CHAPTER 5
Amato gets out of bed at his usual time and begins his strict routine. First, he brushes his teeth with Crest Pro-Health toothpaste. He would rather die than use anything else. After brushing, he gets on his stationary bike and listens to violin music for thirty to forty minutes straight. After exercising, he hops in the shower and then has his perfectly balanced breakfast. He makes sure to give the dog two sticks of hot dogs before returning him to his owners.
As he leaves, he puts on his special glasses that obscure his face. Not even five seconds outside his house, someone greets him.
“Hey, Amato! How’s your morning?”
“Great,” he mumbles under his breath.
“Oh! I see you’ve found Biscuits. I’ll take her off your hands,” Marcus says, beaming his bright smile at Amato’s gloomy face. He grabs the dog and puts it in his apartment. “I heard what happened yesterday… You lost your job.”
“Mhm,” Amato says while walking away from Marcus. He’s completely forgotten that he’s been fired and wore his work suit. As Amato walks away, Marcus follows alongside him as if they were best friends for years. Amato isn’t sure what to make of Marcus’ strange behavior. Marcus has always been odd, but today he’s acting weirder than usual.
“Do you need anything, Marcus?”
“No, I— I just need to talk to you about something.”
“Well, we have a problem because I don’t want to talk at all.”
“Please do the experiment!” Marcus blurts out. “It’s incredibly important.”
Marcus’ definition of importance differs from Amato’s. For Marcus, importance is life or death and concerns about others. For Amato, it’s whether he bought the right version of Crest toothpaste. So whatever has Marcus so worried isn’t any concern to Amato.
“Are you kidding me?!” Amato yells. “Are you and your sister crazy or what? I’m not sacrificing my life over a simple fact.”
“If you stand by your belief, then you’d prove it no matter what!”
Amato stands there with a look of confusion and concern on his face. “If I’m claiming an alligator’s jaw is strong and you say it’s not, I’m not putting my head in there to prove you wrong.”
“But would you do it to save someone’s life by proving them wrong?”
“No. I would let natural selection do its job,” Amato says, shrugging Marcus off. “If you’re stupid enough to put your head in an alligator’s mouth, then the answer will naturally come to you.”
Marcus knew he sounded crazy trying to convince Amato to experiment that could result in death. He scratches the back of his head as awkwardness settles in the air. Marcus forces a half-hearted smile. “I under—”
“But I’ll do it anyway.”
Marcus flinches at Amato’s unbelievable response, taken aback. As Amato walks away, Marcus makes sure to stay back in case he changes his mind. Questions race through Marcus’ head, wondering why Amato would accept a life-threatening experiment. Amato is basically a stubborn old mule whose decisions are always final, even if they’re wrong. As Marcus stares at Amato in awe, Amato turns around and heads to his apartment door. Like a stubborn mule, he continues to work on the Love Kills case even though he’s been fired.
He’s never going to give up on the case, not for his sake or anybody else’s. He’s doing this for his late parents. He refuses to believe that the product causing the Love Kills phenomenon is simply Mother Nature getting back at humans or an experiment gone wrong. It has to be something bigger; he believes it’s man-made. He also refuses to believe that the man-made product is driven by emotions like loneliness, jealousy, or anger as others do. It simply doesn’t add up to him.
The last person he investigated was a scientist dealing with poisonous plants and zombie ants. Every investigation led nowhere, from scientists to small farmers, mayors, and politicians. This led Amato to conclude that it’s several people in the hundreds or thousands working on this. They might not know they’re killing people, but one thing is for sure: at least one person made it on purpose. This made Amato curious about huge companies with mindless workers. Before jumping to conclusions, he wanted more evidence.
He goes on his computer and searches through every social media platform, looking up weddings happening or about to happen. In just a few minutes, he’s made a long list of weddings near him, organized by time and distance. It took lots of research and patience, which was gradually waning. Finally, he has the list and feels proud of himself. He truly believes that no one can solve the case except him. But to do this, he needs a fresh mind and new evidence.
He first goes to weddings that are illegal. According to state law, officials and an ambulance must be present during a wedding to detect if the deaths are really Love Killings or murders. If they’re hosting an illegal wedding, they can’t simply call the police. His hard work finally pays off as he calculates the time and distance to drive from one place to another. He leaves his apartment in a hurry, excited to try out his plan. His eagerness comes to a screeching halt when he meets the obnoxious obstacle he’s been trying to get rid of.
“Hey, Amato!” Dierdre says, waving at him. “I’ve been waiting out here for ages.”
“So why didn’t you simply knock on the door like a normal human being?”
“I had a feeling you would’ve never come out of that hole if I did.”
“What do you want?”
Dierdre pauses as Amato passes right by her. “I wanted to talk to you!”
“Great.”
“I would like to be present while you discuss the contract with your lawyer and mine, to accommodate the contract however you please,” Dierdre says, proud of herself for remembering her lines from her lawyer.
Amato didn’t forget about his meeting with the lawyer; he simply decided not to go anymore. “I’m extremely busy today, so I’ll have to skip the meeting.”
“What?! Why?!” Dierdre yells in surprise. “Busy with what?! You got fired, remember!”
“Well, I’m busy trying to find a JOB!”
“Fine, let’s look together.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Amato says sarcastically, with a scheming smile. He knows how to throw someone off his tail without breaking a sweat. Losing someone following him is like riding a bike. It’s fun tricking his opponents, leaving them confused and lost.
Amato grins ear to ear, his crescent eyes making her flinch and her heart skips a beat. She rides the elevator with him, and for a few minutes, she feels butterflies in her stomach. The long, awkward silence prolongs the elevator ride as her face continues to burn.
Ding
Finally, her heart settles down as the doors open. As he’s getting off the elevator, he looks at her again, causing Dierdre’s face to burn up again. Walking right beside him, she looks at him once and quickly turns away. ‘Did he look back because he thought I was pretty?’ She makes it to the parking lot next to Amato’s car. As she’s trying to pull the car’s handle, Amato looks up, dumbfounded.
“Uh… What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going with you, remember?” Dierdre says, tilting her head in confusion.
“No, I was being sarcastic. Move out of the way,” Amato says while hopping inside his car. “Idiot,” he scoffs at Dierdre’s ridiculous notion as he puts his keys in the ignition. He gets in his car and leaves Dierdre in humiliation outside. She walks to her car with her head hanging low due to the embarrassing situation. He gets ready to start the car and realizes something, his jaw drops and a loud gasp escaping his throat as his eyes widen in disbelief. ‘How could I let this happen?’ Amato asks himself, appalled at what he’s seeing. He processes the different options he has, losing his patience.
In a dramatic movement, he drops his head onto the steering wheel in frustration, causing the car to beep.
Dierdre turns on her car and waits for Amato to leave so she can follow him. Her face turn sour when Amato’s car begins to beep loudly, making Dierdre confused and shocked. “What the—” she says in surprise. She watches Amato exit his car and walk towards her with heavy steps. Amato nears her car and knocks on the window, hoping she’ll roll it down to speak.
“My car has no gas.”
“Okay.”
“Did you hear what I said?” Amato asks, as if she’s deaf. “It. Has. No. Gas.”
Dierdre sits there in silence, staring at Amato with unfazed eyes that couldn’t care less. “Uh… why?” Dierdre asks, pretending to be oblivious about his demand.
“Well, yesterday someone got me fired from my well-paying job, and then I got into a bit of a shock and didn’t notice my gas,” Amato says, pretending to remember the event like it was ages ago.
“Bummer.”
“Are you going to keep running this act?”
“It’s running more than your car,” Dierdre mumbles, knowing Amato can hear her.
Amato exhales, letting out infuriated air from his lungs. “Could you please take me to the nearest store to get gas?”
“No.”
“Please?!”
“No, I want to go with you on this important errand of yours!” Dierdre demands.
Amato has to choose: keep his pride and privacy and walk away, or continue the investigation he’s been working on for years. He decides not to let his ego get in the way of the investigation. He accepts Dierdre’s request with difficulty and jumps into the passenger seat. Deirdre drives without a clue where she’s going. Amato simply gives her directions, and she follows them while asking questions, but Amato remains silent during the drive. The long and excruciating drive finally reaches its first destination. Dierdre looks at the large building in Amato’s sights. It’s a rundown yet functional church that looks like a haunted house from a movie.
Dierdre shoots out her questions, chipping away at Amato’s wavering patience bit by bit. They open the worn-down wooden doors of the church, and it groans through its old bolts. Dierdre’s eyes fidget over the minimal decorations: three different colored balloons tied to one chair in front of the altar, two small ribbons on another chair, and a third chair with two bows. She can’t tell if they’re celebrating or if they’re leftover decorations from an old party. Amato walks into the church with confidence oozing from his shiny black church shoes. He takes his seat next to some elderly people and starts a friendly conversation with them.
Dierdre watches in awe as Amato sweet-talks the elderly woman. That’s when she realizes Amato is up to no good. She looks at the wide doors as they creak and both doors open wide. As if announcing the woman, the doors click and crack, threatening to break if they're pushed any further. The poor old door lets in a youthful woman wearing a simple white dress. Once the two men who opened the doors let her in, they began closing them again. The door’s bolts give up and fling themselves, letting the gray wooden door fall right behind the woman. The loud bang brings the small group’s eyes toward the bride.
Dierdre’s mouth falls agape like the door, realizing by the positions of the priest next to a man and the woman walking down the aisle. Music starts playing as the angry crowd looks at the couple. Dierdre looks back at Amato with confusion and anger.
“You don’t know these people,” Dierdre whispers, afraid they might be kicked out.
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