The alphabet killer

TW: The story contains mature themes: Sexual violence, Murder, Mental illness

“I poisoned your food.” I pause eating and look up at my husband, William, who by profession is a chef. He cooks our meals everyday, he hates eating out. He doesn’t trust people to make his food for him after his sister poisoned their father. 

     “What do you mean?” I asked confused. 

     “Who are you?”. William looks me in my eyes as he questions me. William and I have been married for 4 years. I walked into his restaurant when he was just a waiter. He served me and then when he brought the bill I wrote my number on it and he called the next day. We were inseparable. So close he proposed to me 6 months into dating. 

   “Baby, what is going on?” I ask for clarity. 

     “Stop” he responds, his voice a little raised. It takes me aback. 

My husband has never shouted at me. He was gentle, he apologised when I got upset at small things. I was so smitten by how nurturing he was. How little he reminded me of the men I knew in my past life. I don’t think I’ve ever truly loved anybody the way I loved my William.

 “You are the serial killer arent you?” William who still has not said a full sentence speaking again. 

 “What?” I raise my eyebrow. 

 “The poison I put in your food is gonna act in 2 hours. It will kill you without you feeling any pain” William spins some food on his fork and takes a bite. I look down at my meal and up at the clock. It’s 8:30 pm the same time we eat dinner everyday. Right before the 9:00 news that we usually watch from the dining table because we can see the TV in the living room. 

  “Which means you have two hours to tell me the full truth.” Williams speaks again in his broken sentences. I take a minute to soak in what's going on and then I begin laughing. 

My husband and I were big horror fans. We binge watched all the Scream movies on our honeymoon. We attended a live murder mystery house in Switzerland for our anniversary last year. We listen to true crime podcasts at night before going to sleep. When news came out that a serial killer, one the people named ‘The Alphabet manslaughter’, as the names of the victims seem to be going in alphabetical order and were only men, was killing in our home state of Alabama we were intrigued. We watched the news every night and every Wednesday for the past few months like clockwork, the nightly news had a new report of a body killed on the Tuesday before.

 “Is this some kind of game? Baby you have to tell me the rules before we start. It sounds fun though. Am I supposed to solve something?” I ask looking around for a sign of clues. This is the kinda thing we were into. “We haven’t done anything like this in a while”.

“I’m not joking Zara” He says my name and it sounds cold, I’ve never heard him say it like that before. 

 “I’ve been following you” He sounds more like the killer to me. 

 “You keep lying about where you are going. Going places I don’t recognize. Sometimes I wake up in bed and you aren’t there” He makes his case. 

 “So instead of cheating on you, I’m a serial killer.” I mock him. 

“You changed your name” He tries a new point. 

“I was assaulted in a facility that was supposed to help me that my father put me in, which I ran away from at the age 17 before I was a legal adult. Of course I changed my damn name” He opens his mouth to speak. I cut him off. 

“You knew all of this before you married me.” I’m starting to get upset.  

“What’s your real name, what's your past? I don't know any of it and it’s suspicious. What if you just want to hurt me.” He basically rambles like he’s off his medication. 

 “Wow your dad really did do a number on you” I knew the statement hurt him, but he’s accusing me of being a serial killer so I think I get some leeway on this. Before he can respond to my comment on the most off limits topic in our relationship the news starts. Like always, it takes both our attention. The reporter starts to speak. 

  “Thank you for joining us for Nightly News at Nine. Today is Tuesday, October 2nd and just like you who have been tuning in to the ongoing story of the Alphabet Manslaughter we all anxiously wait to see if the killer will continue. Last week Victor Black was our latest loss. He was said to have assaulted a 14 year old girl in the community of Rainwater but used his fathers police chief connections to get the chargers dropped. Some are now speculating that all the victims has a sketchy past. Is the killer a vigilante or just a cold blooded killer with no real reason but a need to kill. Join us next tomorrow to see if the story will progress. Police are asking you to call the number on your screen if you have any leads. I now hand over to Ethan Adams to give us the weather. 

  I take out my phone and start dialling.

  ‘What are you doing?” Williams asked me confused. 

  “I’m dialling the number. I’m just gonna turn myself in, and then maybe I’ll tell them how my husband was in Rainwater last week visiting his old house. Since we want to accuse each other of murder maybe all those killings are you taking revenge on men who remind you of your father who molested your sister as a child” I pause at how plausible that explanation actually sounds. My husband notices this. 

“No way you think I’d actually do that.” He ask offended. The nerve of this man. 

 ‘“Says the man who just openly admitted poisoning his wife's food.” I ask, wondering where he is getting this audacity from. 

  “Clearly I was bluffing Z” I can tell he is calming down as he doesn’t call out my full name. “You are right I’m sorry, clearly this has me paranoid. I’ve actually been off my meds for a few days” He sounds apologetic. He coughs. 

 “I don’t forgive you” I respond, taking another bite of my food as my husband coughs again. 

“What?” he asks between coughs. 

  “Plus I noticed you were following me, you aren’t very stealthy. I don’t like that you didn’t trust me” I finish my plate.

“Problem is I actually poisoned your food. Well I just gave you the meds you weren’t taking” He stops eating and continues to talk. 

“You were right baby, but I’m doing it for a good reason. These men are terrible, they are like my father and yours”. I can tell he’s losing air. I watch as the life slips from his eyes, peacefully with minimal pain. He was gonna stop me and that couldn’t happen, I have a job to do. Too bad he didn’t realise I was at the letter W.