Chapter 24 TWO: THE EYE OF A WOLF
Derik ran past the uniformed officers on duty, pushing through them. Kept running at a moderately swift pace down the hallway until he finally got to William’s office.
Without knocking, he pushed the door open rather forcefully and rushed inside. The men inside were staring blankly at him as he entered. William was engaged in a conversation with Lawrence until he interrupted.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lawrence quarrelled, raising his voice at him. “You walk in here without even bothering to knock.” he berated, sounding pissed. “It’s almost as if you’re begging to get fired.”
“I am really sorry for the way I barged in, but this is really urgent.” he heaved, taking a second to catch his breath. “I just uncovered T-Rex’s true identity.” his voice held an upbeat note. “And you’d be surprised at what I found.”
Lawrence’s eyes widened.
William got up quickly. “Tell me who he is. I want to know the bastard that is responsible for kidnapping my daughter and murdering Elena!” he grunted under his breath.
Derik felt a chill of terror. William’s resentment for the man that’d kidnapped his daughter was just ineffable—far greater than he’d imagined. “He goes by the name Cedric,” he started off, then dropped a photograph of Cedric on the desk and continued, “Was serving as SIAS officer in Fallout defence department but moved down to this city shortly after his retirement.”
From the corners of his eyes, he saw that Lawrence’s interest had been piqued.
“Two days ago, T-Rex had tried to kidnap Natasha but failed—thanks to our collective effort to stop him. He’d fled that room—severely injured—through the window, leaving behind some blood samples. I ran DNA test on it, and—shockingly, it matches Cedric’s.” he took out a file and placed it on the table before them. “The result came out just a few minutes ago.”
William picked up both the photograph of Cedric and the report from the table and gazed at them.
“At first, it didn’t make any sense how two completely different persons could have matching DNA, but after witnessing what happened back there at your apartment yesterday—the incidence with the shape shifter that was shot by the weird creature—I have no reason to doubt the integrity and validity of this report. There is no mistake. Cedric is T-Rex.” he concluded.
They were all wrapped in silence.
“Why haven’t I heard anything about a retired military personnel living here in this city, especially one so highly decorated?” William inquired with an arched eyebrow. Then he turned to Lawrence, who’d leaned back in his chair, looking totally relaxed. “Do you know anything about this SIAS officer?”
“I’m sure I’d remember,” he said—still relaxed. “You know what baffles me the most about this; it’s how an officer so highly ranked could pass our notice. How has he kept such a low profile?”
His question was met with a blank stare. That was the same question on everyone’s mind.
He directed his gaze at William. “I’ll look into this myself, but first you need to verify all that Mr. Rushford has said about this supposed SIAS officer.”
William picked up the telephone on the table and dialled Alex. Shortly after, Alex’s voice was heard over the phone. “Hello Inspector, we’ve got a new lead. A name just turned up—Cedric. Source says he’s a retired SIAS officer with the Fallout defence department. He could be our serial killer. Pull up a search on him—shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
“Right away sir.” Alex answered and hung up.
William was unease, unlike Lawrence who sat back, totally relaxed. He finally looked up at Derik. “Do you have any more relevant information, anything that could help track him—family, origin, age, address, anything at all?”
“He lives in a little bungalow at the intersection between Huffman Street and Bill’s Avenue. You should also know this; he’s been sheltering Kevin in his house since the incidence that happened over a year ago.”
His last sentence piqued Lawrence’s interest.
“Kevin?” The name sounded too familiar—where did I hear that name?
Of course, He finally remembered. The sad kid at City Park.
“Quite an interesting character, Mr. Logan.” Lawrence finally said, looking up at Derik. “Does he still live with this Cedric?”
“He left that house after Cedric threatened him.” Derik said. “Few days back, Kevin had discovered that Cedric is a member of Beocraft. Cedric threatened him, and that’s when he left his apartment to stay with Mr. Landry—his best friend. Shortly after he started living with him, Landry was murdered at his apartment and his body was dumped at City Park. I believe you must have already heard.”
“Today, I made Kevin confront Cedric to give us any lead that could help us find Natasha. And when he went down there, he didn’t find Cedric at home. Instinctively, he searched his apartment, and that’s when he found out the truth about Cedric.”
Lawrence became even more interested in Kevin. “I would like a word with Mr. Logan.” he eyed Derik. “Can you bring him along tomorrow?”
He hid his fear behind a straight face. “You could always drop by my apartment. I’m sure Kevin would be more than happy to meet you.”
Lawrence thought he picked up a note of sarcasm in his tone.
Kevin did not understand why Lawrence had visited Derik’s residence, but knew he had to act normal. Watched from the window as he climbed down from the vehicle and walked towards the house—accompanied by his muscular, dark-skin bodyguard.
Derik wasn’t home, so he prepared himself to face Lawrence alone. He knew the moment Lawrence perceives any slight trace of misgiving about him, he’d sense him out to be a shifter right away—he just couldn’t let that happen.
A knock on the door drifted him from his thought. Raced to the door and opened it just enough to peer through. Poking his head through the door, he smiled rather awkwardly at Lawrence who stood outside.
“Afternoon, Mr. Logan.” Lawrence was staring him straight in the eyes. “I trust your day is going extremely well.”
“It was until you visited.” He wanted to say, but knew better than to say anything of the kind. It could put him in the spotlight right away.
He just smiled warmly and exclaimed—almost believably. “Mr. Lawrence! So delighted to see you again. Please come in.”
Kevin hoped he couldn’t see a spasm of self-doubt there.
The bodyguard rudely pushed the door just wide enough for Lawrence to enter. Stepped aside just as Lawrence walked past into the house, then he followed behind. His imposing posture and square shoulders towered Kevin, casting a shadow over his—compared to the bodyguard’s size—small body.
And when Lawrence was comfortably seated, he turned to Kevin, who stood with a blank stare. He was quite stunned at what had just happened.
“Please, have a seat, Mr. Logan,” he admonished. “There is so much for us to talk about.”
He knew what he wanted to say. And if I don’t? He kept such thought to himself, seeing it could only get him into trouble—if he already wasn’t.
Kevin moved to sit in an armchair directly opposite him, waiting in anticipation to hear what he was about to say.
“I believe you are acquainted with the man called Cedric.” Lawrence started.
“Yes, I am.” he answered. “We used to live together.”
His eyebrows went up inquiringly. “… and then what happened?”
“I left his house after he’d indirectly threatened to kill me.”
His eyes bored into Kevin, his stabbing gaze causing him to feel physical pain. “I learnt Cedric has allowed you to live in his apartment for over a year now. Why do you think he suddenly turned on you?”
“It has something to do with Beocraft.” he thought he notice a slight reaction on Lawrence’s face that disappeared immediately after. “After I found out Cedric was a part of a secret society called Beocraft, his behaviour towards me changed. He became colder.”
There was a brief silence between them. Something about Lawrence’s reaction struck him as odd, but he couldn’t quite place his fingers on what it was exactly.
“How long have you known that Cedric was a shifter?” Came another question.
Kevin finally understood what he was doing and knew he had to be extra careful when answering his questions.
“Mr. Logan, I asked a question…” Lawrence reminded, eyeing him. “How long have you known that Cedric is a shifter?”
“For a while now.” he finally answered.
“And you didn’t bother to raise an alarm, or report it to an officer here on the taskforce.”
Kevin was silent.
Lawrence continued, “Your friend, Landry, he was murdered by the same group you mentioned earlier—secret society, you called them. An autopsy was performed on him, and we found out that he has the shifter’s gene embedded in his DNA. He was a shifter.” he shot a glance at him. “How long have you known about this?”
The room was left in shear silence.
Kevin stared blankly at his face. Didn’t know what to say, or how to answer his question.
“I-I-I don’t know.” he finally answered.
Lawrence leaned forward, his eyes held a sceptical gleam. “You don’t know?” his brows drew together. “Or you simply won’t tell me?”
The tension in the room was getting intense.
“I never knew what he was until you mentioned it.” he answered, avoiding a direct eye contact.
Lawrence finally captured his gaze with his eyes. “And are you aware that the man you are presently living with is also a shifter?”
Kevin felt his confidence slowly breaking apart. He was losing faith in himself. “I knew of no such thing until now that you brought it to my knowledge. I shall be more careful around Derik from now on.” he uttered, trying to look surprised—but it wasn’t convincing enough. “Who could have imagined that Mr. Derik—a trusted member of the taskforce, was also one of them.”
After a long silence, Lawrence leaned back in the couch, forcing himself to relax, releasing the tension that lingered. Didn’t seem to be buying his act. “On the 17th of April, where were you that night?”
Kevin was puzzled by the new question. “I’m sorry. How is my whereabouts on that day relevant to the subject?”
“Because on that day, five men were brutally massacred by a shifter whom we are yet to…”
He cut him off, glaring. “And you think I did it?”
Lawrence couldn’t take his eyes off him even for a second. “You tell me.”
His response brought Kevin up short. “I only read about the incident on the papers. Had absolutely nothing to do with them.” he said, trying to sound as convincing as he possibly could.
Was that him or the guilt talking?
Kevin knew he shouldn’t have even bothered to explain. Now he sounded guilty.
Lawrence didn’t react at all. Rather, he reached for a photograph that was passed down to him by his bodyguard and dropped it on the table before Kevin. On it was a picture of Ashley. “Do you know this kid?”
Glancing over her photograph only brought back painful memories. The images of Ashley during the last moments of her life flashed before his eyes. But why has Lawrence presented the photograph to him? He knew for sure that there was no way he could deny not knowing her. His conscience wouldn’t let him.
“Yes, I knew her.” he let himself be carried away by his emotion. “We talked for only a few minutes before she was killed.”
He noticed Lawrence’s eyes widened at his response.
“Before she was killed?” he mouthed in disbelief, taking a moment to draw meaning from that phrase.
And just then, Kevin realized he had made a mistake—a costly one at that.
“How did she die?” Came the inevitable question.
The question cut him to the quick, and for a long second, he was awfully quiet. Kevin struggled to collect his wits. “She was disembowelled by T-Rex.” he finally answered, hesitantly.
“Do you know she was arrested recently after she was found to be a shifter, but then someone broke into the shifter’s prison to set her free? And judging from the way the metal bars in her cage were torn apart, I surmise a shifter did it.” Lawrence never took his gaze off him.
“That’s… strange.” Kevin asked in what sounded like a stutter. Tried to act surprise, but it simply wasn’t working. “Have you found the culprit?”
That was a lame question to ask—he only realised that after he’d said it.
“I was hoping you’d tell me.”
It had already become obvious that he was onto him. Kevin knew he had to manoeuvre his way out of this one. “Are you suggesting that I did it?” he appeared slightly offended.
Lawrence said nothing. Turned to his bodyguard standing by his side and nodded. The muscular giant took out an iron rod from his bag and placed it in his outstretched hand.
Then Lawrence turned to look at Kevin. Held the long rod up for him to see. “Do you recognize this?”
Kevin—speechless, stared at the rod with a numb expression. Of course he did. How could he have forgotten the weapon he’d used that night to brutally murder those thugs?
“We recovered some skin sample from this rod and had it taken to the forensic laboratory for analysis. The test results came out a few days ago, and the skin sample matched at least three thugs that’d been murdered that night.” He said, glancing over the rod.
Then he whirled to face him. “Some traces of your skin sample was also found on this. That is rather odd, don’t you think?”
Silence fell.
Kevin knew he could fool just about anyone, but Lawrence wasn’t an easier sell—he’d only just realised that.
Lawrence collected another photograph and dropped it on the table. Kevin leaned in to look at it. Felt a chill of terror at what he saw. On it was a photograph of him breaking Ashley out from the shifter’s prison. Someone had taken a picture of him that day without his knowledge.
Something about the picture struck Kevin as familiar. Then he realised that it was exactly the same photograph he’d found in Cedric’s drawer—but how is this even possible that Lawrence has it? He was sure he’d taken out every one of his photographs from that drawer and had them destroyed.
His imagination boggled as he sort for explanations of how Lawrence had ended up with this photograph. Then the answer came quicker than he expected when his eyes were drawn to a logo at the bottom of the photograph. It was an insignia with two wolf's eyes printed at the bottom right corner of that picture—an insignia he hadn’t noticed before.
Beocraft.
His eye widened.
Of course… Kevin’s face folded into a frown as he raised his eyes to glare at Lawrence.
“You killed those men, just as you freed that little girl from her cage.” Lawrence said. His eyes held no emotion as he spoke. “I’ve always had my suspicions from the day we met that you are a shifter. It was spelt all over your sad face.”
Kevin detected a sneer in the curl of his lips as he said, “You’re under arrest, Mr. Logan.”
The dark skin bodyguard quickly moved to detain him, but Kevin resisted. Then his eyes fell on the tattoo peeking above his shirt. It was a drawing of two wolf's eyes. Kevin felt his heart racing in his chest.
Why didn’t I think of this the whole time?
His horror-filled gaze shifted from the bodyguard and focused on Lawrence, who sat with a calm expression.
He is one of them.
He sneered as he watched Lawrence lean back on the couch, staring at him with a straight face.
He is a Beocraftian.
Kevin felt a sharp blow to his head. His vision blurred, and the world’s noise became distorted. Everything turned dark as his body hit the hard floor.
