William stood in the doorway across from her, dressed in his police uniform, both hands behind his back. Although she couldn’t see it, she knew he held his hat in his right hand.
“Good afternoon, William,” she said, a smile playing on her lips. “It’s a beautiful afternoon, isn’t it?”
“Yes it is,” he was polite. “We need to look deeper into the cases we have,”
She was not ready for his opinion. He was a rookie and that was it.
“Someone else will get hurt,” he continued. There was something vulnerable about Sally, from the information he gathered about her, he knew she was not the trusting type. She hated men after her past experience. He wanted to remain and be known as a rookie, without disclosing his past in the marine corps.
“You need to know that things don’t have instant solution here in the police force. We need time to gather more evidence before we jump into conclusion like amateurs.” She said.
“I get you point loud and clear, I know I’m a rookie but there’s more to this story than meets the eye.” He looked her straight in the eyes. He could see the pain and relief in her eyes. She was hiding something or hiding from someone.
“This is something really big, we really need to have some fun out tonight.” William continued.
“Are you asking me out?” she sounded serious and offended.
She looked over at the rookie, her appointed partner, seems the rookie was always looking for reasons to go out and party, no matter how serious the matter was. “You can’t be serious William; I can’t drink the day before we close this case.”
“Why do you have to be so rigid boss?” William said. He sounded formal. Something inside her was telling her to go, she stopped going out when she broke up with her ex-boyfriend. She was so focused on her job, she even neglected her love life.
“I didn’t mean that we hit the clubs until morning,” he insisted, “We can just have a little wine over the happy hour, and be back home before the nine o’clock news.”
“I can’t do it, I have a lot to catch up on.” She said motioning to the business suit she was wearing.
“Please,” he insisted.
“Let’s do this William, how about you and I grab a glass of wine tomorrow after work?” She offered. “Getting through one working day in this city will be enough reason to celebrate.”
“Sounds fair to me.”
“In the meantime, keep digging more about his relatives, we need to find his parents or ex-wife. Bring me anything before making assumptions.” She motioned him to the door. William kept quiet as he walked out of her office.
****
By the end of the day, William and Sally had tracked down Leo Harris's family. He was a thirty-two single public defender who worked hard during the week, and partied harder on the weekends. His parents, Nickson and Georgina Harris lived just an hour away. Nickson was a foreman on a construction site and Georgina was a homemaker. Georgina buried her face in tears and grief on the couch beside her husband, and Nickson sat, trying hard to be proud and strong. Reddening eyes and a quivering chin sadly revealed the internal struggle to not break down in despair.
This was the worst part of the job. Any cop or detective would tell you that. Walking up to someone's door and knowing with the ringing of the bell, you were about to shatter someone's life just wasn't a job description that brought out feelings of a job well done and satisfactions.
The two detectives waited patiently and respectfully for the Harris's to gather themselves. As emotionally brutal as the situation was, they had some questions they needed to ask.
"Not Leo," cried Georgina, and her sobbing increased. Nickson wrapped a strong arm around his wife's shoulders and she leaned into him absolutely broken.
"It just doesn't make sense. Are you sure? Are you sure it's our Leo?" asked Nickson.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. His neighbor identified him."
"I want to see him. I want to see for myself," Nickson said.
This was usual, the enormous grief brought strong denial and the detectives had expected this.
"We understand," said Sally gently. "We can take you to see him. Then if it's OK, we need to ask some questions."
Nickson nodded. Unfortunately, the detectives knew that he was going to hang on to a sliver of hope until he saw his son. They knew it was him. Fingerprints had already confirmed. But a parent needed to see. The reality was never accepted until they saw.
The Harris's followed the detectives to the station. Sally called Dr. Hamilton on the way to let him know they were coming and the father at least wanted to see his son.
"No problem. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have him ready."
"Do you have anything for us?"
"No, nothing other than the obvious. His carboxyhemoglobin compared to his hemoglobin was off the charts. He definitely died from carbon monoxide poisoning. No signs of struggle or anything unusual."
"OK Doc, thanks. We'll be there in about forty-five minutes," said Sally and hung up.
"Dr. Hamilton said carbon monoxide poisoning. Nothing off."
"Well, I guess if we have to solve something, cut and dry is easy at least," mumbled William. He was still grumpy, and Sally knew he would be until he either got home or another pot of coffee.
The medical examiner was located next to the police station, so after William had taken the Harris's to see their son, they all met Sally in one of the interrogation rooms. The viewing had been awful. Just like William expected, and he had stood there grim and stoic while Nickson and Georgina held on to each other and cried.
Sitting down at the table, William and Sally faced the Harris's and told them again how sorry they were. Nickson nodded while Georgina wiped tears from her face.
"Had Leo been depressed about anything lately?" Sally began.
"Not at all," said Nickson, "In fact, he just got a promotion this week. He could not have been happier."
"Did he have a girlfriend or anyone he was dating?"
"No, Leo was not looking to settle down, as much as we would have liked him to," and Nickson glanced over at Georgina. "He….well, he liked to keep his options open."
"So he was a ladies' man," said William and Nickson shrugged.
"What about drugs or heavy drinking?" asked Sally.
"What?" exclaimed Georgina, "NO, of course not. Leo wasn't anything like that."
"Mrs. Harris, Mr. Harris," Sally gently said, "We know this is upsetting and we are truly not trying to make it worse. We are just trying to find out what happened and why."
Nickson put his arm around Georgina, and he nodded. "We know, and we want to help. It's just. Well, it's almost impossible to believe. There was nothing wrong."
In about an hour, William and Sally both felt they had learned everything they were going to about Leo Harris from his parents, and they escorted them out to go home and start the grieving process.
"So what's with the bear?" William asked Sally. He had asked the Harris's about it and described the teddy bear to them. They had no idea what it was about. It didn't even remind them of any stuffed animal Leo had as a child. They could offer no explanation.
"I don't know," said Sally. "I think we need to contact his boss. See who he worked with and maybe a friend or two. At least we might be able to find out what he was doing last night."
"Yeah, OK. That sounds good."
William and Sally spent the rest of the morning talking to Leo's boss and got a couple of names of other lawyers from the office that Leo hung out with after work. By 2pm, the first one had showed up. Ben was a good-looking young man, blond hair, roughly the same age as Leo and was also a public defender. Ben had the same reaction that Leo's parents had. If anything, he was even more shocked.
"Nothing was wrong. Not a damn thing. Hell, we all celebrated his promotion last night. Leo kind of threw a thing, you know?"
"Where was this?"
"Down at 'Gail's Place,'"
Gail's Place was a popular bar and grill near the
courthouse where many of the downtown professionals went after work to unwind and discuss the latest news and gossip.
"What time did he leave?"
"Oh shit," said Ben and rubbed his eyes. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you when I left. We got started around 8pm, and at some point, I got home. I think he was still there when I left, but I couldn't be sure."
"Did Leo have a girlfriend?"
"Sure, he did. Every week," and Ben grinned. "The ladies loved Leo, and he loved anything in a skirt."
After another few questions, the detectives were done, and Ben left.
"I don't know, William," said Sally leaning back in her chair. "Something just seems off. He just got promoted. He threw a party to celebrate, then goes home and kills himself?"
"Nobody knows everything about anyone," William replied. "I'd like an explanation about the bear, but the only one who can tell us is cold on the slab. We don't need to look for zebras here. The horses are pretty damn clear."
After filling in their Lieutenant on their notes and observations, William and Sally decided to call it a day and salvage what was left of their weekend. Leo Harris had killed himself, and the case was closed. Monday was right around the corner.
Chapter Four
“Move it! Move!” he yelled at his Marines. “We’re surrounded. Dig yourselves in!”
A firefight raged around him. Some of the worst action he’d seen in five years split between Iraq and Afghanistan. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as he collapsed. The adrenaline rushed through his body, forcing him to bark out orders and maintain a fast-thinking, almost impulsive mind. He felt sticky warmth rolling down his leg and ignored it.
They were surrounded, his men fighting hard. Explosions and shrapnel filled the air. Bullets rang past his ears, and the world seemed to morph into slow motion as he tried to cover every direction at the same time. Then he saw Private Kent thrown into the air as four bullets slammed into his torso, a fifth splitting his skull.
Two more Marines on each side of him fell to the ground, dead. He stumbled down behind a boulder and started firing blindly into a dry cloud of dust hovering over the poppy field that his patrol had just left. They’d been trailed for who knows how long before the patrol wandered into an ambush.
He counted more than six down.
He turned to see Jared. Slowly Jared put a gun to his own head and mouthed the word, “Goodbye.” Then he pulled the trigger…
No! William sprang awake. He was sitting up in bed, his chest heaving so hard he had to lie down again. Light streamed through the curtains—at least it wasn’t the middle of the night.
It was just another nightmare. Since he’d been released back home, honorably discharged, he had dreamed of dozens of scenarios of his friend’s death. He collapsed back onto his pillow. His bed was empty, yet that didn’t stop him from reaching over and feeling for Crystal.
Of course she wasn’t there. Crystal had filed for a divorce, citing his long absences. He was notified in his hospital bed as he recovered from the blast that killed Jared. In a brief letter, she said that he just didn’t care about her anymore so she was moving on. She knew he was being discharged after his injuries, and she’d still left. He’d gone through recovery and physical therapy alone in a VA hospital, and then he moved into a friend’s empty apartment here in Albany, Georgia before he moved to Chicago. It was a beautiful town, but it no longer warmed his heart—even with its endless summer heat.
William rolled over, shoved his face into his pillow, and yelled out in rage. He was mad at more than just the world. He was mad at himself. In a year he had lost his wife, his best friend, and his way.
He took a shower, pulled on a dirty pair of jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, and went for a walk. The Chicago heat was thick and stifling, hitting him like a hot wave as soon as he opened the door, even though it was so late in the summer. Within minutes his shirt was soaked in sweat. Mosquitoes landed and bit; he slapped at his skin, drawing blood, feeling as if the mosquitoes were bullets slamming into his body. He pictured his friends falling to sporadic gunfire. He would never lose those horrific memories.
Ahead, a couple walked hand in hand. William crossed the street to avoid walking next to them. It had been a long time since he’d been able to be comfortable with people he didn’t know. Even with people he knew. He found himself sheltering into a cocoon world, hiding from the simple normalcy of a life not surrounded by death and arid heat.
Thankfully, he was helping the police even though he was a rookie. He lived on a disability pension, which wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world, but it was what it was. The part that bothered him was being mentally and emotionally “disabled,” meaning that he was physically able to work, but he just couldn’t handle it.
Across the street, he bought the newspaper from a box and slipped some coins into a vending machine to buy a Coke. He could hear footsteps getting closer and felt a swell of anxiety. He began breathing harder. The plastic Coke bottle hit the bottom of the machine, and William grabbed it. The footsteps were close now. Blood pulsed through his veins, and his heart was nearly exploding from the intense pumping.
He spun around to take off running but felt the familiar jarring pain in his legs. Shrapnel that had killed his best friend had lodged into his legs; blistering welts of torn skin and muscle etched them. The shrapnel had been long since removed, but like the loss of his friend, the pain still haunted him.
“Good day,” an older man said as he passed William. “Y’all keeping cool in this heat?
William closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and nodded. As soon as the man passed, William took off running in spite of the pain. He had to get home. He wasn’t able to function with so many people around.
He double-timed it back to his small apartment and threw the door shut behind him, as if that would keep the world out. A cup of cold coffee sat on the table. He grabbed it and threw it hard against the far wall. Crack! It shattered, spraying the carpet and wall in black caffeine.
William collapsed to his knees, his hands in his face, holding back the tears that escaped anyway in the scream he tried desperately to hide from his neighbors.
He fell back against the wall, crying, his temples painfully encouraging a headache. What did I do? What did I do to deserve this? He’d served his country. Two purple hearts for injuries incurred in battle. He had done everything asked of him and never questioned it. But after all that, he didn’t have anything. He was downgraded to a rookie even though he was the most trained of all. No life. No wife. No family around. Just a pension, scars, and memories he didn’t want.
He longed for something—anything—to keep him going.
There was one thing he needed to do. He’d put it off, not knowing how he could, or would, do it. He’d promised Jared he would visit his sister if anything happened to him. Of course, he had tried early on. He had even gone to her office up in Richmond and tried to find her. She’d left by then. No one in the office would tell him what had happened to cause her to resign her position, but he assumed it had something to do with her brother’s death.
****
A month had passed since the Harris suicide. William and Sally had all but forgotten about it. With so many years on the job, she didn’t really think about closed cases anymore. There was always something new, and time moved on.
"Hey, Sally? Doc is on two for you," yelled the desk sergeant.
"Got it, thanks ...Hey doc, what's up?" said Sally, and laughed to herself.
"Cute. Always cute. Listen, if you and William have a minute, come on by. Something here you may want to see."
"Ok, on our way," and Sally hung up.
Fifteen minutes later, William and Sally walked into Dr. Hamilton's office. Looking up from his desk, he said, "Oh good. Have a seat."
William and Sally sat down, and Dr. Hamilton reached for a manila folder and opened it up. "This one came across my desk from last night," he began "42 year old male found in his car in the garage. Deceased on arri
val. Suspected carbon monoxide poisoning." He paused and looked up. William and Sally looked over at each other. Without a doubt they knew something was coming. Something bad.
"There was a teddy bear in the passenger seat, and note in the dash."
"Fuck me," said William. Sally just stared at the medical examiner. "And the note said "I'm sorry. I deserve this," she said.
"That's right," said Dr. Hamilton. He looked gravely at the two detectives. "Here's the information on who caught it."
"Perez and Moore. Ok. Well, shit doc," William grumbled and took the folder.
"Yeah, I know. Look I'll review the autopsy on the one from last month, but I doubt I missed anything. I'll let you know about this one, but it seriously looks like carbon monoxide poisoning and that's it."
"Damn," said Sally shaking her head as they walked out the medical examiner's office. "Seriously?"
"I got a bad feeling about this one," said William. "I'll go tell LT, and you wake up Perez and Moore."
Perez and Moore were back at work in an hour. Seasoned detectives like Sally, they were used to the recalls at any time. The preliminary information they had on their victim was that he was forty-two year old realtor, Roger Meyers. He ran a successful business and mostly dealt with upper middle class clients. Nice homes, in nice gated communities for professionals. He was divorced with no children, and had not been living with anyone or seeing anyone regularly. In fact, his neighbor had mentioned, William brought a different lady home every other weekend.
Sally came from telling her boss about the new teddy bear suicide. Obviously, something was wrong, and Sally and William were assigned the new case. The Harris case was also officially reopened. Perez and Moore were more than happy to hand it over. No one wanted this. This case was blowing up, and was turning into a giant loser. This was not like in the movies or on television. Cases like these meant no sleep and headaches for weeks and months and were generally losers. William was exhausted just thinking about it.
Last Call Page 2
