CHAPTER FOUR
MISSING BODIES
A loud ring woke Preston up again. He looked at his bedside clock and was shocked to see that it was still 5 am in the morning.
The loud phone ring brought him back to his senses. He stretched out his hand lazily only to discover that it was Victor his partner calling him. What did he want this time around?
Preston picked up the phone.
‘What is it?’ He asked.
‘We have a problem, Preston. We got a call, this morning, about another murder case and guess who it was? Ocean’s sister. The first person you wanted to see this morning. I think someone is trying to silence this man and I think the man might be innocent. Come to think of it his lawyer your friend died first then now his only living blood relation is dead. What is going on?’
‘Ok, this is kind of hard to sink in. Page me the address as I get ready.’
This case was now getting more interesting. Preston thought. At first, he had been a spectator to the case, observing from the sidelines, but now, he knew that something sinister, was afoot, and he also knew that he was no longer a spectator but a player in the game. The time of watching from the sidelines were over. The more he thought of the case, the more he got angry, and wanted to quickly nab the criminal and torment him. Preston took his time this time around, dressing up. He removed his used clothes, entered the shower, took a bath, shaved, and then dressed up in clean satin cloths. Today was going to be a long day, so he better wears something comfortable, and satin was his best bet.
He then did his normal routine if he was going out his house, locked the door, threw the keys into the flower pot nearby, then entered his car and drove off to the location Victor had paged him.
He met Victor at the scene, he was as calm as usual, not perturbed, and he even smiled. From time to time Preston always wondered whether this man was actually a cop. He knew that his job, the detective work, required calmness to clearly think, and he knew that he was probably the calmness cop around, but Victor’s calmness was on another level. This man would still be calm even if his head was severed from his spine. As the two men walked to the scene, for some unknown reason, Preston was thinking about victor. He had nothing on the man, the only thing he knew about victor was that he was a very good cop, transferred from somewhere and now was his partner. What terrified him out most about Victor was his stare. It was deep and overwhelming and just by looking into his eyes, you can see the immense wisdom in there. Not that Preston cared, only that he liked being the best, at every occasion, and something about Victor is that he always ticked him off. He wasn’t an ordinary person, his trains of thoughts were also there to match. The younger generation would perhaps call him cool because that was what his very essence epitomized. He was what you would call a free spirit. Someone not tied down by the chains that bound mere mortals, the chains of race, gender, thought and most importantly social approval. Preston glanced at this cool thing called a human being and couldn’t help but marvel at his partner, and the more he looked at him, the more he marveled. This man had solved a case that had taken him almost, six months in less than a week.
‘We are here.’ Victor’s voice brought him out of his train of thoughts. ‘You are the boss, here right, so you should take the lead.’
They met the cops that had encircled the parameter, showed their badges and were let into the crime scene.
They then entered the house.
What Preston saw next shocked him to his very core. A woman was hanged on the ceiling fan, and her two young sons and her two grown-up daughters were crucified to the wall, upside down, and their insides were spilled on the ground. What sort of sick way of killing was this?
The fact that the five dead bodies were all missing their digits meant that they were tortured before the killing, what a gruesome death they might have experienced. Suddenly a switch flipped in Preston.
‘This is more serious than I thought. I will be leaving you here Victor, forward any clues you find to me.’
‘Where are you going to?’ Victor asked.
‘I have to go and see Ocean and make him talk. Obviously, he must have offended a person, for them to be going after his family member’s one after the other. Please pay attention to details. But as for me, I am off, alright?’
‘OK.’ Victor replied.
CHAPTER FIVE
QUESTIONING
Preston went to the cell, where the ocean was held. He then called for him.
The man walked in and looked around, definitely expecting Dennis. Preston waved his hands at the man and signaled him to come over.
The man walked toward him timidly.
Preston then motioned him to sit.
‘Where is Dennis?’ He asked. ‘Where is the lawyer friend of mine?’ He asked again. With red expectant eyes.
Preston knew that the man was trying his best to be composed. He looked frustrated and dejected. He had probably, even cried himself out in his cell. Who wouldn’t be? After all, he was going to be killed off, in the nearest future.
‘Where is Dennis?’ He asked again. ‘Please tell me he hasn’t abandoned me to rot in this jail?’
Preston thought of how to break the news to the guy.
‘How do I put it? Mr. Ocean bubble, Dennis is dead, and I am now in charge of your case, Ocean,’ Preston said, creating an awkward silence.
Ocean looked at him as if he was mad, then continued looking around, expecting his friend to come through the door at any moment.
‘I have said before, countless times. I am not talking to any cops, you guys don’t have my interest at heart, and your only purpose is to throw me into your prisons, so your government can make money. I have no business with you. I need my lawyer Dennis and I need him now.’ Ocean barked.
‘Simmer down, this might come as a shock to you, but Dennis is truly dead, I am not lying.’
‘Wait a minute. What?’
‘Yes, you heard me right. He was found murdered in his house this morning at around 3.am.’ Preston said, throwing a few pictures he had taken this morning to Ocean, who started flipping through them.
‘That is not all, your sister and her family, were also found murdered and mutilated in their house. If you flip throw all those pictures you should see them.’
At this point, Ocean became a mess. He started sobbing uncontrollably.
Preston waited for the man to calm down.
‘Now what am I going to do?’ he asked Preston.
‘Seriously I don’t know. But it’s my belief that somebody is doing this behind the scene intentionally.’
‘But why would somebody, think of doing this to me? Who is after my life? I am an honest man, making an honest living. I did nothing to anyone. Then why would somebody do this to me and my family? Why would somebody….’ Ocean said sobbing, crying, sniffing, in short, all the things a deranged person would do.
‘See Ocean, crying won’t solve this problem. If there is anything you know of, that you aren’t saying I suggest you tell me and tell me fast. Because I feel somebody is trying to silence justice.’
‘Have you by chance offended anybody? Have you done something to anybody?’ You have to talk to me.
‘I think you need to spill all you know to me.’
As he was talking, a bullet flew into the building into Ocean’s neck and he fell, down bleeding. Preston turned to the direction where the shot had come from and was just fortunate enough to see the curtain of the other building beside the street flutter.
This was the last shooting that idiot would ever do. He told himself.
‘I need medics here.’ Preston shouted. As Gabriel, the local cop ran to his side. He then quickly ran out of the building still shouting to the other cops to handle the situation in the building, as he chased the person he had just seen.
Preston made it out of the building and started running after the man. He was surprised to see another different man with a gun made off, it was as if the man was waiting for him. Something just didn’t seem right. But now wasn’t the time to think. He had to catch that person running away, no matter what. He definitely might be working hand in hand with the sniper.
Preston was happy that he was in good shape and gradually, he was closing the distance between him and the man. Then he chased the man across the street, dodging speeding automobiles. The man then took a sharp turn, running into the alley, with Preston hot at his heels. The man then ran into a building and started climbing the stairs, Preston followed suit. Their wild goose chase inside the building, through the building as they climbed up, must have lasted ten minutes, but Preston was yet to close the gap between the men. He was beginning to worry, something didn’t seem well. Normally, a person that had just committed a crime was supposed to run in a haphazard motion, but this man wasn’t running in such manner. It was as if he had a target destination and was going somewhere. Preston was now thinking of calling quit the chase, but the thought of his friend Dennis made him keep on running. The other thing that felt odd about this chase was that the building they were now in was abandoned. Nobody was in sight, he was beginning to feel scared. True to his instinct a man pops out from his behind and started shooting him at him with a sniper rifle, and the man in front also stopped running turned and also started shooting him. Preston was shocked at the first man, because he had attended the hearing of the murder of Daisy, and he was her boyfriend John that was ranting about justice, gratefully the man behind him, probably the sniper couldn’t shoot with such a heavy gun and he managed to jump out of the way of the bullets and smash, himself into the nearest door he saw. Wrong move, he smashed through the door and the door opened up to reveal a forty foot vertical drop, and he started to fall, but this wasn’t a normal fall, he was going to come out unscathed. It could be compared to falling into hell and just for the prerequisite for falling into hell, he was falling to his death.