His voice trembled. He'd clearly been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
Finch knocked on the door, his tone calm and even. "Hello — community inspection, checking gas lines. Could you open up, please?"
Footsteps shuffled inside. Then the door swung open.
Standing before us was a limping man, his face a ruin of burn scars.
His eyes — they were exactly the same as the man's in the video. An exact match.
He stared at the uniformed officers crowding his doorstep instead of community workers, and froze for two seconds.
Then he smiled.
"You finally came."
His voice was calm, as if he'd been waiting for this exact moment.
Captain Finch caught the strangeness instantly and signaled his men to restrain the Limping Man.
The Limping Man didn't resist. Even pinned between two officers, he was still smiling.
"I've been waiting for you. Three whole months."
"You're finally here. Ha Haha! "
The sound of his laughter crawled under my skin. I looked past him, into the room.
What I saw stopped me cold.
Every wall was covered—floor to ceiling—with photographs of my daughter.
Julia as a little girl, pigtails bouncing, laughing in the park.
Julia in her school uniform, backpack slung over one shoulder, heading to class.
Julia in college, head bowed over a book in the library.
Julia in her wedding dress, arm linked through Silas's.
Julia eight months pregnant, watering flowers on the balcony, one hand resting on her belly.
Every photograph was crisp and clear. Childhood to adulthood. Girl to wife. Her entire life, mapped across those walls.
I stood frozen, unable to move.
Silas looked just as stunned.
Then something snapped behind his eyes. He lunged forward, seized the Limping Man by the collar, and snarled through clenched teeth:
"You animal. You've been watching Julia since she was a child?"
The Limping Man didn't fight back. If anything, his laughter grew louder.
"That's right."
"I killed her."
The words barely left his mouth before Silas's fist cracked across his face.
"I'll kill you!"
It was the first time I'd ever seen Silas lose control. He swung again and again, fists raining down, his eyes burning red—like a man hellbent on avenging his wife with his bare hands.
Captain Finch rushed in and hauled him back.
But Silas kept thrashing, kept straining forward, screaming at the Limping Man:
"You monster! What did Julia ever do to you? Why would you do this to her?"