The two uniformed cops stood by their motorcycles. The alleyway was blocked off while the forensics team did their job.
“Do you know what happened?”
“A detective told me it’s the killer they’ve been looking for.”
“Who’s the other guy?”
“No idea.”
Nearby a detective was questioning the uniformed cop who shot the man next to the victim.
“What do you mean, you didn’t shoot that man?” asked the detective.
“I shot something else. When I walked over that man was lying next to the man who’d just been killed.” replied the uniformed cop.
***
The Year Before.
Glen stood in Bill’s trashed apartment examining the damage. The walls and floors were scratched and the front door had been smashed. Three weeks before, Bill had been working for an oil company near the Gulf of Mexico when he’d been attacked. A few days after the attack Bill came home. Glen asked him what happened but the details Bill could remember were sketchy. He’d gone out and drank too much. The only thing he could remember was the impact knocked the wind out of him and then he woke up in the hospital.
He was acting differently and easily irritated. He claimed he was tired and in pain, he was always saying he wanted to be alone. When he left he didn’t tell Glen where he was going. The next day a woman’s body was found near the shopping mall. The press said it was a frenzied attack. Glen heard through a friend who worked for the police that her body had been mutilated.
After the murder, Glen had managed to log into Bill’s bank account website and could see where he was spending his money or the ATM’s he used. A few weeks after the first murder a description of Bill was in the news.
Every few weeks Bill was moving on and another murder would be in the news and it didn't take long for the police to report it was the work of a serial killer. Bill’s description had now been seen at more than one murder scene but Glen couldn't believe his brother was responsible. A photofit likeness had been put out by the police that looked like Bill and in one article there was a fuzzy picture that Glen knew was him.
After two months of chasing Bill around, Glen went back home. He'd had Bill’s mail redirected to his house and a letter had come from Texas. A woman named Tami claimed she knew what had attacked Bill and she gave her telephone number.
Glen called the number and it rang forever until. “What?” said an irritated female voice.
“Hi, can I speak to Tami please?” Glen replied.
“Who is this?” asked the woman.
“My name is Glen Matthews, I’m calling about Bill Matthews, he’s my brother. He was attacked in Texas last year and I’ve just read a letter from a woman named Tami and I was hoping I could speak to her.”
There was no reply but Glen could hear the woman breathing.
“Hello, are you there?” asked Glen.
“I’m Tami.”
“Hi Tami. You say in your letter you know what happened the night Bill was attacked.”
“Has Bill killed anyone?”
“Excuse me?”
“It's a simple question Mr.”
“Yes there have been murders but I don’t imagine for a second that Bill is responsible.”
The line went silent again. “Hello, are you still there?” asked Glen.
“He’s going to keep killing, you have to tell the authorities.”
“Wait, none of this makes sense.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Bill took the job that was my boyfriend’s. My boyfriend was attacked and became something indescribable. He was killed by the authorities the night he attacked Bill, it was all covered up by the local police. Now Bill has this thing inside of him that has needs and wants and Bill will keep changing into it. I know this makes no sense but he needs to be stopped and the only way to stop him is to kill him.”
The line went dead.
“Hello, hello.” said Glen. Tami had hung up the phone and when Glen called back a message said the person was unavailable.
Glen remembered the scratch marks in Bill’s apartment and the smashed front door. Had he changed into something and then started a killing spree?
As the months went by Glen had a map on his wall with several pins for every location where he knew Bill had been. Bill’s likeness was now everywhere, it was believed he was the murderer and Glen knew he had to find him.
Tami’s warning was constantly on Glen’s mind, as ridiculous as it sounded to him. But now the murders were moving closer to home and Glen finally had some luck, Bill had used an ATM two days before near a hotel.
Glen walked into the hotel and showed the person in the hotel reception a photograph of Bill. The person told Glen that Bill had just checked out an hour ago and he said he was walking towards the downtown area the last time he saw him.
Glen got into his car and drove in that direction. It was dusk and the day was slowly turning into night. Just as he was about to give up he saw Bill walking into an alleyway. He parked his car and headed that way. He pulled up his collar, it was now dark, the sky was cloudless and there was a chill in the air. As he walked down the alleyway he saw Bill standing by a green dumpster.
“Bill.” Glen shouted.
Bill looked at Glen with a shocked expression on his face.
“Glen, stop there, get away from me, go.” His voice sounded different.
“It’s okay, we can fix this. Let me help you.”
“You can’t help me. You need to leave, now.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” replied Glen.
“Go.” Bill shouted.
He turned around and Glen watched. He couldn’t see much in the darkness of the alleyway but there was something different about Bill. When he turned to face him Glen was terrified.
It was Bill but different. He was bigger and a bad smell came from him. He growled in a demonic way that reminded Glen of old horror movies. And then it was on him.
***
“So that’s everything we know. We searched Glen Matthews’s house. It looks like he was trying to trace his brother Bill Matthews’s whereabouts.” said the detective.
“And Bill Matthews has been confirmed as the killer we’ve all been looking for,” said another detective.
“And the footage we have of that thing killing Glen Matthews?” asked the Captain.
“Locked away like you asked sir.”