Chapter 19
The next morning, Alan sits in Barry’s office with detectives Earl Mullins and Carl Petersen who have taken over the investigation. Both Earl and Carl are in their fifties, sharing the exact same birthday, only three years apart, Earl being the younger of the two. Earl, like Max, joined the police force straight out of school, many years earlier though, and worked his way up. Carl, however, didn’t join till his early thirties after years as a private investigator.
Despite being the older of the two, Carl has remained fit with his daily push bike ride into the office and maintains a much more professional disposition than his offsider. Earl’s skinny arms and legs and fat belly always reminded Max of a pregnant Kermit the Frog and the Kermit-like detective has hated Max for the entire time the younger of the two has been a detective; since they met. The only person Earl gets along with is Carl.
It’s not so much that he gets along with Barry but that Barry has authority over him and won’t be intimidate by Earl’s brash manner. Earl recognises this and doesn’t push his luck. Earl is so well known around the office for being a grump it's common for all new starters to be told that he hates everyone; ‘so watch out’.
At this meeting Barry informs Alan he’s being moved on to the Illegal Arms Dealing team and Max will join him after his suspension, if he retains his job at all.
Barry offers Earl and Carl the option of Alan giving them a run-down of what they already have but Earl would prefer not to have the information they've accumulated polluting his own investigation. Alan bites his lip and doesn’t respond to Earl’s dig at him.
If Barry hadn't instantly refused before it could be said, Earl would have re-interviewed everyone. Barry insisted they don't have time to go back that far and it would cause undue stress on the families. They will have to work with what's there already.
Back at home, Max is once again on the couch but this time the TV isn’t muted as he and Tahlia watch a news report announcing to viewers that Heath Bruce Myers is the main suspect in the Southside Serial Killer murders. Through an arrangement made with Max’s begrudging approval, his image has been used in the media as an example of who they’re looking for. A mug shot of his face was photo-shopped with a few different hair styles. Some images have facial hair, others don't.
Barry insisted Max stay out of public view while his image is plastered over every newspaper and magazine in the country and features on every news update - he didn't need much persuading. Needless to say Tahlia was devastated at the turn of events and pointed out they won't be able to go out to celebrate their upcoming ten year wedding anniversary because of it. That is the least of Max's concerns and he barely acknowledges it when she mentions it.
In fact Max is so self-reflective on this matter it takes Tahlia three attempts to draw his attention to the ringing phone. "What's that ringing?" she’s asking. Max slowly comes back to the moment and the ringing registers in his ears, faint but clear. It isn't his phone, which is beside him. He has been so lost in seeing his own face on the TV he’s missing what should have come to mind straight away. It takes him a moment but when he understands he leaps from the couch and runs to the bedroom, fast.
He launches himself at his bedside table and opens the drawer. Inside, the mobile he received in the mail is ringing and has been for some time. The screen says ‘Answer Me’ is calling.
He sits on the side of the bed and hits the answer button. It's not until this point that he stops to think about what's happening; he waits and stares at the screen of the cheap mobile. The phone line is open and without placing it to his ear he thinks he can hear someone breathing. He takes a breath and swallows hard before lifting the phone to his ear. “Heath?” is all Max can think of saying.
“Of course, brother.” Heath's voice sounds equal parts familiar and unusual. “Good to finally speak after all these years.”
Max spends a moment thinking of the most meaningful thing to say but is left with, “Obviously you're the one doing all the... stuff?”
“Murdering? Is that not clear for you?”
“Why?”
Heath speaks with a hint of arrogance Max had never heard in him before. “That will become clear in time.”
All Max can do is respond to his brother’s tone, “Are you proud of what you've done?”
Heath couldn’t sound more patronising as he says, “Max, my dear brother. It has never been a matter of pride.”
“Then what?”
“Influence brother, simply. Influence on the world around me. My world.”
“You’re trying to prove to the world...”
“Prove to the world? No.” Heath almost laughs, “Nothing to the world. To me... everything. My world, you see. I think of it as my purpose.”
"Prove what to yourself exactly?”
“Simple, Max. I want to know I am capable of evil. Pure evil. I want to know that I can look someone in their eyes as I cause them unimaginable pain. That I am capable of influencing the world I live in as I want to instead of letting it influence me as it always did.”
“Why?”
“WHY! Because I spent years living in your shadow! Hiding behind you because you just didn't care. But Max, if I'm really honest with you, and it took me a long time to be honest with myself about this...” the sound of Heath taking a deep breath can be heard through the phone before he says, “…I was living for your approval, Max. Everything I did. Everything I said. Would Max like it if I said this or did this? Would he laugh? Would he join in? I'm sure it doesn't make sense to you, not now anyway, but I've come to terms with my past.”
Hearing his brother cry, Max says, “It doesn’t sound like you’ve come to terms with anything. You’re blaming me though?”
“Blaming you? Yes, to a degree. Don’t get me wrong, what I’ve done is my choice but that’s the point, I choose to do this despite what you would think. I am now the one in control.” Heath takes a deep breath to pull the emotion out of his voice, “Did you tell the parents?”
“No. But the media let it out anyway so they probably know.”
“You didn’t tell them before it was announced?”
Max knows his brother had made a good point. “No.” He wishes he did tell them. “But it was only just announced.”
“But you’ll talk to them about it?”
“Maybe. Why? Do you care?”
Heath laughs, “No.”
“You cut your victims to get me involved?”
“Correct. To be honest I wasn’t sure what police do with situations like that. You know, the cases that involved their staff a little too closely. I figured that’s the part that could back fire on me. I created a ‘work around’ in case they tried to distance you. I didn’t need it in the end now did I?”
“I’m not on the case anymore.”
“Well, no matter. If I remember you correctly, I’m sure I do, you will find a way to stay on my tail. Tell me though, when did you start to suspect me? When did it become clear?”
“The burns were...”
Heath laughs, “Yeah, nice, I hoped it wouldn't be too subtle. Other than our faces, these burns are the only things that still connect us. But I'll still do the burning even though you're on top of things.”
“Didn't you hear me? They took me off the case. You can stop killing people.” His last five words strike him as extremely odd.
“I heard you. And you said you'd still chase me. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The killings continue.”
Max is almost breathless, “I don’t understand what…”
Heath interrupts, ‘No brother. There is no understanding, not right now. That will come, in time. If at all.”
“I won’t go easy on you.”
“Did you ever?”
“How do you know I’m not going to have this mobile traced?”
“You won’t because I gave it to you and that would be too easy. If you caught me you wouldn’t have earned it.”
“This is about stopping yo
u from murdering people.”
“True to a point. I’ll give you that. But you still need the victory. You’ve always needed it. I mean it’s safe to assume you haven’t told them about the phone yet, which is why you’ve answered it. You have to prove you’re better than me. You see, that's something else I've come to understand about you, you do everything to show people you are better than me. I forgive you for that because it just shows how weak you really are.”
“We’re not children anymore Heath. Things have changed.”
“Haven't they indeed,” spits Heath. “Well this has been nice. We could talk for ages but we’ll have more opportunities as the game moves along. We’ll speak again. Let me leave you with one question.” The phone stays silent in Max's ear for a moment before Heath speaks again. “If you weren’t a homicide detective would I have still killed people to get your attention? Goodbye Max.”
The phone goes dead in Max's ear, he stands and takes a deep breath then catches a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, through the ensuite door. He walks over to it and stares at himself.
He spends a few minutes staring at his reflection and thinks back over the surreal nature of having just spoken to his brother for the first time in so long only to have him admit to being a serial killer. He is drawn from his own reflection by his ringing phone. He pulls the phone from his pocket and swears at himself under his breath as he sees his parents’ home number appear on the screen. He answers it, “Hey.”
His father’s voice comes through, “Did you see the news?”
Max rubs his head, “I’m sorry. I meant to tell you first. I’ve had a lot on.”
His father is more softly spoken at this point than his son has every heard before, “Max, it can’t be true. I refuse to believe it.” Max can hear that his father has no confidence in his own words.
“Dad, I should have told you, it just happened so fast. I’m sorry.”
His father asks, “Is it true?”
Max takes a deep breath, “Yeah dad, it’s true.”
Max thinks he can hear his father cry as he asks rhetorically, “It can’t be. What did we do wrong?”
“It wasn’t you or mum. He’s just…”
His father interrupts, “Maybe we didn’t try hard enough. Maybe…”
Max interrupts, “No, he’s just messed up in the head. It’s nothing you could have changed.”
“How do you know?”
Max almost lets slip about, only moments before, speaking with his brother but catches himself thinking it may be too hard to explain before he himself fully understands what he’s in the middle of. He just says, “He’s my twin. I just know these things.”
His father remains silent for a moment which Max takes as a good sign that his last comment is being considered. Max asks, “How’s mum?”
“Not too good. She’s with your sister. They’re not sure what to think. They’re very upset.”
Max feels it’s his place to give his family some hope. “I’ll catch him dad. It’s what I’m paid to do. It’s what I’m good at. Don’t worry.”
“My own son has killed people. What do I tell everyone?” His father’s voice changes from confusion back to denial. “No, I don’t believe it. It’s a mistake. It’s a mistake isn’t it Max?”
“Dad, if anyone asks you about it don’t tell them anything. Don’t respond to the press if they find you and…”
His father interrupts, “Is that going to happen?”
“It’s possible, yes. Just ignore them. Stay away from them. But more importantly, and this we can’t get away from, you’ll be interviewed on record by investigators.”
“Why? Why will that happen?”
“Because we can’t find him. We’ve got nothing and they’re going to think we know something because we’re his family.”
His father protests, “We haven’t seen him in so long! How can they think we’d know?”
“It’s what cops do, dad. Everyone’s a criminal. Everyone’s guilty of something.”
“This is a nightmare.”
“Should I talk to mum or Claire?”
“Just give them a moment. I’ll get them to call you when they can.”
Max’s talk with his father ends the same way they always do, long periods of silence indicating they’ve run out of things to say. They both have so many thoughts going through their heads but neither can process them into intelligible sentences.
Just outside the bedroom door, around the corner in the hall and out of view, stands Tahlia. She’s been there since Max first answered the call from his brother. She’s heard everything.