The Killing Hour

‘Oh? What’s that, Mr Smartmouth?’


‘He was putting himself into the role like any reputable actor would. He was living the part, acting out a bizarre scenario, and that way when their bodies were found nobody would really understand what happened. Maybe he only wanted to kill one of them but by killing them both it looks more random, right? It looks like he picked two women and drove them into the woods to kill them in some ritualistic or crazed act. What if only one of them was a target? If he killed her then you would look for somebody more personal to the victim. Isn’t that how it goes? This way who do you look for? Some maniac?’

‘And that’s what I found. You were Cyris when you killed them and you’re Feldman when you got caught.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘How long had you known them? Did you meet them that night?’

‘I told you.’

‘I’m sure you didn’t just pick their houses at random. You followed them first. Where did you first see them? The supermarket? The movies?’

He holds his hand out and uncurls his fingers. The stake rolls out. It hits the ground and doesn’t bounce. It makes me jump. It makes me think of the way Kathy and Luciana died.

‘Maybe you met them at a bar. They were friends out having a quiet drink, and you were the guy who kept hitting on them. In the end they figured out you wouldn’t leave them alone so they played along with you. You swapped names and numbers, only they gave you fake ones and you gave them your real one. You took it back after you followed them home and killed them.’

‘There was no forced entry. How do you explain that?’

‘Maybe you convinced them at the bar you were a nice guy and they took you home. Maybe they were drunk and asked you for a lift. You had your bag of tools in the boot and you just couldn’t say no. They let you inside and the rest is obvious.’

He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a packet of cigarettes. He removes one with his lips, starts to put them away, then holds them out to me as if to show he isn’t such a bad guy after all. I shake my head. He shrugs, as if not accepting one of his cigarettes is undeniable proof I must be crazy. He sucks deeply, then breathes a mouthful of smoke into the damp air. It hovers above his head but doesn’t drift.

‘You cut off Kathy’s breast and took it home.’

I feel sick. ‘It still doesn’t add up. You think one of them waited in the car while I killed the other?’

‘You attacked one of them quickly and knocked her unconscious, then subdued the other. You probably left her tied up in the car.’

‘That’s not how it happened.’

‘Tell me about the cars. Why did we find an abandoned van? Why was Luciana Young’s car stolen? Why was your car used? Why did you take Luciana into the bathroom to kill her?’

Kathy’s ghost has gone and Luciana’s arrives. I feel like Old Man Scrooge. She looks at me from where Kathy stood earlier, only she has no drink to hold. Or chains to rattle.

‘See? You already know it doesn’t add up. You already know it takes more people then you have in your scenario to move all those cars.’

‘She tried to call the police but you had to stop her, didn’t you?’ Landry says.

‘What happened?’ Luciana asks.

‘I broke the phone.’

‘I know,’ they both say, but only Luciana carries on. ‘It was too late anyway, Charlie.’

‘I’m sorry.’ I wonder where Jo is right now. Tied up or free, she’s safe. Going to her house on Monday was the first of a new series of fresh mistakes.

‘Who’s Jo?’ Landry asks.

‘Huh?’

‘You just mentioned Jo.’

‘No I didn’t.’

‘Yes you did. Did you kill her too?’

Did I? No. I only tied her up and pushed her around. Luciana slowly shakes her head at me exactly as she did on Monday morning. She had come out of the shower and swapped roles with Kathy. She offered me fresh clothes to replace the bloody ones I was wearing. She shook her head when I told her mine weren’t that bad and called me a typical male. She left me alone in the lounge to think, alone to drink my beer, alone to think about the two women who, after their showers, were turning out to be incredibly beautiful. The beer had my head buzzing. The next thing I knew darkness was my friend and in the darkness I thought about the offer Cyris made me. I woke to find Luciana crouching in front of me and my beer seeping into her carpet.

‘She told me not to worry about it,’ I say.

‘Who? Jo?’

‘She said, “It’s perfectly okay for the man who saved our lives to stain my carpet.” She handed me a flannel and a towel and a change of clothes, then gave me directions to the bathroom.’

‘You showered in her bathroom,’ Landry says. ‘You showered before you killed her.’

‘Yeah, I showered.’

‘You were a mess,’ Luciana says, and I wonder where Kathy has gone.