CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

‘Why me? Why me?’

Why did it have to be him? He had always tried to be a good person, he had tried to make people like him, but now he had been turned into a murderer.

He had known what he had done the second the knife had sunk into Liam’s chest. He had known that he had killed him and now the proof had been found in the form of a blood-covered body.

But there had been something worse than the body in his bedroom, there had been another note. A note that had been written in Liam’s blood and then pinned to the table with a carving knife that had been used to inflict the extra wounds upon the arms and chest to draw more blood.

YOU’LL BE LIKE THIS SOON BRIAN

It wasn’t just a threat, it was a promise.

“Brian, Brian, calm down!” Peters said as Brian shook and cried in the chair before him. He could not stop trembling and he felt sick every time he thought about what he had seen and the image kept creeping into his mind every few seconds to remind him of what he had done.

“I killed him!” Brian sobbed. “I wanted to believe that I didn’t, but I did and I know I did because there’s a body!”

He was back at the police station… again. Brian was beginning to know every corner of the place and he hated the feeling it produced deep inside of him and every time he left, people seemed certain that it would be the last but it never was. He would never be free from what he had done, even though it had only been an accident.

“Brian, don’t worry! It was self defence and with a man as evil as Liam Baker there was no other way for you to stop him!” Peters sat opposite him, with a box of tissues brought in to try and stop Brian’s tears.

“I don’t want to be a murderer!”

But it seemed like he didn’t have much choice in the matter…

Peters sighed, but said nothing as he regarded the terrified man before him. It was all becoming too much for Brian now, he could see it in those child like blue eyes that cried so many tears. It was pure bad luck that someone as fragile as this had become involved in such an awful ordeal and it wouldn’t be over until the person behind the stalking was caught. But who was it? Brian’s house had been watched secretly for days in case anybody arrived there and during the few days after they had given up, somebody had used a set of keys to get inside and place a body for Brian to find. They seemed to be expert at dodging the police…

“Brian, would you like a hot drink to calm you down?” he suggested.

Brian shook his head miserably and wrapped his arms about his stomach protectively as if he could stop the nausea from welling up inside of him at the thought of food. How could he eat again when all he could see and think about was blood and murderer?

“I want to speak to call my mom,” he whispered. “But I can’t! she’ll hate me!”

She loved her children and was proud of everything they had done, but Brian had already hurt her by abandoning Harry and now how would she feel when the police told her that Brian was being arrested for murder?

“No she won’t. Brian. We’re not going to arrest you,” Peters stated calmly.

“Why not? Isn’t it you’re job to arrest murderers?” Brian was almost angry with him. He wanted it to be over with. He wanted to be told his punishment now.

“There isn’t enough evidence to arrest you,” Peters replied.

“There’s a body! What else do you need?” Brian spat. His stalker had won; Brian was going to jail. At least there he might be safe… unless someone had something lined up and waiting for him as soon as he stepped inside that cold prison.

“This case is extremely complicated,” Peters said. “And it is made even more complex by your stalker. Somebody had already tried to frame you and your band mates for drug dealing and this could be the same thing. We’re having forensics examine the body and your house for any evidence.”

“What will you do if you find a note saying ‘Brian is a murderer, go and arrest him’?”

“A note from an anonymous person is not enough to warrant an arrest. Whatever is found at your home, we will bear in mind that you haven’t been back there since you found the first message and there was nothing then to incriminate you. You could not have placed that body there yourself and, considering Liam’s build, I don’t think you could have even picked him up.”

“But – But - ”

“Brian, there are so many things to take into account with this case. One is if you were guilty then why didn’t the person with Liam’s body come forward? And if they wanted you to go jail then they should not have sent you notes and tried to frame you for drugs because it now makes it seem as if they are framing you for murder. We don’t know everything at the moment, but I’m certain that there is something vital in this case missing and that it links to your stalker.”

“And I have no idea who it is,” Brian murmured, sniffing slightly and reaching for another tissue.

“I’ll call you back here for another talk in a day or so. You need time to clam down and then we’ll talk about what the forensics say and I think we need you need to go through exactly what happened on that night Liam attacked you. You might have missed the tiniest detail that could give us some answers.”

“Okay,” Brian replied glumly.

“Fren took the liberty of calling your cousin to come and pick you up,” Peters said gently. “Go home and get some sleep and don’t worry about being arrested. We know that someone is after you from the notes and there is not enough proof to convict you of murder.”

“Go home?” Brian said hopefully. “I can go?”

“Of course you can.”

“Thank you.”

Peters stood up and Brian copied him, relieved to think that he would be seeing his cousin again. How many times now had he been plagued by the fear that he might not ever see them again unless it was from behind bars?

“What about our tour?” Brian asked suddenly. It had already been postponed once because of the drugs and Brian badly wanted to be back on stage to show his stalker that he wasn’t broken… no matter how weak he felt inside.

“I think it’s up to you, your friends and your manager what happens there and I will speak to them myself.”

Brian nodded, hating himself for all of the trouble that was being caused. It was his fault. He shouldn’t have murdered someone… but had he really had the choice? Does anybody ever choose what they become and what they do in those situations or does it just happen like it had done with Brian and Liam?

He would never have the answer. H could barely even remember what had happened that night because of the shock that had struck him afterwards.

He would not be going to jail, Peters seemed sure of that. No doubt like Kevin and the others they assumed that dear, sweet Brian could never kill somebody. He should be grateful, he knew he should be but his thoughts drifted back to the note that had been found.

YOU’LL BE LIKE THIS SOON BRIAN

He would be like Liam – dead. His stalker didn’t want him to go jail or he would have done it by now. He wanted Brian dead.
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