Chapter 9

The proud businessman stood at the railing of his balcony on the third floor of his estate; a glorious, lavish mansion resting in the center of a 10-acre property. His eyes drifted upwards to the sky, lit up by the lights of the city. He wished he could see the stars; oh how badly did he wish. He remembered when he was growing up, he used to sit outside at night and look at the stars. He used to live upstate with his father, mother, and brother. Looking up at the stars was one of his favorite things as a child, and he missed it greatly.

Justin sighed slowly as he looked back down, out in the distance now. The headlights of a car came rushing towards his mansion now, and when it came close, he saw that it was a police car. A smile came to his lips now, as he whispered, "My dear friends. Congratulations."

He turned and walked back through the threshold of the sliding doors and into his office, now pulling out his chair and taking a seat in it, in front of his desk. Silence was all he heard for a moment, before the ringing of the doorbell broke it. He waited several minutes, when finally, the door to his office opened wide. Entering first was his butler, leading behind him three police officers, the first one being Chief Gonzalez. As the officers were fully in the room, the butler took his leave, closing the door behind him.

"My friend, Manuel, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit on this fine evening?"

The three officers started slowly walking towards him now, as Manuel retorted. "Hello Justin. Good to see you, as always. But I'm not here for leisure, I'm here on duty."

"Oh?" answered Justin, his brows rising in curiosity. "What is it?"

"I want to ask you a few questions, I hope you won't mind."

"Of course not, Manuel. By all means, ask away. But before we start, can I ask what these are in regards to?"

"Well, we have reason to believe that you are the 'Jack the Ripper' serial killer that has been running free in the past week."

"Me? A serial killer? That's absurd, Manuel." Justin looked shocked.

"I know, but this is my job. Now please, if you'll answer these questions honestly."

"Of course, of course." Justin nodded before Manuel began.

"Where were you on the nights of Thursday, June 30 and Monday, July 4?"

"Well, let's see." He began to ponder for a moment before finally responding. "On Thursday I was at my monthly meeting with business associates, and you can look into that if you wish. On Monday I was home, as I am tonight. Simply relaxing and enjoying the summer weather."

"What about on the afternoon of Saturday, the 9th?"

"I went out of the city for a day, took a drive upstate. No reason in particular, I just love the countryside. It's beautiful, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, it's nice. And one last night; Where were you on Monday the 11th?"

"My, these are a lot of days. But on Monday, I played Golf with my butler. You can question him too, if you like."

"No, that's fine." All the while he was asking questions, Todd was taking down what Justin said in a small note pad.

"Is there anything more?" questioned Justin.

"Actually, yes there is." Responded Manuel. "Can you tell us what happened with your last marriage? Why did you and Ms. Hendrix divorce?"

"Domestic problems, you know. We couldn't agree on anything, and we both felt that it was the best thing to do. There were always fights. Neither of us was happy."

"Are you sure?" asked Manuel.

"Am I sure about what?" Justin said, looking confused.

"Are you sure it was just domestic problems, or something more? Is it true that Julia was a prostitute?"

Justin's eyes widened before he stood slowly from the chair and placed his hands on the desk, leaning forward slightly. "Yes, that is true. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Did you divorce her because of mere domestic problems or did you disapprove of her being a prostitute, and ultimately cheating on you, as it comes down to it, for money? Did you get mad at her and divorce her because of that? And are you now taking your anger out on other prostitutes by killing them, imitating Jack the Ripper?"

Justin slammed his fist into his desk, "I will not accept these ridiculous accusations made against me. I would do no such thing to any person; I would kill no one. Yes, it is true Julia was a prostitute and sold her body for money. Yes it is true I disapproved of it, and was one of the reasons I divorced her. But I assure you, I have killed no one."

"Then who has? Surely, you must know. Who is doing it?"

Justin stared at Manuel for a moment before he pulled his hands from the desk and stood up straight. He tugged down on his tuxedo jacket a bit, straightening it out as he then dropped his hands to his side. He began to speak, and as he did, behind the desk, his right hand slowly reached for the long, horizontal drawer underneath it.

"So, your boys really aren't that stupid after all." He spoke calmly and casually now. "How did you manage to figure out that I was somehow involved, or did you really think that I was the killer?" He almost laughed when he said this.

"The wallet left at the third scene, with all the money still inside. The note stating that the killer was going to help us, and then the day after, your donation. And finally...Julia being one of the targets."

"Congratulations my friends. You are very close now to solving this case. But the question still stands: who is the killer?" His hand slowly pulled open the drawer now, with as little noise as possible.

"But why? What part did you play, and why did you donate money if you were apart of all of this?"

"I supposed I could tell you. The game is almost done, anyway. Yes, it is true that I was mad at Julia for being a prostitute. And my hatred for that profession, if you must call it, increased tenfold. Not only that, but she had caused personal conflictions with my family. I tried to ease the pain by forgetting about it, and for two years, it seemed to work. Until one day, a man who offered to 'relieve me of my anger' greeted me. He offered to cleanse the city free of the sin that I hated so much, for a price.

And so, the deal was made. This man's fascination with Jack the Ripper was like none I had ever seen before. He decided to have some fun with the police; decided to pretend to be Jack the Ripper reborn, so to speak. It was quite amusing from my point of view. And so, he made a random list of 5 names – 5 prostitutes. I added Julia to the list, and doubled the pay for her death. He hesitated to it, but later agreed. As for the donation, well, it's exactly as he wrote in that note. Your boys were so far from the truth that I felt the game was getting very dull, so I decided to increase the challenge for him, as well, unbeknownst to him.

I felt that he could use the challenge, also. When he saw what I had done, he was furious, but still, he did not back down from his work. He needed the money."

"Who is he?" said Manuel, almost screaming.

"His name is Thomas Liddell."

Manuel's eyes went wide as Justin said the name. With Justin's hand having fully opened the draw, he reached inside now and put his hand on a silver .45 caliber pistol, not lifting it out yet. Justin smiled, knowing exactly what was going through Manuel's head right now.

Manuel whispered, "Thomas...no. He's the killer?"

"Time is up, Chief. Game over."

With that, Justin pulled the pistol from the desk and aimed it at Manuel. With a single shot, a bullet ripped through Manuel's chest, tearing through his heart. His body dropped instantly to the floor. Simultaneously, both Tristan and Todd, who had been silent the whole time, removed their pistols and fired two shots each into Justin. He too fell limp to the ground.

Two bodies lay lifeless on the floor now, leaving the two officers scared and confused. The same thing was running through their heads now, as it was before the Chief was shot. "Who is Thomas?" Suddenly breaking their concentration was the ringing of the doorbell. The two officers ran to the balcony and looked down at the door. Standing before the doorway now was Detective Cardoso, and close behind him was Julia Hendrix.