Murder! Too Close To Home

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

February 19, 1997

The raspy whisper had returned as he listened to his new orders.

"The new instructions are at the drop. You need to go now and get them."

The man happily responded that he was getting his coat on as they spoke. The thought of proceeding onto the next project was already making his heart rate rise as his eye fluttered in excitement.

"Follow the directions word for word, no more cowboy antics or you're out," the mentor threatened authoritatively.

The man assured Jasmine that he had learned his lesson. Picking up his keys as he hung up the phone, he walked out of the dingy apartment and jumped into his car.

Heading over to Taylor Park, he angled the car into a dark slot and started walking as normal as he could muster towards the assigned spot. He covered the hundred yards to the designated park bench in about three minutes, sitting down casually like he was just enjoying the night.

He nonchalantly reached into his pocket and got out a cigarette, lighting it and inhaling the pungent flavor of the non-filtered cigarettes that he preferred. After making sure no one else was around, he reached down under the bench, finding the brown paper sack exactly where it was supposed to be. Finishing his cigarette a few minutes later, he put the sack in his coat pocket and stood up, returning to his car by a different route through the playground.

Upon returning home, he got out the sack and opened it.

Finding the usual storage container inside, he lifted the lid and took out the crumbled wax paper. She had designed this to look like someone had just left their lunch container in case anyone had ever found it.

At the bottom, he found the tightly folded piece of paper within a plastic sandwich bag, opening it to reveal the cryptic lettering inside. Taking the paper to his messy desk and brushing off enough room to lay the paper out, he opened a drawer and pulled out a notebook.

Mastering the code book given to him by the mentor had been hard for him, reading having never been his strong point. But he had done it, and felt a huge amount of pride in his accomplishment.

Another skill useful to fulfill his dream!

Checking the top set of characters that told him what page to work off of, he turned the book to that page and started decoding the instructions.

When he had finished the decoding, he lifted the paper and sat back in his chair to study the writing, reading it through several times and committing it to memory. He then folded the message and stuck it in the back of the book, replacing the book back into the drawer.

The new preparations would take some time to accomplish, but at least he had something to do. And of course, the reward at the end would make all of his time worth it.

Having lifted his spirits with the thought of his mentor's new instructions, he decided to celebrate with a few beers.

Celebrate the inevitable return of the Ghost!