Promised Box Set

by James Kipling

  “Hey Bruce, thanks for inviting me to your pool party. It’s hot outside,” Richard Chandler said as he walked in with a smile.

  “No problem Richard, I’m glad that you were able to make it. A brief silence ensued. Chandler took in the beautiful girl standing beside his friend. Bruce followed his gaze. “Oh where are my manners?” Bruce exclaimed. “Richard this is Rosie and Rosie, this is Richard. Rosie and I go to the same gym. She’s new in the area, so this party should be a great way for her to meet new people.”

  “Who doesn’t enjoy a great party? Can I offer you a drink? I need a cold beer,” Richard remarked, gazing at Rosie.

  “I would love one of those wine coolers,” Rosie responded shyly.

  “No problem, I’ll be back,” he called as he headed off.

  He thought about that day as he lay in bed before he finally fell asleep. He would always love Rosie.

  *****

  Mike was feeling uneasy, like someone was trailing him all the time. He got home the other day and found that his house had been ransacked. Now, as he walked down the street, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was walking behind him, just out of sight. His suspicions were clear and he was 100 percent sure that Jenna was the serial murderer. Mike thought that Jenna was probably the one tailing him.

  He had called detective Cole many times to explain his version of the story. The last time they talked, he had agreed to meet up with him at a bar close to his apartment. He walked into the bar feeling rather nervous. He never trusted anyone, not even the police. Not after Tommy and Arnold’s murders. It was clear to him that the killer had some connections with the police and that Cole probably was not an exception. How else had she gotten away so many times? Why else would the police arrest an elderly man and then claim the case was solved?

  “What is the emergency? I hope that you didn’t drag me all the way here for no reason,” Detective Cole stated as Mike slid onto the stool beside him.

  It was obvious that the case was driving him nuts, and that he had already lost his patience.

  “I have been doing my own investigations on Jenna, I followed her to her apartment and…”

  “Are you crazy?” interjected the detective, “Do you want to die just like your friend? I don’t want another murder to happen under my watch, so back off of the investigation,” Cole said sternly.

  “Please hear me out, it’s just a theory but with your expertise you can finally close the case,” pleaded Mike.

  “All right, speak,” Cole commanded.

  “The other night, I followed Jenna to her house and then a man, here is the photo, came to her house a few minutes later. I waited until 2 a.m. and then I went home, but I don’t think he spent the night there,” Mike continued. “So I went through Tommy’s stuff from the office, and it turns out that he was working on a project with the local government. He was in charge of checking the chemical composition on the new construction site. Arnold was the one in charge of the construction site and plans.”

  “So…?”

  “I think that something went wrong. I think you need to look at the results from Tommy. Maybe there is a connection.”

  Cole was shocked at the suggestion. There was no way that the police were going to let him look back into the case; the autopsy was already done by the lab and analyzed by his superiors.

  “You know, Mike, if this is a wild goose chase then I will have your head on a stake,” retorted Cole.

  Cole hated to look stupid in front of his colleagues. He always preferred to be safe and sure rather than sorry.

  Looking hopeful, Mike said “I am sure if you dig deeper you will find a connection between these two, err, incidents.”

  “Okay.” Cole said grudgingly. “I will look into it, but you need to stay off the investigation. Am I clear?”

  “Crystal.” Mike replied. “Hey, I wanted to tell you something, I think someone is following me. I’m afraid it’s her.”

  “Just keep your head down, and everything will be fine,” Cole assured him.

  Chapter Seven

  Detective Cole got back to his office a disturbed man. He sat at his desk, pondering Mike’s theory. Cole wasn’t so big a fool that he would ignore its merit. He took both files from his desk and looked through Tommy’s profile. Mike was right, he did work with Arnold. He started jotting down notes in his small notebook, noting anything that might be of help. He finally decided to call the Engineering Department of the company that Tommy Fokler used to work for.

  “Hello, Engineering Department, this is Mary. How may I be of help?”

  “This is detective Cole. I’m calling about Tommy Fokler and I would like to talk to his supervisor” he said to avoid the lady hanging up on him.

  “Please wait a moment as I put you through…” Mary replied cheerfully.

  “Hello, this is Mr. Wilkins…”

  “Hello, this is Detective Cole; I want to ask you a few questions about Tommy Fokler. I believe he was working under you?”

  “Yes, he was. It’s very sad to lose such a gifted young man. He was a hard worker who loved his job.”

  “Did he have any enemies? Or was he ever threatened either by a co-worker or anyone else?”

  “No, no, everybody liked him. Although I did notice that Tommy was more nervous than he usually was in the days before his, you know-”

  “Murder? Did he mention any type of warnings or threats that he may have received in the last few weeks? Or anything weird, or out of the norm at all?”

  “No. he didn’t”

  “Thanks for your time. I would like to request a list of projects that Tommy had been working on in the past three months leading up to his departure. You can have someone deliver them by tomorrow or I can send one of the officers to collect the file.”

  “I will prepare the files and call you when they are ready.”

  Detective Cole hung up the phone, feeling satisfied. It was as if the clues were finally taking shape. Nothing was particularly unusual, and he wondered why Mike was so paranoid. He remembered the notebook, and he knew Mike was onto something good. Besides, his friend had been murdered. If that wasn’t cause for paranoia, then what was?

  ******

  Jenna was now Mike’s personal stalker; she knew what needed to be done. Mike was such a pain. If only he had left things as they were, then maybe… No, don’t go there. Jenna was sitting outside Mike’s apartment reading the morning newspaper. She had ransacked it a few days before just to frighten him. Jenna was sure that Mike knew he was been followed, and the way he turned after every corner made her feel powerful. In context, Mike was just a pebble in her shoe, but before she eliminated him, she had to find out what he knew. He was just a very painful pebble that was giving her blisters.

  As she was perusing the paper, she found an article on Tommy’s funeral.

  “Perfect,” said the elated Jenna. “I have to attend the funeral. I need to confuse Mike.”

  Impulsively, she jumped up and got back into her car. As she drove, Jenna calculated how she was going to get rid of Mike once and for all. It was about time that she took care of her loose ends. Jenna was going to quit her job after this. She got home, and at the door, there was a package with no address. Glancing furtively around, she did not see anything suspicious.

  Curious about what the package held, Jenna shook the package as she unlocked the door. After she sliced the package open with a butter knife, she swore colorfully. There was a note: “Get out of town if you know what is good for you,” and the package was full of 100 dollar bills. She knew she was alone. Jenna remembered what Rick had uttered after their wild night together.

  “They must be trying to get rid of me. I am no use to them now,” she muttered angrily.

  Although she knew the repercussions when she signed up for this type of work, Jenna didn’t know that this was how her long and illustrious career would finally end.

  “They want me to take
the fall for them and Rick. If I ever meet my boss in person, I’ll kill him.” She promised.

  She sat down on the floor, memories of the day she was enrolled flashing through her mind. Rick, the one who had kidnapped her from her old life, had explained how it went. First, they would test your abilities and kill your emotions. “Killing should not make you remorseful at all,” one of her trainers told her. One of the many quotes she lived by. Killing for her clients had stripped her of her emotions. That was the only way to survive in the business. She took the package to count the money and decided that she needed to talk to Rick. Even though he had basically abandoned her, he always knew what to do. Surely he would help her figure out what to do next?

  He abandoned you, Jenna. She told herself. He’s washed his hands of you. Jenna called his number anyway.

  “This line has been disconnected,” said the mechanical voice on the other side. Rick was gone. She rushed to her laptop to send an email but immediately received a failed mail reply. It was over. Rick had changed his phone number and email address that Jenna knew because he did not want her to contact him anymore. She had two options: to either run or stay and go to jail. She was too beautiful for jail, so that was not an option.

  *****

  Mike was busy making funeral arrangements for Tommy. Tommy’s closest relatives had flown in and they were staying at Booker’s Motel on Mike’s recommendation. It was sad to see Tommy’s elderly uncle and aunty losing their only nephew in such a gruesome way. Most local channels had requested interviews as a way to appeal to anyone with leads on the case, but they firmly declined. For them, laying their nephew to rest was more important than fame. It pained them that the media was flashing his photo all over the television channels. Detective Cole had come to visit them to offer his condolences and to assure them that he would be closing the case soon. Tommy’s aunt was calmer after she talked to the detective. She inquired about the case and Cole informed her, “I am still trying to put the pieces together but I am sure that everything will make sense soon.”

  On the day of the funeral, there was a decent turnout. The handful of guests at the funeral was a true reflection of Tommy’s life. His coworkers and a few close friends from college were present. His sister Kate stood with her uncle and aunty. It was a sad day for everybody there. The local press was present. Unfortunately. Detective Cole and one of the investigating officers had also come to offer their support. Uninvited Jenna was present with all her charm at the funeral. She sat next to detective Cole, looking both relaxed yet miserable.

  “Death comes to everyone and with it comes the separation from our loved ones,” Reverend Stokes droned in his dreary voice. “We will miss Tommy Fokler, beloved brother, nephew, friend, and member of the community.” The reverend paused and looked at the crowd gathered to bid him farewell.

  “Tommy would be pleased to see most of his friends here today. He would have taken one look at the cars parked at the gate of the cemetery, and would have regarded the turnout as more than his due. He was a big man in a small community. He loved his position in the community. He was warm and kind to the people who listened to him. To earth we give the body of our beloved one, Tommy Fokler.”

  Jenna listened to the sincerity in Reverend Stokes’ voice and looked at Mike. The soft shadows of bereavement appeared on his face, but she wasn’t surprised. She reached into her bag and removed her sunglasses. A cold breeze tossed her hair, and she pushed her hair behind her ears. Mike felt hurt, as he had never wanted her to come.

  After the funeral, Jenna went ahead to greet Tommy’s uncle and aunty and offer her condolences. Mike almost threw a tantrum her way, but refrained from doing so, out of respect for his friend. Detective Cole was standing there looking at the distraught family members when Mike interrupted with his thoughts. “She is here, look at her,” Mike said nervously.

  “Mike, listen to me. I am still looking at the files, I cannot arrest her. There is no concrete evidence,” Cole said slowly.

  “What else do you need? Everything points to her,” he said defensively. It was evident that he was hurt. He looked at her with such an angry expression that the Detective half worried he would need to restrain the angry man.

  “Look, we will arrest her the minute we find enough evidence,” Cole explained.

  Mike was getting impatient; all he wanted to see was Jenna arrested. Kate approached them, and Cole smiled

  “This is Kate, Tommy’s sister.” Mike introduced her to Cole.

  “Kate, this is Detective Cole, he’s the one handling your brother’s case.”

  He pretended to be relaxed. There was no need to make Kate feel uncomfortable. They shook hands as Cole left them to talk. Mike looked at Jenna with unforgiving anger reflected in his eyes.

  Kate noticed. “Who is that girl? You’ve been staring at her for a long time. Is she your girlfriend?”

  “No, she was Tommy’s girlfriend or, should I say, his girlfriend for a day.”

  “No one ever told me he had a girlfriend,” she said.

  She was shocked that her brother finally had a social life. She was happy for him, but she didn’t understand why Mike hated her. Kate could tell he hated her from the way he looked at her.

  “Why do you hate her?” she asked curiously

  “I don’t hate her, but I don’t like her either.”

  Kate tried to ignore it, but she knew that there was friction between them. Either way, she was worried.

  *****

  Detective Cole returned to his office determined to close the case. His assisting officer came to his office with new information on the victims. He had ordered the officers to dig for more information on the two deaths. The case wasn’t closed. This was the only way for him to find out whether Mike had something concrete. The police station was busy, and there was a long line of people stretching from his office to the coffee maker. This case was proving to be difficult, and Cole wanted to finish it.

  “I figured out the connection between Tommy and Arnold. Tommy was involved in a chemical testing process in the plains. The engineering company where Arnold worked had acquired that land and had investors ready to start building townhouses. It was a big project worth billions of dollars and the local government was in charge of testing the land and approving it as fit for human occupation,” one of his officers informed him, brandishing a folder of reports.

  That information was not helpful. He wanted reasons as to why they were killed, not about their jobs.

  “So…why would anyone want them killed?”

  “Tommy was in charge of the testing results; I went there and collected soil samples from the ground. It turns out that the soil contains trichloroethylene; long term exposure to the chemical causes different types of cancer and kidney failure. The results from Tommy were ripped off from the files.” Cole sat upright to ponder this new vital information. This was what he was looking for.

  “Someone is hiding something. We need to figure out what. Is there anything else? What about Arnold?”

  “I believe Tommy had revealed this to his employer and was in the process of calling Arnold, but it was too late. We went through both victims emails and some emails were missing. And also I ran the picture you got from Mike of the guy from Jenna’s house. His real name is Rick Morales, he has a record, but most of the cases against him were dropped due to a lack of evidence”

  Cole was convinced now that Jenna was the killer; now it was simply a matter of proving she was the killer. This was juicy and this could make or break his career; he decided not to hold any press conferences until they made the arrest. Cole was now ready to tail her and figure out this enigma. And when Cole honed in on his prey, there was no getting away. He wanted some research done on her background. There had to be something to lead them to the evidence.

  “Good job, Wilson. Run some background checks on Jenna.”

  “What’s her last name?” Wilson asked, puzzled.

  “Unkn
own. Figure it out.” He was in no mood to be diplomatic. “Got it?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good, I want to pick her up, but we should probably wait for those background checks. You know what you’re doing? Get someone to help you. Get Sacks.”

  “Alright.”

  “In the meantime, I will go talk to Mr. Wilkins and get to the bottom of this once and for all.” Cole dismissed the officer and settled down. He could already see the front page headlines: Local Detective nabs serial murderer.

  He smiled.

  Chapter Eight

  Detective Cole was convinced that he was close to solving the mystery of Tommy and Arnold’s murders. And the only person who could help him right now was Tommy’s old boss, Mr. Wilkins. He would make him talk even if it meant torturing him. Cole needed answers and he needed them now. He was more than ready for the interview. He rushed out of his office, the other officers parting to form a path for him and those waiting in line to talk to him could tell that there was new evidence. They would wait patiently until the good news spread like wildfire.

  “Mr. Wilkins, Detective Cole is here to see you.”

  “Please let him in” replied Mr. Wilkins.

  “I wanted to thank you for the files. They have really helped with the case. I need to ask you a few questions about a certain project that has your signature on the contract.” He pushed the file towards him. “As we looked through the files, that project, Tommy’s, had a lot of discrepancies. Test results were missing, pages were torn… Tell me about the project on the plains.”

  “Ah yes, the Plains Project. That is one of the bigger projects we currently have in our roster. The company undertaking the project has invested billions of dollars in it. This here is the plans associated with the project. As for the missing pages, I’ll look for them. I’m sure they’re lying around somewhere.”

  To anyone else, Mr. Wilkins was telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Cole’s sixth sense was telling him that there was something Mr. Wilkins was not saying.