Chapter IX
Ariel followed the prey and the suspect until they neared a large building, into which the fat man disappeared. Mr. Crepsley waited about half an hour until circling the building, then checking all the windows and doors.
She kept her distance and an eye on him, observing closely, and was ready to race in after him if her entered.
But he didn't. Mr. Crepsley picked a rooftop on which he had a perfect view to all the entrances of the building, and just sat there.
Ariel called Darren and told him what was going on.
"He's just sitting there?" Darren inquired. "What kind of place is it?"
She paused to sniff the air. It reeked of dead animals and blood. "Slaughter house."
"I'm coming up."
"Hurry up," She replied. "If Mr. Crepsley goes in and you're not here, I won't wait for you."
"Okay, okay, I'm hurrying." He clicked the phone off.
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I arrived at the slaughter house a few minutes after the phone call, and made my way up a building carefully so Mr. Crepsley wouldn't see me. Ariel was waiting for me at the rooftop, lying stomach down. I made my way over by crawling.
"You see him?" I asked once I was besides Ariel.
She pointed to a faraway figure on one of the other rooftops. "Over there."
"I see."
We sat quietly, not wanting Mr. Crepsley to hear us. It was freezing and about three in the morning when the plump man appeared. Mr. Crepsley immediately began to follow him. That's when I realized that he was gonna have to pass us on his way back.
Ariel and I both looked at each other at the same time with an expression of panic, obviously thinking the same thing. We didn't have enough time to get back down to the street.
"Oh shit!" I mouthed to her
"I have an idea.." She whispered back.
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Mr. Crepsley jumped to the rooftop and started across it, following the fat man. A quiet noise to his left stole his concentration, so he looked over for a brief moment to see if someone was watching him.
There was no one to be seen.
He shrugged it off and continued to the next rooftop, following the fat man.
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After waiting a moment, I looked down at the street far, far under me, and then pulled myself up. Ariel also decided to stop hanging onto the edge of the roof, and pulled herself up as well.
"That was close." She drew in a large amount of air and sighed. We were holding a breath when he passed by
"Too close.." I agreed, crawling away from the edge of the roof and sighing.
"You'd better get back down to the street." Ariel told me.
"Right," I replied, and began to slip down the nearest fire escape.
Ariel followed Mr. Crepsley back they way they had came, to a block of apartments. She realized that the fat man lived in one of the central apartments on the sixth floor. Mr. Crepsley waited for the lights to go off inside, and then took the elevator in. She raced up the stairs and observed from the far end of the landing.
Instead of Mr. Crepsley opening the door and entering (locks were no problem for him), like Ariel had expected, he just checked the doors and windows, and then got on the elevator and left.
Puzzled, Ariel turned around and ran down the stairs as she got her cell phone back out and dialed Darren, and told him what had happened.
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I caught up with Ariel, and we started to follow Mr. Crepsley as he jogged down the street. When he turned into an alley way, we heard a women gasp, and then become quiet. My heart jumped up into my throat and without thinking my feet dove toward the turn to the alley way.
Before I got anywhere, Ariel grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me behind a building.
"What are you doing? He's about to kill someone!" I hissed at her.
"Shh!" She put a finger up to her lips. "No he's not, he's just feeding."
"How do you know?"
"I heard him knock her out.. Darren, just please trust me, we have to take advantage of his break so that we can get back to the hotel before he does." She whispered. "Or do you wanna explain to him where we were?"
I sighed. She was right, too- I could tell. "Okay, let's hurry up."
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"I wonder why he never went into the hotel room after that man?" I asked, once we were back at the hotel room.
Ariel laid down on the couch. "I know, I don't see why he couldn't have just unlocked-" She paused, because both of us could hear footsteps down the hall, outside our room. We both closed our eyes and pretended to be asleep while Mr. Crepsley came in and laid down. A moment later, Ariel and I both opened our eyes.
"We'll find out!" She mouthed to me.
