A/N: Madison Bellows, thank you very much!
Chapter 21: Dead end?
The room was filled with a heavy, tense silence. The suspect sat rigidly, breathing in irregular gulps. Flack was in front of him, apparently calm and relaxed. He almost seemed unaware of the uneasy man, solely focused on the file he had brought in the room.
"Why I am here?" The man's voice was strangled and acute at the same time.
The detective looked upward and held the man's gaze, "I'm the one who's entitled to ask questions, don't forget it." Silence fell again. I just can't help it, thought Flack, I just love my job. If I could go back in time, I'd end up doing the same thing. He read a last note on the file and looked at the suspect again. Showtime. "Mister Connor, you work at Tissues for Everything. Everything includes illegal things, too?"
"I don't understand," Connor shrugged, looking away.
"No? Okay, let's see if I can help you understand." Flack showed the man a picture, "do you recognize it?" Mark didn't answer. "Mister Connor, this isn't a quiz. You can't phone a friend, so I'd suggest you to stop wasting my time."
"Well... it looks like a cotton blanket..."
"So clever! Point is this isn't a common cotton cover. It's made of Cal... Cal..."
"Caltex!" Mark ended Flack's sentence.
"Caltex, right. How do you know the component?"
"It's an experimental component we're using in some of our products. We're still waiting for the patent so we can't sell it yet. If everything go the way we're hoping for, those covers will be a great success. We're also thinking to-"
Flack raised his hands to stop the other man's words, "okay, spare me the whole spiel. You told me everything I needed to know. So, this is one of your covers?"
"Yes, it is."
"So, when I talked about illegal things I was right."
"I, no... well..."
"Mister Connor, three of these covers have been wrapped around corpses. Are you studying how to keep cold bodies warm also? I'm pretty sure Twilight vampires don't exist."
"Corpses?" Mark murmured half shocked.
Flack looked st him carefully, judging his reaction: he was hiding something but he seemed truly shocked by the killings. "Yes, corpses. How did your not-yet-licensed covers end up at the scenes?"
The man glanced around before looking down, "well... we... there have been some robberies and..."
"Why didn't you report them?" Flack smirked, "ah, let me guess, insurance matters."
"We have deficient security systems, they don't work very well, you know, and the Chief doesn't want to spend money to improve them and... if our insurance finds out about the robberies we won't be refunded. And, probably, it'll cut down the contract. It's a well-known insurance company and this will destroy our reputation."
Flack looked at the man. He seemed relieved. It was evident that it was the only thing he was hiding. "I see. Fact is now I know. It may not concerned the killings but I can't ignore it... you know, something about the badge I wear."
"You'll force us to close!"
"Your Chief will be the cause of the bankrupt. Don't take it on me or the Department, it's not a smart move."
Mac's laptop started beeping quietly. The man looked at the screen. It had been a couple of days since he had started searching information about the question and until that moment nothing useful had come up. Mac hoped they started getting more lucky.
The words typed on the screen were very surprising:
...The woman stood in the shadow, far from every light source. The man, though, knew she was there. He has been following her for a long time, in fact he had the suspicion he had started looking for her even before meeting her. She had always been his final goal. And finally, there she was, only few feet far from him.
She stared at him with eyes half-closed. She had been waiting for that moment. She had been waiting since her first breath.
- Where were you when your world has ended?
He walked slowly, but without hesitation, closing the distance. In front of her, he put one of his hands on her beautiful cheek, cupping it tenderly.
- It doesn't matter. I know where I am right now: The exact place where my world is beginning.
THE END
Mac arched his brows while printing the document. Five pages, was it possible that the pages held the solution they were looking for? Collecting them, he marched toward the conference room, calling the others to make them join him.
"What's a fan fiction?" Danny looked around him, sounding confused.
"Fan fiction is a novel where characters are generally taken from anime world, TV series, movies and real people too. There are lots of communities on the internet devoted to archive these works. All these stories are written by ordinary people, you know? It's like a hobby," Adam answered knowingly.
"And how do you know all this?"
"I... well... everybody knows it. I'm spending a lot of time on Internet, so..." he staggered.
"What? Are you an author?"
"No! But..."
"The case, people! Sorry, Mac, how is this fiction linked to the killer?" Stella was browsing through the pages.
"Where were you when your world has ended? is the recurring question of the fiction. The PC took some time to find it, because it isn't the title. Basically, the different characters have to answer the question for themselves. But it's a love story, not a noir one. Author's name is , a nickname obviously. I've already sent an e-mail to the site admin to have more information."
"We should keep our fingers crossed."
Mac nodded. At that moment Flack entered the room. "Bad news, guys. Mark Connor has some secrets, but not case related."
"So, tell me: What kind of homicide detective are you?" Danny commented with a half smile.
Don ignored him, "it's very possible the Company he's working for will shut down or maybe have a big, heavy sanction is in its future , but he is not the person we're looking for."
"Did you ask him about volunteering?"
"Of course. He has been doing it for a couple of years, he told me he has about ten true friends in the group. We've already talked to some of them, the others have been called. What about you?"
Mac quickly explained the fan fiction story.
"Still I feel we're missing something..."
"I know. Okay, lets' stop there right now. Lindsay, keep working on the cell. And come immediately when you have the results."
"Okay, Mac," she replied before leaving the room.
"You go back to the evidence. The answer is here; everything's connected."