Phantom

14.

Brett

Yes, the day was rough for him.

At 5pm, they were in front of Jay Hall's house, smelling the barbecue from the backyard. When Juan knocked on the door, the tired face of Jay (or maybe he was a bit high) greeted them expressionless.

"What?"

Jay Hall's house was an utter mess when Brett peeked inside. Brett thought his house looked terrible but this guy was on another level. Bags of weeds were sprawled on the floor and messy piles of syringe placed beside the sofa. Yet, Brett knew immediately that the guy wasn't the serial killer nor he was burning the corpse of his murders in his backyard.

No ghosts, Brett realized.

In a scene like this, there are bound to be ghosts but Jay's house was silent, except for the sound of the meat grilling. Juan inspected Jay's house for an hour but didn't find anything either. All the while, Jay was standing with arms-crossed in the backyard, unhappy with the whole situation.

"I told you, officer Juan. I'm innocent," Jay murmured.

"Just making sure," Juan said as he stepped out of the house.

The door slammed behind them, an utter failure.

.

.

Brett sank down on the couch, sighing. Eddy was sitting so close to him he was sure if he turned his head, his breath would mingle with Eddy's - well, if Eddy had breath.

"Officer Juan let me join the serial killer case. The first suspect was Jay. The team went to his house but couldn't find anything. Probably not him."

"Oh that sounds tiring," Eddy muttered, his voice with a tinge of disappointment.

"How was your day?" Brett asked, eyeing Eddy.

"Boring as hell," Eddy sighed, slumping on the couch.

Brett smiled as Eddy's cold hand briefly touched his. Would it be weird to say... he was grateful for this chance that they got, although it was the cost of Eddy's life? If Eddy wasn't dead, would Brett ever had the courage to confront Eddy and seize the opportunity?

Probably not. But Brett shook his head, knowing that his thought will offend everyone.

"Do you want to go out for a walk around the area to see if you can remember anything? You did land up here so your body must not be far from here."

"I don't know, man. I walked quite a long time after -" Eddy stopped as he looked at Brett with wide eyes.

"A backyard."

The first memory of being dead came back to him in a hazy light.

"What do you mean?" Brett asked, confused.

"My body, Brett," Eddy whispered.

"It's at someone's backyard. I'm sure."

Brett immediately thought of the barbecue in the backyard. Could it be? Maybe the team missed something?

Was Jay Hall the serial killer?