Chapter 52

William worked diligently until all the evidence and the bodies were collected and marked for their intended holding spot until processing could occur. As he drove back to the morgue he realized that he was tired of all the sycophants that were blatant about what they wanted. If he didn’t already have a mission from his Lord he would make them his mission. There was never a short supply of sycophants. When all the evidence was loaded and the girls put in the refrigerated beds, William felt a great sense of accomplishment. He had successfully placed the lead detective out of the hunt and set upon him a myriad of questions and paperwork. Little did William know his days were numbered.

Driving home, William thought of his childhood home. He remembered the days that his mother would be in the kitchen cooking and his brothers teasing him. The days before his mother died were his happiest memories. When he had first met Vivian, he had started to relive those happy days. He had wanted to feel that excitement again. He neglected to mention to his then girlfriend that he had 2 brothers. He talked about how happy he was before his mother passed away and of how difficult life was with his father. He never mentioned his home life outside of those settings and he told Vivian that he wouldn’t want his father to spoil any of her pure thoughts with his vile nature, which was why he refused to let her visit him or even let her know where he lived. Two years before his father passed, William and Vivian had moved clear across the country, 500 miles away. When his father had died, William knew he had to return to the small town and say good bye and see if the plan was still going to be activated. He hadn’t spoken with his brothers since he left and in all honesty, there was never any love lost between them since their mother had died. William shook his head. He realized that he was thinking more of the past since Vivian had died and he was feeling very nostalgic. He pulled into the driveway, waited for the garage to open and then pulled in. After the large door closed he exited his vehicle and walked into his house. He put away his coat, keys and briefcase he went and looked for his brother Andrew. Instead of finding Andrew he found a suitcase and a note.

I’m at her favorite spot.

William was curious and decided to go and see what his brother was up to. It wasn’t like him to leave notes, let alone leave a suitcase in the middle of a room unattended to. He put his coat back on and then grabbed his keys and went after his brother.

William arrived at Vivian’s favorite spot, the Botanical Gardens. He parked his car, bought a ticket and then went to her favorite display. There he saw his identical twin standing looking at the Abelias. He walked up to his twin and looked. He was shocked. It wasn’t Andrew. It was his other twin, Thompson. William stood and stared. The three brothers were together again. That is not what he had planned on. Having Andrew around was a wonderful surprise and let him be free to do his job. He and Andrew could do twice the work without becoming exhausted; having all three of them together would amount to having an orgy.

“I’m surprised you are here.” William finally managed to spit out.

“I am here because you are getting sloppy.” Thompson spoke coolly.

“What do you mean? Everything here is under control. Andrew and I have things working perfectly.” William didn’t mean to sound hurt by his brother’s accusation but his voice did not comply with what his brain was trying to portray.

Thompson slowly turned his head toward his brother, who was younger by 16 minutes, shook his head and said,

“You are on the news, everywhere. You are out of control, and now the authorities have a good idea of what is going on. Did you not think the last time I was here I would not have protected myself against whatever craziness you were going to do when Vivian died? I anticipated you losing your mind little brother. You are not as smart as you think you are. You never were. As far as Andrew is concerned, both of you are walking a dangerous line. I will stay and try to fix what damage I can but I believe your reigns of terror are over.” Thompson walked away and William followed.

“Take me back to the house.” Was all Thompson said to William until they got back to the house.

“Where is Andrew, William?”

“I don’t know. I saw him this morning before I went to work, that was the last I saw him.”

Thompson scoffed and then went upstairs to the secret panel, opened it and then stared at the screen watching as Andrew placed the next four girls in the cage.

“I found him. Who are these women?” Thompson pointed to the screen

“Does it matter?” William retorted.

“NO! How long until Andrew comes back?”

“Approximately 20 minutes”

“I will wait. For now I will take my things to the spare room and when Andrew returns come and get me.” Thompson went and grabbed his suitcase and went to the spare room that was on the main floor.

William sat waiting in the heavy leather chair that was in the den.

When the back door opened, then closed and William heard Andrew mulling about in the kitchen, he decided he needed to warn his brother.

William stood in the doorway of the kitchen silently watching Andrew make himself a cup of tea. When Andrew turned he saw William in the doorway and jumped.

“Why do you do that?” Andrew asked trying to stop is heart from jumping into his throat.

“Thompson is here.” William replied.

“WHAT?”

“Yes, he is here, I am to go get him now that you are home.” William turned and walked to the spare room, knocked on the door and without waiting simply said,

“He’s here. Kitchen.” And walked back to the kitchen and sat at the table. As the sun set, the kitchen got dark. Neither man opened the blinds or turned on a light. Thompson, the oldest of the three, was truly the leader of the pack. What he said always went. That is how it always was. That is how it would always be. Thompson didn’t care about others feelings only what effect certain situations had on him. In fact it had truly surprised William that Thompson had not become a serial killer for the pure pleasure of it.
William was about to start his next thought when Thompson walked into the room. He sat at the table in the darkened room and with a single movement lit the candle that was in the middle of the small round table.

“You two are playing a dangerous game. I will not be a bystander to it. I will not have my name brought down by you two blundering idiots.”

“Thompson, you don’t understand…” Andrew began to speak. Thompson held up his hand and Andrew stopped talking.

“I do not care what the reason is that you are killing these women. I don’t care if you think it is a righteous mission. What I do care about is that you don’t get caught. From this point forward I will tell you what to do, when to do it and how to make that happen. Are there any thoughts or questions?” Thompson didn’t expect to have any. His brothers never questioned him; for fear that they endure a rage-filled beating.

“This is my mission. The Lord sent me to do this Thompson, he didn’t command you, he didn’t let your wife die and he didn’t give you the right to take over. So yes, I am taking exception to this. I am questioning you; I am giving you my thoughts. I am no longer 10 years old; you can’t bully me into doing whatever it is you want.” William took a deep breath and let his shoulders drop back to where they were before his brother had disrupted his perfect day.

“Andrew? Do you have anything to say?” Thompson said still looking at William.

Andrew shook his head and said nothing.

Thompson got up never taking his eyes off William and with a singular motion punched his brother in the temple. William fell off his chair with the momentum of the blow and sagged onto the floor.

Thompson then looked at Andrew, “You were always the smart one.” Thompson walked away and Andrew heard the door to the spare room close.

Andrew went over to his brother and picked him up off the floor and set him gently back into the chair he was on. When William regained consciousness a few minutes later, he looked as his brother and without a word the two men knew what had to take place.

Once William had his bearings and the ringing in his ears had subsided he went to the basement and got what the men needed. They hid the items in a kitchen cupboard and then went to get their brother.

Andrew knocked on the spare room door and waited.

“May I come in?”

‘Yes, please.”

“I am going for some dinner, would you like anything special?”

“Yes, how about Thai?”

Andrew nodded and turned around to walk out.

“Is he still alive?” Thompson asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” Andrew replied as he closed the door. As he walked through to the kitchen, Andrew saw that William had repositioned himself at the kitchen table, he tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Thai.”

William nodded in understanding and replaced his head in his hands. He heard Andrew leave and then he heard the spare room door open. No doubt his vicious older brother was coming to kill him. He waited for the touch. Surprisingly, Thompson never touched William, just sat beside him and in a slow methodical voice spoke,

“If you are awake, I will tell you this, I am surprised you stood up to me. I didn’t think you had it in you. Marrying that whore actually did you some good.”

It was all William could do not to turn and grab his brother’s throat and throttle the life out of him. That was not the plan. William focused on the starry flowers that were his wife’s favorite. What felt like hours later, Thompson got up and left William in the same position he found him in. When William heard the spare room door close, he tightened his fists and took a deep breath. He slowly and quietly got up and went to the garage. In the small beer fridge he had in there, he had made a false back. He kept the ketamine there. William grabbed the last bottle and placed the false back in the pile of scrap in the corner across from the fridge. He quietly went back into the house, poured the amount of ketamine he needed to subdue his brother, left it by the kettle and then went back and resumed his position at the kitchen table. When Andrew came back with dinner, William turned his head, looked at his brother and winked. Andrew knew what to do and when he came over to William and shook him William knew that he needed to put on his best acting to date.

“What the hell?” William yelled. “What happened Andrew?”

“Thompson hit you.” Andrew answered.

They heard the spare room door open and Thompson strode into the kitchen with a smug grin on his face.

“You forgot your place William, so I reminded you.” Thompson said simply as he grabbed a couple of the boxes of Thai food that Andrew had brought home.

William watched Thompson and waited until the man had left the kitchen and went back to the room that he had claimed.

Andrew and William waited for the ketamine to take effect. It took less time than the two had thought and when Andrew knocked on the door and then opened it, he saw the desired effect.

His brother was spread-eagled on the floor with Thai noodles spread all over him. Andrew went over and took his brother’s pulse. He wanted to make sure the man was alive and to ensure that he was in fact out, not just playing possum.

After Andrew was assured of both facts he whistled and William brought the handcuffs and blindfold. As they lugged their brother out to the garage and down to the kill room, the two brothers said nothing. Once their older brother was strapped down onto the rotating table that they used for the girls, they woke Thompson up. From behind they rotated the table up to the standing position. They waited for the gravity of the situation to get hold of Thompson before the two decided to show their faces to their tormentor of a brother.

William started,

“I bet you are wondering what went wrong. Well, let me tell you brother. We are not at your mercy anymore. We have an exit strategy. You are going to be left here for the police to find, for the public to have a patsy. We are going to make sure there is evidence to show that you committed all those murders. You see while you were out, we made the arrangements we needed to be free of you. You my dear, dear brother should have not come. Two is company, three is a crowd! Remember you used to say that to us when we were younger. Retribution is a bitch brother, but when you hit me and then called my wife a whore, you truly sealed your fate. Andrew and I have had several conversations over the past week about you and your torment. We never truly had a plan until today, so thank you for that.”

Andrew smiled and then pushed his brother back into the razors.

Thompson never made a sound, but the wince of pain in his eyes made Andrew’s smile a little bigger.