Kaleidoscope (23 page)

Chapter 22

Hellam

The light pierced the narrow gap between Hellam's eyelids as they slowly opened and he winced with pain as its brightness tore into his retinas.

"What the..." he said with a thin, croaking voice.

The intense white around him billowed out like a gigantic sheet then faded and, as his pupils contracted, he began to see shapes form. He tried to move his arms but he couldn't and he felt pressure around his wrists. He attempted to stand from the chair he found himself in but, like his arms, his legs were bound and unmovable.

He raised his head, since the light no longer burned quite so much, and saw he was in the barn, the floodlights observing him menacingly from above. How had he got here? Why was he here?

The last thing he could remember was arriving at his office; he was fetching the keys to his car and... Kelser. His memory returned, regurgitating the photograph of Hannah with all those people and then he remembered how Kelser had been in the picture too. Kelser had known Hannah, but how?

Hellam looked ahead and saw the camera pointing towards him. Beyond the camera, he saw a dark shape moving.

"Kelser? Is that you?" he croaked.

The shape sharpened into a figure which slowly stepped out into the light. Hellam saw the penetrating intensity as Kelser regarded him and walked slowly forward. He saw that in his right hand, he held a gun.

"Kelser, what the hell is going on? Where are..." he stopped himself as he noticed another shape behind the camera - this one horizontal. The body was unmistakable and belonged to
Tyler
, his hunched frame still visible even though he was sprawled on the floor. He looked over to his left and saw Hal sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall. But he was slouched to the right and had a large wound to the side of his head, with bright scarlet fluid staining the front of his shirt. "My God, what have you done?"

Kelser responded with only silence and long, drawn out scrutiny as if trying to decipher some newly discovered hieroglyph.

"Answer me you lunatic! What the hell have you done? Why am I tied to this chair?"

Kelser still said nothing but took several more steps towards Hellam, each one raising the uncomfortable unease inside the bound man.

"What was that photo about?" Hellam asked, craving any kind of verbal response. "Did you know her? The girl... Hannah?"

"Yes I knew her," Kelser finally said and Hellam breathed long and hard, glad to have gained some kind of reply and to have opened the lines of communication.

"How did you know her? Listen Kelser, you don't need to do whatever you have planned here. I didn't kill her you know... him over there," Hellam nodded towards Hal. "You've already got the bastard that killed her; it makes no sense to go after me now."

"Hannah Jacobs was my friend Joseph," Kelser said slowly, seemingly ignoring all but the first part of what Hellam had said and using his first name to address him; something that unnerved Hellam far more than it should have. "Three men killed Hannah. Hal is dead." Kelser pointed the gun in the direction of Hal's slumped body. "Jonah is dead."

Hellam suddenly remembered Jonah, a man he used to hire for specific jobs, along with Hal.
Tyler
had joined them later, after Jonah had been found in his house with a knife buried in his chest. Hellam's eyes widened as the realisation spread through him like a virus.

But no, it couldn't have been
, he thought,
Jonah was killed five years ago.
He forced his eyes to meet Kelser's.

"You killed Jonah?"

Kelser ignored the question and continued along his own path. "That only leaves you Joseph."

"Listen to me Kelser, Listen. You've got the men who did it. I told them to just rough her up... you know, as a warning. They took it upon themselves to kill that poor girl."

"I'm not here to listen to your lies. I'm here to finish what
you
started five years ago." He stepped closer still and raised the gun. "I could have killed you a long time ago Joseph. But I wasn't interested in killing a caring member of the community; I wanted to expose you for who you truly are." He paused and glanced at the floor for a moment, as if contemplating his next move. "I didn't have a clue back then just how sick and sadistic a man you are."

Hellam forced himself into nervous laughter. "Me? You should look in the mirror Kelser. Look at what you've done here. These men are dead and you killed Richards for Christ sake, a cop! Don't tell me you didn't enjoy doing that; I saw the look in your eyes as you placed that bullet inside him. I know I saw it because I know it well. We're more similar than you realise."

Kelser tilted his head as something in his expression changed by an amount that was almost imperceptible.

Hellam grinned wildly. "You
know
I'm right Kelser. If you pull that trigger, you'll be nothing but a hypocrite. You and I, we're the same."

Kelser spoke again, but this time his voice was quieter, less confident somehow. "Perhaps you're right Joseph. There was a time that you couldn't have been further from the truth, but now..." He lowered the gun slightly and Hellam felt hope rise inside. "But now... perhaps I am closer to you than I realise. I killed these men
…
" he said, using the gun to point towards the two bodies, "
…
And felt almost nothing. Jonah was harder, I almost couldn't do it. But these..." He gazed back at Hellam, his expression altered yet again and Hellam suddenly felt the brief glimmer of hope evaporate as Kelser continued. "These two were easy."

Hellam tried not to look at the gun in Kelser
’
s hand but found it difficult not to.

“
You see Joseph,
”
he continued.
“
When I tried to kill Jonah, it suddenly hit me; I can
’
t kill a human being. But then, humans have certain qualities
–
undeniable qualities that he didn
’
t possess. It
’
s difficult to think of him as human because what he did to Hannah isn
’
t something a normal person should be able to do. And that
’
s why it
’
s also difficult to think of
you
as human.
”

Kelser took the final steps towards Hellam and stood beside him, pointing the gun at his head. "They say that when you kill someone it changes you," Kelser continued in his low monotone as his eyes appeared to glaze over. "And I can tell you Joseph, it changed me."

Hellam's heart began to pound and he felt the rush of panic flow through his veins.

"Please Kelser, I beg you. Don't do this." He felt water in his eyes and closed them, squeezing the tears free to fall down his cheek.

"I read somewhere that psychopaths like you can only truly cry for themselves. They can't empathise with anyone else and are purely driven by their own selfish desires. I don't expect you to feel remorse for what you have done; I don't even think you're capable." Kelser became silent as the air congealed with the sound of Hellam's unpleasant sobs. "I'm not going to kill you Joseph."

Hellam opened his eyes again and looked up in disbelief.

"But I want everyone to know just
who
you are; I want this disguise you wear to be lifted and the
real
evil exposed. The police will be arriving in a few minutes and they'll soon have in their possession thousands of documents which prove who you are."

Hellam's face contorted at this, thoughts of death lost, and suddenly outraged. "You're bluffing, even if you were crazy enough to call the police, you don't have anything on me."

"You have Langton to thank for the documents finding their way into my hands," Kelser replied slowly.

Hellam sniggered, the tears and panic forgotten, "I've known George for a long time Kelser; he would
never
betray me."

"You've known me for five years and... well, here we are."

Hellam shook his head. "No, not George, he would never..."

Kelser reached into his jacket and threw some papers onto his lap. "Here's a sample for you."

Hellam looked down and studied the photocopied pages on his thighs, recognising the bank account numbers and the large quantities of money shown in the columns. Another page displayed a hand drawn diagram of various people in Hellam's criminal organisations - names of people that he shouldn't know; people who could be used against him.

"No, not George. How the hell did you get these?"

"Langton doesn't have many secrets Joseph, but those he does are very, very big." Kelser gestured to the pieces of paper. "But laundering money from drugs and prostitution doesn't quite get to just how fucked up you really are does it?"

Hellam struggled with his wrists and legs and the pages fell to the floor.

"I was half expecting you to have given me a fake code to your safe. But now I have the last thing you would want me to possess - your laptop. Hannah found the snuff films on your computer all those years ago didn't she? So you had to protect it. Has anyone other than me even seen the films on there?"

Hellam felt perspiration roll down his forehead.

Kelser continued. "These films are what really reveal you to be the sick bastard you are."

"You're no better than me, we've both killed Kelser," Hellam rasped.

Kelser nodded slowly. "Yes, we've both killed but I'm not here to make excuses. The police will be getting the documents and the laptop very soon. You'll be arrested and the investigation will be very long and very public. Your life is over Joseph."

"You think they'll let you just walk free? You're a killer. If I go down, you won't be far behind; especially when they learn about Richards. And I'll make sure they get all the grisly details of everything you've done for me over the years you righteous fuck."

Kelser stared at him, his expression showing nothing again; vacant, unmoving. "No, I don't think they'll let me walk free," he said as he lowered the gun and walked around the back of Hellam's chair, pulling something out of his jacket.

Hellam felt pressure around his wrists and then there was a sudden relief as they separated. He noticed that Kelser put something under his chair before he began cutting the ties that bound his legs.

"The police will be here soon Joseph. You can run if you choose but they'll catch you. You can't control this situation anymore. You'll be spending the rest of your life in prison. But there's a gift for you under the chair - a gift from Hannah. You can have it when I'm gone."

Hellam remained seated as Kelser stood up and pointed the gun at him again. He wanted to lunge at Kelser; bury his fingers into his eyes and rip his face apart. But he knew that if he attempted that he would gain nothing but a bullet in the head.

 
He watched as Kelser retreated, the gun remaining fixed on him. Kelser moved around the back of the camera and opened a slot on the side of the plastic casing. He removed something that looked to be a memory card from the camera and placed it into his pocket then stepped past
Tyler
's lifeless body, and towards the door. Hellam did nothing but stare as the man he had known and trusted for the past five years disappeared into the darkness.

"You stupid little bastard," Hellam spat and leaned forward to look under the chair, half expecting some kind of bomb to be resting there. His eyes sparkled as he saw a gun lying on the floor below him. "You're a dead man."

He crouched down and picked up the gun then stood as he checked it. The gun was loaded with a few rounds and Hellam felt a rush of adrenalin surge through him. He made for the barn door, swinging the gun in his hand. He felt some kind of strange abandon purge all other emotions inside him, and at that exact moment, he wanted nothing more than to end the life of the man he called Sebastian Kelser.

He reached the barn door and glanced outside, the cool air wrapping his cheek as he glared into the night. He saw no one and stepped out. He turned his head, scanning both directions. He saw Tyler and Hal's cars, but no others. He wasn't sure where Kelser's own car was, but he hadn't heard an engine start. He moved forward and squinted as his eyes adjusted from the brightness inside to almost total darkness, and gazed into the trees behind the barn. Had he gone that way? There didn't seem to be any other direction he could have disappeared and Hellam was about to give chase when he suddenly heard a sound.

He gripped the gun tightly as he looked up the dirt path, towards the main road and saw three sets of headlamps speeding towards the barn. Confused, Hellam stood paralysed as they rounded the bend and pulled up next to the farm house.

It was only then that his swirling mind remembered what Kelser had said a few moments earlier -
the police will be arriving.
He thought about running, but there would be little point; he wouldn't get far into the trees before they caught him, and that was if he didn't run across Kelser first.