Mind of a Killer Read online

  “Why are you still doing this to me? My life is already ruined, you have murdered my sister. I have been removed from the biggest case of my career and now face losing my job…”

  The Hacker snapped at the outburst from Rivers. In the blink of an eye he had his hand wrapped around Rivers throat and starred into his eyes. As he shouted in Rivers face he was splattered by spit from the snapping jaws of The Hacker.

  “Listen to you, moaning like a little bitch. You are so pathetic at times, yet you have the potential to be so much more. You do not deserve this body or this life. Squandering it as you mope around feeling sorry for yourself.” Abruptly The Hacker let go of Rivers’ throat. Rivers coughed loudly as he regained his breath.

  “These people here are nothing more than cattle and deserve to be slaughtered. Perhaps you should try it for yourself; you may find that you enjoy it!”

  Rivers regained his breath and tried to move but found himself frozen to the chair. His muscles simply refused to move although he instructed them to do so.

  The Hacker turned his attention to where Rivers’ aunt had been seated. As he looked at the spot, Rivers’ Aunt Rebecca slowly faded back into her chair next to Rivers. She sat there motionless and frozen as if she was just a projected image. Closely he eyed her up and down whilst sickening drool salivated from his mouth.

  “She will do nicely,” he said as he closely examined the middle aged woman.

  “I believe with your sister now deceased she would be your next of kin?”

  Rivers tried to say something, say anything but his mouth refused to open and his vocal chords remained idle.

  “Well Ian. I would love to stay and continue our chat but there is simply too much work for me to do! I look forward to seeing you again.”

  Reaching down The Hacker took hold of Rebecca under the arm and stood her up into a standing position. Rebecca’s face showed no expression or emotion as she was led away from the graveyard by The Hacker. As The Hacker and Rivers’ Aunt Rebecca left the funeral the surreal vision world faded away to return Rivers to reality.

  Next to Rivers the seat occupied by his Aunt was now empty. Somehow his aunt who was escorted away in his dream had been in reality.

  In panic Rivers looked around the assembled mourners to see if she had simply moved. Nobody questioned or even acknowledged Rivers as he took to his feet to search for his Aunt Rebecca. Unable to see her Rivers decided it was time to lay chase and see if he could catch The Hacker.

  As Rivers left the service, the Vicar continued the service regardless. Nobody even seemed to notice that he had left.

  Reaching into his jacket pocket, Rivers removed his cell phone. Pressing a key combination to unlock the screen he found he had a text message from Karl.

  ‘Sorry I am not at the funeral. Have been called into work. Karl.’

  Rivers cleared the screen as he selected Karl’s contact number. He needed to contact him straight away to advise him that The Hacker was about to strike again.

  The phone rang several times before being cut off. Although he had sufficient cell signal showing, the call would not go through. Hitting the reply button Rivers sent a text message instead to advise his partner.

  ‘Karl its Rivers. I’ve had another vision. He’s going after my aunt! I’m in pursuit now.’

  Clearing the screen again, Rivers searched for Karl’s office number and tried that. Rivers departed the graveyard and ran down the only road that led away from the church.

  As his vision showed them walking away he had to assume that his aunt had been escorted away on foot. With his aunt’s age he had every chance of catching them on foot before they got too far.

  The phone rang three times before being answered.

  “Karl Peterson’s extension” The voice at the other end of the line was female in tone.

  “Can you put me on to Karl please?”

  “I am afraid he is attending a funeral today. Can I take a message?”

  “He left me a message to say he had been called into the office?”

  “I have not seen him all day. Is that Ian?”

  “Yeah it’s Ian.”

  “Have you tried calling his cell?”

  “I tried but the call won’t go through!”

  “I will let him know you called when he does call into the office. I’m surprised he was not at the funeral?”

  Rivers terminated the call in frustration. Where the hell was Karl? There was a killer on the loose and Karl had decided to go incommunicado.

  Locking his phone, Rivers placed it back into his jacket pocket. Looking ahead he could not see his Aunt or The Hacker but he had an overwhelming feeling they were both nearby. He could feel that The Hacker was calling him, almost encouraging Rivers to find him. The street he now ran down looked very familiar as he realised where they were heading to. Several streets away was his Aunt’s house. The Hacker was going to murder her in her own home as he had done with Rivers’ sister.

  Chapter 6

  Rivers ran to a stop outside his Aunt Rebecca’s house. In front of him the gate to her front garden stood open and swung freely in the wind. It had clearly been left open; something his Aunt was always meticulous about was keeping it closed.

  Out of breath and feeling clammy from his exertion, Rivers pushed past the swinging gate and made his way down the long path towards his Aunt’s house.

  The lawn was neatly cut and well presented. The flower beds were well maintained and bursting with colour.

  His Aunt Rebecca took great pride in her garden and was meticulous with keeping it in the best possible condition. Although she now hired a gardener to help in her advancing years, she still took an active role in its maintenance.

  As he ran down the path towards the house the weather began to turn. Great black clouds now filled the sky as the brightness of the sun was removed from the day. It was clear a large thunderstorm was on its way.

  Distant rumbling could be heard as Rivers ran up to the front door of his Aunt’s house. The door was deep red in colour and highly polished. As a child, Rivers had always been mesmerised by how reflective the surface was and had played with his reflection. As he looked into the reflective surface Rivers could see the child version of himself staring back.

  Shaking his head, Rivers snapped himself out of it. He knew he had little time to waste. Putting the distant memory to one side, Rivers quietly nudged the door open as he entered the house.

  Behind him the heavens opened as rain heavily hammered down outside in a freak downpour. The noise loud as the rain hit the ground with force.

  Inside, the house was dim and quiet. With the light dimmed due to the heavy cloud, the house appeared quite gloomy.

  Rivers noted how silent the house was. There was barely a sound as he crept through the porch and headed into the kitchen.

  In the kitchen nothing looked out of place. It was clean and well kept, exactly as his Aunt always kept it. So far there was no sign of a struggle, nor did anything look out of the ordinary.

  Remaining as quiet as he could, Rivers edged his way further into the house. Examining the laminate kitchen floor tiles on the way there was no sign of foot prints against the immaculately clean floor.

  Departing the kitchen and entering a hallway which ran parallel to a living room, something caught in the corner of Rivers eye. Beside him was a large mirror but the reflection was yet again out of the ordinary.

  The image in the mirror was that of Rivers at a young age. Although young and youthful in appearance, the eyes portrayed menace and anger. It was clear that the young Rivers meant trouble.

  Rivers felt almost frozen to the spot as he watched the small eyes looking back. After several moments he managed to force a few words from his vocal chords.

  “Who are you?” asked Rivers aloud to the mirror reflection of his young self. He felt almost crazy for doing it but there was every chance it was yet another vision.

  The face looked back blankly although the eyes showed understan
ding.

  “I would of thought you would have recognised me, even after all these years?” said the young Rivers as he spoke back to the much older Rivers.

  “You were a figment of my imagination, an imaginary friend. Why can I see you? What are you doing here?”

  “I have always been more than a figment of your imagination. Much more Ian.”

  “What do you want?” asked Rivers directly to the mirror.

  “I want you to understand. There is a lot you could learn but you are not ready to listen.”

  “Listen to what? I don’t understand what you are on about?”

  “Remember when I first appeared? Do you remember what happened that day?”

  “I haven’t got time for this. I need to stop a serial killer from murdering my Aunt. I don’t have time for a nervous breakdown or what ever type of episode you represent in my subconscious.”

  “There was a reason for my creation…”

  “The reason was what happened to me. I needed an escape, to take my mind off what happened. I was so young and so helpless…”

  “Understand why I came to be and you may have more answers that you desperately seek. I warn you though; you will not enjoy the answers you find.”

  “Answers? Answers to what?”

  “You can really be pathetic sometimes Ian. The answers stare you in the face yet you can not see. The Hacker is close to you yet you cannot catch him. He knows what you think yet you struggle to read his thoughts. Why do you struggle to read his thoughts when he is so close to you?”

  “The Hacker? Hey! This is all starting to make sense!” Rivers began to shout and the mirror image of himself.

  “I should have recognised the look in your eye! Use the image of a long distant imaginary friend of mine to slow me down; well it’s not going to work. I’m going to find you Hacker and I’m going to kill you!”

  Rivers clenched his fist tightly as he pulled his arm back fast. In the blink of an eye he punched his fist squarely into the mirror. The force would have been sufficient to reduce the glass mirror to a pile of shattered glass but to Rivers amazement nothing happened.

  The young Rivers reflected in the mirror laughed at the top of his lungs whilst Rivers nursed his fist. To his surprise he found there was no mark or scratches to his fist. It was if he had never even punched the mirror.

  “You can be incredibly stupid Ian,” said the young Rivers as he stepped out of the mirror into the hallway. As he did so he grew in height and physically aged. Rivers now found an exact copy of himself standing before him.

  The duplicate Rivers smirked as he reached into his pocket and withdrew several articles. Most noticeably was an apparent used handkerchief and a small plastic bag containing several human hairs.

  “Does this look more familiar to you?” said the apparition standing before Rivers.

  “Hopefully puts you more at ease?”

  “At ease! You piece of shit. What the hell are you doing?!”

  “Well, I don’t very well fancy being caught. I assume I would be looking at a hefty prison sentence. Well, I don’t know, I should ask you! What kind of sentence would I be looking at?”

  “As it stands several concurrent life sentences…”

  “My thoughts exactly Mr Rivers. Now, if you were me, or should I say if I were you…” The Hacker sniggered to himself before finishing his sentence. He was clearly enjoying himself pretending to be Rivers.

  “You would not take a fancy to such a long sentence. As much fun as prison would be I’m sure it would be a bore compared to the fun that is available in the free world.”

  The Hacker raised the bag of hair to eye level. Rivers tried to swipe for it but his hand simply passed through the bag.

  “Keep up with me Ian. You will understand soon enough,” said The Hacker as he opened the bag.

  “You see, I will do anything to avoid prison. And I mean anything. I mean, why go to prison myself and live amongst society’s rabble when someone else can do the time for me? Can you think of anyone who would be gracious enough to cover it for me?”

  “You’re going to frame me aren’t you?” asked Rivers as he attempted to grab the man before him. Again his hands just passed straight through him.

  “Oh no, not you my dear Ian. It would be a frightful bore if you were behind bars! No, I had somebody else in mind.” As The Hacker finished his sentence his form changed into that of Rivers partner and closest friend Karl Peterson. A smile broke out across the murderer’s face as he watched Rivers reaction.

  “Well, unfortunately only you can see me like this Ian. It’s a pity as it would make a stronger case if I could murder your Aunt in this guise! Oh well, I will just have to make do with good ol’ fashioned planting of DNA and hair samples.”

  The Hacker moved away slowly from Rivers and walked towards the base of a large staircase. Taking a moment he paused before ascending the stairs and looked back at Rivers.

  “If you have not figured it out, you’re not actually here. You are sound asleep at your own sister’s funeral! Oh how embarrassing. I do not know how you will live that one down. When you wake up I’m sure you will want to rush on down here as quick as you can to catch me in the act. Well feel free, and make sure you bring those forensic boys down with you! They will be in for a treat…” Finished with his gloating, The Hacker began to ascend the staircase. As he did so, the world around Rivers faded away gracefully before distant screams erupted from the vision. The sound sent shivers down Rivers spine as he realised with horror that they were the screams of his Aunt.

  As the dream world faded away Rivers found himself returning to reality. Waking up in shock, Rivers looked around where he had been sitting whilst attending the funeral but everybody had gone. In front of him stood the Vicar who had concern stated across his face.

  “My child, I did not mean to startle you,” said the Vicar politely.

  Rivers felt confused. The vision had felt so real. Usually he was able to tell the difference but in this case something did not seem right.

  “My apologies Father, I do not know what came over me. Has the service been over long?”

  “Almost an hour. I thought everybody had gone. I did not notice you sitting out here all alone.”

  Rivers shook his head. He felt so confused. Why had he been left all alone at his sister’s funeral?

  “Why did nobody wake me?” asked Rivers. It seemed strange that he had been left there. It made no sense.

  “I have no answer for you my child. As I say I thought everybody had left. Can I ask though, did your Aunt get home all right? She seemed so tired and distant…” the Vicar said as he shook his head.

  Rivers sat bolt upright as the realisation sank in. The memory of the vision came rushing back as he realised what had seen. Reaching into his pocket Rivers pulled out his cell phone. As quick as he could Rivers tapped at the keys before placing the handset next to his ear. Ian needed to call Karl and advise him what was about to happen, or possible had already happened.

  Chapter 7

  “This is horseshit!” Exclaimed Karl Peterson as he sat handcuffed behind an interview desk. The chair next to him which was reserved for his attorney remained vacant. Knowing his innocence he had as yet refused to call his lawyer.

  “Karl, forensics have recovered several hair and DNA samples from the scene, samples recovered directly from the victim. The DNA matches the samples recovered from two other crime scenes. The gig’s up, we caught you Hacker!”

  Karl slammed his clenched fist into the interview table in front of him. He was clearly aggravated.

  “He has set me up! I’ve been working the case; I recovered most of the evidence. If it was me, surely I would have cleaned the crime scene up better than leaving evidence to implicate myself! Why would I leave samples where you can find them?”

  “We will ask the questions thank you Mr Peterson,” said the other interview cop.

  Karl knew them both well. He had worked with them for years. Troy Sand
ers and Steve McMorris were the names and to be fair, he had never particularly got on with them. No wonder they had been assigned to his interrogation.

  “Where were you during the hours of 2pm and 4pm yesterday afternoon?”

  “I was due to attend Jessica Rivers’ funeral but I received a call from the office asking me to come in. On my way though I had a cell call from an unknown number saying he had information regarding The Hacker so I had to take a detour to the old Industrial Site on the west side of town.”

  “Any witnesses?” asked Steve as he leaned closer to Karl.

  “When I arrived, there was nobody around. Must have been a crank call. I looked around the old facility but there was nothing there. After that I drove back towards the office where I received a call from Ian advising me of his latest vision.”

  “Interesting story Karl. Unfortunately with the science we have here it doesn’t wash…”

  “Check the local traffic cameras and you will see I’m telling the truth.”

  “Well we will see about that wont we Karl. Sure we will play your game but when the camera recordings don’t corroborate your story then it becomes pretty clear what you are. Always had my suspicions about you and your creepy friend. Seemed a bit too much of a freaky friendship going on. You know with all the spooky powers. I would not be surprised if he is as implicated in all this as you are.”

  Troy opened up an evidence draw at the back of the interrogation room and removed a large item sealed in a plastic bag. Holding it in one hand he walked back over to the interview table. His footsteps echoed loudly in the room as if making it seem all the more dramatic.

  “If you are innocent, as you say you are Karl. Then why did we find this blood soaked machete embedded in the victim with a single piece of your hair lodged in the wooden grip of the handle?” asked Troy as he placed the murder weapon on the table.

  “Does the blade look familiar at all? Please take a close look,” said Steve as he rested his hand on his sidearm.