James Locker- The Duality of Fate

by Martin Lundqvist

  Officer Mason

  - We met Michael Fuller who supposedly was meeting a friend in the building in the elevator. He was blind drunk. Didn’t he resign immediately due to health reasons?

  John Dean:

  - Well officially I am not supposed to say anything, but his alcoholism WAS the health reason. Now if you excuse me.

  John Dean entered the room where Jessica Hall was lying dead. The entire bed was soaked with blood which John Dean knew was an indication that the heart of the victim had been pumping for quite some while before she finally passed away. The heart pumping for a while seemed strange to him as he could count multiple bullet wounds on her severed body where one of them was in the head. As John realised that he would probably get an explanation after the autopsy, he searched her belongings for an ID card. He found one stating that she was born on the 26th of August 1993 and thus she had been killed on her birthday. "Hell of a birthday," he thought, but then he saw something that was interesting; her name. "Jessica Hall, why does that name ring a bell?" He thought for a while and then he realised the connection which made him very uncomfortable.

  5.2 "Rise and shine Cinderella."

  JAMES LOCKER WOKE UP from his slumber by someone banging on his front door. Considering the break-in the night before, his first reaction was fear, and he reached for his gun which he was keeping in his bedside drawer. Why had he turned down Barry Itch's offer regarding police protection? It seemed like a dumb choice considering the circumstances, but somehow he did not want to appear weak in front of his peers. Startled by the noise of someone banging on his door however it would indeed be an excellent choice to have someone protecting him. Then again what would it help? If whoever threatening him wanted him dead, he would be dead already so it must just be someone fucking with his mind. Then he heard Adam Smith's voice calling his name, and he felt relieved. He checked his nightstand watch. It showed 3.00 AM with an intense glowing light, almost like the time had some magical feeling to it? Hadn't he seen this exact time on the clock not too long ago? Then again he knew that the human brain was programmed to see patterns, and if someone were looking too much for a pattern, they would see a pattern that did not exist. This trait was usually called paranoia, and James knew that he should try avoiding it as much as possible.

  James Locker put on his pants, holstered his gun and went to open the door. He saw Adam Smith who looked puzzled.

  Adam Smith:

  - Finally! Rise and Shine Cinderella!

  James Locker:

  - Hey, Adam. What's going on? Why are you knocking on my door in the middle of the night?

  Adam Smith:

  - That question is closely related to my question; why are you not answering your phone? We have been trying to reach you for 50 minutes.

  James Locker:

  - Really?

  Adam Smith:

  - Yeah really. And I have been knocking on your door for 10 minutes as well. I was even considering breaking in, to check you out, but then I remembered your “please shoot me” incident from this Saturday and decided not to.

  James Locker:

  - That night is blurry to me. What the fuck happened.

  Adam Smith:

  - Well, you were drunk, and you insisted that either Thomas should shoot you or you would shoot him. So he shot you in the shoulder, and you played dead for a while. Then you jumped up unhurt because you were very wearing body armour all along.

  James Locker:

  - Oh shit, I better stay off the piss. Oh well, where are we going?

  Adam Smith

  - To the Central Business District.

  James Locker:

  - I see, why was this case assigned to our team? We already have a case.

  Adam Smith:

  - Well either because of Murphy's Law as I had some crazy sex with my psychologist booty call or because Central Command thinks this case is connected with the one we already have. Pick one!

  James Locker:

  - Got it. Oh well give me a second, and I'll be good to go.

  Having said this James Locker got dressed, and they commuted to the crime scene in Adam Smith's car as James Locker felt he had too bad of a headache to be able to drive. He had considered the option to use some of the leftover cocaine from the weekend that passed to clear his mind up, but he realised that once someone followed that path most of the time, it would just lead downhill. James Locker checked his phone, and as Adam Smith had told him, there were a lot of missed calls on his display. How could he not have been awoken by any of those calls? And even more strange why did he stay asleep for ten minutes with Adam Smith banging on the door? Could it be the antidepressants he was using that put him in too deep sleep? James for sure had needed them to regain his energy after the heavy partying the weekend that had passed, but was it worth the side effects? He must have been sleeping for nine hours straight and yet he was exhausted. After this thought James Locker fell asleep and slept for the rest of the drive.

  5.3 James Locker arrives at the murder scene

  AS THE LAST MEMBERS of the team James Locker and Adam Smith arrived at the crime scene. James Locker was surprised that a very young single female could afford a place like, as it was a luxurious two bedroom unit in the CBD overlooking The Sydney Harbour. John Dean greeted them as they arrived.

  John Dean:

  - Hello, gentlemen, running a bit late are we?

  Adam Smith:

  - Well someone had to wake Cinderella up, not the easiest of tasks.

  James Locker:

  - Well, and I had some trouble sleeping, so I consumed a sleeping pill. But hey we are here now, safe and sound, so let's waste no more time on Snitchy remarks, so we have more time to solve the case.

  John Dean:

  - Well, you better stay alert James. It's the second time you have been late to a crime scene in one week. Protocol states.

  James Locker

  - Well, the contract says a lot of things; for starters that a subordinate should focus on his work and not the time management skills of his boss. I know I am late and I don't need you to whine about it at every moment.

  John Dean:

  - Understood sir!

  James Locker

  - So now, show me what you have and tell me what you know.

  They walked into the bedroom where the corpse of Jessica Hall was. James Locker felt a sense of shock when his gaze met her cold dead gaze. He knew this girl from somewhere he had met her before. But from where and when did James meet her? His headache was killing him, and he could not focus. All of a sudden he felt very nauseous and went to the toilet to throw up.

  Adam Smith approached Thomas Anderson.

  - I wonder what's wrong with James, first the Cinderella thing and then the concept of throwing up when seeing a corpse. He has been in this job for what? Eight years? He should be able to handle it by now, and by the way, this is a relatively clean crime scene.

  Thomas Anderson:

  - Valid point. A real waste of such a beauty though. Quite strange though this is the second young and wealthy female gunshot victim we have had in a week.

  - Considering the demographics of murder victims and how they are killed. This seems like a highly unlikely event.

  Adam Smith:

  - Yeah it does not looks like there was any struggle either, do you think it’s the same killer?

  Thomas Anderson:

  - I prefer to not say more until I got all the facts but central command seems to think so as our team they dispatched our team to the site although we already have one case.

  - What troubles me was James reaction; I saw recognition in his eyes. He must have met this girl before.

  Adam Smith:

  - I find it troubling that you overanalyse people's eye movements. But let's say you are right, what's the problem?

  - Oh, here he comes let's ask him.

  Thomas Anderson

  - Hey, James! Are you alright? Have not seen you vomit after witnessing a murder victim
before. Was anything special with this one?

  James Locker:

  - I don't know. Her face seemed familiar, but I can't tell from where. What do you know about her?

  Thomas Anderson:

  - Her name was Jessica Hall, and she was 20 years old. She was initially from Tamworth, but after taking her High School Certificate, she moved to Sydney.

  - Oh, and her taxed income and assets were meagre, so there is something fishy about her staying in an apartment like this.

  James Locker:

  - Oh, Tamworth. That makes sense my sister moved out there some years ago when she married that farmer guy. I have been there a few times since when visiting my sister. I must have seen this woman there somewhere.

  After having said that James remembered where he had seen the Jessica Hall before. It had been in a school theatre play in Tamworth three years ago. She was a stunning beauty at the stage in that lousy play, and he had felt double shame for feeling attracted to her. Partly because she was so much younger than him but also since he was engaged to Emily Luong at the time. He knew that he should not have felt any shame at the time since he did not act on his feelings. And biologically there was nothing strange about him being attracted to 17 years old as she was a fully matured at the time. When thinking back at that event, James Locker realised that most humans would always be trapped between on the one side mixing their genes with others people that attracted them and on the other hand staying faithful to the person in his or her heart. Hearing the voice of Adam Smith awoke James from his thoughts.

  Adam Smith:

  - Look what I found! A couple of thousand dollars is just lying around in cash hidden among her underwear. I think this woman was an escort, the kind that is out of our sorry police salary range.

  Samantha Robinson joined in on the conversation

  - I would beg to differ. Most of the clothing in the wardrobes are very conservative and not very sexy. Why would an escort have that much traditional dresses?

  Adam Smith:

  - Hey, Sammy, remember that you are the only woman working in the unit, so don't expect any useful input on your latest fashion statements.

  Samantha Robinson:

  - Well from a man who has worked for five years and never received a raise I would not expect any beneficial input at all. What do you think about it, Thomas?

  Thomas Anderson:

  - I think your sense of fashion is excellent and you are by far the most attractive person in this room.

  Samantha Robinson:

  - Thank you, Thomas. It's a relief to me that you are not into necrophilia either.

  James Locker:

  - Okay. Enough of this. I am heading to the Office and will be coordinating our efforts from there. John, you will check the videos and surveillance systems of this building. I saw a key card panel when I got here so that one would register anyone entering or exiting the building. Thomas, you do what you do the best check all the computers and electronic media for clues. The rest of you. Knock doors in the building ask everyone, and I mean everyone if they have seen or noticed anything suspicious the last few days. Oh, and I need a volunteer to go to Tamworth and question Jessica Hall's family and friends to see if anyone has heard any reason as to why someone would want to have her killed.

  Adam Smith:

  - Okay, I'll go. Will give me a chance to see James' sister again. Yummy!

  James Locker:

  - Okay, but no inappropriate ideas, otherwise I am quite sure her husband will shove a pitchfork up your ass.

  Adam Smith:

  - Yippy! A freaky threesome with some creepy farmers! Can almost be better than the weekend that passed. See you in a couple of days.

  James Locker:

  - I am not even going to comment on that.

  After finishing at the crime scene, James Locker started walking towards the police station. The crimes he had at hand were impossible to understand. It was highly uncommon that women were killed in this fashion, most of the time he had a female murder victim, the killer was a jealous and impulsive partner or ex-partner. If it indeed was the same killer as with Miranda DiMaestro the killer certainly did not fit the typical wife killer profile. Antonio DiMaestro was still the primary suspect in the Miranda DiMaestro case, but the man was nowhere to be found. Organized crime had been looking for him for almost two months now since the Lopez case, and they had come up empty-handed. With suspected drug barons the problem was not usually finding them but connecting them to the crime so why and where was Antonio DiMaestro hiding?

  James Locker yet again felt that his headache was preventing him from thinking clearly and decided to have a nap at his office as soon as he got there. In a way, he felt ashamed over, sleeping at work but one the other hand he was not useful to anyone as long as his headache was this bad.

  5.4 Trouble with the Bitch

  JAMES LOCKER HAD BEEN sleeping a long a dreamless sleep when he woke up by a twitch. Someone was knocking on his office door. He checked his wristwatch which indicated that the time was 8 AM and thus he had been sleeping four hours straight since he entered his room. On the bright side, his headache was gone, and he felt a lot better, and on the not so bright side he had severely shirked his duties and was far behind schedule. James Locker realised however that since no-one had called him, he could blame his lack of progress on the fact that he was still waiting for information. He opened the door and faced Barry Itch. James Locker's first feeling was not shamed but annoyed. The meeting with the BITCH was supposed to be eight hours after each new murder case, and yet here he was less than five hours after James had left the crime scene. From Barry Itch's body language James Locker understood that this was not going to be a pleasant meeting even before the talking had begun.

  Barry Itch:

  - How are the cases going? You won't catch many criminals as long as you sit here, rolling your thumbs.

  James Locker:

  - Um, that is correct sir, but someone has to coordinate the team. I reckoned that since we are working on two cases simultaneously we needed to divide our resources and someone needs to organise our resources. That someone is me. Why are we working on two different cases by the way? I mean we don't know that the cases are connected yet.

  Barry Itch:

  - Well to answer your question. The reason you got assigned this second case is that high command is convinced we are looking for a serial killer. After all, considering how uncommon it is that young women are killed point blank with several gunshot wounds and no sexual violence, it must be a serial killer. But the reason I am coming by is that I question your reason for being in your office. That is weak leadership, and since no-one is working on the DiMaestro case during the night, you don't need to go here, when you are much more useful on site.

  James Locker:

  - Understood. I am still very new to the leadership and responsibility aspect of police work. Michael Fuller was a great detective, but he was not the kind of person that made other individuals grow.

  Barry Itch:

  - I know how Michael Fuller was. Although I did not agree with his leadership principles at all, he achieved excellent results, better than anyone else has ever produced.

  - Now it's time to step up a level James. I want my eight-hour report in two hours!

  After Barry Itch had left the office, James felt the panic and the shame take his grip on him. Summarising eight hours work in two hours was not an easy task even though it was doable as the initial crime scene report was not an extensive report anyway. He could not understand for himself what made him this tired all the time? After all, he had taken sleeping pills every night the last week early on to get a good night's sleep. Most of the nights he slept like a baby and some of the nights he woke up around 3 am. But even those nights he would objectively get enough sleep if he went to bed at 8 PM? Maybe it was the performance anxiety that drove him crazy, after all leading a crime unit had been his dream ever since he joined the force and now it could slip out of hi
s fingers if he did not improve his performance. After thinking about this for a while, James Locker realised that if it indeed were the performance anxiety that was weighing him down, the best option would be to not think about it all, but instead carry on performing the duties he performed as Police Inspector under Michael Fuller. After all, that was a role where he had prevailed.

  After finishing his train of thought, James Locker felt confident that this day would be a day to shine. Feeling this way he started making the necessary phone calls to acquire the information needed to compile the eight-hour report.

  5.5 Lunchtime chat between Thomas Anderson and Adam Smith

  AFTER MANY HOURS OF dedicated work, the dynamic duo Thomas Anderson and Adam Smith decided to go for lunch. Since they had been without food for a long time they decided to go for a buffet and since they had been unable to get any raise since the two of them started in the unit; they were going to a cheap Asian diner. After stilling their worst hunger, they began talking.

  Thomas Anderson:

  - You look extremely tired Adam. It’s like you have not slept in days. How do I know that you are not the one who killed Jessica Hall? It would explain the bags under your eyes...

  Adam Smith:

  - Now I feel very insulted! You can’t honestly think that I would kill such a beauty? Such a waste for the sake of mankind. I would much rather fuck her.