Free Sudden Vacancies by James Kipling Page B

But was there more going on here? Was it a need to change the hotel and the way things were being done in the flower shop…or was it a need just to change who he was and where he was headed?
    It was a sick world out there; it certainly wasn’t something that Tommy really felt happy about. While he was never a real moral authority on things going on around him, he worried that life might have been better if he had just taken a completely different direction.
    “Maybe I should have stayed in Akron,” he said to himself. Since he didn’t know that his sisters were dealing with the same issues, he began to seriously consider giving up the flower shop and moving back home. No more wading through the prostitutes when he parked down the block. No looking over his shoulder to make sure there wasn’t someone waiting in a dark alley to steal him blind. No – Akron was a much safer place. Why had he ever left?

Chapter 21
     
    Detective Michael had regret, which seemed to follow him wherever he went. While he did not fear that the person who was responsible for the murders would come to try to kill him, he was worried about what could go on during the investigation—would someone try to kill other people while he was at it?
    Until then, he always made sure to keep mental notes of the people who he interviewed. While he was happy with his work on this case, he knew that something could still be afoot.
    The mental stresses that came with his demons only made it harder for him to function and concentrate at times. He would constantly be on a diet of Red Bulls throughout each week; he’d usually have one at the start of the day and possibly one at the end of the day mixed with alcohol for good measure.
    As he was looking at Tommy’s file, he wrote down a message in his notebook:
    “Mr. Williams appears to be very oblivious to what is going on here. I’m not sure if he even knows how to run a floral shop or if he’s just providing a place for the vendor to outsource their goods. Goods that are grown in a country that’s one-step away from being at war with its neighbor.
    “I will continue to take a look at this guy; there’s something about him that I don’t trust. Then again, I don’t trust a single person here either. They pay these people so poorly that any one of them could have wanted to steal all the money from the people who show up here.”
    Suddenly, his mind started to race. “If there were huge marks on the necks of these people,” he began to talk out loud and pace around the room, “then what could he have done to them? The coroner’s report stated that there was a good amount of trauma, which caused people to stop breathing. Could it be that he caused them to start bleeding and then was able to seal up the wounds?
    “Maybe he changed the clothes of everyone he killed! How could there be so little blood around these crime scenes?”
    That’s when he started to think—maybe there was a sharp weapon used at the time.
    But what?

Chapter 22
     
    The question was how did the murderer manage to kill his victims without leaving any evidence, mess, or signs of the weapon used behind? It was clear that the weapon that was used was something that probably left a very small imprint and could have done enough to keep the victim from breathing. That point was the most critical one to get answered.
    In addition, Michael wanted to know why there were no fingerprints at any of the crime scenes around the hotel. “The lack of fingerprints on any other items around here suggests that someone might have gone out to buy some kind of protective material to keep fingerprints from being visible,” Michael wrote.
    That evening, a businessman from the western part of the country came into the hotel. He followed all the security standards for getting into the hotel and knew about the problems that plagued the area.
    While inside his hotel room, he took out a bag, a bong, and a lighter. He carefully lit the marijuana and wrapped