Sweeny had left the hospital building, but he had not left the parking lot. He knew that he needed to post his own form of a stakeout. Jennifer was going to be released from the hospital in the morning, and he wanted to be ready to follow her and James as soon as they left. If he was in his hospital bed, he would never have a chance to do that. From his car he could monitor the entrance and be ready to roll out behind them. He was certain that he was right about the true connection between James and Wraith and he kicked himself for not focusing on this train of thought when it first occurred to him. He should have paid more attention to his instincts. His itchy face had never let him down and he had failed to give it due heed.
He wondered how many lives could have been spared if he had been more perceptive. Sweet Jessica, known to others as Gloria Harper would not have been so savagely torn apart. His friend Agent Hook would not have been tortured so badly before his death. Even the incompetent Detective Anderson would still be alive, blundering cases. Not to mention all the random women that Wraith had murdered after his temper tantrum at April Pensicotti's death which had somehow come at his own hands. Then there was the man that the Pensicotti woman had killed. If he had been able to recognize who Wraith really was from the beginning they would have most likely been able to get their hands on the woman called Vixen before she had been able to do that little piece of handiwork.
Those were just the ones that he knew about. Sweeny had no way of knowing if that was truly the limit of the body count. He doubted he would ever get a full confession out of Wraith so that he could fully appreciate how many lives had been shattered due to his own lack of understanding. He kicked himself mentally for doing such a piss poor job of detective work. He was the best there was damn it. He should not have let something so obvious slip right from his mind. He had let his compassion for James block out the facts that were screaming for his attention. It had been a very costly mistake. One that he could not let continue to collect interest.
Sweeny pulled himself out of his funk. He knew where he had gone wrong, but rehashing it over and over in his mind was not going to help at all when it came to focusing on the task at hand. One thing he had taken away from his experience with Wraith was that nothing was predictable. He could not afford to find himself thinking too heavily on the past and miss something happening in the present. Sure Jennifer was supposed to be released in the morning, but would Wraith wait that long? He was such a lover of chaos that he just might try something tonight in order to raise his middle finger in Sweeny's direction.
While the primary suspect in Sweeny's mind sat beside her bed, the detective did not believe that he would kill her right there in the hospital. He had already killed one person in the hospital and would most likely not repeat that. On top of it all, everybody knew that James was in the room with her. If she was found dead and he was missing, there would be no doubt about his true identity. Wraith was too smart to leave behind such a blaring trail. No, Wraith would want to move her if he wanted to finish off what Vixen had started. There was not much doubt about that. So Sweeny sat in silence and watched the entrance. If Wraith went to move her tonight, he would be ready.
At three twenty one in the morning Sweeny saw what he had been expecting. James and Jennifer walked out of the hospital and moved toward the rental car that James had been driving. The two of them kept looking around nervously as if they expected somebody to come out of the shadows and attack them at any second. My god, Sweeny thought to himself, James really is one hell of an actor. He even has Jennifer believing that Wraith is somebody else.
He ran his hand over his bald head as he watched them climb into the car and get under way. He was not used to having no hair, and he hoped it would eventually grow back. Not being a doctor, he had no idea of whether or not his aging scalp would be able to recover from the damage the fire had done and let him get back his once full head of hair.
The two of them seemed to be so wrapped in thought that neither of them noticed that Sweeny was staring intently at them as they drove past his parked car. They also did not notice that he started his car and began to follow them from a distance. He was far enough back to remain as inconspicuous as possible, yet close enough to follow their every move. He almost grinned at how easy they were to track. Like innocent prey blissfully unaware of the lion that stalked them through the brush. Except, of course, that only one of them could truly be called innocent prey. And the real predator was not Sweeny, but rather the man at the wheel of the car he was tracking.
As he drove, Sweeny reached for his phone. He had been giving it a great amount of thought and had decided that he really owed it to his son to do everything in his power to bring him in alive and try to get him the help he needed. He was not sure he really had what it took to kill his son anyway. If he was able to merely incapacitate Wraith/James, he might be able to convince a criminal psychologist to sit down with the boy to see if he could ever be able to function normally in society. It might seem like a long shot, but he had to try. If he had been around in James' life when he was growing up, maybe he would have turned out completely different. It was too late to fully make up for that now, but no effort at all would be a death sentence for his son.
He dialled the number of the criminal psychologist he had worked with on a number of cases and expected to get her voice mail. He was actually very surprised to hear her answer without sounding the least bit groggy. He had forgotten that she had once told him that she was an incurable insomniac. It probably had something to do with her being a psychologist. Especially with the kind of people she dealt with. Nobody could really dive into the inner workings of the mind without coming out of it a little off. He ran her through what was going on and she agreed to head to the hospital in anticipation of the young man's arrival. Sweeny half joked that if he was not able to gain control of Wraith, she might just need to be there to identify his body. She did not find it funny, but then neither did he.
The truth was that Sweeny was not altogether sure he would be able to take Wraith down in any sort of capacity even if he did his best and did not focus on the fact that it was his son he was up against. If his experience in April Pensicotti's basement was any indication, Wraith was fast, accurate, and entirely too lethal. He needed to have his A game going full force if he was going to pull this off. Being barely able to stand upright was not really a good sign. That could not be helped, though, so he did his best to convince himself that all of his experience in police work would pay off and his instincts would enable him to come out the victor. Then it would all be in the hands of Dr. Stephanie Farnsworth.
Sweeny followed the young couple to their apartment building and noticed the police car that sat outside monitoring the place. It looked as if the officer on duty was actually sleeping instead of keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the building. He shook his head in disapproval. What kind of man can look at himself in the mirror or feel like he deserves to wear a badge when he can't even perform the most basic of tasks? It was infuriating. He half wanted to wake the man up, berate him, and then use him as backup. Sweeny chose not to do this however. He was afraid that if he showed his face to any member of law enforcement he would be forced back to the hospital and reminded that the feds had this whole thing under control. Jennifer's life was in danger and he would not allow for anything to keep him from being there to protect her.
Gingerly, the detective got out of his car and began to hobble up to the building. James and Jennifer were already inside and he tried to hurry as best he could in order to get there before anything bad happened. His leg was killing him, and the burned skin was miserable, but he tried not to let either slow him down too much. He was almost to the stairs when he saw James step outside and light a cigarette. After a few puffs, James looked down and saw him approaching. In a look of wild panic, James turned and fumbled for the door knob. Instead of turning the handle and entering, though, he stepped back, shook his head, and then pulled out a gun equipped with a sound suppressor. He had kept it well hidden tucked into his waistband, but now he held it high for Sweeny to see and kicked in the door. Sweeny increased his pace at this new development, but he seemed to be moving in aggravating slow motion.
By the time he finally reached the top of the stairs and entered the apartment, he could see Wraith/James standing over a frightened Jennifer pointing the gun down at her. He needed to do something fast if he was going to save her. Holding his gun in his left hand, he pointed it squarely at the young man. Sweeny really didn't want to pull the trigger, but he did not know how much choice he had. Wraith did not move, but his eyes seemed to flicker in Sweeny's direction. He was clearly aware of the gun trained on him. Deciding that the lack of movement might give him the opportunity he needed, Sweeny sought to talk him down.
"Stop, Wraith. You don't want to do this." He said. "Just put the gun down and we can get you the help you need."
"I don't need any help." Wraith replied as serenely as if he was discussing the weather. "And I really do want to do this."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wraith spun, dropped to a kneeling position, and took aim. On instinct, Sweeny fired his gun, but missed entirely. The speed with which Wraith had moved had thwarted the first attempt of the intruder to put him down. His aim had been trained on where Wraith had been standing and he was not able to correct quickly enough. Wraith was impossibly fast. The bullet impacted harmlessly into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Realizing his error, Sweeny tried to adjust his aim and dodge the barrage that he knew was coming. His injuries hampered him, and he was not sure if he could have avoided the bullets that smashed into him even if he had been in perfect health. Wraith was clearly in a class of his own.
Utterly defeated, Sweeny crumpled to the ground. Nothing seemed to work and he knew that he was dying. If Wraith had used hollow points, he would have been dead already, but instead he had to lie in this crumpled state and wait for death. It would come quickly enough. Sweeny did not see any light, nor did he experience watching his life flash in front of his eyes. All he saw was his son walking back to Jennifer and focusing his attention on the scared young woman. She was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His body was broken and dying and he was useless.
In a last surge of defiance, Sweeny forced himself to move. Nothing wanted to respond, but he could not, would not surrender to death so easily when Jennifer needed his help. Amazingly enough his left hand still held the handgun. He brought it to bear on Wraith and pulled the trigger. The bullet impacted on his son's right shoulder and spun him around violently. Wraith lost his balance and fell backward into the coffee table head first. There was a sickening thud with the impact, and the young man's body went still. Unbelievably Sweeny found he was able to crawl over to his son's body while the blood drained from his own.
"I am so sorry my son. I am so damn sorry." Sweeny said, as he laid his head on Wraith's chest. He was happy to hear shallow breathing and a heart beat from that strong chest. His boy was alive. Hopefully he could get the help he needed. Sweeny closed his eyes for the last time and died on top of the son he had never known.