The Watcher

30

To kill another human being. How does one do that? She knew nothing of such things. Her fingers trembled as she searched the internet.

She didn’t actually expect that death—the violent kind, the kind that involved taking another person’s life—could be found just a keystroke away, but it was. Good lord, it was.

She ended up in a shady online forum, scrolling through the discussion threads where people had asked all sorts of questions: “What approach works best?” “What weapon is the most effective?” “How do you avoid leaving any traces?” “What do you do with the body afterward?” You didn’t have to wait for the answers. There were real people in there, hidden behind aliases and manipulated profile pictures, providing suggestions and describing in detail how they would do it. Or had done it.

“Don’t do it yourself—hire someone.”

“Do it yourself—that’s the safest way.”

“Somewhere outdoors is the best place, in the woods, by the water, a cliff.”

“Surprise them, jump out of nowhere, lull them into a sense of security.”

“Blunt-force trauma, stabbing, a gun with a silencer.”

“Explosions, strangulation, poisoning.”

“Make it look like an accident.”

“Leave the body at the scene. If you move it, you risk leaving hairs, fingerprints, fibers on the body.”

“Never leave the body at the scene.”

“Use plastic bags. Wear gloves. Burn your shoes and clothes afterward.”

“Bury, burn, dump in the ocean.”

Eventually all the letters started swimming together, and her field of vision grew cloudy. She felt groggy and tired, so she shut off her computer and returned to bed. Just before sleep came and carried her away, something flashed before her eyes, something she’d just read, a sentence that stood out from all the other sludge—a tip, the only really sensible one:

Make it look like an accident.