"I knew you would come." I heard someone from sideways. The person was also standing on the edge of crater. I wondered how he I didn’t catch him in my sight. Tarot tried to back but my feet froze, once again, after watching him pull a gun at me.
"Put the gun down, boy." I said to the person who looked to have just touched fifties.
"Will I?" I crawled by my buttocks and muddied my back in the process.
"Yes you will." I nodded.
"I want reasons for it –"
"Which I don’t have any. All I have are woes and woes." I raised my hands in surrender, "Remorse piled up on remorse." I again nodded.
He climbed down from rocks but didn’t get close to me.
"Tell me truth. Didn’t you come for the body?" he asked me from there.
"What are you talking about?"
"The ripped kid." He snapped at me.
"I must disappoint you then –"
"Then this man hasn’t just come with woes and remorse. He's come with lies piled on lies, lies piled on more lies and so on." He began to move forwards. With each of his step, I was hoping he would not press the trigger.
"Where is the body?" I found it better not to hide anything. He could be anything but not a fool. He had seen me last evening and there was no point I could get away with it.
"I buried it. But you don’t need to know where I did it –"
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"I want to know why you did it." I spoke even though I should be quiet.
"Is it what you brought here?" he, at last, put his hand down and it gave me so much relief. At least, he wasn’t going to shoot me in this way.
"It is fear which pulled me here. I swear." I then knelt on water. "And a truth of my innocence. Tell me something real. Wasn’t it you who killed the kid, somehow swam at other shore and –"
"Did you see my clothes wet, ser?" I again heard the metallic click but didn’t have guts to look up. Never had any idea stranger could frighten someone, who had spent his entire life with gun, by a gun.
It was enough for me.
"But I saw yours." he said, "Tell me who is the killer?"
I couldn’t resist myself from looking at him in shock.
"How would I know the killer?" I asked.
"Tell me his name and you shall not be harmed. Tell me name of your partner." He began to yell.
"What are you talking about? I came here alone. All by myself."
"Then who was the man who was drowning the kid there, hah? Who was he? While he was drowning the kid mercilessly then you were at the other side with wide smile on your face. I even saw him put a long knife inside his stomach. He ripped it and pulled out whatever was inside there. You heard sound but looked up at sky and smiled."
"The kid was laughing."
"Enough said. Where is he? I had hid in bushes so that he wouldn’t see me. When I looked back then I saw him gone. There were you with dead child. I doubted you had seen me."
"If you believe I'm also involved in the murder then why didn’t you call the cops instead? And why didn’t you try to save the kid?"
"I could not. I cannot swim."
"But you can speak and roar. You've proved you can do both but you did none." I snarled at him, "Why didn’t you shout at him? Why?"
"Because I was a mute before the murder. I was mute since my birth and I didn’t want to die at the time." He answered me.
Then he put the gun back on his waist.
"I also was nearly a cripple a day ago." I spoke and it made a serious look in the man's face, "And since you can speak, I would like to hear what your name is."
He hesitated for a second. Only a second, "Joel Dormer."
"Rick Tarot." I introduced myself in shortest I had ever done.