UNDER SIEGE (A Story Of Hope)

by Ciuri Di Badia

  They called the hotel service and moments later, the maître d' was there at their service. He took their orders. He then assured them that he would bring the drinks right away and then wished them an enjoyable stay in the hotel before walking out.

  Tommy stood up and walked through the suite to loosen his muscles as he admired its impeccable interiors. He continued walking until he got to the back of the suite where a private back door was situated. The door gave the occupants a clandestine way out of the hotel without passing through the reception. That was one of the hush-hush conveniences that made many people, especially the prominent ones, to prefer conducting their decadent activities in the imperial hotel over others.

  The waiter returned with a tray that conveyed a bottle of the throat tickling, crystal champagne. On its side were two Carmelite moss glasses that were clearly tagged with the names Tommy and Angie. A glass saucer had been placed by the side with ice cubes. The waiter placed the tray on the table and welcomed them to their cold duck before excusing himself out.

  Angie went into the bathroom as Tommy poured the crystal pints in the two glasses. He first started with the ice cubes and then proceeded to pour in the champagne. Angie’s glass was jade in color. It had an inscription that read

  ‘Angie darling, you are so sweet’

  Tommy’s glass was different. It was tangy in color and had been inscribed with the words

  ‘Tommy honey, you bring taste to the sweetness in me’

  The hotel was offering such personalized amenities that included plates, music systems, bed sheets and lighting. Those customized services made the hotel a cut above the rest and left many in wonder.

  Tommy raised his glass and toasted with the air as Angie joined in. They nipped down the pints as they went on the town by toasting merrily to themselves and to their happiness. You’ve never seen two drunken grownups raising the roof when no one else is watching. It’s not only queer but funny. The mind ceases to function and the heart takes control…and so does the body.

  So far, the night had gone so good. A soft and relaxing music came from the hi-fi when they started the salacious feat with very flimsy preliminaries. They slowly undressed as they crawled towards the bed. As they say, whatever you do, it can happen better at half the speed.

  In all that, Angie seemed apprehensive. Later, Tommy discovered that she was a flower whose cherry had not been popped and that he had became the first man in her life. The experience was somewhat ambiguous for Angie. The pleasure from within was mixed with an incredible wave of ripping pain as Tommy shoved his manhood inside her. She shrieked as she curled her toes and erupted in a surge of intense pleasure.

  As they drew into a close, Angie farted that she had been missing the most engrossing act amongst all. She even joshed saying that she wished that life was just about catching strokes from nativity to bereavement. She added that that would be the real enjoyment of life to its fullest.

  Tommy was good enough in the act. Over the years, he had not only mustered the science but also art of taking a woman to the cloud nine. Some of his old girlfriends had often referred to him as a love connoisseur, a lady virtuoso and a sex aficionado. He loved pairing off. Paring off is the only characteristic of living things that all non-hermaphrodite animals know of. It’s the reason why Billy-goats seduce nanny-goats and as a result, they end up procreating one of their own.

  Later, Tommy received a call on his cell-phone. He walked away from the sleeping area to answer the call. On the spur of the moment, he returned claiming that his house was on fire.

  Feeling debilitated and drowsy, Angie could not accompany Tommy to his house. She therefore bid him goodbye and lay down to catch some forty winks. Tommy hurriedly left for his house…….

  Angie unsuccessfully tried to catnap. She was partly tired and partly disquieted by Tommy’s predicaments which had interfered with their superb, first night together. She wondered why things were going that way and more so, what Tommy was doing about his burning house. She just hoped to hear nothing but good news. Thinking about it, her mind razed with anxiety but she tried to calm down.

  She lay on the bed, half-awake and half-asleep anticipating Tommy's call. He had promised to call her as soon as he got to his house and her know of the latest developments. After a half of an hour, she started feeling frail all over her body. She lost sensations and could not even feel her legs. She lost control over her faculties and she found her eyes gaping at the ceiling, inert. Her situation became worse as time moved on.

  In the bafflement, she decided to take water from a glass on the bedside locker. When she hauled it up, the glass weighed down her feeble hand and she let go. It dropped to the floor, crushing to pieces……

  On the break of the following morning, one of the valets went into the luxury suit. He knocked once and again without any reply. He gave it a go for the last time. Finding no retort, he decided to go in.

  Inside, the valet stood, gazing at the bed. He was distraught with grief and could not believe what he was seeing. Angie’s head was dangling down from the bed; unconscious. Her eyes were red in color and the skin acne with patches. He pressed the panic button and quickly informed the hotel management. Shortly after, paramedics arrived. They tried to resuscitate Angie but all in vain. After a further examination they pronounced her as dead.

  The police were informed about the death and shortly after they flooded the scene. Some cordoned off the room as others took photographs in their attempt to adduce evidence. They collected the decant water from the floor, the broken pieces of the glass and the remaining champagne.

  They also took her purse and personal effects including her mobile phone, on which, Tommy had called severally. Those were to be used for reference and further investigations into the possible causes of her death.

  Inquiry into Angie’s death begun earnestly. Detective Allen, who was the coroner of the team, sounded out witnesses. He first interrogated the paramedics who had earlier attempted fruitlessly to bring Angie back around. He then went to the waiter who served Angie and Tommy to grill him.

  “Hi, I am detective Allen from the N.Y.P.D. I believe that you are Robert” The detective said.

  “It is my pleasure to meet you” the waiter replied

  “I have a few questions to ask you”

  “Its fine with me detective”

  “Thank you. What is the name of the deceased as she checked in?” the detective started to put the waiter through the mill.

  “As the receptionist stated, she checked in as Angie Whitney”

  “Was she alone?” the detective continued to give Robert the third degree

  “No, she wasn’t. She was accompanied by a man. From the records, he was the one who booked the room.”

  “Do you know who the man was?”

  “No detective, the hotel records do not indicate the relationships between clients”

  “What is his name?”

  “Tommy…….Tommy Roggers”

  “Urgh…… What?” The brave detective screamed out.

  He was taken aback by the mention of that name. He sat down and thought by himself for some moment. He was severally interrupted by his officers who would mutter something to him. After sometime, he went back to the waiter who was at that moment speaking with his colleagues.

  “At what time did Tommy leave?” the detective asked

  “I am not sure. But it was sometimes over the night. He did not pass by the reception. Perhaps he used the backdoor of the suite which leads to the parking lot” the receptionist responded.

  Detective Allen interrogated other people at the hotel including a commissionaire who had ushered them in upon their arrival. He swore to himself that this time he must nail Tommy and consequently bring him to book. It didn’t seem to be a long-shot. The police searched for Tommy but they failed to locate him. Later, Tommy’s warrant of arrest was issued.

  It was as if Tommy was sneering at detective Allen and his efforts. He had suddenly turned his n
ose up at him by imputing that the detective was nowhere near his match when it came to contriving crime and getting away with it.

  His residence was ransacked but unfortunately, nothing significant to the case was found. The police report showed that presumably, he had destroyed all the evidences that would have dropped him to being culpable.

  As the nose on your face, it was apparent that someone was toying with the police. Somebody somewhere had a crafty underhand. Whoever it was knew very well what he was up to and so he left nothing to chance. He had laid his plans so well that they were working to the point. He knew when to hit and when not to, he also knew when to appear and when to disappear. He had faith that he would make it and nothing was standing on his way. He had beaten the police and the rest of the challenges ahead of him seemed like a piece of cake. Nobody really knew what he wanted but everyone could see what he was doing.

  Tommy’s photographs appeared on the major tabloids. His earlier mug shots were far-flung on the street boards depicting him as a wanted fugitive who was on the run. Captions termed him as a dangerous serial killer who was being pursued by the United States police fraternity.

  That was unfortunate for Tommy. He had done all he could to change his life by turning a new leaf and putting his life in order. He had worked tirelessly to repair him reputation and forget his alleged criminal past.

  For Tommy, It was the second murder allegation in a span of several months and I am sure that he did not like it. Life was going contrary to his wishes but there was nothing that he could do about it. And for Detective Allen, he could not believe that he was doing this again. Not even once did he think, let alone imagine, that he would again face a case that was involving Tommy as the main suspect. But as they say; anything that is unimaginable or unbelievable is possible on the face of this world. True.

  Things being as such; detective Allen found himself in a case where he was to cross swords with Tommy once more. To add insult to detective’s injuries, he was not only again handling a case that was involving Tommy, but also murder as the subject matter. The memories of the previous case, the difficulties and the final disappointments when the judge cleared Tommy made him feel like dying.

  Before, in his long career, detective Allen had not seen a case that was involving a serial killer who was targeting his own girl-friends. Tommy's case was the first. Luckily, he had all the necessary expertise to handle it and he was sure that Tommy would be subdued sooner or later. Of that, he was sure. To the detective, Tommy was a serial killer, a possessed absconder who was desperately running away from his crimes.

  Many people cursed at Tommy with belief that he had gone round the bend. From the stories they heard about him, they had no doubt that he belonged with mad people. You see, for one to be regarded as sane, his ideas and deeds have to be both dependable and acceptable by other members of the society. I wonder how many people would embrace Tommy’s supposed habit of murdering his partners. I don’t know your opinion about that but as for me; never! I can never embrace such a heartless idea!

  See; murder is not just a simple mistake but one of the worst crimes that someone can commit. Only genocide or similar kinds of atrocities can beat it on the scale of criminality. Unless one is protecting themselves, there exists no other excuse as to why one should kill. It only amounts to be a crime, an unforgivable crime for that matter.

  Another parameter that is used to measure somebody’s sanity is his ability to correct his past mistakes. If one does a mistake, and after sometime repeats the same mistake again (and in some cases even yet again), he qualifies to be regarded as barmy. Tommy was seen to be doing no different: When he was charged with murdering Birma, people expected him to learn a big lesson and probably change his ways. Owe onto him, he did the contrary and led himself into the same sh*t again. From that, everybody was convinced that Tommy's head had gone batty and it got them afraid, very afraid, especially on learning that he was still on the loose.

  Many others termed him as a genetical accident that prowled on innocent women. ‘Beware! A killer at large’ cautions warned as the hunt went on.

  “He can run as a fox, but he can’t hide from the dogs” the police spokesman was quoted saying on a communiqué.

  It started numbering Tommy's days and much so, his times as a social outcast, a self made pariah who never learns anything from his gaffes. It was as bemusing as the saying that goes- pride comes before a fall; Tommy had had all the time to do what he wished to do but now his time was over and the only thing that people expected to see was his instant downfall.

  It had been a long time coming but all had not been lost. Everyone knew that somebody had to put Tommy to a stop. No one really knew how or when it was to happen but everyone was in agreement that it had to happen, somewhere, somehow, sometime. The sooner it happens the better, they said as the ferret continued.

  * * * * * * *

  Chapter 7

  A week later, the government’s pathologist released Angie’s postmortem results where he stated that she died of food or drink spiking with dioxin. In his detailed report, he indicated that he found the biggest residues of the poison in her blood and along her digestive tract.

  ‘She took enough amount of the strychnine that sufficed her death.’ The pathologist’s autopsy revealed.

  Dioxin is an extremely deleterious poison. It has dire effects when ingested or when it makes its way into the blood stream; it causes one’s internal organs to slowly fail, rashes start appearing on their skin and soon after, hair fall off in chunks. It’s like one is being simmered from the inside and with time, one ends up dying. Those symptoms vary from victim to victim, but there has not been enough scientific evidence to show that those symptoms follow a definite pattern since dioxin has been used as a poison only on a few countable times.

  The effects of dioxin poisoning are that bad, similar to the symptoms that are seen on a victim of polonium 210 poisoning or those resulting from the side effects arising from chemotherapy treatment of acute cancerous cells on a cancer patient.

  Dioxin is so lethal that even a small salt sized particle of it can kill an adult human being. Such a radioactive poisoning has no known cure to date, and so, any of its victims have limited way out. In all the cases, Doctors inject analgesics into victims as a means of palliating them from pain as they endure the desolation of undergoing a slow, painful, miserable and obviously, definite death.

  Dioxin is one of the few sure killers that the world has seen. I mean, bullets have missed or just injured their targets, venoms have been treated, a few of us have survived plane crashes and recently, a man walked away from an epicenter of a bomb blast, unscathed. But, a radioactive poisoning such as that from dioxin has had only one outcome-death!

  Dioxins and other radioactive substances are very hard to come by. They only exist in well secured government laboratories where a layman like Tommy wouldn’t be expected to have access to. And so, it puzzled Det. Allen as to where Tommy or any other person who could have been the murderer got the dioxin that was used to poison Angie. His first move lay in contacting all available laboratories to establish if any of them had released the lethal compound to anybody but, unfortunately, all his efforts went futile. None of his respondents from those laboratories was aware of something of the sort.

  Being as persistent as we know him to be, the detective did not stop there. He continued mulling over the issue for several days until he found a resolve.

  He zeroed in on the idea that the handler of the dioxin must have had skills of some sort pertaining to the handling of the substance. Without proper care and precautions, it’s very easy for someone to contaminate themselves. If that happens, the handler would have had no alternative other than to end up like Angie; dead!

  With that, the detective examined Tommy's close friends and relatives to find out if any of them had expertise in chemicals or laboratory science. He went through his list with no success as none of Tommy's close relations had the skills that are requir
ed for somebody to work safely with such lethal compounds. And so, that revelation brought the detective back to where he started from.

  His primary aim was to not only establish the source of dioxin, but also, to create a link between Tommy and dioxin and yet another between Tommy and the murder. He knew too well that if he were to manage to do that, Angie’s murder was as good as solved. He had forensic scientists test Tommy's apartment for dioxin but that did not yield any fruits. All their tests came out as negative. That left the detective with the daunting task of devising more ways of creating those links that he was eagerly yearning for. He thought of some other few ideas but on further deliberation he realized that they would be ineffective. It was then that he dropped them and decided to change his approach.