Thursday, September 18th
Kilton Motor Company, 8 pm
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Steve Brown’s hand trembled as he dialled Andy Cooper’s number on his cell phone. The time it took Andy to answer seemed an eternity to Steve who kept wondering what his colleague’s reaction would be.
“Hello! Steve, is it you?”
“Hi, Andy.” Steve was trying hard to keep his voice calm and to talk normally. “Listen, I am still in the office. I have talked to Mr Kilton about the irregularities you have seen in the account books and he wants to see us both in his office… NOW!” He knew his voice sounded far from calm and composed but he couldn’t help it. On the other end of the line was the most honest and irreproachable person he had ever known and also one of the few real friends he had. He had already done something he was ashamed of.
“Steve, what’s the matter? I don’t think a few irregularities are something you should worry about, I am sure we’ll settle everything with Kilton. But isn’t Kilton in Oshawa tonight? And why not talk tomorrow morning? I am at home and I am helping my daughter with her homework.”
“I am sorry, Andy, but the boss has changed his mind because he had some papers to check tonight, and he is still here. He has told me tomorrow he has to go to Toronto on business, and he wants to settle this thing as soon as he can. Please, I think it is a matter of a few minutes.”
“OK,” answered Andy reluctantly, “if you promise it will be no more than five minutes, give me the time to take the car and come to the office.”
“I will wait for you here.” Steve Brown closed the phone call and put his mobile phone on the desk next to his computer, thinking of what he was going to say to Cooper and hoping he would understand and help him. Or was it asking too much from a straight person like Andy?
***
Andy looked at his wife who had listened to his end of the phone call and was looking at him perplexed. Steve had never been so agitated, even in the most complicated times of his life. What was wrong with him? And it was strange that Mr Kilton was still at the office at this time of the evening.
“Do you really have to go back to the office at this time? Can’t you talk to Kilton tomorrow?” his wife, Grace, asked him apprehensively.
“It will only be a matter of a few minutes and I will be back. You have nothing to worry about. Kilton can’t blame anything on me, he knows I have always done a good and thorough job.” He gently kissed his wife on her forehead, and he told his daughter, Meg, to go on with her homework and they would check it later together. He didn’t like to go out at night because he enjoyed the moments he shared with his family.
He went to his car which was parked in front of his small house and he drove away, still wondering what had upset his colleague and friend so much.
He often asked himself why two such different people as him and his colleague, Steve, could always be on good terms and even friends, as they had two completely different lives. Andy was a family man, scrupulous in his job as an accountant in the Kilton Motor Dealing Company and devoted to his wife, Grace, and his daughter, Meg. He was proud of his only daughter who was such a pretty, sweet girl, always helpful and reliable and so wise and sensible for her age. She was sixteen and got good marks at school. His wife was a sensitive woman who worked as a waitress in the local diner but only part-time because she didn’t like being far from her home and her family.
Steve Brown, instead, was not married, he sometimes said he had a girlfriend but his romantic stories didn’t last more than a few weeks. He liked playing cards and gambling with some friends that Andy would never invite to dinner, they were far from his idea of an acquaintance. Andy knew Steve was always short of money because he heard him talk on the phone to people who were evidently angry at him and sometimes he looked worried. One thing that Andy always appreciated about his colleague was that Steve never forgot a little present for Meg on her birthday or some flowers for Grace on their anniversary. They rarely went out after work for a drink together and they seldom met outside the company where they worked, but Andy considered Steve a good friend. A few weeks before, Steve had gone to Andy’s home to introduce his new girlfriend to Andy’s family.
As far as their job was concerned, they got on well together, they had never had any argument. They were both good accountants and they respected each other.
When he arrived at Kilton Company, he parked his car in the deserted parking lot. Only Steve’s car was there but he knew that the boss had a garage in the basement for his car so he wasn’t surprised. It was strange for him to be there after working hours and there was a strange silence around him that made him feel uneasy. For a moment he thought of going back home but then he was a man of his word, and once he had promised to do something, it was impossible for him not to keep his word. So he got out of the car and slowly approached the dark building.
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***
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Steve was getting more and more restless as the minutes passed. He began to pace the floor of his office thinking of the best way to talk to Andy. One thing he knew for certain was that he really couldn’t do what they had commanded him; he couldn’t betray his colleague’s trust and their friendship.
Why had he never been able to settle down, find a good wife and have a family? This would have helped him to stay away from bad company and from people who only dragged him further and further down towards his ruin. Why couldn’t he be like Andy, who had someone to go back to in the evening, someone who trusted him, who made him feel serene and accomplished?
He walked out of his office, stepped into the corridor and reached Mr Kilton’s office. He wanted to be sure the manager had left. The large room was empty, his boss’s computer was off and there was no jacket on the coat hanger, so Steve returned to the office he shared with his colleague and turned on his computer because he wanted to show something to Andy when he arrived.
After a few minutes, he heard footsteps in the deserted corridor and he called out, “Andy, I am here in our office.” He thought, ‘What will Andy say when he discovers that Mr Kilton is not waiting for us and I have invented this excuse to be sure my friend will show up at a time when he doesn’t like to leave his home? What will he say when I tell him what I have done and what they have ordered me to do?’
He turned to face the door of the office and he saw a dark silhouette in the doorway. He didn’t have time to think of what was happening, he certainly didn’t expect THIS thing to happen and he stared blankly at the shining blade that was going to hit him… Just a moment and then… a pain in his chest, blood… and… darkness!
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***
Trinity police station, 8:32 pm
Young Agent Moore answered the phone and heard a muffled and unnatural voice on the other end. At first, it was so low that he had difficulty understanding what the man (he was definitely a man) was saying.
“Hello! Trinity Police Station! Who’s speaking?”
“Shouts and noises at the Kilton Motor Dealing Company! Some lights on the first floor are on! Come at once!”
“Excuse me! What did you say? Who is speaking?”
The voice repeated the message a little more clearly and hung up the receiver.
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and then Add to home screen.