by Linda Verji
“Hey,” the kid called out as he held up a bunch of keys. “Y’all sure you won’t need no keys or nothing to get in?”
It looked like he was used to cops coming in here chasing after someone. With a shake of his head, Lucas gestured for the kid to follow them too.
Ignoring the yellowed walls that were spray-painted with all sorts of cuss words, Lucas took the stairs two by two. As soon as they emerged on the fourth floor, Lucas spotted one of the tenants getting out of his house. However, when the tenant saw the two uniforms behind Lucas, he immediately rushed back into his own apartment and slammed the door. Fortunately for him, the cops were only interested in one house.
“Teddy. Teddy Bryk.” Lucas banged on the door to Teddy’s apartment. “This is Detective Lucas Gallo. Please open the door. We’d like to talk to you.”
There was no response. In fact Lucas couldn’t even hear any shuffling behind the door.
He repeated, “Teddy. This is Detective Lucas Gallo. We talked the other day. Detective West sent me to check on you. Are you okay?”
There was no response.
“Teddy,” Lucas said as he gestured for Fidel, the building manager, to come closer with his keys. “I’m coming in.”
Fidel’s keys jangled as he pressed one into the lock. A minute later, the lock snapped. His gun out, Lucas gestured for the boy to step aside then he turned the doorknob. As soon as the door opened and Lucas stepped into the living room, he realized why Teddy wasn’t answering.
“Damn it,” Lucas cussed underneath his breath as his attention immediately riveted on the couch.
As if he could sense that something was wrong, Shane called right then.
The moment Lucas answered, Shane said, “It’s seven and Teddy’s not here yet.”
“I think I know why,” Lucas said even as he stared at the man himself.
A horrified gasp echoed behind Lucas, courtesy of Fidel, the building manager. The cause of the gasp was obvious. A glassy eyed Teddy, dried foam staining the side of his mouth, sat slumped back in the gray couch staring unseeingly at the plasma TV. On the coffee-table in front of him were several pill-bottles in various states, from standing to upended to lying on the table. Around the bottles were several white pills.
“You found him?” Shane’s voice echoed in Lucas’s ears.
“Yup. Found him alright.” Lucas broke the news. “He’s dead.”
CHAPTER 19
“We won’t know until Franklin takes a look at him,” Andrea, one of the countless Crime Scene Investigators milling around the apartment, said. She snapped another picture of the dead Teddy. “But it looks like a suicide.”
“It’s not a suicide,” Lucas and Shane said together.
Both detectives were checking out the apartment to see if there was anything that could tell them what had happened. Lucas was by the bookcase thumbing through Teddy’s extensive collection of books, while Shane was rifling through his desk.
Andrea’s gaze shifted between the detectives. “How do you know it’s not a suicide? Nothing here says suicide.”
Shane snorted. “You mean besides him calling us just hours before his ‘suicide’ saying that someone was after him?”
“Also,” Lucas chimed in, “if it’s a suicide, where’s the water?”
Everyone’s attention shifted to the coffee-table. The stage had been set up perfectly – well… almost perfectly. Teddy looked like a man who’d decided to end his life by overdosing on all the pills he could find. There was even a receipt next to one of the pill-bottles conveniently showing the website where he’d ordered his pills from. However, the creative mind behind this whole scene had forgotten one crucial element. One couldn’t swallow all those pills without down them with water.
Where was the water?
“Oh! I didn’t even notice that. Good catch!” Shane gave Lucas a thumbs-up before going back to inspecting Teddy’s workstation. A second later, he pronounced, “His P.C’s hard-drive is missing?”
“It’s not there?” Lucas strode towards his partner.
“Nope.” Shane lowered to his haunches as if to check beneath the desk but came up with nothing. “It’s gone.”
“Think the killer took it?” Lucas asked.
“Probably.” Shane rose to his full height. “Why would they take the hard-drive?”
“Maybe it had the video evidence that Teddy was trying to give us,” Lucas suggested.
“You’re probably right.” Shane frowned. “What could be in that video?”
“Whatever it was, it must’ve been incriminating judging by how much Walcott paid Teddy for it.”
“You think Michael Walcott is behind this?”
Lucas shrugged. “Could be. Or maybe someone related to him.”
“Maybe they-” Shane nodded in the direction of the CSIs who were wiping the place down. “-can find something.”
“Maybe,” Lucas said but even he could hear the disbelief in his own voice. Despite the ‘missing water’ mistake, the killer seemed like a professional. Apart from the missing hard-drive, the room was undisturbed and there were no traces of anyone else having been in the apartment.
Just then the uniformed officers who’d been going around the building looking to see if anyone had seen or heard anything walked into the apartment. The detectives immediately crossed over to them for an update.
“Nothing.” Officer Devon Martin shook his head. “Everyone claims that they saw nothing and heard nothing.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Lucas snorted. “This place looks like the kind of place where people would close their eyes so they don’t have to talk to us.”
“What about CCTV footage?” Shane asked. “I saw a few cams in the hallways when I was coming in.”
“Toy cams,” Officer Terrence Yale, the other uniform, said. “The building manager kid put them up so he could scare the tenants after a few inside-job break-ins.”
“Too bad.” Shane sighed. He turned to Lucas. “You said the door was locked when you came in, right?”
“Yeah.” Lucas nodded.
“Then how did the killer get out?”
Lucas gestured towards the window. “There’s a fire-escape running beneath it.”
Both detectives strode over to the window to take a look. The fire-escape conveniently ran beside Teddy’s window right down to an alleyway. Unfortunately, now that it was nighttime, it was too dark for them to see what was below.
“Have you checked if anyone saw anything down there?” Lucas asked the uniformed officers. When both uniforms shook their heads, Lucas gestured to his partner. “Let’s go check it out.”
After grabbing flashlights, they headed out of the building. At first sight, the alleyway looked just as deserted as it had seemed when looking at it from high above. However, as they walked through it, Shane spotted a bunch of boxes that had been arranged into some kind of makeshift home. There was even a supermarket cart parked beside the ‘home’ and fabric hanging over what looked like the door.
“Hello?” Lucas knocked on the cardboard. “Anyone home?”
There was shifting inside the home but no one spoke up.
“Hello?” Lucas grabbed the fabric hanging in front of the door and shook it a little. “Anyone home.”
There was more shuffling then the ‘door’ flew inwards. Soon a face emerged from the depths of the cardboard home. When Lucas trained his flashlight on the person, they raised a hand to block their eyes. Lucas immediately lowered his flashlight then took a better look at the home-owner.
At first glance it was hard to tell whether this was a man or woman. The person’s features were strong enough that it could be either. Furthermore, the person was bundled in a heavy hooded jacket that prevented identification.
“What you want?” The voice was high enough that Lucas immediately identified it as that of a woman. The home-owner’s eyes narrowed as she took them all in. “What do you want?”
“Hi,” Lucas said. “We’re from the Chan
cery Police Department-”
Even before Lucas could flash his badge, the ‘door’ came down. A moment later, it lifted again, but this time it was because its occupant was crawling out. She was holding a bundle of clothes and a blue polythene bag. Once she stood up, it was clear that she was really tall. Almost as tall as Lucas.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” the woman said as she stuffed her belongings into the shopping cart. “I’ll leave. I’ll leave.”
“No. No. No.” Shane moved forward to stop her but as soon as he did, the woman took a frightened step backwards. Lifting his hand to show that he wasn’t trying to harm her, Shane said, “We’re not here to kick you out.”
“Then what are you here for?” She moved the cart in front of her protectively. “You here to arrest me? I haven’t stolen anything. I swear.”
“We’re not here to arrest you either.” Lucas made his voice deliberately soothing. “We’re just here to ask you some questions.”
The woman’s gaze promptly changed from frightened to wary. “Questions about what?”
“Something happened up there.” Shane pointed up to Teddy’s apartment. “And we’re trying to find out if anyone saw anything.”
The woman was still suspicious. “So you’re not here to kick me out or to arrest me?”
“No. Not all, Ma’am,” Lucas said.
The woman seemed to relax in that instant. She even moved her cart slightly to the side.
Lucas asked, “What’s your name?”
The woman paused. “Hermione Granger.”
Lucas almost laughed. Obviously, she wasn’t Hermione Granger. He should’ve been pissed off by the blatant lie, but he wasn’t. In fact, he understood the woman. He’d been homeless for a few days after his father’s arrest. Back then, he didn’t trust anyone and would often give fake names if asked to identify himself. The false name was the woman’s way of protecting herself.
“Miss Granger,” he asked. “Did you see anything?”
She frowned. “Something like what?”
“Maybe someone running or someone strange coming down the fire-escape?” Shane offered. “Not long ago. Maybe an hour or so ago.”
“Oh!” Hermione’s eyes lit up. “You mean the man who jumped down from up there? Almost ruined my house.”
Lucas heart immediately leaped in excitement. “You mean you saw someone?”
“Well, not really.” The woman immediately doused his excitement. “It was pretty dark, and by the time I got out of my house he was already running in that direction.” She pointed towards the main road.
“Can you describe him even a bit,” Shane said. “Maybe his height, what he was wearing… that sort of thing.”
“I don’t know.” The woman cocked her head and squinted. “He was average height, wearing all black, slender… Ah, and he was white. I remember he turned a little when I shouted at him to stop. Oh… and he was also wearing glasses.”
“Glasses?” Shane and Lucas traded looks. Average height, white, slender, glasses? They both knew someone who fitted that description and was among their suspects. August Wells.
“Yeah, glasses.” Hermione nodded. “I remember thinking it was odd. People with glasses are usually so mannerly.”
That was the most ‘Hermione’ could give them. After buying her dinner and giving her the address to a good homeless shelter, they left to interview owners of the stores adjacent to the route the killer had used. Unfortunately, there were more than twenty stores along that route.
“Looks like we’re in for an all-nighter.” Shane sighed as he looked at all the people who’d gathered to watch Teddy’s body being carted into the coroner’s van.
“Looks like it,” Lucas agreed.
Shane sighed again. This time more heavily. “I guess that means your date is canceled.”
“My date?” For a second Lucas didn’t know what his partner was talking about. Then it hit him. Jasmine. “Shit!”
He pulled his phone from his pocket. Ever since he’d received her message that she was leaving work, he hadn’t used his phone again and had practically forgotten its existence. When he swiped his finger over its screen, he saw a message from her.
Waited for you, but when you didn’t turn up I left. She’d texted over an hour ago.
He immediately dialed her number.
It took a while but finally, she picked up. “Yeah?”
“Did you wait for long?” he asked.
“Hmm,” she offered nonchalantly.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“You okay there?”
“If I wasn’t, we wouldn’t be on the phone,” she retorted. Her answer was as curt as her tone and he could tell that she was angry with him.
Wincing, he said, “Sorry. I should’ve called.”
She didn’t say anything.
“A case came up and I kind of got distracted,” he explained. “I’m sorry.”
“Okay.” It sounded like the kind of okay a woman might give when they really wanted to say, ‘I’m still pissed as hell’.
He rubbed his neck as he tried to figure out what to say to assuage her anger. When nothing came, he just said, “I might not be able to make it home tonight.”
“What?” It was the first emotional reaction from her. She sounded anxious as she asked, “Why not?”
“The case is a bit complicated and we need to do some footwork,” he explained. “But you don’t need to worry. I’ll make sure that someone is watching your house tonight, okay? And I’ll pass by tomorrow.”
Jasmine didn’t say anything but he could feel her anxiety through the line. Her anxiety sent confused emotions pulsing through him. First was worry. As confident as he was that his fellow officers could keep her safe, he also didn’t like her feeling nervous. However, it also made him a bit cheerful. When he’d left earlier in the day, she’d seemed indifferent to whether he went or stayed. It was nice to know that she wasn’t so indifferent.
* * *
JASMINE DIDN’T SEE Lucas until the following evening. When he finally showed up on her doorstep, all she could do was stare at him in awe.
“You look like crap!” she declared.
Lucas laughed. “Thanks.”
He really looked awful. His hair was ruffled as if he’d been running his hands through it all night long, and his eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept at all. The navy shirt and denim pants he was wearing were both creased as if he’d worn them for two days straight. Worse, a stain of something that looked like ketchup ran along the front of his shirt.
“Was the case that bad?” she asked as she ushered him into the house.
His only response was a brief nod as he headed towards the living room, but by the shadows in his eyes she could tell that the case had been quite taxing. She ached to embrace him – almost followed him and slipped her arms around his waist.
But she didn’t.
The knowledge that they were nothing more than exes stopped her. Instead, she bustled around the apartment, making him dinner. The moment she set his plate in front of him, he gobbled up his food like a starving man. He was practically inhaling the spaghetti and meatballs.
What kind of case could put him in this state?
“What was the case about?” she asked. However, a moment later, she remembered that his cases were supposed to be confidential. She winced. “Sorry. Ignore the question. I forgot that I’m not supposed to ask about cases you’re working on.”
“Actually-” Lucas looked up from his food to meet her eyes. “-this one might involve you?”
She pointed at herself. “Me?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated for a moment before revealing, “Teddy’s dead.”
“What?” She gasped and her hand flew to her chest.
“Teddy’s dead,” Lucas repeated.
“When… how…” Jasmine took a deep breath to quiet her racing heart. “How did he die?”
“Murdered.” Lucas turned his attent
ion back to his food. “Last night.”
“Murdered? Someone killed him?” She offered him an incredulous stare. “Who?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” He speared his fork into the spaghetti then rolled it around.
Really? Teddy was dead? Just the other day that he was offering to make her a star.
A sudden thought struck her. “Does this have anything to do with York’s death?”
Lucas only shrugged, but for some reason it left her with the impression that he suspected the same thing. However, his demeanor left no doubt that he wouldn’t be answering anymore questions. So she stopped asking. But that didn’t mean she stopped wondering.
If this had something to do with York, did it mean that Teddy knew how he’d died? Had the same person who’d killed York murdered Teddy too? Was that someone Michael Walcott? The man was dangerous enough that Jasmine wouldn’t put murder past him.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she forgot to keep eating. It was only when Lucas stood up with his empty plate that she came alive.
“There’s more if you want.” She pointed to the saucepan on the stove.
“I’ve already gone for two more rounds.” Lucas laughed as he circled the island to set his plate in the sink. “If I eat anymore, I might burst.”
“I don’t think so.” Jasmine cocked her head as she pretended to study his stomach. The man’s tummy was as washboard flat as ever. She shook her head disapprovingly. “It doesn’t look like you’re about to burst.”
“Believe me if I could eat more, I would,” he said as he rubbed his stomach. “You’ve really gotten better at this cooking-gig. It’s like you went from one to one hundred.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a diss.”
He grinned. “It’s a compliment.”
“Thanks… I guess.” She couldn’t help grinning too. “I’m surprised you still remember how bad my cooking was.”
“I remember everything,” he said.
They were just three words but the tender way he said them and the way he looked at her as he did sent a wave of heat through her. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Memories rushed in. Memories of her packing lunch so they could eat together in school, memories of picnics by the river, cheerful days at the amusement park.