The Mysterious Case of Mr Cadaver - "Search Party" - short story
Mary was sitting at home alone in the late evening, she was in her kitchen. Her kitchen is a gleaming white kitchen with black marble tops, and she's sitting on a barstool on her kitchen island, drinking a small glass of wine, eating a small box of chocolates.
Mary is reading through several case files, these all are spread all over the island with black and white photos and paper clipped to different papers. She decides to take a small break and shuffles all the papers into the binder. She finishes her wine, and starts to put stuff away as she leaves her wine glass near the kitchen sink, puts the binder under her arm and heads towards her bedroom.
Her phone rings. It's her coworker Stanley.
She answers.
"Stan, it's late, what do you need?" she moans.
"Good evening to you too!" Stan laughs, "have you found any more of our walking dead man?"
"Stan, as much as I would love to help you find your weird drug runner, I am still working on my OWN case" she says angrily.
"Okay, I get it… but can I at least ask you, one question?" Stan sounds quite serious, and his tone sounds almost accusatory.
"Sure" Mary chuckles.
"Why is he searching for you?" Mary feels the air get sucked out her lungs. "I found your name appears like three or four times in this file, mostly redacted stuff around it, but it seems he's been trying to find you?"
Mary starts to panic.
"Stan, please tell me EXACTLY what it says around my name" Mary's panic is kicking in, and her voice trembles. There's a slight pause, She can hear Stanley rushing through papers, after a few minutes he answers.
"Mary [redacted], wanted for [redacted], then there's like a paper or two missing and one paper ripped in half, but the end has a handwritten note that simply says, "Find Mary signed Mr C" quote end quote"
Mary hears a window break in the back of her house, she quickly stuffs the files she had in her armpit into her hallway set of drawers. She ends the call with Stanley, with a whisper but a panicked tone.
"Call the police, end this call" Mary hangs up the phone.
Mary throws her phone under the halfway drawers, and she quickly starts trying to find her badge and gun in her nearby coat, hanging on an old style coat hanger.
At the back of the house, a few thugs start breaking into her back door and bathroom and bedroom windows, guns in their hands, and they seem to search for something.
A man enters the house, bypassing the thugs.
He's wearing a full three-piece suit, blue, but in its naval colour. It's old a dirty, looking like it's been underground for a few years. He's got black leather gloves on his, almost skeletal hands., His whole body is so thin that his suit looks baggy on him, His wide brimmed hat, covers his skull looking face, but he has zero visible eyes, at least that anyone looking at him would see.
"She's here. Do not kill her, she's much more valuable alive." Mr Cadaver says in a raspy voice.
The thugs enter the house throwing drawers of a wardrobe, chest of drawers in the bedroom, and going through the house, diving into every drawer and parts of the house. Mr Cadaver calmly walks through the house searching for her, calling out for her.
"My dear, you don't have to make this awkward for us, come out, and we can leave all swiftly." Mr C commands.
Mary, in her panic, tries to move slowly on the floor, however, the wooden tiles squeak, giving away her position. The thugs run into the hallway, they try to grapple Mary to the floor, she throws a couple of guys aside, and unconscious but two manage to grab her and zip tie her hands behind her back.
Mr Cadaver walks into the hallway, he looks down at Mary.
"I think we need to have a little chat"...
