tools rattled against each other.
‘Is that it?’ he asked wishfully.
‘No Nathan, that’s not it!’ the hammer pulled from his collection.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’
‘Getting answers, what does it look like?’
‘Richard, he doesn’t know mate….leave it’ his attempts to negotiate fell on deaf ears. Richard turned to him, the hammer gripped tight with one hand. Nathan felt a shudder bounce through his body. He looked at the large man, his full black beard hid his expressions, his eyes dark like a demon’s.
‘Please!’ he begged
‘Nathan, why don’t you search this shit hole, see if you can find anything convicting’
Nathan turned and left the room, his mind raced with the recent events, the screams filling his ears.
‘Right Neil, where were we?’
‘Please listen to your fr…friend’
‘The only person who needs to be listening is you pal. Now, I’m going to ask the question again, this time, if you fail to give me the correct answer, I’m going to drive this nail’, the thick carpentry nail protruded from his fist, ‘Into your knee cap, it will hurt…a lot’ he moved to the feeble body of the man in question, the blood had slowed and began to clot, his foot wriggling as the nerves came to terms with the recent removal.
The tip of the nail was placed at the top of the bone, his skinny legs displayed his knee caps prominently. Neil attempted to shy away.
‘Don’t you dare!’ Richard warned.
‘The answer please Neil, don’t be daft now!’
‘Honestly, I don’t know!.....Okay, I talked about him online with some friends…that’s all!’ the hammer remained poised for attack.
Richard licked his lips slowly, reading the man’s face.
‘What did you say, in the chat, what did you type?’
‘I don’t remember that!’
The head of the hammer struck what it was thrown at, the nail entered his skin, breaking it easily. The point found its way through the muscle and cartilage, the knee cap was forced forward as the metal pin grinded against it. The cry pierced his ears, the man shuddered and threw himself from side to side, like a fish out of water. Nathan could hear everything, he searched as Richard had suggested, thankful that he didn’t have to witness the torture. The bedroom was dirty, an old mattress lay on the floor with several stained sheets upon it. The smell began to sting his nose, the odour burning his eyes. He opened the drawers of the only cabinet in the room, scrunched up paper filled most of the space, his fingers buried through it.
The head of the nail protruded from his leg, a small trail of blood escaped the entry point. Richard’s fist provided another nail, the tip caught the light and Neil’s eyes fell upon it.
‘Pleeeease, pleeeeease no more……’ he cried, the tears trickled from his eyes.
‘Tell me then!’
‘God…..oh God, I can’t remember’
‘God’s not here to help today!’ he moved towards him, nail in hand.
‘Okay, shit it hurts…..mmmmmmmmm,’ he groaned, biting his lip, ‘We talked about him, what he does…..that was all!’
‘Do you admire him?’
‘What?’
The point of the nail was pushed into the skin of the good knee, the flesh ripped and blood crawled from the tiny wound.
‘No…no I don’t!’
‘Bullshit….you fucking Paedo’s are all twisted, tell the truth!’
‘I am….I swear, I’m not a Paedo, that’s wrong!’
Nathan joined them back in the room, his hand clenched the photographs. He called Richard over to him and stood by his side, their back’s to the bleeding man.
‘What is it?’ asked Richard as he noticed Nathan’s face was still.
‘I found these, he may not know anything, but I think there’s enough evidence here to do what you have to do Richard……I’ll be outside!’ he placed the pictures in his friends hand and walked out of the flat. Richard looked upon the Polaroid images, his stomach boiled and his heart pumped violently. The kids, their faces jaunt and pale, the seedy room that they stood in. Richard looked around, noticing the resemblance from the room he now stood in to the one in the photos.
His fist clenched, the head of the nail in the palm of his hand, the long point emerged from between his fingers. The hammer gave a thud as it connected with the floor. Nathan heard the screams as he leant against the railing outside, the cold air removed the sweat he had suffered from whilst in the flat. Richard gripped the monster’s head, he punched wildly at his face and throat. The weapon punctured the skin with every connection, the red liquid ejected as the nail was removed. Nathan heard each hit, he had lost count of how many were thrown at the beast. The life pooled under the body, its appearance no longer resembled a person, its black heart no longer kept it alive.
***
Jack’s mobile phone pinged as the email was received. He sat at his desk, his feet placed upon the surface. He had received multiple phone calls through the evening, all reference Doctor Lime and his formal conference. Jack had listened to copious amounts of warnings and abuse from his higher ranks. The weight all placed upon his fragile shoulders. Lime had done it, he had followed through on the threats issued to Jack. He removed his IPhone, expecting the message to display several cuss words and a notice of early retirement, minus the package. He opened the mail folder and noticed that it had come from Sally, once again she had managed to slap a smile upon his face for the second time that day. He waited as the information filtered through to the screen.
Jack read the information twice. The second skull belonged to the missing teacher from Abby’s school. He had toyed with the possibility. The head still held its shape and soft fleshy texture, he could see when looking at it that it belonged to a woman. Her features were the only real distortion.
‘So he kills Breen, takes his identity to filter through the teaching organisation. Works at the school and selects his victim. He then removes Carrigot from the equation so that he can take her place as a substitute teacher, once again, getting close to his selected victim……Shit!’ he spoke aloud to hear the words.
