The next couple of days were filled with work. I had to read the novels and a few short stories, reject some or send them to my boss. I was busy doing this throughout Monday and Tuesday, with thoughts of John Jones seeping through my mind here and there.
When I was at home, I'd read, watch TV and maybe do some writing at night, after my tea. But, overall, I hadn't thought much about John Jones for a couple of days as I returned to my normal life. From time to time, I'd think about where I'd seen or heard the name before, but nothing came to my mind.
By Tuesday night, as I lay in bed slowly falling asleep, I came up with the fact that the name "John Jones" was such a average sounding name that I just assumed I had heard it somewhere before when, in fact, the name was just a basic name.
However, I woke up quickly on Wednesday morning. In the week, I usually woke up at 7:00 AM, get my breakfast, wash up and be at work for 8:30 AM. However, on the Wednesday morning, I woke sharply at 5:37 AM, feeling a little of sleep inertia. I checked the time, saw that it was too early, I rolled over to try and get to sleep. I couldn't sleep, however because, every time I closed my eyes, I saw John Jones' face, in the rain, looking down on me. He looked his actually age of around 56, but there were moments where he looked to be about 17 or 18. He kept flashing from one age to the other, until he opened my eyes.
Heavily confused (and realizing there was no chance of getting anymore sleep), I rolled back over and got out of bed. Dressed in pajamas and wrapped in a dressing gown, I went downstairs and made myself a cup of coffee.
I turned on the TV, but my mind went back to John Jones. I knew he must be someone important, but how could I not place him? I just couldn't put my finger on who he was.
As I sipped my coffee, I closed my eyes and thought more, the sounds of the early morning News playing in the background. I thought about John Jones, who he was, and why I thought I recognized him.
I finished my coffee at 6:15 AM, so I went upstairs to try and get more sleep. I lay for about 30 minutes without sleep - my mind was racing. I kept seeing John's face, the half-face of my dead ex-girlfriend. The way her body was crumbled and utterly broken. I opened my eyes at 6:45 AM and got dressed.
From 6:45 AM to 8:15 AM, all I could continue to think about was John Jones and the mutilated body. The only reason I stopped thinking about all my recent issues was because my mind had completely stopped.
I was walking to work feeling a little bit tired and melancholy, when I turned and began to walk across the park which I walked through every day on my way to work. However, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw another mutilated and destroyed body. My second one in a matter of days.
This time, the body was that of a man's - I could tell this from the body's structure. The man was wearing a nice business suit with a blue tie and a long, pale brown overcoat. His hair was short and black, with a few bits of grey here and there. The face, however, had been cut off completely. Even the muscle underneath had been torn away and all I could see was the empty face of the dead skeleton. But, the eyes were still in their sockets - they were brown and staring right at me. Also, as a final note, the body had been broken and tangled up in a baby's swing.
For a long time, I stood staring at the body (trying not to look into the eyes). I felt as if I couldn't move. Then, slowly, I took my phone from my pocket to phone the police when something slipped out of my pocket. I looked down and saw a small card. Kneeling, I picked it up and looked at it. It was the card John Jones had given me. There was the email and, of course, a phone number printed at the bottom left of the car. It was a mobile number.
I'm still not sure why to this day, but I rang John Jones and told him about the body. And then I rang into work and told them I couldn't make it. Frustrated with my boss's patronizing responses, I told him that I had stumbled across a dead, mutilated body and ended the call. In my head, that was the day I quit.
It took John Jones about 20 minutes to get to me. I waited for him with my back turned away from the body. A taxi stopped on the other side of the park and John Jones stepped out. He was wearing a black suit with white converse trainers. His suit was black, the top button undone. He, like the dead body, was wearing a light brown overcoat.
John walked to me and I stood waiting for him. When I get to me he said, "Where is it?" He turned then and pointed to the body. "Good," said he and went to it.
For around a minute or so, Jones looked close at the body, then from a distance, then he took out a notebook and scribbled something in it. He then took out leather gloves from his jacket pocket, pulled them on, and touched the sides of the body's face (the parts which clearly had been cut away from the rest of the face).
He then pulled off the gloves, shoved them back into his jacket pocket and walked to me.
"Have you phoned the police?" he asked.
"No," I replied.
"Okay, good. You can ring them now - tell them I'm here and that there's been another mutilated body. Also, if they ask, don't tell them you rang me first, they're police, they're just get mardy." Then, he turned and looked down at the body.
Stepping away a little bit, I turned and phoned the police. Within half an hour, they were there. I was told to get away from the crime scene, so I sat near the police cars. Someone put a blanket around me for some reason. All I could do was think. Who had killed these people and why had I seen two of them?
John came up to me and sat to my right.
"You've seen two of these body's in the last few days," he said.
"Yeah," I said slowly.
"There's got to be a reason for that."
I looked at him. "I didn't do it."
"Obviously not, this isn't an ITV Drama. No, they may be a bit suspicious toward you, I'm not."
"They're suspicious of me?" I asked, feeling a bit anxious.
"Yes. They're suspicious of everyone, they're police."
"Right," said I. "What shall I do?"
"Nothing," John Jones said as he closed his eyes. He sat there for probably about 3 minutes with his eyes closed and completely ignored everything I said to him. I would've been annoyed if I wasn't so tired. Finally he said, "I want to keep my eye on you for the next couple of days." He then go to his feet.
Getting to my feet, I said, "Why?"
"Maybe these people are being killed and left in your path."
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know yet. Will you come to my house please?"
"What for?" I asked, confused.
"I want to keep my eye on you," he said, sounding a little bit annoyed as he walked away.
My tired mind told me to follow him so I did.