Robin looked around the dirty apartment, noticing the mess of beer bottles and takeout food boxes. She sighed to herself before turning her attention toward her friend.
“Kyle,” she said. “We need to do this.”
“Do you know how often I have gone over it?” he whispered, looking up at her with vacant eyes. “Do you know how long I have poured over the facts and the evidence and all that crap? Five years. For the past five years, I have thought about it every day. I know the facts by heart, Robin. And they all say one thing – he killed her. Do you know what evidence we have to support that? Nothing. The commissioner shut me down before I could even investigate the man properly. It’s been five years, Robin. Do you think we will find any evidence now?”
He stood up, grabbing his head and pacing around the room.
“I thought I had accepted my fate,” he whispered to himself. “I thought I had accepted that I could never find justice for Rose. I had buried it somewhere deep within me. I struggled with the pain and void in my heart, trying to live without her, but it’s so hard. But still, I managed to move on. Yet, seeing that man again, it boils my blood!”
He slammed his hand on the mirror that hung on the wall, shattering it.
“Kyle!” Robin shouted, running to him. She grabbed his hand, which was covered in shards of glass and oozing blood.
“You don’t understand!” he gasped, his eyes wide. There was a look in his eyes that was all too familiar to Robin. She saw in it a crazy desire for revenge. It appeared that Kyle had a thirst for justice and the need to avenge the woman he loved. She knew it all too well. And she knows that it drives a man to do things that were too horrible to even think about.
“You don’t feel my pain!” he shouted. “Seeing him every day, walking around, living his life, it’s too much! He has money, power, success. Everything! Where is his consequence? Where is his suffering? Where is justice? Do you want to go over the facts? Let’s go over the facts then!”
He tore his hand away from Robin, ignoring the blood that dripped from it. He started to pace around, and his voice became oddly calm.
“Rose Grange, twenty-eight, was found in a quarry on the 31st March, five years ago. She was reported missing a few days ago by her husband, Kyle Grange. A search was started for her, and she was eventually found dead. She had been raped before being shot by a gun that was later identified as a Glock. The body had been in the quarry for at least two days, and no evidence could be found. She was killed elsewhere before being dumped there.” Kyle’s voice was monotone, lacking any inflection or emotion.
Robin’s heart gave a sympathetic pang as she looked at her friend’s broken face.
“She reported to her husband that she was receiving unwanted advances by her boss, but she ignored them because she was desperate for her job. On the night she disappeared, she was working overtime at the company. She was last seen by one of the office clerks, who claimed that Danvers, her boss, asked her to stay after all the employees had left. The CCTV footage shows she never exited that building. An hour after the clerk had left, Danvers was seen exiting and leaving in his car, alone.” Kyle summarized.
“After that, there was no sign of her anywhere until she was found dead,” he said. “On interrogation, Danvers insisted that she left work earlier, and he had no clue about what had happened to her. He lawyered up after that, and we received orders to leave Danvers alone. And that is how far our investigation went. We weren’t allowed to sweep his office, and by the time we got the warrant, there was no evidence to be found.”
“Kyle, you don’t need to do this,” Robin whispered.
“There is nothing that can be done, little bird,” he said, swallowing his tears. “We can’t legally punish that man, no matter how hard we try. So, that’s that. I either accept the fact that he will remain a free man, or I take matters into my own hands.”
“I know what you are thinking,” Robin said. “I know what you are feeling. I lost my parents, remember? You remind me of a question he asked me; the child. He asked me if I had the chance to have my revenge on the Butcher, would I? I told him I wouldn’t, but I knew it was a lie. Deep down, I knew if I had the chance to kill him, I would take it. I think he saw right through me. He could peer into my soul and see that I would do it in a blink of an eye. And now, you are at the same crossroads.”
Robin walked toward him, her eyes boring into his. She reached forward and grabbed his hands, taking them into hers. She leaned forward and kissed both his cheeks softly before laying one at his lips.
“If you kill him, you are no better than him,” she said. “You are nothing more than a killer. If every person just started taking revenge – if everyone person just started taking the law into their own hands, there would be nothing but chaos all around us. That’s what separates you from the criminals, Kyle. That horrible man took Rose away from you, but don’t let him tear you away from yourself. Don’t let him turn you into a monster. Don’t let him destroy your soul. You know that’s not the man Rose loved. The man she loved was true and just. He wasn’t a murderer or a monster. Don’t do this for yourself, do this
