Blame

Through his heavy breathing, Conrad tried to explain himself while Frank remained silent.

“All the lights went off… and, and when they came back on… we couldn’t find where he was. That is, until… we were looking around the displays, and… he was in this room we found. One of the ones to the side of the tracks. He… didn’t look hurt, he was just… dead.”

“Aye.” Frank grimly added. “Despite the perfect condition of the body, when I checked the poor kid’s pulse… suffice it to say, he was already long gone. We didn’t find anything in the room. No gas, or hazards… it’s like the kid just dropped dead out of nowhere.”

Katie eyed the tracks, shivering at the brief memory of Jack’s face and the sudden loss washing over her.

“That can’t be.” She said. “How… what would’ve killed him…?”

Frankie didn’t like the effect these two were having on her sister. To her, it was already damn clear anyway the direction this new pain-in-the-ass situation was headed.

“Not “what.” The chilling voice corrected Katie. “The question’s who. And the answer’s obvious.”

Frankie grimaced into the reflective tile ground.

“Sara, sweetie…” Frank made a brief attempt to communicate before the girl erupted.

“You expect… us to believe you? Let me get this straight… the three of you walk into a dark hallway… two come out, and one’s dead? With no explanation?” The frustrated young woman’s words were spoken to every monster that’d ever wronged her just as much as they were to the two suspects in front of her. “Just admit to it. There’s no other way this could have happened.”

Even though she didn’t want to, Katie started to believe her sister’s theory quite quickly. Her accusations had yet to lead the two astray in their travels.

“And how do you explain the door?” Frankie motioned to the iron wall now closing them inside. “Reeks of foul play, if you ask me…”

Crying, she then looked at the accused killers with fading conviction and growing sorrow. “I’m tired. I’m so tired. Tired of dealing with you terrible people that make a terrible world even worse. We don’t need you.”

“Sara.”

Frank made an attempt to approach the woman in order to calm her down. Instantaneously, she slapped his nearing hand away just as it came into range.

Conrad shook his head.

“No. You’re wrong, and… I’m not a killer.”

“You sure look the part.” She prodded the suspicious driver.

“I didn’t do anything. And I can’t say I think Frank did either.”

“So what, you expect me to believe Jack killed himself? In a matter of seconds, with no visible wounds? Unless this is some elaborate prank…”

“You’re wrong!”

Conrad’s out-of-character shout granted him a moment of silence from the tense debate.

“There’s one… one other possibility.”

“I’m all ears.” Frankie shot her gaze forward coldly. “Please explain how the mumbling creep and the crooked cop have absolutely nothing to do with this.”

Conrad swallowed, grasping his polo.

“W-What about… the ghost?”