The Murder Of 1998

Chapter Twenty-One

He didn't want to be in the house. He bit his bottom lip. He could sell the house and just move. But he worked so hard to have this house. Not to mention his job as well. His neighbors were nice to him. Next door to the right of his house lived his old neighbor, Mister Murphy. He was a very mysterious and stoic man. He wakes up every morning and waters his plants. Raymond would see him at times when he walked out to grab the mail. He truly was an interesting man, but he kinda creeped out Ray since he once caught him staring straight at him. His expression was straight and cold. It was creepy.

Raymond looked through the window of his living room. His mailbox was full. He rushed out of the house and quickly grabbed all the mail inside. He rushed back inside and threw all the letters onto the kitchen island. He began to shuffle through the mail.

Bills, condolence letters from co–workers about Emily, get one buy one free notes from stores, and a post–card from Emily's sister.

But nothing from Jack Reed.

He sighed in disappointment and picked up Victoria's card (Emily's sister). He looked at the front of the post card, seeing the words 'Greetings from Massachusetts' on the front with the picture of an outline of the state. He flipped the card over and began to read the writing.

Dear Ray,

I've heard of my sisters passing. It's painful to hear of it and I wish to God I went to her funeral. But life always manages to get in the way and I can't do anything about it. But, I've made time to go back to New York and spend some time there. I'll be going soon and I will show up at your door steps if you don't mind. Hopefully you understand and thank you. Please be strong.

Sincerely, Victoria.

Raymond wanted to feel joy. He loved Emily's siblings. Victoria was this happy and mature woman even though she was the youngest. She was so intelligent and loved challenges. So it was no surprise when she got accepted into Boston University.

However, Raymond felt no emotions over this card. Instead he just threw it on the table and sighed.

The sudden craving for alcohol began. Raymond didn't want to fight it and just went straight to grab a beer from the fridge.

There was a single beer bottle standing to the side. He thought that he had restocked already. He searched the fridge but found that it was only that one bottle. Raymond scratched his head in confusion.

"Papa, papa!" The two children came running in the kitchen. "I'm hungry!"

Raymond looked down at them. "Well, lets see what there is to eat." He put the beer bottle back and looked back inside the fridge. Not a whole lot. He checked the freezer and only found two packs of meat. It was expired though. July thirtieth was the date it expired. Raymond chuckled and threw the meat away.

Mitchell looked into the trashcan to look at the expired meat. Koralia tilted her head back to stare up at her father. "Papa?"

Raymond smiled. "Who wants pizza?"

-x-

Droplets of rain fell from the sky and hit the cement, creating splashes. Leonardo looked up at the sky and felt the cool rain hitting his face. He wondered how much longer he would have to be standing out in the drizzling rain while wearing nothing more than a thin hoodie.

A black SUV was driving towards the man with its headlights on, shining directly on Leonardo. He furrowed his eyebrows and squinted through the blinding lights. The car finally came to a stop right in front of him and two men came out while the driver stayed inside.

The two men looked similar. Both had a crew cut haircut and wore sunglasses. One of them had a scar on the side of their face. It looked like it was caused by a knife. Leonardo thought it was funny that they wore sunglasses even though it was dark outside.

"Leonardo," the man with the scar said with a thick French acent, "the money?"

Leonardo took out the money he had tucked in his pockets. All of it was in a bag. One thousand dollars. He handed it over to the two men.

"Wait," Leonardo said. The men looked back at him before they made their way back to the car. "Did you kill Mister Robinson?"

The shorter man looked at the other, sighing. His expression—despite not being able to see his eyes from the sunglasses—made Leonardo feel uneasy.

"Of course not. We treated that man like family." The man with the scar whispered.

"So then, who did?"

The shorter man shrugged. "We don't know. We too are looking for who killed him." Leonardo felt some sort of relief in his chest. He knew they wouldn't lie to him about Joe Robinson. He was loved by so many, so it wouldn't make sense for them to kill him.

"Nico is dead too."

The two men stood silently and nodded. "We know."