Note: To better understand the events in Part 3 of my story - please read "Thorn in the Flesh ~Part 1" and "Thorn in the Flesh ~Part 2" if you haven't done so already. :-D
Dear readers, I am so sorry for taking so long with the third edition to my story, but I was sick last week and couldn't write during that time. Hence, I am writing now and I hope you enjoy the conclusion to this series.
He could not fathom it at all. The killer was just always two steps ahead. She was quite a mystery - or, at least he thought it was a 'she'. David Johnson sat in his study and frowned at the copy of the case file on his table. Two days and nothing had happened - no more bodies, no more clues.
His cellphone rang and he saw that it was Peter. He answered the call with a semi-hopeless tone, "Yeah... David..."
"The forensics department is up to-! Well... you know that some of them are not brilliant at their work." Peter Goodall yelled into the phone. "No leads, and no evidence giving us anything really -except if you want the victim's blood type?"
"I knew it-! And no - I don't care about the blood type."
"Of course, there was one particularly strange note found engraved on the victim's back with -what probably was a knife." Peter said as if it was small news.
David jumped off his chair, "Well!? What does it say!?"
"Come and see... I reckon you remember where 'cold storage' is?" Peter asked and sounded as unexcited as he could.
"I'll be there in 5 min..." David ended the call and stormed out of the study room. Their bedroom door was closed. His wife was probably busy with the Bible and with God again. He ran down the hall and opened the door. He poked his head through. It seemed she wasn't busy with God again, but packing for her visit to her parents. She would be flying to Johannesburg later that afternoon. "Are you... uh... ready? I will be visiting the morgue.....forensics sniffed out something."
"I'm fine thanks... You go along... Bye" Christina said and smiled sadly at him.
"I will be here to take you to the airport, bye babe." David shut the door and ran to his garage, as soon as his automatic garage door opened, he peeled out of it with his car and sped down the road. In the wake of his hurry, the garage door slowly and gently lowered as if it was on holiday.
"Peter, you said that forensics coughed up something?" David said as he put on his jacket. Not only was the morgue cold for the corpses in the metal drawers, but it was also cold for the living bodies walking about its eerie corridors. They walked past rows of deceased, neatly tucked away with only numbers to identify them. They were following a short, hasty fellow in a white lab coat. The man was so short that two of his steps were the same as one step given by a man of average height, and yet, both David and Peter had to walk quite fast to keep up with him.
"Yes, a peculiar message inscribed on the victim's back..." Peter said and the man in front of them suddenly stopped in front of a specifically numbered metal 'fridge' drawer. He pulled it open and the drawer hinges on which it slid out squeaked. The woman was laying on her face. The short man got on a small step ladder that he had been carrying. He put his spectacles on and this made him look somewhat like a crazy professor from a movie.
"See, gentlemen, the message on her back, was not done by an amateur, but by an expert in the art of tattooing."
"What makes you think that Professor?" David said in a sort of mocking tone. He had heard many "corpse speeches" in his life, and this man sounded like he would just be giving one of those highly detailed explanations about a dead body that really meant nothing -but made sure that he kept his job.
"The marks are consistent with those applied by a tattoo machine, but just, this one didn't contain ink."
"Well that is just amazing," David said mockingly again, and followed with more urgency, "can you tell me what it says, please?"
The short man frowned deeply, "The inscription is as follows: 'Before the special flea takes a bird to fly about in the sky, I will have it squished'."
"That is what happens next..." Peter said in thought.
The Professor got off his chair and closed the drawer. He handed both David and Peter photos of the inscription and a piece of paper on which it was written. "Good luck boys," the short man said as he folded up his small step ladder, "and good day to you." The man picked up his step ladder and hastily walked away.
"Lunatic... He has seen too many dead bodies..." Peter said and frowned.
"Focus man!" David bellowed.
"Huh? Oh, right..." Peter said and started walking down the corridor.
David frowned, "Where the bloody hell are you going?"
Peter turned around, "I want my coffee, or I won't function. You coming boss?"
David nodded and walked after him.
"Ok Babe, I'll come and pick you up in an hour, bye." David put his phone on the coffee shop table and sighed. They had been sitting there for an hour and had solved nothing about the inscription on the body.
Peter sat up straighter, "You heading out to dinner with Christina?"
"No, my wife is going to the in-laws this evening." David said and Peter nodded.
They sat for a while in silence, and then Peter snapped out of thought, "Aren't your in-laws in Johannesburg?"
"Well, yeah, why?" David said and shrugged his shoulder.
"How will she get there?" Peter asked semi-excited and sort of terrified at the same time.
"By plane of course. Now what the hell does that have to do with any-"
"Before the special flea takes a bird to fly about in the sky, I will have it squished." Peter smiled knowingly and jumped up. He tossed a pile of cash on the counter as he payed for the coffee and he hastily said to the waiter, "That should cover the coffee -keep the change."
David jumped up and they ran to Peter's car. They had solved the riddle, and David knew the identity of the criminal.
David drove his wife to the airport. It was a silent trip.
"And you're sure the next victim will be me?" Christina asked worriedly.
David said nothing, but simply nodded. He gave her a photo of a person -a woman- and said slowly, "Study that picture well. If... When... Whether you see this person approaching you or not, go to the ladies' bathroom -after you've passed the gate- into the last cubicle on the right - I will be there. You let me worry about what happens next." The airport came up in front of them.
"Dave..." Christina's voice tailed off, "I'm scared..."
David said nothing and found a parking space. He switched off the engine and looked at his wife, "So am I..." He got out of the car and fetched his wife's luggage out of the trunk. They entered the airport...
The "Domestic Departure" side of the airport was strangely 'quiet'. David got a call from Peter -who had notified the airport security staff of the possibility of an assassination attempt, and had set a plan in motion to catch the criminal.
"Yes? Is this the courier service?" David pretended to talk to someone else, but was talking to Peter in a code they understanded.
"Yeah, it's me, Peter. All is set."
"Ah yes! I hope you managed to send my parcel to the correct location?"
"Yeah, a small bag with fluid and a pipe in the last cubicle -pop the lid of the toilet and you will find it."
"Great! Have a good day -and stay sharp, I need my parcels always delivered on time."
"Yes sir..." Peter said and hung up.
David's heart raced. "Calm down Christina." He smiled at her, "Everyone has to fly for their first time." He meant the mission that he had planned, not the actual flying part.
"I know, it's just... I will be nervous till it's over!" She said and hugged him.
"I want you to know, that no matter what happens, I love you." He whispered in her ear.
"I love you too, Dave."
After they had checked in -much earlier than usual, and after Christina's baggage was taken care of, David walked her to the gate, the one before the boarding gate.
"Well now... this is it... goodbye love, and send my regards to your parents." He said and hugged her. She looked up at him and kissed him.
"Goodbye David..."
She walked through and waved at him as she went passed. David glanced on his watch and nodded as he thought, 'I have 30 minutes to make it to the ladies' bathroom'.
He sat in the cubicle on the toilet with his legs held up as to calm his nerves... The ladies' lavatory had been blocked off so that the cleaner could clean the toilet without being bothered. He heard one set of footsteps, and he heard all the other cubicle doors being locked, except his. 'Hmm, MacGyver is in the house, he has to use a coin to lock the door.'
David thought, and wanted to giggle at the thought but managed to restrain himself. The doors extended from the bottom of the floor to the roof of the bathroom. He held his breathe as he saw a shadow stand near the opening of his cubicle. His door hung on an angle and it appeared slightly closed. David panicked, the shadow could push it open to see if it was empty, but it simply walked away, opened another cubicle that it had locked, and seemed to lock itself in that cubicle. 'I've got you now...' David thought to himself as he breathed as quietly as possible and sat very still.
Another set of footsteps shyly entered the bathroom and made it's way to the last cubicle. This time, the shadow belonged to his wife. As she pushed the door open, he simply held his forefinger to his mouth and she stayed silent...
She locked the cubicle, pretended to loosen her belt, and made an audible noise. The other cubicle opened and footsteps slowly approached their cubicle. David saw that Christina started shaking. He simply held his hand out and showed her to sit on the toilet as he got up from it. She sat and scuffled with her feet to conceal the noise of his feet.
The cubicles were oddly larger than normal. Christina pulled down her pants and revealed a short that she had put on underneath. She sat on the lavatory seat and David pressed a bag he had in his hand. It was filled with water, and had a pipe leading to the toilet, the sound created by the water from the bag falling in the toilet simulated a person urinating. David shook his head, his only hiding place was behind the door, he would have to be quick to stop the killer. His heart skipped a few beats. He realized that the killer could kill his wife before he lunged from behind the door, and didn't know what to expect. He prayed silently, 'God, please just save us..."
The shadow somehow unlocked the cubicle door from the outside, David hid behind the door as he planned. The door slowly opened and Christina recoiled her legs and shook her head in horror at the person who "interrupted her while she was doing her 'business'". The person walked in and didn't notice David who stood behind the door. The person who came into the bathroom drew a knife and held it over his/her head. The person snickered in a husky sort of voice, "Nothing personal, to you..." and was about to bring the knife down when David lunged from behind the door, grabbed the arm with the knife and pulled it backward. He aimed a punch for the kidney area and struck with some force, the person cried out in pain and surprise. David knew in a split-second that it was the woman he had his suspicions about. He removed the knife from her hand and tossed her out of the cubicle onto the floor.
"This isn't over! I will kill you both right now!" The woman shouted, held her kidney area, stumbled to her feet, and pulled out a gun made of porcelain -something that metal scanners would never detect. She aimed it at Christina and David knew he had no way of stopping her. He jumped in front of Christina. The woman became angry. "Out of my way David! She must go first!"
"No... I can't let you do that Barbara..."
"I will!"
"No!!!" David shouted. And held his position.
"Alright then... Have it your way..." Barbara aimed at David's heart and cocked the gun. She was about to pull the trigger when the electronic sound of a gun's silencer sounded. Barbara's eyes widened as a bullet hit her wrist. She dropped the gun as she cried out in pain. David lunged forward and kicked the gun away. He grabbed Barbara and dragged her towards the door. Peter put his gun in its holster. Police handcuffed Barbara and took her away. David ran back into the bathroom and found Christina sobbing. She jumped off the toilet and almost ran David over as she hugged him. She was still shaking.
"I was so scared." She cried and he just held her.
He kissed her head and looked up at the ceiling, "Thank you God... thank You..."
Peter shook his head, "How did you ever know it was her? How did you know it was one of your staff members?"
David smiled, "I know my staff at the music school. No footage of the criminal at the first murder, the killer is a 'tattoo-artist', and knows music... It all somehow just added up. There is only one person at the music school that could fit this category; the Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra - Barbara Thatcher. She has various tattoos and I have seen a profile picture of her giving someone a tattoo. I also know that there is a specific secret passage in the music school. She could have used it to hide in after the first murder and then wait till we left to commit the next murder -that's why no one left the music school according to the camera footage."
"Dear me..." Peter said and shook his head.
"All in a day's work Peter..."
"You wouldn't fancy coming to lead the office again?"
"Hmm, I'll consider it..." David said and smiled as he nodded. He walked over to his wife, as she answered a few questions for the police. As the Police inspector saw David, he nodded at Christina and walked away.
"God helped me... Christina, I know there was no way that the plan would work... the door was too far away from the toilet and I had almost no space to lunge... if God didn't help me lunge, then there was no way I would have humanly made it." David said and hugged her.
"Thank you Almighty Father for helping us..." Christina said and closed her eyes. David kissed her forehead, put his hand around her and they walked away from the scene.
"Let's go home Christina."
"I'd like that very much..."