Heavy Rains: Inferno (WATTY AWARDS 2012)

Part 1: Chapter 7

1.7

Day 3

“Greyson, I want to be able to help you, but you have to let me.”

He stood sat there, nails digging into the sheets of the bed as his legs tensed and he bit his lip intensely. The smell of oak suffocated him and the sound of the ticking clock continuous and never dying in his ears, only drove him and more over the edge. “I’m not Greyson. Not Greyson. My name is Everett. Everett Reid.”

“I apologize then, Everett Reid. Now, I’d like to help you Everett. I really would, but you have to allow me to do so.”

The man’s knees cracked as his elderly face came to eye with the young boy, looking deep within his aqua eyes as his own caramel ones pleaded. The wrinkles and lines on his weathered face had been counted a numerous of times by the young boy already when he sat, staring bored at the man.

The elder sighed and shook his head, “I don’t understand, Gr-…Everett.”

He searched his face some more, every detail being taken into account as he then looked up at his thin, white hair, combed back in attempt to cover the bald spot growing in the middle of his head.

Orville was the man’s name, his white dress-shirt left untucked from bottled aggravation towards the boy who sat, his expression emotionless.

“Everett, you have a gift. You understand that, don’t you?”

He swallowed as the boy looked around unsure of how to answer before nodding lightly, “That’s what they say.”

“And what they say is correct. You have..an amazing gift, Everett. Something rare and fragile. Like a Karner Butterfly. You haven’t realized your potential yet, that’s why we have to do this.”

The younger of the two stared into the elders eyes, unsure if putting trust into the man was wise. Another man stood in the doorway, arms crossed with a deep frown on his face as he stared in amusement as the words were exchanged.

“Everett. Will you come with me now?”

He sat on the bed still, his heart beating harshly in his chest and his face cold with fear, but despite his apprehension, he swallowed down the anxiety and slowly slid off the bed, followiong him through the door, and past the man with a look bearing nothing but curiosity.

And as he walked down the hall, his hand firmly grasped by Orville, he couldn’t help but turn his head to look back at the man who seemed to be staring at him as though he were an experiment, probing him with eyes. There he saw his oil-drop eyes, quickly judging his expressionless face before giving a million-dollar smile.

“Have fun, young ‘Everett’ and I bid you Adieu, Orville.”

Grey awoke on the bed, his mind scrambling to gather itself as he quickly stood, realizing he wasn’t even beneath the blankets, nor was he dressed in pajamas.

Instead, he awoke to a painful shiver running through his spine, horizontally lying across his bed, his mind swimming.

He blinked a couple times to see that the time on the clock beside his bed burned into his eyes a distinctive, ‘1:00AM’

He had been asleep for just over an hour.

He pealed himself away from the bed, turning himself around to sit on the edge of his bed and look out on the view of the city, staring back into his brain just as it did every late night or early morning.

The actions performed the previous day still confused him, sucking him away from anything else. Even the case at hand became second to the questions of how he had managed to suddenly be standing in the middle of a dark street, looking down the headlights of a car that nearly crashed into him.

He bit his lower lip, searching the wooden flooring beneath him, counting each panel as his mind raced for answers. He went through every deduction he thought possible, eliminating those that seemed ridiculous and then hanging on briefly to the ones seeming plausible until he found something better.

“You know the answer..you just don’t want to face it.”

Grey turned his head sharply towards the doorway leading to the hall, his eyes wide with surprise by the sound of a voice, vaguely similar to his own but containing a slight edge in it. One that seemed to suggest that it knew something that you didn’t.

No one, however, was to be found. He turned his head farther, looking towards the door that led to the bathroom. No one stood there either, and no one seemed to be occupying the room.

No one was in sight.

“When you find me, you’ll know where I am.”

Grey looked around again, he opened his mouth, feeling a splitting sensation and a quick spark of pain as the skin broke and began to bleed. He began to mouth the words he had carefully thought of just as the phone lying on the bedside beside him rang out in a shrill, deafening way.

His heart leapt within his throat as adrenaline pumped through his veins and he quickly snatched the telephone up before roughly bringing it to his left ear.

“Boone.”

“Detective Grey Boone, there’s been another murder. You’re lucky, you can actually view this one fresh.”

Ruttiger’s smooth voice came to no surprise through the phone and he turned his head slightly to stare out the window. Once more, the call was made at a very indecent hour.

“I would have called later, however, I figured you weren’t asleep and would appreciate the good news. You’ll be able to inspect the scene at nine AM . I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it, I’ve got a mandatory business meeting.”

“Where did you say this murder was committed, Ruttiger?”

Ruttiger stayed quiet for a moment before giving out a soft chuckle in embarrassment, “Right, I suppose location may be able to help. You remember that hotel, Open Hands?”

“Yes, it’s the older, run down one, correct?”

“Yes. This woman’s ID said that she was Augusta Brow, a state to state, well-known, prostitute who usually went by the nickname of Apple.”

“She’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.”

“Precisely. A seductive murderer. Lures them, gives them what they paid for, and then finishes them off right after cutting off their lower regions.”

Grey nodded to himself as he sighed.

Open Hands.

Yes, he knew exactly where it was. It was only half a mile away from the news station that the woman who had helped him yesterday, worked at.

“At what time did the murder occur?”

“They estimated it to be just last night. About eleven PM.”

His heart skipped a beat.