James Locker- The Duality of Fate

by Martin Lundqvist

  There were also other factors about their relationship that made her unhappy but contrary to some of her friends' beliefs; the fact that he was 18 years older than she was was not one of them. On the contrary, she found it very attractive that he had experienced so much more than her and had so many stories to tell and so much to teach her. No, what bothered her was his lack of presence both when he was physically missing due to long “business trips” but also the lack of presence she felt when he was actually with her. It seemed to her that he had lost most of his interest in her once they got married and that he nowadays merely saw her as a possession to use as he pleased. There was, of course, days when he proved her wrong but these days were too few to change her general impression.

  What was the worst, however, was his jealous and controlling nature. She had felt very relieved at first when he told her that he wanted to bring her to Australia to be his housewife in his Mosman Mansion. After all being a beautiful woman working in a bar in Bogota was no child play with all the overconfident and arrogant cokeheads hanging around. But after a while in Australia, she had started to feel frustrated just passing the time, not carrying her weight and always being dependent on her husband's money. Keeping her off the work market was, of course, his way of keeping track of her, but she still had not rebelled against his attitude. It was not fear that had made her not bringing it up but rather a feeling of a debt of gratitude towards him. After all, he had improved her life a lot compared to how it had been before and the last thing she wanted, was to let him down. She received a text from Antonio DiMaestro “ I will be home in an hour, words can’t describe how much I have missed you these last five weeks, you are my Venus, my only love, my everything kisses Antonio” Miranda smiled to herself. No need to think about life tonight, since tonight was the time to enjoy the best of it.

  She prepared the romantic surprise she had made for her husband. The time was reaching midnight.

  2.2 From the Killers point of view

  THE KILLER WAS SITTING in a car watching Miranda via a laptop. Fortunately, the DiMaestro Mansion was full of security cameras so he could follow every step she made. Or should he call them "security" cameras as they were counteracting their purpose in this case? The person who installed the cameras did an outstanding job in keeping them hidden from someone who was actually in the room but also did a very sloppy job when it came to protecting them from computer hackers via the Internet. The consequence of this was that it would be a straightforward task to get back and forth to the house unnoticed.

  He wondered who had been calling on the intercom, which had upset Miranda in a way that made her have the premises searched by the security guards. "A good thing I did not decide to strike earlier," he thought to himself. The Killer had not managed to access the intercom as it contrary to the security cameras was a pretty secure system. "Well I would probably have been able to break the encryption if I needed to," he thought to himself, but he did not need the intercom.

  Now he was in a dilemma. Was he going to watch Miranda in her sexy lingerie and enjoy himself or just finish her off right now? Most of all he wanted to fuck her. Oh, he damned himself over how much he wanted to fuck her. He brought himself together knowing that if he did fuck her, he would leave his DNA all over the place which would be a nightmare in the long run.

  He thought about the killing part, which he did not enjoy it at all. He was not an animal like his enemy, and he did not appreciate the concept of killing at all. But he had a critical mission, a mission that would ultimately bring him freedom and full control of his own life. To aid him in the killing he picked what he thought would be the most comfortable weapon to kill with a .22 calibre revolver equipped with a silencer. On the bright side, he would have no problem with the recoil and shells spreading around the crime scene. From a negative point of view, he would have to shoot several shots to ensure the kill since a .22 gun with a silencer would have a little punching power, this was however not a major issue since he reckoned the first shot would be the only difficult one. He felt some severe discomfort: even though he technically had killed before this still felt like the first time, and he wondered how losing his murder virginity would feel.

  His watch showed a quarter past midnight. If he struck now, the timing would be perfect, and his message would be sent the way he planned. If he did not move now, he would fall behind schedule as he had to wait until tomorrow night, which meant both an increased risk of detection and the risk of a chain reaction of delays. He was not THAT eager to watch her in her lingerie anymore.

  He prepared to strike. First, he sent a text to Miranda DiMaestro with the words "I have lost my keys, can you please open the back door so that I can sneak in. I am looking forward to playing some sexy hide & seek" then he followed her on the security camera when she opened the back door. It was time to proceed; the killer disabled all the security systems in the building via his computer. Then he grabbed his gun and jumped over the wall to the DiMaestro Mansion from the back alley direction. "Sexy hide & seek, how fun," he thought. But he knew where she was going to hide. He walked into the master bedroom which was heavily scented with roses and cinnamon. He met her gaze filled with horror. She was lying in bed in a suggestive pose. "I am sorry," he said and raised his gun, and shot her, one shot to the head and five to the chest. Miranda DiMaestro fell off the bed, dead within seconds.

  The Killer went back to his car. The Time was 1230. He smiled, he was right on schedule. He logged into the mansions security system and activated the intruder alert. He started his car and drove away from the scene.

  Chapter 3: The police work around the Miranda DiMaestro murder

  3.1 A 3 am phone call

  James Locker woke up with a twitch as his phone rang in the middle of the night. He watched his nightstand clock which showed the time 3.00 am. He reached for his phone and somehow managed to press the respond button. It was John Dean on the other line.

  John Dean:

  - Good Morning sunshine time for some heat in your first assignment as a detective.

  James Locker:

  - What the fuck? Why can’t criminals work in the day? It would be a lot better for my rhythm! How comes the local police called you before they called me by the way?

  John Dean:

  - Well, they haven't updated their staff listing, so they called me when they could not reach Michael Fuller, its simple logic my friend and also ironic that they by mistake called the right person.

  James Locker:

  - Yeah, I could tell by your reaction at the staff meeting that you were disgruntled, but don't let that shit affect your work, because Barry set the chain of command after all.

  John Dean

  - Just saying detective, oh well the crime scene is at the DiMaestro mansion at the Esplanade in Mosman. Come as quickly as possible; I will assemble the team.

  James Locker took a shower and made himself a strong coffee. He felt nauseous from sleep deprivation. Today was going to be a long day he thought as he steered his car towards Mosman.

  3.2 At the murder scene

  JAMES LOCKER ARRIVED on the site of the crime at 4.30AM. His arrival was later than protocol stated as he should be on the death scene within an hour from the time he received the call. He had however felt very nauseous when taking his shower, so sick so he at a point had decided to stick his fingers in his throat and throw up, in the toilet. After this not very healthy way of waking up from severe nausea he had felt a bit better but had still decided to drive slow to avoid an accident even though the roads were empty since it was in the middle of the night.

  The entire team was there, and Adam Smith greeted James.

  Adam Smith:

  - Good morning James you are late, and you don't look very well, did you get stuck with your thing in a Glory Hole on Oxford Street?

  James Locker

  - Still working hard to keep your "values" rating at a minimum I hear. No, to be honest, it's the alcohol withdrawal that's killing me.


  Adam Smith

  - That's a shame; you should have joined Thomas and me for the gym last night, an excellent way to sweat out some of the bad stuff.

  James Locker

  - I guess so, but I did not get your call last night. Oh anyway, where is John Dean, he was the one who got me here.

  Adam Smith

  - He is in the master bedroom, where the murder took place, you should meet him there.

  James Locker went through the door to the mansion. Even though he was no Ace on the property market, he estimated that a house like this would be sold for at least $5 million and probably a lot more. "Oh, even the rich people kill each other" James muttered before proceeding down the hall. All of a sudden he stopped staring at a painting. He had never been to this house before, and yet the art seemed so familiar almost like he had seen the lady it depicted previously. She was staring into his soul and whispering to him, but he could not understand what she was saying since she was speaking a foreign tongue. Thomas Anderson approached him.

  Thomas Anderson:

  - What’s the matter boss you look like you’re a seeing a ghost?

  James Locker:

  - Almost! That painting it looks so familiar, I am sure I have seen it before.

  Thomas Anderson:

  - Oh, I did not know you were a big fan of art?! Well, you might have, provided it's stolen and a famous piece. You remember that lecture Barry sent us to two months ago about the new app we would use to identify stolen art quickly?

  James Locker:

  - Vaguely, but I am not the technician of this team, so I did not pay very much attention.

  Thomas Anderson:

  - Well but I am a technician for this team, so I remember the lecture quite well. They were showing some famous pieces of missing art and how to use the app. Now can be the right time to put this application into action.

  The stolen art cell phone app was the latest step by Interpol to identify stolen high-value art quickly. Instead of taking pictures and bouncing these around for an eternity between the departments until they finally were recognised like had been the case in the past, the app simply used face recognition software used by anti-terrorist agencies for ages and applied this technique on paintings. Thomas took a high definition picture of the artwork and uploaded it onto the Interpol database. A few minutes later he got a match, for a piece stolen from an Australian collector a few years ago.

  Thomas Anderson

  - Great vision sir, I am sure the stolen property team will be overjoyed, and this could help us as well, now go and see John, I am sure he is eager to see you.

  James Locker continued walking down the hall and finally entered the Master bedroom where two members of the forensics department were looking for traces, and John Dean was leading them with directions. John Dean turned around and started speaking with James.

  John Dean looked at James with a crooked smile and said

  - Oh, look who is here. Cinderella finally woke up from her beauty sleep.

  James Locker did not like the arrogant tone of John Dean who no doubt was still upset about not getting the promotion. He decided to bite back in a similar tone.

  James Locker

  - I arrived a while ago, and I have already discovered that this mansion contains stolen art. Considering how much longer you have been at the scene, why is the killer not apprehended?

  John Dean:

  - Let us both calm down and focus on work, shall we?

  James Locker

  - Since you are my subordinate, I would appreciate that behaviour from you, a lot more.

  John Dean blushed up in and second and turned red from anger, and he struggled for a while to keep his composure before continuing speaking.

  - Well as to why we have not captured the killer yet, the killer did not stay here and wait for the police, and it's difficult to catch an unknown man in a city of 5 million souls. However, from what we know this far, we can make some assumptions.

  James Locker:

  - Hit me!

  John Dean:

  - Well, first of all, there was no sign of forced entry into the building. So whoever the killer was, the murdered woman Miranda DiMaestro let him in willingly or he had access to keys and alarm codes. Secondly, the bedroom is decorated with roses, an ice bucket with champagne bottles and live candles, so she was expecting a romantic encounter. Third of all, the way she died implies a hitman and not a crime of passion.

  James Locker:

  - Well, that's a great start. Let's gather the team for a briefing. I am starving let's meet up at the coffee shop just down the road.

  The team gathered, and they headed for the cafeteria just down the road. The time was 5.30 am, and it would still take some time before the sun would rise and spread some warmth this crisp August night.

  3.3 Team Briefing at the local coffee shop

  THE TEAM GATHERED AT the posh but still friendly and welcoming Mosman cafe. Even though they were alone when they arrived, the group had asked for a back room usually aimed at functions for their meeting, so they would not be disturbed and also to make sure no sensitive matters leaked. The entire team was present, and James Locker started the talking

  James Locker

  - Okay, so this is what we know at the moment. Miranda DiMaestro, Colombian National with Australian Permanent Residency, the wife of the businessman Antonio DiMaestro is found dead in her Mosman mansion. From the way she was killed, it looks like we are dealing with a professional killer. It appears she was waiting for someone for a romantic encounter, and there was no sign of a break-in, so we assume the killer was let in by Miranda or had the keys and access codes to the building. In the mansion, we found stolen art and the stolen goods department will be called in to assess if there is anything else in the house reported stolen. Any suggestions on what would be our first step?

  Adam Smith:

  - Well, finding her husband Antonio DiMaestro seems to be our first step. Fortunately, due to the stolen art, that we discovered in the house, we have increased authority and can request to have him arrested on sight.

  James Locker:

  - Very well that’s your task

  John Dean:

  - Speaking with the security company would be a priority. After all, it was a security guard who found her after someone, most likely the perpetrator setting off the alarm.

  James Locker:

  - I leave that to you mate.

  Thomas Anderson

  - I will look through her computer and phone to see if there are any clues there as who would want her dead.

  James Locker:

  - Great! Well to the rest of you I implore you to knock doors in the neighbourhood to see if anything interesting comes up. I will move to my office and work like a chain of command. Please update me continuously with your findings. Please meet up at the CSMI building at 3 pm for our daily staff meeting. We should have received a report from the forensics team by then so we'll take it from there.

  The team split up, and James headed straight to his office. He would need to take a nap if he was to make it through the day. James turned down the blinds and locked the door. He was to brief the BITCH at 11 am and hold the team-meeting a 3 pm and a press conference at 5 PM. " I hope no one calls me before my nap is over," he thought before he closed his eyes and fell asleep to a light sleep full of vivid warm dreams.

  3.4 John Dean faces troubling circumstances

  JOHN DEAN'S TASK FOR the day was to contact Mosman Scrooge Security (MSS), the security company responsible for the safety of the DiMaestro Mansion. He called the company and reached the voicemail referring him to an emergency number. He called that number and was referred to a third number since helping the police with an ongoing murder investigation was apparently not considered an emergency by MSS's standards. He looked at his watch. It showed 7 am and the office of MSS would probably open at 10 am. John was contemplating his options. He could either call around for hours picking arguments with the endless list of refe
rence numbers, or he could simply go home, have breakfast with his family, have a short nap and then walk in at the MSS office and most likely get the help he needed easily and without further ado. John decided to choose the easy and diplomatic "wait for business hours" approach well aware that the delay risked letting the suspect out of the country. "Well in that case, at least there won't be any more shootouts at the airport," he said to himself as the reassurance he needed to motivate his decision.

  At 10 am John Dean walked in at the office and met with the public affairs manager of MSS, Richard Monroe. Richard Monroe turned out to be very helpful, and the following conversation took place:

  John Dean:

  - I guess you know why I am here, the murder at the DiMaestro mansion

  Richard Monroe:

  - Yes, I have apparently heard about it, as it was our team that reported the crime to the police. It is a great tragedy to one of our best customers no doubt.

  John Dean

  - Well, I understand. How come your security guards appeared at the scene so quickly did the killer set off an alarm?

  Richard Monroe

  - We are unsure about this. Because an alarm went off and when the alarm goes off this cause all the concealed and visible security cameras to send a live feed to our command central, this feed is also recorded. But when the feed went on Miranda DiMaestro was already murdered, and the perpetrator is not seen on these feeds.