This has been one hell of a ride, hasn’t it? Time to let the curtains down on this absolute thriller from Kay and see if any clarity will be brought to light…

THREE MONTHS LATER

“Did you find anything?” Detective Bowser had taken a skeleton crew of men to the long-defunct Ellis Road store. They’d ransacked what was left of the place, almost tearing it apart in the process, but it had been to no avail.

“Nothing, Detective. Are you sure it’s supposed to be here?”

“I know what I heard. Look again. It’s here somewhere.”

Bowser cast his mind back to that night. Him following the guards, then backing all the way up into a hiding spot once the sniper bullets hit, all the way down to when he’d heard the most unbelievable conversation of his life. He remembered Hermes’ last words, “Ellis Road has the answer.” He’d slipped away before the rest of the unit came, and had immediately begun looking for Ellis Road. He didn’t give up three months of his life for nothing.

“Still nothing, detective,” the leader of the skeleton crew called out to him. “The only place left to look is literally inside the walls and floorboards.”

“Sh*t.” Bowser walked around the store one more time making sure they hadn’t missed any trapdoors or secret doors. He already knew the answer but he hoped against hope, and he came up empty like he’d known he would. “Let’s clear out.”

*****

“I think your father played us all, Connie. We’ve looked over every article, searched out every clue, and literally turned Ellis road upside down and what did we find? Not a goddamned thing.”

Sukuyaa was reflecting on the last three months since that night. She and Connie literally been on a scavenger hunt, talking to people who might know anything, and searching out information about the backroom deals that went down in there. Ellis Road was the site of some unbelievable deals, agreements, and even fights. What led to its closure was actually an epic shootout between two rival gangs inside the backroom, which spilled over into the street. But nothing they had found had to do with Hermes and the syndicate.

Connie was looking through the book which Givens had passed to her as Mina. Ever since that night, she’d switched between the two more often but she’d also begun to retain memories from either one of her personalities. She was also now sleeping in her actual bed more than in safe houses. She went through that book from cover to cover and it held nothing for them.

Sukuyaa slumped into the chair in Connie’s study. “Maybe your father played us. The son of a bitch was dying and didn’t want you to know the truth, so he misdirected you.”

Connie walked over to the big bookshelf in her study and looked it over top to bottom. “I don’t think he had it in him in that moment. He was a sick bastard but I think he really was being honest.”

Sukuyaa frowned and looked at Connie. “The man who faked his wife’s torture, had her fake corpse raped, if that’s even the word, and then proceeded to run THE BELL SYNDICATE, that man, wanted to be honest? Good luck selling that to yourself, girl.”

Connie climbed the ladder beside the shelf and picked up the gift box on top. She came down with the box, set it on a lower level, and opened it. She took the content out; it was her father’s original handgun.

Sukuyaa adored the gun from afar. “Goddamn muscle. Mm! That thing has the stopping power of a retaining wall. I love that brand of guns.”

Connie looked at Sukuyaa, thoroughly amused. “You wanna ogle my father’s gun some more? Give it all your money and the keys to your house too?”

“Oh I want to give it the keys to something alright.”

Connie shook her head in amazement. “You are something else, woman.”

Connie looked the gun over as though she was examining it. “This is the only piece of Ellis Road we never checked.”

“Yeah, because you can’t hide anything in a gun.” Just as she finished that statement, they both heard a clinking sound as a small key dropped to the floor.

“You gotta be kidding me.” Connie turned the gun and showed Sukuyaa. “Someone fabricated a false bottom onto the gun. No wonder it always felt different when I had to reload the bullets.”

She picked up the key. Sukuyaa cackled in shock. “Motherf*cker! Did your family ever have any normalcy about them? Who hides a motherf*ckin key in a goddamn gun!”

“I guess Hermes must’ve wanted to say Ellis Rose and not Ellis Road.”

“You’d think a mob boss would try to get the details right, given it was his last word.”

Connie looked at Sukuyaa, bemused. “What? I’m just saying, we spent three months looking in the wrong place cos your father couldn’t be bothered to send us to the right place.”

Connie shook her head in disgust. “Do you think you can find what this goes to?”

Sukuyaa took the key and looked it over for a second. She saw the little serial number engraved on it and nodded. “Serial number should be easy enough to look up.”

Connie lowered herself on the chair. “Good. Let’s get this adventure over and done with.”

THE END

Well, it’s clear Mina/Connie and Sukuyaa will eventually find out the truth. We just won’t find out with them. Sigh, the good old ambiguous ending…

Thanks for reading, and as always, continue to enjoy yourself around the State!