Yesterday's Coffee

Chapter 2

"Really?" Frank asked, surprised. Gerard technically wanted his help murdering people. That made Frank feel almost important.

Some people feel important differently, Frank was one of those people apparently.

"Yes, I assume you took a look in my book earlier, yeah? Man named Ray Toro, about our age-somewhere in between," Gerard said and Frank nodded. He'd read what Gerard had written about Ray. "I want you to watch him for a bit, I don't have as much time to, so I'll leave it up to you to do your thing and come back to me with what you find out."

"You never went through their houses. Do you want me to go inside?" Frank asked, smiling as he thought about what he'd be able to find out for Gerard.

"If it's not too much of a trouble for you, that would be fantastic." Gerard said, standing up and grabbing their two empty mugs.

"Can I talk to him?" Frank called after Gerard.

"About what? What would you need to talk to him about?" Gerard asked, frowning as he stared across the room at Frank.

"About anything. I can loose my dog and go to his house, saying I've asked others in the neighbourhood if they've seen her, perhaps he'd invite me in because I've said I'm cold. We'll talk about our lives, me of course not actually telling him anything true. My name won't even need to be Frank," Gerard thought for a few moments.

"Go through his house, watch him from afar. I don't think you'll need to have a conversation with him at this time," Gerard said, going back to the sink and running some water. That was why he never had dirty dishes, he always did them once he was done with them.

"Okay."

-
Frank did as he was asked. He spent the evenings of an entire week watching the outside of Ray's house. Only once did someone come to the door, it was a pizza man. Ray mainly stayed in one room, most likely the bedroom-according to the lights Ray had on.

The last night of the week, Ray went out, so Frank casually followed him. He went to a bar, and Frank went in too. Ray ordered 2 drinks, then went home.

Frank knew he would have to go into Ray's house during the day while he was at work, because Ray never really went anywhere after. Gerard found this good.

Frank went through Ray's things cautiously. Gerard insisted Frank wear a pair of gloves if he were to touch anything, so Frank had gloves on. Anything he touched he put right back. He took photos of certain things to show Gerard. Ray Toro worked at a telephone help centre, with a 9-5 schedule.

Ray had a messy home, nowhere near as tidy as Gerard's. He wasn't a hoarder or anything, he just rarely tidied. He had a few guitars in his bedroom.

Frank found Ray's sex toys.

"Jesus Christ!" Frank shouted, shutting the drawer quickly and moving onto the next. He definitely wasn't looking for that.

The next drawer had a suspicious amount of candles, especially being put near the last drawer Frank opened.

Ray Toro was kinky and Frank Iero didn't want to know that.

Frank looked around the bedroom, walking towards Ray's laptop. Ray had the fucking password taped onto the laptop. Frank mentally thanked him for making his job easier.

Frank went through Ray's history, taking photos on his-as in Frank's-phone, of his-as in Ray's-Google searches to show Gerard.

Fucking interesting.

Weird porn, as expected from the previous drawers he'd looked through. And suicide methods. Lots of suicide methods.

"Oh my god," Frank muttered, realizing what this would mean for Gerard. Frank shut off the laptop, placing it exactly where it had been and exited the bedroom. Frank payed less attention to things such as Ray's plate count, and more to Ray's personal items.