PASSIONS OF CRIME

Tragedy and Revenge

Seven – Tragedy and Revenge

It was awfully quiet at Greenpark Street in the afternoon. The entire atmosphere was sinister and eerie, and when Tony's cab drove up there it seemed as if he was the only person living there. He got out of the vehicle, paid the driver and was about to enter the building when he saw a peculiar sign on the road.

There were tyre marks in the middle of the street with no sign of a car anywhere. There wasn't a single soul to be seen in the entire area. It was so silent that a leaf crumbling would've startled him at that moment.

Antonio reached for his gun. But if someone was there to kill him, he knew he didn't really stand a chance.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder from behind. Turning behind with his arm outstretched, he discovered that it was a woman in her mid-twenties who'd called him. She jumped when she saw the gun, following which he thrust it back in his jacket.

"Yes?" he asked in the most polite manner.

"Can- can you help me?" asked she as if reconsidering her thoughts, "One of my friends might be trapped in her apartment, she hasn't opened the door and I've been knocking on it for about five minutes now. I know it isn't that long, but I'm really worried about her. I heard your taxi pulling over so I thought you could help me."

He looked at the girl more seriously now.

"Is there anyone else here?"

"There's no one in the building right now." the girl was sounding scared, "I came home about an hour ago."

"What's your name?"

"Julia Pressly."

"J- Julia?" stuttered Tony.

"Yes. Why, is something wrong?"

"Who is this friend of yours you're talking about?"

"She lives just a floor above me. Joanne Roseborn."

"Oh, don't worry about it. She's gone out to see someone. She'll be home soon."

"But I saw her come home forty minutes ago."

Tony felt a chill run down his spine.

"Did anybody else come in the building after that?"

"Well, there were two boys who looked like they were in a lot of hurry over something. I saw them drive away with a loud screech about ten minutes ago. They must've been in the building before..."

No sooner had the words left her lips, Antonio ran past her and rushed up the stairs with all his strength. His heart was beating a million times faster, he could feel it pounding out of his chest and his clothes were soaked with sweat already.

"Jo!" he shouted, banging on the door with his fist, "Jo open the door!"

There was no reply.

"Jo open the door for God's Sake!"

No answer.

"Goddamn it!" he cried, removing his jacket and throwing it on the ground.

Julia had arrived there too by now, and seeing this man behave like that made her believe that something was seriously wrong.

Antonio kicked the door open, and it flew with a crash before landing on the floor. He then reached in his jacket for the gun and ran inside.