Mystery: The Coming Back: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Suspense Thriller Mystery) (16 page)

Charles’ body shuddered as tears filled his eyes.

Stanley had been missing for more than three years then . They were doing everything they could. But all their efforts were futile. His last wish. His last request.

He had talked to David on the phone yesterday. David still had nothing new to tell him. They talked merrily for hours until Charles had to succumb to his tiredness and hang up.

David wouldn’t have guessed that it was such a difficult moment for his friend.

“Vivian. It was not…” Charles tried reasoning with her, taking a step towards her. His words were not even convincing to his own ears.

“Don’t! Just don’t!” Vivian screamed. Her eyes looked wildly at him, taking a step back. Her expression broke him inside. She looked at him as if he was a murderer. As if Charles was a monster.

Charles was in denial. Deep down, he knew it was his fault. He had not been able to keep his son safe.

His body fell to the ground, no longer in his control. Vivian left the room, leaving him alone in all his darkness. Charles had been smiling for her all these days. Keeping up a brave façade, hoping it would pay off. He was being strong for his wife. It was all in vain. His futile attempts didn’t change anything. It didn’t change the situation they were in.

It didn’t change how despicable he was or how he had, no matter how indirectly, had committed a crime.

In the end, he was a monster. No matter how many excuses Charles used to defend himself, he knew. He was the reason they were broken apart. Charles tore his family apart. He destroyed them until there was nothing left to destroy.

In a shabby apartment in Savannah, Timothy Sands was sitting in front of the dark window, thinking about the past and the future. His life had once again went into ruins. With nothing left for him to hope for. All his dreams of family and love had been lost, thanks to a too curious doctor and a too honest detective. Timothy had finally lost everything.

“Shit!” he exclaimed in the empty room. If only he had kept Sam with him. Because, yes, Tim had loved once in his life, but had lost that too.

One year ago, he had walked into his house to find the man he loved more than life itself ready to leave him. Tim couldn’t describe all those emotions that he felt for Sam. He fit perfectly with him. They were like the perfect pieces of a puzzle. They made up a masterpiece.

It was Sam, whose thoughts were going to keep Tim up all night. It was him, who would take Tim’s pain away and take him to a land of dreams. It didn’t matter how long he had known Sam. It didn’t matter how torn Tim was. It didn’t matter how Tim had been wandering in the dark in the past. It was him.

Torturous memories drowned Tim whole before, now it was his sweet dreams that haunted Tim’s senses. Sam was like a man he had known before, with a fire twinkling in his eyes. Yet, his personality shimmered through, shining bright like a rare jewel.

Tim was condemned. He was damned in a prison of Hell. It was Sam who showed him the light. After all Tim had been through before, he was glad to meet someone who could change his viewpoint on the relationship. Yet, as Tim lay in his bed, the memories still found their way inside his mind.

“You forget that I’m only human, Tim.” He had wretched his hand from Tim’s grasp. “You forget that I can’t stand beside you when you can’t prioritize your priorities.”

“Sam. You know how much I lo–…” Tim started to say, but he cut him off.

“Bullshit, Tim. You haven’t cared about anyone else. It was always about you. You, your sports, your career. You expected me to stand by you like a useless jewel, holding your sweaty towel with a smile on my face.”

“Sam, can we please be rational about this? You know how much all of this means to me, it has–” He cut him off yet again.

“I’m tired of all of this, Tim!” Sam yelled at him, tears trickling down his face. “I can’t do this anymore! I quit.”

His words pierced through Tim like bullets. ‘I quit.’ Those were the words he used right now. Tim comprehended his words.

“What do you mean, baby?” Tim said, scared of his answer. He knew what he meant. Tim just hoped he didn’t mean what Tim thought.

“I’m done, Tim. I can’t live with you anymore. Your habits don’t click with mine. Your hobbies are different. Your priorities are different. You don’t think of me as something you need to support.”

“Sam, you’re my life. I love you. Why are you doing this?” Tim pleaded with him.

Sam waved him off. “You love your sports more. You don’t need to explain.” Tim wanted to scream. Why was he being so hard?

“I never was a priority in your life. I realized that too late. I was always something you took for granted. I can’t live like this, Tim. I can’t. I can’t clean up after your mess. I didn’t sign up for this.” Sam shook his head. As he walked away, Tim couldn’t help feel like he had lost everything he treasured.

*****************************************

“What is happening here?” Tim looked at his bedroom in shock.

Sam and that man with him covered up pretty quickly, the man quickly donning his clothes.

Sam’s face had morphed into a cold, emotionless mask as he looked at Tim calmly with no panic. The only panic, Tim could sense was from the dead. He hurried pass Tim, a small sorry, dude crossing his lips as Tim glared at him. He shut the door behind him.

Sam was wrapped in the sheets.

“Sam, what is the meaning of this?” Tim asked him, a slight anger and pain coursing through him. His love was in bed with another man. In their house.

“I didn’t do anything I wouldn’t have done. You have no claims on me anymore, Tim. I’m leaving this house, and you. You know that. You can’t argue with that,” Sam said with the cold mask still on his face.

This wasn’t him. It was like a demon was manipulating him.

“Why are you doing this, Sam? Why do you want to hurt me like this?” Tim asked him, vulnerability slipping in his voice, betraying all his emotions.

Sam’s expression softened slightly and then hardened again. Sam laughed humorlessly. “I’m the one who’s hurting you now?” He shook his head and laughed.

“Sam. I know I have a lot of flaws, but…” Tim started, but he cut him off.

“Yes, you do. You are a self-centered egoistic jerk whose selfish nature has destroyed the both of us. You’ve destroyed my life, Tim. Three years of life, wasted. Over you,” he said.

His words held power. He knew what to say to hurt Tim. He knew what could get him hurt. Pain seared through his body as he looked at Sam. Tim was at his mercy.

“Baby, we could try. Give me one chance,” Tim pleaded. He loved Sam. Tim couldn’t let him go. He was going to fight for him. Sam laughed again. The malice in his laugh scared Tim. What had he ever done to deserve all of this?

“You lost your chance, Tim. We have nothing to fight for, anymore. However, there is one thing I can ask of you. If you want me, you’ll have to choose me over your career.”

Tim looked at him in shock. Sam didn’t ask him what Tim thought he asked of him, did he?

Tim couldn’t do it. His body dropped to the bed. “Are you serious?” Tim asked, his voice cracking.

Sam nodded, looking at him straight in the eyes. Tim felt like his whole world was crumbling before him. He had lost Sam. He expected him to do something that Tim couldn’t do. Tim couldn’t leave his job. He just couldn’t.

Tim glanced at Sam, his eyes dropping to the floor almost immediately. Tim couldn’t meet his eyes. “I see.” Sam said, and as he gathered the sheets around him tightly, he stood up. As he towered over Tim, Sam looked like a dark angel. Beautiful, but deadly.

Tim could see the lines of a tattoo saying “For You, Always” on his neck. He had gotten it for him. Sam looked at Tim, and shook his head in distaste. He walked toward the bathroom.

Before he went in, she turned back to Tim. “Oh, and by the way, I wasn’t the one who destroyed us. You were.”

*******

The question then had been actually very simple – was Tim
ready to try and be happy again? Will
he find in someone else the treasure he had never found in Sam. Too long he had made himself believe that Sam was all he ever needed in his life, and when that ALL left him,
Tim
had neither the strength nor the desire to fight anymore.

Life, as he knew it was over for him, so Tim decided to start anew.

At the same time, Detective Wilson was finally able to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Stanley Douglass. The extended search with dogs and helicopters had given results. The dogs had been able to find the car and the body of the boy inside it. The position of the car and that of the body told the whole story. Stanley Douglass had been run off the road and then killed in a sadistic way. After ten years, it was difficult to remove the body from the car without disturbing the bones, but they did everything in their power.

David Wilson supervised the whole operation, already thinking about the next step. How was he going to give the news to Charles and Vivian? They had suffered so much already and deserved some good things to happen in their lives, but David hoped that at least he could give them closure.

The same night, the police officers in Savannah burst through the door of the dilapidated apartment, Timothy was hiding in. The police rush into the building and found the Timothy Sands hiding place. The man did not try to escape and the police placed him under arrest for the murder of Stanley Douglass. They hauled him into one of the police vehicles and immediately called Detective Wilson to inform him of the arrest.

The look on the Detective Wilson’s face was one of concern. After so many years he had finally found out the truth about the disappearance of Stanley Douglass and that hasn’t made him feel better. Slowly, he took out the phone and dialed the number of Charles. “Hi, it is David,” he said into the phone, when Charles answered it. “I have some news for you.”

“What is it now, did you find him?” Mr. Douglass answered from the other end.

“Yes, we did,” David sighed. “Charles, we finally found your son.”

“Tell me that he is okay?” The father asked in a concerned voice.

“Charles, where are you?” David changed the subject.

“I am in the hospital. Vivian still needs care.”

“Okay, I will come there to speak to both of you,” Detective Wilson said.

“Why don’t you tell me on the phone?” Charles asked reluctantly.

“It is better if we speak face to face,” David explained. “I will be there in ten.”

Wilson closed the phone and headed for the hospital. On the way there he called Lydia and asked her to meet him there, after explaining to her the reason for his visit. “I will need your help once they hear that their son is murdered and that the man, who claimed he was their son, is actually his killer.”

Together, Lydia and David walked into the hospital and asked for the room of Vivian Douglass. Vivian was still at the local hospital, recovering from exhaustion. Charles was waiting for them in the hall way and refused to let them in, before they explain what was going on.

“We found the body of your son, Charles,” David said carefully.

“Stanley is dead? But how?” Charles said in a soft, painful voice.

“He was dead for the last ten years, Charles.” The detective explained. “We found his car and his body inside it. The car had been run out of the road inside a pit. The examiners, noted that Stanley was still alive, when the car ended there, but someone went after him and killed him.”

“Oh, God…”

“All this time, Stanley had been dead,” David continued. “We never found the car till now, because the killer covered it with branches and the place was well-hidden from passersby. To discover it, you almost have to fall over it.”

“My son is dead…”

“Yes, we found his bag, with his ID inside…”

“Who killed him?”

“Timothy Sands…he is the man who we all thought to be Stanley for the last few weeks. Timothy was arrested for the murder of Stanley. We found him hiding in an apartment in the city. There is enough evidence that he followed Stanley during that rainy night, ran him out of the road, climbed out of his car, killed Stanley and then covered the car to hide it from sight. The rain did the rest, by covering all the traces and helping the grass to stand up.”

“Why, why did he kill our son?”

“We don’t know yet, but after we interrogate him, I promise you, you and Vivian would be the first ones to know.”

“How am I supposed to tell her this?” Charles asked and almost fell onto the nearest plastic chair.

“I can help you to speak to her…” Lydia spoke for the first time.

“You, you are going to help us?” the man asked angrily. “Didn’t you do enough? You have ruined our lives. And now…now you are taking away our only hope of having our son back. Even if it was all a lie, it was better than the truth.”

“Charles,” David tried to calm him. “We are only trying to help you.”

“Just leave us, please leave us for now…” the man asked through tears.

Lydia tugged David away, knowing too well that it was not a good time to try and reason with Charles. The news they had brought him had been devastating, and he needed time to process them. He was probably worried how to tell his wife about the dead of their only son. They needed time and Lydia was going to give it to them.

“What now?” David asked Lydia, when they walked out of the hospital.

“We have to speak to Timothy Sands,” Lydia said firmly. “The only way for Mr. and Mrs. Douglass to have closure is to give them the truth. We have to speak to that man and make him confess everything.”

David agreed with her and together they returned to the precinct, where Timothy was held behind bars. So far, no one had spoken to him and the police officer, who was keeping guard told Wilson that the man looked very nervous.

The detective gave the orders and Timothy was escorted into the interrogation room, where Lydia and David were waiting for him. The young man walked in the room calmly, but as soon as he saw who was waiting for him, he stopped and tried to get out again.