***
Nick was parked about a block and a half away from Avery’s house, and was not in Stella. He’d rented a small Ford Taurus that was bland and blended in with the neighborhood, which had cars lining the streets at all times of day. At 8 p.m., Avery pulled into his driveway, and made his way into the house. It appeared that he was staying there, and after no actions happening for two hours, Nick called over to Dom to see who was all at Scully’s. He said there were a few of the usual guys there, but no Avery. Nick hung up, asking Dom to call if Avery happened to stop by.
At 11:30, Dom called Nick and told him that Avery had just shown up with another brunette beauty.
Avery’s car was definitely in the driveway, and Nick wondered if he’d snuck out and got to the bar some other way. He got out of the Taurus and walked down the sidewalk, quickly veering toward Avery’s back yard. It was a dangerous thing—going up to a cop’s window—but Nick had to see if Avery was there with his own eyes. He peered in through a kitchen window and looked down the hallway. He could see Aubrey, Avery’s wife sitting in a recliner in the living room and laughing at some show. She didn’t look to her right, but Nick could see the legs of a man there, but not the face. He needed to see the face. Nick slipped to the front of the house, crawling in the hedges that create a wedge between the lawn and the front window. He slowly peaked up from the corner side of the window, and confirmed that it was indeed Avery there. He was snoring with his mouth open, no beer by his side, and not a care in the world. It confirmed that he’d quite drinking—today anyways, and was not at Scully’s.
So, who is at Scully’s, Nick thought. He walked back down to the rented Taurus, and hopped in, calling Dom on the way. “Is he still there?”
“Yep.”
“Call me when he leaves, okay?”
“I’ll try, man. What’s going on?”
“I’m going to find out, let’s just say that.”
By midnight, Nick was standing in a dark alley across the way from Scully’s, remaining hidden in the shadows, and keeping his eyes on the only exit out of the place. Eventually, the alter-Avery would have to leave, and that’s when things would get interesting. Hopefully it was soon. Standing still waiting for action was not something that Nick appreciated. He preferred to do things to spark action and put the wheels in motion.
It wasn’t until 1:15 a.m. when Avery’s look alike exited with the young lady in tow. They were walking down the street toward a car—one that looked just like the one that Avery had driven for the past five years. However, they didn’t stop when they got to the car. They kept walking down the sidewalk. The streets were very empty and Nick knew there was no way to follow the two closely without being seen if they even turned their heads slightly. The streets were well lit.
He peeked around the corner, and his phone buzzed. Crap. He looked, and it was Max. “Hey, I have something interesting? Can you come over right now?”
“What. I can’t. What is it?”
“You have to see it for yourself.”
“Damn it, Max. I’ll be right there.”
Why had Max been so insistent? Nick was pissed, knowing that abandoning the stake-out right now may risk the young girl’s life that was with the alter-Avery, and cause him to have to endure another night of starting the stake-out all over again. And that would mean there was a chance that alter-Avery wouldn’t even show up at Scully’s. There were no guarantees.
Nick waited for Max to buzz him in, something that was standard protocol after midnight, and made his way downstairs. “So, what is it?”
“I just thought you’d like to know that we have found Avery’s prints on the three bodies. Each in an odd spot, a place you’d never suspect.”
“Really, where?”
“On the left eyeball.”
“What? How can you leave a print on an eyeball without deforming it?”
“They’re sensitive, and soft. It’s very easy.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me that on the telephone?”
“You always are so eager for face to face. I just thought you might be this time too.”
Nick didn’t bother hiding that he was annoyed at Max for blowing his surveillance for that. He didn’t get what he was thinking, and thought he must still be sick. “Okay, thanks for the info, man.” Nick left, and started to drive home. He pulled up toward the parking garage where he kept Stella, but something was just not settling with him. He whipped around, and made his way back to the area where Scully’s was.
He parked the car, grabbed a flashlight, and started to walk down the street, shining the light into all the nooks and crannies. He noticed that the car that was like Avery’s was still parked on the street, and wondered if the alter-Avery had went to another bar with the lady he was with. There was one that was still open, at least for a few minutes, and he slowly walked toward that.
A soft noise was coming from up ahead, and Nick turned his flashlight off and slowly peered down the alleyway to the right, where the sound had come from. It was dark, and he couldn’t see very well, but someone was definitely there. He started to slowly creep down the alley, and moved as alight of foot as he could. There was a small piece of metal on the ground and Nick didn’t see it, accidentally kicking it. He saw the frame of a man look up toward him. They paused briefly, and then took off running toward the other end of the alley, which led to the street the next block over.
Nick took off running and turned the flashlight on. He stopped when he saw the alter-Avery, and the young woman’s bodies lying there. The wounds were fresh, and the young girl was clearly dead, and the alter-Avery was certainly close to death too, although you could hear the sickly gasps for air coming from him.
“Who are you?” Nick asked the man. He gasped, and the sounds of blood gurgling in his air passage sounded.
“M…m…ma.” And that was it, the last words the alter-Avery would ever say.
Nick looked up, and whoever had been in the alley had already rounded the corner, and was likely out of reach for a chase down. Nick paused, shining his light on the scene, and prepared to call 911 to let them know what he’d found. As he was making the call something caught his attention. There was a cut off finger sitting on the girl’s chest, and it had on an antique wedding band on it. Nick dropped the phone, not believing what he saw.
That wedding band was very familiar, as it had once been his mother’s, and then had been given to his fiancé. The problem was that she’d been murdered ten years ago, and Nick had been the suspect for a long time. The case had never been solved, and there was only one person in Nick’s life that knew about the personal hell he’d endured during that time, and that person was Max.
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