The next day Carter was snoozing peacefully at his office desk when the rampant knocking at the door interrupted his slumber. He arose from his chair with a throbbing headache and walked towards his shabby office door. He turned the doorknob and was surprised when he saw a short, stubby and plump man whose name was Henry Doberman. As soon as
Carter heard the name and recognised him as Mayor Wilson’s supposedly right hand man. He pushed his way past Carter and seemed rather paranoid. Before Carter could speak he pulled out a hefty sum of money and mounted it on Carters small and dusty desk. Carter was surprised to see that one man alone could carry such a large amount of money in his pockets.
After hours of Doberman explaining, Carter knew what he had to do. Doberman was afraid for his life, as he had noticed the members of his political party were being terminated one by one. He sat at his desk and thought long and hard about the string of killings, whether they were done purposely or were purely coincidental. Carter remembered that Dan Rather was a prime suspect because he and his political party were the opposition of the Metro-Party. Gradually he began to doze off. Night fell upon the rough streets of Chicago. Carter was woken up by the loud piercing sound of his alarm.
Carter had tried to come up with an explanation for what had been happening recently, but achieved nothing. He had given up and decided to use his last resort, a meeting with an ex-street friend, whose friends called him Smiley. The two long lost friends arranged to meet at an old abandoned warehouse. Smiley was a young, muscular and handsome man whose smile was very hard to miss. Only Carter and himself knew his real name. Whenever he needed information from the streets he would talk to Smiley.
“Hey Smiley, what’ you got for me?” Carter whispered quietly, while checking to see if anyone unknown was on the premises.
“I think I got an idea on who it is”, Smiley replied, expecting a great reaction.
“Who?” Shouted Carter, while trying to hold in his joy. “It’s some fat guy called Doberman”.
“What, Doberman, nah that’s crazy talk”, Carter shouted in disgust. “That’s the guy I’m working for”.
“Well you better watch your back, I’ve heard some bad stuff about that crazy kid”.
Carter felt a vibration and looked at his phone screen. His phone identified the caller as Julian. When he saw the name he remembered he had missed his cousin’s wedding. He turned off his phone to prevent an ear bashing from his cousin. He went to the nearest payphone and phoned his newest client. He listened to every word that Doberman spoke and bore in mind what Smiley told him. Doberman spoke about how he was afraid and asked how Carter was doing with the case. Carter grew more and more sceptical about Doberman, but he also thought that he was focusing on the wrong person.
Carter walked along the dark and lonely streets of Chicago. He climbed up the putrid stairwell of his fourteen-floor apartment block but fortunately for him his room was on the first floor. He entered his apartment, sat down and thought about the murder. Carter knew why Doberman came to him; he knew that if he got to Carter first he would get him out of the way. He realised that everything Smiley said was right. He decided to follow Doberman and see what he got up to when nobody was around.
Night fell upon the showery streets of the windy city. Carter watched Doberman leave the office building with a close eye. Carter entered his tarnished and rundown car and cautiously followed Doberman. After an hour Doberman pulled up in the drive of an old abandoned factory. Doberman met up with a tall, undernourished man. He seemed very angry and fearful of the chances of being caught.
“Hey Smokey, listen up. I want Carter out of the game. He’s getting too suspicious for his own good”.
“Consider it done boss, what about Mr Rather?”
“Leave him, I’ll take care of him by myself”.
Carter was stunned at what he heard but knew he had no authority or power over the matter. He decided to tell everything he heard to the police. Just as Carter was leaving the factory, Doberman spotted him. Carter ran into his car and recklessly drove off, at full speed.
Carter drove to the police station and gave them his recorded cassette tape of the conversation. The police listened to the tape and planned to arrest Doberman. The next day the police were at the funeral of William Wilson. Doberman and his family turned up at the funeral in a white limousine. When Doberman pulled up outside the church he heard the police car sirens. Carter stood facing Doberman and held a white piece of paper in his hand. He stepped out of the car and knew what was going to happen. Doberman automatically knew what the document was for. “Doberman you are under arrest”, Carter shouted with a smile on his face.
“Case closed”.
THE END
