Killing Kirshner (A Psychological Suspense Thriller) Page 5

  “You’re completely mad. Untie me, you little piss ant,” Kirshner yelled.

  “Here’s how it’s going to go Mr. Kirshner. For every question you get right, I loosen a piece of tape. But …” Will paused for a minute and walked behind the podium.

  “For any question you get wrong, the rope gets pulled. Got it?”

  “Please begin, Mr. Kirshner.”

  Kirshner stared at the book in front of him and remained silent. “Come on, Mr. Kirshner, the class is waiting,” he shouted.

  “Are you unprepared for class, Mr. Kirshner? You know what that means.” Will pulled on the rope and the noose tightened around Kirshner’s neck. Kirshner squirmed in his chair, trying to break free.

  ~~~

  Will took a bite of pizza as Amanda, Jack, Sean and Abrams sat, captivated by his story. “That’s it,” Will said.

  “But you didn’t even finish him off,” Abrams exclaimed.

  “I know. That’s as far as I want to take it – for now, at least,” Will said as an afterthought.

  “I loved how you started it, but the ending sucked, man,” Abrams said laughing.

  “Okay, if you’re so great, how would you do it, Abrams?” Will asked.

  Chapter 23

  Abrams sat in Professor Kirshner’s class listening to him pounce on each student he called on. Insult after insult, Kirshner annihilated each of his prey. Students sat stunned and shocked by his cruelty. By this time in the semester, Kirshner had called on every student in the class at least once. Unfortunately, Abrams’ study group had been called on several times each. Just when they thought their row was safe, Kirshner would surprise them by starting to call on the front row once again.

  It seemed that Todd Garner was the only student that did not get blasted by Kirshner. Todd appeared to be “the teacher’s pet,” if that was possible with a professor like Kirshner. Todd finished briefing a case, and Kirshner was not happy. He was in an unusually vicious mood that day. Kirshner called around to several other students and finally decided to once again focus his venom on the front row.

  “Mr. Freeman, you appear bored. So, entertain us with your brilliant wit. Tell us all about it,” Kirshner said, waiting to jump down Abrams’ throat at his first mistake.

  Abrams sat quietly, not even making eye contact with Kirshner. “Do you have some kind of a hearing problem, Mr. Freeman?” Kirshner yelled.

  Abrams folded his arms and smiled at Kirshner. “You have five seconds to brief the case. If I don’t hear you briefing that case when I get to five, I am going to fail you from this class. One – Two – Three – Four – F…”

  Abrams jumped over the desk and slammed his textbook into Kirshner’s face, and he fell back into the podium. Abrams grabbed Kirshner by the arm and shoved him over to the window. He grabbed the cord for the blind and wrapped it tightly around his neck. He pulled the cord as hard as he could. Kirshner flailed his arms around, trying to break free.

  The entire classroom just sat there watching Abrams murdering their professor. No one moved from their seat – they just sat and watched – almost quietly cheering Abrams on. Kirshner’s face became red, then blue. His yellow-orangey eyes bulged out of his head, and then his arms finally stopped moving. Abrams released the cord, and Kirshner’s body fell to the floor. Abrams looked up and the entire classroom stood up and clapped.

  ~~~

  “That was way lame,” Sean yelled with a piece of pizza in his mouth.

  “Big time,” Jack added.

  “Come on, now, I thought that was pretty damn good. At least I actually killed him,” Abrams said, looking at Will.

  “Ya’ll are sick,” Amanda said, refilling another glass of sweet tea.

  “Not only are you sick, but you guys are the worst killers of all time. You might as well drive right to the police station after you’re done,” she laughed.

  “She’s right; a good murder must be carefully planned. One does not just kill somebody on the spot; it takes hours and hours of planning to make sure you don’t get caught,” Jack declared.

  “You sound like you are talking from experience,” Will mumbled.

  “No, but I have read enough good mystery novels to know how to plan a decent murder,” Jack claimed.

  “So, let’s hear it then. Tell us how you would do in that evil dick,” Sean challenged.

  “I’ll do better than tell you. I’ll show you,” Jack said confidently.

  Chapter 24

  “You got internet here, Amanda?” Jack asked.

  “Of course. What, you think I’m just some dumb hick girl?” Amanda snapped.

  “Yeah, yeah, get me into Lexis,” Jack quickly responded.

  “Give me your username and password; no way I’m using mine,” Amanda said. Jack quickly gave it to her.

  While most law students only used LexisNexis to look up case law and regulations, LexisNexis was a great tool for getting information on people.

  “Kirshner does not have a listed address. That psycho is paranoid of everyone. So, let’s see what Lexis has on him,” Jack said.

  Jack quickly navigated through Lexis’ menus and searched for any property records in Isaiah Kirshner’s name. Three properties came up:

  9800 NW 18th Street, London, England.

  3 W. Canal Street, Apt. # 213, New York, New York

  432 SW 5th Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida

  “Here we go, 432 SW 5th Avenue – too easy,” Jack smiled.

  “It looks like this dude’s got some serious dough – a place in London and New York. Wish I had his money,” Sean remarked.

  “Yeah, but he made that money defending murderers and child molesters,” Amanda said.

  “True, I wouldn’t want it that way,” Sean agreed.

  “So, what do we do now?” Abrams asked.

  “We take a field trip to his house,” Jack smirked.

  They all looked at each other as Jack printed the address to Kirshner house, wondering if he was really serious.

  “You’re being serious?” Sean asked, watching the address print.

  “Let’s just see where the asshole lives,” Will said.

  “I’m in,” Abrams quickly chimed in.

  “Me, too,” Sean added.

  They all waited for Amanda’s answer. “Fine, but I’m sitting way in the back of Jack’s truck. I don’t want Kirshner seeing me anywhere near his house.”

  “Let’s do it. I’ll meet you guys down there. I’m going to grab my camera,” Jack said as they walked out of Amanda’s dorm.

  “What do you need a camera for?” Will asked.

  “Every great murder starts with good surveillance,” Jack laughed.

  “I really think he’s gone nuts,” Amanda joked.

  They piled into the Jack’s Escalade and Amanda jumped over the back seat and hid in the back of the car. Will put Kirshner’s address into Jack’s GPS, and Jack peeled out of the parking lot and headed to I-95. The GPS said they would arrive in 25 minutes; Jack did not put on any music for the ride over. They were completely silent on the drive over. None of them knew exactly what Jack was going to do once they got there.

  Chapter 25

  Isaiah Kirshner sat at the island bar in his kitchen as he looked at the news on the television. He walked over to his stove and swirled the vegetables that sat in a light brown sauce in a wok. He twisted his neck and it cracked several times, let out a deep sigh and turned the television off.

  The vegetables were finally done for the impatient Kirshner. He plopped them down on a square plate and pulled out a fork out of his silverware drawer. He sat down in his dining room and ate his vegetables as he sipped on a glass of red wine.

  His house was very tastefully decorated. Kirshner was an extremely successful criminal attorney for many years, and he had made a lot of money. By the time he was 40 years old, Kirshner had stashed away nearly $4 million. When he got bored representing clients, he decided he would teach in Florida.

  He loved teaching; he felt it wa
s his duty to make sure only the best got through his class – that is why he ran his classroom like boot camp. He purposely would do his best to break the weak students and get them to drop out. He felt the weak had no business becoming lawyers.

  He was almost finished with his plate of vegetables when he heard a bang outside his window. He jumped out of his chair and ran into the other room to get his gun.

  Chapter 26

  A few minutes earlier, the Escalade pulled along the main road in front of Kirshner’s gated community. Jack failed to realize that Kirshner’s development might have some security, so he quickly pulled back onto the road and drove about half a mile down to an empty field. He turned off the car and got out, leaving Amanda, Will, Sean and Abrams inside, not knowing what he was doing.

  “Come on, let’s go and see if we can get into this fortress,” Jack yelled.

  “What exactly are we doing here, Jack?” Amanda asked.

  “We are just going to see his house. What did you think we were doing here? Do you think I was really going to kill the guy?” Jack responded.

  “I was hoping you weren’t,” Amanda said, shrugging her shoulders.

  The five students ran along the front gate looking for another way into the community. Will spotted a small door hidden by some bushes about 100 feet away from the main gate. They huddled around the gate, which had a large padded lock on it. They decided they would just climb over it. One by one they propped themselves over the gate balancing between the gate and the bushes.

  Jack pulled the address he printed out of his pocket, and they jogged along the road until they got to the address listed as Kirshner’s house.

  “That’s the place,” Will said in awe.

  The house was huge. It was mostly made of grey stone with a slate tile roof. The grounds were immaculately kept with every bush and tree beautifully shaped. The only thing that seemed a little odd about the house was its lack of windows. This house was obviously owned by a man who was paranoid and untrusting of the outside world.

  They crouched along the side of the house peeking into a few windows, but every room was too dark to see into. Finally, they came to the kitchen, which was brightly lit. Kirshner had all stainless steel appliances with black granite for countertops.

  Suddenly, Kirshner walked by the window. Sean jumped back away from the window, and they all hid with their hearts pounding out of their chest. Sean decided to peek and see if Kirshner saw them. He watched as Kirshner walked into the next room, and Sean motioned to follow him.

  They hurried along the side of the house to the dining room where Kirshner was eating his recently made dinner. Even though the blinds were tightly shut, they could see through the side of the blinds. Kirshner was sitting at the table eating his dinner and drinking wine. Amanda pushed her way to the front to get a better look and was resting her hand on the edge of the window when it slipped. She fell forward and her head crashed into the window making a loud bang.

  “Shit,” Will said, helping Amanda up.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Sean said.

  Jack peeked through the blinds and saw Kirshner running toward the front of the house with a gun in his hand.

  “Holy shit, he’s got a gun,” Jack whispered.

  Chapter 27

  The front door to Kirshner’s house blasted open. Kirshner stood in the doorway with a shiny, silver gun held tightly in his right hand and a large flashlight in his other, his cold blue eyes making him look possessed. He ran toward the side of the house where he heard the noise and saw five people running down the street. Although he was not a young man, Kirshner was still in very good shape. He took off down the street chasing the five intruders.

  Jack, Will, Amanda, and Abrams kept even as Sean fell behind them. Will kept looking behind him to make sure Sean was able to keep up. To all their surprise, Amanda began to pass all of them. Will forgot that Amanda had been playing soccer for most of her life and could run at this speed for hours.

  Sean, unfortunately, had not run this fast since he was a kid. He gasped for air as he pumped his chubby legs as fast as he could. He saw a beam of light on the back of Abrams’ head; he looked behind him and saw Kirshner slowly approaching with his flashlight pointed at them.

  Sean was close to hyperventilating, but he was able to get out a few words. “He’s behind us.”

  They all turned around and saw an irate Kirshner barreling down the road. They were all shocked at how fast the old man could run. The light from Kirshner’s flashlight hit Amanda’s face as she quickly turned her head.

  “I think he might have seen my face,” she yelled.

  “No way, he’s too far behind us,” Abrams shouted back.

  They finally got to the gate and each helped the other over with Will going last. They sprinted to the Escalade, and Jack cranked the engine and the SUV screeched out of the empty field.

  Kirshner climbed over the fence with the speed of a man half his age. He just got up to the road when he saw the SUV racing away. He was not able to see the license plate, but he was positive about one thing – it was a tan Cadillac Escalade.

  The Escalade was filled with laugher. Will did his impression of Kirshner running behind them and Sean laughed and continued to try and catch his breath. Sean joked about possibly having a heart attack, and Abrams had tears rolling down his face as he laughed. Amanda sat quietly in the far back; she was not laughing. She was scared out of her mind – she was positive Kirshner had seen her face.

  Chapter 28

  Amanda stood outside Kirshner’s classroom waiting for her friends; she was too scared to go into the room by herself. She had not slept thinking that Kirshner had seen her face. Will and Sean came walking up to her, and they walked into the classroom together. Amanda held tightly onto Will’s arm as they walked down the steps to their seats. Amanda was wearing a baseball cap that she had borrowed from Jack; she had never worn a baseball cap in her life, but she did not want Kirshner to get a good look at her face. Of course, this was nearly impossible since she sat in the front row right in front of Kirshner’s podium. Amanda pulled the cap down in an attempt to cover most of her face.

  “Stop worrying about this. There is no way he could tell it was us; he must have been a 100 or so feet behind us. You are making yourself sick over nothing,” Will said.

  “I know, I just can’t shake the feeling that he saw my face when we were running,” Amanda whispered.

  The rest of the students filtered into the classroom, as Amanda kept looking toward the back of the classroom for Kirshner to enter. She quickly read over her briefs and made sure she knew the issues. Suddenly, the door slammed and Kirshner appeared at the back of the classroom; everyone turned around to see who had slammed the door. Amanda quickly turned back around, hiding her face under the brim of her baseball cap.

  Kirshner sat down in the last row, and the students looked around at each other thinking the old man finally had lost it. “Ms. Martin, please walk up to the podium and brief the first case of the day,” Kirshner yelled.

  Amanda immediately began to panic – she could feel the sweat beginning to form down her back. She slowly walked up to the podium and laid her notebook on it. Her hands trembled as she tilted the notebook up so she could see her brief better. She only got through the facts of the case when Kirshner interrupted. “Ms. Martin,” he said, and then there was a long pause.

  “Before you continue, could you please remove that awful hat? Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s rude to wear a hat indoors?”

  Amanda quickly removed the cap and laid it on the podium.

  “That hideous accent of yours – where is it from? South Carolina?” Kirshner asked.

  “I’m from Charleston, sir,” she said in a shaking voice.

  “Charleston! I had the unfortunate experience of living in that God-awful city for four years. Charleston is a city full of morons with too much money, and that accent used to drive me insane. I should have recognized that awful verbiage of
yours as being from Charleston. That southern drawl – sounds so sweet and innocent. I don’t buy it for a minute.”

  “I can’t help it. It’s just the way I talk,” Amanda trembled.

  “Just continue with your brief, and make it quick so I don’t have to listen to you too much longer,” Kirshner yelled.

  Amanda took a deep breath and finished briefing the case. Kirshner did not interrupt her again. He sat quietly with his arms folded – he was almost positive that Amanda was the girl running from his house the other night.

  Chapter 29

  The group shuffled into the library once Kirshner’s class was over. They all gathered into a study room, and Amanda fell into Will’s chest and sobbed. Will patted her on the back, doing his best to console her.

  “So, do y’all still think he did not see my face?” Amanda cried.

  “You might be right. He came at you pretty hard today,” Jack mumbled.

  “Maybe it was just the hat. He was just pissed that you wore a hat in his classroom,” Sean suggested. Even though Sean did not believe that, he wanted Amanda to feel better.

  “Maybe you guys shouldn’t be seen with me. He might figure it was y’all that were with me that night,” Amanda said.

  “Don’t worry about it. We didn’t even do anything,” Jack said.

  “We wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for your stupid idea,” Abrams yelled.

  “Screw you! No one forced you to come,” Jack screamed back.

  “Shut the hell up,” Will shouted. “We didn’t do anything and if Kirshner was going to call the cops, he would have done so by now. So, everyone just lay off each other.”

  Will and Amanda stayed in the study room and the rest of the group left. Abrams looked back as the door closed and saw Amanda and Will embrace. He clenched his fists and punched the wall.

  Chapter 30