Fugitive

Chapter 22

I didn't have a hell of a lot of cash left. Just enough to buy myself a couple of nights in a half by decent hotel. I found one down the street. It was closed but the owner was there working on something and let me book in. He was desperate for customers. I don't expect many people come around here looking for a hotel. I ate two more energy bars before lying down. Under the light of the lamp I unfolded the piece of paper. The address was a more central location in Jacksonville. I could only hope it was still good. I didn't think there'd be many buses running this late. Besides, I would need a good vantage point. The blackness of the night would be an inconvenience. Better to scope it out during the day. I wasn't tired. But I lay on my back on the bed keeping the folded note in my hand. My eyes wandered around the room. From the crack in the ceiling to the mould growing in the upper left corner of the room. After an hour of mind wandering and staring into space I got up and did some sit ups. I completed what I could of my usual gym routine. Without any equipment, I couldn't do a lot. I did some spider-man push ups and squats. After I worked up a bit of a sweat, I showered. The shower was as old as the rest of the place. The water pressure weak and the tile grout a home for grime and mould. It didn't matter. The water was hot and that's all I really cared about. I dried myself off with the towel that had been left on the chair. I hadn't shaved in a while. I ran my hand over my chin and neck feeling the stubble there. It was growing almost wispy in places now. Wouldn't be long and I'd be looking like a real homeless guy. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep during the early hours of the morning only to be woken up a bit later by the alarm I had set. The owner was nowhere in sight when I left so I didn't thank him for the room. I picked up a bus timetable and waited 45 minutes for a bus that would get me the closest to the address. A child reached into my bag as I was staring out the window on the bus. When I noticed I shooed his arm away. His fingertips mere inches from the barrel of my AWM. His mother apologised before trying to start a conversation. "I'm sorry about him. He's at that curious stage". I pulled the zipper across closing the small gap". She readjusted him on her knee. I nodded. "Where are going today"? I hesitated briefly. "I'm visiting someone". "Someone"? "A friend"? "Oh, that's nice. Is this your first visit in a while"? "Yes. It's been a while since I saw him last". "Well that's good". She smiled warmly. "Callum and I are heading to the kindergarten around near that bath place. I'm trying to figure out where I should send him". She looked affectionately at Callum before brushing his hair from his eyes. "I'm Maddison by the way". Maddison was without a doubt beautiful. She was young with soft blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her skin was a honey colour. "Thomas", I replied using the first name that came to mind. We shook hands. A few seconds after that the bus pulled over. "This is my stop", I said. "It was nice talking to you Thomas". I nodded. "You too. Good luck with the kindergarten". "Thank you". I thanked the driver as I got off the bus. It shocked me a little bit how easily I could lie. It was also refreshing to see someone that could talk to strangers and be so happy. So, polite, and simply nice. Maybe the world wasn't doomed after all. The address wasn't far. Just down the street. I circled around the back and down a side lane. I used a fire escape to make my way onto the roof. From here I could see which house Dennis was living in. Or lived in before. I crouched below the small wall that stopped people from falling off the roof. I popped my head up so I could keep an eye on the house. It wasn't that far away so it wasn't difficult. I saw movement in one of the rooms. I pulled out my scope. The room was dark but I could make out two figures. One of them brought a can of beer to their lips. I was sure it was a guy but it was hard to tell. They two figures moved to the next room. I could see half a TV sitting on a stand from my position. Through the scope, it looked like there was a game on. Football or something. From the next room, I could confirm that they were both male. Yet I still had no idea if one of them was Dennis. I'd had no pictures of Dennis either so even if I could see their faces properly I wouldn't be able to tell. They faced the screen their eyes glued to the game. Every so often one would stand up and go into the other room for more beer or they would throw their hands up in frustration when the other team scored. I had to figure out if one of them was Dennis. Then again even if one of them was Dennis he would never say so. He would be using a fake name. I rubbed the back of my neck. How could I know which one is him? If one of them was him. After a while of watching them I conjured up a plan. Across the street there were some overalls hanging on the line. I climbed down the fire escape and grabbed them without being seen. They were slightly damp still. I climbed into them and smeared a small amount of dirt onto my hands and the side of my face. I smashed the window of a car parked down the side street with my elbow. Glass shattered onto the ground. It was a small business car. A logo painted on the side. Window cleaning or something. Either way there was a clipboard inside which I stole hastily. I grabbed a pen too. I put a hundred-dollar bill in its place. The paper on the clipboard had something about a payment for cleaning windows. It also had a timetable and a different sheet of paper I figured I could use. I was planning to be some sort of survey guy. Hadn't worked out the kinks yet, but it was something I walked around the street to the front of Dennis's house. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. The taller of the two answered the door holding yet another can. "Hi there, sir. I'm doing my rounds in the neighbourhood and surveying the properties in the area. We just have to make sure the under house entrance isn't blocked and that the distance between the underground cables and the fences are correct. It's all a pretty quick process. Shouldn't take long. Five minutes, tops and won't require any digging or anything. Just a standard procedure that we do". The guy nodded. I could tell he was getting annoyed that he was missing the game. "So, I just need to get you to sign here so say that I've told you I'll be surveying the property and I also have a few questions I need you to answer as well". "Yeah sure", his voice was deep. "Right your name sir"? "Andrew Bluewood". He hesitated. But only for a second. It wasn't enough to give me a clear indication. I scribbled on the paper. "And you are the owner of the property"? He nodded. "How long have you been living here"? He ran a hand through his hair thinking. "Ugh, three months, or something like that". I nodded writing that down too. It's the right time frame. It puts him living at this address when he would have been working for the woman. "Does anyone else live with you here"? "No". Playing along with what I was supposed to be doing I asked another question. "Have you don't any work out the back in terms of building new fences, digging up the yard etc"? "No". "Okay, can you sign down the bottom of the page please". I handed him the pen. Luckily, he didn't look very hard at the sheet before signing it. "I'll hang around for five minutes and check everything then I'll be off. Thank you for your time". He nodded and handed me the clipboard before closing the door. I wandered around into the back of the yard. I pretended to check some things before going back out to the front and walking down the street. The whole time I was thinking about 'Andrew'. He fit the profile. It had to be him. He's been living here for three months. It was him. I was sure of it. I returned to the roof I was on before. This time I unpacked my bag and assembled the AWM. It took a couple of minutes, I wanted to make sure all the parts were clean and dust free as well. They'd been in the unit for a while. The game would be finished soon, and I didn't know where in the house they would be when it finished. But at the same time, I needed the other guy to leave. I didn't know him. He could be completely innocent. Unlikely, but I had no reason to kill him, I didn't want him getting in the way. I wasn't about to become some vigilante, killing every bad guy in sight. After a while the other man left and got into a car parked on the street. He drove away within minutes. Dennis went into the kitchen and came out with a black bag, inside was of all the empty beer cans. He left them down the side of the house under a window. I had him lined up in my scope but he disappeared before I could pull the trigger. He went inside, changed the channels on the TV and took his same position on the couch. I could only see the back of his head and the tops of his shoulders. It was enough. A shot of this distance was easy. I lined up the shot, mentally adjusting for the breeze and friction when the bullet would pass through the glass. I didn't have anything to silence the shot so I would have to get out of there fast. It was impractical, but it would mean it was all over. Except... it wouldn't all be over. I would still be there. On the run. No one would know that it was really him. I would still go to prison because everyone would still think it was me. And I had nothing to prove otherwise. It didn't matter. I could go to prison. It was worth it if the real bad guy gets what he deserves. Was it? Yes. I lifted my finger to the trigger. I breathed out slowly. I could do it. I had to do it. For Cat and Toby. I had to put him in the ground. He deserved it. But I couldn't take the blame. I couldn't let people think I would actually kill them. And I couldn't live on the run my whole life. I would get caught. Eventually. It's not much of a life on the run anyway. But I had nothing to prove he did it. And I would probably never find anything. These guys know how to cover their tracks. They do it for a living. That's why it was so easy for the police to come to the conclusion that it was me. I sighed and readjusted the scope. I couldn't kill him. I had to prove it wasn't me. But I wanted to. God, I wanted to. He needed to die. He WILL die. After I prove he did it.