Chapter Text
Jeremy woke up the next afternoon. He looked over at the clock and saw it was noon. He stretched and popped his back before rolling out of bed and heading to the bathroom. Last night had been weird. He slept like absolute sh*t because he kept having nightmares about being pulled into the alley.
He stepped out of the bathroom, and into the kitchen. Gabe had left earlier in the morning, but he did make a pot of coffee before leaving. Jeremy grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and poured himself a cup. He tossed it into the microwave and heated it up. His phone rang.
He walked over to the phone on the wall and answered, “Hello?”
“Hey, Jere. I’ve got something big to tell you.”
“What’s wrong, Gabe?”
“Okay. So. Last night there was another murder.”
Jeremy’s eyes went wide, “What? Where?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, but it was a block away from your place.”
All thought in Jeremy’s head stopped. His blood ran cold.
“Jeremy? You still with me?”
Jeremy took a shaky breath, “Yeah…m’here…just…do you think that was the murderer in the alley? Gabe, that could have been me .”
“I know. I know. But from what you were saying last night that guy in the alley didn’t seem to want to hurt you though, right? Maybe we were right, and he was protecting you from someone else.”
“Still, why didn’t he say something like ‘I’m protecting you’ or anything like that?” Jeremy sighed, “How did you find out?”
“The police came by this morning and talked to Mr. Emily, because it happened so close to the restaurant. I was getting something out of the supply closet and overheard them in his office. I guess the police just wanted to make sure he keeps an extra eye out for anything suspicious.”
“Did they bring me up?”
“Yeah, actually. They said one of his employees had been followed last night, and they were trying to figure out if your run in is connected to the murder.”
“I mean it has to be. How could the police not catch him if he ended up murdering someone so close to my apartment?”
“I don’t know, Jere. I didn’t hear what time the murder took place. It could have been much later in the night after the police left the area. On top of all of that, Mr. Afton didn’t show up for work today.”
“It wasn’t Mr. Afton who was murdered, was it?”
“No, the police were talking about it being a female. But I’ve never seen Mr. Emily so on edge before. He is usually so chill, but today he’s been a little snippy.”
“I would be too if my employee was stalked on his walk home, someone was murdered close to my restaurant, and my business partner didn’t show up for work.”
“I told him I was going to call you on break, and he wanted me to let you know there is an employee meeting tonight. We’re closing at 6 tonight for it. He doesn’t want you walking alone, so he asked me to pick you up.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about that. After last night I’m done walking alone to work or home. I’ll call a taxi if I have to.”
Gabe chuckled, “I would have given you a ride last night, but you insisted. I told you about the vampire walking the streets…”
Jeremy interrupted him, “Gabe, vampires aren’t real!”
Gabe gave a full laugh, “Alright, whatever you say. Break is almost up. I get off at 3, but I have to help my mom. I’ll be by your place around 5:45 to pick you up for the meeting.”
“Sounds fine to me. I’m not gonna leave this damn apartment for the rest of the day, so I’ll be here.”
They said their goodbyes, and Jeremy hung up the phone. He grabbed the cup of coffee out of the microwave and headed into the living room. He sat the cup on the table, and then he sat on couch. He leaned back and closed his eyes. So many things going through his head.
He could have been the next victim.
Somehow the cops hadn’t caught the guy, but someone else was murdered just a block away from his apartment.
If the guy in the alley was protecting him, could he have seen the murderer? Would the mysterious guy go to the police and give a description?
Jeremy leaned forward and picked up his coffee mug. He gingerly took a sip of the hot liquid. A knock sounded on his front door. He glanced over and contemplated just ignoring it. But the knocking persisted. He set the mug of coffee back down and got up. He looked through the peephole and there stood two detectives.
He opened the door, “Hello?”
“Good afternoon. Are you Jeremy Fitzgerald?” One of them, the one with sandy brown hair and an average build said.
“I am.”
He stuck his hand out, “I’m detective Larson. This is my partner, Detective Burke.” He motioned with his other hand to the man standing next to him. The other detective had dark brown hair, and a bit stockier build than the other.
Jeremy shook the detective’s hand, “Is there something you need?”
Detective Burke nodded his head, “May we come in for a moment? We just have some follow up questions we need to ask you.”
Jeremy took a quick glance over his shoulder to the coffee table. He was always careful about putting his drug paraphernalia away, as he never knew if his landlord would drop by. He saw there was nothing on the table, and he stepped aside to let the detectives in.
He shut the door and faced the detectives, “So, what do you need to know? I told the officers last night everything.”
“We wanted to make you aware that there was a murder the next block over last night.” Detective Larson pulled a small notebook from his pocket, “Are you certain you didn’t see anything at all?”
Jeremy tried to fake it like this was shocking news to him. He didn’t want to give away that Gabe had already told him the news, “Another murder? So close to me? Oh jeez.” He took a breath, “No. Like I told the officers last night, I didn’t see anything at all. All the guy did was grab me, pull me into the alley, and when I got him off of me, I ran.”
Detective Larson was writing things down, and Detective Burke spoke, “You said your attacker spoke to you, and you’re certain it was a male?”
Jeremy nodded his head, “Yeah. He shushed me when he pulled me into the alley. He was a guy. I also heard him say something as I was running away.”
Detective Larson looked up from his notebook, “Do you remember what he said?”
Jeremy was getting kind of frustrated. He had basically said all of this last night to the police, why were these two interrogating him all over again, “He told me to wait. That’s all I heard him say. Again, I said all of this last night when I spoke to the other police officers. What is all this about?”
The detectives shared a look between each other. Burke looked back to Jeremy, “We just need to make sure all this is correct, to clear you. Right now, you are a suspect. What time would you say all this happened?”
Jeremy’s eyes went wide, “What? How am I a suspect when I was fighting for my life last night?!”
Burke held his hands up, “Calm down, Mr. Fitzgerald. That’s exactly why we are here. Now, what time would you say this happened?”
Jeremy crossed his arms. This was ridiculous, “I guess around 9. That’s when I got off work and started walking home. After I escaped the alley, I ran back here, locked my door, and called the cops. I was here for the entire night after that.”
Larson nodded his head as he wrote more down, “Is there anyone that can corroborate your story?”
“My friend and co-worker, Gabe. He offered to give me a ride home, and I told him no. He came over while the police were still here, and stayed the night with me, because I was too freaked out to be here alone. You know, because I was almost murdered .”
Larson closed the notebook and stuck it back into his pocket. He and Burke headed towards the door, “Alright. We’re good here. Thank you for your time, Mr. Fitzgerald. If we need anything else from you, we’ll be in touch.”
They saw themselves out, and Jeremy locked the door behind them. He leaned against the door and sighed.
He hoped the rest of the day would be uneventful.
*******
Gabe picked Jeremy up for the meeting, “You are not gonna believe this, but they think I’m a suspect.”
Gabe gave Jeremy a shocked expression as they drove the short distance to Freddy’s, “What?”
“Yeah. I had two detectives show up today and interrogate me on what I was doing last night, and everything that happened to me. Like, I’m a victim too damn it! I had nothing to do with any of this sh*t.”
They pulled into Freddy’s and Gabe parked the car. He turned it off and they got out, “That’s really f*cked up, Jere. Did they directly say you were a suspect?”
“Yes! They said they needed me to go over everything single thing again to clear me. When they left, they said if they needed anything else, they’d be in contact. I hope they don’t come back. I’d like to just move on and forget last night even happened.”
They walked into Freddy’s and were greeted by…
“Oh. Hello Mr. Afton.” Gabe said, almost bumping into him.
William Afton was pretty intimidating. In all the time Gabe and Jeremy worked at Freddy’s they had never seen the man smile, laugh, or crack any kind of joke. He was tall. About 6’3 if Jeremy had to ballpark. Dark black hair, muscular build, and these eyes that Jeremy swore weren’t natural. They were an intense light blue almost silver color. Jeremy had always heard rumors that Mr. Afton’s eye color made him incredibly sensitive to natural light, so he always wore sunglasses outside during the day, regardless on if the sun was out or not.
Mr. Afton was not one that you wanted to cross. The one and only time Jeremy had been on his bad side, Henry had actually stuck up for him. Jeremy had accidentally dropped and broke an entire rack of ceramic plates. The noise from the dishrack falling from his hands had been so loud it echoed throughout the whole restaurant.
It wasn’t exactly Jeremy’s fault. Charlie and Sammy, Henry’s kids, had been playing around. Henry had just warned them about getting in the way of the employees at closing, and they had still disobeyed. Jeremy had been carrying the heavy rack of plates to the dining room and didn’t see Charlie dart out in front of him. In order to not plow into her with the heavy rack, he instead tried to turn his body to the right, but in doing so, lost his grip on the rack and dropped it.
He had never seen William appear so fast in his life. Nor had he ever seen the man look so mad. Before he could even begin his tirade on Jeremy, Henry had stood between them and explained the entire situation, saving Jeremy’s ass.
Ever since then, he hadn’t seen Charlie or Sammy in the restaurant at closing time ever again. He assumed their mom was the one who would pick them up in the evenings.
William set that cold stare on them, “Good evening, boys. I trust you both didn’t partake in any activities before this meeting, correct?”
Jeremy shook his head, “No sir.”
“Good. I heard about last night, Jeremy. I do want to extend my sincerest apologies. Mr. Emily and I will do better about employee safety.”
Jeremy wasn’t sure what to say, “Yeah…it’s alright. It didn’t happen here. I mean, how could you and Mr. Emily know I would be attacked.”
William put his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder and squeezed. The corners of his mouth twisted up into a smirk, and Jeremy swore it took all the muscles in William’s face to even do that small of a task. He let go of Jeremy’s shoulder and walked away.
“Dude. What the actual f*ck. Mr. Afton never smiles. Ever. Since when does he ever apologize for anything?” Gabe was equally in shock.
“I…I don’t know. That was…unnerving to say the least. Can the last 24 hours get any weirder?” He turned to face Gabe, “I thought you said he didn’t show up today?”
“He didn’t until I was leaving at 3. Mr. Emily was yelling at him in the office when I left. I’m pretty sure he is the only person on earth who can talk to Mr. Afton like that.”
They made their way into the main dining room. All the other employees were scattered around at the tables. They grabbed a seat at a small table near the stage and waited for the meeting to start. The chatter through the room was about the murder, and some employees would glance at Jeremy and then look away.
“So, do you get the feeling everyone is talking about you?” Gabe said.
“Yeah. Definitely.”
The chatter died down as Henry and William appeared on the stage, “Good evening, everyone. Mr. Afton and I want to thank you all for joining us tonight. We want to start out by saying that we appreciate everyone’s hard work, and dedication to the company. We appreciate the teamwork, and making sure your fellow employee doesn’t fall behind on their assigned tasks.”
Henry paused as William spoke up, “We also want to reiterate the attendance policy. Some of you are making it a habit to be 5 minutes late…”
Henry glared at William, “Will, please. Not at this meeting. We will address the attendance policy at a later time.” He returned his gaze to the employees, “As most of you have heard, there was another murder last night. This one was extremely close to us. The police have assured me we have nothing to worry about, as they are going to beef up patrols around the restaurant, however, they would like us to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity. As you all know, we have the highest rated security system, as well as the several of you that are security guards, but please, if you see something, say something.”
Henry glanced over to Jeremy for a second and then away, “Now, that brings me to our next point. Last night, one of our own employees was attacked on his way home.”
Jeremy could feel so many eyes on him, and he sunk down into his seat.
“William and I want you all to know that we are implementing a new policy. No employee is to be left alone after hours in the restaurant, walking out to their vehicles in the dark, or walking home alone. We are asking that if you need a ride home, please seek out a fellow employee, myself, or William. We are also making it mandatory that every closing manager is to stay until the very last employee is done for the evening, and everyone is to walk out together at night.”
Henry pulled a few papers from his pocket, unfolded them, and flipped through his notes to make sure he had addressed everything, “That about wraps it up. Please, remember, your safety as well as guest safety is our number one concern. William and I will need to please speak to the security guards for a few moments in private if you all would like to meet us in the office. You are dismissed, and we will see you bright and early tomorrow.”
There was chatter again as employees filed out of the dining room and out of the building. Jeremy and Gabe remained seated, “Well, at least they care enough about us to keep us safe.” Gabe looked over to Jeremy, “You okay?”
Jeremy sighed, “Yeah, I guess. Let’s just…let’s just go. I need to clear my head for a while before bed.”
Gabe knew what that was code for, “You want some company? I finished helping my mom before the meeting, so I don’t have to be home right away. We can get some snacks at the gas station, and then veg out at your place.”
Jeremy nodded his head while they both stood, “That sounds great.”
They left the restaurant. However, they were being watched.
