The Sins of a District

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The Sins of a District Page 8

by Alexander Whittle


  “Aw well isn’t that sweet, lovebirds again,” said Harry as a poor attempt to lighten the mood, Ryan and Jessica visibly glared at him in unison as he held his disposable plastic coffee cup with a sardonic grin.

  Chapter V

  “So we’re agreed?” Jessica said to Ryan as they both stood staring out of the window of their daughter’s hospital room. They had spent nearly an hour discussing their marital situation while waiting for April wake up, Ryan nodded and agreed that for her sake they should both remain civil around each other and do family things together for her.

  “I’m thinking about calling it quits in a few months,” he confessed to Jessica, “I’ve just lost what it takes to do the job, I’ve lost the will to do any good these days.”

  “Maybe some therapy might help her,” Jessica added, Ryan rolled his eyes and scoffed at the idea, he thought his gruelling and mandatory therapy day was over. Just then the sound of shuffling and a slight coughing was heard from behind the curtain. Ryan pulled it back to find April had now awoken, they pulled their chairs closer to her bedside,

  “What happened? Where am I?” she asked still sounding groggy from the mixture of medication and blood loss.

  “Thank God, you gave us quite a scare,” replied Ryan, the mother and father held her hand and smiled, “how are you feeling?”

  “I’m OK, a little tired,” April replied,

  “Well don’t worry you just go back to sleep and we will be here when you wake up,” said Jessica, April closed her eyes and drifted back off to sleep. When Harry poked his head around the door to check everything was OK, Ryan quickly shushed him and signalled to be quiet, Harry gave a smile and a thumbs up as he walked out of the hospital room and back down the hallway with his coat. Wanting to rest after the long emotional night he and his old friend had just been through, Harry climbed into the driver side seat of his car and drove away down the deserted road as the sun began to rise over the buildings on the horizon.

  Later that morning Ryan awoke in the hospital chair at his daughter’s bedside to find her flicking through the television channels,

  “Morning...” he said as removed his feet from down off the bed nearly falling off of the chair, “Where’s your mother?”

  “She stepped out to get changed and freshen up,” April replied with a smile on her face at her father’s antics. Meanwhile, Jessica stepped out of the bathroom somehow working wonders, looking as if she came straight from the salon. She sat beside April and the three would spend the whole day laughing and talking, almost to show any passer-by that they were still a fully functioning family, when in fact that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  Many hours later, after detective Ryan Mathers had gone home to change his clothes and try to get some more sleep, he was arriving back at the hospital. He parked his car, then noticed a recognizable black BMW in the space opposite. Ryan remembered the car from the night he drove April and her friend home while she was drunk last month. The car belonged to City Councilman Eli Walker, he had visited with his daughter because they were good friends. Ryan was exhausted, the stress of not only Harry’s secret, but his daughter as well was taking its toll. He hadn’t managed to get much sleep in the past several days and it was showing. When he approached the automatic doorway he hesitated for just a moment, having only been in this hospital twice in his life, once when his daughter was born and twenty years after when she was fighting for her life. Howard University Hospital was small in size for a hospital and located just off Georgia Avenue. The building stood six floors high and looked more of a prison from the outside than a place of healing. Cameras were stationed above all the entrances and around the wings of the building watching your every move when you drive on to the property. Even the ground floor gave the impression of a fortification, with the walls positioned at an angular shape representing a bastion fort, with more cameras and eyes placed above. Ryan stepped off of the elevator on the third floor to hear female voices and laughing from the nearby room where April was, she was sat inside joking around with her good friend Christy. It was the first time in a while he had seen her truly happy, she was enjoying the company and enjoying being entertained by her friend. Eli Walker was stood just down the hallway, yammering away on his mobile phone in the dark suit he had worn to the office that day. Ryan waved hello, but only received a single finger in the air from Walker to signify that he would be with him in just one moment. He still wore the ring with the ‘H’ insignia after all these years and still carried around with him the same level of self-importance and arrogance.

  “Sorry about that, been a busy day, how is everything?” Eli asked Ryan as he offered his hand,

  “It’s alright I was just arriving myself, tried to go home and sleep but it just wasn’t happening,” Ryan replied as he shook hands with Walker, realising that after twenty years his grip still wasn’t as strong as the Councilman’s. The handshake lasted slightly longer than it should have, the two both tried to over emphasise their machismo in one handshake display. He knew Eli Walker always enjoyed a good power play was as always never the type to back down as he grinned at Ryan,

  “Am I interrupting something?” Jessica quizzically asked, she had returned from the cafeteria holding several containers of coffee in her hands. The two eventually let go, and Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and grasped his hand. Walker chuckled,

  “No you’re not interrupting anything at all dear just a friendly hello,” replied Walker as he patted Ryan on the shoulder as a clear show of patronizing superiority towards the detective. Eli’s phone began to vibrate in his trouser pocket,

  “Excuse me,” he said not wanting to be rude, he quickly blocked the incoming call and sat down with the two in the hospital waiting room.

  “I’m glad Christy could be here to cheer your daughter up, I understand they are good friends in High School,” Walker said to Jessica in an obviously sympathetic attempt to seem interested. Ryan on the other hand had absolutely nothing to say to him, they had never really gotten along. They had rarely even spoken in the previous twenty years, and ever since the whole business about Peterson and Harry had come to light, there was a distinct suspicion about the City Councilman in Ryan’s attitude towards him. As Jessica and Eli began to converse away, Ryan was on his phone sitting in a chair several feet away, reading a text he had just received from Harry, “Hi, are you at the hospital? Let me know ASAP, was just checking in on how things are – Harry.” He replied by informing him he was at the hospital, and within moments he received a follow up message that simply read “OK.” Ryan slid his phone back into the breast pocket of his suit jacket and rose to his feet to walk to the nearby men’s room. Another loud vibrating sound emanated from Walker’s trouser pocket,

  “Excuse me once again, let me just see who this is,” Walker said awkwardly, both realising this was going to be a continuous problem for him if he didn’t take the call. Located all around the hospital were signs that encouraged people not to use their mobile phones as it may interfere with any equipment, a sign Ryan chose to completely ignore while texting Harry. Walker however, not wanting to cause trouble with any staff being a public figure, while also being polite to Jessica, decided to gamble. Gamble that the phone would continue to call him many times until he could step outside to the front of the building.

  By this time the sun had set creating a purple and orange haze in the skies above, the lights from the reception beamed out across and towards the hospital courtyard over the road. Eli Walker stepped outside, he removed the phone from his trouser pocket only to see the screen display the words “incoming call,” He was confused as to who was ringing him and trying to make contact so urgently. He answered the phone under the glow of the street lights close by that had just flickered on.

  “Hello Councilman…” said the voice on the other end of the phone, it had clearly been altered and enhanced to hide this persons true identity, the voice was very deep almost like a baritone with the amount of bass that was added.
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  “Who is this?” Walker replied becoming understandably confused about the situation,

  “I understand you lost your wife in nineteen ninety-six, must have been tragic…” said the voice,

  “Alright now just who the hell is this?!” Walker asked enraged by the mention of his beloved wife from all those years ago. There was no response, just a heavy breath was heard from the other side of the call.

  “I’m hanging up now!” he then added.

  “I don’t think you want to do that Councilman,” the voice finally replied, a loud rumble was heard from up above and sky flashed for a brief moment, the stormy weather had returned. Walker looked up towards the heavens as the first few flecks of rain began to fall on to his face,

  “Oh no? And why would I have any reason to talk to you? Besides it’s about to rain heavily here,” he said hoping for some show of intent in to what the mystery caller wanted.

  “I know Councilman, that’s a nice suit you wore today, wouldn’t want it to need cleaning,” replied the caller.

  Walker was officially frightened at that very moment concluding that this person was watching him at that precise location, he looked around but only saw darkness and the occasional light from offices and apartment buildings in the distance. There was another flash from the distant thunder,

  “What do you want from me?” said Walker, he took the voice a little more seriously,

  “I want what you took from me all those years ago, my freedom,” replied the deep voice.

  “Oh OK now I see, very funny Peterson, threaten the guy who sent you back to jail, I don’t buy it!” said Walker in response, dismissing any idea that this was anything other than an empty threat, while also assuming that the mystery caller was indeed Wayne Peterson.

  “You took the one thing that mattered to me, my freedom. Now I’m going to take the one thing that matters to you,” the voice claimed to Walker. The rain began to drench the City Councilman down to his black leather shoes.

  “Oh really? And what might that be Peterson?” he asked with a grin and snigger. Eli Walker being a competent and confident politician based in Washington D.C. was no stranger to threats, attempted bribes, and potentially blackmail.

  “Your daughter…” the voice sadistically replied before ending the call. The self-righteous grin on Walker’s face had rotated and was now one of a worried father. He placed his phone back inside his soaked trouser pocket, and with his eyes surveyed the streets and area around where he was stood for several seconds, before concluding that whoever had called was not going to reveal themselves to him tonight. He carried on past the flagpole based in the courtyard and back towards the glowing entrance of the hospital.

  When Eli Walker arrived on the third floor and back to where Jessica and Ryan were sat he had a serious look of chagrin on his face.

  “You are soaked!” said Jessica to the Councilman. He ignored her completely and poked his around the door into April’s recovery room,

  “Christy…time to go,” he told her as he closed the door.

  While the two inside said their goodbyes to one another for the night, Ryan asked Walker jokingly,

  “You alright? You don’t look so good, like someone just ran over your cat,”

  “I’m fine, just time to leave,” was the only response he gave without even looking at Ryan.

  The two stepped onto the elevator, while the doors closed, Ryan had seen that worried look before, when he dropped Christy off previously and he was about to be asked about Wayne Peterson.

  “Are you OK Dad? You seem…angry,” she asked her father as he held the passenger side door to his BMW open for he to climb in.

  “I’m fine, just get in,” he again replied, not addressing the person asking but rather just looking around, as if someone was following him, or still watching him. The storm had now fully picked up and the visibility on the roads was limited. When he pulled out of the Howard University Hospital car park another set of lights turned on behind the BMW as another car was set to leave. Walker paid no attention to the other car, he instead continued to look ahead, stopping at the traffic lights at the end of the street that had just turned red. The other car, a blue sedan stopped further back, whoever was in the car wanted to keep his distance from Walker. Eli was rationally nervous due to the call he received not ten minutes ago, but as the light turned green he took it as a sign of the start to a race. Slamming his foot hard down on the accelerator he expedited his escape from the area, all the while the blue sedan followed him, still keeping its distance from the Councilman at all times.

  Part Four

  Chapter I

  It was a scorching hot evening in the summer of nineteen seventy-three, the seventeenth of August to be precise. The Vietnam War was reaching its final stages; the Watergate Scandal dominated most of the daily news headlines, a young boy aged no more than five was sat on the living room floor. His legs crossed, quietly marvelling at the brand new colour television that was purchased several days earlier for the home. He gazed at the wonders of technology, the bright colours of Sesame Street lit up the remainder of the room behind him,

  “Ryan don’t sit so close sweetie you’ll damage your eyes with that thing,” said a lovingly soft female voice from the kitchen. He scooted back across the carpet several feet on his knees and continued ogling at the small screen which was no bigger than one of his mother’s hat boxes that she kept on the floor of her bedroom closet.

  “Turn that off now it’s time for bed, you’ve been up late enough as is,” ordered his mother, she walked into the living room from the kitchen and turned off the television. Ryan was always in the habit of arguing with her about staying up a little longer, but he noticed her sadness over the past few weeks. Once recently, Ryan entered the bedroom to find her crying at a photograph of the day she was married. Once she saw him peeking through the slightly open doorway she collected her thoughts quickly and returned to normal. Even at a very young age Ryan was able to notice things about people, so rather than arguing this time he decided to obey his mother’s wishes. She was a beautiful and elegant young woman with long dark brown hair always neatly brushed and perfectly straight, sometimes recruiting Ryan to help her with the comb as she sat on the bed. She spoke with a distinct lack of eloquence at times that only added to her gracefulness and charm, while also possessing the uncanny ability to turn any man’s head as they walked by on the street whenever the two journeyed on the bus into the downtown area. Ryan’s mother would always carry him to bed, cradled in her arms whilst singing a lullaby, before showing a picture of his father to him that was taken in Vietnam. The picture shows him in full combat gear, holding his rifle in one hand and the other holding his helmet tucked under his arm, this would always be kept by Ryan’s bedside, the frame was tatty and the glass smeared with fingerprints from too many touches. She put her son to bed, kissed him softly on the forehead, closed his bedroom door as she left, leaving Ryan to stare out of his window from his bed, up at the clear night sky as he slowly closed his eyes and drifted into dreamland.

  He was awakened by a loud crashing sound during the night. He rolled over to glance at his clock by the bed, but everything was still blurred and fuzzy. Until a light at the end of his bed appeared and the silhouette of an adult paced in from the landing. The silhouette quickly but quietly grabbed Ryan from under the covers and began to carry him. The young boy rubbed his eyes, he realised just from the scent of the long brown hair that it was his mother, there was another loud bang from downstairs. Ryan was placed down on the floor of her bedroom and pushed under the bed to hide from whatever was causing the commotion downstairs.

  “You just stay under there! I’ll come get you in a minute sweetheart!” she whispered to him, sounding panicked and worried for her young son. She reached for her husband’s old baseball bat that was kept by the side of the headboard for just an occasion and stood ready. All of a sudden the noise downstairs stopped, Ryan crawled forwards and poked his head from out underneath t
he bed. He saw her frantically murmuring to herself, perhaps about whether or not the intruder had left, thinking maybe it was safe to venture down the stairs now to call the police. When she approached the locked door of her bedroom with the heavy wooden bat at the ready, the door flew open as it was kicked from the other side. It hit her straight in the face and immediately stunned and forced her to the ground dropping her only means of defence on the way down. Ryan immediately slid back underneath the protection of the bed’s supports. She lay there dazed on her back on the floor, she reached out a desperate hand to Ryan who was still hiding silently underneath the frame of the bed where she slept, but it was too late for her, as a sharp blade was plunged deep into her chest from the intruder. The assailant left the room and continued to prowl throughout the house, possibly for any valuables that may be kept. She continued to reach out for her son, even in her last moments, as she drew her last breath. All the colour faded from her face, from the light of his life. The blood began to pool nearby and Ryan backed further and further away from it, eventually letting go of his mother’s frail and still hand. Her eyes closed slightly as she passed to the other side, almost as if when Ryan let go it was time for her to do the same. Desperately wanting to scream out for his mother he let out a fragile whimper before instantaneously smothering his mouth, to prevent alerting the attacker to his cries in the other room. He could hear the assailant aimlessly wondering in and out of each room as he rifled through the cupboards. An hour had now passed and the intruder had long since vanished from the family home, but Ryan remained hidden under the bed, still immobilized by the harrowing sight of the only person in his life lying motionless on the floor opposite. One of the neighbours had alerted the law, possibly being roused when the sounds of the intruder were made; the unmistakeable droning of sirens could be heard nearby.

 

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