"So, you did everything for him?" Janet asked, reading aloud the questions she had written on the page.
"Basically."
"And, he gave you nothing." She coined.
"Who says he gave nothing?" Daniel seemed offended. "I wasn't gonna tell you, Janey, but now I do remember my last day with him prior to when I got arrested. I don't know how that man did it, but he knew the disaster coming before I could even hide it. Smelled it like some rat in a dumpster looking for rations. I suppose that is what becomes of you when you spend your life watching people from the shadows; you know exactly when the tower collapses. Now, he knew he couldn't stop it from falling. But, he did give me a parachute to glide down. I'm not going to share it with you, but let's just say, I finally saw what was hiding in his eyes."
"Okay, you're right." Janet crept back to his good side, "I see now. But, you have to admit, his supreme genius wasn't able to craft a drug that actually cures the disease. As I recall, the drug was illegal because it did more harm than good."
"You assume my scientist failed? That his medicine didn't work? That it only provided temporary relief?" Daniel replied with a much calmer tone, almost laughing, though his words indicated otherwise. "You don't know the full story, lady. That drug was perfect. What I didn't tell you was that there were two variants."
Janet stopped writing.
"Our test subject was someone expendable. A homeless nobody who even my sharp PhD memory fails to recall. But, he left our building healed, healthy and happy. The experiment was a success! That got me thinking. How much long before the entire city is cured? At the rate word spreads, I'd reckon barely a month or two. I could definitely make thousands, but I wouldn't even come close to millions.
"There's a reason all sin came with a price for insatiable hunger. Once you've consumed it, you'll never want anything else. I knew that. Kathy knew that. My scientist knew that. Everything, Janet. Everything was calculated. So, yes. There was a different variant. One that cured you for the time being but then it crept back like an old, unwavering itch that refused to be satisfied. Eating you from the inside like a cruel parasite while you sincerely believed you were safe from the jaws of death. And just when you found yourself in the height of delusion, convincing yourself you were beyond fate, pop goes the weasel."
Daniel sang that last part as Janet locked eyes with the prisoner. A crooked grin plastered in pride, he oozed of everything menacing. She even felt the guards shudder behind her.
"But, of course, for the common man, it was a death beautifully natural."
She said as if stepping on glass. "I'm going to need you to explain that further, Daniel."
"With pleasure, detective."
.....
The warehouse on east street became our headquarters. A firm structure that looked empty from the outside and breathed all the more hearty from the inside. Below a flight of stairs sat our nook. Kathy decorated every corner with potted plants. An L-shaped couch ran adjacent to Stein's bookshelf and paralleled my writing desk. I don't know why we kept that bookshelf, no one ever read anything. There was also a crate under the table stocked with expensive wine for us to drink whenever we made a breakthrough.
Kathy went home went the clock struck two, Stein slept on the couch and I had my room on the first floor. The lab was in the basement. So was the drug, by the way.
The three of us had one established rule of thumb. For any outsider, there was no basement. And, if an outsider should step foot. "Uh-oh! We don't know what happened. The building caught a mysterious fire."
The cash, you ask me? It's gone now, so, you don't need to worry about that.
Where was I? Ah, yes! The basement. I'll tell you something funny about that basement. It was a hollow and windy midnight when I found the reaper wandering alone in the dark.
Our glasses clinked under the warehouse bulb. Kathy, in her nightgown, danced aimlessly around the table with no makeup. It was hilarious. The way she sang with the broken record, kicking an invisible ball. Stein, going along with her stunt, and barking cheers to an equally invisible microphone. And, me. Guiding her with my hand together with her's. In that moment, we were one.
I think I felt warm for the first time.
But, there was that thing outside threatening to take that away from me. Already investigations had begun to spiral regarding Stein's sudden release, and Kathy's secretive involvement. My team was in trouble. Not to mention that, downstairs, loomed another foe. Bringing to life my greatest fear. I found myself beckoned.
In the dead of night, when all else slept, I stood alone in our lab. Until I heard it hum my name.
"Daniel." It sang. "You didn't think you'd get away so easy, did you Daniel?"
I said nothing, only clenched my fists and jaw. Though, I know what it spoke of.
"You know, it's not often I find someone like you so distant from my whispering. You thought a mere piece of cloth could hide me?"
I removed the gloves from my shaking palms. My hands had gone black, as dark as charcoal. "Who are you?" I asked, knowingly.
"Don't pretend now, Daniel. I know you haven't forgotten me." The voice was all round. Sometimes at my left, then my right. Up, then down. My heels followed its every turn. "I am your Achilles' heel, after all. I am your greed and avarice. Your sickness and disease. The cause of your death. I am the one you fear, and the thing you cling to. I am your great tragedy."
The room spun. My knees buckled and I went down, clasping my head in my hands. It felt like a hammer on my skull.
"I am the one who called you when you failed that job interview. I am the one who inspired within you your crimes. And, I remain the one you refuse to acknowledge."
"How do I get rid of you?"
I knew this day was coming. It couldn't have been that simple. Man can't have everything, it's always one or the other. That was the price in being human. We are weak; in love and loss.
"Rid of me?" It laughed in mockery, "Why! I've always been a part of you. You know it well."
"Nonsense!" My fist met the table, "I know there's a way. I'm done listening to you, and I know you want this as much as I do. So, tell me, sin. What do you want from me?"
"Well, it's not so much what you can give me, rather what you're willing to lose. You say you want rid of me. How will you prove you have severed yourself from my call?"
I know what you're thinking. That I'm crazy. There's something wrong with my making, and I belong in places with needles and barbwire. That I'm even crazier by listening to it. You don't understand.
It was either them or me. Call me weak and human, but I'd rather it be me.
So, I told Kathy to go home early, and Stein, I sent on a supply run. Thus was the night it all rose in flames. The warehouse, along with the drug, and the money. I sat cross legged with the building at my rear where, in the basement, burned the intruder. Not much time passed that police show up with their Mustangs and rifles, surprised to find me barely putting up a fight.
They didn't know I heard Kathy's screams echo in my ear from her mansion up north, or that I saw myself reflected from Stein's goggles across the street.
But, there it was again. That warmth.