October 25, 6:57 A.M:
The sun began to rise on Roger's 1962 Chevy Impala SS which pulled into the driveway of his home. The masked assailant calmly stepped out then walked off unseen being sure to leave the car on. The familiar loud rawr of the engine got his wife's attention as she woke up from her slumber running down the stairs in excitement as she threw open the door to greet her husband who she assumed had returned early from his business trip.
"Roger did you lie about how long you'd be gone to surpis... Roger?"
Her excitement was replaced with puzzlement. Roger's very car sat running in her driveway but behind the wheel he was not. As she approached the vehicle she spotted a letter with a slight bulge.
Awh I bet it's the watch I've been asking for! I bet he's going to jump out any moment and surprise me. She happily thought as she grabbed the letter without hesitation but what fell out was not the watch she had hoped for….
Reinhand Detective Works, October 25, 9:26 A.M:
Suki pouring a cup of coffee took a whiff of the strong scent sipping just enough of the piping hot liquid to stimulate his taste buds without burning his tongue.
"Ah, nothing beats the taste of freshly ground Colombian Arabica beans."
While Suki was in a state of bliss within his office walls on the 5th floor of the building, the same could not be said for his assistants as mass panic ensued on the first floor.
"This can't be real this can't be— Brrffff!
Laura kicked the heaving Billy in the back knocking him into his own puke.
"Gettin this worked up after a year?! Man up already!"
Laura darted up the stairs as quickly as humanly possible, shoving anyone on their way down into the wall railing.
"MOVE OUT THA WAY MORONS!"
Laura kicked in Suki's office door like she was part of a police raid then whaled at the top of her lungs, "SUUUUUUUUKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Laura's sudden and obnoxiously loud entrance caused Suki to spring out of his chair spilling his coffee all over his nice suit and worktable. With the liquid lava seeping into his clothing he released a manly shriek. "AHHHHHH! HOT HOT HOT!"
The coffee left a feeling similar to slapping sunburn, his groin was on fire. He blew on his pants in an attempt to ease the burning sensation while simultaneously blurting obscenity after obscenity.
Laura grabbing her chest bent over with her hands on her legs struggling to catch her breath. "Thank *huff* goodness you're here Sukks."
The note in his voice packed a punch as he scolded her like a miss behaving child. "Where else would I be? THIS IS MY OFFICE!!!!"
With the pain subsiding as he patted a handkerchief around his groin to soak up some of the coffee that had spit he lowered his voice. "Now care to explain why you barged in suddenly or perhaps why you're so out of breath?"
Laura had finally caught her breath, opening her mouth to answer but before she could respond Billy flung through the doorway in a full sprint.
"MR. FIGIMURA!"
Billy who's miscalculated how little space he'd have to stop, panicked, tripping over his own feet and slamming into Suki's desk.
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH YOU TWO?!"
Billy lifted his arm just high enough that Suki could see the top of an envelope peeking out over his desk.
"Really?! What have I told you two about opening my letters..."
"S-si-sir it's not what you think!" Billy stressed, continuing to clarify why he had another one of Suki's letters in hand.
After a brief explanation Suki grabbed his coat in a haste.
"Come on you two we're heading to the crime scene NOW!" Suki demanded.
The moment his butt hit the seat of his car Figimura put the pedal to the floor.
"So explain to me again what happened."
"A woman came in this morning frantically detailing how her husband's car appeared in her driveway at approximately 7A.M. She claimed the engine was still running but no one was in the driver's seat. All that she found was an envelope with a slight bulge." Billy recalled.
Laura rustled through her jacket pocket and pulled out a plastic baggy with a severed ring finger out.
"This ring finger which she has identified as her husband's, was that said object."
Seeing the severed finger once again Billy began to dry heave. "Why do huuugh do you have that in yo- blugh your pocket?"
Laura kicked the back of Billy's seat.
"Keep ya eyes up front if you're goin ta get squeamish over something this harmless, ya big wuss!"
Suki swerved in between traffic punching the gas to avoid the oncoming red lights.
"Billy, you still have the letter on you correct?"
"Yessir, do you want to see it?"
Laura kicked the back of Billy's seat again. "Are you dumb? He's driving. Are ya tryin to have him crash?"
"Laura not now— Billy can you read to me again?"
Billy fished for the paper but it was no longer in his pocket.
"Ummm sir i-it must've fallen out of my pants pocket in the mayhem." Billy regretfully informed smacking his head in frustration.
"Billy...BILLY! Snap out of it you read the letter didn't you? Just recite it from memory."
With his idol's encouragement Billy focused drawing a vision of the letter in his head. It was as if the paper appeared from thin air, his mind recrafting the letter down to the most mynute of details.
"To whom it may concern, as I'm sure you're painfully aware, Roger is not coming home just yet… I'll be needing his assistance for just a tad longer so do be patient. You have my word he is still alive and doing well and will remain that way if you follow my instructions.
First there is to be no involvement of the NYPD the only ones you may involve in this is the RDW. Secondly I wish for you to deliver this letter and my little gift to one Suki Figimura if unable, pass this along to one of his assistants instead. Lastly you are forbidden from driving or shutting off your husband's car. This next portion will be addressed to Mr. Figimura.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Suki....Suki...Suki...It's quite unfortunate things had to transpire the way they did. I never wished to have to resort to such tactics to grab your undivided attention but now that I have it front and center I need you to cooperate. All I wish is to enlighten you on who you really are but in order to accomplish that you must first learn my name, uncover that and everything will be made clear soon enough. I have granted you seven days to complete this task… If you have yet to discover my name I'll be forced to pass judgment on his soul for the weight of his sins.
"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. Ezekiel 18:32"
Suki was filled with a rush of admiration towards his pupil recognizing the god gifted talents he possessed.
To recall the entire contents of a letter you've only read once. He's not even human at this point, when it comes to memorization he's a machine.
While Figimura was lost in his appreciation of Billy's skills, Laura was pounding away at her thigh, her fist clenched to the point till it had curved in on itself.
"FUCK! Are you kidding me? This bastard's only givin us till the 31st?!"
"Calm yourself Laura we'll prevail. Have the three of us ever failed when solving a case?"
Pointing to the sky he proudly declared, "We'll always prevail when up against the likes of evil for we have god on our side."
"Tsk If ya say so." Laura doubtably replied.
Despite it sounding as if Laura's confidence in the trio was fading, her doubt came not from Suki's claim to thwart the unknown criminal's plans but from her belief that a god would be aiding them in the good fight. This disbelief in a higher being set her apart from her teammates which both were churchgoers who trusted in he who created them. When Suki had first taken her in as a partner he tried to express the importance of letting god into her life but as someone who'd been battle tested and forced to fend for her own she rejected those ideals.
They pulled up to the wife's home who was on her porch crouched down shaking.
"Ma'am is this your husband's vehicle?" Questioned Suki in a calm and collected manner to prevent her from becoming increasingly worried.
She nodded as Figimura ran up to the
Impala halting once he got closer.
Sniff Sniff "Don't tell me..."
Suki's face turned white as an all too familiar scent snuck its way up his notrals.
"Laura please accompany this lovely lady inside."
With a hint of attitude she murmured, "Why I gotta do this?" Walking the distraught woman inside.
Removing the key from the ignition he made his way to the trunk. Fearing the worst he popped the trunk immediately being smothered by the pungent smell that he had encountered far too many times in his short life as a detective.
What lay in the trunk of the car was the decaying rotten flesh of the woman that had been with Roger the night of the kidnapping. Billy, who stood beside Figimura vomited up his lunch at the horrific sight. Suki leaned in examining the body but heard a rustling from above. Above his head hung another letter written in what appeared to be blood.
"Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Jeremiah 3:9" It read.
Suki closed his eyes and said a prayer for the deceased woman as he closed the trunk so no bystanders would catch a glimpse of the body with the set of rules that had been placed for them still fresh in his mind.
Suki tossed Billy his keys and hopped into the Chevy.
"I'm going to be going out of town for the night so the stench doesn't draw any law enforcement in the meanwhile take my car back to the agency and look over the contents of the two letters with Laura while I'm gone." Said Suki sticking his head out the driver side window.
"Also be sure to assure the wife I will do everything in my power to capture this vile criminal and return her husband to her arms."
Billy wiped the vomit from his mouth. "Go-got it sir."
Eight hours prior
Inside the abandoned hotel room sat Roger, gag in mouth, arms still tied to the chair which had since been drilled into the ground. The masked assailant entered the room stepping over the hookers body, pacing around the chair. Afraid of what may happen to him next Roger attempted to scream. "Mhhmmhhmh!!"
Unfortunately for him, the desperate cries for help went unnoticed as they were muffled by the cloth tied within his mouth.
"Mmhmmmhhmmhmm!"
"Do you know why we're here right now? No...of course you don't…
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh. Peter 3:18
You see that is why we're here today! We are here because Jesus died for our sins! Sins so despicable and yet he forgave us... he forgave the many so they could seek salvation or so he thought... Mankind was given a second chance, to learn from their previous mistakes and better one another. Yet they turned their back on he who sought to save them! Rather than doing away with sin they bathed in it because Jesus had already granted them forgiveness. That was Jesus' problem! Rather than holding those accountable for their crimes he freed them of their guilt! But that is where I differ…"
The masked man carved an inverted cross into Roger's chest with a rusty piece of metal he'd picked off the floor.
"I've grown watching those around me commit heinous acts, those who showed no remorse for their actions, those who broke the very rules they enforce upon others. For years I questioned how these people who swore to deliver the word of god could go against all of his teachings."
The kidnapper pulled a paper from his pocket and continued on with his rant nonchalantly. "—It didn't make any sense, how could these false prophets be the only ones going unpunished. I couldn't wrap my head around it... that was until I saw through their façade. In their minds Jesus had freed them of sin and that is what's fundamentally wrong with religion! The notion that a singular belief could magically erase the past atrocities committed in one fowl swoop... Everything I had been brought up to know was a lie and for that reason I sought to take my own life…. But as it flashed before my eyes it dawned on me…
I COULDN'T DIE THERE, FOR IF DIED THERE'D BE NO ONE TO HOLD THESE WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING ACCOUNTABLE! JESUS HATH FORGIVEN THEE SO I SHALL PLAY HIS OPPOSITE DELIVERING DIVINE JUDGMENT TO ALL!!!!!!"
Mmhhmhmhmhhhhmmmmmmmhhh!!!!!!!!! Roger screamed with all his might but yet again his muffled screams couldn't make it outside the walls of the abandoned building. He was left helpless but to sit and watch his attacker crouched down beside the woman's decaying corpse, his finger thrusted inside the broken bone, stirring the stew of blood, skull chipping and brain matter around then using the concoction as a medium to write a letter of some sort.
Putting the finishing touches on his letter, the kidnapper stood up looking deep into the soul of Roger. His heartbeat running faster than his legs could ever hope to go. The blood soaked hands slid down Roger's face but to his surprise he hadn't experienced the sensation of blood but rather the cold sting of a steel blade slicing back his cheek's flesh like deli meat.
"For committing the act of adultery you must atone!" Hollered the masked assailant, next pushing the knife down forcefully on Roger's ring finger. "—And this will be your first step towards atonement!"
The sound of bone shattering under the weight of the steel was far less nauseating to Roger's ears than the sound of his torturer's preaching.
"I'll now bid you farewell, you've but one week to survive in my absence, if you can manage you'll be set free."
The masked man violently ripped the gag from Rodger's mouth allowing him the opportunity to speak once more.
"SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME!!!!!!!! PLEASE GOD HELLLLLPPPPPPPP MEEEEE!!!!!!"
Knowing that thanks to their remote location it'd be relatively impossible to catch the attention of anyone who'd pose a threat of contacting the police, the masked man simply ignored Rodger's pleads for help carrying on with his night as he soaking the rag he'd been using as a mouth gag in the blood of the woman's brain cavity.
"You're all the same, you disregard the bible's teachings enforcing them only when you choose fit, then pray for forgiveness but I ask you… as you sit here in your time of need where is your god?!" Asked the masked assailant with his gut soaked rag in hand, retying it around Roger's mouth.
"This should be plenty enough nutrients to keep you alive till the week is over. So show me your will to live you feeble human scum."
As he left Roger alone to fend for himself he paused momentarily and pulled back his mask. As he turned to face Roger for one final time he muttered one final remark, "Remember this face for I am your god now…"