The rain was pouring and the wind was howling the night our story began. In the small town of Salem Mass. a lonely man wearing a trench coat that drug in the muddy puddles he walked through headed home for the night from the pub he had just been to. His shoulders were hunched and his dark hair dripped cold rainwater in his eyes making it even more difficult for him to see where he was going. The man was of the young age of 23 years, had black hair, and pale blue eyes that were bottomless pools when you got caught in their staring, knowing gaze that seemed to search the deepest depths of your soul.
As the man neared his house, the rain let off and was replaced by a heavy fog that made it near impossible to see his house twenty feet away. The front door of the house was open a crack, when the man saw he withdrew his gun from the shoulder holster he wore everywhere. The silver gun glinted off the light from the lamppost six feet away; as he neared he pushed the door open all the way, revealing a small two story house that had been around for generations in his family. The light switch’s click when he tried it was ominous.
Alright, the lights won’t work. That’s just great. “Hey, come out here now and I won’t shoot you.” His voice was deep and smooth, like ocean waters after a large storm-calm on the surface, but deadly below. The building was hauntingly eerie; in his six years of living there he had gotten to like the styles of the building’s previous owners who had each added something new to the house which made it feel lived in even when the man wasn’t living there.
There was a crash from the kitchen that sounded like someone panicking for a way out or a weapon to protect themselves with. The man raced into the kitchen, his gun held ready and pointed to shoot the intruder.
“Hey. Turn around or get a bullet in you.”
The intruder turned around to reveal a man of similar age with a larger build that showed the guy rarely worked out. “Now, is that the proper way to greet your guest Gabe?” the intruder’s expression softened then became relaxed as Gabe lowered his weapon and holstered it again.
“You know you can’t do that to me Brian. I could have shot you.” Gabe’s features were worried but still calm.
“It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve shot me. Remember two years ago? I still get sore from that time to time.”
“It taught you not to sneak up on me didn’t it? At least for a little while it did.” Gabe-short for Gabriel the archangel that was the messenger to God- looked around the room to see if anything was out of place. “Why are you here now Brian?” Gabe sounded tired from his walk home and the startling surprise of finding his friend in the house.
“There’s a problem in Boston.” Brian started looking around the small kitchen as he spoke. “One we need your help with.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s always a problem somewhere which you need me to help you with. Sorry, but this time you’re on your own.” Gabe started to leave the room when Brian spoke up.
“They’ve got her.” Gabe stopped and turned back to Brian, intrigued. “They’ve got Amelia. I know you don’t care for her in the least, but would you deny your only living relative their life because you have a problem with them? I also know you never forgave her for the man she took for her husband, I think it’s time to let it go and at least help us on this case.”
Gabe’s eyes shot fury at Brian. “No, the reason I don’t approve of helping you on your little rescue mission is not because I don’t like, you know as well as I do that she committed those murders back in LA. Once she found out that we knew- mainly once she found out that I knew- she took off; dropped off the face of the earth basically. Why would I help save someone who ruined their own life in the first place?” Gabe calmed down some then added, “No, I don’t think I can even let myself help save her, sorry.”
“But you can help me, can’t you? You wouldn’t even have to see or even have to talk to her.”
Gabe shook his head no in answer then left to get dry clothes to change into instead of his wet ones he was wearing.
Ten minutes later Gabe came down to the living room where Brian had turned on the show Supernatural. “Why are you watching that? The storyline is so different from the first season there’s no point in watching anymore.” Gabe sat down in the leather recliner that was next to the leather couch Brian was sitting in.
“Hey, did you hear about that guy who killed his victims and made it look like the kind of thing you see on this show?” Brian was trying to distract Gabe from his refusal of helping on the case by bringing up Gabe’s past.
“Yeah, I heard about it. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one who solved that case as well, along with his copy cat, and the one who was killing one family from every state.”
“You know, you‘re so good at solving these crimes that finding Amelia should be no sweat for you. I’ll bet you could solve this one in less than a week.” Brian glanced over at Gabe who was glaring daggers at him.
“What do I have to do to get you to leave?” Gabe asked Brian after a little while of silence between them.
“It’s easy, all you have to do is agree to help me on this case.” Brian looked hopeful, as if he were a little boy on Christmas morning waiting to see what Santa had brought him.
Gabe closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, with out opening them he answered. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but fine, I’ll help you, not her, you.” Gabe opened his eyes and looked at Brian. “Now get out of my house before you get another bullet in you to add to the other one.”
Brian stood quickly, too excited to sit still any longer now that he had Gabe’s cooperation. “Thank you, thank you very much. I will go tell Sergeant Uclees right now.” Brian almost bounced out the door like a giant super bounce ball.
Once the door closed behind Brian Gabe was left alone with company of the television which was now playing an ad for some fast food chain. Gabe picked up the remote and turned the television off on his way upstairs to his bedroom, but even sleep wouldn’t allow him some peace for the night.
The redness was spreading from his parents’ throats as their lives slowly seeped away and soaked into the pale carpet Gabe was standing on. He had just gotten home from a movie with a friend and found his parents on the floor and the back window broken out from the inside. Fearfully, he reached down to feel for a pulse on them, nothing. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood, his parent’s blood. Deftly, Gabe went to the kitchen- careful to avoid stepping on the spreading stain- and tried to call the police, but the phone was dead. Someone rang the doorbell, so Gabe raced to see who it was. When he opened the door he was greeted by his favorite pet dog lying on the welcome mat, it too had its throat slit. The beautiful thick white fur was stained red at its neck.
“No!” Gabe shouted as he bolted upright in his bed. The memory of the night ho lost both his parents and his best friend sent sleep far away. Out of all the cases Gabe had solved, he never found the person responsible for murder of his parents or for Blizzard- his dog. When he was sixteen his parents were killed, so he did everything possible to find their murderer, but their still evaded him. The police never could find them, so they put the case away in storage.
Gabe looked at the clock by his bed; the hands showed him it was five thirty-five, only twenty-five minutes until he had to get up for work. “Great.” Gabe mumbled under his breath. “Oh shit.” He had just remembered about his agreement to help Brian on the case of the missing Amelia. For him to get to the agency on time he needed to leave the house at five, but his clock stopped the alarm from going off once in a while, and it never failed that when it didn’t go off, he needed to have left about and hour earlier than when he woke. Quickly- before he could fully wake up- he was out of the house, and speeding down the road to the agency Brian worked at. Luckily for him the police weren’t out shooting radar that morning, so they couldn’t pull him over again.
“You’re late. I was thinking you’d gone back on your word.” Brian greeted Gabe as he almost ran into the building after parking his ’68 Mustang. The car had been his parents’ pride and joy. Out of all their possessions, the Mustang topped them all for their favorite, so after Gabe’s parents died he inherited the car. After Brian stopped trying to get Gabe to sell it, he helped replace the engine with a newer model’s, so it could run year round without much fuss. After a few years the original pale yellow paint started flaking and showing wear, so Gabe had it completely repainted in a burgundy color that highlighted the car’s lines.
“I know I’m late, and you should be glad I’m even here right now.” Gabe suddenly pushed Brian against the wall, pinning him there with his arm and his gun to the man’s throat. “If you want to keep breathing don’t you ever suggest me going back on my word again. Understand?”
Brian nodded, short and quick movements. His eyes were wide with the terror of having a gun pressed to his throat. “Can you let me go now?” Gabe released Brian and holstered his gun. “If you weren’t so god damned good at solving these cases I would have locked you up years ago for you r temper. You really need to learn to control your anger; you’re always pulling your gun out on me.”
The corners of Gabe’s lips pulled up into a smile. “Maybe if you would stop doing things that make me want to pull a gun out on you I wouldn’t so much.” Gabe took a step back, and then started to walk down the hall to Brian’s office. “You going to show me what you have so far, or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?”
Brian shook his head then started down the hall next to Gabe. “She was last seen at the store that sells that adult paraphernalia with a man who looks like he goes to a gym regularly and it looked like they were arguing over something, but I can’t tell what it is from the store’s parking lot video surveillance.”
“Fantasy Dreams?” Gabe asked Brian.
“Yeah, that’s the place. Oh, here we are.” Brian turned into a small office which contained a table, some chairs, a couple of file cabinets, and a top of the line desktop computer.
An older man stepped into Brian’s office a minute later. The man was in his forties, balding, and a look that revealed his obvious dislike for mornings almost as strong as Gabe’s dislike for mornings. “Brian, where’s the file on that Brekman lady? Oh, who’s this? You know the rules about letting civilians, oh wait, it’s you. Nice to see you dressed properly for once, instead of your usual t-shirt and torn jeans with boots.”
Gabe glanced down at himself, seeing the crisp white dress shirt, black suit jacket, black slacks, and loosened black tie with his old, worn trench coat and heavy boots. “Some things don’t change about how you dress, though; still wearing those god awful boots and your gun in its shoulder holster. What, you worried someone in here is going to start shooting the place up? You’re not even supposed to have that thing on the premises. I should confiscate it from you now.”
“Marks, you know better than anyone else to never get between me and my gun. I’m here at that guy’s request.” Gabe pointed his thumb at Brian as he spoke. “So if you have any problems with my being here talk to him.”
Marks looked at Brian who had started to look panicked. “Why’s he here Brian? I know he’s good on cases, but we don’t need him on this case. I’ve got it covered.”
Gabe leaned back against the desk, crossing his arms. “Apparently you guys do need me for this case for Brian to come for me.”
That got Marks furious at Gabe. He lunged at Gabe, accusing him to fall back on the desk, but Gabe reacted quickly. His gun flashed as it was drawn from the shoulder holster and pointed at Marks’ shoulder. “A shot here will hurt like hell even after you heal. Get off me or you’ll learn why nobody goes nears me like you so foolishly did just now.”
Marks got off Gabe and backed up, “Have you ever actually shot that thing, or do you just wave it around to intimidate people?”
Gabe raised the gun again towards Marks. “You want to see first hand?” Marks watched Gabe’s gun glinting in the light, then his eyes flicked to Gabe’s pale blue ones, chocolate brown to icy blue. His position was challenging, like he wanted Gabe to shoot.
“Mr. Belbrin! Put that thing away!” A 21 year old intern came running into the office, getting between Gabe and Marks. In his few weeks at the agency he had been warned about the dangerous, but brilliant detective Gabriel Belbrin. In all the stories he had been told of Gabe one thing was always the same, his hot temper and his sidekick- his gun- he always had with him everywhere he went. “Mr. Belbrin, it’s an honor, truly. I have heard so much about you in the little time I’ve been here, but I can’t believe it actually is you. Oh, the guys back at school will never believe I really, truly met you.
Gabe’s gaze whipped towards the boy who looked like he had just met his all-time hero. “Don’t call me that, just call me Gabe like everyone else does, or you’ll be in Mr. Marks’ position on the other end of my gun here.”
The intern looked startled to have gotten been talked to like that the Gabe Belbrin. “Uh, yes Mr. Bel-I mean- Gabe. Yes, sir. Mr. Marks, I was told to help you on this missing case till it’s solved. I know I won’t be much help, but I think it’s so I can see the method used for it in action, not just in theory.”
“And you’re complaining about my being here.” Gabe holstered his gun then crossed his arms over his chest, relaxed. “You do realize you’re wasting time right now? You know, time Amelia is still missing during, and could most probably die during?”
Marks thought about that for a moment, then remembered something he learned three years earlier. “Gabe, you shouldn’t be on this case. Amelia’s your cousin or something, right? So your opinion will be useless due to the fact that you’ll want to leap at any hint or clues we get.”
“Actually, you’re wrong about that. I hate her with every fiber of my being. Brian came in my house last night and wouldn’t shut up or leave until I agreed to help him on it. She’s just another victim, no relation emotionally for me, so I’m fine on this case. Sorry to disappoint you.” A smile Lucifer himself would have danced on Gabe’s lips, causing him to look devilishly stunning. Marks stormed out of the room furious at Gabe.
Brian turned to Gabe after Marks had left. “Gabe, why do you always antagonize Marks like that? You and him were fighting the first moment I introduced you guys three years ago. Why can’t you two get along like normal people do?”
“Because normal people don’t have lunatics that kill their entire family including their dog when they’re only sixteen.” Gabe looked over at the intern standing by the door wide-eyed.
“Your family was murdered when you were sixteen? Why did nobody tell me about that before I came here?”
“Do you talk about your painful memories? The only people who know what happened to my life that night are Brian and now you. If this gets or I’ll know exactly who leaked the information and you won’t be able to sleep the whole night through for the rest of your life; got it?” The passion in Gabe’s eyes burned brightly as he spoke. “People here hate me because of my personality. They also say I’m dead inside which is partly true as well. After I found my folks dead and my dog Blizzard dead as well, I suppose part of me died along with them.” As he spoke Gabe crossed the room, closed the door, and dropped the blinds so no one could hear or see what was going on inside the office. “Over the next two years I learned all that I could about my parents; who they knew, what everything they did was, and who could have wanted to kill them. I graduated from high school when I was seventeen and was accepted anywhere I wanted because of my I.Q. being so high. I managed one year in college before I dropped out due to boredom. I’ve been solving cases the best detectives couldn’t even solve, been around the world several times for detective agencies over seas, but I have yet to find my parents’ murderer. That’s the story of how I became what I am, only you, Brian, and I know that.”
The intern had sat down in one of the chairs that were in the office during Gabe’s story. “When did you become trigger happy? I mean, when did you get your gun, what made you want to get it in the first place?”
Gabe looked at the intern, “I’m not ‘trigger happy’ as you call it. I got this guy as soon as I turned eighteen. About a week after my parents’ funeral someone came to me at night and tried to do the same to me, but they ran off once I showed them that I’m not someone to mess with. I got their knife away from them and slashed it through the air cutting deep into the flesh of their shoulder before they knocked me unconscious. When I was out they took the knife and gave me a reminder of that night, a long gash from near my stomach to my chest. Luckily for me someone found me in time for medical help to save me, but now I can never forget what happened that night.” Gabe loosened his tie a bit more then unbuttoned his shirt to show the intern the thick, pale scar on his torso starting above his heart and ending just above his waist. Gabe buttoned his shirt back up as he spoke. “The person who did that thought they had cut deep enough to kill me so they left. Since I never properly saw them there’s no hard evidence of who they are, which is why I’ve been unable to catch them by now.” Gabe leaned back again; watching the intern’s eyes grow wider still from hearing there was someone who escaped Gabriel the mind-blowing detective. “What’s your name? I’m sure it’s not ‘intern’.”
My name is Mike Physher.”
Gabe thought about that for a few moments. “Mike, huh?” Mike nodded his head slowly. “Well Mike, you sure you’re ready to help on a case with me? I’m sure you’ve heard what happened to Brian a few years back when he snuck up on me, if you want to help us never get on my bad side or sneak up on me or you might end up in worse condition than Brian was. Let’s get started on this, shall we?” Gabe picked up the case file for Amelia and started flipping through it. “It says here that she was last seen in a store under the bridge in Troy N.Y. Is that correct Brian?” Gabe looked up at Brian who was sitting behind his desk on his computer.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Mike looked from Brian to Gabe, confused. “If this case is from Troy New York, then why is it here in Salem?”
Gabe looked at Brian, “Do you care to explain this to him, or shall I?” Brian shook his head ‘no’, so Gabe turned to Mike. “A little while ago Brian here decided to request any case in the U.S. that contained the name Amelia to be sent here because he knew I would be intrigued by them. That’s why a missing person from New York is going to be found by someone in Massachusetts.”

Two hours later Gabe, Brian, and Mike were still in Brian’s office looking through files, sorting through local news stories on Mike’s laptop, and scanning security tapes for any female resembling Amelia. Gabe sat hunched over by the desktop with Brian on the floor with photos spread out around him covering most of the floor.
Marks walked in then stopped abruptly when Gabe told him not to move without looking up from the monitor.
“What the hell are you three nuts doing?”
Gabe looked up from the computer to Marks with boredom in his eyes that could fill a lifetime. “I think it’s called sifting through evidence if you’re not blind. Are you going to help, or are you going to stand there dumbly staring with your mouth hanging open waiting for insects for fly in?”
Marks closed his mouth quickly then started talking as he searched through the file he was holding. “You’re wasting you time with those. Amelia’s dead, a video was sent to us just now that showed a person slashing her neck then disemboweling her mercilessly. It appears your last remaining relative has died Gabe.” As he said the last he watched Gabe’s reaction like a hawk watches its prey. Gabe’s face became distant, emotionless. “Where’s the body?”
“We don’t know yet, we’re working on it now.”
“Why the hell should I trust you on this? What have you ever done to me that gives me reason to trust you Marks?”
“Trust?! That’s a hell of a thing to say coming from you Gabriel! Who’s the one here who lives alone, hides his past, and never goes anywhere without a gun, then proceeds to shoot people who he claims are friends?”
Gabe was furious at Marks for accusing him of being a hypocrite. “You don’t know anything about me!” Gabe stood quickly, causing the chair he was sitting in to fall backwards on the floor. “There are some damn good reasons why I am the way I am, you have no right to come in here and criticize the way I live!”
“Gabe, Marks, calm down. It’s alright.” Brian said calmly, quietly in an attempt to calm the two going at each other’s throats in front of him.
Gabe’s eyes whipped to Brian with an icy coldness that could freeze the fiery pits of Hell itself. “Stay out of this Brian.” Gabe told him warningly. Brian raised his hands a little in surrender then backed away. “I carry a gun with me because the bastard who killed my parents tried to come after me. I don’t share my past because there’s nothing to share about Gabriel Belbrin, and I shoot people I call ‘friends’ because I have none, only people who I dislike less than others.”
Mike looked up at Gabe questioningly. “Yes you do, you just told us it.”
“No, I didn’t. I told you the story of Michael Smith, not Gabriel Belbrin. Michael Smith’s story was in the paper and on the news, but Gabriel Belbrin doesn’t have a story to tell because he’s been around for only a few years.”
Mike’s eyes grew even wider and his mouth opened and closed like a fish on land trying to breathe. “But…but…but why didn’t you tell us that in the first place when you told us about you history? Why’d you wait till now to tell us about this?”
Gabe’s eyes flashed with anger and fury at the naïve Mike. “Because I knew this would happen. You wouldn’t let me work on any cases because everyone would think I was broken somehow.”
Furious about everyone’s ignorance about why he had withheld crucial information from them, Gabe almost ran out of the office, his trench coat flying behind him as he stormed out of the building to his Mustang.
Marks came out of the building right after Gabe. Gabe whirled around to face him, gun in hand pointed for the kill shot that would bleed out painfully until he died within seconds. “Why are you here Marks? Are you here to finish me off like my parents and the person who you dressed as Amelia?”
Marks looked partly confused, and mostly amused at Gabe’s accusation. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you and Amelia had a partnership in those murders. Amelia couldn’t have dropped off the face of the earth without your help, and my parents wouldn’t have let a stranger into their home the night they were murdered. Which means Amelia was let in and must have passed you off as her boyfriend or something. After that you and her each hot one, the dog knew something was wrong so he came to protect them. I noticed there was too much blood for only two people and Blizzard had no pool of blood around him which meant you slashed his throat inside then moved him tight away.
Marks’ amusement was palpable. “So, you finally figured it out have you?” Marks reached for his gun then had it pointed at Gabe’s chest where his heart beat rapidly with adrenaline. “Have you figured out your story yet Gabriel, or do you need me to tell you a bedtime story?”
“I know what you’re going to do. You’re going to shoot me, but can you shoot before I do? If I kill you and I live, Amelia’s going to come after me for it.”
Brian and Mike rushed out of the building and stopped abruptly when they saw the stand off going on before them.
“You know, your surviving that night I sliced you open was almost worrisome for me, because you might have recognized me when we met again, but luck was with me that might and prevented you from seeing me. How did you know Amelia and I did it now and not earlier?”
A small smile crept its way to Gabe’s face. “You goofed. That woman wasn’t her because she would have put up a fight and been freed. That, and blood is almost impossible to get off of cracked and callused hands isn’t it? Your hands hold blood like a starving dog holds a bone. When I was reviewing the tapes I stumbled upon that one, odd that it had your home IP address on it right?”
“Got ‘im Gabe!” Brian shouted from the door to the building. Startling Marks with the sudden noise from behind, he squeezed the trigger on his gun. The bullet sped through the air and connected with Gabe’s chest.
Gabe stumbled backwards as his life slipped away uncontrollably. Using his car for support Gabe shot Marks in the back, hitting his shoulder with one of his last bullets before life slipped away completely and he fell on the hard parking lot blacktop, near death.
“No!” Mike ran forward to Gabe who was unconscious and dieing on the ground. “You can’t die, not now! Gabe, Gabriel!!” but Gabe had bled out almost instantly from the wound. Mike turned to Marks whose legs had given out from pain and was on the ground with one hand at his shoulder and the other with a death grip on his gun. “You killed him.” Mike declared sadly.
Marks looked at Mike who was hunched over Gabe’s dead form. “At least I finished what I started before I die.”
Brian watched Marks as he pointed his gun at his left temple and pulled the trigger before anyone could utter a protest. The shot’s echo died as Marks fell forward on the blacktop dead with his blood spreading around him, the puddle growing.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 26.05.2011

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