Eyes of a stranger (Parts 5-10)

Part 5

It's raining again.And I lost my umbrella last week.Pity...I liked it.It had sunflowers all over it.I forgot it at the cinema,and when I came back for it it wasn't there anymore.I wanted to buy a new one this morning,but...Well then I met him.When I went outside for my break Derek was waiting for me.

He was walking towards me with that same grin on his face.

-„Hey Jess.I bought an umbrella.You like it?“

-„But...this umbrella is...is...“

-„It's a gift.Here,take it.“

He put the umbrella in my hand and looked me in the eyes.I felt warmth all over my body.

-„Well that amazing Derek,I...“

-„C'mon Jess smile!“

He took a camera out of his pocket and started to film me.

-„But what are you doing!?“

-„Can't you see,I am filming you.If you like you can dance and sing „Singing in the rain“ !“

-„C'mon now Derek.“

-„Well,you won't sing?“

-„I am wet.Come under the umbrella,you must be frozen.“

-„Very well.Let's go to lunch.“

-„I know the perfect place.“

-„I hope it's around the corner.“

-„Well not quite around it...“

He took me to a zeppellin in the air.It was a restaurant named Hindenburg.We sat down and I was amazed by the wiew.

-„Well what do you say?“

-„Oh my god,it's beautifull!“

-„Are you superstitious?“

-„No why?“

-„'Cause of the name of the place.You don't know the story of Hindenburg?“

-„Um..no.“

-„The zeppelin Hindenburg exploded in the 1937. Over the airport it should've landed.From the 97 persons inside,35 died.“

-„That's awful.C'mon let's talk about some more optimistic topics.Let's order,what will you be havin?“

-„I am sorry there is no chicken in this place.“

-„How do you know I like chicken!?“

-„We talked about it for lunch today.“

-„No,we didn't mention chicken.“

-„Maybe,does it matter?“

-„You're right.It doesn't matter.“

I wonder if I ofended him.But no,he keeps on smiling like he knows only something he can understand.While we are eating he is telling me about his work.He is a camera man on the MPC television and he worked with all the celebrities.

Suddenly it all went good.The hamburger was good.The wine made it all better and the sound of the rain on the windows made me feel relaxed.

I put my hand on the bottle to take it but he did the same.In the tales my grandma read to me while I was young the moment when hands touched was the most important.On the touch of his fingers she would feel a shiver.In reality that's a lie.I only felt his hand was warm.He looked me and smiled again.

Part 6

John was sitting at his desk typing on his computer.His friend who worked with him,Steve,was doing something on the copy machine.

-„John,do you have a second?“

-„Of course Steve.“

-„How far have you got in the Owens case.“

-„The start.I read the files four times.There isn't much to work on.The girl is found dead in her bed.She has been strangled with a pillow.The autopsy showed she had sexual intercourse before she died.“

-„So he was a maniac?“

-„No.He wasn't a maniac,not even a thief who got panicked.There were no signs of violence on the body,and the lock wasn't broken.Doris Owens opened the door her killer.There was no sign of the man.Only thing the police found was a feew brown hairs that tell the man is about 30 years old and white.Nothing else.Not a clue.It seems he cleaned it pretty well.

-„Well since it's like that the only possibility is that Doris had a lover who wanted to cut loose from her.“

-„That's what the police thought .Even though Doris wasn't up for that kind of relationships.Everyone who described her said she was a silent girl caught in her work and her house.She lived alone for years.No emotional relationships.“

-„Maybe she had some but kept 'em quiet.“

-„Alright let's say she did have a strong relationship with a stranger.Is it possible to hide it from everyone.Something,at least a little doubt always comes up,and that didn't happen.You know what?I think the poor woman brought someone home from the bar and she got killed by a psycho wko killed her in a moment of rage.“

-„Meaningless crime.“

-„Excatly.It looks like a classic murder who will end up in the archive of the unsolved crimes.“

-„That's just what i wanted to talk to you about.I remember some old cases in my computer and,well there is something interesting about 'em.“

-„What's your point?“

-„Read it yourself.There are three more women killed like Doris in the last three months.All from the same hood,and they were all cases without a motive.“

-„You think it was the same person that killed 'em all?“

-„Look,in all three cases it's about single women.The last one was killed just like Doris Owens.With a pillow.

March 4th:Charlotte Maxwell,30 years old,divorced and strangled in her own shower.No sign of breaking in her apartment.May 28th:Nicole Lucas,21 years old,a student,she was found strangled in a restaurant.She had all her credit cards in her bag.“

John took the files and read the last file.

-„And september 16:Roberta Reese,strangled with a pillow.But Steve there are hundreds of maniac in this godamn town.The fact that this women lived alone and are strangled doesn't mean much.“

-„Wait I am not done.Their profile is very simmilar to the Owens girl.They were all silent women with no men in their lives.But they had a relationship with a stranger.“

Part 7

Jess was standing in front on one of those shops that sell televisions and you had a camera in front of it so you could see yourself on th screen.The rain was still coming down from the sky as if it would never end.

-„C'mon Derek it's fun!Don't you like to stand in front of the camera!“

-„I'm just not used to it.I am ussualy on the other side.Standing behind a camera,it's like looking at the people through a big eye.Eventually you meet them.“

-„Maybe it's the truth.My mother used to say how lips can lie but eyes never lie.“

-„And you believe that?“

-„Of course I do,and you?“

-„I don't know.Maybe it depends on who is looking at you in the eyes.“

Jess sees it's late and she wishes him a good night.He does the same and he promises ke will call her.Jess is sure he wasn't only politeness that made him say that.He was lookin her in the eyes while he was saying that.

Part 8

John went to Doris Owens ex boss.It's one of those people that tend little to out peoples lives and they only look to their own behalf.

-„Doris Owens?She was a good employee,always working and listening to me.She was never late,and never argued with anyone.If only I had more people like her!“

-„Alright she was spotless in what she did.But I want to know something about her private life.“

-„I work here for 15 years now and I never had a private life.If other do have it's none of my bussiness.“

John went to talk to Doris Owen's former co-worker Dean.

-„I know nothing of her personal life.She was rather quiet about it.“

He pointed at an empty tank that looked to be an aquarium.

-„You see that?She wanted it,but the rules don't allow animals here.But she managed to talk the boss to give her the fishes.One day all the fishes died.Suddenly.They stoped moving and Doris was desparate.I couldn't imagine you could cry so much for red fishes.“

-„She must've been sensitive.“

-„Probably.In any case she was rather lonely.“

Part 9

The mistress of Hana's apartement didn't want to talk to me.She doesn't like the police and she likes agents even less.Still,she let me in the apartement eventually.

-„...but you can't touch anything!After all there isn't anything valuable of stealing.“

-„Why?You've taken everything already?“

She slammed the door in my face.I looked around the appartement.It looked really depressing.Like you could smell the loneliness.Yet it was all very tidy.She wasn't a good employee for nothing.She had fine art,she was intelligent,kind towards everyone but without real friends.I noticed J.R.R. Tolkiens „The Silmarillion“ on the shelves.She was sensitive,but mostly,alone.

I walked in a dark room,there was only a small window throwing some light that managed somehow to get through the clouds and on the table in this room.It looks like Hana didn't like only fishes.The beam of sunlight that got in showed me little animals made of glass and they seemed alive for a moment.There were dogs,cats,wolves,bears and elephants.And one unicorn.But still,Doris Owens should've known that unicorns don't exist.

John didn't notice there was someone behind him.That someone carefully came behind him and hit him with a part of his gun on his head.John got stunned and fell on the desk and it came crumbling down.

Stupid,amateur.I should've seen someone was there.When I managed to get up it was late already.Who ever it was he got away.But I saw a video tape in front of the elevator.It seems he lost something.He surely took one of the outside elevators.But which one?There is three of them!

I'll take the number 3.Good.It's my lucky number.

-„Good day sir on which floor do you want?!“-the robot inside asked.

-„First floor.“

I wish I could tell him to follow that elevator.Elevator number one is going down,so the bastard must be inside.

Yeah it's him.I can see him now.The thing is.He can see me.

Derek started to shoot at John's elevator.John broke the glass of the elevator with his foot and started to shoot at Derek.

Just a second there.i need to trap him.The elevator will stop if I manage to hit his mechanism of movement.Yeah,if i manage to hit it.

Murphy's law says:If something can go wrong it will!And elevator number two just proved it.It's passing just between us.And when i could see clearly again elevator number 1 was moving,but empty.

He is not stupid.He stopped the elevator and got out on some floor.He will choose one of the crowded elevators down there and mix with a bunch of strangers.And after some time he will calmly get out of the building and go home.He fooled me.

John's look goes to the video tape in his pocket.

Or did he?