CHAPTER 25
William arrived at the gas station a little later than expected as, despite his identity, he'd been stopped several times on the way because of his speed. He wasn't speeding and answered that he just wanted to get home quicker, so they let him go. He got out of the car and walked around the small building, but there was nothing there, except one car which soon left. It looked odd, but then the cashier appeared near the gas station door and said:
'Excuse me, sir, are you William? I'm sorry, I don't remember your last name.'
'Yes, why?'
'I was told to tell you to go to the Blue Sky Inn, which is on the other side of the road. Number seven, but you'll have to make a U-turn to get there.'
'Who asked you?', William snapped, then corrected himself. 'Sorry, who said that?', he repeated.
'Erm, I don't know. Someone called in here and asked me to tell you, that's all I know,' this thin guy pulled a mask back over his mouth and then hurried back to his room.
'Damn!', William said through gritted teeth and hurried back to his car. He had to go another ten minutes further, then make a u-turn.
There were no cars parked in front of a long row of doors but on the opposite side, there were three or four, which probably belonged to the staff. He thought for a minute he should ask the receptionist, who was booked into room seven, but what was the point? It would just cause the staff to panic and ultimately, they could warn the room's occupants. Nothing had happened so far, but William felt it better to ensure there was no trap first.
'Hi,' he said to a short, skinny man sitting at a small table playing a game on his smartphone.
'Hello, sir,' the boy answered and immediately quit the game.
'Do you know who stayed in room seven and when did they check in?' William asked, casually. The skinny man took out a large notebook.
'Here it is. Fred Brown, three days ago. Is he a friend of yours?', the man asked, curiously.
'Yes, he's an old friend,' said William, trying to be discreet.
'What's your name, sir? My aunt asked me to keep a record of visitors and their guests', he said, taking out a pen.
'Erm... William Lindstone. I think that'll be sufficient for your aunt,' he grinned, encouraging the teenager.
'Thanks. William Lindstone, a friend. I've written that down,' the teenager reached for his smartphone, obviously wanting to continue his game. William left, pulled out his phone and called Tom.
'How far away are you?'
'About twenty minutes, but there's a traffic jam. I'm doing my best, so just wait for me, understand? Something's not right here.'
'The address has changed, so you need to go a little further, then turn round to get to the Blue Sky Inn, room seven. According to the guy at the entrance, that damned Fred Brown is in the room. No one else has checked in, so I'm going to see him. He won't do me any harm, if I'm alone.
'Bill, for once at least, listen to me. Don't go in alone. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Are you listening?'
William answered, sighing, 'Okay', then slowly walked to the nearest door to look at its number.
The door he needed was at the far end of the block. The door with number 7 on it was lit from the inside and there was another light in the window next to it. Obviously, someone was inside. William breathed deeply, exhaled and listened. The noise of cars on the highway didn't disturb anything, so William pulled the handle sharply towards him. A bright light hit his eyes, but not enough to blind him, so he was able to clearly see a short, middle aged man standing against the opposite wall.
'Are you a friend of Danny's?' he initially asked hopefully, but then felt something was wrong.
'Who are you?' William asked. He placed his hand on his belt to make it easier to reach for his gun if required.
'Fred, Fred Brown. And you?'
'The Fred Brown? The Fred Brown that performed Sofia Lindstone's autopsy at the psychiatric clinic?'
'Aahh!', the man shouted instead of answering and he began retreating to another room.
'Stand still!' William snapped and rushed towards him, not giving him an opportunity to slip away. He grabbed Fred by his sweatshirt, pressed him against the wall and began to shake and growl with anger. 'Was it you, you bastard that set everything up? Tell me everything! Where's Sofia? Talk to me!' he demanded. At that moment, the door opened sharply and the figure of a girl appeared in it, with dark circles under her eyes, a short haircut and a thin figure. She held something out to William in her hands, but he didn't have time to understand what it was. Instead, he heard a loud hiss, and a powerful jet of gas hit his eyes, penetrated his nostrils and choked his throat, which knocked him unconscious. The man opposite shouted, but William could no longer hear him.
'What have you done?' Fred coughed, rubbed his eyes with his fists and gasped for air. Sofia had sprayed almost the entire contents of two Sabre aerosol cans and he'd got his fair share of it. 'Where's the phone? I need to call Danny right now!'
He dialed the number, trembling and prayed that it'd answer.
'Yes?' a familiar voice rang out of the receiver.
'Danny, we have a problem! A police officer... the lieutenant...'
'What?'
'He's on the floor, unconscious. Sofia's sprayed two cans of Sabre into his face. What do we do now? He's got a gun. Where are you?'
'Hold on', said Danny after a short pause. He put a small remote control in his pocket. 'I'll be right there. Don't do anything yet and get the containers away from Sofia, okay?'
Fred nodded and put the phone in his pocket. He did as he was asked and removed the cans from Sofia, who hadn't moved an inch from the door and asked:
'Why did you do that?'
The young woman didn't answer him. The front door burst open, and Danny appeared in the doorway wearing white hospital shoe covers and thin rubber gloves. Frowning, he squatted down next to the lieutenant. Fred also knelt down beside William, looking attentively at his face. He continued to smile, as Danny pulled a gun out of the lieutenant's holster, cocked the pistol and then placed the gun back into William's now limp hand. However, when the hand turned in Fred's direction and he looked down the dark barrel of the gun, his smile disappeared.
'You didn't water my flowers,' Danny declared, before the noise of a bullet rang around the room and pierced Fred's heart.
Sofia began to wave her hands in the air at the commotion; her eyes firmly closed.
'I can't hear anything!' she proclaimed, before a loud bang was heard. She never had time to open her eyes, especially since the gun's second bullet hit her in the chest.
'I'm sorry Sofia, but this is for the best. Once an addict, always an addict,' Danny declared. Sofia could've heard Danny's words, if his shot hadn't been so accurate. 'It is what it is,' Danny stated, approaching the TV, before pulling out a carton from behind it. 'I wanted to grill you but it's even better,' he checked that the explosives were inside and looked around in search of a bag to put them in, when Fred's backpack caught his eye. Oddly, Danny noticed that it was rather heavy, and, when he opened it, Danny found bundles of banknotes in there. He threw the backpack over his shoulder and clutched the box under his arm and walked out whistling.
In the car, he took off his rubber gloves and put them in a small bag.
'Are we going somewhere?' exclaimed little Lisa joyfully from the back seat.
'Yes, we are Lisa. I'll take you to Disneyland, and we can look at Sleeping Beauty's castle, despite the park being closed.'
'Yay!' Danny heard Lisa's laughter and joyful clapping of hands.
'Are we going there together?' Lisa asked.
'Of course, we are. From now on, we'll always be together. Let's go, we need to stop somewhere on the way.'