by Joe Conlan
Shem sat across from the Maya Marca condominium entrance in his Mustang with the engine running. He didn’t dare go out onto the beach in case Annie left the apartment again. Though he was doing a fairly decent job keeping his anger under control, he was still experiencing a deeply unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was happening much too often lately. He was frustrated that he continued to have difficulty composing himself. In recent days, there was only one fail-safe way to completely alleviate the condition. As he kept his eyes fixed on the revolving doors, his remedy was injected into the brilliant Ft. Lauderdale afternoon. Hannah Richards shot out from the exit like an arrow from its bow. The woman always seemed to move in ultra-accelerated motion. The first time he saw her, it was like being struck by the blast of a hand grenade. He had just settled on the beach after following Annie home from work when the woman came barreling toward him on her evening power walk. At first, he thought he was seeing a ghost. The resemblance to his mother was uncanny. As she drew closer, he realized she just seemed to be an older version of the Tucker slut. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if she’d survived the fire. Observing her for several days thereafter, he discovered she was a resident of the Maya Marca condominiums.
One week later, he followed Annie to work. Once he was sure she was safely inside the 110 Tower, he returned to her building. He found a free space across from the entrance, parked his vehicle and waited patiently for the postman to arrive. Five hours passed before the mail was finally delivered. Shem waited another thirty minutes until after the mailman left the premises to enter through the revolving doors and make his way over to the mailbox station. Since that area wasn’t visible from the security desk, the chance of being noticed if he lingered was minimal. Within fifteen minutes Hannah exited the elevator at the main lobby and headed straight for the mailboxes. She unlocked hers leaving the door open just long enough for Shem to catch the apartment number. That afternoon, when he checked the building’s layout on his Iphone, he found she was Annie’s next door neighbor. He was also able to procure a list of residents and their apartment numbers by working his magic online. By the end of that night, he had uncovered a mountain of information about the woman who resembled his dead mother.
Annie’s neighbor offended every single one of his senses and yet, he realized she was actually exactly what the doctor had ordered. From the instant he saw her, he knew she would have to die. Living in the same apartment complex with the object of his desire had saved her up to that point. There was no better time than the present to find a way around that obstacle. A well-planned murder with adventure and deception would be the perfect distraction, the more complicated, the better. It was what gave him the greatest fulfillment and satisfaction. It was what he lived for. It was his peace.
Proving to the authorities he was smarter than they was essential to his self-worth. If he were to search deep inside his psyche, something Shem would never consider, he would understand his acceptance and endorsement of having no name was just a farce. He longed to be someone, to show everyone he could even have more than one identity. He could be whoever he wanted. Surely, this kill would get him back on track.
Watching the Maya Marca over the past six months, he got to know a lot about its residents. He was aware that Hannah Richards travelled quite a bit. At least twice a month he would see her waiting for a taxi at the building’s entrance, surrounded by a collection of suitcases that could serve an army. A malevolent design began to take root in the murky abyss of his admittedly demonic mind.
Chapter 7
If it had been up to Cherie Tucker, her only son would have remained an uneducated dunce for as long as he lived. School had always been out of the question. If the boy ever told his story to a teacher or school official, she would probably spend the rest of her life in prison. It wasn’t until he was 15 years old that he got his first opportunity to learn. The subject matter wasn’t one that would be taught in any public or private school. At that stage of his life, his mother had become increasingly careless about leaving the door unlocked when she left the apartment. Shem’s many excursions outside his home hadn’t ventured beyond his building’s front stoop since he first met the beautiful black woman. With a late-blooming physical maturity, he finally garnered the nerve to pioneer beyond his own street. After several months of exploration, he felt secure enough to approach other boys his age. Inevitably, he crossed paths with his neighborhood’s more than fair share of juvenile delinquents. They ultimately served a valuable purpose in his young life. They taught him how to burglarize homes and perform other various nefarious jobs for the local underworld crime bosses. For the several months before and years after his mother’s murder, it offered him the means to a livelihood but not without risk. Other street kids would often get themselves arrested or even killed. Shem never had such problems. By drawing on his exceptional intelligence, he was able to survive his life of crime without a record and more importantly with a heartbeat and all four limbs.
A love affair and fascination with computers followed shortly after his 18th birthday when he obtained his first false identification and registered for night school. It was Shem Chassar’s steadfast opinion that the worldwide web was man’s most ingenious invention. At the age most boys were graduating from high school, he was just learning his ABC’s. He caught up quickly, picking up the written English language as though he was learning a nursery rhyme. His initial encounter with a computer was at the public library where he would practice his newly acquired skill. He spent hours in front of the monitor reading, soaking up as much information as his physical stamina would allow. His powers of retention were extraordinary by any standards. Within one year of his first reading lesson, he was devouring textbooks written by Ronald M. Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard M. Adelman, world-renowned forerunners in the field of computer science. He consumed every book he could get his hands on regarding computer hard drives and software. At the age of 21, he probably knew more about computers than Bill Gates, himself, and could build his own fully functioning computer from scratch. He continued his self-teaching of the computer sciences throughout his adulthood. There wasn’t a hacker in the world that was more adept than he.
After accumulating a relatively sizeable nest egg through his employment with the mafia and later completing the first years of his self-education, Shem wanted to find a way to make his money grow. He did his initial research on the Internet then went to the library to borrow Masters and PhD level textbooks on financial investment. They gave him a solid base of comprehension of the machinations of the New York Stock Exchange that he needed to get started. For the first several years after he began investing in the Market, he was able to support himself rather comfortably without the need for a formal job. At twenty five years old, he struck gold. He purchased ten thousand dollars of a penny stock selling at .39 cents a share for a new Internet based company. In a matter of months, the company’s profits exploded increasing the price of the stock to over $100.00. His ten thousand dollars turned into millions. By the time he was thirty, he had invested so wisely, he amassed more money than he could spend in several lifetimes. He held many offshore accounts in several Caribbean municipalities. Some of his more significant holdings were kept in the same Swiss banks used by the richest people in the world. His fortune had grown so large that it required constant management. Trusting no one to oversee it, his homes always had an extra room for a fully equipped office. For Shem it was a pleasure to invest and invent ways to increase his wealth. His net worth could never be too great.
On the Wednesday evening of the day he saw Hannah Richards bolt through the Maya Marca revolving doors, he sat before his computer and hacked into the airlines’ database. He knew it wouldn’t be long before she was travelling again. Within ten minutes, he discovered she would be flying American Airlines flight 262 to LaGuardia Airport that Friday at 4:00pm. He purchased his first- class ticket in the name of Dwight Adelman, resident of Jerusalem, and booked the seat beside her. Next,
he hacked into the Manhattan hotel computer information bank and found she would be staying at the Four Seasons Hotel New York in Manhattan. He then made reservations for a rental car at the airport Avis.
During his research of Hannah Richards, he discovered an article written about her husband, a practicing Orthodox Jew. On the Thursday before his scheduled trip, Shem went shopping at several different specialty shops and the Galleria mall. He purchased a long black cloth jacket, black trousers, black shoes, black yarmulke, white shirt and white socks. No matter how much it disgusted him to his very core, it was essential that he exhort the woman to trust him.
The yellow cab pulled up to terminal three of the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and parked at the curb directly in front of the American Airlines sky-cap. The driver exited the vehicle, jogged around to the other side, and opened the back passenger door for his client. As was typical for travel days, Hannah Richards was gussied up to the nines, her idea of it anyway. She was wearing tight gold satin pants with a skin-hugging bright green sleeveless blouse. She had rings on all ten fingers and oval earrings approaching the size of a hula hoop. On each arm, she wore a train of bangle bracelets that made a clinking noise whenever she moved.
When she was safely up on the curb, the taxi driver unloaded two of her bags from the front driver’s seat and placed them in front of the sky-cap stand. He then removed three of the largest and heaviest suitcases he had ever seen from his oversized trunk one at a time, struggling to set them in a row next to the others. Hannah paid him the fifteen dollar fare plus a twenty dollar tip for his efforts. After tagging the luggage, the sky-cap handed her the receipts along with her boarding passes, and instructed her the flight would be boarding at Gate 5. She handed him a twenty and entered the terminal.
Hannah loved to travel, but didn’t care to do it alone. She was a social creature by nature. People were her fascination. The traveling part of her trips back home to New York was never her favorite. She was usually on her own and never looked forward to the hour and a half wait in the airport, then the two and a half hour flight to LaGuardia without anyone to chat with. Most times she’d strike up a friendship with her neighbor on the plane who would have to suffer through several hours of incessant chatter. She was a seasoned conversationalist with an effortless ability to chew through ear cartilage directly to the eardrum.
On this particular journey, her problem was solved when she met a nice young Jewish gentleman who sat directly across from her at the gate. She first noticed him when she was making her way through security. He was three people behind her in line. Her attention was initially attracted to him because of the black suit and yarmulke he was wearing. It was obvious he was an Orthodox Jew. She didn’t think much more about it until it appeared he was on her flight. It was odd he would be traveling so late on a Friday evening. It was their custom, if not strict law to be indoors before nightfall. When he sat down, her curiosity got the better part of her. She decided to get to the bottom of the issue.
“I like your watch. Is it a Rolex?”
“No Ma’am. Just a fancy Timex. Thank you.”
Hannah instantly recognized a foreign accent and was pretty sure he was from Israel, having visited the country numerous times. She responded, “It’s beautiful...My husband was an Orthodox Jew. I used to be, but I’ve mellowed over the years.”
“Your husband too?”
“He passed away a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Hannah smiled then extended her hand across the aisle. “I’m Hannah.”
“Rabbi Dwight Adelman. Pleased to meet you, Madam.”
“Rabbi...hmm. It’s nice to see a young man devoted to his religion. Is that an Israeli accent?”
“You have a good ear. I am from Jerusalem.”
“How interesting, I’ve been there many times. It’s my favorite part of the world. I wish it was more peaceful, but it’s a captivating city.”
Shem nodded his head in agreement.
“You know, when I first noticed you in the security line, I was surprised you’d be travelling so late,” she continued. “Then I figured you must be on a short flight. You’re not on this flight to New York, are you?”
Instantly realizing what she was talking about, Shem had to think quickly on his feet.
“Actually, I am. I am going to have to break the rules tonight. There has been a family emergency. My mother is very ill and it was the earliest flight I could get out of Ft. Lauderdale. I guess I will just have to do a little extra praying tonight.”
“Now it’s my turn to be sorry. I’m so nosy. Sometimes, I don’t know when to mind my own business.”
“Don’t worry, Hannah. There was no way you could know.”
Over the public address system, the gate agent announced American Airlines flight 262 would be boarding in five minutes. Shem squirmed in his thick cloth coat, cursing the Orthodox Jews for dressing in such a ridiculous manner. He couldn’t conceive of a reason why any sensible person would wear this type of garb in Florida or the heat of the summer. To him, custom and tradition were a ludicrous notion. They had no basis in logic or reason and were an obstruction to the evolutionary process. Anyone who restricted their behavior based on those tenets was just a complete moron in his opinion.
At least his plan was working as well as he had expected considering the one small glitch. He was quite pleased he was able to rectify the problem, though it wasn’t like him to make such mistakes. Forgetting the Orthodox Jews were required to be indoors before the sun set on Friday evenings could have been a crucial error that caused him to have to scrub the whole plan. He attributed it to the edginess he was experiencing over Annie and the FBI agent. Otherwise, it seemed as if she really took a liking to the rabbi. By the end of the flight, he was sure he would have her eating from his hands.
The gate agent called for the boarding of passengers holding first class tickets and those people needing special assistance. Hannah Richards was pleasantly surprised to see her partner in conversation rise when the announcement was made. When she realized they were sitting next to each other, she greeted him with a broad smile that turned his stomach. It was going to be a long flight. He reminded himself that his reward would be well worth the effort.
Shem’s head felt like it was going to explode. The crazy, obnoxious bitch found the words to talk throughout the entire flight, barely taking the time to breathe. Though the persistent rage loitered beneath the surface, his demeanor remained balanced. He was courteous and pleasant while listening attentively to her incessant ranting, even managing to smile when she did and laugh at her stupid jokes. It wasn’t easy maintaining the discipline to keep from shutting the bitch up permanently by shoving the silver fork served with his meal through her jugular vein.
His plan to use the family emergency excuse was working to perfection. He told the woman his mother was fighting a ten year losing battle with breast cancer and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition earlier in the day. According to the doctors, her prognosis was not good. They were giving her two weeks at the most. The Tucker slut look-alike seemed to fall for the whole story hook, line and sinker. She even shed a few tears.
After what seemed like an eternity to Shem, the plane finally landed at LaGuardia airport at 6:16pm. Continuing his role as the perfect gentleman, he removed Hannah’s carry-on bag from the overhead compartment and carried it to baggage claim. While they were waiting for their luggage, he stepped aside to feign making a telephone call to the hospital. When he returned, he reported to Hannah the gist of his fake conversation.
“Evidently my mother is resting and visitation doesn’t resume for another couple of hours. I reserved a rental car with Avis. Do you have a ride to your hotel?” On the plane, she had told him she was staying at the Four Seasons.
“That’s very kind of you, Rabbi, but I couldn’t impose on you like that. You have enough to worry about tonight.”
“Nonsense. The Four Seasons happens to
be right on the way to my sister’s apartment. And actually, I could use the company. It’s been a pleasure having you to talk to. It’s distracted me from reality for a while.”
“Are you absolutely sure? I have no problem taking a taxi. I don’t want to be an extra burden. And what about all my luggage?”
He had already considered that the woman travelled with half her wardrobe and was well prepared for it. He responded, “You will not be a burden in the least. In fact, you’ll be the opposite. It will be a pleasure. I insist. I have rented an oversized SUV, so there will be plenty of room for your bags.”
“You’re so sweet, Rabbi. In that case, I accept. But you’ll have to let me pay you for your trouble.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Madam. Your company will be sufficient.”
They had to wait twenty minutes before their flight’s bags were loaded onto the delivery conveyor belt. Shem placed them and his one suitcase on a cart, then walked the short distance to the Avis counter. With no one in line, they received immediate service. The entire process of signing the papers lasted less than fifteen minutes. The walk to the Avis shuttle bus stop across the street from the terminal building while pushing the cart stacked five feet high with huge, heavy suitcases took just as long.
Shem, keeping the brim of his hat low across his forehead and eyes, avoided the look of the shuttle bus driver as they were driven to the Avis parking lot located on airport grounds. Upon arrival, he allowed the driver to load the crazy woman’s bags onto a cart while he located their vehicle. The lot attendant barely looked at Shem’s face as he pointed out the location of the space where the SUV was parked. After returning to collect the woman and her luggage, Shem led the way to the vehicle. He helped Hannah into the front passenger seat then loaded her bags in the hatchback trunk space, strategically arranging them so that her view of him standing behind the vehicle was obstructed.