Prologue: The trouble with Susie

"I remember it very well," the killer whispered. "My first was almost a year ago. It was the prosecuting attorney in the Gambini case in Albany, and he was so good." The killer slowly dragged on a cigarette, cherishing the last taste of freedom. "He was a family man. They lived in the usual two story colonial with the white picket fence and a two door garage." "Why him?" "Cause that is what I was told. He was the target. And it was my first taste of blood." "So what did you do?" "I watched them for weeks, getting their moves down. Tuesdays was soccer practice, Thursday the piano teacher dropped by. The husband spent time downstairs building things. I guess it was his workshop." The killer slowly took another drag off the cigarette as ashes fell to the oak table beneath. "That night, I made sure I had all my tools. I picked the side door, making sure no one saw me. The house was dark, so I had to be sure everything went off without a hitch. I made my way into the living room. I knew where everyone slept, because I went in there the night before. Every now and then, I'd move things just to see if they'd notice. They never did.' the assassin chortles, exhaling a smoke cloud that floated to the overhead lamp and beyond.

"His desk was in the den, it's where the safe, and the papers were too. The television was in the living room and so were the lamps and furniture. But that wasn't important. The papers were my first priority. I had to dispose of the papers he had on Gambini. I got the safe open in no time. I took the papers out, rolled them up and lit them up. The first few puffs were a bit rough, but after that, they were like the finest Cuban cigars. In no time, the papers burned up. As I started to exit the room, I noticed a light coming from downstairs. He was down there, doing a little reading of the dirty magazines I supposed." "And?" asked the detective in an exasperated tone. "And then I killed him." "How?" "Didn't you hear how? I went down to where he was and clubbed him over the head. He didn't go down easily and we struggled a moment. Until I pulled out my knife and stabbed him in the stomach. Once he was on the floor, crying and begging for his life, I looked around for anything that could be useful." "Useful?" "To assist me in torturing him." "Why didn't you kill him right there?" "I needed answers." "Like?" "Like if the papers I found was all there was, Like were there anyone else in the house I didn't know about? and who really killed JFK." "I asked if the house was heated by wasteful electric or by energy saving gas products. He didn't know what I meant by gas or electric at first. Until I walked over to the furnace and blew out the pilot light. The fumes spread quick. It was a good furnace. I then picked him up and tied him up to the furnace, to make sure when it goes up, so does he." "Why did you let the wife and kids die?" "Because they were there. Once I left the cellar, I went to the rooms upstairs, spreading gas from a five gallon gas jug I brought. I made sure they wouldn't wake up." "How?" "Easy, I slit their throats," the murderer said without blinking," They sure did bleed alot, and so did I." "You bled?" "Yes, I got one nasty paper cut from them papers. They were bonded paper, good quality." the killer replied. "So after you killed the husband and slit the throats of the rest of the family..." "I went to the kitchen and lit a candle." "A candle?" "By the time the candle burned down, the gas would be so heavy, it would ignite. No trace of anything or any body." The killer said quietly, leaning back on the chair, puffing the last of the cigarette. "And the rest, tell us about the rest." "The rest is less eventful, kinda boring and not as exciting. I'd wait for the video to see it" "Bore us with the details," the detective replied, beginning to wonder who was controlling the questioning. "The next one was a Jersey Judge." "Judy?" "No, Norman." "Go on" "I would, but you have the door locked!" "The story dummyboy!" "Oh, well, the judge was presiding over a racketeering charge on our guy "the cat" Catanzaro. I mailed the judge a present right there at the courthouse." "The scorpions." "Yes, it took no time for the judge to die after the sting. The rare Egyptian scorpions are the deadliest in the world. And I sent him six. He was dead before he could pull his hand out of the box. The scorpions just disappeared. I played mailman that day and delivered them to him personally. There were others, Like the Scianelli case. He was up for murder and I was asked to take out the judge and the D.A." "And?" "I lured the D.A. to an old abandoned warehouse, saying that I was a witness. He came, I eliminated him." "How?" "For that one, I wore the Mr. Peanut suit." "Mr. Peanut, did you say?" "Yeah, you know the guy with the top hat and cane? Kids love it when I wear that suit and hand out bags of nuts, never suspecting... I got dressed like Mr. Peanut, you know, and hung around waiting for him for hours. Guess he went to the wrong place at first, because he was late and I was running out of peanuts," The killer remarked, looking at the lady detective in the corner. "He didn't even have anyone come with him. I walked up from behind and knocked him out cold. I tied his hands behind his back." The killer cracked a smirk. "So before he woke up, I tied a big noose around his chest and raised him up to his feet. Then I stuffed his mouth with peanuts. SALTED peanuts and then I stabbed him in his heart, leaving the knife in him, and, with the help of a warehouse crane, lifted him to the rafters. He'd either have bled to death or suffocated on the peanuts. You cops found him four days later." The cigarette grew cold as the last flicker of smoke escaped from the butt. The detective gave the storyteller another cigarette, as he listened intensely. "The Judge was harder to get to, because of the beefed up security. They looked cute in their little butler and waitress outfits, but they fooled no one at the courthouse. Especially with the machine guns strapped to their backs. It was only a month after my last and I guess everyone was edgy. But he went down like the others." "How much did you get paid doing this? and who paid you?" The killer thought defiantly for a moment, "I got paid in peanuts and pretzels. Mr. Pretzel and Mr. Peanuts were the guys who hired me. They were a couple of real twisted nuts." "Are you sure?" "How can I not be?" "Names, We need names!" "Ok, you look like an Elroy, and the lady cop over there looks like a Sharon." "Who are your bosses with the mafia?" "Hey, That wasn't part of the deal!" "Screw the deal!" "You know the conditions detective" the killer said with disdain,"I was supposed to tell you of the murders I did within the last year and help with nailing the mob and you guys get me relocated and a new identity. That' the deal!" "You have to be one lucky..." "Careful detective. you wouldn't want me to get a case of amnesia would you?"

"Is it contagious?" "No, it's a memory loss, sometimes occur from stressful or traumatic situations." "How about we just spread the word that you turned over on the mob? You'd be dead before you hit the front door." The killer sat back in the chair, amused by the games that were being played. The detective was sharp. "The judge lived in a little condo on Fifth Avenue. He was just blocks away from the subway. One evening he was walking from the subway to his place. I happen to run into him." "You mean run over him, don't you?" "Into him, over him, whatever!"

"Details!" "Well, ok. I stole a produce truck and when I saw my chance, I ran him down. He never had a chance." "How'd you know he was dead?" "I hit him, backed up over him, and ran him over again. He was dead or very lucky!" "And witnesses? There had to have been a lot of people around." "You guys never got any witnesses did you?" "No," the detective responded reluctantly. "No one ever saw my face, just the truck, which I dumped a few blocks away from there. It wasn't as easy as I thought to ditch an 18 wheeler produce truck in the city in the evening." The detective whistled in disbelief. "Shall I go on?" "No, I think we have enough for now." "There was this one assignment I pulled just a few months back. I chopped the guy in half, it was great! I got this special weapon. It sliced, it diced, it julienned."

Chapter one to appear next week