Eye for an Eye

"Outside the most recent crime scene, no one noticed the small dark red Vauxhall Nova that pulled out of a parking space only a few hundred yards from the police tape.  The driver of the car grinned at his second success although he had been rather surprised it had taken them so long to find this one's body.  He was obviously more skilled at the business of murder than he'd given himself credit for.

He drove towards the busy main road, desperate to blend in with all the other vehicles; there was safety (and more importantly, anonymity) in numbers.  Now he'd completed two, he knew he’d have to be even quicker and smarter because it wouldn't take long before the investigators put two and two together and found the connection.  He thought about the success of the bomb that morning and felt his heart swell with happiness and pride.  Up until three weeks ago, he had absolutely no idea how to make a bomb but after doing some research on the Internet, he was able to download all the relevant instructions and the rest was easy.

He drove through the dark streets, passing closed shops and welcoming pubs, desperately wishing he could go back to his own home but he'd already decided that until everything was done, he would stay away.  He didn’t want to take even the tiniest shred of evidence from his house to his next victim or anything from the victim to his house.  He decided to be smart and rented a small flat on the edge of town, using a fake name of course.  But it was Tilly he missed most of all; she had been a loyal and loving cat since he found her in his local park.  Her pure white coat had been dirty and soaking wet and she was wandering in circles, half dead from hunger and exhaustion.  Some of the local kids (feral little shits from the council estate) had been throwing stones and lighted matches at her but he had rescued her.  He took her home and lovingly nursed her back to health and from that day, she never left his side.  She always ate what he ate (and always from the same plate) and each night they slept in the same bed.  But once he had finalised his plan, he discovered the only flats he could afford to rent didn't allow any pets and he couldn't afford to pay to keep her housed at a fancy cat hotel.  So he decided the only thing he could do was to let her help with his plan in a fittingly practical way.

He used all the same components he was going to use for the real bomb and made an exact miniature replica; he remembered Tilly's sweet and trusting face when he called to her.  She just waddled over and stood patiently, purring gently as he used an old black belt to strap the miniature bomb to her back.
“Good girl Tilly,” he said, the fingers of one hand gently tickling her favourite spot behind her ears as he fumbled awkwardly with the belt buckle under her stomach.  “That's my girl.  That's my brave girl.”
Fifteen minutes later, he had taken her deep into his local park, away from the skateboarders, cyclists and joggers and where the trees became thick and dense.  With trembling hands, he carried Tilly a safe distance from his car and tied a short piece of string from her collar to a thick fallen branch, just in case she was tempted to follow him.  After giving her one last gentle kiss on the top of her head, he twisted the dial on the kitchen timer before running back towards his car, knowing he had at least five minutes to find a safe vantage point.

His eyes flicked between his watch and Tilly, who was sitting by the thick fallen branch calmly licking at her hind legs with her little pink tongue.  He saw there were seconds left and began to quietly count down.
“Three, two, one...”
His heart was thumping so loudly, he was concerned he wouldn’t be able to hear the explosion but he need not have worried.  The blast was enormous and he quickly ducked down behind his open car door, covering his head as dirt, leaves and blooded pieces of torn flesh and shiny pink innards showered down around him.  He gingerly peered through the window of the car door and as the dust settled, he saw a small crater where Tilly had been sitting only moments before.  He noticed a red smear of blood on the windscreen of his car and he watched as a large piece of flesh covered with singed white fur, slid slowly down the glass.  The loss of losing such a dear pet was quickly absorbed by jubilation.  His bomb had worked!"