Killer in the Rain Chapter Five Heidelberg

The torrential rain was still thundering down.  It had been raining ever since, he had started torturing Claire.  Andrew enjoyed the rain.  It would make the disposal of her body a lot easier.  He tied a few heavy rocks to her and threw her into a nearby lake.  Andrew turned around and was not surprised to see Claire’s ghost standing in front of him.  Andrew looked at Claire and noticed she seemed to be just the way she was before the torture had begun.  “Have you come to mock me too? Have you? Have you?”

“No Andrew, I have come to kill you.”

Claire pushed her murderer hard.  Andrew slipped on the muddy bank and fell into the icy water.  Already waiting for him were Jessica and Steven who held his head and body under the water.  Andrew could feel the lake crushing down on him.  He reluctantly opened his eyes and flinched, as he saw the cold dead ones of Claire.  He was determined not to die.  He struggled ferociously and then realised this was all his imagination: he was having a panic attack.  He half waded, half swam to the bank of the lake and heaved himself out.  Shivering he ran home.

****

Andrew was in the bath.  He sat hunched up in the corner, trembling.  “I’m sane.  I’m sane.  I’m sane.  I’m still human.  I still have my humanity.”

 Jessica sat by him.  “You stopped being human, when you killed me.  You’ve been losing your humanity ever since.” Andrew ignored her.  “Don’t hide from it.  You’ve lost your humanity, haven’t you, haven’t you?”

“Don’t mock me Jessica.  All three of you go to hell and stay there.”

“If we’re going to hell, then we’re dragging you down with us.” Jessica responded firmly.

Andrew realised how vulnerable he was; sitting naked in a bathtub.  He stood up and started to dry himself off.  “I have one more victim.”

“Who is it?” Claire asked.

“Amy Stone.  My dear old wife.  Together forever, till death do us part.  I believe that was the vow we made.  Then she left for Manhattan.  All I have left of her is one pathetic little note.  I’m going to hunt her down and kill her, along with anybody who gets in my way.  She made my life hell.  Now it’s time to let <em>her </em>experience it.”

Andrew went to bed.  Tomorrow he would blow a lot of money smartening himself up, and then he would fly to Manhattan.

****

It was two p.m. on October the tenth and Andrew was ready to board the plane.  In the morning he had bought a smart suit and had a haircut.  He looked a lot neater now.  He had exchanged as much money as he could muster.  He did not have any intention in returning to England.  He flew in club class and had booked two weeks in a posh hotel.  One week for tracking down Amy and the other to relax.  Recently he had been going through a lot of stress; he felt he deserved a holiday.

****

The plane touched down at eight fifteen a.m. local time.  Andrew managed to keep his inner demons in control.  He took a taxi to his hotel, which was fairly new; all chrome and glass.  His bed was soft and the temperature control on his shower actually worked.  He put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door and quickly fell asleep.

****

Andrew had managed to sleep the jet lag off.  It was now the middle of the day.  He felt refreshed and ready to hit the town.  He walked out of the hotel and into the commercialised area of Manhattan.  He spotted a rather impressive looking shopping centre and walked inside it.  He paused and breathed in the life.  The noise surrounded him.  The killer stepped into a high end store and started looking at the suits.

Claire was intrigued.  “Look at you, buying something that would appeal to everybody.  Not everyone is interested in rope and knives and guns.”

“Mock me all you want, but at least I’m going to look pretty damn sharp.” He took the suit into the dressing room and pulled of his shirt.  As he buttoned up the shirt from the suit, he gently massaged his stomach.  The bruise had turned a nasty shade of purple now.  He decided that the outfit suited him and he bought it.

****

Andrew walked onto the down escalator and saw that a small part of the mall, as it was known here, had been converted into a little casino.  He entered it and went over to the slot machines.  He changed ten dollars into quarters and started inserting them.  After forty minutes he had won double his money back.  “You should quit now, while you’re ahead.  Although you never quit while you were killing me or Jessica and you certainly had no intentions of quitting when it came to Claire.  You made all of us suffer,” Steven sat down next to him and started playing, “however, you killed me suddenly.  Are you going to quit or not? Are you? Are you?” Andrew shook his head and stood up.

****

Andrew knew how addictive gambling could be.  He was not going to add another sin to his list of crimes.  He had decided to go to the Statue of Liberty.  He took the elevator, as it was known in America, right to the open roof.  He looked over the edge and saw a picturesque view and for a very brief moment, he was at peace.  He sighed contently and turned around.  Claire shoved his torso over the safety barrier.  Steven and Jessica were holding his feet.  Andrew’s torso was now hanging in nothingness, whilst the only thing stopping him from falling to certain death, were Jessica and Steven holding his legs.  Andrew desperately stretched out his arm in a vain attempt to pull himself to safety.  He just gripped the rail, but then his sweaty hand lost its hold.  He fell back into space.  Andrew risked a look down and instantly regretted it.  If Steven and Jessica dropped him then there would be no chance of him surviving.  He felt water on his cheeks and thought it might be raining.  Then he realised he was crying.  “Oh Steven, Jessica please don’t drop me.”

“Where would be the fun in that? We could just leave you hanging here.”

Andrew shook his head and knew that his fear was obvious.  “Please don’t let me fall.  Don’t drop me.”

A couple of English tourists noticed that Andrew’s feet were firmly on the ground and he was not in much danger of falling.  Even so they still pulled him back up to safety.  “What are you playing at? You could have killed yourself.”

Andrew ignored them and looked round.  “Where did they go? Claire, where are you? I‘m going to kill you.”

“I’m over here Andrew.”

He turned around and ran towards her. She disappeared, and then tapped him on the shoulder.

“Too slow.  Go on.  Kill me.”

Andrew wildly leapt for her; he lost his balance and teetered on the brink of oblivion.  The tourists again pulled him back.  The English sightseers pulled out their mobiles.

“We’re at the Statue of Liberty.  There’s a crazy man here.  He’s just leapt at thin air and ranting about how he’s going to kill people.  Please get here as soon as possible.”

When the paramedics reached Andrew, they found him strangling the air.

“I’m going to kill you again, Claire”. Andrew then shifted his attention to Steven.

“Actually I’m going to make you suffer.  You almost dropped me.  You almost sent me to my death.  I’m going to kill you slowly unlike the first time.”

He lashed out with his fist expecting to hit Steven’s nose, but was dismayed when it came into contact with thin air.  It was only then that he realised that he was having another panic attack.  He also realised that the sightseers and the paramedics had witnessed it.  There was no chance of escape.

“Calm down, son.  We are going to take you to someplace safe.” One of the doctors reassured.

Andrew doubted this.  He would be taken to the American version of Broadmoor.  As Andrew was being taken away, he heard the English tourists giving statements to the paparazzi.  It was all an amalgamation of noise, but Andrew managed to pick up a few lines.

“This man is dangerous.”

“This man is a killer, he’s killed two people, he said so himself.”

“You have to lock him up to protect the public and him.”

****

As Andrew was being flown back to England, he was accompanied by an armed guard.  It was now known that he was dangerous and the police were not prepared to take any risks.  He had been given rage suppressants.  However, these pills had the side effect of causing nightmares or drudging up repressed memories.  After a long flight Andrew was taken to a maximum security prison called Heidelberg, named after the German who founded it.  Joel Heidelberg was inspired to create it after he learnt about Colditz and how it was supposed to be escape proof, and how many people had actually managed to run away from it.  The prison Heidelberg was definitely escape proof.  In the twenty years it had been open, nobody had ever ran away from it.  It was no surprise why, as Heidelberg was in the middle of a forest of towering pine trees.  In front of the main entrance was a first fence topped off with razor wire, then a second electrified fence and in between the two, was a ditch patrolled by Rottweilers and armed guards.  Behind these two fences was an ugly ten foot red brick wall topped off with razor wire.  The only way in or out was the main gate, where one security guard stood checking identification.  On the roof, warders patrolled loaded with tranquiliser guns and the whole building was covered with CCTV cameras.  Whenever any vehicle entered or exited the compound it was thoroughly searched.  Heidelberg had really thought of everything.  After Andrew had been physically and psychologically profiled he was put into a straitjacket and taken to his soft padded cell.   His cell was completely empty and guarding him were two armed guards.  Tonight he was just supposed to rest and regain his strength.

****

In the middle of the night Andrew started frantically convulsing, when he was having a nightmare.  All of his victims appeared in it.  Claire tied him down and Steven took a knife out.  Andrew tried to scream, but you can never scream in dreams.  The killer recoiled, as the cold metal of the knife touched his skin.  Steven slowly drew the weapon across Andrew’s cheek.  He did the same to his other cheek.  Steven raised the knife above his murderer’s chest.

Fear and trepidation exploded onto Andrew’s face.  “Don’t do this Steven.  Please don’t do this.  I was wrong to kill you.  I’m sorry.”

Steven looked down onto Andrew’s pitiful face.  “You see now you respect me, because I’m a threat.” With frightening speed, Steven rammed the knife down.  “Sorry isn’t good enough.  I look forward to seeing you in hell.”

Andrew woke up.  His body was covered with a cold sweat.  He guessed it was still dark.  There was no way he was going back to sleep.  He stood up and started pacing. Andrew must have drifted off into some half-sleep as the next thing he was aware of was, a shrill alarm going off, which was followed by a bored voice on the intercom.

“All prisoners in d-wing will be expected to stay in their cells for a psychological evaluation.”

Andrew understood why he was expected to remain in his cell.  This was a controlled environment.  After an hour of drifting in and out of sleep, a psychologist walked into the cell, accompanied by two armed guards.  Instinctively, Andrew crawled into a corner.  Steven chuckled at this.

“Look at the big bad ‘Killer in The Rain’ trying to hide.”

Confidently, the psychologist walked over to his patient.  After Andrew had been calmed down, a series of mental tests were performed to gauge the murderer’s state of mind.  Andrew had no choice, but to relent.  He had been provided with very little to do and was slowly losing his mind to boredom.  If he had not lost it, already.  After the tests had been completed, Andrew swallowed his medication.  The pills mainly contained drugs, which would repress Andrew’s anger but there was also some sedatives mixed in with the suppressants.  The psychologist and the guards left the cell, leaving Andrew alone.  “If only that were true.” He muttered.  The pills were already beginning to kick in.  The murderer was perfectly aware of the side effects of the pills and before he fell asleep, he wondered whether he would see old friends or family.  Perhaps he would see nothing.

****

<em>Another long school day had come to an end.  I threw my bag into a corner and searched the small house, for my brother.  As usual, my parents were at work.  The four of us lived in a council house, on a rough estate.  We had always planned to move away from there, but never had the money.  Usually at this time Sam would be stuck on some homework and I would try my best to help him, but today he was nowhere to be found.  On a hunch, I put on my coat and walked towards the door.  I had to find him, before he got into trouble.  We only live d on a small estate.  Finding him shouldn’t be too difficult.</em>

****

<em>I searched all around the area.  I knocked on every single door and asked my neighbours, but nobody had seen Sam.  I was about to give up, when I heard yelps and grunts from behind me.  The noises were coming from one end of an alleyway, which led to the rougher part of the estate.  I had a bad feeling this’ll be, where I would find Sam.  There was no question about it.  I, Andrew Stone, swore to protect my brother, no matter what.</em>

****

<em>I stealthily crept through the alleyway and pressed myself against the wall.  I tried to ignore the stench of stale urine, as I peered around the corner of the alley.  Just within my field of vision, I saw a boy lying on the ground, surrounded by three older lads.  I recognised the soft, round face of my brother, clenched in agony.  Before I did anything too rash, I rung up the police and alerted them to my situation.  I couldn’t wait for them.  I had to act.  All three of the older lads had their backs to me and this gave me the advantage.  Without hesitating I charged at one of them, rugby tackling him to the ground.  My dark brown eyes were screaming hatred, as I forced the older lad onto his front and wrapped my hands around his throat.  The boy blinked, as a raindrop tumbled down into his eye.  I suddenly realised what I was about to do and hesitated.  Wrong move.  This moment’s pause was all that was needed for the second lad to throw me off of his friend.  </em>

<em>“Come on, Bradley.  Let’s finish this.” Bradley was the sandy haired boy on the floor.  </em>

<em>“He’s dead.  Let’s get him, Connor.” Connor had brown hair, cut short.  </em>

<em>“Sam, get out of here.” I screamed.</em>

<em>The third teenager was called Leo and he was still holding the younger brother down. He was completely confused, as to what had just occurred.  I had always taught Sam to be opportunistic and he had decided to take advantage of this distraction.  Sam grabbed hold of the other boy’s hands, brought them up to his mouth and clamped his jaws down, with the force of a mousetrap.  As Leo yowled, Sam brought his feet up and drove them into the boy’s stomach.  Sam was skinny, which meant he was lithe and slippery.  He was soon back on his feet and running over to me.  However, Leo was faster and had my younger brother in a stranglehold and his grip was tightening.  This attack occurred, while Sam was returning home from school, and as a result all of his stationery was still in his pockets.  Thinking quickly, he pulled out his compass and stabbed the boy’s leg.  At least he was aiming for the leg, but in his blind panic, the small blade pierced Leo’s crotch.  The lad screamed and released Sam, who slammed him into a nearby wall.  One down.  During this time I had been on the floor, being pummelled by the two remaining teenagers.  Sam took a few steps and ran at Bradley’s back.  At the last second he jumped with his leg outstretched.  The sandy haired boy went flying forward and hit the ground, with a satisfying smack.  Two down.  I knew that Connor would’ve been distracted by the whole incident and I took advantage of this diversion.  I grabbed onto the boy’s legs and pulled them towards me, sending Connor toppling backwards.  I stood up and roughly kicked the boy in the stomach before lining my foot up with Connor’s throat.  </em>

<em>“What are you doing, Andrew?” Sam asked, wearily.</em>

<em>“I’m finishing the job.”</em>

<em>“You don’t need to do this.  We’ve beaten them.  Don’t be an idiot.  You’ve protected me.  Let’s get out of here.”  </em>

<em>I was so overwhelmed with anger, it took all of my strength to resist kicking the boy’s throat, but I slowly turned away.  “Let’s go, Sam.”</em>

<em>We ran back to the alleyway, where we suddenly saw a man in a beige overcoat with tinges of grey in his chestnut coloured hair.</em>

<em>“Dad! How long have you been there?” I exclaimed.</em>

****

For all he knew, it could still be dark.  There were no windows in Andrew’s cell.  Throughout the night, the killer had been kept in a straitjacket.  As he awkwardly pushed himself into a sitting position, the face of Jessica faded into sight.

“Did you have sweet dreams?” She asked.

“You know perfectly well how I slept.” Andrew replied.

“That was a brutal flashback.  What happened next?” Jessica asked.

“Why should I tell you? You’re in my head all the time.  Can’t you see for yourself?”

“Oh be realistic, Andrew.  You have nobody else to talk to.  Everybody thinks you’re mental.”

“That’s not true.  I’ve been told that within a few days, a specialist is going to come and analyse my dreams.”

“I can’t wait a few days.  Tell us now.  All of us.” Jessica gestured to the ghosts of Steven and Claire who had suddenly appeared.

“Fine it’s not as if I have anything better to do.  I don’t remember what happened, exactly, so don’t expect this story to be detailed.  Let’s see…oh yes…after me and Sam ran into dad, the police arrested the three lads who had attacked Sam.  Uhh…my mother came along and told me off for not looking after my brother.  Umm…what happened next? We gave statements to the police.  Oh and most surprising of all, my dad commended me for protecting Sam.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes in confusion.  “Why is that surprisin’?”

“Up until then, my dad had never complimented me.”

“So? D’you want us to feel sorry for you or somethin’? D'you want us to shed any tears over your sad little sob story?” Jessica pretended to wipe her eyes.

Andrew smiled at the sarcasm.  “I wasn’t expecting any tears.”

“What happened next?” Jessica probed.

“Nothing.  The police decided that we had acted in self defence and sent us home.  We tried to forget what had happened and moved on with our lives.”

Jessica stared down her nose at Andrew.  “D’you know what happened to the lads who attacked you?”

Andrew stared down at the ground and spat out a dark “yeah.”

“Are you gonna tell us?” Jessica demanded, impatiently.

****

A key was being throttled in a lock.  Andrew smiled happily at the door.  “Saved by the lunch lady.  Or it could be the breakfast lady or for all I know the dinner lady or maybe it’s my afternoon snack,” he turned to his first victim, “do you think it’s my medication? Do you? Do you?”

The door opened and a psychiatric male nurse walked through.  The cell was soundproof, which meant that nobody heard Andrew’s conversations.  The nurse walked in the direction of Andrew, but stopped a few feet away from him.  It was evident that the nurse was wary of Andrew.

“Don’t be scared.  I won’t attack you.  If I do that, then I’ll have to be kept sedated, which means I’ll have to be force fed through a tube.  I don’t want that to happen.  Don’t I? Don’t I?” Andrew ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth.  He chuckled, when he saw the nurse nervously swallow.

“What’s for dinner, doc? Or is this breakfast? Or lunch? What is it? Tell me.  Tell me now!”

The nurse knelt down opposite Andrew and took out a spoon.  “This meal contains all of your required nutrients.”

Andrew leant forward.  “I like the sound of that.”

The nurse ignored this comment and began to spoon the food into Andrew’s mouth, without breaking eye contact.  The killer viciously chewed and swallowed.  Not before long, he was ready for more.

Claire laughed gleefully, as she watched Andrew being fed.

“What’s so funny?” Steven asked.

“Can’t you see it? The big bad ‘Killer in the Rain’ has been reduced to a baby.  He can’t even feed himself properly.  Look how pathetic he is.”

“I bet he was a spoilt, whiny little brat, when he was a kid.” Steven spat out.

“No.  I reckon he was an adorable angel, when he was a child, but when he got older, something messed him up.  He’s returned to his cute little self,” Claire leant forward and pinched Andrew’s cheek, “aww, who’s a good lickle Andrew? Are you a good lickle Andrew? Yes you are.  Yes you are. You are.  You are.”

Steven laughed at the last four words of Claire’s comment.  Andrew’s third victim straightened up.

“He’s a good boy.  Look at how he’s changed.  He’s gone from a serial killer to a pathetic little child.  Just like he was, when he was younger.”

Crumbled into the food were suppressants for Andrew.  It did not take long for him to fall asleep or for the flashbacks to begin.

****

<em>Bang.  Bang.  Bang.  Bang.  Bang.  Someone was knocking at the door.  I sighed and pushed a hand through my overgrown forest of hair.  “What is it?” The annoyance in my sixteen year old voice echoed of the bedroom walls.  </em>

<em>Holly groaned.  “Don’t talk to me in that tone.  It’s your brother’s birthday.  Come downstairs.” She grunted and left the room.  I waited until her footsteps silenced, before rolling of my bed.  I knew it was Sam’s birthday, but I was not excited about it.  Sam was ten years old today and our mum and Teresa, I refused to call her grandma, were fussing over him.  Same as always.  Nothing had changed.  As I sullenly trudged downstairs, I could only imagine Holly rushing around; making sure everything was perfect for her special little guy.  It was obvious that Sam was greatly embarrassed by all of this superficial decoration.  If it were up to him, then I’m sure he’d’ve preferred to just have a simple birthday party.  I knew why mum and Teresa went to all of this effort.  A year ago my parents had separated.  Shortly before this, for reasons I couldn’t understand, my father had begun to protect me from every insult and ****.  I wondered what had changed.  My father used to rip piece out of me, like a crocodile tearing apart its prey.  However, before the separation, my dad supported and defended me at every chance.  On many occasions, my parent’s insults and retorts would explode into fights.  Their screams had been burned into my memories.  Shortly after this, they had divorced.  Out of me and Sam, to my disbelief, I had been affected by the incident the most.  Sam had not been troubled by the affair.  Neither of us had heard from our father since.  However, as usual, Holly completed ignored what I was worried about and instead concentrated all of her efforts in making sure Sam was comfortable.  This party was simply another star, shining dully in a cluttered, cramped sky.  I shook away these thoughts.  This was Sam’s birthday, and he deserved the attention.</em>

****

“What happened after that?” Doctor Alice Turner asked.

“Would it help you if I told you about my dreams? Would it? Would it?” Andrew mocked.  Unfortunately Doctor Turner did not laugh.  She was a strict and stern faced woman.  Her iron grey hair was tied back in a vicious bun.  The corners of her mouth quivered on the edge of a smile, before dropping down again.

“If you want me to help you, then you have to tell me everything.  You’ve told me everything that has happened up until this point.  Why stop now? What happened after you went down for Sam’s birthday?”

“That’s what I hate about damn shrinks.  You’re always so condescending.  Do you seriously think talking about my dreams is going to cure me? Do you? Do you?”

Doctor Turner was beginning to become nervous and she warily edged away from Andrew, but she was determined not to give up.  She had a job to complete.

Behind her appeared the ghost of Claire.  “Don’t be so difficult Andrew.  Where’s the good lickle boy, we saw yesterday? Come on.  Be a good boy now.”

“I don’t know why I’m listening to you, but fine.  I’m going insane with boredom.” Andrew chucked at his little wordplay.

Doctor Turner looked behind her, to see who Andrew was talking to and then she realised.  “Tell me everything, you’re comfortable with.  Take your time, but go into as much detail as possible.”

“You just contradicted yourself.  Hmm, where do I begin?”

“The beginning usually helps.” Doctor Turner muttered.  She was growing impatient.

“That’s another thing I hate about shrinks.  You think you’re so clever, sitting there with your P.H.D and your years of experience.  Why the hell does anybody want you to analyse their dreams?”

Claire shook her head.  “That was very rude, Andrew.  You’re such a bad boy.”

“Ok, you win Doctor Turner.  I’ll start at the beginning.  I actually remember this in a lot of detail.  After I went downstairs, I saw that Holly had cooked Sam his favourite dinner, which was completely typical of her.  Of course by making everything perfect for Sam, she completely neglected my food.”

“Hold on, just to confirm.  Holly is your mother and Sam is your brother.”

“You’ve got it.  You probably should have cleared that up before.  You’re a silly shrink.”

Claire raised her finger.  “Andrew! Don’t make me raise my voice.”

“If you could continue.” Doctor Turner prompted.

“I think what happened after this was…uhhh….oh yes.  Sam opened his presents after this.  Holly and Teresa had bought him the latest games console.  I don’t remember which one.”

“What’s the significance of this?” Doctor Turner asked.

“What do you mean by that? You told me to tell you everything.  So that’s what I’m doing.  Damn shrink.  My brother had very little interest in video games; in fact I was the one who wanted the games consoles.”

“Do you think Holly and Teresa did this to spite you?”

“I imagine so, but also they were just spoiling him.  I bought Sam something, he actually wanted.  I gave him an Ipod classic.  I knew he would appreciate this, because his MP3 player had an annoying habit of freezing and Sam loved listening to music.”

“You said your parents had separated long before this, did your dad visit you or get Sam a present?”

Andrew uncomfortably hesitated.  “No he didn’t.  I actually made a point about this to Holly.  She was none too pleased.”

“What did she do?”

Andrew stared at Doctor Turner’s face.  She had the coldest pair of eyes that he had ever seen.

“She hit me.”

“How did your family react to this?”

“Teresa took Holly’s side and Sam comforted me.  We never spoke of the incident again.  I’ve never talked about it before now.”

“I believe I’ve heard enough.  I appreciate your cooperation.”

“What’s your analysis then, doctor? Am I crazy? Am I? Am I?”

“Once I’ve analysed the evidence, I’ll send my findings to you.”

****

Even though Andrew was in solitary confinement, he was not alone.  Jessica, Steven and Claire sat around him in a triangle.  One victim for every corner.  “That little session was very informative.  It definitely cleared some things up.  You left me on a cliff hanger.  I can’t wait for the next chapter.”

“Good things take time, my dear Steven.  Don’t they? Don’t they?”

“Speaking of time, you should be asleep now.  It’s past your bedtime.  I don’t want to see my cute lickle boy overtired.”

“Why are you treating me like a kid?”

Claire shrugged and ran a hand through her brunette hair.  Andrew had never noticed how straight and full it was before.

“Are you going to answer me?” He asked, impatiently.

Claire rubbed a scar on her cheek.  “Because I can.”

****

“Wakey wakey.”

Andrew opened his eyes and expected to see Claire’s scarred face, but instead he saw Steven’s weathered features.  The Killer in the Rain’s second victim appeared to be in his mid-forties.  In his brown hair and rough stubble were tinges of grey.

“Don’t you know what day it is?” Steven asked.

Andrew shook his head.

“I’ll leave it as a surprise.”

“You only exist in my head.  If I don’t know something, then how would you know?”

“I’m a ghost.  I’m omnipotent.”

****

Andrew entered the visiting centre.  The room was divided in half by bullet proof glass.  He sat down on a chair, with his hands, handcuffed behind him.  On the other side sat his wife Amy.  “What are you doing here?” Andrew demanded.

“I came to see you.  I was worried.” Amy nervously brushed a strand of her short brown hair out of her eyes.

“When did you ever care about me?” Andrew launched forward, but the handcuffs held him back.  Amy’s brown eyes darted around.  “I’m sorry, but we weren’t working out.  You knew that.  I had to leave.”

“What do you mean we weren’t working out? We were fine.”

“That’s the problem, we were <em>just</em> fine.  Our love had died out two years after we were married.”

“How could you even do this to me?” Andrew launched himself out of his seat.  A guard quickly came forward and pushed him back down.  “How could you leave me alone? How could you expect me to raise our two children alone? How could you even abandon them?”

“I just needed to get out.  How are our kids getting on anyway?” Amy was trying to lighten up the mood of their conversation.  Anger glinted in Andrew’s eyes.  “Social services took them away, shortly after you left.  I don’t know where they are now.” Amy looked at the floor, she could no longer hold Andrew’s gaze.  “Feeling guilty now are you Amy.  Are you? Are you?”

Amy tried to suppress a snort.  “Me? Feeling guilty? You have killed two innocent people.  You should be the one feeling guilty.”

“I only killed them, after what you did to me.  You left me; you were the one who made my life go to hell, so I decided to introduce a few more people to its fiery gates.  You made me do this.”

“I didn’t do anything.  I’m sure that there were support groups you could’ve visited; you didn’t have to kill people. How could you even kill anyone? I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You’ll be surprised what fear and anger can bring out in people.  You were afraid, that our relationship had run out of love, so you ran away.” Amy shifted uncomfortably.

“Don’t like listening to your mistakes do you? Do you? Do you? I always have my past errors inside my head.  Always in my head.  My victims are always talking to me, through the day and through the night.  Always talking.  Aren’t they? Aren’t they? Reminding me of what I’ve done.”

“That’s your fault.”

“Why did you come here? Was it just to visit me?”

“Obviously.  I didn’t come to England for the weather.”

“How long are you here for?”

Amy hesitated.  “I’m leaving in a week.  I thought I would go sightseeing.”

“Are you staying around central London?”

Amy once again hesitated.   “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just hoping you’re safe here.”

“Andrew, you know we can never pick up where we left off.  I can’t live with a murderer.  Anyway I’m in a new relationship.”

“So much for love conquers all, but can you tell me where you’re staying? I need to know you‘re safe.”

“You do, do you? Will you be able to sleep easier at night?” Andrew simply shrugged.  Amy looked at the guard and he shook his head.  <em>Don</em><em>’</em><em>t give your personal details out to murderers.  Then again, he is my husband and he won</em><em>’</em><em>t try to kill me.  Besides he will be locked up for a very long time.</em>  Amy thought.  “I’m staying in the Kensington Court hotel, near Earl’s court.  It’s a nice place.  I’ll be fine there.”

Claire shook her head and turned to Andrew.  “I really wish I could tell Amy what happened to me, when I gave my address out to you.” Andrew heard the unlocking of his handcuffs and guessed the visiting session had been terminated.

“You take care of yourself.” Andrew said, as he was walked out of the room and back into his cell.

****

It had been two weeks since Andrew had been incarcerated.  He was now leaving Heidelberg and going onto a different prison.  He knew there was some mistake in this.  Andrew put it down to paperwork.  His name must have been put onto the wrong list.  He guessed the prison’s employees were overworked and underpaid.  He decided that he would keep his mouth shut.  Anywhere had to be better than this. Somehow Amy had managed to get wind of his release and she had sent a letter to him.

****

<em>Dear Andrew, </em>

<em>I heard the good news.  You’re getting released.  I am currently still in England.  Due to wages being cut on all different airlines, across different airports and the workers going on strike, I have been unable to leave here.</em>

<em>Love from Amy.</em>

That was all there was.  The majority of the letter had been cut out.  The content was unsuitable for Andrew to read.

****

Andrew was reading the letter again, in the back of the police van.  It was now night and Andrew could hear the rain hammering down on the van.  He had been handcuffed and he was sitting next to an armed guard.  He was being taken to his new prison, when suddenly there was a screeching of tyres and the whole van was flying through the air.  Then there was the silence.  A dreadful silence which seemed to last an eternity.  Suddenly there was a massive jolt, as the van was brought back down to earth.  Andrew was trapped in the metal vehicle, as it started rolling across the tarmac.  Andrew wondered if he was having another panic attack, but then he started hearing screaming and he knew this was real.  <em>Oh my god.  What if this is it? What if this is how I die? </em>The thoughts streamed through Andrew’s mind.  The death ride had finally come to a stop.  Andrew opened his eyes.  Amazingly he was alive and he only had cuts and bruises.  He decided that he had the luck of the devil.  Next to him, he saw that his guard was dead and he also heard the driver moaning.  Andrew quickly searched through the dead guard’s pockets.  He found a wallet, mobile phone and keys.  He unlocked the handcuffs and pocketed the wallet and the guard’s gun.  Afterwards he rang an ambulance, and then he crushed the phone so it would not be tracked. He hoped it will be able to get there in time.  He jumped out of the van and ran off into the darkness.