The Facebook Killer by M. L. Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

myself to hell when Norman came back
with the news. I hadn’t factored in the possibility that some of
Hamid’s friends might not be “real” friends after all. I was
shocked. Furious with myself. What if they were there by chance? Or
pure bad luck. I knew what I had to do. I had to shake the apple
tree and I had to shake it hard so only the loyal clung on. My plan
didn’t include killing the innocent.
    I put Norman to bed and spent the rest of
that night and the next day relaxing. I had to clear my mind. I
watched the news, as always. Renee got a small mention. She was
dead. They thought it might be Legionnaire’s or Salmonella. The
Trafalgar Arms had been shut down.
    I had promised myself all along that I wasn’t
going to get involved in the network. Now I felt that I must, I had
to make sure there were no more Renee Walton's out there. Death by
association.
    I had to be clever, which I knew I was. I had
to be subtle enough not to cause suspicion and I knew exactly how
to do it.
    After ten minutes research I had the name and
address of Hamid’s Barrister, Steven Neilson, I took his official
looking picture from his chamber’s website and I was in business.
It took me five minutes to create his Facebook page, via an
anonymous IP address I hasten to add. I added a bit of bullshit
about his career etcetera and started a simple poll entitled “Clear
Abdul Hamid’s Name.” I kept my account private, only those people I
had asked to join as “friends” could read it once accepted.
    “Dear friends of Abdul,” it began, “as I am
sure you are all aware our mutual friend has suffered quite a
traumatic ordeal at the hands of the British justice system.
Thankfully Abdul has been absolved of all wrongdoing and this is
where your help can come in. I would like you to take a second to
fill in the poll, which you can see below. Why? Because I am
personally seeking justice for him in the form of recompense and
cleansing of his name,” Fuck I was starting to sound like the Pope,
“this poll is totally anonymous and no further communication will
be entered into unless you would like to submit an online character
reference.”
    I then applied to be friends with all of the
uncertain apples, all of the “Renee Walton's.” I obviously didn’t
send this to the family members he had listed or Hamid himself.
With 105 apples left, I could do with narrowing them down anyway.
In retrospect I should have done this from the start.
    All his “friends” had to do was click on one
of two answers. There was also a comments box below. Only I could
read the results.
     
    1) I am still a friend of Abdul and his name
should be cleared.
    2) I am no longer one of Abdul’s friends.
     
    It seemed a bit of a long shot but I had
nothing to lose. In fact quite the opposite, anyone who responded
would allow me access to their pages as well.
    I went to bed at 10:00 pm. I had firmly
decided not to do anything for thirty-six hours. Then I would check
the poll and make a decision after that.
    I fell asleep to the sound of Renee’s laugh.
It had sounded just like Anna’s.
     

Chapter 7
     
    The laptop remained under the floorboards for
almost two days. The television remained turned off for the same
period. I just ate, slept, thought and at one point started
counting my money. I gave up after five hours.
    It was time. Time to see if
anyone had unknowingly just saved their own lives by the single
click of a mouse. It may sound like a profound statement but
believe me it is not. If you haven’t yet worked it out, it is my
plan to get rid of every single person that Abdul Hamid cares about
and where is the only place I can find that information? On his
Facebook page, of course. It is my solemn intention to alleviate
him of his entire “network”. His friends will go first, then Kalif,
Norman, Albert and I will start with his family. He will suffer
like I did only a thousand times worse. When my story finishes he
will pray to his God that he had