(Sigrid – Everybody Knows)
"Fuck fuck fuck!" His hands were buried in his hair rubbing the forming lump before the moment coalesced and he realized that his problem was going to be much bigger if he let her escape. Mac was running like a bat out of hell away from the computer lab before she discovered the final few hours of the radio show must have been pre-recorded.
"Oh God… please no!" she said trying a few doors along the corridor but they wouldn't budge.
Piz and those voice on the radio earlier were gone… there was no safety here.
The canteen shutters were down, the radio booth was empty and she'd turned right into a dead end. The emergency exits were on the other side of the barrier keeping her trapped. The rape whistle Parker had given her would be useless in a deserted building…
Shit…
Tim Foyle was hot on her heels. She looked around, trying to find something so she could duck out of sight if she needed to, but that wouldn't matter now. Security wouldn't be here until he called them to confirm lock up because he was the freaking fire warden. It was the access code used to get into the maintenance tunnel the night Weevil was killed. The CCTV footage in the halls showed him entering the blind spots and returning the same way almost a half hour later looking panicked.
How could everyone completely have missed the obvious?
Who better to set up Professor Landry than the guy who collects his dry cleaning?
Without those bloody clothes the Sheriff's department would have likely garnered no proof of Professor Landry's involvement in Dean Odells murder other than the affair with his wife.
If Clark Kent was a fucking murderer…
The unassuming monster who had killed one of her friends… her heart cracked in her chest and she ground her teeth to stifle the sobs threatening to erupt from her body. Of course someone like Tim was overlooked, everything about him was beige and forgettable. He left no lasting impression and he seemed so bumbling and incompetent that he could just be disregarded, allowing most of his coming and goings to be unnoticed.
"Why?" Mac asked when he finally caught up to her. "How could you do that?"
"I guess the only thing I can do now is honesty…" Tim began catching his breath and pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. "Your little computer hack there really makes things awkward. I've been asked to chaperone and make sure you get to the Sea Sprite… and now… well… now there's going to be a lot of questions."
There was still time to salvage this… and if not… he always had that go-bag ready since the morning after he'd killed Cyrus. A quick plane trip to Belize and he could easily disappear…
"Please don't hurt us," Mac sobbed her hand moving instinctively to cover her stomach.
"This doesn't have to be the end," Tim said.
"Is that what you told Weevil?" she cried stepping away from the shutter.
How far away was she from the next fire exit?
"I'm not a bad person," he said in a reasonable tone she found infuriating.
"You certainly aren't a good one," Mac spat back at him.
"I never asked for this… I don't want to hurt you… but everyone is a monster to someone… I only meant to get back at Landry but every time I try to correct my mistakes… things just gets worse.. and every once in a while I managed to convince myself that I'm a better person… but the more I try and fix it… people keep getting hurt… People keep getting killed. I am a sinner. If the air-conditioner hadn't needed fixing in Professor Daltons office, then that Eli guy wouldn't have gotten the maintenance request to check the boiler until the following morning… and everything would have been perfect.." Tim pleaded rubbing his temple his gaze fixed to hers, tears rolling down his eyes. "The hardest battles are fought in the mind. You've no idea what it's like to be scared of who you are, and what you can do."
"Well we'll figure it out… I know that right now you are thinking that it's never going to get better… but I promise you, there will be light." Mac said offering hand up in a non-threatening gesture.
Could she talk him down? Where was the nearest fire alarm?
Why the Hell had she left her phone behind when she hit him with her laptop before running?
"You say that... and it's horrible to contemplate but you're situation makes for an easy solution. You kept crying about a futureless future… and so you just wanted to disappear and once I erase whatever it is you have dug up so no one else can find it," Tim told her reaching into his jacket and producing a gun. "I'm tired Mackenzie. I've come too far to turn back now. I can't. I won't."
Once you let the darkness inside… it never came back out… he still had some sleeping pills confiscated from a student of Landry's in his office.
Fake suicide?
Or should he leave her clothes and belongings piled up on the beach and stash her somewhere until he had more time?
"So you're just…" Mac swallowed unable to finish the sentence. "You'll show up tomorrow like nothing happened?"
"I'm so sorry," Tim said wiping his eyes.
"You really want more blood on your hands?" Mac asked.
Veronica would figure this out… he won't get away with it…
"Making this harder isn't worth it, The stress, and pressure and the anxiety," Tim reasoned firmly aiming the barrel of the gun at her. "Cause-cause I can't help it.. It doesn't matter what I want to do. There is only one way I can be sure that you won't tell anyone."
There was no going back in time. Pandora's treasures were all out of the box.
"Apology not accepted," she sobbed as he gestured for her to turn around.
There's no stopping now… there was no backing out… Tim told himself firmly. He'd make her hack into the buildings security again, and erase all footage of them tonight.
Then he'd finish it.
