Chapter Forty-Eight - Asako Kato
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Asako Kato
ASAKO ARRIVED AT the spire, her lungs burned as she fought to catch her breath. Pulling out her phone she clicked record on the video.
She aimed the camera upwards as brilliant gold light was slowly dissipating at the top of the tower. Two figures were dimly illuminated, their shadowy silhouettes drawing back inward towards the belfry.
Her head reeled from the sight, the icy wind cut through her coat as her boots crunched along the pavement. She slowed as she approached the tower, noticing two spectators at the base looking up with interest.
One was a tall man dressed sharply in a wool trench coat and fedora, his leather-gloved hands clasped behind his back. While his face was not visible, she saw his angular features as he leaned in whispering to another surprising figure beside him, Mr. Archie, the janitor from the Henderson Psychology building. The very same man who let her into Bellamy’s office.
He was speaking in low hurried whispers to the man.
Who were they? They didn’t belong here.
Asako aimed her camera phone toward them, when Mr. Archie glimpsed over his shoulder, he looked to utter something under his breath. With a wink, Asako’s phone glitched, the screen became static before powering down.
Asako blinked, unable to reconcile what she was seeing. The two men were magnificent. They seem to exude a warmth contrasting with the frigid night air. The lights from the nearby lampposts glinted unnaturally off their forms, casting them as flickering flames.
Once more the man leaned in towards Mr. Archie and seemed to whisper something that disturbed him. He responded, with a worried frown, and then vanished in a shimmer of white gold light.
“What the hell was that?” Asako muttered, her eyes struggled to refocus from the light. As she did she looked towards the man now standing alone, he too vanished. Leaving a smoky-black deep golden ember. The shadowy ripple seemed to distort the air around him, collapsing inwards with a low resonant hum.
Asako’s breath hitched, and her exhaustion wore on her. She had just seen two figures disappear before her eyes. Certainly, it was a hallucination.
The sound of hurried footsteps broke her trance as Detective Farmer arrived, her breath clouding the air. She fought to regain her steady breath.
“What the hell happened here?” Farmer barked, immediately taking in the scene. The two women moved forward together when Asako’s hand shot towards her mouth in horror. Bellamy’s lifeless body lay in a crumpled heap before them feet from where Halston’s body laid only days before.
Farmer didn’t wait for an answer, she pulled her phone from her inner breast pocket and dialed, “We’ve got a body at the base of the spire. Send back up. Now.”
Soon the distant wail of sirens pierced the silence, growing louder with each second.
Asako stood frozen, still trying to process what she had just witnessed. She glanced up at Farmer, who surveyed the scene. She kneeled beside Bellamy’s body assessing it.
Swallowing hard, Asako’s voice trembled, “Farmer…there was someone here. Two people. I swear I saw them.”
Farmer shot her a sharp look, “Who? Where?”
Asakos stammered, “They…”
Just as she spoke, the creak of the large oak doors of the bell tower was heard, Jason and Ethan came ambling out, Ethan’s arm around Jason’s neck for support.
“…were just here.” Asako finished.
Farmer stood from beside Bellamy’s body and rushed towards the two young men. She grabbed her phone and dialed again, “Send EMS, we have two injured.”
Asako stood frozen as the scene unfolded in front of her. The central quad illuminated in flashes of red and blue as police arrived.
“Don’t go anywhere, we need to talk” she heard Farmer shout over her shoulder, she was barreling towards Ethan and Jason.