Promised Box Set

by James Kipling

  “Everyone is a suspect until we find the real killer,” the detective answered.

  “I was at home. Tommy left and told me that he was meeting a girl at the club.”

  Mike wondered how serious the police were about regarding him as a suspect. He was enraged by the knowledge of what had killed his friend. Why would that psychopath kill Tommy? He wondered while holding the phone to his ear.

  “Do you know this club and the lady that he was meeting?”

  “Yes,”

  “Can you come to the station please?”

  “Do I need a lawyer?”

  He knew how the police would spin something around by just listening to a person’s statement. He had watched a lot of movies, and knew how the police system worked. Mike wanted to be sure that he was not accused of anything.

  “If you have something to do with his death, then you definitely need a lawyer.”

  “I'll be there in fifteen minutes,” he said and hung up.

  He wondered who would want to poison his friend. He never had enemies. He looked at the drawer for his keys and saw Tommy's journal. He felt like reading it. Maybe there was a clue inside. Tommy liked writing about his experiences. This was the only way for him to find out. Mike knew Tommy from college and knew how he would write anything he did down on paper. One time in college, he wrote down how he peed on himself when a cute lady talked to him. They read it as a group, and nicknamed him from that incidence.

  If he never met with Jenna, how come he was drunk? He wondered. Tommy was not an alcoholic; he only drank when he had company. That was his thing. He vowed not to drink alone. He felt that Jenna was lying, and wondered why she would lie.

  He wanted to find out if Jenna was telling the truth about them not meeting that evening. He was now sure that someone had been after Tommy. Before he died, he looked worried and always alert. Mike sat on the bed and opened his journal. Everything in it was about his life as a child. This was of no importance to him. In some pages, he drew pictures of his dream woman; he smiled as he perused the pages. He knew how his friend was obsessed with finding a lady with cover magazine model features.

  Mike perused the pages one by one; there was nothing that would be helpful to him or the police. There was nothing about anyone wanting to kill him or anything similar. All Tommy wrote about was how his day at work was boring and how he was competing with one of his coworkers for a promotion.

  He tried to close the journal, but something caught his eye. He looked at the page twice, and then read it.

  3/20/2009

  Today is a special day for me. I met a beautiful lady. Her name is Jenna. The first time we met was special. I didn't know a beautiful lady like her would be interested in a guy like me. I feel like she loves me as much as I do. I like her smile, her boobs, and most of all her shape. She has everything I was looking for in a woman.

  We are going to meet today at Heaven Jazz Club. I plan to marry her, and fly away to another continent. Lately, I've been receiving strange phone calls, and someone has been following me. I would not wish to put Jenna's life in danger for some stupid secret I know. For this reason, I plan to ask her to marry me today. I know this will sound weird to her but it’s for the best.

  I plan to keep a low profile until I marry her and we go away. If she agrees to marry me, then it has to be as soon as possible. I don’t know how I’m going to explain to her why I’m rushing this. I’ll have to cook up something to convince her, like I got a job and I have to move.

  Mike closed the journal and looked at the phone. “What could be the secret?” he thought. This was the reason that he was killed. Someone wants to keep the secret, and would do anything to silence whoever knows the secret. He carried the notebook with him and left. It would be good for him to meet the detective in person.

  ****

  With almost two hundred hours under his belt, Arnold began each day with an eye on the sky as he jogged five miles. He was listening to the music from his iPod; he could not ignore the sight of a beautiful lady. As he approached her, he noticed that she was familiar. He stopped and approached her.

  “Hi,” he said as he removed his earphones.

  “Hi, what a small world,” said Jenna.

  She was following him, but stopped because she knew he had noticed he was being followed. She wanted him to believe that it was just a coincidence; Arnold lived in a closed neighborhood where everyone was on watch. She had to play smart, nothing was to go wrong. She had planned everything, she wanted to fool Arnold.

  “You stay around here?” he asked.

  “Yes, I was just going to see a friend from here, we are organizing a party for our book club,” she answered.

  Jenna knew that this would work; she tried to pull all of her seductive moves.

  “It's good to know you come from here. I live in the next block. You should pay me a visit some time,” he suggested.

  “I can do that now,” she moved close to him seductively.

  “I.........” he stammered.

  “Ssssh, don't say anything. Just do as I say,” she put her hands on his mouth.

  He felt something hard in his trousers. He wanted to say no, but it was too late.

  “Okay, let's go now, jogging can wait. It won't hurt if I cancel today's schedule for something much better.”

  They went to his house. It was rare for Arnold to get such offers, and saying no to this pretty lady was hard. He smiled, he was happy, but at the same time nervous.

  He was trembling. He struggled with the keys.

  “Let me help,” she took the keys from his hand and easily opened the door.

  The house was cozy and comfortable. It was so neat and modern.

  “You have a nice place,” she said.

  “Thank you. Let me freshen up, feel at home.”

  He left as Jenna scanned the room. She looked at the closed door and removed her syringe. She put it in her stockings, and went to the bathroom door.

  He opened the bathroom door and saw Jenna standing there. He had never wanted any woman as much as he wanted her in that moment. Gently, he took her to bed. Jenna was ashamed to say that she had second thoughts about killing him; she wanted to have fun first. It couldn’t hurt, right? She removed her syringe, and then put it back. No, it couldn’t hurt.

  “I want to give you a massage.” Arnold whispered, running his hands down her back.

  Jenna nodded mutely.

  He then lit a scented candle, picked up a bottle of oil and began pouring it down the middle of her back. The oil was warm and felt heavenly as he spread it with his large hands all over her back, starting from the top of her shoulders and making his way to her lower back. She moaned, and the sound sent a jolt of awareness through her. What the hell am I doing? When he took her, she enjoyed every moment. But it couldn’t last. Bracing herself to do the deed, Jenna carefully removed the syringe from her stocking and plunged it into his skin.

  “Ouch,” he said as he looked at her.

  “Sorry that was just my ring.” she consoled him.

  This is for the best, she told herself. Jenna knew that she had violated her code of ethics. She’d slept with her victim and enjoyed every moment of it.

  He was tired and felt like he was bitten by a mosquito. He turned and looked at her; he felt so dizzy and tried to utter something. She waved and closed the bedroom door using her gloves. He tried to force himself to move, but the medicine had started to take effect on him. Arnold collapsed. Jenna ran.

  She rushed outside to avoid being noticed by anybody. The job was a success, and she knew that this was going to be her last job. Jenna had decided to quit. Screw the money. What about her sanity? She had always wanted to quit. She never left any evidence, she was a pro. Yet it was so relieving to know that she was done with killing people.

  She got in her car which was parked at the corner and drove off at top speed. Tonight, she thought, tonight I’ll be free.

&nbs
p; ****

  Kate pulled into the parking lot of her building. The grocery bag clunked against one leg, her overflowing briefcase against the other as she jogged up the four flights of stairs. The only buildings in her price range had elevators. They just didn’t have ones that worked on an everyday basis. She changed quickly into her training outfit, checked her messages, and headed back out. She stretched the cramps and kinks out of her long limbs and started her run.

  Kate headed east past the Air and Space Museum and then by the castle that was built in the style of twelfth century Italian architecture. Her easy methodical strides took her across the mall at its widest point, and she circled the Washington Monument twice. Her breath was coming a little quicker now, and the sweat began to seep through her t shirt and blot the Washington Law sweatshirt she was wearing. As she made her way along the Tidal Basin, the crowd of people grew thicker. As she swerved to avoid one errant child, she collided with another runner coming the other way. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

  “Damn,” he cursed, rolled over quickly, and then sprang back up. She started to get up, looked at him, an apology on her lips, and then abruptly sat back down.

  “Hello,” Mike said as he helped her stand back on her feet. He helped her to a spot under one of the bare cherry blossom trees.

  “Hi, I’m Kate.” She smiled.

  Kate never liked meeting new people; she was reserved like her brother. She silently cursed herself for not getting that haircut, and then cursed herself again for even thinking that this stranger might be interested in her. She didn’t care for him at all. It was the lack of oxygen that was making her think this way.

  “I’m Mike, nice to meet you.” He smiled at her as he shook her hand.

  He never expected Tommy’s sister to look so beautiful. Tommy described her in a different way. A much less flattering way that did not do this beauty justice. But then, they had always hated each other. They didn’t even look like siblings.

  “I’m a good friend of Tommy, your brother,” he said, and then paused.

  He didn’t know how to describe himself or tell her about Tommy’s death. He didn’t know how she would react, and this was not the place to tell her that. But he had no choice but to tell her.

  “He sent you to mock me or deliver an insulting message from him,” she said.

  She never expected anything good from her brother. Even when they were just children, they had never been friends; they constantly competed for their parents’ attention. They both felt that they were good enough to warrant extra attention. Needless to say, that amped up the tension between them.

  “No, he didn’t send me,” he answered distractedly.

  He wanted to say it, but Kate looked like she was not interested in hearing anything about her brother.

  Kate wondered why she even felt something for this guy. She swore to never want anything to do with her brother. Knowing any person close to Tommy would only end up bringing her trouble. She started to walk away, but Mike grabbed her hand so that she had no choice but to look up at him.

  “Something horrible happened to your brother,” he whispered, while looking her in the eye.

  “What could possibly happen to him? He might as well die and leave us in peace.”

  She tried to force herself to leave. Kate had no reason to listen to this man just because he knew her brother.

  “I’m afraid that is what happened,” Mike answered in a gentle voice.

  He hadn’t thought that he would care what her reaction would be, but he had to tell her. He owed that to her. Wasn’t it better to hear the truth from him and not from some other stranger?

  “What? You are kidding right?”

  Kate didn’t believe him. It wasn’t true. Even though she never really loved her brother, she had liked him. Even though she always tried to hide it. Her affection for her brother was her greatest weakness yet her fear of being turned away overpowered even that. She never expected him to die before they made up. She felt weak, and went to sit down under the tree again. “This is the worst joke ever, if he sent you to see how I would react when I hear he is dead, and then you are wrong, I’m not moved at all. Take the joke somewhere else.” She tried to compose herself and show him that she didn’t care about him. She was good at faking her feelings. Even if Kate was in shock.

  “You’re lying!”

  “Do you really think I came all the way here for a joke? I know that you are the only relative he has, that’s why I felt you had the right to know?”

  He started to leave, but she stopped him.

  “I’m sorry I was hard on you,” she said as she came close to him.

  Tears were rolling down her cheeks. They had lost both their parents, and she had never, ever considered the fact that she might stand to lose her brother too. Just knowing that he was alive somewhere made her happy. She even talked to his neighbors to see how he was doing. They never knew who she was and probably thought that she was an admirer. Mike tried to console her, but it was hard for him. They’d never met before, and he had to make sure that she was okay. To make it worse, he found her extremely attractive, but this was not the right time or place to think of that.

  “He was a good guy, you know. Despite our differences, I adored my brother and knew he was a genius. I always envied him.” She tried to stop crying.

  “He died doing what he loved; we should celebrate his life instead of crying. That is what he would have wanted. We met in college and ever since, we’ve been like brothers. He always talked about you, and that’s why I had to trace you and how I came to know you existed.”

  “How did my brother die?”

  This was one of the few times she called him brother. She always referred to him as a jerk. He was the JERK. Now he was her brother. Death was a funny thing.

  “He was murdered.”

  “Who would want to kill Tommy? He never had any enemies.”

  She stopped hugging him and stepped away as she wiped her eyes. Mike didn’t mean/want to give her so much information; the news about Tommy’s death was already too much for her. She was shaken for sure, he could tell. She was trembling. Kate was in shock, he realized.

  “I don’t know why I never spoke to my brother; I always go to his neighborhood and ask around about him. I only ever wanted him to know that I loved him. I loved my brother for sure.”

  Kate was a lawyer and had a busy schedule, that’s why she never took time to visit anyone. What she felt for her brother wasn’t just sibling affection. She had never stopped loving him.

  “He knew you asked about him, and he also asked around about you.”

  She stopped crying.

  “Are you sure he did that?” she asked.

  She was glad that her brother cared for her. It made her feel guiltier. She wanted to see her brother’s body for the last time. She wanted to let out all the affection and admiration she felt for him. Why had he died before she could tell him that face to face?

  ****

  Mrs. Rosie Chandler sat quietly on her chair with the oxygen tank tube in her mouth. She watched the neighborhood for any strange vehicles parked around the corner. The noise from her neighbor's house woke her up every time. She has reported this to the authorities, but Jerry would never stop.

  Her husband was her only companion. They wanted to spend their time together and enjoy their last moments full of love. They were old; they accepted fate as it was. Her husband preferred to be in a chair, but not her. She was a loving, caring, and responsible neighbor. She looked after her neighbors and watched their houses all day for any unnecessary movement.

  She watched closely as a lovely woman left Arnold's house. She saw them go in together and saw her leave by herself. She knew this was his latest conquest. She has never seen a lady leave that house. It was strange but beautiful; Arnold finally has someone to be with.

  “Lo....o....k,” she struggled to speak as she pointed through the window. H
er husband rushed to the window and saw the lady walking to the SUV parked right at the corner.

  “Where did she come from?” he asked. “She obviously doesn't live here,”

  “F...r...o...m A..r...n..o...l..d..s.”

  “From Arnold’s house? That is so strange.”

  “W..h..y?”

  “He never invites any woman over, just this morning as he was going out for a jog, I was talking to him and he mentioned something about not having a girlfriend and not wanting one.” Excitement suffused his voice.

  “H.e c..a..me..b..a..c..k..ea..rl..y.”

  “What was that woman doing alone in his house? He went out for a jog three hours ago,”

  “T..h..e..y..c..a..m..e..b..a..c..k..to..g..e..th..e..r.”

  “Yeah, yeah right. I'm going to peep around to see if she stole something. This is really quite strange.” He rushed off to Arnold’s house to make sure nothing was wrong.

  Everything appeared to be in order. Nothing was ransacked. He peeped through the windows all around the house. The bedroom window was locked. He peeped inside and saw Arnold asleep facing the other side. He knocked on the window but Arnold didn't respond.

  “Hey, man,” he shouted, but still no response or movement.

  He went to the door, which was not locked. He turned the knob and went straight to the bedroom. Arnold was lying there, as if asleep. He checked his pulse and was horrified to discover Arnold was not breathing. He was a retired officer and knew the do's and don’ts in a crime scene.

  He picked up the phone and called the police. He knew right away that this was murder. He tried to remember the woman he saw, but he only had a little to work with. The woman was rushing to the car, and he didn't see her face well.

  Good thing his wife did, but she has amnesia. The police had better hurry up before she forgot what she saw. The police arrived thirty minutes later.