---

Saturday July 26, 2014 – 3:17 PM EST – St. Louis, Missouri

---

Now that Sebastian and I have finally had some time to talk about the death of his son I feel like we are at least at a point where the two of us have a better understanding of where things are. While I cannot say that we are now on the same page, I certainly have an appreciation for Sebastian and what he has gone through these last several weeks. I will never truly understand it and I certainly hope that I never experience it myself.

Having said that Sebastian’s hallucinations in which he is having a full on conversation with his dead son is something that will need to be monitored. It is clear that I was never intended to learn what I did, which means that no one else is aware of this either. And for the time being it will remain that way. In fact, it pleases me a bit that I know something of this caliber about my brother and Jacob, the mouthpiece, Sebastian’s right hand is completely in the dark.

In the meantime Matthew tipped me off to a man named Donald Renner. Donald is a serial killer, but moreover, not only does he kill his victims he first rapes them, then kills them and then, presumably because they are now dead and no longer in need of material possessions Donald then sees fit to rob them. The catch is, Donald’s playground is St.Louis, Missouri. Which is beyond perfect considering that New York City is obviously off limits and for that matter, so is the rest of the North East Corridor.

Sebastian caught wind of this and offered to tag along. His rationale being that with the feds on my trail having an extra set of eyes that can watch out not only for me but for a possible tail would prove invaluable. And who am I to argue with that?

So here we are, St. Louis, The Gateway to the West. Matthew gave me some background information on Donald. It appears that his Donald works at a Starbucks in downtown St.Louis. His victims while appearing to be completely random are in fact anything but. You see, while the S.L.P.D are like many other big city police departments overtasked and understaffed and thus prone to making mistakes. Whether that means cutting corners to clear a case or mailing it in when a case appears to be too difficult. In the case of Donald Renner the police have absolutely nothing connecting him to the crime, he is not a person of interest at all in the case. Matthew however was able to cross reference all of the victims who were raped, killed and robbed and it was his work that allowed for the Starbucks connection to be made.

It appears that Donald identifies his victims while on the job and once he identifies someone will spend a week, possibly two stalking them. Learning where they live, their schedule and any other patterns or information that might aid him in his agenda.

So far the pattern indicates that Donald’s kills occur approximately five weeks apart, give or take a day or two. It has been four weeks since his last kill which means he is most likely in the final stages of preparation before he makes his move. Which means my chances of taking him out before he can add another victim is all but gone. Donald must die and it must be today.

---

Saturday July 26, 2014 – 10:30 PM EST – St. Louis, Missouri

---

Donald works the A shift which is six am to two pm. From there it takes him approximately thirty-five minutes to get home using public transit. I meet Donald at his home, of course he had no idea. I watched as he entered his apartment building and then watched from the passenger seat of our black Tahoe when he exited his apartment again at ten fifteen PM.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Are you ready?”

ENIGMA: “This is not my first rodeo.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “I know that, just making sure that the events of the last few days were not giving you a bit of hesitation.”

ENIGMA: “Not at all.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Well then get going, before he gets too far away.”

ENIGMA: “I will see you in a bit.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Yes you will.”



I exited the vehicle and quickly crossed the street so that I am now on the same side as Donald. As he rounds the corner I make sure to maintain a safe distance of about fifty yards. Due to the time of day, the amount of foot traffic on the street is fairly light, despite the warm temperatures. While I do not know the area well at all Matthew informed me that Donald lives in a bit of a rundown area, not much to speak of in terms of restaurants, shops and the like which tells me that the chances of Donald leaving his apartment to just walk about without a motive is slim at best.

I continued to follow Donald for another twenty five minutes before Donald stopped in front of a single home at the end of a dimly lit street. When I say stopped I literally mean he stopped walking and just stared at the home, looking about every few minutes to see if anyone was watching him.

I pulled out my cell phone and texted the address to Matthew so that he could tell me who the home belonged to. Sixty seconds later Matthew responded that the home was owned by a thirty year old woman named Kristy Prada. Kristy works in downtown St.Louis a block away from the Starbucks that Donald works at. Which would be the connection. Obviously Kristy is a frequent patron of Starbucks and is clearly Donald’s next target.

Unbeknownst to Donald, he happens to be mine.

I quickly slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked up to see that Donald was gone. No longer standing in front of the house and from my vantage point it does not appear that he is anywhere outside of the home. As I made my approach to the home I could see the silhouette of a curvy figure upstairs, presumably Kristy. However downstairs I can see the figure whose size and shape matches that of Donald’s walking through the front room and approaching where I believe stairs to be located. If I do not get moving and fast Kristy Prada will no longer be among the living.

I carefully but quickly pulled my mask out of my back pocket and placed it over my face. I then darted across the cul-de-sac and towards the house. As I approached the house I noticed a window on the side of the house was open as I could see the curtains from the inside blowing out past the window frame. I carefully climbed through the window and then raced upstairs just in time to see Donald pull out a garrote from his back pocket. He was quickly closing the gap between himself and an unaware Kristy. I grabbed a vase off a small table in the hallway and throw it at Donald. The vase struck the door frame rather than the intended target. However the noise was enough to startle Donald and Kristy.

As Donald turned around to see me, Kristy turned around to see Donald a mere two feet from her. She screamed out in horror and then disappeared from my view. Rather than pursuing her Donald charged at me and knocked backwards into the wall. The two of us struggle for a few moments and as I am about to get the upper hand Donald reaches out and grabs my right foot which causes me to lose balance and go tumbling down the stairs. Thankfully I was able to grab Donald’s arm at the last moment and pull him down with me.

The two of us laid motionless at the bottom of the steps for a few moments until I get up and pull Donald into the living room area. Donald attempts to weaken my grip by kicking at my leg but unfortunately for him he just isn’t strong enough. As I reach down and grab Donald by the throat I can see Kristy making her way down the stairs with a phone in her hand. She is frantically trying to dial it but her hands are too shaky to make contact with the keys.

I picked Donald up by the throat and before he could even react I pull a knife out of my vest and stick it into his chest, in between his ribs and directly into his heart. Donald twitches for a second as blood starts to sputter out of his mouth. Again I hear Kristy scream but this time instead of disappearing from view she moves towards the front door. She opens the door and before she can exit her home a massive figure is blocking her path, she screams again but this time the scream is cut short as two blades enter her body. The figure pushes Kristy back into the home and then shuts the door behind him. As he moves into the home I see that the massive figure is none other than my brother Sebastian.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: "Mexican or Chinese for dinner?"



He tosses Kristy's lifeless body into the corner and takes a casual seat on the sofa.



ENIGMA: “What the fuck did you do that for?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “What? I thought I was being helpful?”

ENIGMA: “She did nothing wrong. This asshole was the target.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “She had a phone in her hand, I assumed she was going to call the police.”

ENIGMA: “Maybe she was but that is not the point, she was innocent here Sebastian.”

“After all we just discussed you would go and do that. Why?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: "C'mon, let's get out of here."

ENIGMA: "I still have to clean up and..."

SEBASTIAN DUKE: "I got it covered. Don't worry about it."



Sebastian stands up and begins to leave the home.



ENIGMA: "Where the hell are you going?"

SEBASTIAN DUKE: "I'm pretty hungry, Eric. That leads me back to my first question. Mexican or Chinese?

"It's about the only thing open around here unless you want some McDonald's mystery pink sludge."



I don't even know how to respond. I just follow my older brother out of the house and back to the Tahoe. He places the black SUV in gear and pulls out his cell phone. As we reach the end of the cul-de-sac, he places a text message. He continues down several feet of the street before slowing to a full stop.



ENIGMA: "Who was that?"

SEBASTIAN DUKE: "Just keep watching the rear view."



To Be Continued...