘Hello there. Sorry I had to do that, Dresden, I just couldn’t let you endure all that pain in the hospital,’ Miles said, sitting on the bed. Dresden felt like he could faint when it actually gave way under Miles. ‘What? Surprised? You silly dog,’ he said, with a flick of his hand. ‘Well, anyway, you shouldn’t spend much time moving. You’re home, but only after two days of terrible pain. Do you know how much you’ve hurt yourself? Trying to save that stupid woman… God, Dresden. Well, anyway, now you have basically a cast of bandages around your back, arms, legs and whatever managed to hit the ground first from your body. Try to not breathe in too much, everything hurts then. Trust me, I’ve tried.’

After a few seconds of silence, Miles got up and walked to the table, where the pills were kept.

‘You know, nobody noticed these. Just this strange, white, unnamed bottle of pills out here in the open. Well, still, by nobody I mean the two unlucky officers that had to carry you over here but still. Well, had to carry me.’ He picked up the bottle and flicked it in the air, pills flying everywhere. ‘Oh s**t. I didn’t know you didn’t properly… ah… he said,’ beginning to pick up the pills off the ground and blowing on them. ‘They’re going to be good as new. When you bring them in to Landen that is. It was proper boring talking to anyone. Boring and painful. I’ll have you know both your lovebirds are alive. What are you looking like that at me for? Elena even came and we smooched. What? Jealous? I would be too. Shame I’m only joking with you.’ He stopped for a few seconds, looking upwards. ‘Did that… just… rhyme? I love it when it happens. Oh, in other news, they’ve caught the other killer. It’s us! They caught us! Well, me, finally. Here you go with that look again, of course they didn’t catch me. Wait, you don’t remember? I’ll give you some food for thought: what were you doing before you rushed to Parsley’s that morning? Oh, that’s not pleasant, is it? Yeah, it was I, so what? You made me do it! Well, technically, both of us did it. I’d never expect a lunatic coming in and basically arranging the whole case for us though. How about that? We kill a guy then we say someone else did -well, he did, after all, kill Miss Hailey- and then we’re the victors! Hurray! We should’ve thought of this sooner… Or maybe not… Look how you’ve turned out. Sheesh. Well, in any case, we’re two days away from death. Two days from when you wake up. That’s bad, isn’t it? Well, don’t worry, I’ve arranged for someone to carry you everywhere. I know you’ll like it, but just wait for tomorrow. Come now,’ he said, putting the pill bottle on the table on the far end of the corner and coming closer to Dresden, ‘don’t take those any more. They have some really nasty side effects. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to talk to me anymore? I’m way more reliable than that idiot Parsley, who nobody knows where he’s gone still. In any case, you’ll feel better by tomorrow, maybe you’ll even get to walk. Let’s hope. Sweet dreams, Dresden,’ he concluded as he put his fingers on Dresden’s eyelids and closing them slowly.

 

The morning came peacefully, with the sounds of birds chirping somewhere in the distance. He remembered everything that had happened last night, and hoped it was a dream. When he opened his eyes he looked at where Miles had put the pills: they were on the other side of the table. His heartbeat began to rise, panic started to settle in, but a meager thought calmed him.

“So what? After all, he’s doing everything only for my health, isn’t he? I don’t want to think what he’s been through in the hospital.”

He heard a yawn and his eyebrows raised. Seeing Elena in a purple night gown was an unexpected sight, which made him want to cover himself up with the blanket.

‘Good morning,’ she said, crouching down to his bed, their noses nearly touching. Her long, red hair was let down in streams and her -now blue- eyes stared right into his. He was scared Miles would reflect from them and spook her, but he didn’t. Instead, a faint smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. ‘Enjoying your time resting?’ she asked, smiling as well.

‘I love it,’ Dresden said, trying to move his left hand closer to her. It didn’t hurt nearly as bad as last night, just like the rest of his body. The bandages seemed lighter and not so harsh on his body, the lotions already one with his skin. He felt at ease, knowing he might get to walk even though he’d fallen… from an actually small height. He wondered what happened that he hurt himself so bad from falling from the first floor. ‘I don’t remember much,’ he said, frowning, feeling his whole face pulled down by his lips.

‘Oh, poor you,’ she said, putting her hand on his head and patting him, gently. ‘Well, you fell from the first story of a block newly bombarded by the Fog Statue. You held Neveah Pride in your arms while you fell, thus saving her life but also making it so your whole body got the force of her weight added on as you hit the ground. Pretty hard. You got up, trying to pick her up but your body said that’s not going to happen. Still, you crawled out of there, but a piece of debris had it coming for you. It covered your whole back and half of your legs. Thankfully, it wasn’t thick enough to properly break anything. You turned and shook it off yourself -like Dresden does- and crawled back to safety, where a coach picked you up and you fainted on your way to the hospital. There, you were brought in by Doctor Mitchell who shouted curses at you but at the same time said that if you don’t live he’ll feed you do the dogs. You got bandaged and they kept putting this strange yellow stuff on your body, and I don’t know much more than that. I visited you once and you made me promise to come home with you and help you.’

‘Your hand…’ Dresden said, full of sorrow.

‘They’ve managed to stich it together, see?’ she said, raising her left arm. ‘That’s a hand… but it’s not mine.’

Dresden noticed it instantly, by the fact that there was no missing or stitched finger and because it was slightly bigger than her other hand.

‘How?’

‘Neveah offered. She’s such a sweetie.’

‘Neveah?’ Dresden asked, startled. ‘Are you sure we’re talking about the same Neveah here?’

‘The old woman you saved. Yes. She heard you sleep talk, you know. About me.’

Dresden’s cheeks flushed, trying to look away but his head didn’t respond. “Don’t ruin it!” Miles’s voice echoed in his head.

He looked into her eyes and said ‘I didn’t know I sleep talked. What did I say?’

‘Well, it was about multiple people. You said something about Chief Landen and how he should have been more indulgent, you asked “Where’s Parsley? Parsley?” a bunch of times… What else? You also said that if you catch Miles trying to come near me you’ll kill him and then you said “Scratch that, if anyone tries I will.” It was a surprise, you know? How could I refuse to come here after that?’

“Jesus, Miles, what have you done?” Dresden thought. “I thought you better than to let a girl come into our reality. You know we’re not stable enough for this. We’re too dangerous.”

Miles was quiet.

‘What are you thinking about?’ she asked, coking her head to the side.

‘Well, nothing. I just… I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.’

‘Come on,’ she said, nudging his arm, ‘it was worth it. Plus, I thought you were too macho to consider liking someone. I guess something inside you just can’t lay its eyes off me, huh?’ she said, laughing.

‘I bet the others were jealous,’ he said, with a small laugh, cautious for it to not hurt.

‘If only you’d seen Neveah’s face… oof!’ she said, with a single snap of her fingers. ‘I knew I won that battle. Landen looked at me a bit strange, then.’

‘I’m glad, then,’ he said.

He could see her face light up, her long smile slowly moving into one point.

“No,” Dresden thought to himself.

She slowly got up just to be on level eyesight and looked at his eyes, then his lips.

“No, no, no. There’s no going back after this.”

Her lips puckered and Dresden’s hand instinctively went up to stop her.

“Ah, what the hell…”

            He put his hand on her cheek and she smiled, then puckered her lips once more as he brought her face closer to his. The brush of her hair against his face was unlike anything he’d felt before. It was too different from a normal brush or touch with a friend, it had electricity, desire in it.

            And then their lips pressed, and he felt truly good. It was only for a second, and then she backed away, slowly, smiling, her cheeks as red as a crab. She bit her lower lip, got up and walked to the kitchen.

            ‘If you don’t eat anything you’ll get worse!’ she called out.

            ‘Okay, okay,’ he said, trying to shout back but his lungs didn’t let him. He still felt a bit flustered, not knowing what to do. He figured his life was pretty clear cut: he’d work as a detective and focus on that.

            But now the real King was in play.

Elena came back from the kitchen with a two boiled eggs and a few pieces of bread on a plate, putting it on the table.

‘What are you waiting for? Eating’s important.’

Dresden mumbled something and moved slower than a snail, trying his best to not trigger any pain. He felt strange, though he was able to move, which he supposed wasn’t that bad of a deal. Sitting was painful, his former back ache reinforced by his new injuries. He had to relax his lower back just so sit comfortably, and the pain that rose from it nearly made him scream. He held on as much as he could for he didn’t want to show weakness with Elena around. He noticed her looking concerned, told her what he was doing was the usual. He like to get comfortable.

‘Enjoy your meal,’ she said, and went back to the kitchen, with a quick pace, her night gown fluttering behind her, like a curtain in the wind.

            He enjoyed the eggs despite his usual hatred for them. It was like they gained a certain sweetness. He wanted to believe it was because Elena made them, but wasn’t quite sure if that’s how things worked. He finished up and went to the bathroom, where he washed his hands and admitted he needed a shave. He turned with his back to the mirror and looked as much as he could without his neck hurting, just to get a good view of his stitches. His back was basically all white, with long, thick bandages starting from his shoulders to his lower back, and down his arms. When he touched the back of his head there was a kind of dull pain; a bump.

            “Still,” he thought, “no matter how bad this all is I’ve gotta go to Landen. Tomorrow’s the big day, and I don’t want it all to end so soon, not when…” he wanted to finish his thought but Elena’s sudden presence behind him said it all. She had a small frown, and when she noticed Dresden had seen her she began smiling once more, laying a hand on his shoulder, barely reaching it.

            ‘You’re too tall, you know that?’ she asked, with a wink.

            ‘How’s the weather down there? You know, I heard somewhere that shorter people are meaner because they’re closer to hell.’

            ‘I didn’t mean anything bad by it. There’s just more of you to…’ she trailed off.

Dresden’s cheeks flushed and he felt too awkward to say anything, though he knew both of them knew what she meant by it.

‘That’s alright,’ he finally managed to say, ‘I appreciate it. And I didn’t meant to offend you about your height.’

There was silence for a few seconds, and Dresden felt compelled to clear it, thinking it was his fault.

‘You know, I begin to dislike how tall I am sometimes. I either hit the doorframe with my head or… have to bend down to hug someone shorter,’ he said, as he turned around and wrapped his arms around Elena, his head awkwardly slumping over her shoulder. He felt her shudder and wanted to stop, when she brought her hands slowly around his waist and hugged him, slowly tapping on his back.

            ‘It doesn’t hurt,’ he whispered.

            Then, she wrapped her hands properly around his back and pulled, making him whimper and tighten his body.

            ‘Liar,’ she whispered back, giggling, as he straightened himself back up, scratching his nape.

            ‘It was for the greater good of the moment.’

            ‘Thank you… about my height. I’ve always been sensitive about that.’

            ‘Oh, um… sure, no problem,’ he said, feeling mighty shy and proud of himself for what he’d just done. ‘You know, I’m not that good with things like these. I’m more of a keep to myself kinda person…’

            ‘Well,’ she said, putting a hand on his shoulder, ‘hopefully you’ll get better with that. We can’t have you build up everything and then burst out in madness. What kind of detective would do that?’

            ‘You’re right. Thanks. I… might’ve needed that. Anyway, I must go to Landen now, I’m sure he’s expecting me. We need to talk about what has happened.’

            ‘There’s only two more days until…’

            ‘Yeah. Do you want to come?’

            ‘The Chief said I need to go wherever you do. I’m your carer from now on, okay? I have to make sure you won’t do anything crazy that could possibly hurt you.’

            ‘Are you getting paid for this?’

            ‘I have more than enough in my savings. Why, are you worried about that?’

            ‘You are working for me instead of going to your job, basically. Your wage is on me.’

            ‘How do you have any money? Thought detectives don’t accept random tips.’

            ‘I’m going to get into some good money soon.’

            ‘If you survive, that is.’

            ‘Go big or go home,’ he said, as he went back to his bedroom and opened his closet. ‘Elena?! What are these?’ he asked, pointing to the coloured clothes in his closet.

            ‘Thought you needed a new wardrobe. They’re my older brother’s. I told him about everything that’s happened and he offered to send some clothes of his from Germany. Hopefully they’ll fit you nicely. Unlike your other… rags.’

            ‘But… Fine. Who am I to not accept such a generous donation?’ he asked, shaking his head, as he pulled out a pair of dark blue pants and black jacket. ‘At least they’re not as weird as Parsley’s,’ he mumbled, sitting back down on his bed and putting on his socks.

            ‘Need some help with everything?’

            ‘Go away. I can handle myself. Pass me that pair of underwear before you go though. Thanks.’

            Ten minutes later they were both ready and began slowly making their way down the stairs. With every step, Dresden’s body shuddered, as though spikes darted out of the concrete up his leg and lodged into his back. There was no wind, which he was thankful for. They passed by a mailman, who tipped his small hat and quickly went on his way. He reminded Dresden of how he used to walk so quickly the people around him would always ask him to slow down. Now, though, there was an arm under his, pushing him up whenever he’d misstep and wiggle like a worm not to fall.

            Landen was in front of the police station, finally some colour in his face, smoking a cigar. Dresden could never understand the difference between a cigar and cigarette, except that the former gave off a more masculine vibe -or that’s what he guessed. He never tried either and didn’t want to, for both of his parents were avid smokers and had died because of it.

            ‘Good morning,’ Landen said, tipping his helmet back. ‘How are you feeling, Dresden? Elena, has he done anything stupid? Mitchell told me you were right on the edge there…’

            ‘I’ve got it covered, no need to worry. She’s been keeping an eye on me since morning. What have you been up to?’

            ‘I tried my damn best to talk to those Muppets at City Hall about your situation and delaying the money handing but they had none of it. Still, I didn’t leave without anything to show for it. It’s all gonna’ be settled the day after tomorrow.’

            ‘I appreciate it, Landen. Anything else?’

            ‘That woman… what was her name… Neveah. She came in an hour ago, trying to find you. I told her it was best if she came later.’

            Dresden didn’t ask anything about Parsley, knowing that if anyone had seen him Landen would’ve told him about it as soon as the two met.

            ‘So… Anything worth talking about?’

            ‘We’ve found Parsley,’ the Chief said, with the biggest grin on his face. ‘I know, I made your face too when I heard. An officer told me they’d spotted him running near Winter Alley.’

            ‘That’s on the opposite side of town. Isn’t there some kind of strange underground association? What was he…’

            ‘We haven’t found out. That’s why we’re going there now,’ he said, as Adam pulled up in his coach. ‘To Winter Ally, thank you.’

            ‘Good morning gentlemen and… Miss Elena. I’ve heard you’ve managed to find Parsley. I’m sure Mister Miles’s pain has gone away when you’ve heard about it, eh?’

            ‘It’s lifted a great weight off my chest, it’s true. I’ve been wondering for days where he’d gone. Couldn’t you get a warrant for breaking down his door and searching his home?’

            ‘I did. This morning. And when my men went there they saw him leave and followed him until he suddenly disappeared. Then, they went back and forced the door open. They couldn’t find anything strange inside the house, not a single thing not in its normal place. Though, I think you ought to go there too, if we don’t lay our hands on him now.’

            ‘You’re making it seem like he’s a wild animal who’s escaped from the zoo and you were his personal trainer.’

            ‘You can’t tell me that he isn’t dangerous. Also, May told me he doesn’t know how the other killer looks like or who the people from that photo were. Looked like a family reunion or a get-together of sorts.’

            ‘No wonder they didn’t want to be seen,’ Elena said.

            ‘What do you mean?’

            ‘The man with the mask and the one who’s head is cropped out.’

            ‘Why not?’

            ‘Maybe they had it planned all along. I mean, these people can be anyone. If we compare it to Dmitri’s height, the man in the middle is about Dresden’s height and the one on the right is about… Parsley’s,’ she said, as she slowly looked towards the detective.

            A few seconds of silence hung in the air, spread in equal fragments by the continuous sound of the horses’s hooves on the cobbles.

            ‘But you’re not saying…’ Dresden began, pointing to himself, ‘that it’s Parsley and I, right?’

            ‘Of course it can’t!’ shouted Elena. ‘You couldn’t have fired the Fog Statue and Parsley was on the other side of town. I was just saying, you know…’

            But Landen didn’t seem too convinced.

            ‘Well, I’ve been meaning to ask you this, Miles,’ he began. ‘How did you find Dmitri’s body that morning? What were you doing there so early, even? Parsley’s told me what you told him.’

            ‘I had just come back from my step mother’s funeral and I decided it was best if I just go to the two brothers and tell them about everything. The ride took a few hours but I was sure -with how City Hall does their duties- that it would take a few days until they’d get news about what had happened. Plus, I couldn’t sleep at home, for I did so on the train.’

            ‘Do you still have the tickets?’

            ‘No, I’ve thrown them away at the station.’

            ‘So if I’m to look at the train’s passenger record for that day I’d see you there?’

            ‘Yes,’ Dresden asked, his voice unflinching.

He was sure Miles was the only think keeping it all from crumbling down. He somehow managed to not sweat and fidget, making sure to not give away his real thoughts. He kept telling himself it wasn’t he who killed the man and that it was Miles’s fault, but Miles replied that it was Dresden’s fault for Miles’s existence. The best thing they could do now was work together to get out of the situation.

            ‘And your first thought was to go to Parsley and not the police… why?’

            ‘Parsley’s helped me more than any officer,’ Dresden replied, coldly. “Brutal,” Miles said, nearly losing the grip on his anxiousness. ‘Plus, I was in a rush. I didn’t know what to do. I knocked on the guy’s door and I heard nothing. I was tired, it was late and I just went to open it, thinking he’ll forgive me because I’m bringing him good news and all. The first thing I see is a dead corpse with blood all over it. Is it so strange I decided to turn away and run as fast as I can?’

            ‘I don’t see why you’re pressing him so hard, Landen. If he really meant to kill him, he probably wouldn’t have helped you try to figure everything out so much.’

            ‘No… it’s not strange. I’m sorry, Dresden, I…’

            ‘You’ve got a lot of pressure on you, Chief, I understand. Everything will be fine. We just need to find Parsley and the murderer, that’s it. We can do it in three days, no problem.’

            ‘Thank you,’ Landen said, smiling and finishing off his cigar. ‘Let’s go get Parsley, shall we?’

            The carriage stopped a few meters away from a new six story building. Adam said he hadn’t heard much from the other coached and Dresden told him he didn’t need to worry.

            ‘Do we just knock?’ Elena asked.

            ‘Let’s try our luck,’ Dresden said and as he was about to knock the door opened, a tall, dark-skinned man wearing all white welcoming them inside.

            ‘Parsley has been expecting you,’ he said, stepping back and allowing the others to enter. ‘Come, don’t be frightened. All will be made clear soon.’

            Behind him was a long corridor, nothing but strangely colored flowers on the walls, with lights hanging every so often from the ceiling. The man presented himself as Max and showed them to the end of the corridor, where, to the right, was a large living room. There were two large tables, each with six chairs, all oak. Only one table was occupied by three people who were playing something that looked like Poker.

            There was a man and a woman, the first as short as Elena, with short, bright green hair and wearing leather boots, pants and jacket. There was a tattoo on his left temple that resembled a sort of lightning strike that went through a guitar. The woman was a bit taller, with bright pink hair that went down to her elbows, very thin and looking as though she’d just come out of the shower, sticking to the rumpled out of fashion clothes she had on.

            ‘Greetings, friends!’ Parsley said, looking up from his cards. ‘Oh, Dresden, how I’ve missed you so. Come,’ he continued, patting a chair next to him, ‘we’ve much to discuss. I’m terribly sorry for how I acted, I was much in a rush and had to find someone, but, everything is well now.’

            ‘What is this?’ Landen asked.

            ‘This is where I’ve been living for the past few days. Nice, isn’t it? Wait, is that officer Elena I see carrying Dresden? What’s happened to you? Only when we… met I saw you were pretty lively. Don’t tell me… no oh no! Were you the one people talked about saving a woman from the Fog Statue’s trigger? How heroic,’ he said, getting up and hugging his friend as gently as he could. ‘I hope you’re using some pain medicine, everything has to hurt. I’m sure Elena here is making sure you’re okay. I told you that you can’t rely on yourself all of the time.’

            ‘If only you knew how thick his skull is,’ she said, giggling.

            ‘What have you been doing out here? Do you not enjoy your wooden chair anymore?’

            ‘Well, actually, I’ve met some interesting people. You see, I was looking around for some evidence to confirm my suspicions and I bumped into the great people you see here,’ he said, motioning to the ones at the table and Max. ‘If it weren’t for them I think I’d never been able to come to a good enough conclusion. Still, I wanted to come for you, you know? I’m lucky you though to come here just today.’

            ‘Conclusion? You mean you know how everything happened? We’ve caught one of the murderers.’

            ‘Good, good! I’m sure it was the one who killed the Italian man. I didn’t manage to put together what happened to the man in the other apartment but… whatever. You have time to tell me everything I’m sure. In any case, yes, I’ve managed to crack the safe, so to say. I don’t know where at this exact point the murderer is but I’ve got a pretty good guess.’

            ‘Enlighten us,’ Landen said.

            ‘If you’ll all sit down we can have a peaceful discussion over a cup of tea.’

            ‘And who are they? How did they help?’ Dresden asked.

            ‘All in due time, my friends. Now, as I said, please, sit,’ he said, motioning to the free table. ‘Max, would you kindly bring everyone a cup of green tea? I know it’s your favorite, Dresden! Thank you.’

            ‘You didn’t look too friendly when we met,’ Dresden said. ‘What happened then? What did you want from that man?’

            ‘Oh, May? I just figured he was one of the killers. He is, isn’t he? The smug b*****d. Though, if you’re here, that means he’s not the one who killed Dmitri, but, let’s leave that aside, shall we, Dresden? Well, in any case, I would like to tell you everything from start to finish. I promise that if you hear me out you won’t regret it.’

            ‘May said the same thing, you know? But go ahead,’ Landen said.

            ‘May and I are different. We strive for different things. He wants to bring peace through death, I want it through justice. I left that day from your office because, yes, I was very much upset. I spent half of the day thinking over my plan and how the two of you simply can’t see what I did. After enough time I gave up, I indeed realized just how insane it might have seemed, so I thought the best way to find out more about the killings is to get some allies that share my interests. This is where Max, Martha and King come in,’ he said, motioning to the other two. ‘They were paramount to solving this case, and I will tell you why. First, we needed a place to hold our meetings and discuss everything we’ve managed to gather. It couldn’t have been done at my home because you’d always come and try to see if I was there, and we didn’t want to risk anyone hearing us. Max was kind enough to rent this apartment out for us, make it our base of operations. Here we came every day, we slept and we ate together like a real team. Don’t give me that look, Dresden, you know I didn’t mean you! You and I will always be the best duo, but, that’s not important now. So, we had to get access to the crime scenes. That was fairly easy, the police let me through just fine.’

            ‘How come they never told us about you coming? Did you bribe them or something? And when did you go?’

            ‘I didn’t tell them anything. They change shifts, you know? I just went very late at night when the day-shift left. They didn’t know you were going to come so there was no need to give them a heads up against it. As I was saying, I investigated the crime scenes and I think both your team and mine have extracted the same clues. You know, we were the ones -well, I was- that glued the envelopes to the wall and the bedding, it was so we’d get a head start.’

            ‘A head start against a common enemy? A very dangerous and real common enemy?’

            ‘You’re right about him real and dangerous. “So real it’s scary” if you know what I’m referring to. Well, anyway, we managed to find an extra hint that you didn’t. I know this because I took it and never gave it back. There was a second letter, you know, at Miss Hailey’s house. It was underneath a cupboard, full of dust, from yours truly the first killer. Or, well, I might as well demask him… his name’s Alexovitch Pomaczo, Dmitri Pomaczo’s dear brother. But I’m sure you already knew such a thing. So, you may ask, how does that help us find him? First of all, I’m sure that you, Chief, can find a small little file with his face on it. All people get one when they’re eighteen, after all. He can’t be much older.’

            ‘Sure… yes, I can do that.’

            Parsley motioned to the door. ‘Out you go then. Go on. What are you looking at me like that for? We’re already on borrowed time, aren’t we, Chief? How much time did you tell Dresden here that we have? Two days? A day? Oh, well, that’s unfortunate. Dresden, dear, we have…’ he trailed off, trying to pull a watch from under his cuff, ‘exactly four hours and twenty two minutes to find this killer or else you’re going to die. You heard me, Chief, go on! If you don’t believe me I should let you read the killer’s note -which I won’t do because it’s very long. I can tell you the gist of it though: he said that exactly today, at five PM, will officially start the hunt for Dresden. Of course, it wasn’t written without a few extra clues to help keep “the game running and fun.” I think you know what that means. And, you know, while that doesn’t mean he will die instantly, for some reason I have a feeling it won’t be much off.’

            At this point Landen left, right as Max brought the green tea. He smiled, saying he knew this was going to happen, and so brought only two cups and told the two they were still hot and that he hopes they enjoy it.

            ‘He’s a hardened criminal, Dresden. No matter what you think about him, that’s what he is. You know how some people snap, just like I did that morning. Well, some snap in so bad a way that they turn evil and murderous. These people don’t think with their heads, they don’t plan their movements. They go out in the street or in their homes and murder someone, then some more people and then they get caught by the police or finally break down and cry their eyes out and kill themselves. This Alexovitch, however, has done something else. He knew he had to kill Miss Hailey because she’d seen him before, and could easily remember someone who tried to rob her. Of course, it would have been much less of a plan if the Italian man wouldn’t have died, but that’s beside the point. You see, the man that came out of the Italian’s room… was Alexovitch. He’s probably changed his hair by now to not be recognized. I realized how he must have done it all, and it takes the mind of a genius and a natural born killer to think about everything in no time at all. Before we arrived he wanted to check on his brother, to murder him,’ he began, glancing at Dresden. ‘He wanted the money, of course. Three million pounds is a lot, but, see, his vanity is so strong it forces him to go after you too, Dresden. He’ll come, I assure you. But, anyway. It was quite a risky move, but it must have been made. After he killed Dmitri and wrote the first letter and the second letter, he threw the first between the cupboards and the wall and got out of the window about the same time we arrived with our carriage.’

            He stopped to take in a few big breaths, calm himself down. He was breathing so fast while talking it was like he was reliving all of the adrenaline and action of the moment. He realized his cup was barely touched and drank it all in one chug. So did the other two. Dresden’s heart pumped in his head, it was strange. He knew most of the things already, and the rest weren’t of much surprise, yet he still couldn’t calm himself down. Miles watched from behind his eyes, both of them looking intently at Parsley as he began once again.

 ‘Then, knowing we would go to Miss Hailey -though probably not anticipating we would do it so soon after finding Dmitri- he rushed to her and house and killed her. We know what that happened there, he forced himself through the door, began strangling her as he cut up her face but we didn’t get something right. The part where he threw her. Well, of course, our initial argument of the rushing him down is valid but I don’t think that’s why he did it. It’s because he then had the time to stash the envelope away, you see? That’s why we didn’t see it the first time around, it’s because he regretted it. He couldn’t have put it anywhere else and he couldn’t take it with him because it would have fallen somewhere on the ground when he did, from the window. It was pitch black, he couldn’t see anything except for the lamp posts that were on the other side of the street. Now’s when he had to gamble, for, as in the first letter, assured us that he worked alone, which he did. I’m sure you wouldn’t have come here if he worked with the other killer, whatever his name is. Anyway, he probably heard the Italian man doesn’t spend much time outside, so, he decided to make sure he couldn’t have been tracked down. He went around the building to the Italian man, climbed up to his window with his knife at the ready, and, when he realized there was no one there, jumped in and pretended to be a woken up neighbor. He was unlucky for the blood on his cuff, or else that woman would have probably never told us about him.’

He stopped once again because Max brought few more cups of tea and advised his friend to relax a bit. He was sweating. His friends were also watching, intently, their game on pause.

‘At first,’ Parsley began again, ‘I thought “This is how he must have done it in the end,’ Parsley said. ‘He found the man who had the first apartment, turned him to mush and got hid him into that first murder scene. He got a hold of the Italian man and murdered him and proceeded to make a mess out of his face so he couldn’t be recognized, then hanged him in the unoccupied apartment that was now his. Then, before the night of the killing he went into the Italian’s apartment and came back through the window and walked out and offered to help us,” but it was all a big mistake. We didn’t know there was two of them… those blasted letters we saw too late. Now, about twenty minutes have passed and I wonder where Chief Landen is… I must confess to you another secret, Dresden. I think that Alexovitch is now disguised as a coach. I don’t know if you’ve met him, though… It’s not the one that told us the threat… unless…’ he trailed off, then his eyes widened at the same time as Dresden’s and both of them stood up.

‘Make haste!’ Parsley shouted, motioning for everyone to raise from their seats. ‘Go, go! We must save Chief Landen! Do you remember how he looked, Dresden?’

‘I’ve never really thought about him much… Wait, the officer… he said something about someone with blond hair. He was quite young, wasn’t he? Short, blond hair with red tips… Oh, God! He must have cut it with his bloody knife after he killed the actual coach and hid him in a ditch somewhere so we couldn’t stumble upon him. We must hurry, hurry!’ he urged Elena. ‘He must be found before he comes after me too… then… it will be hell.’

There was no carriage in sight and the few decided it was best to go to the police station, with Parsley’s newfound friends going ahead and leaving the limping Dresden behind.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘both of you.’

‘Don’t be, I’m sure they’ll manage without us. They’re not dimwits,’ Parsley said. ‘I hope.’   

‘You never said how they helped out,’ Elena pointed out. ‘Unless existing was absolutely paramount to solving everything.’

‘Oh, they? No, they’ve done nothing. Except pay for my stay and food and everything. In that regard, yes, they were paramount. What? How much money do you think I have? I’m surprised Dresden himself can even afford a twenty-four hour maid that’s a police officer. Did you win the lottery or something?’

‘Shut up. You know nobody wins at the lottery,’ Dresden said. ‘What kind of company would they be if they gave out a million pounds to every winner? They wouldn’t stand a chance.’

‘Well, now you have the chance to get three. If Alexovitch suddenly dies, of course.’

‘What?’ Dresden asked, nearly stopping in the middle of the road.

‘You know… If, let’s say, we catch him in a death battle with Chief Landen and the only way to save him is to kill him… Or if he accidentally dies… Then it can’t be helped.’

‘Did you think something like this through?’ Elena asked. ‘What if it doesn’t happen?’

‘If it doesn’t… it just doesn’t. And Dresden will get his one and a half million pounds and so will Alexovitch who will buy his way out of prison, visit Dresden one night, kill him and rob him and, depending on your luck,’ he said, pointing at Elena, ‘you’ll die too. Unless he’s an avid user of carnal pleasures before his murders.’

‘You’re absolutely disgusting,’ Dresden said, turning his head and grimacing.

‘Absolutely right is what I am, and you lot know it. If there’s no other reason to kill that man than to save my best friend and his… confidant then I’ll do it because he’s a danger to this city and to society. One that won’t stop until he’ll kill more and more people.’

‘Where have I heard that before? Oh, right, when we were talking to May, the other killer. You sound just like him. He killed the Italian man because he was a bad mafia leader and ordered the murder of innocent people.’

‘I have a feeling that you’re saying all of this in a “so what?” manner, Dresden. Look, this is of utmost importance. Do you really believe in your honor? So be it, but allow me to do what’s right. Maybe not morally, surely not legally, but it’s the punishment he deserves until he tries anything else. The law may never catch him -for God’s sakes he slipped right under our noses and may be holding Landen captive as we speak!’

A few minutes of silence passed, except for the three’s panting and the sound of their shoes knocking against the hard road. The kept looking back, hoping that maybe that time they would see a carriage and help them walk faster. Dresden’s tired feet began walking even slower, making him feel worse about his two friends.

‘You should go without me,’ he said, loud and clear. Before they could argue, he continued ‘It’s obvious you could have gotten there already if you hadn’t carried me. Now I’m slowing you down even more. As you said, Parsley, who knows with what kind of maniac we’re dealing with? They need everyone they can get. I’ll get a coach eventually and go to the police station.’

‘But, Dresden,’ the two said at the same time.

‘I promise to you, to both of you that I’ll be fine. You must go, leave me be! If I were as weak as you think I am then what kind of detective would I be? I’ll race you there to prove it if need be. Good, let me go. I’ll be fine,’ he said, as Elena took her hands off him and, together with Parsley, began running after their friends, heading to the police station.

Dresden leaned against a lamp post until they were out of sight and he sat down, panting and trembling. He couldn’t sit down in any way except by crossing his legs; the bandages pulled at his skin and made him wince whenever he stretched too much. He was exhausted, even from the small jog they had done. There was no one close to him, now, not even random people that he could ask to call for a coach. He looked at his watch and was glad the hunt for him wasn’t on yet. Alone in the middle of the road, without any weapons and his whole body battered, he would be the easiest target to kill.

‘Good day,’ a man said, suddenly right behind him.

Dresden tried to turn his head around but banged his head against the man’s leg. He recoiled, his head spinning and hurting just from the meager bump.

‘I’m sorry, are you quite alright?’

He recognized the man’s voice from somewhere, though he couldn’t exactly tell who it was. Putting his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes, he said ‘Yes, I’m fine. Who might you be?’’

‘Here you go, chap,’ the man said, extending a helping hand. ‘Let’s get you up. I’ve heard what happened at the Fog Statue attack. You were very brave, I must say.’

He accepted the hand and the man pulled him up, slowly. Though Dresden’s vision was blurry, he noticed the man’s short, blond hair. There was blood on his white shirt, around the collar.

‘How about a walk, shall we?’ he said, putting his arm around the detective’s shoulders. ‘It will get you moving again.’

‘Why are you here?’

The man stopped and looked wide-eyed at him, blinked a few times. He looked genuinely surprised.

‘Why not? The hunt’s not on, is it? Can’t be five already… see? It’s only… wait, I’ve lost my watch. Anyway, I know it’s not five yet so there’s no reason to worry. I noticed your friends went after Chief Landen, and the only thing I could think of was you all fooled yourselves. What kind of professional would I be if I won with underhanded tricks like those?’

‘You’ve been the coach before… that night. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.’

‘There are two answers, detective. The first one, that might hurt your ego, I’m afraid, is that you can’t. You’re in the worst of conditions. Honestly, I don’t know why you haven’t staid in the hospital, it baffles me. Sure, I would have bribed the doctors and nurses to let me in and administer a deadly amount of… something but come on!’

‘I don’t take nagging from a murderer.’

‘The second answer is that… well, why would you ruin the fun? I’m not so coldhearted enough to stay with you until five. I’m just taking you to the police station and then I’m off. You see how I look like, you can put some warrants out,’ he said, motioning with his free arm.

‘You really are playing a game. This is just raising the difficulty level.’

‘I knew you would understand!’ the killer said, raising his arms and smiling from ear to ear. ‘See, there are some people that get it. Unlike Miss Hailey and that other whackjob that killed because it was morally right. It’s the police’s business to deal with the bad people, not other bad people.’

‘With that thinking I wonder how you haven’t gotten a job at the police office yet. I’ll put in a good word for you.’

‘Hah, very amusing, Miles. I really do appreciate it. You know, when I quit my current job of killing people I’ll have a go at it. Hopefully you won’t miss the ceremony. I’ll be employee of the year!’

‘At a prison, maybe.’

‘Why must you be so harsh? People have the wrong opinion about mental asylums. I bet they’re filled with wonderful people-’

‘Just like you.’

‘Exactly!’

‘You’re insane.’

‘Insanely skilled and handsome. But clinically insane might also be one of those things that define me. You know, everybody says -well, screams- “You’re crazy!” or “You’re insane!” whenever you threaten to kill them. A person doesn’t have to be those things to murder someone. Let’s take for example the other killer-’

‘May Bale is his name.’

‘Yes, May. Why did he kill that Italian man?’

‘He said it was because the Italian man, named Lucio something, was the head of a mafia clan and murdered a lot of innocent people for no reason.’

‘I’m guessing because they didn’t pay what he wanted them to. Well, that’s how business works. Anyway, can May be considered insane? I don’t think so! He knew full well what he was getting into when he broke into the man’s home and murdered him, bashing his head in. I only wonder how it must have felt, to let all that pent up anger out of him after all the years he planned to make that kill. Oh! We’re only a few minutes away from the police station now. Time sure flies quickly. Is that Chief Landen talking to your friends? He looks a bit fat, should lose some weight. Please do tell him that from me.’

            ‘Might as well come and tell it to his face if you’ve come this far,’ Dresden said, trying to hide the hopefulness from his voice.

            ‘If I didn’t know better I’d think you were driving me into a trap. Let’s do it, what can be so bad about that? But be careful, detective. If you say anything about my true nature… well, I have some weapons of my own. I’m just an old friend. Here we go.’

            ‘Dresden!’ Parsley said as the bunch noticed the two arrive. ‘Who is that?’

            ‘Just a friend. He was kind enough to help me get up and walk me here.’

            ‘What’s your name?’ Landen asked. ‘I need your ID. You look mighty like someone I saw once before… If only I could remember.’

            ‘I was your coach who told you about the killer’s threat. I had my hair dyed, though. I like red.’

            Elena jumped back and Parsley and his friends clenched their fists.

            ‘You like it so much you can’t keep away from it,’ Parsley said, hissing. ‘Just like your collar!’

            ‘Oh, this? I didn’t even notice it, oh me. You know how wine stains white. Such a shame.’

            Everyone except Landen understood they couldn’t say a word about the killer’s true identity unless they wanted Dresden to die.

            ‘My name’s Bay. Male Bay.’

            ‘What kinda’ name is Male?’ Landen asked.

            ‘I don’t know. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have chosen what family I wanted to be born in. The world would be a better place if we could.’

            ‘Definitely,’ Elena whispered.

            Dresden was shocked Landen didn’t notice the May Bale to Bay Male swap, all of the color gone from his sweaty face. He noticed the killer glance at him, smiling out of his eyes.

            ‘Well then,’ he began, ‘I’m sorry for holding you up for so long, I know you have a very important case to solve. I must be somewhere by five,’ he said slowly, mocking the Chief. ‘Take care, everyone!’

            When the killer had walked half of the road, Parsley pulled out a gun from under his jacket, aimed and fired at the enemy. It looked like Bay was ready for it, jumping like a spring before the first bullet hit the ground, managing to cut the corner to the left before being hit.

            ‘Damn it!’ Parsley shouted, raising his pistol in the air and wanting to throw it at the ground. Max caught his arm, reminded him it was best to not accidentally kill someone and calmed him down. ‘We were so close… So close. What hour is it? One PM, already! Chief, you should know that man was the killer we were looking for. Don’t look at me like that. He held Dresden captive, we couldn’t do anything. God blast it all!’

            ‘How will we catch him now?’ Elena asked.

            ‘Send your officers to patrol a five mile radius around here. Do it even if that means using up all the coaches in this city,’ Dresden said. ‘We can’t afford to lose him. Not now.’

            ‘He’s right,’ Max said. ‘We only have four hours left, Chief. You should act fast.’

            Landen went and triggered the fire alarm, telling the officers what they had to do as they passed. He promised that the ones that catch the killer would get a raise.’

            ‘Have you found Alexovitch’s file?’ Dresden asked.

            ‘Yes, but just barely. I didn’t even have time to look inside because your friends came and pulled out the coach. I’ll open it now.’

            The whole page was filled with information about the Pomaczo family, especially Alexovitch and Dmitri. On the bottom of the page there was the picture of the brother still alive.

            Parsley couldn’t wait any more for the Dresden and Landen who hadn’t said anything, looking like they froze. He went behind them, and, on tiptoe, looked over them.

            ‘This man doesn’t look anything like the murderer…’

            On Alexovitch’s file was the face of a bald man with brown eyes and a double chin. The file itself had written inside that he had moved two years ago to America.

            ‘Chief Landen!’ a young boy shouted, something in his hands. ‘There’s a letter from the City Hall. They said it’s urgent and important.’

            ‘Let me,’ Parsley said, noticing the two jut looked awkwardly at the boy, and took the envelope. Inside, there was a small note that wrote: “Good day, Chief Landen. This is Daniel, I’m writing to tell you about an interesting issue we have down here. I’m terribly sorry to bother you about this, but, considering you’ve told me you need all the help you can get with the case, I thought I should tell you. A man has arrived, apparently from America, by the name of Alexovitch Pomaczo, saying he came for his money and won’t leave until we give it to him. While it would be of great help to make him understand the money won’t be given out in two days, I’m sure such a competent man as yourself and your officers can get some information out of him. Your good friend, Daniel”.’ He read it out loud all the while, making sure Dresden and Landen heard everything. After he finished, he put it in his pocket and said they had to move out as fast as they could, and at the same time protect Dresden.

            ‘There’s no way for the murderer to know Alexovitch is here,’ Elena said. ‘Unless there’s someone at City Hall telling him everything, which would be more than strange.’

            ‘We must go, now!’ Parsley said, shaking Landen. Dresden had already managed to shake his shock off and was already looking livelier.

            ‘Landen,’ the detective began, ‘we are going to do this. We’ll save Alexovitch, catch the murderer and you’ll put him to jail. If there’s someone I can count on in this it’s you. You’ve gotta pull yourself together for this, we can’t delay it.’

            Miles’s inspirational speech seemed to rile all of them up, ready to run to City Hall if they had to. And they were a few steps into it before remembering Miles’s injuries. He pleaded with them, telling them he only needed Elena and Max with him to make sure everything was okay. All of them agreed, but not before a couple of “good luck” nods and waves.

            Miles, however, didn’t find being carried by the lovely Elena any bit embarrassing. It was quite pleasant to him, actually. He, of course, never thought more of her than a friend -he wouldn’t do any bad thing to Dresden- but he figured the old detective needed a break himself. Breathing in the cold air without being in a hospital or in his own room was a refreshing feeling, one of freedom. He never stepped outside while in full control and he felt a bit lost in the maze of buildings, running officers and carriages. It was all a bit blurry, his mind trained to focus on a single thing and solve it, not on many things and begin to understand them. Dresden had tried his best in the past to describe his daily life -eating at a restaurant, going with a coach- but the most surprising and hard to imagine were talking to other people, feeling their touches, even looking into someone’s eye as you talked to them. The only time he ate was when Dresden was unconscious at the hospital -and the food was terrible. “Unless,” he thought, “food in general is like that.” If that was so, then he understood why Dresden never allowed him to be in charge while eating. Not to mention cutlery was uninteresting when he could eat with his hands. One day, when Dresden allowed him to do anything he wanted as long as he was home, he decided to touch all of the objects in his home, feel the fabrics and the heat, or lack thereof, of everything. Nothing, not even the touch of the finest velvet brought him the same pleasure at merely brushing his skin against another human being’s.

            Miles had told Dresden many times he never meant to do anything bad, even though he’d successfully burnt his hand when playing with a lighter, broke a plate because he didn’t know how slippery they got after being washed, destroyed one of his favorite shirts because he wasn’t aware of how fragile they were -both to his pulling and the heat from the steam iron-, nearly killed himself twice by leaning from the window too much and was a few seconds away from touching the burning hot stove when Dresden finally took control, raging and screaming inside his own head. Ever since that day Dresden promised he would go against everything he stood for and go to a psychiatrist to get rid of Miles, if the latter wouldn’t behave.

            And now it was his chance.

            The wind was forcing itself in his face and down his throat, making his hair float in a strange way, tickling his neck. He had never felt that strange sensation around his neck where he wanted to smile and duck his neck underneath his shoulders. The wind soon passed, and the sounds around him overloaded his thinking. When he wanted to get a better grasp of the squeak of shoes around him, his heartbeat chimed in every second, as though it was an excited brat jumping to get the attention of an adult. Then, it was back to the boots but not before trying to make out his strange breathing pattern. He had laughed a fair few times when he was at home so he got used to irregular breathing, but not the kind that was happening now. His chest tried to heave in great breaths, but they weren’t halfway in that they needed to leave. It felt a lot as if, from Dresden’s story about a ruined family, a child was kicked out of the house and then received back in with warmth, just to get kicked out the next day. It was chaotic but pleasant and new at the same time, which made it worth it.

Slowly, though, this breathing began to cause a pain in his side, which was more than frustrating. He wondered why his body was trying to impede his progress even though nothing was wrong. In comparison to when his skin ached worse than he could ever imagine from the small burn, just to signal that he had to stop harming himself, now it felt illogical and strange. His gait was normal, though he assumed it was because of the pains in his back and shoulders. He had learnt that the human body was quick to adapt as to not use the parts of the body that hurt, thus forcing irregular movements to not trigger the pain. Or something. He found Dresden’s talks very confusing. Not only that, but most of the time they were just about his cases and not about how people behaved or what they were made out of, which didn’t make him feel good.

While a quarter of that special day he’d spent doing amusing things, the rest Miles used to study. He took apart Dresden’s stacks of books and began reading everything he could about the human mind and body, medicinal plants, things Dresden probably didn’t know because he deemed them unnecessary and could be looked up but still important. He managed to memorize a large number of general terms such as DNA, muscle fibers, neurons, blood vessels, and what they were made of. He also listened to some music on Dresden’s old phonograph. He couldn’t distinguish the separate instruments -he had heard music is made out of played instruments and human voices- he enjoyed it very much and kept the same music playing until Dresden came back. After much talk about what had happened that day, Dresden decided that whenever he’d have the time he’d let Miles do whatever he wanted once more.

At first Miles blamed his friend for not letting him enjoy the same life he lived while he only called Miles for help. Quickly, though, he understood the true nature and the many adversities of being a detective. He wasn’t paid much, and out of his small pay he had to afford rent, utilities and food. There were many cases and not enough help. When Dresden first met Parsley and talked to Miles about him, the latter was ecstatic that the detective would get some aid. They became best friends and enjoyed each other’s company. Deep down, Miles felt excluded and slightly angry at Dresden for not telling Parsley about him or at least letting the two meet in secret, but he figured that if and when he could, Dresden would show kindness. Which, in a sort of its own, he did, by not telling Parsley or anyone else. It would have maybe endangered his reputation or worse, his life.

            Now, though, it was Miles’s turn to save Dresden. The watch on his hand felt strangely cold and sticky, just like the rest of his body. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and flicked it as far as he could. Elena’s skin was so soft and pure, and had such a sweet smell that he could go limp and fall to the floor, but he didn’t want to risk hitting his fragile head. He moved on, despising the pain in his legs. He would’ve done anything for a carriage, and seeing them all pass by with officers didn’t help at all, even triggered something inside him -that he knew how to name it only because he had looked it up on a list of bad feelings- called jealousy. He hadn’t harbored hatred or ill intent for anyone before, but he gently whispered how he wished that the officers had a sudden pain in their behinds and had to start walking to fix it. He quickly scolded himself for the thought and began thinking of Elena once more.

            He felt proud when he remembered Dresden’s and Elena’s kiss -the first one in his whole life, if he was right. It was a sad fact, Miles thought, that Dresden still hadn’t hugged a woman in his life, even after the kiss. From what he’d read from a romance book, he was confused, too. He thought Elena loved Dresden -but maybe he was mistaken- and that their love would be similar to the part he’d read from a book he began liking, though he couldn’t quite remember the name. It was about three brothers, one of them being Dmitri that tried his best to show his love for another woman, whom Miles forgot the name of. He had opened the thick book at random just to see if he could find something interesting and there were some passages marked with red lines, written “I like” above. One of them was one he’d read. He promised himself he’d finish the book and recommend it to everyone after.

            Before he could focus on remembering the names he’d forgotten, the smells of the city and the colors blinded him. There was something like damp wood hanging around everywhere, with small puddles that reflected the warm light right into his eyes. He tried to cover them with his hand, but the way he did it hurt his back. The sky was a beautiful blue with small, pure white clouds above, not big enough to hide the sun. When Dresden gave him his free day, there was fog and rain, and the sky and sun were shielded by a barrage of dark clouds and lightning strikes. He nearly fell off from the window when he tried to get as much rain on his skin as possible, the feeling of the irregular water tapping on his hand bringing him joy. It was nothing compared to doing it under the sink, where the water would come in exact measurements, more or less, whenever he’d pull the strange lever.

            Out the corner of his eye he saw someone familiar. May Bale. What was he doing here? He was running as fast as he could towards them, gaining ground quickly. Miles didn’t know if he had good or bad intentions, couldn’t decide fast enough and by the time he wanted to turn around and face him head on May had already caught him by the shoulder.

            ‘Hello, detective. They’ve let me out, thankfully. Hey… Elena.’ There were a few seconds of silence as he hung his head in shame, though Miles thought there was no time for pleasantries and urged him to go on. ‘I have something important to tell you. I actually know the face of the man that gave me that apartment next to Miss Hailey. If I’d see him maybe I could help you identify him. I’ve got a hunch he’s the killer.’

            ‘Do you know his name?’

            ‘Yeah, it was written on the paper he gave me. I’m sure I’ll remember when I see his face though.’

            ‘That’s not much to go on, but if there’s a chance you might find him then you’re coming with,’ Max said. ‘Now let’s go to City Hall.’

            ‘Are you sure you want to take Dresden there?’ May asked. ‘After all, the murderer is going to go there for Alexovitch.’

            ‘How do you know?’ Elena asked. ‘The Chief got the file in front of our eyes.’

            ‘I was out when your friend read it out loud. I was just waiting for my chance to leave so that Landen wouldn’t see me and take me back.’

            ‘So you escaped?’

            ‘The same as being let out, right? Well, close enough. I’m going to leave this city soon anyway, it’s filled with strange people.’

            ‘Cheers to that,’ Max said, laughing. ‘Well, you may be right, but the hunt for Dresden isn’t on until five. It’s barely one AM.’

            ‘And you trust a psychopath that plays games with people’s lives? I’d call you insane for that. You should just take him to a safe place, and hide out there until the killer shows up. I can go there and see if it’s the guy I met.’

            ‘Would you really?’ Miles said, stopping and grabbing May’s arm. ‘I’d owe you one for catching that strange, strange man. But, no… what if he does come for us? There are police officers there, with guns, but here there is no one like that. We need you here.’

            It seemed like everyone noticed Dresden’s change in demeanor, except for Miles. After May was convinced he had to go with them, he still urged them to take a safer road.

            ‘We still must go there, no matter what,’ Miles said. ‘We can’t miss anything important, especially a chance for us to capture him. After this, he can’t be let out back into the city or he’ll kill whoever he wants to.’

            Miles went on saying the same things that everyone knew and had talked about over and over again, but because they were true and somewhat motivating -or maybe out of respect for the great detective that may have just gone mad in front of their eyes- they decided it was best to leave him be. Ten minutes away from City Hall, a carriage that came out from between the blocks stopped in front of them. From within, two men with guns pointing at the few came out, smiling.

            ‘The guy on the right’s the one I told you about! His name’s Doug Doe! He’s the one who handed me the apartment next to-’ May tried to say, but Doug fired a bullet in his head, making him fall to the ground at the drop of a hat.

            Max was unfazed, Elena started screaming and clutched hard with her nails into Miles’s arm who, in turn, started screaming because of the pain.

            ‘Shut up!’ Doug shouted, firing a bullet at Elena’s feet. ‘Please, stop with the screaming. Can’t you see you’re killing poor Dresden’s arm? Or should I say… Miles? Well, anyway, what kind of carer would do that?’

            ‘Why don’t we just kill them all?’ the masked man asked.

            ‘I didn’t pay you to ask questions. We have quite a long amount of time Alexovitch can buy for us with those blithering idiots down there. You know, I’m kind of glad you didn’t die in that explosion, Miles. My client wanted you to, of course, but being in this condition seemed to have worked just fine. Now, would you mind stepping in the carriage? Just the two of us, I mean. We’ll take a long ride that we’ll enjoy together and play a game that will seal the fate of this city. How about it, eh?’

            ‘He’s not going anywhere by himself,’ Max said and Elena approved. ‘We can’t trust a murderer.’

            ‘I believe “psychopath that plays with people’s lives” was what the vindictive cold-blooded killer that smashes faces said. You know, it’s either you trust both of us, or you trust none. And you already trusted May enough to risk his life, so I guess it can’t be helped. In any case, you’re coming with, Miles, and anyone who opposes it ends up like him,’ he said, nodding to the dead body, out of which blood was now spilling out.

            Miles didn’t know what to make of the whole situation. He didn’t care much about the man dying, which he supposed wasn’t that good a thing, and wondered how it felt: the pain and to take the life. As he looked at Doug he realized the killer didn’t find anything new in it, nothing pleasurable or bad. He just did his job in order to satisfy his client. He was more than confident he could win the game by himself, and so decided that no matter how he did it, as long as he got paid, it was good enough for him. No lives needed to be spared as long as they were a nuisance.

            ‘So?’ Doug asked, hand extended. ‘Take a poor sinner’s hand.’

            ‘Very well, then,’ Miles said and got in the carriage before the killer, who stopped his henchman from entering, telling him he was going to be paid double if he stayed behind and kept watch on the remaining two.

            ‘Now that we’re all alone and it’s nice and quiet we can enjoy our road, can’t we?’ There were a few seconds of silence, where Doug looked out the window and took in big breaths, scanning over everything. So did Miles, trying to understand the way the blocks, streets and everything around them were built and decorated, tried to imagine how hard it was for the ones that did it and how much it took. By the time he finished and realized Doug had been looking at him all the while, he turned to face him.

            ‘No, no! I’m sorry,’ Doug began, ‘I didn’t mean to be a bother. Do, go on. I’m fascinated as seeing new things myself, Miles. And sometimes even old ones seem to gather new characteristics the longer you analyze them. Isn’t that so?’

            ‘Yes,’ Miles whispered as he looked outside once more, though, truly, the now boring constructions had nothing new to offer.

            ‘If you think so, then you should wonder how clothing is made. Look at everyone’s clothes on the street if you’re tired of looking at the buildings. Look at who made them.’

            Miles was intrigued by this, but before looking through the window he looked at Doug’s clothes and analyzed them in detail, doing the same with his. The difference was he could pick up and feel his along seams, truly taking in the material with every touch. For some reason, and he didn’t know why, he felt like he could take in things like images, sounds and touch much better than anyone else.

Taking the man’s advice he looked outside and the people’s clothing made him raise his eyebrows. The most common color was black and dark blue, but the reds, greens and pinks were the ones that sparked most interest. It was strange to Miles: the best looking ones were best recognized but also took the most courage. He didn’t understand why not everyone had the courage to try out those special things, even though they probably might fail at first. He remembered how Dresden criticized Parsley’s wardrobe yet still found something he liked. Maybe it was like that for everyday people.

‘How much will this ride last?’ he asked, without taking his eyes off from the window.

‘Not much over four PM, I’m afraid. You have plenty of time to enjoy the view. In fact, I would like you to guess where we’re going. I can see you, Miles, I know you want more than… this,’ he said, motioning to the city. ‘Dresden sure wanted more, that’s why he made you kill Dmitri, isn’t it? It’s as simple as that sometimes, it really is. Both you and him are good people, and you probably dislike him for not bringing you out so much, but he means well.’

‘How do you know if it’s Miles or Dresden you’re talking to? How do you know I did it? How do you know I’m a part of him?’

‘I’ve read a book, you know, about a doctor and his second personality. You two aren’t that different, but… There are definitely things that are special for each. And, well, it’s not like you choose appearance. Dresden is usually quick and calculates everything as quick as he can, acts on instinct when he can and never has a temper. This all work and no play, of course, led him to your existence. He needed someone to talk to, to help him. You are different. You take the time to look at things, to enjoy them. If I were talking to Dresden, he would’ve frowned, thought I hinted at a trap and that he should look out of the window, but then thought I was doing reverse psychology on him and that he shouldn’t look because if he did then the trap would activate. He’s different, not only from you and me but from everyone. If he weren’t, then he wouldn’t be the great Detective Dresden Miles. You, on the other hand... I’ve seen you test your clothes and feel the fabric, look at the walls and hear what was near. Yes, I’ve followed the few of you as you went to City Hall but could you have blamed me? I have a job to do. Anyway, I wanted to show you that if I wanted to, I could’ve told anyone about the two of you, but I didn’t.’

‘You hinted at it.’

‘A hint is the hardest thing to recognize. If it comes from a friend, it’s a clue, if it comes from an enemy, one doesn’t know if it’s help or danger. Add in the fact that everyone seems to think I’m crazy, and you’ve got yourself just a lie. Plus, it was too vague for any of those knuckleheads to understand anyway.’

‘I appreciate it. Dresden would ask what you want in return for your kindness.’

‘But you’re not Dresden.’

‘I’m not, but I’m still a detective. So, why’d you not do it?’

‘I told you. I like games. Why would I ruin the game? Do you know what happens to someone that admits to having such a thing? They get put in a mental asylum or, at best, go to a doctor and they can’t be a detective anymore. Just a shell of a person.’

‘I assume you’re not that bad of a man. Why did you go and kill Miss Hailey? And why did you do that to Dmitri?’

‘I wanted to mask your murder. I had to take out Miss Hailey because she would tell on me. It’s as easy as that. And, well, I was hired by Alexovitch to kill his brother. It just so happens I came right as you left. When you were out of earshot range, I went in and cut him up. Who could ever imagine the local hero could do such a thing to a person? And even without remorse? So someone had to get the blame. You know, the fall from that apartment was pretty bad, hurt my shoulder when I rolled. That’s why I have blood on my collar. Dresden said something about it before but I forgot to tell him. If you survive from this game -which you won’t- you should tell him that.’

‘I’m guessing there’s no way to win if it isn’t you.’

‘Oh, of course there is. It’s a fifty percent chance. I’ll tell you all of the rules and we’ll be equal. I’ll just be better.’

‘Thank you for being honest.’

‘One of us has only two and a half hours left to live, what do you expect?’

‘How does time fly so fast?’

‘I messed up your watch.’

‘What?’

‘One day Dresden didn’t have it with him. I went to your house and changed it so it would fall back for an hour every time a new hour hit and then add two when the next hit. So, if it was going to be one PM, your watch actually shows eleven. That’s why, look at it, it probably says one and a half, right?’

‘It does. But, still, Dresden managed to do everything in time.’

‘Well everything only happened after I changed it, and not much passed since. Remember, two days you were in the hospital and the third, well… you’ve been raced through town.’

‘You seem to know a lot of things.’

‘I’m not insane. I just killed because I was hired to. That is all.’

‘I can see how that isn’t so bad.’

‘You’re not that moral, you know? May would scold you. But, then again…’

‘He’s dead. He’s got time to wait for me to die too, someday. I’m pretty sure you’re getting the scolding soon enough. Where are we going?’

‘Out in the country. There’s this nice place full of grass and trees, away from all the buzz of the city. I’m sure you’ll like it. We’ll play our game there. I call it my small spot of heaven. I meditate, you know? I’ve heard it helps with some connection between yourself and your spirit. I can’t quite remember. It relaxes me.’

‘That sounds nice. Is your real name Doug?’

‘Yes. I know, it sounds strange, but I couldn’t have forged such an important paper in such a short time. Initially I wanted to kill Hailey first but thought “Why not do Dmitri first?” considering it was closer and all… But then you came. And then Dresden, with his dogs. You know, Dresden really is a magnificent detective, my best thoughts to him, but he was just out of reach this time. Oh, there we go!’ he said, pointing to the trees in the distance as the smooth road turned into noisy gravel. He apologized when he noticed Miles cover his ears. The sound was too much for him. He looked left and right to see if there was some sort of way to help, but there wasn’t.

It took an hour to get the carriage onto dirt.

Three and a half PM.

 

‘Here we are… not far from the place. You will love it, I’m sure of it.’

‘You still haven’t answered to my question.’

‘Which one?’ Doug asked, raising an eyebrow and moving in his seat.

‘The “How do you know there are two people in one” kind of question. I’ve forgotten how it went exactly.’

Miles’s voice slowly faded as the view outside the window attracted his face like a strange magnet. The sound of birds chirping and crickets making him smile. The sound of grass bending and ripping as it uselessly tried to battle the carriage’s wheels was most pleasant. When they finally stopped the carriage, in the middle of a field, it was so silent Miles could hear the wind passing through the trees. And then there was darkness.