“So, you found me,” the old man said as he answered the door.

“You’re a hard man to track down.”

He opened the door and welcomed me in.

“Can I get you a drink?”

I sat down on the chair in the kitchen, “I’ll have what you’re having.”

He took a handful of ice, put it in the glass and poured neat whiskey. I downed it in one, while he refilled my cup.

“So, how did you find me?”

“It wasn’t easy, the police missed so many opportunities to catch up with you. How many did you kill? I make it twelve.”

“Sixteen,” he said, without batting an eyelid.

He finished his drink and picked up the bottle.

“I’m not saying you didn’t do a good job cleaning up after yourself, but if I can find you, anyone can. You need to be more careful.”

He sneered at me.

“Look, I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

He slammed his fist on the table, “I know what I’m doing.”

“Apparently you don’t, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. You need to leave; if I can find you, so can they.”

He looked me up and down, studying my uniform with disgust.

“We could have been partners, you and me,” he said with melancholy in his voice.

“I’m not like you, I’m better,” I said taking off my hat.

“Turn me in then if you think you are so high and mighty.”

I stood up and walked towards the door, “It’s only a matter of time before you are caught. But it’s not going to be me. I won’t betray you, a promise is a promise.”

“Wait!”

“Just get out of here, before it’s too late.”

I left the building and got back in my car. The radio burst into life. I picked up the receiver.

“Officer Packer receiving, that is a negative, suspect is not at the address, over.”

I rolled down the window to see the man waiting at the threshold of the door, his shoulders sagged as the weight of the manhunt bore him down.

“You have one hour tops, get out of here Dad.”