Chapter 27 Alex
Alex
Have you figured it out yet? Do you know who I am?
You know my face. In a strange way, you know me. At the very least, you’ve now realised that I’m close, haven’t you, Miles? Very close. I like that.
I’ve come to enjoy it, you see, this little game of ours.
It’s like a drug. Every time I imagine your fear and confusion and torment, it gives me a little high.
Yesterday, I glimpsed it on your face, and, oh my, that was something: a proper rush, like nothing I’ve ever felt.
To know that I had caused your discomfort.
It’s made me wonder if I should keep this going a little longer.
Aside from everything else, it’s nice to have a purpose.
I’ve never really had that before. I’m not a religious person, but I’m starting to think this all might be the true meaning of my life – what I was put on Earth to do.
Everything in the universe is held in such delicate balance: all these equal and opposite forces.
Without such forces, the world would spin off into chaos, wouldn’t it?
What you did – an act of unthinkable evil – demands an equal and opposite force.
A jury of your peers should’ve been able to see to that.
But they got it all wrong, didn’t they? And in a way, that’s a good thing.
Part of me longed for that not guilty verdict.
Because what would you have got, had you been found guilty?
Twenty-five years? Out on parole for good behaviour after twelve and a half?
Would that amount to an equal and opposite force, for what you did?
No. Of course it wouldn’t. You took the life of an angel, and it shouldn’t surprise you that what’s coming for you in her place will be suitably dark.
You surprised me last night. Your behaviour was more impulsive and careless than I had predicted. I don’t know why that surprised me, given what you did to Caira, but it did.
And speaking of things that shouldn’t have surprised me but did, I saw your RV today.
Very nice. Very nice indeed. I’d love to know what’s going on inside your head, why you suddenly feel so compelled to leave Queenstown.
Is it anything to do with me, Miles? Are you feeling unsettled, by any chance?
When I saw it, I had a sudden, nonsensical fear that you might leave immediately. That would’ve ruined everything. I almost abandoned my plans, and that would’ve been a disaster. You can’t imagine my relief when I returned and saw the RV was still there, parked up outside your hotel.
You don’t know where I was this afternoon, do you, Miles? Of course you don’t. How could you? You don’t even know who I am.
Well, here’s what I did. I took a bus to a nearby town called Cromwell. I was expecting the place to be pretty rough, given what I was there to do. But it was quite nice. Not completely unlike Queenstown, in fact.
I was there for a meeting. That makes it sound like a formal affair, and it most certainly was not. It definitely wasn’t the sort of meeting you can set up on LinkedIn – more the kind that is organised via a dubious contact and an encrypted messaging app.
Now, I don’t get nervous often, Miles. But honestly, when I arrived at the agreed location – an empty car park behind a closed industrial unit on the town’s southern fringe – my heart may have been going a teeny bit faster than normal.
It didn’t help that I had to wait around for about twenty minutes before he turned up to meet me.
And I must confess, my nerves were in no way settled when I saw the size of him.
The man I met is a member of a biker gang.
A real biker gang. How cool is that? He had a patched leather jacket and a facial tattoo and everything.
And here’s a weird thing: he was quite nice.
Nicer than you, Miles. Isn’t that strange?
He’s had a hard life – that’s obvious just from looking at him – and he still turned out better than you, even with all the coddling and head starts you’ve been granted.
Koa is his name. Well, that’s the name he gave me, anyway.
I suspect I wasn’t the only one to give a false name: ‘Koa’ and ‘Alex’.
We had a nice chat. Did you know, that until 2019 you could walk into a shop and buy pretty much any gun you wanted in New Zealand?
You can’t do that now. But Koa says the country is still full of assault weapons.
When the government brought in their new laws, they held a firearms amnesty, but, funnily enough, the gangs weren’t inclined to hand over all their guns.
Why would they? Especially when their street value was about to go through the roof.
It’s not cheap to buy a gun on the black market here, I can now say that from experience.
And I suspect Koa put the price up even higher when he heard my accent.
The one he sold me was small and heavy, with the serial number filed off. He told me it was used. Quite chilling, that, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s been used to kill before. Or, maybe, someone has just used it to scare people, or simply for target practice.
I suppose I will never know for sure. But I like to think that you will be the first. I like to think that when I pull the trigger on this thing, the first life it will ever take will be yours, Miles.
Now, let’s both of us get some rest. Tomorrow promises to be a big day. I must say I’m rather excited by all the unknowns. One thing is for certain, though – I will be close behind you, every step of the way.
Safe travels, Miles. We will meet soon. And in the meantime, I’ve left a gift for you at reception.