My Brother's Killer
Chapter 30
Max is at his desk, slouched in his chair. Alan sits next to him and, not far off, Earl and Carl, along with most of the office, pretend they aren't watching. Max doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. He feels the weight of bad decisions pressing down on him. Maybe it would be better for him to just quit and get a nice, easy job being a security guard at an office building at night.
“At least he didn't suspend you.” Alan breaks the silence.
“Forced leave may as well be suspension.”
“Forced leave...” Alan is interrupted by Max's phone ringing. Max retrieves it from his pocket and answers, “Hello?” A friendly but firm voice leaps from the earpiece, “Yes, is that Detective Max Myers?”
Max is curt, “Yep.”
“My name’s Gary Shelp, I'm with the Nation’s Voice newspaper. Can I get a quote from…”
Max cancels the call and dumps his phone on his desk.
“Not your wife then?”
Max shakes his head, “Newspaper guy. Took them a few days but they found my number.” Max groans.
“Go home. Enjoy your break with your wife.”
Max’s frustration simmers just beneath the surface. “Did you miss the part where my brother, my identical twin brother, is a serial killer? He's playing games with me and it's my face plastered over the media. I can't just go home and enjoy a holiday.”
“I'm not the enemy Max. I'm not pretending I know what it's like in your shoes but you could use an outsider’s perspective.”
Max surrenders the point and lets Alan know he's right, then packs up his things and says, “This feels like Deja vu.” As he walks through the office he passes Earl who stares at him with a slight smile. Max screams, “You think I give a damn what you think!” Earl's smile disappears and he glances self-consciously at his colleagues watching him then slinks back to his desk. Max walks on.
A short walk to the parking lot and Max dumps his bag in the back of his car then flops down in the driver’s seat. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and pretends he's a million miles away living someone else's life. Opening his eyes again, he stares out the windscreen into the distance but not at the rows of cars spread between ugly half-dead trees that fill his vision. More out of habit than anything else he turns his phone on and flicks through his apps. There aren’t too many to scan through since he rarely does anything with his phone that isn’t a call or text but he scrolls through the list every now and again as a distraction.
He stops and thinks for a moment then reaches behind into the bag he placed on the back seat. From a side pocket he pulls another phone, the one his brother sent him in the mail. When he got home from Claire’s the day before he noticed it was back in his bedside table with the drawer pushed shut. Not where he dropped it as he ran out. He wasn’t sure if Tahlia had just picked up after him or if she knew what was going on so he decided to just keep it with him. He opens the texts and re-reads the last one he received - the quick jab from Heath about Max and Tahlia’s dinner with Alan and Irene.
Max jumps when someone taps on his window. He looks up and lowers the window after seeing Alan standing there. "Did I forget something?"
“No, I was just concerned after your grand finale in there. I think you actually scared Earl. You’ll be a hero in the office.”
Max puts his attention back on the phone which he continues to spin in his fingers. Such a relatively small item made of plastic and electronics, connects him to the most wanted man in the country and is now his only way of finding that man before anyone else does. Max knows he should do the right thing, hand the phone over and point his colleagues in the right direction, but he doesn't want to lose the one thing he has left connecting him to the investigation - the chase - the game. He knows he can bring his brother in and save his reputation - maybe. But now his mind goes back to his original thought. The one that caused him to pull the phone out of his bag. He needs to show Alan the message Heath sent him. “I need to show you something.” He says finally while searching the phone’s contents.
Alan smiles, “Sure.”
Max hands the phone over with Heath's text on the screen. Alan spends a quick moment reading it and the expression on his face tells his down trodden colleague the dots aren't all joining.
“It's from my brother,” Max volunteers without prompting.
Alan's expression changes to something closer to anger but he still has questions. “When did you get this?”
“Yesterday. When I got home from your place.”
“How did he know where you were?”
“I think he may be following me.”
Alan is furious, “Let me understand this, your serial killer brother knows where my family lives, he followed you there, you knew this for almost twenty four hours, and you're only telling me now?” Without giving Max time for a reply, Alan drops the phone back in Max's car and runs off.
The drive from where Alan and Max work to where Alan lives is just over twenty minutes on a good run. As he pulls into his driveway it's only been sixteen minutes since he dropped Max’s phone and ran back to his car. He ran red lights and wove through other vehicles causing a few near misses. At one point he overtook someone by using the emergency lane and almost hit a broken down car. For Alan though, this had been the longest sixteen minutes of his life. His call to Irene before he got into his car ended with a dropped signal which almost gave him a heart attack. He feared the worst, but his wife called him back so he told her to lock the windows and doors. He also told her to keep the girls inside then hung up before Irene could tell him they were at school.
Irene hears the scream of a high revving car engine in the distance then the sound of tyres skidding to a halt outside their house. She peers out to see Alan jump out of his car and navigate the earthen stairs down to the door. He's pale and out of breath as he bounces inside. The mix of panic and concern on his face is clear. “Are you OK?” he asks as he gives her a hug.
“Of course. What's going on?”
“Where are the girls?”
Before Irene could answer there's movement at the front door. Alan turns with a jolt while reaching for his gun. He stops when he sees Max putting his hands in the air, “Just wanted to help.”
Irene is stressed. “What's wrong?”
“We're leaving. Get a suitcase. Where are the girls?”
“At school.” Irene pleads. “Tell me what's wrong.”
“It's not safe here.” Alan heads out the door but turns to Max before leaving. “You want to help? Stay here while I get my girls.” He continues outside and yells back to Irene, “Start packing!”
Irene is now close to hyperventilating, having never seen her husband so agitated. She’s ready to panic. She looks at Max who turns back from watching Alan run to his car. “Why?” she asks.
Max can only shrug. He doesn’t want to explain another one of his mistakes.
Alan and Irene's fourteen year old daughters, Ashley and Isabelle, go to a simple public school only a short walk from their house. Driving takes longer because the road takes cars around a sports oval to get to the main entry. This is where Alan pulls into the parking lot and leaves his car in a bus zone.
He's been here a few times over the years to meet with his daughters’ teachers so he sort of knows the building but at this time the girls could be anywhere on the property. A quick flash of his badge and a request to see his daughters is met with help from everyone behind the reception desk, including the school principal. They respond as much to his state of agitation as they do to his badge.
The painful wait in the entry foyer feels like forever until Alan is able to lead his two confused daughters to the car. After encouraging them into the back seat he jumps in the front but not before scanning the parking lot and nearby street for anyone out of place. It's not until he drives off the school property that he spots a man standing near a tree across the road. The man is staring at Alan and smiling as the detective drives by. The long hair and dirty
, bearded face can't hide the eyes, nose and smile that look exactly like Max’s.
Not willing to involve his daughters more than they already are, he drives on. He heads around a corner and pulls over to phone it through so he can get police to the area. Afterward he calls Barry who presses him for details about why Heath would be at his daughters’ school and how Alan came to know but the already stressed detective refuses to go into it and says he'll fill him in later.
Irene had packed small bags for the girls but Alan had returned and got her into the car before she could pack for herself or her husband. The brief talk she had with the not so talkative Max while Alan was gone did little to clear things up and exactly how Alan came to believe she and their daughters where threatened wasn't spoken about.
Max stands off a short distance as Alan dumps the bags in the car and when Irene complains that she didn't get to pack for them he insists it doesn't matter and he'll return later for their stuff. Irene makes sure the girls are buckled in at the back and not too scared. They're mostly just thoroughly confused.
Alan walks over to Max who, even though he's a head taller than Alan, feels very small. The older detective speaks through gritted teeth, “Your brother was at the school watching me.” Blood drains from Max's face and he looks over to his car. He wonders how quickly he can get there. Alan interrupts his thoughts, “I've called it in. Barry is organising a response. He's probably disappeared though. You watch my family while I lock up my home. If he shows his face, you shoot to kill. Understood?” Max nods and Alan heads inside.
Max gives a quick glance at Irene and the girls, and their expressions tell him they know he did something stupid. He can't hide from them the pained look on his face. He just turns to the road and watches for the brother he knows won't show.
Alan exits the house a few minutes later and stops briefly beside Max. Max can tell the experienced detective has had a moment to think while locking up. Alan is cold and serious in a way Max has never seen, “Your brother is a serial killer. He knows where I live and made what I consider a threat against my family and you waited a day to tell me. I know I don’t have to say what I would have done to you if something had happened to my family.”
Max’s hands shake but he tries to distract them by cracking his knuckles. He’s sweating which helps to hide that he’s almost crying from the stress of his failure. He feels like he’s losing a friend. “I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?”
“For starters, you can stop focusing on yourself, realise there are others at risk in this game you two are playing. Secondly, don't ask where we’re going and don't follow.”
Max watches as Alan backs the car out and drives away. He feels like he just lost the one absolutely trustworthy friend he had. He walks slowly to his car and sits on the bonnet. His mind is everywhere and he's wracked with guilt. He wants to go back to work but can’t now he’s suspended. He wants to go home but doesn't want to face Tahlia. He just sits.