Shadows in the Dark (3 page)

…

Drowsily, I awoke in a
pitch black room that was freezing cold. It felt as though my hands
were tied behind my back and a bag was tied over my head.  All
I heard was the sound of the wind rubbing against the outside wall.
Then, I heard a door open and close loudly, being followed by
footsteps heading my way.
My heart was beating rapidly, pounding against my chest. I could
feel the blood rushing through my veins at a rapid speed. I started
struggling, but it didn’t help much.
“Oh, good, you’re finally awake. Now let’s discuss the things at
stake.” All of a sudden, the bag was ripped from my head. The light
flooded my sight, making me flinch. I looked around the room and
saw nothing but the man.
He was walking around the room, running the tip of a knife against
the wall as he walked. Still wearing that hood from earlier, he
watched the knife, not looking away.
“What do you want with me?” I said. The man stopped suddenly and
slowly looked over at me. But I didn’t expect what I saw
next.
The man wore a plastic white mask that covered all of his face. The
mask had small red dots for eyes and a thin red smile that ran all
across the bottom of it.
“All I want... is a favor done. You won’t do much, only just one.
But you must do it fast, for we don’t have much time. But don’t
worry, the outcome will be sublime.” He chuckled as he walked over
to me and knelt down. He started running the knife along my
cheek.
“What did you do with Rick?” I asked.
“Oh, little Rick is still in that alley. But let’s continue our
talk, shall we?” He got his face closer to mine, close enough to
where I could hear his breath run against the inside of his
mask.
“Okay. What do you want me to do?” I stammered my words a little,
making me look pathetic. The man stood back up and turned his back
to me.
“In the other room, there lies a bomb. It detonates soon, but you
must be calm. You will set it in the nearby church. You must not be
suspicious so they will not search. It will explode in twenty-four
hours. Do it in time, and victory will be ours.” He chuckled once
more, rubbing his finger along the sharp side of the knife.
“I’ll never do that. You can’t make me.” I tried to sit up, but I
only fell back down. It was silent in the room for a second. I
looked over at the man and saw that he was getting rough with
rubbing his finger on the sharp part of the knife. Too rough.
He pierced his skin, opening a gap in his finger, letting blood
seep through and drip on the floor. All of a sudden, he threw his
knife at my face.
The knife stabbed into the floor right next to my head, barely
missing. It stuck in its place, not even budging.
“
Don’t you dare refuse, detective!”
His yell sounded muffled from the mask covering
his face, echoing around the room. “
I put
a lot of thought into this, I swear! You must do it for me, it’s
only fair!”
The man grabbed my shirt
and threw me against the wall, making me grunt in surprise. He
slammed his hands against the wall and put his face up close to
mine.
“
Detective,”
he
said as quiet as a whisper, “you have no choice. Listen to
me,
listen to my voice!
The clock is ticking, you must not disrupt. Or
your world with surely erupt. So accept the fact that you
must
kill.
For if
you don’t, I most certainly will.”
He started a slow chuckle as he backed away from me, not breaking
eye contact. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the ground,
sticking it into his pocket. But he wasn’t done talking.
“Taking someone’s life isn’t so bad. It’s actually the best feeling
I’ve ever had. Let’s hope you commit to doing your job. Or else you
will end up like poor old Bob.” He started laughing hysterically,
tilting his head back.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I said, feeling my heart beating
faster than ever. The man stopped laughing and slowly looked down
at me. He knelt down and a small, almost silent, chuckle came from
behind that mask.  
“Rhyming Ralph, that’s my name. Murdering people, that’s the
game.”

…

Not even attempting to get
out, I lay motionless in the trunk of the Ralph’s car. The ride was
bumpy, no doubt about that. But I made it through.
Ralph stopped the car, opened to trunk, and dragged me out. My back
hit the ground pretty hard, making me grunt. But that was the worst
of it.
Before Ralph had stuck me in his trunk, he had put the bag back
over my head. Having no idea where I was, only knowing I was in a
grassy field due to having the grass brush against my skin, I did
panic a little. But I knew he wasn’t going to kill me. He said
himself that he needed me. Well, unless I refused to do his dirty
work. But I was a detective. I was Detective Eli. I would figure
out how to stop this somehow. Hopefully.
Ralph ripped the bag from my head, and I finally saw where I was. I
was in the middle of a grassy field surrounded by trees. The tall
grass blew rhythmically with the wind, swaying like the waves of a
gorgeous ocean.
“Where am I?” I asked. Ralph only looked at me, but didn’t say
anything. He stood there for a few seconds, and then turned around
to walk away. But I had more questions.
Ralph grabbed a bag from the back of his car and carefully set it
down next to me. I already knew what it was, but I asked any
way.
“Is this the bomb?” Once again he didn’t answer. He just stood
there for a second, then turned around.
“Wait! At Bob Garrison’s crime scene, you left a picture! A picture
of a little girl! Who is she? What does she have to do with this?”
My breathing became harder as I watched Ralph’s jacket sway in the
wind. He stopped and stared at the ground, not saying a single
word. Then, he slowly turned around and looked at me.
“That little girl’s life is in your hands. If you want her to live,
then don’t screw up my plans. You do as you’re told, and she won’t
be harmed. I will turn myself in, truthfully and unarmed.
 Don’t think about running, that wouldn’t be smart. Because
I’ll be watching you during that part. Let’s hope that you finish
in time. Or her death will just be another crime.”
Ralph turned back around and started to walk away. A sudden rage
filled my heart and head. I could feel the blood rushing from my
head and through my body. I tried to lunge at him, but my hands
were tied up too well.
“So this is blackmail? You’re saying that if I don’t blow up the
church, you’re going to kill that little girl? That’s sick! That’s
demented!” I only heard Ralph chuckle as he got into his car and
drove off, leaving me in the middle of nowhere.

…

I managed to get to my feet
after a good ten minutes when Ralph had driven out of sight. The
bag that carried the bomb was heavy and was a pain to carry. But I
had to choice to take it with me. The sun had started to set and
sweat started to drip from the top my forehead. I had been walking
for a good hour or so, and then I found a street that ran through
the field. From afar, I only saw a car or two pass by.
Though Ralph was messed up in the head, he was smart. He had
covered his license plate so I couldn’t somehow remember it. The
mask and the hood were smart, too. That way I couldn’t see any
facial structure or hair of any kind. Hell, even the rhyming got to
me. It made him seem more… menacing. Ralph knew what he was doing.
And that’s what scares me the most.
Cars passed by me with no problem. The people driving them would
look at me as they passed, and then speed up right after. It’s like
they thought I was a monster or something. It’s amazing what people
can assume nowadays.
After more sunlight was lost and cars passing me, a car stopped.
The driver was a teenage boy with long, shaggy blonde hair and a
small goatee. He was probably around seventeen or eighteen. A
cigarette hung from the side of his mouth, nearly falling
off.
“Need a lift?” he said, rolling down his window.
“Yes. Also, would you mind telling me the nearest city?” The boy
looked ahead and started to think.
“Umm, I just came from Irving. I’m on my way to Frisco. Is there
somewhere else you need to be?”
“No, Frisco is where I need to be.”
The boy nodded his head and unlocked the door. I opened to back
door and slid the bomb onto the seat. I awkwardly walked over to
the passenger side and got into the car, slowly putting on my
seatbelt.
Please, for the love of
God, don’t look in the bag.
“Could I use your phone?” I asked. The boy had already started to
drive down the road.
“Sure.” He reached into his pocket and handed it to me. I flipped
it open and dialed in Jackson’s number. The phone rang and rang,
and then it sent me to voicemail.
“Come on Jackson, don’t do this to me now,” I whispered to myself.
I dialed it in again and waited. Then a groggy voice had
answered.
“Hello?” Jackson sounded as if he had just woken up.
“Jackson! You remember the photo of the little girl?” Jackson
didn’t answer. “Jackson? Wake up, man!”
“Yes, I remember! Why?”
“Well…” I hesitated. It was like I hadn’t even taken in the whole
story yet. “The murderer of Bob Garrison plans more than just
killing an innocent man. He did that to get our attention. Or… at
least mine. The man behind it kidnapped me at the bar. He told me I
had to do something for him. Something big. Something bad…” I took
in a breath. “And if I didn’t do it, he would kill that little girl
in the photo.” I saw the boy stare at me on the side of my
eye.
Jackson was silent. Then I heard rustling of clothes and footsteps
on a wooden floor.
“What do you have to do?” Jackson asked, sounding worried and in a
hurry.

“
He…” I looked over at the
boy. “I’ll tell you later. I’ll meet you at the station. Get ready,
Jackson. This… this is big.”

…

I pushed open the doors of
the police station, looking around the room. An officer sat in a
small chair, reading a news paper. Jackson stood next to the front
desk, tapping his fingers on a clipboard. He looked up as soon as I
walked in and took me into his office.
“Okay, I’m done waiting. What’s going on?” Jackson sat down in his
chair behind his desk, and I sat down in the chair in front of it.
I sighed and stared at the bag that I had set down next to
me.
“Well, you know the first part. The rest of it, though…” I started
tapping my fingers on the arm rest. “You see this bag?”
I looked down at the bag and Jackson nodded.
“Well… the killer told me that in order to keep that girl safe I
have to-”
Wait! Was this smart? What
about the little girl? What if Ralph found out and killed the girl?
But I can’t lie… That goes against what I do! I need to tell
him.
“What? You have to what?”
Jackson leaned forward onto his desk.
“He wants me to… set a bomb in the church.” I glanced at Jackson,
who had the most surprised face I’ve ever seen.
“What?” he exclaimed. He sat up from his chair and started pacing
around the room.
“Is that the bomb?” He pointed at the bag at my feet. I slowly
nodded my head.
Jackson ran his fingers through his hair and leaned on the wall. I
could just see all the thoughts running through his mind at the
moment.
“He said he’d be watching me when I set the bomb. But I think that
if you come with me, but not obviously, then I could go in the
church and warn anyone in there. Then you and your men could search
around and see if you could find him.” I sat up from the chair,
tapping my teeth together nervously.
“What if he’s in the church?”
“Then I don’t warn anyone. I take the bag, but not the bomb. I can
leave the bomb here and a bomb squad could try and disarm it. I
fill the bag with something that resembles a bomb, and then walk
into the basement of the church like I was going to plant
it.”
Jackson sighed and started pacing around the room again.
“It’s crazy but… seems to be the most logical thing. Here, open the
bag up.” Jackson walked over and knelt down next to the bag. I
unzipped it and we both gasped.
The bomb had wires coming from one end of it to the other. It had a
timer the blinked with every second. The timer said that the bomb
had a good twenty-two hours until it blew.
“Holly…” Jackson couldn’t finish his sentence. He was too shocked.
I knelt down, looking into the bag.
“Get a bomb squad over here. But tell them not to be noticeable. No
siren or anything. Just drive here.” Jackson nodded and walked out
of the room. I heard him pick up the phone at the front desk.
Sounding really panicked, he ordered a bomb squad to come to the
station immediately. He told them what I had said, be normal.
I watched the timer tick down with every second. The red numbers
intimidated me, ticking down and down, laughing at me.
Jackson had walked back in. I could see sweat reflecting the light
off of his skin. His eyes were filed with worry. I could just see
his heart beating through his chest.
“Eli,” he said, reaching into desk door. I looked over at him,
breaking contact with the bomb. Jackson tossed over a square, grey
object to me. I caught it and looked at it. It was my phone.
“I found the source where the call was from. So if we don’t find
the creep at the church, we know where he will be.” Jackson
smirked, and I smirked back. “Oh, and we found Rick in the ally of
the bar. What was that about?”
“Long story. Tell you later.”
Jackson nodded his head and pointed at the bomb.
“Carefully pick that up and set it on my desk. I already told the
bomb squad where it’d be and where we would be.” I sighed and
slowly picked the bomb up. It was a lot lighter than I
expected.
I carefully set it down on the desk and backed away from it,
watching it. Jackson grabbed a few books from his bookshelf and
tossed them into the bag. It was to symbolize that something was in
there, so Ralph would think the bomb was.
“Well,” Jackson sighed, “I guess there isn’t much to do but go to
the church.” He slipped on his uniform and took his gun from under
his desk.
“Let’s go catch us a criminal.”
Spoken like a true cop.