Broken Sky

by Saurav Dutt

  ‘Exactly’ Parker piped up ‘That’s what I find so interesting about you. Here you are claiming amnesia or whatever it is this time, and every time you’re booked the charges are suddenly dropped, or if they’re pursued the bail is paid on time, you never go to court and you get back doing what you do best…getting up to mischief on Madison Avenue. I don’t buy the whole amnesia story lady so you better come up with something a little closer to the truth this time’ he sneered.

  ‘Open the envelope, look at what’s inside’ Mike sighed as she frowned at Parker. She peered down at the brown envelope and flicked it open, clawing out a group of glossy 8 x 10 pictures. She studied them intently and looked up at them in disgust. ‘This is my hat’ she replied and pushed the picture back across the table. ‘Look a little closer’ Mike smiled as he nudged the picture back towards her. ‘I know what my hat looks like, I’ve been wearing it long enough’ she sighed, leaning back into her seat as she crossed her arms ‘now what has that little runt been saying about me? It was just some hair paint spray, like the kids do at parties, all that idiot needs is a hot shower and a trip to the laundry and he’ll be fine’

  ‘To be quite frank, we’re not concerned with that now’ Mark cleared his throat, carefully spreading the four pictures across the table so that they made an orderly square. ‘Inside the rim of your precious hat’ he continued ‘are the traces of dry blood..forensics are studying the hat and the blood right now, but I’d estimate that the traces..they’re no more than three to six months old, maybe a little more. That’s an educated guess. You’ve made no attempt to clean the hat so there are plenty of specks. But it’s not ketchup or paint or anything else you might want to try to say it is lady, it’s blood’ he sneered.

  ‘Well if your forensic people are still studying it, how do you know that it’s not blood?’ she replied. ‘That’s a good point’ Parker interjected ‘all we’re establishing now is a line of questioning before this gets serious. ‘Cause my colleague is actually correct, that is blood.

  It’s just a matter of getting the okay from the lab. Now lady..before this gets above your head, why don’t you do some explaining before you’re in some very real trouble..the kind your smart mouth ain’t gonna get you out of, get my drift?’ he asked.

  Her fingers brushed back the strand of hair which had fallen across her forehead and she closed her eyes momentarily. ‘Wait a minute..’ she snapped ‘where are my cases? My suitcases, what have you people done with them?’

  ‘We’re gonna have to go through those things too’ Parker replied with a sardonic smile ‘all this cloak and dagger routine is gonna come to an end’ he added. ‘No’ she retorted ‘those are my private things, you can’t do that, anyway I…I don’t have..a key’ she trailed off as she stared back down at the pictures as her thoughts drifted away ‘I’m not lying to you really, I don’t remember anything about no hat, no blood or anything like that..’

  ‘Lady’ Mike countered ‘we’re the police, we don’t need a key..and with your track record, we have every reason to believe you’re in possession of stolen goods so we are going to open your bags whether you like it or not’

  ‘You won’t be doing anything of the kind, not just yet..’ cut in a voice from behind them as they all turned their heads towards the door. A waft of cigarette smoke curled through a crack at the entrance of the interview room and as the door gently slipped open, she gasped as she realised John was standing there. His crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his hair messy and his dark brown blazer jacket crumpled and worn. ‘Boys, I’ll take it from here’ he cleared his throat as he took a drag of his cigarette. ‘But Detective..’ Parker protested before John waved him off ‘You really should have cleared the interview with somebody more senior than Mike before starting, Parker. Look we’re gonna let the lady blow off some steam, spend a night in the holding cell to get her mind straight’ he replied ‘first things first, we’re gonna try to sort out some temporary accommodation for her and wait for forensics to get back to us about the hat’

  ‘Come on John’ Mike interjected ‘she could be a murder suspect. That’s not paint inside that hat, not ketchup..and what about the hotel manager?’ he added as he noticed his interviewee was now entranced by John’s fierce stare.

  ‘It was just orange party paint, it’s not gonna kill the man’ John answered ‘and in any case he’s cooled down, realised what he said was harsh and in the heat of the moment and that she needs help not punishment…people tend to cool down after you make them see the facts..you don’t just go jumping all over ‘em like a goddamn shark’ he smiled.

  Parker shook his head in dismay and then realised she had not taken her eyes off John. ‘You two know each other?’ he asked as he rose to his feet. ‘Parker…everybody knows who this lady is’ John shot back. ‘I had a quick look at her records Detective’ Mike replied as he pushed in his chair ‘she’s been dragged in here for drunken and disorderly misdemeanours more times than I can count..she’s a menace’

  ‘She’s a lot of things’ John sighed ‘but she’s hardly dangerous’ he frowned as he stepped into the room and took a seat at the table opposite her. He noticed the smile that had crept over her face, the way the light of the room hit it at just the right angles and the beam of flickering light dancing across the surface of the skin seemed to make her large eyes glimmer. He couldn’t stop staring at her. ‘Well I guess we’ll leave you to it..’ Mike offered feebly as he stood up and shot a confused glance at Parker. ‘I have some odds and ends to fix up with her’ John coughed as he leant back in his chair. Mike arched an eyebrow and motioned for Parker to leave. John tilted his head slightly to the left to gauge when the door had closed behind him. After the snap of wood and metal signified that they were alone, he let the silence between them envelop the room until it was deafening.

  ‘Holy shit..’ she remarked with a sardonic smile ‘the last thing I expected was you to really be a cop..’ she shook her head ‘I thought you were bullshittin’ me’

  ‘Y’thought I was a banker or something?’ John replied with an ear to ear smile.

  ‘I could really do with a cigarette…’ she sighed as she glared into his eyes. ‘Sure thing’ he nodded as he pulled one out of his own pack and slipped it in between her lips as she leant forward. She stared deeply into his eyes as he lit it and concentrated on the intense blur of the flame at the end of the cigarette as it burned. ‘I thought you were one of those kinda people, yeah’ she smiled as she leant back and sucked in the fumes of smoke into her lungs.

  ‘Well are you disappointed?’ John asked as he gazed down at the glossy pictures in front of him. ‘No, ‘cuz’ she replied ‘bankers are the kind of pricks that tend to pass me by on the street and shake their head in disgust’ she paused ‘either that or they just curse or holler or kick my damn hat’

  ‘I..uh” John hesitated ‘I feel like I should apologise for earlier..if I was acting too forward..what happened before..that was not how I hoped it would end up’

  ‘Yeah well’ she shrugged ‘what can ya do? I pushed my luck too far with those guys’

  ‘That’s not what I meant’ John replied ‘I mean the way I behaved and-’

  ‘It’s not important’ she waved him off ‘really, forget about it’

  ‘What’s really going on with you?’ John asked as he leant back. ‘What you mean?’ she sighed. ‘I mean’ John leant forward ‘what’s the deal with the photos, the blood on the hat…the suitcases you won’t let people open…the fact that you don’t seem to remember much about anything..that you don’t know the contents of the suitcases for instance..the orange spray on that hotel manager’s face…’

  ‘And the way I treated you in the restaurant?’ she interjected with a grin. She crossed her legs and leant forward, her breasts massaging the edge of the table as she stared into his eyes. ‘Well the thought had occurred to me’ John replied as he gently pushed forward one of the photos towards her with the tips of his fingers. ‘Now you can te
ll me where you got this hat from, and if you remember how this blood got in there too’ he added as he tapped the photos.

  ‘How do you know it’s even blood’ she shot back ‘I don’t know where I got it..I pick things up on my journeys, I collect things..little trinkets, things like that-they have no home’ she frowned as she looked away.

  ‘You mean you’re a professional thief?’ John smiled ‘because darlin’ this is a bowler hat..nothin’ cheap about it by the way. This is the kinda thing that costs about a thousand bucks..and that mink coat is probably worth more than I make in a few months..now I know you’re not smart enough of a thief to steal things like that on a whim…so I’m hazarding a guess that some rich schmuck Mooga bought you them…and maybe this hotel manager was just another one on your list of conquests’

  ‘I see’ she groaned ‘you think I’m some kinda behind the six con artist sleepin’ with men, stealin’ their flash and possessions and then-without a moment’s thought-I cop a heel and I’m off into the sunset, huh?’

  ‘Not stealing’ John shook his head ‘I’m thinkin’ they’re a gift..maybe a kind of thank you for a good time, a drop-in for you though, chick..’

  ‘Uh uh’ she sneered as her smile quickly dissipated ‘I don’t do that kinda thing..though it might hurt you to admit it, I’m just not that kinda lady’

  ‘I didn’t say you were’ John retreated as he noticed the abrupt way she stubbed out the cigarette on the surface of the table ‘all I’m trying to find out is how a lady who sleeps on the street wears these kind of clothes, has a hat like you do and wears a pearl necklace like the one we got off ya..to be honest it kinda makes me curious about what’s in your bags…so maybe you should just come clean with us… between you and me, what’s really in them?’ he trailed off.

  ‘You don’t have a key’ she replied ‘neither do I, so that’s the end of that..’

  ‘Actually no’ John shook his head ‘you forget where you are babe. I can click my fingers and have them opened up in about two seconds. This is why I’m here…this is my job. Either you start dropping the whole amnesia routine and tell me where you got that hat from, where that blood is from and most importantly whose it is…otherwise I will open up those cases and see what’s inside..the only reason I don’t do it now, is well…I’d rather see what you got to say for yourself first..’

  ‘What do you expect to find in there Detective?’ she replied as her hands began to tremble ‘a severed head and a butcher’s knife?’’

  ‘Maybe’ John smiled ‘but there could be more stolen goods..maybe a passport..maybe something that says who you are..look why don’t I try to help you before..well let’s just say this could get real ugly, I don’t wanna see any harm come to you’

  ‘I don’t know who I am’ she hissed, clenching her jaw as she wrung her hands together ‘now those are my private things in there, my possessions..you can’t go ripping up my stuff, prying into my life..and I’m not lying, I don’t remember where they’re from, my memory is completely screwed up, I told you that already’

  ‘But lady, you just told me you don’t know what’s in them..’ John sighed as he let the cigarette smoke swirl out from his nose and mouth ‘now let’s stop going around in circles..if the guys at the lab confirm what I think, that there is blood on that hat…then we could be looking at a possible homicide’

  ‘Yeah but’ she hesitated ‘you need a body to charge me…’

  John leant back, all the while concentrating on her face, noticing the tenseness in her arms and the clamminess of her hands. ‘You know an awful lot about these kinda things don’t ya lady?’ he remarked.

  ‘Not really’ she replied, parting her hands slowly, laying them face down upon the table surface ‘living where I do, one of the things me and Pollard do is walk the streets and watch those CSI programmes inside those TV stores..that’s where I learnt about things like that’ she confessed.

  John sunk his hand into the breast pocket of his jacket and gently pulled out an A4 sized white sheet of paper which he began to carefully unfurl. He spread out the edges evenly with his long fingers and gently pushed it towards her. She stared down at it ominously and studied it carefully. On it, there was a sketched impression of a woman that resembled her and below the picture, in bold red lettering was the single word ‘MISSING’. Below it was a paragraph of typeset writing

  ‘Have you seen this woman? This is Gina Capelloetti, aged 47 from Brooklyn, New York. She was last seen six months ago in the vicinity of Queens; previous domiciles Florida and Nevada. She is five foot six, has shoulder length blonde hair with a beauty spot on her right cheek above her bottom lip.’

  She stopped reading and looked up. ‘What is this? What do you want me to do with this?’ she demanded.

  ‘That’s you, ain’t it honey..’ John smirked as he tapped the picture with his right index finger. ‘Bullshit’ she shot back ‘missing from where? I’m not missing from anywhere, and that looks nothing like me’ she added with a scowl.

  ‘I’m as blind as a bat, but even I’m sure it’s you’ John sighed ‘I only got transferred to this precinct recently. This photo stat has been on our missing records for almost a year. I only pulled this out once I realised you had been arrested. Now look closely, you have a beauty spot at the same place as this picture on your right cheek…and besides that, the resemblance..’

  ‘Well she’s a great lookin’ dame…’ she frowned ‘but that’s not me…you got a cigarette?’ she asked as she pushed the paper back across the table. ‘You know there is a good chance somebody out there who cares about you is worried out of their right mind about where you are right now..’ John replied as he handed over his own cigarette to her ‘if you’re alive, if you’re doin’ okay, if you’re livin’ right…that’s why this was posted. Now I can try to dig around and find out who filed the report but chances are it could be a husband, a son, a daughter or a relative or something like that-now think carefully, where did you live before and what do you know about your family?’ he asked.

  ‘I have nobody..’ she shot back, fixing him with a steely gaze ‘I have nobody who cares for me, who misses me or who is shedding a tear over me’ she sighed ‘now I hate to disappoint you, but that woman is not me-that’s not even my hair colour. Now if Fisher doesn’t want to press charges then I’d like to be released straight away..and I want my suitcases, they belong to me’

  ‘No’ John countered, his brow furrowed as he rose to his feet ‘this isn’t some kinda game..now I’m trying to make it easy for you. But if that hat comes back with blood on it, the rules are gonna change..I will rip up your goddamn suitcases myself if that’s what’s needed-key or no key-and if what we find leads us to the source of that blood..then you will be locked up for a long, long time’ he shook his head ‘now please.. just think about where you are, I can help you..’

  ‘You don’t understand’ she groaned ‘I don’t know anything, I can’t remember where I even got those suitcases from, the hat, the coat..it’s like I’m trying to connect the dots, put pieces together and why this is that…but I can’t..”

  “If I searched through your belongings” John enquired “am I gonna find some hard drugs there? Just how much shit have you been smoking, how much drink have you had that’s juiced your brains so badly that you can’t even remember how the hell you got to bumming around in Madison Avenue? Where were you before that? Times Square? Brooklyn? Look at the redness on your nose, if you’re not a junkie you like snorting coke for charity?”

  “Look” she protested “yes I’ve done some junk, yes me and Pollard steal to drink, steal to buy any kinda shit we can get our hands on…but I’m not lying when I tell you that I can’t remember what you’re asking me …things, they’re just a blur, every day that passes, the things I remember from the week before get further and further away…you think I don’t ask myself why the fuck that is happening to me? Believe me it’s nothing I’m snorting, it’s nothing I’m drinking, it’s something else”
<
br />   “Let me help you” John sighed “is your name Gina? At least tell me that much”

  “If it is or it isn’t, it doesn’t really matter” she muttered as she looked away from him.

  “The woman who is in this picture, she has a daughter in New York y’know” John nodded “does that help jog your memory? You didn’t drop out of the sky; someone is connected to you, somehow…”

  “I don’t know” she shook her head “Nothing is clear to me, can’t you understand that?”

  “I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt right now” John replied as he began sorting the photographs, resting them atop of one another “but there’s others that might not..so I really wish you would level with me”

  “Do you believe me?” she asked, peering up at him.

  “I want to” John replied “but nobody else is buying the amnesia card anymore, it’s the oldest trick in the book-and anyway you’re not giving me any reason to disbelieve you either”

  “I can sit here and lie to you until I’m blue in the face” she said as she took a drag from the cigarette “but I’m telling you this and I mean it…I’m not high, I’m not drunk..it would help if was”

  “Then just tell me the truth” John whispered as he leant in closer.

  ‘I can’t help you’ she smiled ‘and I won’t…’ she added as she put the cigarette to her parched lips.

  ‘Well…why not?’ John scowled in frustration ‘what the hell do you have to gain by protecting somebody else?’

  ‘Because that’s not anybody else’s blood’ she replied as she took a long, hard drag of the cigarette before stubbing it out ‘…it’s mine’

  Chapter Five

  As the rain fell down upon the sidewalk outside, Sean smiled to himself as he studied the pedestrians below. There was nothing like the afterglow of Manhattan as the dark clouds of the afternoon began to dissipate and small pockets of sunlight attempted to break through the cracks above. He brushed his dark hair to the side of his forehead as he gazed out of the hotel window and pressed his fingers gently to the pane. He hadn’t been in the heart of the city for longer than an hour and yet he felt an incredible sense of longing, a feeling that he wanted to stay for longer than he had to.