Getting Away With Murder

Friends are overrated, Thomas Grayson would often think to himself, using it as an excuse to spend yet another night lost in his laptop monitor instead of going out and engaging other human beings. Bored with Facebook, Thomas jumped to YouTube and began scanning video descriptions. Something in the “Recommend” category stopped him cold, a video with his name under it, Thomas Grayson #4. It had been posted three days earlier and already had over a thousand views. The name of the poster was “GAWM.”

Curious, he clicked on the video and was suddenly looking down on a city street at night. The camera was following a woman walking down a sidewalk, then cut to a daylight segment of a woman walking to her car. They looked to be the same person, but Thomas couldn’t be sure until a third segment appeared. It was night again and the camera operator was filming through a window looking into a house. The same young woman was sitting on a couch watching TV. Her bare feet were propped up against the coffee table and she appeared to be eating popcorn. The video ended abruptly and Thomas felt both confused and frightened.

He watched the three other videos and found the pattern to be the same, with each one following a different woman as if someone was stalking them. Why was his name on these videos, he wondered? News articles he’d seen of a suspected serial killer in the city rose to the surface in his mind and his palms grew damp. Here were videos of someone following various women. Could they be victims? Prospective targets?

His mind started racing. Maybe somebody was trying to frame him. But who and why? He didn’t know enough people to have enemies. Should he call the cops?

After a fitful night, Thomas slogged through his morning routine. He tapped away at the laptop on the kitchen table in between sips of coffee and found that a new video had been posted during the night, Thomas Grayson #5.  Afraid to watch it and afraid not to, he finally clicked on the title. The camera followed a young woman through the aisles of a grocery store as she shopped. It then cut to the same woman carrying bags into her small house.

Three solid knocks on the front door sent a surge of adrenalin through his veins, and a second one hit when he opened the door to a man in a suit and two uniformed police officers.

“Detective Vince Anselmo. You Thomas Grayson?”

Thomas wanted to slam the door shut and run. “Yes. What’s this all about?”

“We have a warrant to search the premises. Would you mind stepping back, Sir?”

Detective Anselmo and the two cops brushed past Thomas. “Wait. What’s this all about? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The Detective stood in the threshold between the living room and the kitchen. “So what are you doing on your laptop? Posting another video? How fucking stupid can you get?”

“No, no. You don’t understand. I didn’t post those videos. Someone else put them there.” Something was horribly wrong.

“Hey Vince,” called a cop coming down the stairs holding a GoPro camera in an evidence bag. “Found it sitting on top of his dresser, and there’s a coil of rope.”

Detective Anselmo shook his head as he pulled out his cuffs. “Jesus, Grayson. You have to be the world’s dumbest serial killer. You’re under arrest for murder.”

“No,” shouted the now panicking Thomas. “I didn’t kill anybody. I…I’m being set up.”

The cuffs clicked shut around Thomas’s wrists as he continued to protest, and a police officer guided him outside to a waiting squad car.  As the house grew quiet again, the YouTube page on Thomas’s laptop refreshed. A new video had just been uploaded by GAWM…Chad McNair #1.