doppelganger plot

Feb 07, 2009 23:57

(he never recalls actually falling asleep)

It's been a while since he's stopping thinking about the Zodiac case - in a manner of speaking, of course.

You never really let it go, do you? No.

You can't.

He still remembers sitting on Graysmith's desk, talking as the other man sketched a rough picture of a survivor's description (what - are you drawing), and he snorts to himself. The pier's relatively quiet, if he gets up early enough in the morning. Sitting on the edge of the dock, he swings his legs out over the water, hands grasping the edge.

(He has never had this much to lose before, and the thought of that?

Frightens him.)

Of course, the quiet makes it relatively easy to hear when anyone's coming. Paul hears the footsteps, and almost immediately he can feel the hairs rising on the back of his neck, and he knows what's coming.

Because he can hear the gun clicking, too.

He doesn't move. It'd be no use, anyhow.

He just keeps swinging his feet above the water, head bowed as he feels his heart begin to race, eyes fixed on the spot just above his right shoulder.

He knows what's coming.

And right on cue, the black mass appears, a hood with a white cross and circle, black jacket, black everything.

But something's wrong, and that's what bothers Paul more than anything else. The man standing behind him is too tall, too skinny, and he knows there were other murderers in the Bay Area (he wrote about them, for Chrissakes), but none who imitated the Zodiac killer this strongly.

His brow furrows, and part of him wants to laugh, because, dammit, what a way to die.

Slowly, a hand creeps up into the reflection - and the hood comes off.

At first, the other man looks grim, but a smile quickly establishes itself on his features as Paul feels cold metal pressed to the back of his head.

And Paul does laugh, voice cracking, partially out of frustration, partially out of he-doesn't-know-what.

"Son of a b--"

BANG

(the corpse falls into the water without a sound)

oom

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