Somewhere Else

Chapter 21: Kray

Dusk had fallen long ago and he was hardly pleased about it. Being treated like a criminal was not something he enjoyed. Sure, maybe he deserved to be taken in and questioned. What had transpired was a little more than strange. Figuring out how he was going to explain the happening to not only a nonbeliever, but a man who’d rather see him dead than to help.

The lights scattered all over his front lawn. They added merriment to the neighborhood. His neighbors were so overjoyed in fact. They all stayed inside to celebrate in truth. They were all protecting their stashes. No one called the cops ever, as it was detrimental and risky for them all. The rule must not have been made clear to Brecker’s new tenant. If he ever made it back home, they were going to go over the rules of his contract again.

The incident occurred no later than six o’ clock. Now they were coming up on nine o’ clock and they still hadn’t taken him to the station. Maybe they couldn’t figure out how to book him. While they wanted to call it murder, that meant the victim had to be dead. Lucky was unfazed.

Maybe a better term for this was manslaughter? Again, he was sure they needed a corpse and not a person who was breathing, capable of thought and ready to go home. In fact, he was arguing that if they didn’t let him go home soon, they’d be called out again because his mother, unlike Brecker, would find a way to kill him.

The younger of the two seemed to have a flash of brilliance. What’s the only crime committed by not being successful?

“Maybe you can get him for assisted suicide.”

Lucky heard this and finally spoke up after refusing to answer their questions for the better part of an hour now. “Assisted? I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I had no say in my ‘suicide’.”

Kray sighed. Brecker took great delight in making his life complicated. Even now he couldn’t keep quiet. “Yeah genius. And how many times have you kept Kevorkian behind bars?”

“Aggravated assault with a weapon. I’m not concerned with how to charge him. I want to hear – one more time – what the hell happened here.”

Brecker told him three times already. By now he was probably finding ways to tweak the story so his superiors would believe him. Honestly, he’d made himself perfectly clear the other times.

“Shouldn’t be in a police station before you question me?”

“Do you want to be there?”

“Not especially, no.”

“Then  let’s have it.”

Brecker watched as the rest of his crew taped off his front yard. Like it was a crime scene of sorts. As he rolled his eyes he saw a figure in the background. He stood shrouded in a cloak. The man’s attention wasn’t on him. Like it should have been. Instead, his focus was on Kray.

Suddenly, he understood everything. All those menial tasks he’d sent Freak and Malachai and Winter on all came together. Now he was faced with Reece, who’d obviously grown impatient for he was handing over the sixth. Getting Kray to cooperate wouldn’t be impossible.

…impossible in this life.

A plan was formulating in his mind. Despite his handcuffs, he was pretty mobile. Besides, they’d moved his arms from behind his back all per agreement in hour two.

“Okay, I’ll tell you once more, but only if you let me have a smoke.”

Brecker couldn’t stand the taste of cigarettes. The only thing he smoked was Muriel Sweets, a small cigar. Since it had the appearance of a cigarette, only with the different colors, most assumed he craved them the same way. The cigars had no nicotine – he just needed to be closer to that rookie.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gideon. Most who saw a figure like him would consider him the angel of death. In truth, he was very much Brecker’s guardian, proclaiming death was near. While he’d usually back away from an area that Gideon occupied, he moved forward now.

Even before the cigars were withdrawn, he’d snatched that foolish rookie’s gun. Pointing the barrel at Kray, his hands trembled while he got it ready to shoot. The rookie stood frozen, terrified. Kray lifted his hands, but there was no fear in his eyes.

“C’mon now Charlie. You don’t want to do this.”

Reese cheered him on; Gideon stood in stoic silence. Brecker knew no other way. He squeezed off one shot. He watched as he hit that cop in the chest. The man had supernatural reflexes though. A gun had been drawn in return and before he knew what had happened, he hit the ground.

Dazed and confused, not understanding a movement to death, he’d got trapped in the realms. That was how Reese found him. That’s when Jessica found him.

Now the only thing he had to figure out was how Jessica died. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know, but it might be relevant in the end.