The Innocents, Nathan Senthil [best life changing books .TXT] 📗

“Then why kill us? We were after him, too.”

“No offence, but you’ve been searching for him over a quarter century with no results. Now that we know who you are, who your family is, we thought of a better way to use you.”

Family? Didn’t Bugsy say the same thing? What were these assholes planning to do?

Then Joshua put it all together. “You don’t mean…”

From that loud bang, Joshua was willing to bet that Peter was killed by a Desert Eagle. And Roman would use the same gun on Joshua as well. Now he understood why the drive-by shooters employed a Desert Eagle—an unusual gun for their line of work—and why they hadn’t covered their faces fully, showing CCTVs their ethnicity.

Bugsy wanted the world to think that it was Lolly who killed Joshua.

No… not the world.

He wanted just one person to think that. Because that specific person was practically the best detective in the US. Joshua had to agree with his captors there. If anyone could catch Lolly, it was them. By murdering Joshua, they were setting the smartest of good against the coldest of evil.

“Gabriel,” Joshua muttered. “My boy.”

“Thanks for saving me the time of having to explain. I hate basic villain’s monologuing,” Roman said. “Is it true that Gabriel caught a serial killer in under a week?”

“Uh-huh.” Joshua nodded. “And uncovered the identity of another, also under a week.”

“So he’s the better hunter? The smarter Chase?”

Joshua smiled proudly. “Yup, that I can’t deny.”

“Our boss’s plan is perfect then,” Roman said. “I’m calling your son from your phone right now.”

Roman put it on speaker. The automated voice said that the person they were trying to reach was speaking to someone else and asked to either wait or call again later.

“Alright,” Roman said. Then Joshua heard something pelted at the wall. Probably his cell phone. “He’ll call you back, but you’ll never be reachable ever again.” Roman giggled at his own tasteless pun. “When he learns you’re dead, he’ll come running to Detroit with one thought in mind: find Lolly.”

Joshua chuckled and shook his head. “But like any basic villain, you missed a teeny-tiny detail in your convoluted scheme.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Gabe is one vindictive bastard,” Joshua said. “You, Bugsy, Lolly, and his two friends, none of you are going to escape this alive if you pull my boy into this.”

“Oh…” Roman mocked and put what Joshua assumed was the muzzle under his eye. “I’m so scared.”

“You should be because he will come to Detroit.” Joshua smirked. “And you can bet your sweet ass that when he does, he will bring holy hell down upon you evil motherfuckers.”

Then Joshua heard an explosion, which stretched into an echo disappearing into the distant void. Suddenly it was all cozy and bright.

Just before everything stopped being relevant, he thought he smelled his wife’s angelic whiff. Rosewater with a hint of sandalwood. Right then, he knew he was heading to a better place. A smile found its way to the last thread of his consciousness.

Peace… at last.

Part III: Gabriel

Chapter 27

May 10, 2019. 06:15 A.M.

The Camaro’s headlights raced over the blacktop, its steering wheel rumbling under Gabriel’s grip. A sign board overhead read Welcome to Detroit. Clenching his teeth, he floored the accelerator, and the beast’s engine roared, propelling the muscled machine forward.

The red orb rose in the rearview mirror, and the freeway slowly turned into glistening gold. The sunlight stretched along the road and illuminated the distant city before him, removing darkness from every nook and cranny.

William Lamb, Peter Lamb’s son, was lying on the backseat while his crutch rode shotgun. His hackneyed curiosity and energy were absent. Neither felt like talking, the murders of their dads still fresh in their minds.

Gabriel had been worried ever since Joshua drunk dialed him because he sounded paranoid. He called again on April 12, but Gabriel was talking to someone at that time. From that point onwards, any call made to Joshua’s number went straight to voicemail.

Thankfully his FBI friend, Conor Lyons, offered to help. He detected the source of Joshua’s call, and also found that Peter’s cell phone was last active around Lake Erie. Using this location as a reference, Conor searched the NamUs—the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System—with Peter’s and Joshua’s descriptions.

He found them in the database and their case files.

An anonymous call made to the DPD reported that two men with burlap bags over their heads were dumped at the bank of Lake Erie. The cops were unable to find IDs or phones near the crime scene. Lowlifes stealing stuff from dead bodies wasn’t new. Due to these scavengers, the investigation was delayed.

It had been six days since the news shattered Gabriel. Taking care of the funeral and other related services took only two days. The remaining four were spent with the FBI.

Conor was promoted as Special Agent in Charge of a new department under the FBI’s NCAVC. It was named Bureau’s International Serial Killer Investigation Treaty, BISKIT for short. The exclusive role and responsibility of this department was to hunt serial killers internationally, if the respective country asked for the FBI’s help.

Conor implored Gabriel to join BISKIT, and he accepted under one condition. He should be allowed to go after Joshua’s killer and the most wanted bank robber in the US: Lolly. Cleaning another’s house while your own stank was unreasonable.

Gabriel aced the exams and physicals. His experience in catching two serial killers and working as a homicide detective for more than a decade were highlighted in his resume. Commendation letters from the commissioner of the NYPD, New York City’s District Attorney and Mayor, did wonders in boosting Gabriel up as a distinguished candidate.

And only yesterday, they knighted him. It was unusually fast because Conor coerced the Assistant Director of the