Average Joe (2018)

9

The El Paso restaurant looked like something from a horror film.

It would look even more terrifying in the darkness, but with the surrounding police cars and New York buildings, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Ted's rickety Toyota came up the road and parked by a telephone pole. The vehicle's driver door squeaked as Ted opened it and squeaked once more when he closed it.

Ted already knew most of the grizzly details. Teenage girl Samantha Tes went missing on her way to school on the 7th of April. She had swimming lessons, so of course she left early. The distance between her apartment and her school was only seven minutes. Seven minutes. That's how long it can take for someone to disappear. When she wasn't there for school or swimming lessons, the school staff and students assumed she was sick.

The thought gave Ted shivers. He wondered what he would do if he woke up in the middle of the night and Norman was nowhere to be found. Ted shook the thought from his head.

Ted walked down the street towards the crime scene. Detective Mann saw Ted before he saw him. Detective Mann, a tall, thin, dark-skinned man ran up the sidewalk and met with Ted.

"You shouldn't be here, Teddy Boy," Mann's scratchy smoker's voice called out.

"You know me better than that, David," Ted responded. "This is my job."

"This is my job too, Teddy. And even if the city loves Red Flame, the last I checked vigilantism is still illegal."

"You wouldn't turn me in."

"To protect you I would."

"Protect me?"

"Ted, this guy makes Jack The Reaper look like a jaywalker."

"Then let me stop him."

"The way he talks..." Mann shook his head. "He's so calm. Like killing is... something as simple as doin' the laundry."

"He leaves his audio journals at the crime scene. Are there fingerprints on the tapes?"

"Already checked. No prints, the thing's clean. And before you ask, we still can't identify the voice. In the journals he'll sometimes mention where he found the vic and how he lured them. We're narrowing down the suspects though."

"How many?"

"Around fourteen thousand."

"What?"

"This guy is smart. He takes people in heavily populated areas. So heavily populated he can lose people easily."

"What can you tell me about the victims?"

"This girl makes five. They range from all over the place. The first one was an elderly man. The second was a man in his twenties. The third was a female college student. Fourth was a middle-aged Mom."

"Basically no one is safe."

"Pretty much."

"How do you know they're all by the same person?"

"Well for one thing, he always leaves his audio journals. And for another..." Mann sighed. "The way they were killed. First he cuts them." Mann swiped his finger across Ted's stomach. "Like that. Then their... intestines spill out."

"That's how he kills them?"

"That's how he tortures them. You can stay alive for quite a while if that happens."

Ted cringed. Ted thought about what would happen if that happened to him. Or Norman or Melinda.

"Then how did he kill them?"

"He... cuts their mouths to make them smile. And if they don't die from that he... he decapitates them."

"Good Lord."

"Ted..." Mann's eyes settled on Ted's. "For your sake. Stay away from this. Go home. See your son. And stay away from the Chronicle."