Double Noose

by Jay Sharman

  Julian put on the television to check the news and after hearing his name being mentioned called, he called Nicki, ‘Look they have mentioned Gina’s death on television as well. Also, the police have issued a warrant for my arrest. Look at the news. The police suspect that there is another person involved in the murder, which could either be a male or a female, but most likely a female.’

  Nicki seemed to be pacing backwards and forwards many times in the room. ‘Julian, it is not safe to stay in the UK. We need to run to another country, away from the police and everybody else. They suspect that you killed her.’

  Julian shouted, ‘I did not kill her.’

  Nicki held Julian ‘s hand and whispered,’ you are their number one suspect at the moment. Let us run away before it is too late.’

  ‘Nicki, Do not be stupid. Everybody at the airport would be looking for me. My name is uncommon and therefore it is easily recognisable. We must surrender to the police and all they are going to do is to interview us. They can't charge us without any evidence.’

  Nicki thumped the coffee table and shouted from top of her voice, ‘You don't understand about the police’s actions, they can lock you up on remand without evidence and then wait for a trial to get a verdict by the jury, and that could take months. You will have no opportunity to collect evidence in your favour.’

  Julian looked at Nicki with a frowned forehead, he asked, ‘So what do you suggest?’

  She explained ‘I know a friend who can prepare us false passports under different names. Since the police are looking for a female as your accomplice, I will cut my hair short to look like a man and get a passport with a man’s name on it. Nobody will recognise us. Can you also shave off your head, so that you can be photographed with a new identity?’

  Julian ruffled his hair with his fingers and said, ‘Ok, I need to go back to my house to collect some cash and credit cards. I really don’t know that why I am doing all this. Probably, I am under the influence of your magical spell’

  Nicki grinned, ‘Yes, I am protecting you. you should go to your house after midnight, which is when police will be off their guard. I am sure they must have detectives waiting for you in their car.’

  Julian looked at Nicki with amazement and asked ‘How do you know all this? It seems like that you have been exposed to the life of crime in the past. You must have done this before.’

  Nicki walked towards Julian to look into his eyes and said, ‘No, I have read too many crime fictions and also many of friends are criminal lawyers. We must also move to a hotel as the police can also come here to my house any time. It is not safe here as well.’

  Julian was unrecognisable with a shaven head and he enjoying the feeling of cold air brushing past his head. He left for the hotel with Nicki, dressed like a man.

  Julian got out of the car after parking it about five hundred yards away from his house. He walked past many houses without being noticed. The time was 1 AM in the morning, and the road was empty, as most of the pub goers had gone home. Julian had already felt like a criminal as he climbed the back wall of the garden fence of his house. He did not want to risk going to the front door in case the police were waiting for him there.

  The night was dark, as the moon was hidden behind the clouds. He just peeped through the back door to check for any movements inside the house. Julian thought that only yesterday his world was alive and kicking. Gina was in the house sleeping and he was lying in the spare bedroom, looking at the stars in the sky, dreaming about Nicki. After waiting for a few moments, Julian opened the back door and went upstairs into his bedroom to open his safe, from where he got his documents and cash worth three thousand pounds.

  Chapter 11

  Two days later Nicki and Julian were at Heathrow Airport trying to check into a flight to Johannesburg. Julian was wearing blue denim jeans with a blue shirt, whereas Nicki was also wearing blue jeans but with a white shirt. From a distance, people could not recognise whether she was a woman or a man.

  Both walked slowly towards the counter, looking around them to check if anybody was looking for them as there was a large number of police presence at the airport. Julian feared that he would be recognised easily, so every time he heard heavy footsteps behind him, he thought that a policeman had come to arrest him.

  In one corner, a sniffer dog had caught one passenger with drugs, after a policeman asked him to open his suitcase for further investigations.

  Within fifteen minutes, both Julian and Nicki got their boarding passes for their flight. Julian suggested to Nicki, ‘Let us quickly go through immigration to the duty-free area, where we will be safer and then we can fly safely to South Africa without being detected.’

  Nicki smiled and whispered ‘Your criminal mind has started to work now. OK, let us get out of here as soon as possible.’

  Both were amazed that the immigration officer did not even look at them or their passports and let them go through his desk without any problems.

  Julian only felt relaxed after he sat down in the aeroplane. Nicki still looked nervous, as she was worried that somebody might still come and take her away.

  Julian had never been to Africa before, so he was excited in a way to go to South Africa for the first time. He had associated Africa on the whole with poverty, poor transport and shanty towns and lower standard of living.

  Nicki heaved a sigh of relief, when the plane took to the skies. She felt safe now and was ready to start a new life in a different country.

  When their taxi took them from Johannesburg’s airport to the city centre, Julian was impressed by the six lane motorways, very similar to the roads in the UK. For a minute, he thought that he had landed in the USA.

  Nicki did not seem to make any comments as she had already visited South Africa in the past. The traffic was smooth and without any congestion, not normally seen in London.

  After an half an hour the taxi arrived in the Santon area of Johannesburg and they checked into the Holiday Inn hotel. The receptionist checked their passports as a method of identifying them. After taking a rest for one hour, they walked across the road to go to a shopping mall which was as good as anything Julian had seen in London. As Nicki was familiar with that area, she went to the Nelson Square, which was lined with many restaurants and bars, representing cuisines from different parts of the world. They had a pizza while sitting outside a restruant in the sun and enjoyed watching people passing by them.

  Julian looked at Nicki, who still looked nervous, as she took regular deep breaths from time to time and had a drop of perspiration on her forehead.

  Julian noticed that and asked her, ‘Why do you look so worried. Relax we are now out of England and are safe here.’

  Nicki put the cup of coffee on the table and said, ‘I am waiting for a friend to meet me here. I had phoned him from Heathrow Airport. He can be a useful contact and will be our guide here. I have asked him to take us to the Sun City and Kurgans Safari Park the date after tomorrow.’

  Before she could complete her sentence, a man came across the table with his arms open and said, ‘Nicki, welcome back to South Africa.’

  After introducing him to Julian, Nicki went for a walk with the man. Julian noticed that Nicki had given the man a small packet, that really surprised Julian as she never discussed with him anything about it. For the first time, Julian thought that he did not know anything about Nicki – I don’t know much about her background, she might be a smuggler or even a terrorist. I need to be careful.

  The following day, they both relaxed in the hotel and in the evening, they went to the biggest casino of Johannesburg, which was situated in many acres of land this giving impression of big casinos in Las Vegas.

  Julian wished that London had casinos like that where he could go to try his luck. Julian kept his eye on Nicki to see if she was meeting any other person. Julian started to reflect on the incident in London, where his wife had died under mysterious circumstances. He loved his wife and would never cause any harm to her. Juli
an was not sure if he had killed Gina by accident or may be, Nicki was responsible for her death. She might had organised everything to trap Julian in a scandal. Maybe, she is part of an international smuggling gang. He had no answers.

  The following day Julian and Nicki went to Sin City, few miles away from Johannesburg, a popular place for holidays in South Africa. It was especially known for its hotels, artificial beach, and waves of water engulfing tourists at periodic intervals. Julian enjoyed playing at one of the casinos, but still his mind was somewhere in London, thinking about his life with Gina and how everything changes so quickly within matter of days.

  In the evening, Julian took a trip to the Safari park and for the first time he saw in open forest both hippocampus and lions roaming freely. An experience that he will never forget.

  Nicki had organised a taxi to bring them back to the hotel, where they reached at 9 PM. Julian was a bit uncommunicative during that journey, that puzzled Nicki, as she did not do anything to hurt his feelings that day. Neither of them was feeling hungry so both of them changed their clothes to lie in the bed.

  Nicki moved towards Julian and asked, ‘Julian, you do not seem to be well today. What is bothering you?’

  Julian replied without looking at Nicki, ‘Everything. I just worry about our future. I fear that we will be caught anytime. Did you kill Gina?’

  Julian sat down on the bed and switched on the table lamp. He continued ‘You say that you did not kill her, and I know that I did not kill her, then who killed her? There was nobody else present in the room.’

  Nicki wrapped her arm around Julian and said, ‘Let us not worry about that.’

  Nicki did not say anything and instead turned her back towards him.

  Julian got out of the bed and started to put his clothes on and said, ‘I am going to the bar to have a drink.’

  Julian sat down in the bar area to have a glass of white wine and he started to talk to another Englishman who told him that he had come to South Africa only on that day. Ten minutes into conversation the man suggested to Julian. ‘I have seen you before. Your face looks familiar. Wait a minute. Can I ask you what sort of job you do in London?’

  Julian turned his face away from the stranger as he knew that his face was broadcast on television in United Kingdom as police were looking for him there. He whispered without looking at the man, ‘I do property development there.’

  The man looked at Julian’s shaven head and asked, ‘Have you shaved your head recently?’

  Julian stroked his head with his fingers and said, ‘No, I have shaved my head like this for the last ten years. My partner likes me like that’

  The man smirked, looked around the bar area and moved closer to Julian to whisper in his ears, ‘I know now that you resemble the doctor who murdered his wife in London.’

  Julian turned his face away from the stranger. He did not want him to go to police about him. He put his hand to cover his face and muttered, ‘That is a coincidence. I do not know of any doctor. Now excuse me, I need to go to sleep.’

  Before the man could say another word, Julian left the bar for his room.

  Julian told Nicki about the man and both decided that they needed to leave Johannesburg as soon as possible and before they were arrested by the police.

  The next morning, they took a flight to Cape Town after settling their account with the hotel.

  Julian managed to get a room in Cape Town in a newly built hotel by the beach. Nicki looked around to see if anybody was looking at them suspiciously. For some reason Julian was also apprehensive of Nicki as well and that is why he wanted to fly out of Johannesburg as soon as possible. For him, she was still a stranger and had not much information about her past.

  Julian made sure that Nicki stayed with him all the time, so that she did not get any time to call or contact anybody else. Like Julian, this was Nicki’s first visit to Cape Town, so she was excited as well to go there.

  Their room was triangular in shape, so that the left-hand side of the room gave a fantastic view of the sea and the other side showed a clear outline of Table Mountain.

  Nicki came nearer to Julian to put her arms around his neck and whispered, ‘Thanks darling, for choosing such a fantastic room. I feel that I am in my honeymoon. This is just such a perfect place. Let us take some rest and then we can go out in the evening for a nice meal.’

  Julian was standing near the window, looking at the Table Mountain. He said, ‘Honey, we need to go now. I was told that the views of the Table Mountain are fantastic at sunset. Come on let us go. I have already asked for a taxi.’

  Within half an hour, they were at the bottom of the mountain, taking a ride in a cable car, that lifted them to the top of the mountain. Nicki hugged Julian as the cold wind was making her shiver. She looked around the city with Indian ocean in the background. She whispered, ‘This is a fantastic view of Cape Town. I did not realise that this city is so beautiful – simply a paradise. No wonder many British people come to settle here.’

  Julian put his arms around Nicki and said, ‘Yes, maybe I should settle down here and start my medical practice to earn some money. I heard that property prices here can be as high as in London.’

  Both were getting ready to go inside the cable car when Julian spotted a man looking in their direction after he got out of the upcoming car.

  Julian tried to hide behind Nicki, as he realised that he was the same Englishman that he met yesterday in Johannesburg and Julian had mentioned to Nicki about that man, the previous night.

  He looked away from the man and said, ‘Nicki, I am sure that this man is spying on me. Why would he come after us like this?’

  Nicki looked towards the man and said, ‘Maybe, he was planning to come to Cape Town anyway but, you are right, we must still be careful.’

  In the evening, they took a taxi to go to the waterfront of Cape Town that boasted of many trendy shops and restaurants.

  Julian did not want to walk outside in the open so he stayed away from the harbour area. Both of them kept looking around them for any suspicious person trying to chase them. After coming back to the hotel, Julian did not want to go to the bar area so as to avoid seeing that Englishman again.

  Nicki looked at the anxious face of Julian and asked, ‘What are you thinking Julian? You seem to be so worried.’

  Julian put both his hands to cover his face, took a deep breath and said, ‘How long can we run like this? Sooner or later somebody will recognise us and worse still, our money will run out. How are we going to survive in a foreign country like this?’

  Nicki put her head on Julian’s chest and stroked his head with her hands. She said, ‘Do no worry, everything will be fine. After few months, everybody in London will forget about this incident and we can then settle in South Africa under different name and identity. Anyway tomorrow, we are going to Cape Point – the southernmost place of South Africa. That will give us more time to reflect on our situation.’

  The next day they took a bus to go to Cape point and it took them past the Indian Ocean on one side of the road and a mountain on the other side. They could spot few dolphins at a distance trying to jump out of water in rhymical manners.

  When Julian and Nicki reached on the top of a small hill near the edge of Cape Point, they could see the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean meeting together in the middle. From a distance, different colours of the oceans were trying to collide with each other. Julian’s camera never stopped clicking taking pictures of the magnificent view of two oceans.

  By the time the coach arrived back at the hotel the time was 10 PM, so they went straight to bed.

  Next morning Julian heard a knock at the door at about 8AM. Julian looked at his watch and thought it was a bit early for breakfast, so he did not open the door, instead he wrapped his arms around Nicki’s neck and went back to sleep.

  Later in the day, after having breakfast, Julian and Nicki took a trip by ship to Mandela island, where Nelson Mandela was kept in prison during a
partheid time. While coming back Julian saw two men looking at them and then talking to each other. One of them used his mobile phone to call somebody, while still looking at them. When Julian and Nicki stepped out of the boat, they were confronted by two plain clothed police officers and one of them said, ‘Mr Dashwood and your colleague are both under arrest on suspicion of murder of Dr Dashwood in London. Would you come to us to the police station.’

  Julian’s heart nearly came to a standstill and drops of perspiration appeared on his forehead, he took a deep breath and extended his both wrists forward for the handcuffs.

  In a way Julian felt relieved by that arrest as he was fed up of running away from the police. Why should he do that? He did not kill his wife; he was certain about it. He accompanied Nicki to go to her room to help her, but he felt that it was all planned by Nicki so he could be involved in his wife’s murder. Nicki had also cut her hair short and was pretending to be a man in order to avoid detection by the police in South Africa.

  The police then took them back to the hotel to collect their passports and other belongings and that evening they boarded a flight to London.

  Julian was not surprised to see the same Englishman sitting in the plane that he met in the bar of his Johannesburg’s hotel. Julian’s guess was right that he was a detective police officer who had come all the way from London to monitor their activities and then arrest them after confirming their true identity.

  After reaching Heathrow Airport, both Julian and Nicki were taken to the local police station. Julian was recognised as Julian Dashwood, but the police believed that Nicki was a man, as she claimed during her interview and it was confirmed by her passport where she had put her gender to be a male. She claimed to be dumb, it meant that she did not have to speak any word and that helped her to hide her feminine voice.

  Both of them had a duty solicitor present at the interview and they maintained their innocence.

  Julian replied, ‘No comment,’ when asked any questions by the police officers, whereas Nicki just nodded her head and at times used sign languages to answer her questions. She gave her name as Nicholas White to the police officer confirmed by her passport that she had acquired from a friend in London, before her flight to South Africa.