ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN

ISRAEL'S POV

The place was deadly quiet, and I slowly walked up the stairs towards the room. It was a small block of flats, with around twelve apartments in all; four apartments in each floor. I was obviously expecting to see one or two security guards; yet I saw none. Maybe someone was sleeping on the job; and it was working to my advantage. I knocked gently, and judging from how quickly the door was opened, I could tell that the man was not asleep. Instead, he must have been waiting for the knock. I entered the house and shut the door behind me.

Scanning across the room, I saw one sofa and a little desk with a drawer, and a chair. The room was almost empty; there wasn't much in it. I could see a door leading to another room, which I assumed was a bedroom. My eyes were searching for Logan's brother, but it seemed like he was by himself in the house.

"Are you alone? You stay with a brother, don't you?" I asked.

"Y…yes. He…He's my cousin. A very good one. He took me in after all the mess I've made! H...he is on night shift today. Besides, since the tragedy, I never allow my visitors to come when he is a round. I haven't seen you before, I know that lawyer. Who are you? Mrs de Milo sent you, didn't she?"

"Too many questions! Are you ready to fly out of the country?" I instantly detested how talkative the young man was.

"Umm, y…yes, I guess. I…" He was not too sure.

"Hand over to me the suicide note," I demanded.

The man frowned and moved back a little. He let out a small nervous chuckle before saying, "well about that, I had told Mrs de Milo that I will need my new documents first. I might not be able to…."

"Sit down and write the note. Now!" I said in a stern voice.

Massive apprehension was written all over the man's face. He moved back and slowly went down on his knees, "please don't do this. You're scaring me. Why are you wearing those gloves? Please, can you tell Mrs de Milo that I prefer to work with the other lawyer; the one that I'm used to. You're too strict and scary and ..…"

"I don't have much time!" I pulled out the gun and brought it to his forehead. "Write the suicide note!"

With shaking hands, he pulled out a pen from a drawer in the room. I looked around and saw a calendar hanging on the wall. I pulled it off and scrutinized it to see that there was nothing suspicious on it. After the case whereby de Milo wrote the name Bubbles and got me caught, I could not take any more risks.

"Make it straightforward. No nicknames…actually no names in it. Everything must be straight to the point." I told him.

"OK….are….are you going to kill me?" he shivered in fear.

"Is that the deal you made with her royal highness; Mrs de Milo?" I asked mockingly.

"The deal is for me to go free. She said I will fly out of Lakeworld."

"Exactly. Now write the note. Write what her royal highness instructed you to."

"She told me what to write but….h..how….how should I write?" he stammered, his eyes fixed on the weapon in my hands.

"Didn't they teach you to write in school? Write a note as if you're about to commit suicide. Make it believable. Imagine yourself in class. Write what would get you an 'A'."

"You're scaring me with the gun and the gloves..why is everything suddenly so creepy?"

"Write the note!" I could not stand how talkative the man was.

The man let out a nervous laugh, and then adjusted his chair and started to scribble away.

He took a very long time, and I had to remind him to hurry up.

"I'm trying! It's not easy doing this with a gun in my head. Please just put away that gun. I am writing!"

He continued to write at the back of the calendar, and when he was done, he lifted the calendar and handed it to me.

I looked through the letter, which read:

My dear cousin, friend and brother, I have decided this is the best for me. I cannot face jail. I committed a crime, and it is time to face the consequences. It was my error to drug that girl and to try to rape her. I was overcome by evil desires, and in the process I even accused other people. It was no-one else's plan; it was all my plan. Brother; I'm sorry that I have to cause you and our parents so much pain, but this is for the best. Tell mum and dad that I love them, and they will forever be in my heart. As for you, my brother, you know that I love you. This is it, dear cousin...

"Are your parents alive?" I asked him, thinking to myself that maybe his parents were long dead, and he was somehow sending hints in his note.

"They are alive! Check here," he scrolled through his phone and showed me some pictures of him and an old couple. "I'm their only child", sadness echoed deeply in his voice.

"Here, my dad called me recently", he flashed his call log in my face.

"Does your family know about the plan to go out of the country?" I needed to know that.

"Of course not! Mrs de Milo emphasized the importance of keeping this a top secret! If I tell them, that might lead to some sort of errors." He sounded so earnest that the bit of humanity in me almost felt sorry for him.

"So who else knows about this? I ask because if anyone knows we will need to pay them to shut their mouths."

"No-one. I had not told anyone", he said.

I looked through his letter again, and since I saw no signs of trouble in the note, I decided it was OK.

He smiled and sighed happily. "Thank you! Can I now have my new ID, my passport and all. I will need time to get used to my new name. …I can't believe I am bidding farewell to Lakeworld now", he spoke as he stood up and nervously rubbed his palms on his thighs.

"Indeed you are," I spoke and without thinking twice or hesitating, I sent a bullet flying through his head. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second; his lower lip immediately hung low, and he came down on his knees; then down on his tummy.

Collecting all the cash that he had been given, I checked the time. It was 1.10AM. I told myself that I needed to be out of the place as soon as possible, for I felt I had overstayed. The last thing I wanted was to attract the attention of a neighbor or some security guard.

I knelt down beside the man, took the gun and put his hand all over it, just to make sure it was filled with his fingerprints. When I was done, I carefully and correctly placed the gun in his hand, so that to whoever would see him, it would appear like it was him who pulled the trigger.

I scanned the place for any traces of hints; but it seemed clean enough. I picked the bag with the money and quickly took out his real ID and other documents which he had earlier on handed over to Toast. Some of them were in a wallet which I carefully tucked in his back pocket. The rest of the documents I threw in the drawer.

"Rest easy, big mouth," I murmured as I exited the room.