Journal Entry #33 - Mission: New York

May 11th, 2013 - 8:49 Pm

Today has had it's twists.

I got to Fred's hotel room at about 8:20 this morning. Opening the door, I watched his calm demeanor turn into shock. His mouth dropped, and he couldn't say anything for a bit.

"G- Gregory!?"

I looked at him with an awkward smile. "Uh, yah. You emailed me?"

Fred's shock heightened. "What!? No, I didn't! I mean, it's good to see you again, but I didn't email you!"

Simply protocol, I gave him a printed version of the email he sent me. "It's right here."

He looked over it. "My gosh, it's all true too." he handed it back. "It's legit, but I swear, I didn't send you this. And my computer hasn't detected a hacker lately. Trust me, I would know." His eyes squinted. "How did you know where to find me?"

I bit my lip. This was weird. Like, really weird. "I... I don't know." I scratched my head. "I just kinda... knew."

We both just stared at eachother for a bit. "Um," he said, "you wanna, come in?"

I chuckled. "Sure."

We got comfortable in the living area and caught up with eachother. We hadn't talked in a while, and I wanted to know how the family was doing.

"So," he said, "you met anyone special yet?"

I smiled. "Not yet." I looked out the window. "Maybe one of these days though."

"How's Shelby?"

Shelby was my dog. She was awesome. She's been trained, a lot more though than just the regular stuff. She tracks better than any other mutt out there, and knows how to handle herself. I'll make sure to post a picture of her sometime.

"She probably misses me about now. She's at my sister's right now." I sat up straight. "Let's get to business. Since I'm here, you know I can't walk away. Let's start with the phone calls. What exactly are the phone calls saying?"

Fred shook his head. "I got no idea man. The people who get the calls can't say it back for some reason. It's like their brains won't let them say it out loud. It's strange."

"Is there any way I can talk to the guy mentioned in the email you didn't send me?"

He smiled. "His name is Vladimir. He has expressed his wishes of wanting to talk to a pro."

I stood up. "I'll start there then."

I got the address from him, and drove down to the Hospital. Like everything here, it was big, and it looked bigger inside. I got the room number for Vladimir and headed up. I knocked on his door.

"Come in!" I heard.

As I entered, Vladimir shooed the nurse out. She complied, hesitantly.

"Hey," Vladimir said, "Kornelson, right?"

I cocked my head. "How did you know?"

He motioned for me to get closer. As I got near, he started whispering. "Some guys in black, scared the (censored) out of me, visited me yesterday morning. Told me not to tell you anything. And I mean nothin'."

Can't people spare the language!? "About what?"

He smiled cunningly. "I had been getting some phone calls from some guy. I don't know who though. Kept telling me something bad was gonna happen." He looked at his legs, which were raised high and in casts. "No kiddin' right? Earlier that morning though, I saw this huge furry thing flying around."

I chose to ignore that last part for now. "Car crash right?"

He nodded. "Yup. Didn't see the red light." He smiled. "Once I got hit, all I could see was red."

I was a bit confused. "From what I've heard, people can't remember anything the caller said. How come you did?"

"My Mom came and rubbed some natural oils on my legs and head. After that, my memory came back. Before that, I didn't see any significance in the phone calls, or what the guy sounded like."

"What did he sound like?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, his voice was raspy. I was waiting for him to say 'I'm Batman', you know? But it wasn't too raspy. It was very understandable."

I nodded. "Well, thank you for your time. I think I got everything I need."

Vladimir jumped just at that moment towards me. "DON'T LEAVE ME!" he grabbed my shirt and pulled me towards him. As he did, I pushed the button that calls the nurse. He continued to yell. "HE'LL GET ME! HE'LL KILL ME!"

I tried to push away, but it was as if his strength doubled. "Who!?" I asked.

His grip loosened, but he pulled my ear closer to his mouth and whispered, "The Death Angel."

Someone pulled me back. I was whipped around and grabbed by the shoulders. It was the doctor. "You need to leave sir. Now."

I pulled myself away. "Of course." I tipped my hat and moved on.

I filled Fred in on the meeting, who was almost as curious as me about all this. "I don't know what got into him, but he had genuine fear. He was scared for his life. He didn't do that for you?"

Fred shook his head. "Nope. He was quite collected when I visited him. He wouldn't tell me anything though."

I nodded. "I think I'm going to do some research." I stood and grabbed my hat off the rack. As I placed it on my head, I said, "God protect you, and may He bless you."

He stood and shook my hand. "Thanks. You too."

I left with so many questions in my head. Who was the Death Angel? How did this connect to the mysterious phone calls, and Vladimir's car accident? Seemed to me that it was pure accident.

I'm not gonna get a lot of sleep tonight.

God Bless...
Inspector Kornelson