Mort was sure that he had all of the "Shooter"s removed from the wall, and that message certainly wasn't there before. This freakish act really got to Mort, how could there possibly be someone still living that knew what he did? And with that he fled to his new car. (It was just too risky to ride around in the old one, too many bad memories) He needed to see another human face, to speak to someone other than himself.
Ten minutes later Mort arrived at the little diner downtown. The little bell on top of the door jingled as he entered.
" 'ey Mort. How's the book comin'?" inquired PJ, owner of the diner.
"Dunno, I'm only on page one. Now, ya got any Mountain Dew of not?"
"Yep, got a fresh case day after last. Pull up a chair and I'll get ya a can."
" Yeah, thanks man," said Mort, and he meant it.
There was only one other person in the diner, a middle aged man sitting at the end of the counter, his back to him so Mort couldn't see his face. Mort sat on a stool half way down the counter, completely ignoring the man, but the man wasn't ignoring Mort. Mort had to admit that the man was suspicious but he dismissed the idea when PJ returned with his MD.
When PJ slid the drink to him, a red substance smeared across the counter.
Written down the length of the counter was a message written in what appeared to be blood. It said:
Give me back my life before I take it from you.
How had it gotten there? Mort was sure that it wasn't there when he entered and PJ couldn't have done it because he was out back getting his drink. The only other person capable of doing this was the man in the corner. But how could he have done it right under his nose?
"Hey, PJ what is this?" Mort said pointing at the message.
"What are you talking about man? I don't see a thing."
"No, seriously. Can't you see this message?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you should go home and take a nap."
"Yeah PJ, maybe you're right. Thanks for the Dew." Mort got up, gave PJ a $5 bill and left the diner.
When the door closed, the man in the corner put on a black knit hat, threw a bill on the table and left the diner without a word, in the same direction Mort had went. The stranger followed Mort all the way back to his cabin. He stopped behind a tree and waited for Mort to enter the house. He then walked around to the side of the house and took the shovel that was in the garden and then left the yard. The man then got into a car parked across the small lake. When inside of it he had a perfect view of the cabin, he put the shovel in the back seat and began to wait.