by Don Aldrin
“Why didn’t you call earlier!? We’ve investigated almost everyone here!!”
“Hey, hey, I’m on vacation. Relax.”
“Tell that to Ms. Chow.”
“Oh, her name was Louise, right?”
“Yes. Any more you want to tell us?”
“Oh, there were two guys in her apartment. One of them was wearing a hard hat and the other was a very, very rich man. That man’s name was Gabriel, I think. I saw a statue of the archangel Gabriel behind him. And the other one’s name was Larry. It was on his jacket.”
The lieutenant gave all of the information to the captain and the investigators immediately pursued the case.
“Everyone, this is now a crime scene. A reliable informant told us that Ms. Chow was allegedly pushed from her apartment by two male suspects. We are withholding the name for now, but please cordon everything off and go to the apartment for more clues. Go!”
They immediately looked for Mr. Brittain, but everywhere they check, it seemed Mr. Brittain was nowhere to be found. There was only one person close to Ms. Chow named Larry, one of her long-time boyfriends. They called up the number and someone answered.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello. This is the Small City Police Department. We’re looking for Mr. Larry Stilmov. Is he there?”
“Oh, yes. Good day, officer. Yes, I am Larry.”
“Mr. Stilmov, we hate to break it to you, but…”
“Louise died, right?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Uhm… I was watching the national news. It’s already in the news country-wide. How can I help?”
“Yes. Based on our investigation, you were with Ms. Chow when the incident happened in her apartment. Was this true?”
“Sorry, officer. I’m miles away from Small City. I’m in L.A.”
The officers preemptively started a trace before they called and they confirmed that he was indeed in L.A.
“Oh, I see. Do you have any information as to who the other guy was who was with her in the apartment before she was allegedly pushed out of the balcony door?”
“I’m sorry, officer, but no.”
“Do you know Mr. Gabriel Brittain?”
“Yes, of course. He’s the rich software guy. I also saw his Lambo on the news. That was a cool chase, but I grieve for the family.”
“Do you two know each other?”
“We’ve met before when I was still with Louise. It was at a shareholder meeting in her company. We haven’t seen each other since.”
“Okay. Thank you for the information, Mr. Stilmov. If you have any leads, please don’t hesitate to contact us, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I will. Thank you.”
Since they were able to establish that Mr. Stilmov was in L.A., they now focus their investigation towards Mr. Brittain. However, they are still unable to find him.
“Captain.”
“Yes, lieutenant?”
“We heard some noise in the room, but we found nothing.”
“Search the apartment. You might find something…”
Suddenly, in the same fashion as before, another office comes in hurriedly.
“Captain, we found Mr. Brittain. Guess where?”
“Officer, this is not a guessing game. This is a very serious investigation. A woman has just died and our main suspect is a famous multimillionaire.”
“Sorry, captain. We found him in his mansion in the outskirts of Small City.”
“Was the Lamborghini there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You and you, with me. You too, lieutenant. We’re going to pay Mr. Brittain a visit.”
The captain and a small force went to the millionaire’s mansion to ask questions and serve a warrant.
“Good day, Mr. Brittain. Can we speak with you sir, please?”
“Hello, officers. I’m sorry, I’m busy today, plus, I’ve got this terrible headache, and I’ll be off to a meeting and then I’ll be going to some other places with workmates and…”
“Before you say anything Mr. Brittain, we’ve got a warrant of arrest here for you. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that you had half the police force chasing you on your souped up white Lamborghini Aventador. That was quite the stunt, Mr. Brittain.”
“What? I was never in a chase.”
“We caught you on camera and you’ve been really good at evading the cop cars, even the choppers.”
“How did that happen!?”
“That’s not all, Mr. Brittain. Ms. Louise Chow was murdered earlier this morning. She was pushed from her apartment.”
The millionaire was stumped. He was quiet all of a sudden. And then…
“Captain, let me tell you something before anything else. I was with Louise this morning, yes. But I did not push her off the balcony.”
“Do you know anyone named Larry?”
“From the office? Yes.”
“No, a certain Larry who was Mr. Chow’s boyfriend.”
“I can’t remember. Sorry, Captain. I’ve known far too many people to remember one.”
“So, going back to the car chase, we have a warrant of arrest for you. We’d like to invite you to the station.”
The millionaire went with the cops peacefully. At the station, they kept Mr. Brittain detained at the office, while the initial investigation was being done. The lieutenant thought of something, Trance forgot to mention what happened.
“Captain, let me call Trance. He might shed some more light into this. He didn’t say what happened, only who the people were.”
“Okay, lieutenant. Call him up and get every bit of information you can get from him.”
“Right away, sir.”
Lieutenant Mulroney calls up Trance.
“Hey, Trance.”
“Hello, Eva. What’s up?”
“Do you have anything else about the murder? You only told us basically who were there. We’ve talked to both of them and we’re still clueless about the murder. We got Mr. Brittain for the car chase though, but not for the murder.”
“Oh, I see. Sorry about that. I was preoccupied, you know.”
“Oh, come on. It’s my job. Plus, you’ve always helped us.”
“Okay. Hold on. Let me try and recall my dream.”
Trance was quiet for a minute and then he finally remembered a few details.
“Okay. The one who pushed the lady wasn’t the millionaire. The millionaire was unconscious when the pushing happened. And then, I saw the Lamborghini, but it was another person driving it, not the millionaire.”
“Okay, Trance. Thank you. Anything else?”
“I guess, that’s all I could remember. Oh, there’s someone in the background. I think he was a race car driver. He was holding a helmet in his hand and a race suit.”
This got really interesting. The lieutenant and the captain started to think that there may be another person involved in the murder.
“Thank you, Trance. Have fun on your vacation.”
“Sure thing.”
As soon as the call ended, they decided to let go of Mr. Brittain. His prints were not found in the car and he isn’t a race car driver. In fact, they just saw a couple of parking tickets and road mishaps that a good driver wouldn’t have made. It was impossible for him to perform those drifting and drafting skills.
A couple of times during the chase, the car was always behind other cars that were traveling 70 miles per hour. The driver was eliminating wind resistance. And the corner cutting was really professionally done. He would never have made those stunts all throughout the chase. Plus, he has a history of anxiety so he would have had an accident driving at really high speeds.
They’re now focused on Larry even though he’s in L.A. They’re looking at all angles to see the connection.
“Lieutenant, were there any contracts between Mr. Stilmov and our victim?”
“None that we know of, captain.”
“Can anybody tell me the connection between him and the victi
m and the murder? If there’s any motive at all?”
Then, a call came in. It was Trance.
“Hey, Eva. How are you?”
“Hello, Trance. We’re in a crisis here. We are at a dead end into the case. We can’t prove anything. All we have are theories.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I hate to say though that I’m having fun here. I met this guy named Barry. He said that the police had called him a few moments ago about a murder. We just went on to drink.”
“At this hour? Don’t drink too much. Okay?”
“Sure, sure.”
“You said about a murder. What’s that about?”
“Yeah. It was about a woman who fell off a… tower…”
Then, suddenly, Trance kept quiet.
“Trance! Barry. What’s his name?”
“It’s Barry Stilmov. I don’t know if…”
“Thank you, Trance. I’ve got to go!”
The lieutenant figured it out. She immediately dug into the police records and she finally had enough evidence to put the murder on the shoulders of Larry Stilmov.
“Captain. I’ve got it. Call up the captain of the LAPD. We’ve got him.”
“Sure, sure. What am I going to tell them?”
“Tell them to arrest Barry Stilmov.”
“Barry? Our suspect’s name is Larry, not Barry.”
“Yes. But this is his twin brother. He was the one we were talking to. Trance told me that this Barry got a call from the police about the lady who fell off her apartment. He was probably drunk and admitted the crime to Trance.”
Their eyes were all wide open. The captain called up the LAPD captain and they immediately went off to arrest Barry Stilmov. Lieutenant Mulroney called Trance to check up on the case.
“Hello, Trance. How’s it going there?”
“Yes. They arrested Barry for some reason. We were just partying. I didn’t know drinking was…”
“Oh, you jerk. He’s the twin brother of our main suspect. He lied to me and told me that he was Larry. Larry is still at large.”
“Oh, okay. So that’s it. Oh well. Hope he rots in jail then. I’m (hic) going back to my party.”
“Oh, you’re terrible. Good bye.”
They went back to the building and looked at every nook and cranny of the apartment. And there, hiding behind a wall was Mr. Larry Stilmov himself. They arrest Mr. Larry Stilmov and his twin brother was arrested in L.A. too.
“Good work, Lieutenant. How did it happen?”
“Thank you, captain. Well, here’s what happened. Larry Stilmov is the ex-boyfriend of our victim. He was the one arguing with Ms. Chow about a contract they had before. He knew that Ms. Chow is now going out with Mr. Brittain, who unfortunately is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
So Larry Stilmov devised a plan. If he was able to get Ms. Chow to fulfill the contract and give him the money, she’s free. If not, he hired a race car driver that will take place of Mr. Brittain. He timed it right that Mr. Brittain is visiting Ms. Chow. He and the driver mauled Mr. Brittain unconscious.
Then, Ms. Chow had nowhere to go. They pushed her off the ledge of her apartment. With Mr. Brittain unconscious, they dragged him to his car, which is in the basement parking. The race car driver changed clothes and wore shades. And if you observe carefully, the race car driver has an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Brittain. The guards at the parking entrance thought he was Mr. Brittain.
He then initiated a car chase, which is nothing to him because he is a race car driver and have driven several of these types of cars. This is to misdirect us to believing that it was Mr. Brittain who was running away. It would have been difficult for us to determine where he was going since he has a lot of properties in Small City. Thereafter, he was indeed found in one of his houses.
Not knowing about the chase, Mr. Brittain was clueless when the cops came to him. He then surrendered and faced multiple charges for the murder and the chase.
On the other hand, Larry Stilmov knew that he could be one of the suspects because of his past relationship with the victim. So he gave his phone to his twin brother in L.A. Should the cops call, which they did, Barry Stilmov will pretend that he’s Larry. There were no issues since they are identical, even their voices.
The one major problem he had that gave him away was that he didn’t think the cops would be there fast enough. So he let the driver and Mr. Brittain go and he went back up the apartment and hid. He wanted to leave, but since it became a murder investigation, the cops never left the place. He was stuck there until we finally caught him.”
“Very good work, lieutenant. Where are they now?”
“Larry Stilmov has been taken into custody and the LAPD is now questioning Barry Stilmov. The brother will be charged for aiding and abetting. As for Mr. Brittain, he was released and is now resting in his home. His injuries were not that serious. The driver has been arrested as well. A witness saw the driver coming out of the Lambo and reported it immediately.”
“Excellent work. It was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Good job, every one. Send my regards to Trance.”
“Of course, captain.”
The lieutenant called up Trance later that day and she narrated everything that happened. Trance was in disbelief, but was glad he was able to help a bit, through his dreams, even though he was away.
Chapter VI: Star Struck
It’s been a busy week for Trance. It’s the day before Bridgette Heart’s fund-raising concert in Small City. The concert was supposed to be part of the foundation anniversary of the city, but for some reason, she moved it to another date, which made it an exclusive event for her. The Small Plaza is currently being prepped for the concert and in a few minutes, Bridgette Heart will be arriving at the airport.
One of the telltale signs of a fan is that he or she is updated as to where the celebrity is, especially while traveling. This is no problem for Trance. He knew that Bridgette will arrive in a few hours so he prepared and went to the airport really early to greet her.
At the airport, there were already a handful of fans waiting by the VIP arrival area where celebrities usually pass through when they arrive. Trance was along the hallway where Bridgette will pass through. He was so excited. He will be just a few inches away from his most favorite person in the world.
Then, the moment came. Bridgette Heart had arrived in Small City.
“Everyone, please make way. Please stay calm. Bridgette will be out in a moment to greet you. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The PR manager thanked the fans for being organized.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Huh? Trance. And you?”
“I’m Susie. It’s really not usual to see a man like you be a fan like this. You could really pass as my dad.”
“Hey, you’re way out of line young lady.”
“No, no. I didn’t mean to offend you in anyway. I just find it interesting and really cool. It shows Bridgette appeals to many. Sorry, again.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. There, she’s about to come through the door.”
And the moment arrived. Bridgette came out of the main arrival doorway and greeted her fans. The flashes from the cameras and phones were almost blinding. Good thing Bridgette is used to such attention and wore sunglasses.
Trance can’t believe that he’s just a few feet away from Bridgette. Then, Bridgette walked towards the exit to her car that will bring her to the Royal Small Hotel. On her way, she met Trance. Trance had a look of awe at Bridgette. They’re practically inches away from each other.
Trance smiled at Bridgette and showed her his collection of albums and movies of her. She knew he was a real fan. Bridgette took one of the albums.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Uhm… It’s Trance.”
“Trance. What an unusual name. Thank you for your support. I suppose you’re going to the concert.”
“Oh, of course, I have my tickets. Front row.”
“I look forwa
rd to seeing you there. Take care.”
“Yes, I will be there, Bridgette.”
Bridgette signed the album with a special dedication to him and then walked toward the car. Then suddenly, a shot was heard and one of her bodyguards was hit in the chest. The fans panicked and they ran in different directions. The rest of the bodyguards took care of their wounded colleague, while at the same time, protecting Bridgette.
Bridgette’s car was bulletproof so they hurried toward the car and secured Bridgette. The cops in the area and airport security scoured the place and looked for the gunman. And then, another shot was heard. The bullet hit the passenger side window where Bridgette was.
The window didn’t shatter because it was bulletproof. Had it not been so, the bullet would have hit Bridgette in the head. The driver hurriedly drove towards the hotel. The police mobilized in the area and hunted down the shooter. However, it seemed the suspect planned it well and he or she was nowhere to be found.
At the Royal Small Hotel, a press conference was held upon the arrival of Bridgette.
“Ms. Heart, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Do you know anyone who might have an interest in shooting you?”
