The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 156 Baby
Sheriff
With a threatening scowl on my face, I climbed out of my car, taking a deep breath, seemingly unaware of the white medical lab coat falling to the ground. I was wearing a white long sleeved button down shirt, a maroon tie and gray slacks, disguised as a well-paid.
doctor.
I was about to shut the door closed when I finally took notice of the white coat lying on the ground. I picked it up, squeezing the pristine white coat, as if holding it tightly within the palm of my hand would somehow alleviate the guilt that weighed heavily on my conscience.
I angrily threw the coat onto the front seat of my car beside the surgical mask, surgical cap, wig, beard and glasses before slamming the door shut.
I was so angry at myself that I couldn’t even look at my reflection in the window. I was utterly disgusted at myself.
I needed a moment to calm the f u ck down.
I placed both hands on the roof of my car and took deep breaths, grateful that somehow the cold air was numbing my insides.
Jack hesitantly took a step forward, most probably to offer me some solace, but I raised a finger, urging him to stop. He quickly raised his hands in the air and backed away, giving me the space I needed.
I just wanted more time to… decompress. Was that too much to ask?
Somehow, Jack understood… maybe because he knew me so well. He allowed me a moment
to myself.
Liam, on the other hand, didn’t want to waste time. He took his phone from his pocket and quietly read his messages while waiting for things to simmer down. He quickly replied, his face devoid of emotion, but his eyes… his eyes expressed a certain satisfaction….
He was simply enjoying the fact that tonight a Cohen would no longer need the organization.
Randy was grateful for all the information I gave him. He said it made his work easier. After/6
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to Pete, Riley and Marla and voila! Case closed. Christine, Randy’s wife, would probably be depressed for some time, but she was a young and beautiful woman. She’d find someone else to be her life-long companion and a father to her baby.
“Did he buy it?” Bob asked in anticipation.
“He sure did,” I said, smiling. He scoffed in disbelief.
“Well, that was easy. Okay, so when you’re done putting two in Riley, leave the same way. Hospital protocol in the midst of an active shooter is to hide or evacuate. The nurses will most probably leave their station and hide, so there won’t be anyone in your way when you leave,” Bob pointed out. “You won’t need to change back into the guard uniform either. Most of the people, if not all, will be leaving through the front entrances anyway.” He unfolded the blueprint of the detective’s house and placed it on top of the blueprint of the hospital. I
quickly took a picture of it using my phone.
“Here’s information on Matthews,” Bob said, handing me a sheet of paper he took from his desk drawer. I was impressed. He was very thorough. “I know what you’re thinkin’. Nope, I don’t do this in my spare time. I fund a couple of private detectives to get me all the intel I need. I got a good thing goin’ here: I don’t want to have to leave any of it any time soon.”
“It says here he’s never married,” I mumbled as I scanned through Matthews’ information. sheet. Good. It meant his house would be empty
“Because he’s married to his job,” Bob replied, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, his house is a bo ten minutes away from the hospital. Within that time frame, the Bismarck SWAT will be conductin’ a search from floor to floor for suspects. Matthews, just like SWAT, will be focu on finding whoever killed his witness, so he won’t bother to check on his house. Even then, you need to be in and out quickly.” He pointed to the rear entrance of the house. “I suggest enterin’ through the back. The hatch to the basement is underneath the floor of the pantry
in the kitchen.”
*I have a question. How do we know Matthews will be at the hospital?” I asked.

“After that anonymous tip, he’ll definitely be there. Matthews is the kind of guy who gets a high from an arrest,” Bob answered, shuddering in disgust. “Oh, and another thing, he has not home security alarm. That’s how co cky he is.”
“Seems like you don’t like him,” I said, noticing the dislike in his voice. “What did he ever do to you?”
“I have a garage on the next block. You know… the usual,” Bob said, implying the garage w
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a venue for his usual criminal activities. “He came snoopin’ one day. Somethin’ about a certain car part comin from our garage that matched the serial number of a stolen vehicle. My main man, Manny, well, he explained that my garage only fixes cars and that we get our
from reputable dealers only. To send him on his way, Manny gave him a list of auto parts parts dealers we order from and told him he forgot which store we got the
car
“I see. So tell me what really happened with that car part?” I asked, amused.
part from.”
“Manny forgot to remove the serial number. Anyway, the garage ain’t listed under my name. It’s owned by Charlene, the lady you met earlier at the front of the store.”
“No wonder you asked me to look for Charlie,” I said, chuckling at my mistake. “I thought you were Charlie.”
“Hell no,” Bob replied. “Around here, I’m known as John. John Doe.”
Bob left for work before eight to make sure the creamer Redford used was laced with Rohypnol while I entered through the rear exit at approximately fifteen minutes to nine. checked my messages once I was in the utility room. It was a huge storage space with its own elevator.
Matthews is at the hospital director’s office located on the fifteenth floor. He’s having Riley transferred to Sanford Medical Center asap.
It was now or never.
Everything was going according to our plans until I was inside Room 1203. Riley was peacefully asleep on his bed, both arms and one leg in a cast while his mouth was wired from a broken jaw.
I decided it was best to inject him with a lethal dose of pentobarbital and let him die peacefully in his sleep. I was done injecting him with the drug and pulling his life support monitor off its socket when the bathroom door suddenly opened behind me to reveal Detective Matthews hiding inside.
“Turn around slowly with your hands above your head where I can see them,” he instructed.
I muttered a curse. Why didn’t I check the bathroom earlier? How could I have been so careless?
I looked down at the gun in my holster. I had screwed a silencer on, intending to use it on Riley. Unfortunately, I’d have to use it on the detective instead.
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“I said, turn around with your hands above your head. Slowly now,” Detective Matthews instructed once again. “I’ve you don’t look as young as it says on
een waiting for you. I
Randall Evans’ file. Who are you?”
I raised my hands and turned around slowly.
“Wait a minute. There’s a cut on your forehead. You must be Sheriff-”
I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my gun from its holster and shot him in the head.
Smoke billowed out from both my gun and the gun shot wound on Detective Matthews’ forehead. While he collapsed on the floor, I quickly turned around and shot Riley in the head. It would be strange if Riley was found poisoned while Matthews died of a gunshot wound. I needed the story of an active shooter roaming around the hospital to stick.
I ran out of room 1203, headed back into the utility room and took the elevator back down to the ground floor.
Just as Bob said, no one was using the rear entrance to evacuate from the building. I casually walked out of the hospital, the guard uniform I had on earlier in a garbage bag, and quickly. headed out to the main road to the car Bob had lent me.
ded
I was a good distance away from the hospital when I parked the car on the side of the road to change my disguise. I took my surgical mask, cap and coat off and donned a gray-haired. wig, a beard and dark rimmed glasses. When I was satisfied with my appearance, towards Detective Matthews’ house. I parked about a block away and walked tow house with a small gasoline tank in a duffle bag.
I needed to destroy any evidence that pointed to Liam, Jack, Dan or myself. Without Cohen, everything would sink. Without Jack, Dan or me, Liam will be a sitting duck.
Only way to destroy the evidence was to start a fire in the basement and keep the hatch
open, so the fire would burn everything to the ground.
Luckily, entering the house was simple. All I needed was some tools to pick the lock of the back door.
In the kitchen, I found the pantry, the false floor tile and the hatch which was padlocked. I took out a very small screwdriver, inserted it into the keyhole and began to wiggle and slide. until the padlock opened.
Before setting the place on fire, I looked through the papers on top of Detective Matthews 4/6
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desk, took his laptop, and rummaged through his files in his file cabinet.
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I doused everything in gasoline. Once I was done, I lit a cigarette, threw it in the basement. and left the back door open so the fire could draw in more air.
I made my way back to the car and drove towards the laundry shop, but instead of parking the car near Bob’s shop, I brought it to Charlene’s garage to be stripped down.
I was driving back to New Salem when Bob called.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“I know, but I had to. There was no other way.”