The Man In Forest Hills Read online

  “Are you guys done with your daily meeting yet?” he asks.

  “None of your fucking business,” Chambers barks back.

  The guard looks back at Chambers, with a slight, but noticeable smirk.

  The next morning Chambers walks to the showers accompanied by two of his men. As of late, Chambers hasn’t gone to any of the public areas without protection. He walks into the shower area and within a minute, all the other inmates have exited. Chambers presence usually makes other inmates feel uneasy, so they leave him be. He gets in the shower and the two other inmates wait for him outside. After several minutes, Chambers finishes up in the shower and yells out for his towel.

  “Hey, pass me that towel.”

  No one responds to him or gives him a towel. He lets out a sigh of frustration. He calls out for the towel again.

  “I said pass me that towel.”

  He gets passed a towel after the second time.

  “Thanks. It’s about damn time.”

  He dries himself with the towel and opens up the shower curtain. He sees no one there.

  “Hey! Where you guys at?”

  No one responds but he has no choice but to get out of the shower. He takes a look around, but still can’t see anyone until he is startled by a shadow. Within seconds a man holding a blade lunges forwards and stabs him in the stomach. Chambers had no time to react or even defend himself. He falls to the ground with the man who continues to stab him over and over.

  Blood has covered the ground and started to leave his mouth due to the internal injuries. The man stands up over Chambers who is in utter shock, but can still make out the face above him. He eyes widen at the sight of not only a black inmate, but the face of one if his closest friends in prison. The inmate bends down and places his mouth right next to Chambers ear.

  “I’m so sorry boss. I had no choice. They made me do it. Forgive me.”

  As Chambers lies on the ground on the door of death, he can’t help but think about who ordered this attack. There is no way this attack came from the inside, or he would have known. It had to be someone from the outside, so they could catch him off guard and vulnerable.

  As blood continues to spill out of his stomach, the two men who were supposed to be his protection walk back into the shower room. One of the inmates face has fear written all over it as he stares at Chambers.

  “Come on man. We got to get the fuck outta here. He’s bout dead.”

  They run out the shower room and leave Chambers lying on the floor. He lays there in a puddle of his own blood. He tries to take short breaths, but he finds it hard to breathe. He takes one more breath and his eyes slowly close. His hand was trembling slowly shaking, but when his heart stopped the hand stopped right away.

  Meanwhile, back on the outside, things are still moving as planned with detective Harper. It’s been almost a day since the death of Chambers broke and Harper feels like he needs to call Kent to break him all the news. He sits at his desk and picks up his cell phone. He scrolls through his contacts and finds Kent’s name. He presses the call button and puts the phone to his ear.

  On the other side of the phone is Kent. Kent sits in his car outside of a liquor store. He hears his phone ring and looks down at the cell phone to see the caller ID. He sees that it’s Harper. Kent picks up the phone in frustration.

  “Hey. What is it?”

  Harper can hear the frustration in Kent’s voice.

  “Damn buddy, what’s the problem? You sound frustrated.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m just a little busy right now,” Kent says.

  Harper stands up and walks away from his desk.

  “You’re busy doing what?”

  “I’m busy doing what I’m doing. What do you need anyway?” Kent asks.

  “When you’re done with that damn attitude I got to tell you some important information.”

  Kent drops an empty bottle of liquor in the passenger seat and grabs the phone with his other hand.

  “What is it?”

  “Your good friend Cecil Chambers, was murdered a couple of days ago,” Harper says.

  As Harper tells Kent the news he can hear his heavy breathing on the other side of the phone. Kent can’t believe what he’s heard from Harper on the phone. He almost drops the phone out his hand.

  “What? When? How?”

  “In the prison buddy. They finally got him. All of those years thinking he was invincible. Well now, he can enjoy his time in hell,” Harper adds.

  Kent sits in his car outside a liquor store. He looks at the front of the store and the sign up top reads Chambers Liquors. This liquor store is the same store where Kent and Harper used to come to find Chambers when they needed to question him. He steps out his car and walks up to the front door. He stands there for a second and takes a deep breath. He pushes the door open and proceeds to walk in.

  MEET THE KINGPIN

  Kent and Harper jump out of their police vehicle and walk up to the liquor store. The sign on the front of the store reads ‘Chambers Liquors’. They bust in the door and walk up to the cashier. Harper looks the cashier right in his face and takes out his badge.

  “I’m looking for Cecil Chambers.”

  The cashier looks at him with a puzzled look, as if he doesn’t know who that is.

  “I don’t know who the fuck that is. You guys come barging in here like you own the joint,” he says.

  Harper begins to raise his voice.

  “You don’t know who the fuck that is huh? It’s the fucking name on the front of the fucking store you fucking dummy.”

  He then walks up to the cashier and aggressively puts his hands around his collar.

  “You piece of shit where the fuck is he?”

  Before things get out of hand, a man walks out from the back of the store up to the commotion in the front. He speaks out in a loud voice.

  “Hey. You two come on back here. I got what you’re looking for.”

  Kent cautiously moves his hand to his gun when he hears the loud voice. With his hands still on the cashier, Harper looks to the right to check out this man.

  He finally takes his hands off the cashier and walks up to the man. Kent follows right behind him and they both proceed to the back of the store. They all walk past a black curtain and the man opens a door. He looks at both of them.

  “Go ahead. You said you’re looking for Chambers?”

  They both look hesitant at first. Harper looks at Kent for confirmation to go through the door. Kent shakes his head up and down. They both walk through the door into the room. Inside this room is a huge office with two bodyguards. Both bodyguards have pistols in their hands.

  One of them walks up to Harper and begins to search him without saying anything. Harper becomes instantly defensive.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Get your hands off me, I’m a fucking cop.”

  Out of nowhere a loud voice rings across the room.

  “Don’t worry about it, he’s okay.”

  The man walks up from the back of the room and up to Kent.

  “Hello, I’m Cecil Chambers. How can I help you detectives?”

  Kent looks at him as if he saw a ghost.

  “Chambers? It’s finally good to put a face to the name.”

  Chambers looks back at him.

  “I hope this is a good visit.”

  Harper walks up to him. As soon as he walks up Chambers puts his hand out for a formal introduction.

  “I’m detective Harper. We’re just here to ask you a couple of questions.”

  Chambers walks over to his desk and sits down.

  “Of course detectives. I’m willing to answer any questions you have. We always cooperate with the police.”

  Chambers bodyguards laugh at his remarks, which catch the detectives off guard somewhat. Kent walks up to Chambers desk and slams down a picture.

  “Do you recognize this man?”

  He looks Kent right in t
he eye and then grabs the picture.

  “This is Damon. He used to work for me here in the store.”

  Harper proceeds to walk up to the desk.

  “Yeah, he was found dead this morning by the pier. Do you know anyone who wanted him dead?”

  “I have no idea detective. To be honest, Damon was a good kid. He was a hard worker, who kept things in order in my store. It’s a damn shame that this happened.”

  Kent grabs the photo off the table and places it back in his pocket.

  “So you don’t have any idea who would have done this to him?”

  Chambers gives him an angry stare. He looks at his men around the room.

  “Like I told you before, I have no idea. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Kent takes a step away from his desk and so does Harper. Kent responds to him with a smirk on his face.

  “Nothing for now, but I can guarantee we will be seeing a lot of you in the future. Have a nice day Mr. Chambers.”

  They both walk out of the office and head back towards the front of the store. When they reach the front, Harper stares at the cashier and shakes his head. The cashier looks back at him and shakes his head as well.

  10 - MOTHER MARY

  The large church bells at the top of the Catholic Church ring loud throughout the city. Out on the street a car pulls up to the front of the church. Mary hops out of her car and heads up the steps into the church. She opens the heavy door and stops at the bowl of holy water off to her right. She sticks her index finger in the bowl and does a religious cross over her body.

  She whispers.

  In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit.

  She hesitantly walks to the front of the church in search of the confession booth. She locates one and quickly walks over to it. She moves past the curtain and sits down inside the booth. She’s alone for a minute or so, lost in her thoughts, until a priest interrupts.

  “My child, how are you today?”

  “Father, I am doing alright, but my days could be a lot better. My days have been a lot better though.”

  There’s a five second silence in the confession booth. The priest picks up the conversation.

  “My child, tell me why you are here? What do you need to confess?”

  “Father, I really came for someone else,” she says.

  The priest clears his throat.

  “So, why doesn’t this person just come here to seek confession?”

  “I wish I could convince him to, but it’s not that easy.” Mary tries to explain what the situation is, but she has a difficult time explaining exactly what is going on.

  “This man is someone who doesn’t believe in the power of God. He lost everything and can’t see how God would have allowed that.”

  “That’s understandable. What do you think?” he asks.

  Silence creeps back in the confession booth. Mary tries to stir up some words to say.

  “I lost my family and I was devastated for many years. I’m still in mourning now, but I do believe in the power of God.”

  She tries to keep talking, but the priest cuts her off by mistake.

  “My child, if you believe in the power of God, and know how powerful he is, then it would be best for you to spread the word to this person. There is only so much you can do here my child. You are a child of God and part of your duty to God is to spread his word.”

  She sits there and listens to the Priest break down what she needs to do to help. She can’t help, but feel hopeful. The priest finishes what he has to say and as he finishes she starts to speak.

  “Father, you are right. I have an obligation to help this man and let him know the powers of God. Thank you so much for your advice.”

  “Anytime my child,” he says

  Mary picks up her purse and walks out of the confession booth. She walks up to the statue of Jesus in the front of the Church. She gets down on one knee to pay her respect.

  In the name of the father, son, and the Holy Spirit.

  She gets up off of her knee and walks out of the church with a new mission to conquer.

  Days later, Mary wakes up in her house and sits up in her bed. She looks to the left and takes a look at an old family portrait sitting next to her bed. She grabs the picture with her hand and kisses it. Minutes later, she gets out the shower and walks in her room to get dressed. Now fully dressed she puts on her shoes and heads to the front of the house.

  She looks for her car keys on the coffee table, but can’t find them. She finally locates her keys on a table by the front door. She walks over there to pick them up and while she picks up the keys, her eyes close in on another family picture. She picks it up and smiles at it. She proceeds to walk out the door and heads towards her car.

  The scene at the Oakville Cemetery is very dark and grim. It begins to rain as soon as Mary pulls into the cemetery. She stops and hops out of the car with a bouquet of flowers. She opens the back door and grabs an umbrella. The rain stopped, but she grabbed it in case it starts up again.

  Mary starts walking past a bunch of headstones until she stops at a particular one. This one is special to her because it’s the headstone of her husband and infant daughter. She takes a close look at the headstone and a tear starts to come down her right eye. She drops the umbrella and drops to one knee.

  “God, I hope you are taking care of my family up there in heaven. I want you all to know that I am doing better, but I still need you all to continue to look over me, because every day is a struggle.”

  She takes the bouquet of flowers and sits them on the ground. She takes a small shovel out of her bag and begins to dig into the soil in front of the headstone. As she continues to dig the leader of the grounds crew walks up to her and blocks the sunshine falling down on her. Mary looks up at him with an annoyed look on her face.

  “Excuse me, you’re blocking my light.”

  “Oh sorry. I just came over to see if you needed any help with anything,” he responds.

  She gets up off her knee and stands up to look at the man eye to eye.

  “Why would you think I need some help?”

  “No reason ma’am, I just wanted to lend a helping hand.

  He stops for a second and takes a look at the flowers she is about to put in the ground.

  “Those are some beautiful flowers you got there.”

  “Thanks so much. My husband used to get these for me all the time. It was his Friday routine,” she says.

  They continue to talk for several minutes and share a bunch of smiles and laughs. She finishes up planting the flowers, and stands up. The man starts to make his way back towards his truck, to allow Mary some more alone time with her loved ones.

  “Well ma’am, thanks for the great conversation. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

  “No problem my friend. Enjoy the rest of your day also.”

  Once he reaches his truck, he hops into the driver seat. She stands there and looks at him with a big smile on her face. She picks up her small shovel and kisses the headstone.

  “Goodbye guys. See you soon.”

  She walks away and gets into her car. As soon as she pulls out of the cemetery, it starts to pour again.

  Meanwhile, Kent exits his house and walks to his car. His cell phone rings and he takes a look at the caller ID. He sees Mary’s name come up on his phone. He shrugs his shoulders when he sees her name and doesn’t want to pick up the phone. He starts to talk to himself.

  If you don’t pick it up she’s just gonna call again.

  He picks up the phone.

  “Hello.”

  Every time Mary hears his voice it sends a shock through her body. It forces her to pause and not respond. Kent repeats himself in frustration.

  “Hello. Is there anyone there?”

  Mary finally says something on the other line.

  “Hey Tom, it’s Mary. How are you?”

  “I’ve been better.
You okay?”

  “Are you busy? Can we meet somewhere just to have a chat? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Kent has a weird look on his face when he hears her ask the question. He puts his cell phone down for a second and starts to mumble under his breath.

  “Umm, yeah I guess.”

  “Okay. Can we meet at the same diner we went to before?” she asks.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be by there in fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay, great.”

  Almost twenty minutes later Mary sits inside the diner waiting on Kent. It’s obvious Kent is late, and she looks at her watch in frustration. She can’t help but think that he stood her up, but five minutes later Kent walks in through the doors. He walks up to the counter and catches a quick glimpse of Mary. She makes eye contact with him and signals him over with her hand in the air. He makes his way over to the back of the diner to the same booth they sat down in the first time they were in there.

  Kent takes a seat while Mary still has a smile on her face.

  “Hey Mary. How have things been?”

  “Things have been pretty good. Everything is looking up,” she added.

  A waitress walks up to their table and pulls out a pen and a pad.

  “What can I get you guys?”

  “Just two cups of coffee will do for now. Thank you,” he responds.

  She writes the order down and puts the pen and pad back in her apron.

  “Coming right up.”

  The waitress walks away and Mary begins to speak.

  “I just wanted to meet up to see how everything is going with you.”

  Kent takes a deep breath.

  “Everything has been a lot better. I really can’t complain. I just take it a day at a time.”

  “That’s really good to hear Tom.”

  The waitress comes back with the two cups of coffee. She drops them on the table.

  “Here you go. The cream and sugar is right over there. I’ll be back to check on you in a couple of minutes.”

  “Thank you,” says Mary.

  Mary jumps right back into the conversation.