Babbling On and On

Previously...
“Christ” he said has he collapsed back down in the storefront. “I killed Dana?”
“Not yet,” His thoughts had once again returned, “but there is still time.”
“Already done it once” a new thought said, “So what is a second?”
“Does he have a reason?”
“Did he need one before?”

Continued...

The newspaper was no help to him at all. It wasn’t that he could not find any unsolved murders; it was that he lived in a really bad part of town and there were just too damn many.
The obvious thing to do then is to go through each one and see if any sound familiar. He sat back down because there really were a lot of unsolved murders in yesterday’s paper. Either the crime rate was high or the cops were, but murders were going unsolved faster than the paper could report them.
He knew he was not the type of person to stab someone. He hated the sight of blood, so over half of them were dismissed immediately. There were four drowned: at once! He did not have the patience for something like that. There was a fire of unknown origin that killed a family. He checked for his lighter. It was still there. He did not set a fire.
It seemed he was in the clear, but not feeling particularly secure where he lived.
“Told you this was the type of place a murder could go unnoticed. Is that why you moved here?”
“He didn’t move here, he left her to come here.”
“You mean he killed her.”
“Stop it!” Charlie yelled silently. He was not used to these feelings. He was actually starting to feel guilt, guilt of all things! He never felt guilt before in his life and was unsure how to deal with it.
“Maybe she isn’t dead” he pleaded to his thoughts.
“Anything is possible Charlie.”

Dana made it to the coffee shop ten minutes early. She had left her apartment so early that she had time to stop and buy a pack of smokes before work, but didn’t have to. Luck was on her side today because sitting in an empty storefront she always passes on her way to work was an unopened pack of cigarettes. Her brand no less.
The only bad part of her day, the part that did not go as planned was her manager called in sick. He was not going to know she was early for once.
It did not matter, she knew Charlie would be coming in soon for his morning coffee. Ever since they met, he had to see her before going to sleep. If she left for work before he returned from a walk, he would go by the shop on his way home. He would have some explaining to do this morning that he may not be up for.
Today Dana decided she is going to find out what exactly Charlie does on his “walks” and why they take so long. He was gone for three days one time and never called. After seventy two hours, he strolled into her apartment and went to sleep. To this day, she still has no idea where he went those days.

To Be Continued