Black Viper

by Christopher Speight

Just then Timothy Jordan walked into the living room and greeted them.

  “Hello Detectives,” he said, somberly.

  “Hey,. Tim. Where’s Marie?”

  “She’s in the kitchen with her daughter.”

  “How’s she holding up?” Amber asked.

  “Not good, but she’s doing her best to stay strong for her kid,” Tim said, leading them into the kitchen.

  When they got there, the sight before them nearly broke their hearts. Marie’s daughter Kylie sat at the kitchen table with her face in her hands. She was crying uncontrollably. Tears ran down both of her arms. Marie had her arms wrapped tightly around her daughter. Her chin rested on Kylie’s shoulder and she too had a river of tears flowing down her cheeks. Frank walked up behind her and placed a soft hand on her shoulder.

  “Captain, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to you and your children. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”

  Marie was numb. All she could do was nod her head. Frank grabbed Amber gently by the arm and whispered instructions into her ear. Amber nodded and, in turn, whispered into Timothy’s ear.

  “Okay,” he whispered. Timothy and Amber left the kitchen and made their way outside. Amber wanted to question him independently from the other officers.

  “Wow, I just can’t believe this,” Amber said once they got outside.

  “I know right? This is crazy! Who in their right mind would kill a cop’s spouse?”

  “Someone who’s apparently not afraid of the police.”

  “What’s your gut feeling?” Tim asked.

  “Well, without thoroughly examining the crime scene, I would say that this is a crime of passion.”

  Timothy continued to stare at Amber as if he were waiting for her to expound further. When she didn’t, he pressed forward.

  “So what would make you say that?”

  “Well, first of all, there was no sign of a struggle anywhere and nothing is missing, so it wasn’t a robbery. Seems like it was personal.”

  “You think so?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  “So why do you––”

  “Look, Timothy. I have a few questions to ask you,” Amber said, cutting him off. He was on a fishing expedition, and she wasn’t about to let him bait her.

  “Uh, okay, Detective. What is it?”

  “Well, for starters, and don’t get offended by this, but what are you doing here?”

  Timothy was taken aback by her question, but Amber refused to retract it. She knew her captain well enough to know that she would not have called Timothy, so it was gnawing at her about how he ended up there.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? You know, I did give you the courtesy of calling you and giving you a heads-up when I got here and found out what was going on.”

  “That’s what I mean. What were you doing here in the first place?”

  Timothy thought about lying, but quickly decided against it. The truth was going to come out about him and Donald having words at the restaurant, so he figured he might as well get ahead of it.

  “Actually, I came by to apologize to Captain Snyder. I was just about to ring the doorbell when I heard her scream. I didn’t know what was going on, but my instincts told me to get in there in a hurry. That’s when I went in and saw her staring at her husband in shock.”

  “Apologize? Apologize for what, Tim?”

  “Well, me and a couple of other officers were having dinner at this place called Red’s and we heard a commotion coming from another table. When I looked up, I saw that it was Captain Snyder, so I decided to go over and check it out.”

  “So, basically, what you’re telling me is that you interrupted her dinner with her husband because they were having an argument.”

  “Look, Detective, I had no idea that the man she was arguing with was her husband. Hell, I didn’t even know that she was married. I just saw some white man raising his voice to my Captain and decided to see what the problem was.” There was something about the way Timothy said white man that made Amber look at him differently.

  You mean you decided to take advantage of the opportunity to kiss her ass, Amber wanted to say.

  “Tim, did it ever occur to you that the man Captain Snyder was with might have been a business associate? Or even another law enforcement officer that she was having a disagreement with?”

  “I guess not,” Timothy said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Well, did you see anything or anyone that looked suspicious when you arrived?”

  Tim thought for a second before slowly shaking his head from side to side. “No, not anything that I can think of.”

  Amber cocked her head slightly. She found it hard to believe that a trained officer of the law could get to a crime scene and not notice anything.

  “Interesting,” she said. “So, who were the other officers you had dinner with?”

  “Carla and Ryan.”

  “Carla Johnson and Ryan Turner?”

  “Yes. Why? What does that have to do with anything?” he asked, slightly annoyed at her line of questioning.

  “Nothing at all. I just felt like being nosy,” Amber replied with a smile.

  “Oh, okay,” Timothy said, relaxing a bit. “For a minute there, I was starting to feel like a suspect.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because it sounded like you were interrogating me.”

  “Nah, like I said, I was just being nosy.”

  Just then the door opened, and Frank came out of the house. Worry lines were etched into his forehead.

  “Excuse me Detectives, but I’m going to go back inside and see if I can be of any assistance,” Timothy said. He nodded his head at Frank as he walked past him and back into Captain Snyder’s house. Frank nodded back but decided to wait until the young officer was gone to begin speaking.

  “So what did he have to say?”

  “Well, apparently, he and two other officers were at the same restaurant that Captain Snyder and her husband were.”

  “Really? That’s interesting. Anything else?”

  “From what he told me, he saw her arguing with her husband and went over to see what was going on.”

  Frank raised an eyebrow.

  “He said he didn’t know that was her husband.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Captain Snyder is more than capable of taking care of herself.”

  “Yeah, I know that and you know that. But Tim is a relative rookie to the job, so he doesn’t have a clue. To be honest, I think he just took advantage of the situation and decided to suck up.”

  Frank shook his head and laughed. “Amber, you think everyone is trying to suck up.”

  “That’s because in most cases, they are. But there was one thing that bothered me about our conversation, though.”

  “And . . . that would be . . .”, Frank asked when Amber hesitated.

  “I got the impression that he was disgusted by the fact that Captain Snyder was married to a white man.”

  Frank gave her a peculiar look. He hadn’t gotten that vibe from Timothy when he’d first met him.

  “What gave you that impression?” he asked.

  “Just the way he looked when he said, ‘white man.’ It almost appeared that he wanted to throw up when he said it.”

  “Hmmm. Maybe we should have a talk with him about that at some point. For right now though, we need to go back inside and support our captain.”

  32

  Marie Snyder sat inside Grace Baptist Church in silence. Her head hung low. Her grief-stricken soul ached. Tears dripped from her eyes and splashed onto the dark blue carpet. As a skillful soloist belted out a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace”, Marie thought about the good times she’d shared with her husband. She thought about the time they took the kids to the park and played Twister in the grass. She thought about the time they spent three passion filled-nights in a bed-and-breakfast in Norwalk, Ohio. Those memories caused a slight smile to grace her lips.
r />   As much as she remembered the good times however, she was also filled with loathing. The last six months of their marriage had been anything but fulfilling. Her bastard of a husband had been sleeping around on her with some floozy he routinely met at a bar. When Marie noticed changes in his behavior, she decided to hire a private investigator and have him followed. The PI not only provided her with pictures but also audio. It turned Marie’s stomach to hear him talk about how he was sick and tired of his sexless marriage. If only he would have come to her, maybe they could have worked it out.

  From her right, she heard the soft whimpers of Kylie. Marie leaned back and wrapped a reassuring arm around her daughter. Kylie leaned sideways and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gary, who was sitting on her left, lean forward and place his head in his hands. She placed her left hand on the back of his neck and stroked it gently. Marie was worried about her son. He hadn’t spoken a word since finding out about his father’s death. His face had remained stoic, although his mother could see the pain in his eyes. She now worried that he was on the verge of a breakdown.

  “Everything’s going to be okay, guys. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Much to her surprise, Gary stood up and stormed out of the sanctuary. She wanted to go after him to make sure that he was all right, but Kylie had begun to sob harder, so there was no way she could leave her. She just had to hope and pray that he could pull himself together.

  Marie closed her eyes and hugged her daughter tightly. She kissed her on the forehead and silently asked the Almighty to take the pain away for her children as well as herself. When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see Irene standing over her, staring down at her. Her blond hair was spiraled on top of her head. Her blue eyes were ice cold as she stood there glowering.

  Sensing that something was amiss, Kylie shifted her body to the right and moved away from her mother. Her young eyes traveled from one woman to the other. She knew that they didn’t care for each other but hoped that they were respectful enough of her father’s homegoing that they wouldn’t make a scene. Not wanting to look like a subordinate, Marie stood up to face her. The two women were similar in stature, so they were pretty much eye to eye. The look in Irene’s eyes told Marie to brace for a showdown. She gritted her teeth and stiffened her spine in anticipation of her sister-in-law making a scene. Much to Marie’s surprise, however, Irene did something totally unexpected and out of character. She lunged forward . . . and enclosed Marie in a loving bearhug.

  “I’m so sorry, Marie. I know you loved my brother.”

  “Yes, Irene, I did.”

  Irene squeezed Marie tighter and, for a split second, Marie actually thought that her sister-in-law gave a damn about her. That thought quickly vanished when Irene whispered something into her ear that caused a cold chill to run down her spine.

  “But I loved him more, and since I blame you for this, I’m going to spend the rest of my natural life making you pay for it.”

  Marie pulled back and looked deep into Irene’s eyes. “Did you just threaten an officer of the law?”

  A sinister smile appeared on Irene’s face as she prepared to answer the question. She’d never been arrested before, but for one brief second, she thought about chancing it by slapping Marie across the face.

  “Of course not. I would never threaten an officer of the law, Captain Snyder. But like I said, this is all your fault.”

  “Irene, someone broke into our home and murdered my husband. Please tell me how this is my fault.”

  “You married him,” Irene spat. “Had you not dug your venomous, nigger claws into him he would still be alive.”

  Marie’s mouth fell open. She was genuinely shocked. It took every ounce of her willpower not to choke the life out of her.

  “Irene . . . I advise you to get the hell out of here before I do something that I’m going to regret.”

  “Just remember my words,” Irene said, before turning and walking back toward the casket. She took one last look at it before making her way up the aisle and through the exit.

  From the other side of the room, Frank and Amber witnessed the entire exchange. They’d heard rumblings that Marie didn’t get along with her in-laws, but no one had ever been bold enough, or stupid enough, to ask Marie about it.

  “Wow. What do you think they were saying to each other?” Amber asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but from the look on Captain Snyder’s face, they won’t be having lunch with each other anytime soon.”

  33

  Marie sat on the toilet with her elbows on her thighs and her head in her palms. She was exhausted. Although she knew they meant well, having Donald’s friends and family as well as hers constantly in her space during the repast had been more tiring than working a sixteen-hour shift. All she wanted to do was go home, relax, and comfort her children.

  After she was done, she opened the stall and walked toward the sink. While she was washing her hands, the bathroom door opened and in walked Officer Carla Johnson. She was an athletically built woman who stood a shade under six feet tall. Her skin was the color of bronze. Her black, shoulder length hair was curled inward at the shoulders with the front cut in a bang. Casually, Carla strolled over next to Marie and stood in front of the sink beside her. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, two other officers came into the bathroom. One of them walked into the stall vacated by Marie and closed the door. The other one walked to a mirror and started fondling with her hair. Carla gave her a quick glance before turning her attention back to Marie and continuing with her statement.

  “Once again, Captain, I’m sorry about your husband,” she said.

  “Thank you, Carla. I appreciate that.”

  “You must be exhausted.”

  “I am. This all feels like a bad dream.”

  “I’m sure it does ma’am. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.”

  “Thank you, Carla. I’ll do that.”

  Marie then gave Carla a weak smile and headed for the exit.

  34

  It was seven o’clock Saturday morning when a few rays from the sun decided to slide through the blinds and break through Frank’s eyelids. Instead of turning his body so that they weren’t such an annoyance, Frank decided that he would get up, make himself a cup of coffee, and sit on his porch. Sitting up in his bed, he stretched his arms high above his head and yawned before using the forefingers on each hand to push the sleep from the corners of his eyes.

  When he felt that he was awake enough, Frank got out of his bed and threw on his robe. Afterwards, he made his way downstairs and into his kitchen. He didn’t know why, but something told him to make an entire pot of coffee instead of the one or two cups he usually made. Franklin Stone was a man who followed his instincts, so without a second thought he filled the coffee pot to the line marked full and pressed the on button.

  While the coffee was brewing, he walked to his front door, opened it, and peered out. He was surprised to see that it was foggy outside. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was going on seven fifteen. The kids would be up in another couple of hours, and it would be time for them to visit wife.

  A few minutes later, Frank walked back into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of steaming hot java, complete with one cream and five sugars. As the saying goes, Frank liked coffee in his sugar. After taking a sip, he slowly strolled toward the front door. Thoughts of his wife dominated his mind as he pushed it open and walked outside. Frank closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of fresh air.

  “Good morning early riser,” he heard someone address him. Frank opened his eyes to see Sadie sitting in her chair, smiling at him.

  “Good morning. What the devil are you doing up this time of the morning, old lady?”

  “Old lady? Who you calling old lady? I got your old lady,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Hey, I don’t want no problems,” Frank said with a smile.
r />   “Oh, I know that. You don’t want this smoke youngster.”

  Sadie held up both fists as if she were getting ready to go twelve rounds. Frank twisted his lips at hearing her use such a hip analogy.

  “What? You didn’t know I was cool and hip?”

  “I guess not.”

  “Well, you know now. You got any more coffee brewing in there or is that the last cup?”

  “One cup of java, coming right up old . . . I mean young lady.” Frank laughed out loud as he made his way back into the house. When he came back outside, he was met with a stern frown.

  “You know, you’re not to old for me to put you over my knee and give you a good spanking.”

  “I’m just teasing you Sadie. You know I love you.”

  “Um hmm,” Sadie mumbled as she reached out and took the cup with both hands. A light breeze passed through and caused her to shiver slightly.

  “You okay?” Frank asked her.

  “Always,” she responded with a smile. “I’m surprised that you’re not in there cooking breakfast for you and the kiddies.”

  “Not today. I’m going to surprise them by taking them to McDonald’s.”

  Sadie opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, pretending like she was gaging.

  “What?”

  “McDonald’s? That processed crap will kill you.”

  Frank looked at Sadie likes she’d lost her mind. “Wait a minute. As I recalled, I bought you McDonald’s last week, and you sat up here and scoffed it down like it was the last meal you were ever going to eat on earth. Now you want to sit here and act like it ain’t good enough for my kids?”

  “There is a major difference between me and your kids. I’m sixty-three years old. I’ve pretty much lived my life. I’m headed toward the finish line, but those babies have a lot of living to do and I’d hate to see their lives cut short because you were too lazy to cook them a decent breakfast.”

  “Well, one fast-food breakfast ain’t going to kill them. Besides, I don’t feel like cooking this morning. I mean, come on Sadie. You know good and damn well both of them will be excited as hell to get some McDonald’s. As a matter of fact, I don’t know of any kid who doesn’t like Micky Dee’s.”