After two weeks of believing she was being followed, Mary remained as shaken as ever; Hare was no better. I had not been truly shaken before, just concerned and curious, but after seeing the disturbed look on my companions face for the past week I had begun to fear this mysterious man too. I knew nothing of him and I did not know why Hare was so shaken but seeing him in such a state put me on edge. In want of forgetting these thoughts for just one night I took the opportunity to join a friend of mine for a drink; we were to meet at the pub that night at seven and I looked forward to our meeting greatly.
As the clock tower struck seven o'clock I watched the pub door expectantly in search of my friend. Half an hour passed and there was still no sign of him; I considered giving up and journeying home when a strange man approached me. His flat cap shielded his face in shadows and his personality seemed shady from my first glance; sitting beside me the man appeared to snatch small glances from beneath his hat, was he inspecting me? Who was this man? Uneasily I remained in my seat out of pure curiosity - if I left now I would never find out who this man was or what he wanted with me. After an awkward ten minutes of utter silence the man spoke...
"Mr Burke I see now that you are most definitely alone and that you are the man whom I wished to see. Now I have a task for you that will be followed by severe consequences if you do not succeed in completing this. If you fail to complete my simple task then when I travel to London, which will be tomorrow, I will round up your past friends; the following day after that they shall cease to exist any longer and that fate will rest on your head - I shall make sure that they know it was you who condemned them to such an end. Are you up for the task?"
In sheer and utter terror I nodded my head vigorously. This man whom I had never met nor conversed with in my entire existence would kill my past friends from London? If this had been said by anyone else in any other circumstances I would have considered it a hoax - but it wasn't. It didn't take a fool to understand that this man, whoever he was, meant every word he had just said. He did intend to kill those I cared about if I did not complete his task. Surely it couldn't be that bad? Nodding once more I gave him my answer.
"I'll do anything..."