by Andrew Hood
Suggesting Murder1
To my wife Liz for her love and support.
Andrew
Preface
Ian Maloney looked down at his own hands as if they belonged to someone else. They were covered in blood and while the world around him was in panic, he could hardly hear a thing. The adrenaline pumping through his veins and his own heavy breathing drowned out every other sound. He felt like a new man. For the first time in his life, he felt free.
Ian had not consciously planned the last ten minutes of his life. He now knew however that the knife he had used to kill the two people in front of him had been in his possession since he had left home that morning. Earlier he had planned to have lunch with the two dead people the following day. At the time he had fully intended to keep this engagement. It all felt so trivial now.
Without any further regard for the victim, his former boss, Ian inserted two of his fingers into one of the stab wounds until they were covered with blood. He then wrote three letters on the table in front of him using the blood on his fingers. The three letters made absolute sense to him even if he couldn’t remember what they stood for. He did it in a way a martyr might acknowledge his god before death. He then casually wiped the remaining blood on his $3000 suit.
He walked with a grin on his face through the office, past the screaming people who were scrambling around him, and climbed the stairs two floors to the roof. With the same grin he started to jog towards the safety barrier and dived from the edge of the building. He had finally achieved his calling and with the knowledge that he had somehow made life better for others, he was happy to end his own.
Chapter 1
At twenty-eight years of age, Shane Kirk still felt the insecurities of a teenager. All outward appearances showed a tall athletic build with dark brown hair and eyes. Inside, his confidence had taken a beating over the last year. His body language often gave him away.
“Sorry babe I have to go.”Shane had a hard time leaving home this morning. His son had wanted to play with him and he just didn’t have time. He had kissed his wife and son on their foreheads and headed out the door for work. He could hear Leon start to cry as the door closed. His heart sunk as it always did when his son was upset. His boy had been holding a tennis ball, his latest obsession, and wanted to play their regular game of throwing it up in the air and squealing with laughter. Strangely enough, playing a simple game with his son made him feel more like a man than anything he ever did at work.
Once in the car he turned on his latest self-help audio program “How to read people like a book” and it droned away in the background over the trip. Self-improvement had become an obsession for Shane since Leon had been born. He and Anita had gone from two incomes to one and were further burdened with the extra expenses that came with having a child. The old cliché of a changing of priorities definitely rang true. Shane’s greatest fear now was losing the ability to support his family, so he did all he could to improve himself.
Every day Shane tried to leave his insecurities and natural shyness at home and pumped himself up for a big day in front of customers. Being in computer software sales meant a lot of hard work before any reward as most sales took months to close. He would take a deep breath before each call and become someone else for the duration of time he was in front of the customer.
Anita had once told him that he sounded like a corny salesman when she overheard him talking to one of his customers. Shane took it as a compliment. He was just happy to sound the part.
Simone Maxfield had been Shane’s manager for the last year after being promoted to the role. The fact that she had been promoted to supervise her peers, whilst being younger than most, implied that she had a rough time before that. She was tough enough to deal with it though. That’s how she got the role in the first place. It surely wasn’t her sweet nature!
She had never been able to simply smile, tilt her head and flash her eyelids to get her way. She had fought for everything she got. Intimidation was her main tool and she used it often.
On the most part,her team were experienced enough to look after themselves. Shane had been her biggest frustration. He got mixed results but she had no faith in him or his methods. She often thought that a monkey could have done just as well, if not better, in his role. Her efforts to mould him into her style of salesman hadn’t worked and she was losing patience.
Her mood wasn’t pleasant this morning. She knew it and wasn’t about to change it for anybody, especially Shane Kirk. “Shane you never sent me your territory plan!” she reminded him. “On Tuesday I told you to get the plan to me ASAP. It’s Friday and as usual I have nothing from you.”
She had taken him by surprise, her usual tactic, and he stammered through his excuses while trying to collect his thoughts. It crossed her mind again how weak he was.
“Oh! Good morning Simone. Didn’t you say to wait until we had discussed the Mutual account before sending you the plan?” Shane replied sounding unsure of his own recollection.
“Great, so now I need to do all of the thinking for you as well,” she put in rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath. “Get it to me by the end of the day. If you can’t do this on your own then what are you doing here?” She walked off before he could respond.
Simone didn’t care about people; she cared about results and if Shane wanted to get in her way then god help him. Shane couldn’t figure out why his perception of conversations with Simone never seemed to match hers. He was again in a position where whatever he presents in his plan is sure to be wrong. There was no need to use the skills from this morning’s program How to Read People like a Book as there were never any hidden signals with Simone. That would imply that she was holding something back which she never did.
He pushed the thought of their next encounter to the back of his mind and headed out of the office for his first customer meeting of the day. Shane’s office was in Southbank which was only a short walk to Melbourne’s CBD. Each day as he crossed the footbridge on the Yarra River he would feel the sun on his face. In those few moments of his day he could be anywhere in the world.
“Hey, Shane!” Peter, one of his colleagues, jogged to catch up with him as he exited the building. “Hi Pete, how’s things? I’m headed over to Bourke St, want to walk with me?”
“Yeah just keep walking, anything to get out of here. She is busting balls this morning,” Peter said looking towards the sky as if looking for help from above. Shane’s firsthand experience just moments before, meant that he didn’t have to think hard about who Peter was talking about.
“So what’s new? Have you downloaded anything good lately?” Shane said. They were good friends and often discussed business ideas that would someday make them rich.They had learnt a lot together but lacked experience and direction, so none of their grand plans ever took form.
“I’ve got this great new audio on assertiveness. I seriously can’t stop listening to it,” Peter replied. “Pete, if she gets to you so much that you need brainwashing then maybe you should just leave?” Daniel Barry from their office had crossed their path and had overheard part of their conversation. Daniel had no problems with Simone and was quite happy to gloat about it to others that did. He was arrogant and conceited and paid the price in popularity.
Peter stopped and turned his whole body to face Daniel suddenly, which took everyone by surprise. In a determined voice he said “I have absolutely no interest in anything you say Daniel. I never have.” With that, he returned his focus to Shane and continued walking as if Daniel didn’t exist. Then calmly he said to Shane, “I’ll make you a copy.”
Shane didn’t like Daniel either but was a little surprised by Peter’s reaction to him. Though he too didn’t care about Daniels’ feelings, he felt conc
erned that Peter was uncharacteristically in a bad mood.“Um, ok. Who is this one by?”Shane asked
“I’m not sure, they don’t say. I downloaded it on Monday.” Not having an author was not that uncommon when downloading things from the Internet. Peter often used search engines and file swapping programs to get access to audio programs that would usually cost anywhere from $100 to up to $1000 and sometimes for free. In anything you can get for free you usually forfeit the right to question. Peter had kept Shane stocked up with the likes of Anthony Robbins and other self-help guru’s doing the rounds.
When he was back at the office at the end of the day, Shane finalized his report for Simone and headed for the door. “This is the program I was telling you about,” Peter said holding out a memory key for Shane. It was the easiest way of moving files from one computer to another without wasting disks.
“The confidence thing right?” said Shane. “How many times do I have to tell you? When you are as good looking as I am, confidence really isn’t an issue.”
“Yeah well, have a listen anyway Fabio, you might learn something,” Peter said sarcastically. “Let me know tomorrow what you think.”
“Ok thanks mate. See you tomorrow.” Shane headed for his car.
( * ) When Shane arrived home and saw Anita playing in the front garden with Leon, all of the day’s issues melted away. Even the evening news about a war some place and crazy people killing each other meant little with his family around him.
After putting Leon to bed and returning to Anita on the couch, Shane’s thoughts returned to his job, which started to bring him down.
“Please stop thinking about work!” Anita said reading his mind. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, if you’re not happy, leave”. It amazed Shane that she always seemed to know just what he was thinking. He tried in vain to force a smile. “I know babe, but it’s not that easy. Where else could I get this type of money?”
“Forget about the money. I just want to have you happy again. Right now you can’t even go one night without it bringing you down. What happened to the Internet thing you were going to start with Peter?”
“We decided that it would take too much money to get off the ground.” Shane knew Anita had not really liked any of his business ideas but it made him feel better that she would rather see him happy and possibly broke than depressed.
He hated feeling weak in front of her. He was supposed to provide for his family and that is all he wanted to do. “Sorry babe, I am just going to have to fix this and make it work. I have a review coming up with Simone, I will just tell her how frustrated I am and see if we can’t work something out.” He now had to try and figure out what to say to Simone that he hadn’t already.
“Good!” her tone had changed now and there was a smile creeping across her face. “Anyway I have a job for you. It doesn’t pay much but the benefits are great! The only training you need is to remember that - I’m naked under these clothes.” She was trying to be as suggestive as she could and Shane loved it. She posed in a suggestive fashion. Shane considered again how beautiful she was, and smiled.
A fraction of a second later the testosterone in him took over. He said nothing, ran to the bedroom and almost tripped over himself as he rushed to take his clothes off. He was like a child smiling in the anticipation of getting sweets.
( * ) Peter rarely focused on any one thing for very long, which was probably why he never started any of the businesses he had discussed with Shane. Even the better ideas didn’t quite seem as good to him after a few days cooling off and priority given to the next big idea that came along. He grinned to himself as he got into bed. “I wonder what will be popular next week?” he said aloud for nobody’s benefit but his own.
He pressed play on his portable MP3 player, turned off the lights and got himself ready. He wanted to absorb more of the program he had just given Shane so that he could compound his results. So far he felt great. Tonight he had set the CD player to repeat. He expected to wake up in the morning with a bigger buzz than he usually got from listening to it once.
This may be one of those moments that change your life.
( * ) When Shane arrived at work the next morning his feet barely touched the ground. He couldn’t stop thinking back about the fun he had with Anita the night before. He put his things down and made idle chat with others in the office hoping not to have a reason to run into Simone.
“Shane did you listen to the program?” Peter said on arrival to the office. Shane noticed that there was not a lot of joy in Peter’s face this morning. “Oh, hey Pete. Yeah, I did but I don’t remember much about it. I sort of had my hands full last night. If you know what I mean.” Shane winked to Peter in an attempt to share some of his good spirits.
“I don’t know why I bothered. You told me you wanted to listen to it so I gave you a copy. The least you could do was to take it seriously.” His tone was aggressive. This was something that Shane had never had to face with his friend before.
“I’m sorry mate. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal. I will listen to it tonight, ok? What’s up, you don’t seem yourself today?”
Before he could get an answer they were both interrupted. “Shane!” Simone demanded his immediate attention.
When he turned around Shane knew that Simone had sensed some tension between him and Peter, but hadn’t cared and interrupted anyway.
She continues talking over their conversation, “Whatever you are doing or wherever you are going this morning, I’m coming, so you better make it good.”
Shane heard Peter huffing off behind him but never took his gaze away from Simone. All of the good spirits were now gone and he felt ill. He knew their General Manager was in town.Simone suddenly not wanting to be in the office was probably because she wouldn’t have to take the heat for bad sales figures. When things were negative she never wanted her name associated, even to the point where Shane himself had become the fall-guy. It had happened on more than one occasion.
Chapter 2
Detective Adam Kelly from the State Crime Command was staring again at a photo that had been taken at the crime scene of his current investigation. His penetrating eyes had revealed a lot of secrets over the years, mostly in dresses. Today it wouldn’t be as easy to find answers. His eyes and looks were no asset to him without a woman to fall for them.
The letters written in blood in the photo made no more sense to him now than they did at the scene three days ago.
I D B Adam scanned his notes again looking for something he could use. He had a double Murder / Suicide which, on the face of it, looked as if some stressed-out guy lost control of his temper during a meeting with his Director.
There were two pieces that didn’t fit the puzzle. Firstly, the three letters written in blood which meant nothing to anyone and secondly, the fact that the guy brought the knife from home. If he had cracked under pressure then surely he didn’t have the peace of mind to leave behind a cryptic clue that nobody seems to understand.Equally confusing was why he took the knife from home yet continued to make appointments and reservations for the weeks ahead during the morning. It’s as if he had no plan to harm anyone, let alone himself.
Adam picked up the photo and flicked it through the air a few times as if it might magically reveal something new. He threw it back into the folder in frustration.
The deaths he was investigating had made the front page of the paper which meant that this had become a high profile crime with an expiry date. If he could find some answers quickly, before the press got bored with the story, he would have a win he could build a career on. High profile investigations were not something usually given to someone new to the role; however, Adam had begged his boss for this case to prove himself. It was usually all he needed.The large workload of other detectives meant it was now his baby.
He was no longer happy to wait in line for his career to flourish. He was now going after what he wanted. It was time to create his own luck.
Adam
jumped as the phone next to him interrupted his train of thought demanding his attention.
“Adam Kelly.” No one outside the force had this number so he rarely used his title. “Hi Adam, its Detective Simon Murphy based in Sydney. Are you looking into the Ian Maloney case?” the voice was very dry. Adam imagined the owner to be a big man.
“Yeah Simon, I’m a lucky man.” Adam replied sarcastically.
“Better you than me mate, my hands are full. I might have something for you though.”
“Great what have you got”? Adam used his left forearm to clear the desk in front of him while he grabbed a pen in his right. “Two months ago I worked a case very similar to yours only with a lot less attention. The guy’s name was James Turner and although it looked a little strange, we came up with nothing, so the case was closed. From what I hear, you are not exactly chasing hundreds of leads either so I thought I would give you a quick call.”
Since he had nothing to go on Adam welcomed the distraction. Even if it was unlikely to be related, he wanted to hear more. “What was strange about it Simon”?
“James simply had no reason to kill him other than a little stress maybe. He left some sort of message behind which no one understands and drove his car off a seven meter embankment going about 140kms per hour.”
Adam was now sitting closer to the front of his chair. “What was the message?”
“That’s the thing, three letters, I D B.”
( * ) Adam’s mind was racing as he marched towards his boss’s office. He had kept Murphy on the phone until he ran out questions and then asked for the files to be sent over. This had taskforce written all over it and he was the lead on the case.
In Adam’s excitement he forgot to knock and walked straight in and sat down at his boss’s desk. “Don, I need five minutes of your time.” He had sounded more excited than he had wanted. He would be embarrassed later.