The Confession Of Zakary Jameson

Chapter 17

Agent Alexander Donovan

The day after I came out of my coma, Kolver came into my room around noon. I was still numb, but feeling slightly better.

"How're you holding up?" He asked. 

"Fine, I guess. Can't feel my body, but what the heck, I'm alive." I feigned enthusiasm, which was difficult in my condition. Kolver smirked.

"That's the spirit." He pulled up a chair to my bedside and sat down. In his hands was a manilla folder, which he laid on my sheets. "We really gotta stop doing work conferences from hospital rooms." He joked.

I smiled and chuckled, but immediately regretted it. An intense pain erupted in my abdomen and spread all the way to my head. I flinched and inhaled sharply. Kolver looked at me, alarmed.

"Dude, do you want me to get a doc-"

I interupted him "No, I'm fine. What you got?" My friend watched me for a minute as if he expected me to explode or something, but finally opened the folder.

"That's just it, Al. We have absolutely nothing on Jameson. He disappeared after your...accident."

My brow furrowed. "What do you mean? He's just gone?" 

Kolver nodded and checked his watch. It was almost noon. I could tell he couldn't stay long.

The two of us were silent for almost a minute before I spoke, this time quieter.

"Last time I saw Zak, something was wrong." Kolver whipped his head up to look at me.

"What?" he asked. 

"I don't know. He was bleeding from his nose and eyes and stuff. I don't know why." I explained.

Kolver sat up a little straighter. "You think he's dead?" He asked.

I wet my lips, which had gone dry. "I don't know. Maybe."

Kolver closed his eyes for a minute and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a knawing headace. "There is one more thing," He said quietly, "that woman, Charlotte, who was with him...she is dead. He killed her.  A homeless man found her body in an alleyway behind a dumpster."

My heart dropped, and I closed my eyes. I pictured Charlotte. My detestment for Zak suddenly skyrocketed.

"That's what I don't get." I said. "She was helping him, so why kill her? There's no motive there. Heck, I could say the same thing about everyone he has killed, everything he's done. Usually when I'm given a criminal to hunt down, I can, I don't know, think like them. Imagine who they may go after or what they may do, but I can't do that with Zak. He has no connections to any of these people, other than his nephew and maybe Charlotte, and the victims have no connections to each other! He striking at random. How do I stop him from picking from the almost three million people here in Chicago? I-"

I stopped there, fuming. This case was so frustrating, that sometimes I wondered if it was even possible to solve. Kolver looked at me and nodded understandingly.

"I get what you're saying, Alex, I do. Maybe we should change our approach. Maybe we are missing something." He suggested.

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." I ground my teeth together, racking my head for ideas, but came up blank. "He always seems to know we are coming, and is gone by the time we get there."

Kolver's lips tugged up in a small smile. "So, what you're saying is..."

I nodded, "Yeah. We have to catch him in the act. Get one step ahead. If only we knew what he has planning..."