The cat was black, as black as my soul. Its tail was a little curved and it had two diamonds for its eyes. I put it back on the shelf. Why do girls buy this pendant? Don’t they know that black cat is bad luck? I tried to wipe the blonde’s blood off my blade, only to realise that it had dried on the way to my shop. This was its nineteenth kill. I never want to kill them, but always ended up killing them. Why do they have to buy this pendant?
Maybe I’ll throw this pendant out of the shop. Yes, that would be it. I’ll destroy it.
Carefully, I made my way to the glass case and took the pendant out. Its touch felt ice cold in my palm. The cat was staring at me, a cruel mocking glare, daring me to try and destroy it. Its diamond eyes glistened in the dark as if on the forthcoming victory. When I could no longer tolerate its icy touch, I threw it out of the window. It went so far away that I didn’t even hear it crash.
I closed the shop and drove towards my house, looking forward to my wife Aura's oblivious smile. Many times I wished that I could have been oblivious too. But I knew that nobody could wear the cat without getting punished, nobody should. I could not let the deed go unpunished.
The morning was a warm welcome after the cold night. Aura was making coffee in the kitchen. All I could see was her long raven colored hair.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Same to you darling,” she said, planting a kiss on my cheek. Her voice was more melodious than usual equating with my own inner happiness.
“You sound awfully happy today.”
“Notice anything different?” she said gesturing at her neck.
I was too shocked to answer. It was there, on her neck- my worst nightmare.
“Thank you for this,” she smiled and kissed me again.
How did it happen? How could it happen? Why? The only thing clear to me was that she had to die, that I had to be the one to kill her.
I watched as she carried on with her work in the kitchen, my mind wandering in the dark corners of my soul. I didn’t plan getting in the kitchen, taking the knife in my hands or killing her with one perfect cut on her neck. I was there watching it happen like a bystander while my body did the dirty work on its own accord. The pendant was once again in my hands as I snatched it away from a dead body for the twentieth time.
This was different from the other times. Every other time I had lurked in the corners of a dark alley or their empty home and had left the body at the crime scene, but today it wasn’t an option. I carried her body to the backyard and threw it inside the wood chipper. Then I burned whatever was left of the body.
I went by my usual routine that day. The cat was back inside the showcase and I inside the showroom. I wondered how the cat had reached my house. The only logical answer that I could think of was that when I threw it out, it must have landed inside my car and got attached to something that I took inside my house. It was remote but a possibility nonetheless.
That night I went home a bit late and called everyone I could think of, asking for Aura. Finally after two hours of charade, I called the police.
The detective’s name was Tim Rogers. He looked like he wanted to throw in jail the first person that he saw, for the murder. Luckily for me he could not do that before proving the crime. He did the best he could and by
that I mean that he chased his tail like a dog. There was no way the police could have caught me.
Months went by; everything fell back into its usual place. I was going to slit another throat. I had chased her to the parking lot. She was in my grasp, my right hand moved towards her throat and a shot rang in the air. All I felt was sharp pain in my right shoulder blade and all I heard was a voice asking detective Reeves if she was alright. The voice belonged to him- Tim Rogers.
He was the first person they called when I woke up in the hospital. He gloated.
“I knew at first glance that there was something off about you. You had let us search the whole house because you were sure that we will find nothing there. You were right," he smirked, "We did not, and that’s why we got you. Your wife had sent her picture wearing the cat necklace to one of her friends, telling her that you had gifted it to her. It was nowhere in the house. But it had come back to your shop on the morning of the night when you called the police.” He looked pleased with himself and continued, “You must be wondering how we knew that. See, that locality that you have your shop in, has been on our watchlist for long. Sixteen females have been killed who were traced to have gone shopping there earlier.”
I smiled. They had not counted all of them.
“It was a long shot but Detective Reeves agreed to be your next victim. All she had to do was buy that necklace and you were trapped.” He looked in my eyes and said, “Now tell me what kind of sick, twisted person kills innocent women, including his own wife - just because of a necklace?"
“Don't you know that black cat brings bad luck?”
