Metropolis Pt. 2, page 32
Beadys came around the coffee table and took Murphy by the collar. “You did this all because of Victoria! Because when you were a kid you saw that bitch and my two-bit brother lying dead in pools of their own blood. Right where they deserved to be!”
Murphy smashed Beadys’s hand down with a stiff forearm. “That’s how it started, you bet. I’ve been gnawing on that bone all my life. Wanting justice for the girl. For both of them. But something’s still missing, isn’t it? Because as much as I know you value your reputation and your money, there may not be enough evidence here to actually convict you, which means you might still get to keep on living just the way you have been, which is something you took from Victoria and Nicholas.”
“You’re going to kill me, Mr. Murphy, is that your plan?”
“Nothing would bring me more pleasure, but no. I’m talking about your freedom, doc. Death is too good for you, as far as I’m concerned. I want you to rot. Which means I’ve got to make sure Nick’s murder sticks to you like shit on a shoe.”
Beadys clenched his fists.
Murphy leaned forward, picked up the old metronome, and slammed it down on the coffee table, shattering the wood and spilling out the little motor and an expressman snub nose .38 Special.
Beadys’s jaw fell open. He lunged for the gun, but Murphy swept it up and pointed it at him.
Murphy laughed. “Boy, I sure would have been embarrassed if I’d been wrong about that.” He waved Beadys back onto the couch with the business end of the .38. “See, I got to thinking. Someone came onto this beautiful yacht and trashed it all, but the only thing Nick said was miraculously untouched was your metronome.” He sat back on the couch.
“I should have killed you both from the beginning.”
“Yeah, but then you wouldn’t have had the satisfaction of Nick knowing who he was and who you were when you killed him. That’s why you brought Nick back session after session, insisting that he identify as Victoria, insisting that he witness his own murder. You wanted him to know it was you killing him a second time. You wanted him to know it, to feel it. To suffer for his sins, you’d probably say.”
Dr. Beadys stared at the floor for a second, then back at Murphy. “In the beginning, I needed to know he was Victoria, too. Of course, I came to that awareness before he grasped it himself. But it was satisfying to see him realize who I was when I shot him.”
“And you did it with Julian’s gun, which is what your blackmailed goons were looking for in the evidence warehouse, so you could use the same expressman .38 Special to kill Victoria for the second time. Hubris, doc. Just hubris. You should have known better. But it gets the best of all of us.”
Beadys clenched his teeth.
“I’m going to guess the ballistics on this gun will match the slugs in Nick’s chest.” Murphy lowered the gun. “Which means after Baynes Enterprises falls, and your reputations—Beadys’s and Edward’s—are dragged through the mud, you’ll be going to prison.”
“I’ll come for you, Murphy. If not in this life . . .”
Murphy laughed. He’d gotten what he’d come for. Justice for Victoria, Julian, and Nick. It had been a long time coming, and it didn’t change things for Jen and Billy, but he planned to be around for them as much as he could before the grave came hounding him once and for all.
This whole dance—for Murphy, Nick, Victoria, Julian, Edward, and all the rest—was dizzying with deceit. The city was full of such stories. He’d seen them all his life. But this one had a small thread of love winding through it, which made him think there might be more stories of love in Metropolis, brighter ones with happier endings than an old gumshoe like him had ever seen. He hoped so, anyway.
Red and blue lights began to strobe through the cabin windows— Captain Donovan right on time.
The sun had fallen low on the horizon, throwing the harbor into shades of gold. Across the water, skyscraper windows began to light up as night fell over Metropolis.
ABOUT THE BAND
Progressive metal pioneers DREAM THEATER share a unique bond with one of the most passionate fan bases around the globe as evidenced by their three GRAMMY® Award nominations, 2022 GRAMMY® Award win in the Best Metal performance category for “The Alien” and 15 million records sold worldwide. The 1992 opus Images & Words received a gold certification and landed on Rolling Stone’s coveted “100 Greatest Metal Albums of All-Time.” Guitar World placed the follow-up Awake at #1 on “Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994.” 1996’s A Change of Seasons notably soundtracked NBC’s coverage of Downhill Skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Fans voted the 1999 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory the “Number One All-Time Progressive Rock Album” in a 2012 Rolling Stone poll. Not to mention, it ranked as the “15th Greatest Concept Album” by Classic Rock. 2009 saw Black Clouds & Silver Linings crash the Billboard Top 200 at #6 as A Dramatic Turn of Events [2011] and Dream Theater [2013] maintained a three-peat in the chart’s Top 10. Consequence of Sound dubbed 2016’s The Astonishing, “An absolutely unique experience.”
Beyond three platinum and two gold videos, the group was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2019, the band continued to expand its audience when they released Distance Over Time to critical and commercial acclaim. On their 15th full-length and second studio release for InsideOutMusic / Sony Music, A View From The Top Of The World, the band continued to challenge themselves and push their musical envelope—something they have done for over 30 years performing together. The band launched the inaugural DREAMSONIC Tour in 2023—a traveling progressive music spectacle that will return for more runs in the future. In 2024, founding drummer Mike Portnoy reunited with the iconic lineup of guitarist John Petrucci, vocalist James LaBrie, bassist John Myung and keyboardist Jordan Rudess to overwhelming fanfare. Dream Theater has been in the studio currently working on their upcoming 16th studio album and first for this lineup in over 15 years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PETER ORULLIAN is the author of several novels, novellas, and short stories across various genres and series. His work consistently features and builds upon music as an integral part of his storytelling. Orullian has also worked with Dream Theater on more than one occasion to help bring their music to life in written form. He is currently collaborating with New York Times Bestseller Brandon Sanderson on a new series that will feature heavy metal music as a key component. Orullian has been shortlisted for a number of esteemed fiction prizes and hit multiple fiction bestseller lists.
Musically, Orullian trained with famed vocal coach David Kyle, who also taught Geoff Tate, Ann Wilson, and Layne Staley. He has toured internationally fronting various metal bands at European festivals, and received the Private Eye Best Male Vocalist award. He has recently founded his own group, Symphony North, a symphonic metal band focusing on highly crafted concept albums with strong narratives. Orullian has also recently novelized Symphony North’s first album, The Bell Ringer, which features members of Dream Theater as well as former members of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, as he continues to create at the intersection of music and story.
You can visit Orullian at www.orullian.com
and www.symphonynorth.com.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE BAND
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Orullian, Metropolis Pt. 2
