Dating : Dark Hours (part II)

The first thing I remember consciously it’s being driving. I heard honks, curses, rumblings and metal clashes until I finally arrived. I looked at the blood-stained note where there was only a direction:

<< Salt Lake 7150, apt. 2E >>

Curiously I didn’t remember if, at first, the note was clean or if I’d messed it up with his blood. The only thing I cared about was to arrive, find him and kill him. But my hands trembled with the same fierceness than my heart, which was beating fulminant. My eyes were soaked with tears that sprouted until few minutes ago.
In absence of an elevator, I climbed the stairs. “2E, 2E”. It was all I could think about. Suddenly as I got closer my nerves calmed down.
I didn’t know what to expect. Would I find another victim or would I meet him as I expected him to be? Him. The Butcher. Maybe it would be an ambush. Maybe it would be nothing. I stood in front of the apartment door with the letter “E”. I remained silent and pulled out my gun.
My uncertainty turned to astonishment when I saw a bloodstained paper glued just below the apartment’s letter “E”. It was yellow and the text was in upper case.

“GO AHEAD! YOUR NEW LIFE WAITS BEHIND THE THRESHOLD.”

A part of me desired the murderer was indeed a demented, but deep inside I known it wasn’t. Now I didn’t just wanted revenge but to know his motives too. But… Would I be able to maintain a brief talk with someone I hate profoundly? Unexpectedly, I wondered if it was hatred against him or against me because I wasn’t able solve the problem that occurred a few months ago with the first murder.
“Enough!” I thought. I couldn’t allow myself to doubt when I had gotten this far. On top of that, I didn’t have much time. Throw my phone was risky but in that way they wouldn’t be able to track me down. I determined, eternal minutes ago, that it would be me who would seal his fate.
I took the door’s handle and open it softly. It was unlocked and beforehand I could saw by the space between the floor and the door than there wasn’t any light on. In my right hand I carried my gun loaded and ready to shoot.
A part of the room’s darkness muted the corridor’s dim light. A cold winter breeze smashed against my face. I entered with caution; the silencio was smoothly extinguished with the traffic noise and the door’s creak.
A black silhouette was glimpsed in front of an open window. A silhouette which, from time to time, it was touching with some light colored curtains that were dancing with the wind.

– Close the door, lieutenant. — The shadow said. His voice, calms, belonged to a male.
I pointed my gun to his head. Was I dealing with the Butcher himself? I heard a sigh.
– Please?
– Is there anybody else in the apartment? — I asked while my eyes and my ears trying to analyze the possibility to find of another presence in the room.
– It’s just the two of us. — He answered while extended his hands offering me hospitality.
I stood in silence for a while. It had to be him. It couldn’t be someone else. Nobody else could’ve left that note in my house. No one else could’ve done it.
“I should kill him” I thought. That’s why I kept pointed the gun to him. But I couldn’t do it. Because of this, I shut the door slowly behind me.
– Thank you. — He said with satisfaction. — If you’ve wondered, the answer is: yes! I’m the one they call as “The Butcher”.
I felt an inexorable fire burning through my chest. My heart beated faster and a knot formed in my throat.
– I can understand your hate. I felt it once. When I was a prisoner. When I was locked. — His voice remained calm.

Sabía que él sabía que iba a dispararle, pero seguía calmo. ¿Por qué?
– Y sé… — prosiguió, elevando un poco su voz — que quiere dispararme. Lo desea con todas sus fuerzas. Cada milímetro de su infinita alma implora venganza. — soltó una sutil carcajada — Pero hay algo que usted no ha considerado.
I knew that he knew that I was willing to shoot him, but still remained calm. Why?
– And I know … — He continued, slighty raising his voice. — that you want to shoot me. You want it with all your strenght. Every inch of your infinite soul implore vengeance. — He let loose a subtle laught. — But there is something you didn’t consider yet.
– And that would be…?
– That before the eyes of the human justice you would be murdering an innocent civilian.
Despite his words, I kept pointing at him. Even with the place in darkness, the point of my gun would send a bullet between his eyes. The Butcher was toying me and pushing me to play as well. I couldn’t accept it.
– The note you left it in my place… It had your handwriting, as well as the note you left in your own door.
– Are you sure it’s my handwriting and not that of a stranger …? Or rather: Are you sure it’s my handwriting and not that of a … known person? I know that you’re smart enough to don’t believe what you’re saying to me… I also know that you want to believe that just to’ve a reason to pull the trigger. The truth is that you can’t be sure at all.
‘ The sign you read outside was truth: You can initiate a new life… Would you rather be in physical freedom or spend the rest of your life lock inside a small room?
The bastard was trying to confuse me. Embarrassed I must admit that was succeeding at it. In the first cases of murder we couldn’t find anything that could lead us to him. And now, beside the corrosive hatred towards him, I had a lots of questions in my mind:
– Why did you bring me here?
– Because I wanted to talk to you, lieutenant.
– How did you knew that I wouldn’t come here with reinforcements?
– Because I know you. — For a while after his answer both of us stayed in silence.

My long years on duty taught me to have an idea of how a random situation can be developed. Contingency. But today was an exception in any case.
– I’m going to the point, lieutenant Di Santo. — he continued — Do you want to know why I summoned… here?
I stepped forward with the gun pointed at him, threatening to shoot.
– Why!?
– I’ll confess my crimes to you, lieutenant. Tonight. Right now… But I’ve two conditions.
He had two conditions. I couldn’t help but laughing.
– Conditions? What conditions you may have, you sadistic fuck?
– Hm. The hatred seems to consume you. It is obvious by the tremors of your voice. It was hard to you to get home and find your woman tear apart in the living room like the rest of my ‘victims’?
– You son of a bitch!
The Butcher extended his arms and hurried himself to speak:
– Are you sure that I’m the only one involved in this sort of crimes, lieutenant?
– You lie! — my hands trembled at the bitterness of my heart, but I kept yelling “You lie!” for a while.
– How can you be sure that the little Laura will keep healthy after you kill me? I know for certain that she is with her aunt. Meaning, your sister Nelida. Is that correct, lieutenant?
All the fire within me seemed to frozen in that moment. Unconsciously, I layed down my weapon. “How…?” was a hard question that keep coming at me over and over again.
– How do I know that? Is that what you’re asking yourself now? All in due time, Alberto. Can I call you Alberto? I feel like we’re becoming… intimates.
I heard his words with clarity along with the body paralysis I felt by the horripilation. I had no choice that keep playing at his game.
– What… are… your conditions?
– How thoughtful of you! — the joy was almost touchable in his voice — I’ll tell you my first condition: Holster your gun, please.
What I guessed. Although he would allegedly confess to the murders, he would surely try to convince me not to execute him.
– For what it’s worth, Alberto, I promess not to kill you… I don’t kill men…
In the deepest of my being I knew I would regret this. But I felt in that moment I didn’t have much of a choice. I holster my gun.