My Last Mystery

I step into the pitch black alley where a horrific scene must have occured. All of the garbage cans are tipped over, their contents scattered about. Oh, gosh, I found a blood splatter. This can't be good. Wherever could she be? I run the basic detective logic through my head and take panoramic pictures of the scene in front of me. So I don't miss anything and in case the perpetrator comes back and moves objects around.

"Are ya done yet, sir?" a police officer,with a tag that read GREEN, asked me. Ok, one picture ruined so far. No thanks to him.

"Almost, and don't call me sir! My name is Freeman, Cobalt Freeman." I replied harshly. Green steps back one. Good. I dislike intruders of any sort. "All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream, Mr. Green." I pat him on the back as I walk past. "All yours."

"You a Poe fan?" Green questions before I leave.

"Why, yes. Yes, I am."

Why did I ever take this case? Beacuse Pam Asbury is your best friend's girl. Thats why. I answer myself. I've found that I'm talking to myself more and more each day.

As to who Cobalt Freeman is, well I'll tell you. I stand about 5 feet tall, am a 25 year old male, have long black hair with one blue streak, am slightly built but not fat, and am one of the best detectives in the area. My best friend, Maverick Branbuck, has not seen his girlfriend for two days. He has reported her missing and now I have to find her. Amber, one of Pam's friends, told me she had left Pam at this alley to wait for her this morning. When she came back, she found the scene and called me. Then she called Maverick, but couldn't get an answer.

Hope this is the right one. Knock, knock. "Amber, are you home?" I call through the door. A faint answer. "Who is it?"

"Cobalt."

She opens the door. "Hey, how've you been? Any word on Pam? Come in and sit. Do you need a drink?"

"Quite fine, thanks. Pam is what I came to ask you about."

"Oh, what about?"

"Do you both share any passwords?"

"Yes, e-mail, but I never log in as her and read hers. She didn't give it to Maverick though, she said there wasn't enough trust between them yet."

"I'm going to need you to do just that now."

"All right, hold on." She leaves me in the room and gets on her computer. "Here it is. You want to see?"

"Of course, that's why I asked. Anything weird about what she's been getting?" I walk back to her room and sit beside her. There are four emails from an odd name. Hit_man@ dbzmail.com. Huh, that's not any of our e mails. "Click on the first one from Hit man," I watch as she clicks. It opens.

"'I know who you are; you don't know me. Let's play a game. You are the hunted, I'm the hunter. What am I hunting? Well, that's for me to know, and you to find out.'"

Amber stares in disbelief at the screen. "She never said anything about threat letters, Second one. 'I know where you live, I know your activities. I, the hunter, get closer to my prey.' Third. 'Tomorrow watch your back. I'm out there, you know. Ahh, my sweet prey, I'll get you soon.' I guess he got his prey. Is there any way we could find out who this 'Hit man' is?"

"Yeah. Can we see the fourth one?"

"Opening. 'To those of you who read this, you'll never find me. Your Beloved Pam, and the others, are with me and are quite fine, in my view. She'll be alright for now, I'm keeping her alive. She may wish herself dead, too, just like some of the others she sees beside her. Quite a collection I've got here. Pam is one of the most beautiful ones here out of them all. They are all beautiful to me. That is what I'm hunting for--beauty--and it's not that hard to find around here. Hugs and kisses. Hit man.' Oh, gosh. How can someone hunt people like that?"

"They can and they will. Some people live under the belief that it's not bad until you get caught. They think they are god. I know it sounds wrong in your head, but it's quite right in their's. That's all I needed. So, if you don't mind, I'll go home and see if I can't find who this Hit man is."

"Bye, then."

"Bye. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Bye."

Ah, the peace and quiet of my own home. Let's see who this Hit man is. I'll just get onto yahoo e-mail, click on profiles, and enter Hit man. Ah-Ha! here it is; Hit man's whole profile and a picture! Yeah. Oh, no! It can't be! Maverick isn't a killer; and why would he report her missing two days before?

Going to Maverick's apartment, I think about the past week. Three other girls have gone missing, other than Pam. In this area, too. Maverick has been acting kind of strange lately. Pam hasn't seemed concerned at all about him, or anything else for that matter. Did she not believe the emails? Where is he keeping the girls, if it is him? I'll just have to wait till I arrive at his apartment. I'm his friend. Why did he do this, if he knows I'm a detective?

Knock, knock. "Maverick, you home, Man?" No answer. I knock louder. "Maverick, you home?" Ahh, I hear him coming to the door.

"Hey, Cobalt, what you doing here at this time of night?" I forgot it was 9:00pm.

"I was looking for Pam, and I thought she might be here."

"Don't know where she went. I reported her missing."

"I think you do, Hit man. What about the other girls? Where are they? E-mail is great evidence."

"I didn't send Pam those four e-mails. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I don't believe I said how many e-mails there were. Amber said you don't have her password either."

Maverick looks down. "Alright, come in, I'll explain." Good, you better. You have yourself in a big pot of water now.

"Mind if I tape?"

"Not at all. I knew this day would come sometime." Click. "I never thought I'd be one of those people. You know, the ones they call psycho and mentaly ill. Then I get this itch in the back of my brain telling me I need blood, beauty, and girls, but I didn't listen for a while. This itch kept telling me and showing me how easy it was to get the things I need. I thought one would kill the itch, but it didn't. I started with homeless girls, the ones without family, so no one would care or notice. Then the itch got bigger, hungier, needier, and I couldn't take it. That's why Pam's not here. I rented a space down at the storage, number 12-8-03. They don't ask why, just how long. There are only three girls, not including Pam. She is still alive."

"That's enough to get you for murder. Now, how did they die?"

"Well, for the homeless girls, I just sneaked up behind them, gaged them and led them off. Then I beat them a while, till they bled, and layed them out on the tables I had bought. I figured they died from the blood loss and possible fractures in their skulls. The itch never told me to kill them, that's just what happened when I was done.

What I was told to do to Pam was a lot harsher than the other girls. I was supposed to beat her senseless, take her to the pond down the street, then drown and leave her. I couldn't do it. That's how the e-mails fit in. I wanted to scare Pam away from the area. Make her leave, so I couldn't let it happen. She didn't leave. so I had to take her to the storage space." Maverick looks down at the floor as he finishes his confession.

"Now what?"

"I guess you take me down town."

"No. That's my friend Green's job. Come on in Green," I call to the door.

Green steps in."Yes, Freeman?"

"Take Mr. Branbuck down to station will you? Here is the confession tape. It should answer all the investigator's questions."

"Of course," Green replys to my request.