The Man In Forest Hills Read online

  “Howard told me what happened today. I know it was a lot on your first day, but that’s what being a detective is all about.”

  “I know Cap. Things just went so fast, but I can promise you that I will be sharper next time.”

  “You better be God damn it. I stuck my neck out on a limb for you.”

  The captain rims him out for a couple of minutes and Maddox knows he shouldn’t do anything but listen. Once the Captain finishes his speech, Maddox makes direct eye contact with him to show his focus.

  “I understand Cap. I won’t let you down.”

  Maddox leaves the office, but gets stopped in his tracks when he realizes all eyes are on him in the office. He soon realizes that they all must have heard the Captain yelling at him. He doesn’t want them to think he can’t handle his new position, so he calmly makes his way back to his desk and sits down.

  Several hours pass by and a lot of the other detectives are headed home. Captain Leonard walks out his office with his coat in hand.

  “Maddox, time to shut it down. Go home and get some rest.”

  He looks at the clock and recognizes that he has lost track of the time. The Captain is right. It’s time for him to shut it down.

  “Okay Cap. See you tomorrow.”

  The captain gives him a wave and heads out the office. Maddox starts to pack up his stuff to head home. Time passes and Maddox finally gets home. He walks into his house and puts his coat down. He takes his gun and sets it down on the coffee table. He walks over to the kitchen and heads toward the refrigerator. He opens the door and grabs a cold beer. The doorbell interrupts him. He quickly opens the bottle of beer and takes a sip.

  Who the fuck is that at this time of night?

  He walks over to the door and looks through the peephole. He can’t really make out the persons face, but he decides to open the door anyway. The door swings open and Maddox looks as if he has seen a ghost. Cecil Chambers returns his in shock face, with a big smile on his face.

  “Detective Maddox, may I come in?”

  12 - KENT’S PAST

  Harper pulls up to the precinct and right into his spot. He reaches in the back to grab his bag, but gets startled by a knock on his window. He looks up to see Captain Leonard. He gets out of his car.

  “Harper, where are we with those two murders?”

  “I'm getting close. Give me a couple more days,” he says.

  “Trust me Captain, I got this.”

  Captain Leonard is agitated by his response.

  “Harper that's not good enough. I needed something.”

  He walks away, not giving Harper a chance to respond. Harper shakes his head in frustration. He eventually makes his way into the precinct and to his desk, which is being occupied by Maddox. Harper doesn’t hold back.

  “What the fuck are you doing at my desk Maddox?”

  Maddox takes his feet off the desk.

  “We need to talk. Let’s go for a coffee.”

  Maddox gets up out of the chair and motions for Harper to follow him.

  On the other side of town, Kent rolls over in bed to grab the family photo that sits on the opposite nightstand. Since he has lost his family, he goes through the same routine every morning when he wakes up. He grabs the picture and gently rubs his fingers over Ryan, then follows with Amy. It feels like the only way he can connect with them, to just feel their presence for some time.

  He places the photo back on the nightstand and heads into the bathroom to shower. For some reason, this morning in the shower he starts to reminisce about the times he and Amy use to shower together. He stands under the shower head and lets the water hit his face, shakes his head a couple of times, then turns the water off.

  Eventually, Kent makes his way into the kitchen and grabs himself a cup of coffee. He sits in the living room while he drinks his cup of coffee with his thoughts still on Amy and Ryan. He thinks about all the time they use to spend in the living room doing different family activities. He finishes up the cup of coffee and leaves the mug in the sink.

  He grabs his jacket and keys at the front door, leaves his house and gets into his car. He makes his way through the city and ends up at Mary’s house. He rings the doorbell and patiently waits for her to answer the door. Mary is surprised to see Tom on the other side of the door.

  “Tom, what are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”

  She looks at him and says, “Oh, thank you.”

  Then she pauses for a second.

  “Would you want to come in?”

  “Of course.”

  He walks in the house and she closes the door right behind. He takes a seat on the couch. He takes a look to his left and sees a picture of Mary and a man. Mary catches Kent looking at the picture.

  “Yes, that was my husband. We took that a long time ago,” she says. “Good times.”

  Kent picked up the picture to get a better look.

  “It looks like you were very happy.”

  Mary sits down on the couch next to him, so Kent places the picture back onto the table. They begin to talk about anything it seems like, and even exchange some laughs. However, Mary wants to turn the subject matter to something much more important to her, even if it’s not to Tom. She turns her body to face him

  “Tom, are you done playing God?”

  He sits up straight and continues to look ahead at the wall, not trying to make direct eye contact with Mary.

  “Look, that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to finish what they started. Then I will finally feel better.”

  “How could you ever say that? How can taking someone else’s life make you feel better?” she asks.

  There’s a pause in the room.

  “My father, God rest his soul, was a great man. He was a debt collector for the biggest loan shark in the city, a man named Jerry Ganane. He had to go to companies and people’s houses, or anywhere. You name it, he went. And no matter where he went, he always carried a baseball bat and a handgun. For years he had to beat up on people who didn’t pay up. He would break bones and seriously hurt people if he didn’t collect what was needed. He made enough money to take care of our family, but we weren’t rich. He had no real education at all, so to him, this was the best job he could get. At times he would pocket some of the money that he collected, and his boss usually didn’t pay much attention to it.”

  Mary listens closely, not missing one detail of the story. He continues on with the story.

  “His boss caught on to him as time went on. For a couple of months, he spoiled us by taking us out to eat and buying my mom nice jewelry. She never asked where the money came from nor did she really care, as long as everyone was happy. I will never forget the day they took my father from our house. I was twelve and a couple of men in all black came to the door and left with my father. They didn’t rough him up or even say much; I think my father knew he had no other choice but to go with them. He told me he would be back soon and to take care of my mother Hours later my mother gets a call from someone at the hospital saying my father was in intensive care.”

  Tears have started to trickle down his face as he continues to tell the story to Mary. She can feel and see the hurt that’s in his heart, it is written all over his face.

  “We get to the hospital, to find him badly beaten with a breathing machine by his side. For a week he was in the hospital, in a coma and not talking. The police were asking questions, but we had no answers to anything, because we didn’t know who the guys were that took him. Eventually, my mother had to make the most difficult decision of her life. She took him off of life support. He was showing no signs of life; at that point he was a vegetable. It hurt to see my mother that way and for years she didn’t forgive herself. At the funeral, Ganane shows up and pretends to have nothing to do with it. For years I wanted to put a gun to his head, but was too much of a coward to do it. I watched my mom basically die from
depression and I couldn’t really do anything about it. That’s why I am the way I am now.”

  He turns his body towards Mary, so he can look her in the eye.

  “Mary, listen to me. It's not about the killing that makes me feel complete, it's more of a feeling that I can’t let this eat me up. I can’t let these men get away with what they did. I did that once with my father, I let those men get away with what they did to my mother and me. I told myself never again. This last life has to be taken it is a must.”

  She looks at him at a loss of words, so she takes her hand and puts it on top of his. He looks down at her hand, and then back up, to lock eyes again.

  “I see why you say what you say Tom, I really do. I just don’t think we were put on this earth to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. There are other ways for you to avenge their deaths.”

  “I know Mary, but this is all I know.”

  They both look away from one another, but still remain holding hands. At this point it’s a standstill, neither one is going to change the mind of the other one. Kent realizes their hands are still interlocked, so he pulls his hand away. Mary takes her hand back to her lap as well, but no words are exchanged. Kent has an uneasy feeling, so he stands up off the couch to add some distance between the two.

  “I'm gonna take off now. I’ve got to take care of some things.”

  Mary also stands up off the couch.

  “Okay, thanks for stopping by and checking in on me, I appreciate it.”

  Kent walks out the door to his car, as Mary watches him from her door way. He starts the engine and pulls off, but Mary doesn’t go back into the house until his car is out of her sight. She eventually closes the door behind her. She rests up against the door trying to understand why she feels different this time about seeing Tom. There are some types of feelings there, but she isn’t sure what they are or even how to express them.

  Meanwhile across town, car pulls up to a building. The sign on the front of the building reads ‘Quickshot Gun Range’. Shortly after, another car pulls up right beside it and out steps Harper. He walks in and greets a man who stands in front of a display of guns. The man welcomes him with a smile.

  “Detective, how are you today?”

  “I’m doing alright,” he says. “Get me a case of hollows. I need to let off some steam real quick. It’s been a long week.”

  The man hands him a box of hollow tips for his handgun. Harper takes the bullets and walks away. He walks through a hallway and into a large room that is already occupied by a handful of people. He sets up right next to a couple who look at him as he walks to his station. He takes out his clip and starts loading the bullets. He takes the safety off and aims. While he shoots he can’t help but think about the case, and how he is struggling to crack it.

  It is by far the most important case he has ever worked on before, since it involves two detectives that were murdered in cold blood. He finally empties out his whole clip and puts his gun down. He takes off his headwear and can hear laughter coming from the couple at the station next to him. He looks up at the woman as she holds the gun and shoots. She might have one of the worst shots he has ever seen. The man brings the target in, and not to much surprise, she didn’t even hit the target. The man laughs at her.

  Her husband starts to laugh at her.

  “You are a terrible shot honey.”

  “It’s this gun. It’s really bad,” she says.

  “It’s a revolver. It’s probably the easiest gun to shoot.”

  As Harper continues to listen to their conversation, he suddenly has an overwhelming thought. He picks up his gun and his bullets and quickly rushes out of the gun range. He gets to the front of the store and drops the bullets at the front display case. The man notices he’s in a rush and quickly says goodbye.

  “See you soon Detective.”

  Harper sprints out the door and into his car. He arrives at the forensics department in record time. As of late the department has been extremely busy with more cases than workers. He walks right up to the door.

  “Boom, Boom, Boom.”

  The investigator closest to the door gets up and opens it. He notices Harper right away.

  “Detective Harper, what can we help you with?”

  Harper attempts to catch his breath as he barges into the room.

  “You guys don’t know how to answer your fucking office phone, huh?”

  Two investigators look at each other and turn their attention toward Harper.

  “What’s the problem detective?”

  “Those shell casings that were found at the crime scenes of both Craven and Marven, were they the same?”

  “Yes, yes I believe so. Why what’s the problem?”

  Harper takes a seat at the desk and can’t believe what he’s just heard.

  “So you’re saying that they would have come from the same box of bullets?”

  The investigator shakes his head in confirmation and confirms what Harper has just said. Harper takes out his pen and pad.

  “What’s the serial number on both bullets?”

  Both investigators start to scramble through the paperwork on their desks. One of them finds the serial number and blurts it out to Harper.

  “97231”

  Harper jots it down.

  “Thanks guys.”

  Maddox walks out of his house and down the steps into his car. Several feet down the road Kent sits in his car and watches him.

  Someone is going into the office kind of late.

  Maddox gets into his car and takes off. Kent follows him through the city streets until they reach the precinct. He sits in his car and watches Maddox as he goes into the building.

  Have a good day detective.

  Kent’s phone rings. He looks at the caller id which reads Harper. He picks up the call.

  “Darren, what’s going on?”

  Breathing very heavy and talking very loud, Harper responds.

  “Tom! Tom! Where are you? We gotta talk.”

  “I can’t talk right now I’m busy,” he says. “I gotta call you back later.”

  “No! Tom, I have to see you now.”

  Kent quickly hangs up the phone on him. Harper throws his phone down in frustration.

  Fuck! God damn it! The hell with it.

  Harper runs through a red light and takes a quick turn down a street. Minutes later, his car pulls up to Kent’s house. He suspects Kent won’t be home, but he needs to speak to him and thought he could just wait at his house. Harper clearly understands that Kent is responsible for the murders of both detectives. He continues to sit outside Kent’s house not sure what do to. He contemplates just making his way into the house, but isn’t sure how Kent will react He sits quietly in his car. He thinks of what Kent’s next move might be.

  He finally decides to sneak into the house through the back yard. He walks up to the back door cautiously and checks the handle, locked. He uses two tiny pieces of lead to unlock the door. He makes his way into the kitchen and starts to rummage through all of the cabinets in search of the bullets that would match those from the crime scene. He moves to the living room and starts looking through everything in there. Time goes by and he can’t find anything in the living room. He proceeds to the bedroom. He walks into Kent’s bedroom and checks in his dresser drawers. He finds nothing.

  He gets on his knees to look under the bed. He finds an unmarked box. He grabs the box and pulls it out from under the bed. He opens the box and sees the revolver. Right next to the revolver is a box full of bullets. An instant feeling of fear overtakes Harper as he stares at the box of bullets. He knows he is seconds away from the truth about his partner and best friend. He takes a deep breath before he takes out the box of bullets. What’s going through Harper’s mind right now is something that can’t be described. He is seconds away to finding out if his partner and best friend is the one responsible for the murders of both detectives.

  He t
hen opens the box to remove a bullet to match it up against the number he retrieved from the forensics office earlier. He takes out his pad and looks at the number he wrote down while he was at the forensics office.

  I hope this shit doesn’t match up.

  He looks at the serial number on the bullet and checks the number on his pad. It’s a match. He drops the pad and puts his head down in disappointment.

  Tom my boy. What the fuck have you done?

  He sits on the ground trying to gather the many thoughts running through his head. He soon realizes he needs to get out of Kent’s house before he gets home. He places the box of bullets back into the box and pushes it back under the bed. He leaves the house out the back door and gets back into his car.

  It’s now well into the evening as Kent pulls into his driveway. He opens his front door and walks right in. He heads toward the living room and takes a seat on the couch. He puts the TV on and turns to the news channel.

  He puts it on the channel five evening news to see what has been going on in the world. A couple minutes into the news, Capt. Leonard appears on the screen. He quickly turns the volume up. It’s clear that the Captain has been asked to discuss how the investigation is going pertaining to the murders of the two detectives.

  “Right now we have a couple of leads and soon we will have this investigation closed and the person responsible will be brought to justice. Our best detectives are on this case, and believe me, they are working day and night to find all the answers we need. I trust them to get this done.”

  As he continues to talk on the TV, Kent gets up off the couch and heads into the kitchen to grab a beer. He opens up the refrigerator and pauses for a second. He looks up at the cabinet directly on top of the refrigerator and notices something off.

  What the hell.

  He notices the cabinet is open. In an instant, he realizes that someone was in his house. He closes the cabinet and starts to walk throughout the house. He walks from the kitchen to the dining room to see if anything looks suspicious. He stands quietly in the dining room and everything looks the same. He then proceeds to walk to his bedroom and looks throughout his dresser drawers. He finds nothing out of place, or not to his standards.