• Some Notable Quotes before reading:
    “Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more”-Mark Twain

    “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--- not absence of fear.” -Mark Twain

    “Guilt is a rope that wears thin.”-Ayn Rand




    “I see you’re late again,” A portly man behind a desk puffed as his cigar, “That’s strike two for you. I’d watch your back if I were you.”
    “I apologize, Mr. Hendeca…” Adam Milan bowed his head in front of his boss, trying to get on his good side. It apparently didn’t work as Mr. Hendeca shooed him away out of his office. When the door slammed behind Adam, he jumped, startled, and cautiously walked to his office. When Milan plopped in the office chair, a great weight hovered over him; being an amateur detective was no easy task. Basically, with this job, he would either be Hendeca’s lackey or he would do nothing at all.
    “Mr. Hendeca told me to give you this.” Adam Milan’s associate held out a manila folder with a few stapled pages in it. “Read it on your own time. Said something about ‘your first case’… I dunno, just don’t screw around with it at work.” He trudged out of the police station and swung the door open, a small amount of sunlight pierced through the tinted glass. Just enough for the “Central Falls Police Station” sign to reflect in the afternoon sunbeam.
    “Wow, what is this?” Adam felt the weight of the folder and then opened it a smidge, just enough to get a peek of the paper inside. ‘Case #669’ was scrawled at the bottom of the computer paper with fresh ink. It smelled warm, as if just coming out of the copy machine recently.
    “Hey, I thought I told you to read that on your own time! You’re supposed to be planting yourself in that chair and sitting idle.” Mr. Hendeca yelled with a stern voice, took the folder, and slammed it on the desk away from Milan.
    “I’m sorry sir, I---”
    “Just don’t let me see you slacking off again..”
    “Slacking off from what? All I really do is sit here and get you coffee!”
    “Are you giving me an attitude, you ungrateful little child?!” Hendeca had flames in his eyes, and his lips curled with disgust. He fumed and then stormed into his office without saying another word. The mahogany door slammed behind him.
    “Great, now I really ticked him off.” Adam sighed and leaned back in his office chair, the cushion lightly pressing his upper back. Now all that was left in the day was to wait until his shift was over, at eleven o’ clock PM. The seconds ticked by like hours, each minute that passed seemed forever as Milan now really wanted to see the contents of the folder they warned him not to open until later…
    Finally, at eleven PM, Adam grabbed his coat and stormed out of the station, the suspense of opening it finally getting to him.
    “Yes, now I can see what this case is about!” He anxiously ripped open the container and looked at the case file #669.

    Case file #669
    Case type: Murder
    Date Reported: 4/08
    Information: A local Hispanic woman by the name of Hannah Erenzo was found in her apartment apparently strangled and bludgeoned to death. There were no signs of forced entry and when officers arrived, every possible point of entry had been locked tightly. There were no fingerprints found at the crime scene. All that was left was one note which was written on a napkin.

    Evidence 01A enclosed

    Adam pulled the stapled note from the paper and read it.

    “Long ago, Just like the hearse you die to get in again, we are so far from you.”
    “What is this?” He tried to interpret it but the message made almost no sense whatsoever. When he looked at it again, he noticed that there were words that continued but were cut off. The edge of the napkin contained the partial word “Burni-----” and then the rest of the word was completely gone as if intentionally left like that to tease.
    “Hm… I still don’t know why Hendeca didn’t want me to read this during my shift. He’s probably had too much coffee today…” Milan rolled the paper up and stuffed it in his pocket, then continued to read the phrase over and over again.
    Even though he tried hard to crack the code that was this cryptic line of text, it still seemed like a bunch of gibberish that was just jotted down for no reason… Certainly it wouldn’t qualify as evidence for a murder case. In fact, the handwriting indicated it was actually written quickly, as if the writer of it were in a hurry or in a struggle.

    THE NEXT DAY
    5:30 AM
    Phones rang and keyboards clicked in a rhythmic tone for such an early time of day. To Adam, this was the normal wakeup noises he had been hearing for over a year. This particular day, the office seemed to be in a little distress. The boss was screaming more than usual and seemed to be more frustrated--- At what nobody had known, they had just figured he was a rambling, furious idiot.
    “Does anyone know why he’s so worked up all of a sudden? I mean, even by our standards, he’s really gone off the rails today.” A fellow worker, Cathy Ferguson pointed out to the rest of the employees. Everyone responded with a nervous, quiet nod, and half of them looked around to see if he was standing behind them.
    “I think it’s my fault,” Adam nervously mumbled, “I sort of opened a case file he told me to wait to open---”
    “Nah, I know there’s something else wrong with him. Maybe his wife left him or something. I dunno, whatever it is, I hope it just lasts a little while. Can’t afford to deal with this today.” Cathy fidgeted with the files and sorted them in alphabetical order. She then sat in a wooden chair and mumbled in a whisper to herself.
    “Why can’t you deal with it today? Did something happen?” Adam’s other associate responded.
    “My mom was killed two days ago and there’s still no leads.”
    “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
    “Nah, don’t worry about it…. So, where did Mr. Hendeca go?” Cathy looked around; the coast was clear.
    “Something about a city hall meeting.” Adam just recalled Hendeca was going out for the day for a city hall event. What a big thing to forget!
    “Well, while he’s gone, I’m gonna go get some coffees. Anyone want one?” Adam’s associate Rick reached into his khakis pocket and retrieved a thick wallet. He fidgeted through it and then waited for someone to ask for something. “No? Okay then, your groggy morning loss.” His shoes clicked as he lightly pushed open the glass door and waltzed out into the cold Central Falls streets.

    “Now, to figure out this stupid cryptic piece of paper… What does this evidence mean?” Milan read the note over and over, but still nothing came to him… These words that struck the page had seemingly no meaning; no value. It was as if this piece of evidence was just an afterthought of something much greater; something much larger in scale….
    “What does it say?” Cathy looked over Adam’s shoulder, whispering to him swiftly.
    “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. It doesn’t make any sense… These were the words the killer left? Wow, murderers are really studying nowadays, aren’t they?”

    Outside of the police station, the loud sound of a car screeching pierced the tranquil silence of the early morning. Everyone’s heads turned immediately after the noise, their eyes locked onto the front entrance of the police station as a red light waved back and forth…. It came from the car in the distance. Everything moved in slow motion, Adam and Cathy sprinted for the front door and burst out into the sidewalk to check what was going on.
    What happened was what they both had feared----


    ----A sedan was crushed by an empty police car, the both of them flaming and their metal was scorched and blackened. A body dangled out of the blue sedan’s driver window, lifeless with blood dripping from its head. In the morning wind of that day, a flyer floated gracefully right into Adam’s hands…. As if it were destiny.

    The cryptic message continued….
    “Burning on, just like a match you strike to incinerate the lives of everyone you know… Can you hear me? Are you near me? Can we pretend to leave and then we‘ll meet again, when both our cars collide?”
    Adam said nothing, yet said everything. His mouth moved yet no speech emerged. He looked up to the partially cloudy sky and never stopped staring at that one line…
    “when both our cars collide?”


    ~Verse One Complete~


    ~Verse Two~

    Central Falls Police Station
    5:41 AM
    The charred vehicles continued to sit idly in the street. Not a single inch of the scene was disturbed by anything; Cathy called for an ambulance and for the next ten minutes, Adam and everyone else could barely stand they were so shocked.
    “Where’d you get that piece of paper?” Cathy took the note from Adam’s hands and a frown immediately emerged from her face. “Another one of these…. This guy isn’t screwing around.”
    “I know, all these notes make no sense,” Milan continued, “Well, we have to wait until the boss comes back so we can actually get this case filed as well.” Adam pocketed the cryptic message and then walked back into the police station; Behind him sirens screamed and flashing lights surrounded the area. Now there were two notes; two notes in particular that provided absolutely no leads to anything whatsoever.
    “When both our cars collide…. What the hell!?” Adam kicked the trash can next to him. This case meant everything to him---- He could and would be surely fired if he hadn’t figured out at least one lead to it.
    Outside, Rick saw everything and dropped the coffee tray. He stared mindlessly frozen at the metal heap of an accident. “I was gone for ten minutes, and this happens?! Oh my God…” He put his hands on his head and nearly fell off his feet. A bloody lifeless body was wheeled off on a stretcher into a parked ambulance…
    Case #670 had been opened.


    THE NEXT DAY
    12:07 PM
    For a Saturday, it seemed very dull and calm. Even though the car accident victim, by the name of Leah Epros, died… There were no random shootings, no drug busts---- Nothing. It seemed as if everything was on pause and nobody had the remote. The sky had a red tint to it, and the clouds were smudged under the afternoon sun; Like a painting with God holding the brush. On this particular day, Adam would find a third message. One so shockingly accurate to the crime he would witness…. That it would feel as if the killer wrote it as a poetic plan before murdering the victim.

    “Milan, you’re up. We’ve got another one here.” Hendeca pressed his cigar in the ash tray and a small trail of smoke hovered above his hand. And that’s when everything went from pause right into fast forward. Adam opened the manila file folder to see CASE #671 written in thick pen at the top.

    CASE #671
    Case type- murder-suicide
    Forty year-old Nicholas Allen was found dead in his apartment the morning of Saturday, April 12th at 2:28 AM. Upon further investigation in the crime scene, the suspected killer was sprawled on a bed in a pool of blood with a note next to him, which is enclosed. The name of the killer is unknown as there was no source of identification and dental records were unable to be done---- As there was no jaw remaining. A shotgun was found next to the body on the floor of the bed.
    Allen checked the evidence piece. It was another poetic note that was provided on the other stapled sheet; Photocopied.

    “And what’s the worst you take, from every heart you break, and like the blade you stain… Well I’ve been holding on tonight. What’s the worst thing I could say? Things are better if I say, ‘So long and goodnight….. So long and goodnight…’..”
    “Ugh!” Adam took the file and turned away, running to his office and making sure nobody saw him cry.
    What he didn’t notice at the bottom of the note was another piece to this word-filled puzzle,

    “Came a time, when every star fall brought you to tears again….”

    He plopped in his desk and pieced the notes together. It then occurred to him that it might have actually been a previously-published poem.

    Long ago,
    Just like the hearse you die to get in again
    We are so far from you

    Burning on just like a match you strike to incinerate
    The lives of everyone you know
    And what’s the worst you take
    From every heart you break
    And like the blade you stain
    Well I’ve been holding on tonight

    What’s the worst that I could say?
    Things are better if I say
    So long and goodnight
    So long and goodnight.

    He then looked at the note again and put the phrase he missed in there, along with the other recent one.
    Came a time
    When every star fall brought you to tears again

    Can you hear me?
    Are you near me?
    Can we pretend to leave and then
    We’ll meet again
    When both our cars collide?

    “I’ve heard this somewhere!” Adam couldn’t put his finger on it but he knew he’d heard some of these lyrics from somewhere. What he noticed next was that some of the lyrics had been skipped. “That’s supposed to be later in the lyrics…. ‘Can you hear me?’ is in the wrong order…”
    “Let me guess, you got another note again?” Rick had overheard when Cathy asked about the note yesterday. Immediately Adam hid the file from Rick’s sight and responded shakily,
    “No… Where did you hear that?”
    “Oh, never mind then…. Well, it’s lunch break, I’ll see you in a half an hour.” Rick pulled out his wallet and then lightly pushed the front door open. Cathy kept to herself and then plopped onto a plastic chair. She organized files and quietly sat alone. The mood quickly got tense with every moment of silence that proceeded… The mute button.
    Every note Adam received was just another piece to an immense, seemingly unsolvable riddle… The question truly was, did he even want to find out the answer? He closed his eyes and tried to block everything; All of these chaotic thoughts and theories drained him…
    This Saturday was possibly just the calm before a vicious, murderous, hellish storm.

    ~end of verse two~


    ~verse three~

    ONE WEEK AFTERWARD
    1:45 PM
    “Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.”-Agatha Christie.

    Nothing had come up in over a week; The office had actually been pretty quiet lately. Cathy, Adam, and Rick figured that it was because of the new enforced laws. Many others around the police station thought otherwise.
    “Adam, I need you to keep watch of things while I’m gone. This sick criminal is probably in hiding… Waiting to strike again. I have to go to a second meeting at city hall. I’ll be back in about two hours…” Mr. Hendeca left Adam in charge; the irony in that was great, he was the lowest of the food chain yet he was the one to keep everyone in line.
    “So, ‘leader’, any new cases lately?” Cathy laughed at the idea of Milan leading anything.
    “Nope, I haven’t gotten one in about eight days so far.” He shuffled through some files and then neatly stacked them on the desk in one pile. An empty cup of coffee was in the corner of the now organized small table, and he wondered if he would ever get another file to help him find out the solution to this giant puzzle.

    TWO HOURS LATER
    “We’ve got a huge problem, Adam.” Hendeca sprinted into the station with a giant stack of files in his hands. He panted heavily and planted the papers on Milan’s desk without saying anything else. The stack made a loud thud when it hit his desk and he immediately jumped, startled by the random addition to his case file collection.
    “What’s this????” Adam picked up the pages and then stared back up at Mr. Hendeca.
    “It’s your job, now do it.” Hendeca demanded and then sauntered out of the room into his office. The smell of steaming ink emanated from the papers as they sat comfortably at the desk of Adam J. Milan, untouched and would remain untouched for several moments proceeding.
    He left early, without telling anyone why.

    Exchange street, Pawtucket.
    4:22 PM
    Adam quietly slouched in the bench near the bus station. The long running river near him rushed downward under the stone bridge in the distance, and traffic was almost at a standstill. Only a few people were waiting for a bus, perhaps it was a day off for many people. Then again, Pawtucket was never famous for crowds of busy people to begin with.
    “Need to erase all the problems in my head…” He sighed and whispered to himself. “I don’t even want to know what’s in this bundle of paper, I’ve gotten too many messages leading nowhere already.”
    “Well, hello there!” A woman’s voice cooed faintly next to Adam. The lady sat next to him and looked him in the eyes. Her midnight black hair covered one of her eyes.
    “Oh, hello. I don’t think we’ve met, have we?”
    “No, but it’s nice to meet you. I’m Helena.” She held out her hand and smiled warmly. Once Adam shook her hand, he suddenly felt at peace, yet felt chilly.
    “I’m Adam. Great to meet you, Helena. What brings you here?”
    “Oh, you know, just walking around the city, trying to get rid of stressful, chaotic thoughts.” Helena turned her focus to the birds standing on top of the bus station roof. “It must be nice, being a bird….”
    “Why’s that?” Adam lightly laughed.
    “Well, I mean, they’re so free. No work, no worries, they can just fly all day, eat, and sleep.”
    “I guess you’re right.”
    “I’m going to head back to work. Good luck on your case---- Oh, and here’s my phone number if you ever want to chat.” Helena wrote down her number, handed it to Adam, and walked off. Her long black hair swayed with the wind softly as she crossed the street and out of his view.
    He memorized the phone number and then folded it, putting it into his shirt pocket. For several moments, he didn’t realize what had just happened.
    “Wait… I never told her that I was working on a case…. I never even told her my job!”

    ~End of Verse Three~


    ~Verse Four~
    “You sort of start thinking anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”-J.K. Rowling.

    POLICE STATION
    NEXT DAY
    7:09 AM
    “Back to work, I guess…” Adam sipped a coffee and finally untied the wrappings on the new case file.

    CASE #672
    A local teenager by the name of Michael Collins Roberts recently went missing. In the apartment complex where he lives, there were no signs of forced entry or any kind of struggle within the vicinity. Currently, there are absolutely no leads as to where or how the child went missing, however there was a note tacked to the front door of his apartment, which is enclosed.

    “Not another one….” Adam pulled off the enclosed paper and read it.

    This is my final note to you. After reading this, it is up to you to piece them all together to create the answer. Are you smart enough to do it?
    “This guy’s sick…”
    “What’s the worst thing I could say?
    Things are better if I say,
    ‘So long, and goodnight’
    ‘So long, and goodnight’
    And if you carry on this way,
    Things are better if I say,
    ‘So long, and goodnight’
    ‘So long and goodnight’.”

    Let the games begin, my little naïve guinea pig. If you’re still stuck, I’ve got another hint for you.


    ELEVEN

    The note ended there, just simply with the word, “Eleven” written with thick ink. This note was personal; it was almost as if the killer knew Adam… Like this person knew where he went, and what he had been doing all this time…

    ….Like a guinea pig….

    ~End of Verse Four~

    ~Chorus~
    TWO WEEKS LATER
    POLICE STATION
    11:29 AM
    “Mr. Hendeca didn’t come in today,” Cathy had a concerned tone in her voice. The rest of the staff didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t storming in, furious as ever.
    “That’s really strange. He’s usually here a half an hour early.” Rick’s ears twitched and he looked over at Hendeca’s office. “Hey, is his phone ringing???”
    “Oh crap, I’ll get it.” Adam ran to Mr. Hendeca’s office and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
    “Hendeca left the country.”
    “What? Who is this?!”
    “A reliable source. Don’t even attempt to finish the case you’re working on. It’ll just get you hurt.”
    “It’s my job, you have no right to tell me anything!----”
    “Call Helena… Now…” The phone clicked and a dial tone pulsated loudly on the other end of the line.
    “….? What?” Adam hung up the phone and then remembered…. Helena’s the girl he met a couple of weeks ago. The phone number was still in his desk drawer.
    “Who was that?”
    “Nobody. Hey, I’m gonna go take an early lunch break since he’s a no-show. I’ll be back soon.” Adam took the phone number from his desk drawer and sprinted out of the office with a look of confusion on his face.

    Exchange street, Pawtucket
    11:37 AM
    Immediately after sitting down on the bench in the middle of the bus stop, Adam turned on his cell phone and dialed the number. With every key ok the phone he pressed, his heart raced faster. What would happen if someone picked up the line? What would he say to them, or what would he ask?
    But nobody picked up the phone…. Right when it ringed five times, a song played loudly through the speakers of the phone.
    “Long ago,
    Just like the hearse you die to get in again,
    We are so far from you.

    Burning on, just like a match you strike to incinerate
    The lives of everyone you know
    And what’s the worst you take
    From every heart you break
    And like the blade you stain
    Well I’ve been holding on tonight.

    What’s the worst thing I could say?
    Things are better if I say
    So long and goodnight
    So long and goodnight

    Came a time
    When every star fall brought you to tears again
    We are the very hurt you sold
    And what’s the worst you take
    From every heart you break
    And like the blade you stain
    Well I’ve been holding on tonight

    What’s the worst thing I could say?
    Things are better if I say
    So long and goodnight
    So long and goodnight
    And if you carry on this way
    Things are better if I say
    So long and goodnight
    So long and goodnight”

    “Are you serious….?” Milan shut off his phone and headed right back to the police station, to finalize this giant, seemingly endless puzzle.

    POLICE STATION
    11:53 AM
    “That was a fast lunch break… Did you inhale the food?” Rick laughed but immediately shut up once he saw the look on Adam’s face…. The look of dread he thought he’d never see.
    “The cases… All of them…. They’re all connected in every possible way!” Adam laughed nervously… He put together the notes, all of them, and noticed that the names actually spelled something.

    Hannah Erenzo- H.E.
    Leah Epros- L.E.
    Nicholas Allen- N.A.
    Michael Collins Roberts- M.C.R.

    Adam pieced together the initials…
    H.E.L.E.N.A.
    M.C.R.
    “MCR is a band… And Helena is one of their songs!” He figured out, in his mind, that the woman by the name of Helena actually did not exist. It was his own mind playing tricks on him, the number was to a ringtone service…. With this particular song. However, even through all this…. There was still no killer to be found out. Helena was not the murderer even though she seemed to be… Because she was simply a figment of his ill imagination.
    That final hint, “ELEVEN”, still haunted him. It was just a number, nothing more… That is, until Adam thought deeper….
    “Wait… Eleven…” He couldn’t believe what he had been thinking, “…Hendeca… It’s a prefix for eleven for a shape… A Hendecagon! Cathy, you need to come over here and see this.”
    “What is it, Adam?”
    “I found the murderer… But I know you won’t believe me. Tell me, did Mr. Hendeca ever tell you the password to his computer, or any other password-protected item in his office?”
    “No, he didn’t. What does this have to do with the killer of these people?”
    “The apartment for Michael Collins Roberts…. Michael doesn’t exist. Apartment 329M belongs to a man by the name of Kevin Hendeca! He’s the one, he did all of this!”

    Cathy whispered with shock these final words,

    “…And we were the guinea pigs.”
    “But we’re too late, he’s gone without a trace, Cathy.”
    “This case is closed… And so is this office.”

    ~Fade to black~