Chapter 10

The butler swung open the door moments later, after he had heard the gunshots. He ran into the room, at first only seeing the body of the Chief. But as he drew closer, he saw behind the desk that Justin too had been shot. He ran over to him and dropped to his knees, seeing if he was still alive. Todd and Tristan rushed from the balcony now and out of the office, running down the three flights of stairs before opening the door to a confused Albert and Julia.

"What the hell happened? We heard gunshots when we were coming up the driveway. Where's the Chief?"

"Justin shot him, Detective. The Chief's dead, and so is Justin." cried Tristan.

Cardoso rushed through the door and ran upstairs, as Julia stayed downstairs with the other two officers.

Thomas had finally returned back home, noticing as he reached his apartment that the lock on his door had been broken. Just as he had suspected, the police came to his apartment first. Too bad he couldn't go through with killing Julia. He made the entire trip and effort for nothing.

You stupid moron. Now you're not going to get paid. She was worth a lot, too. Goddamnit.

Thomas closed the door, or attempted to at least, but it wouldn't stay shut. He shut the lights, as the police had kept it on when they left. He then sat down in his worn-out recliner, running the events of what just happened over in his mind.

You choked, Thomas. You let the past get to you; you let your feelings about her get to you. You're human, and you hate it. You hate being vulnerable. You're weak. You're no Jack the Ripper. You're far from him.

Thomas continued to insult himself and his failure at killing Julia. He couldn't do it anymore. He knew the police were at Justin's mansion right now, and Justin was either confessing everything or they had figured it out. It wouldn't be long before they figured out who he was, and he couldn't deal with that. He'd rather take his own life than having the police beat him at his own game.

And with that final thought, Thomas took the knife out from within the cloak. He put the tip of the blade to his neck, and whispered softly, "I'm coming home mother."

The paramedics took the two bodies away now, and loaded them up into the ambulance. It was a solemn moment, knowing that an innocent man had just died. A good man, nonetheless. The four sat in the living room of the mansion, the butler grieving over his master's death in the other room.

Cardoso finally broke the silence, "Julia, please, repeat to these officers what you told me before we came here, please."

Julia took in a deep breath, the realization finally coming to her how close she was to being killed, before she spoke. "Well, before you arrived at my house, a man was there already, a man by the name of Thomas Liddell. I had a past relationship with him, so to speak, back when I was still a prostitute. You see, this was also when I was still married to Justin. Justin didn't know that I was prostitute at this time yet, and Thomas had just come into the city only days earlier. He told me he was visiting family. It wasn't until later that I found out that Thomas was Justin's brother."

"His brother?" cried Todd, his eyes wide in shock.

Julia nodded and continued, "Yes, his brother. I also found out later that Thomas had changed his last name to Liddell, for unknown reasons. His real last name is Harrington. Justin later found out that I was a prostitute and was cheating on him when Thomas told him one day of this woman he had met. When Thomas told Justin my name, well...you can imagine what happened. Justin became furious with both of us, and threatened to have Thomas killed if he didn't flee the city. As for us, we divorced and called it 'domestic problems."

Todd said almost instantly after she finished, "In the office, before Justin shot the Chief, he said someone who offered to 'relieve him of his anger' greeted him and later said it was Thomas. So...would that mean Thomas willingly offered to kill prostitutes for Justin, for money, possibly also in hopes of his forgiveness?"

Cardoso chimed in, "That's very likely. And when Thomas agreed to kill Julia, too, Justin must have believed that Thomas had no feelings for her. And yet, he didn't kill you, Julia."

"No, he didn't. Which makes me think that Justin killed the Chief because he knew whom Thomas was. They had met on several occasions two years ago, seeing as how the Chief was a close friend to Justin. Justin thought that because Thomas had no feelings for me, he would have killed me already, and therefore, would eliminate the only other person who knew of Thomas. But because Thomas still does have feelings for me, he let me live, and Justin killed the Chief, and got himself killed, ultimately for no reason."

"Damnit!" cried Cardoso as he stood from the chair. "So Thomas just wanted his brother's forgiveness?"

Tristan responded, "And some money on the side, too."

Julia nodded once more, "I just still can't believe Thomas is the killer. He was so nice to me, so kind."

"They usually are to the public..." said Cardoso. "But we can't dwell on the past now. We know who the killer is, so let's go find him."

"But Detective, "questioned Tristan. "Where is he?"

Julia responded, "He ran from my house just before you came. I presume he went back to his home?"

Cardoso mumbled, "The apartment..."

The four of them rushed from the mansion and down the walkway to the police car. Todd had taken the keys from the Chief before the paramedics took him away, so he jumped in the driver's seat with Cardoso in the passenger's, and Tristan and Julia in the back. The car sped out of the driveway and down the street. It reached the apartment in several minutes, as it was not far from the mansion. As soon as the car came to a stop, Cardoso jumped from the seat and ran around the front.

The door to the building was open, and so he walked right on in and up the stairs. The door to room 23 was open as well, but the lights were now off, and he distinctly remembered leaving them on when they left earlier. He told Todd and Tristan to go in first, considering they were armed. As they did, him and Julia followed close behind. As usual, the stench of blood filled their nostrils as they entered the room, however, something was different. It smelt new, fresh. As Detective Cardoso flicked on the light, he once again gave way to a horrifying sight. Sitting in a chair across the room was a dead body, a large slit across his neck.

A bloodied knife rested at the base of the chair as both of his hands, covered in blood, hung over the arms. His head was titled back, allowing the cut to open up even more, causing more blood to drip out. It was a gruesome sight, but there was no denying who it was.

Julia cried out in horror, "Thomas!" as she dropped to her knees and slowly began to weep. Cardoso lowered himself and put his arms around Julia, consoling her, as the two officers moved closer to the body. It seemed that this terrifying case had finally been closed, and the game was over. But who was to decide the 'winner' of this game, and if there was one, what exactly had they won?