The Man In Forest Hills Read online

  He opens the door and Harper is surprised by Kent’s appearance.

  “Tom, what the hell are you doing buddy? You ready for war? Come on now, I just came over here to check in on you.”

  He lets him in the house and walks toward the living room.

  “Make sure you close the door. Also, I didn’t know you were coming over here. Why didn’t you call?”

  Harper responds, “I did, you didn’t pick up all morning.”

  Harper walks toward the living room and can see that Kent has not cleaned the house since he was last here.

  “I see you cleaned up the place. It looks real good.”

  Kent sits on the couch and looks at Harper with an angry look.

  “Now is not the time to make jokes.”

  “I know buddy just excuse my jokes. When was the last time you been out the house?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe three days ago.”

  Harper looks surprised and says, “Look, Tom put some clothes on and let’s go for a bite to eat.”

  Kent takes the revolver off his lap and places it on the coffee table.

  “No, I’m good. I think I will just stay here. There’s nothing for me out there. I’m just fine here.”

  Harper starts pacing around the living room.

  “Tom, seriously, get the fuck up and put some clothes on buddy. Let’s go get some food like friends do. You can’t just sit in the house all day.”

  Kent stares at Harper not wanting to even talk to him, but he knows he isn’t going to leave him alone.

  “Okay Darren. I’ll get my ass up and go eat with you.”

  Harper looks at him and smiles.

  “Okay buddy that’s more like it. I’ll be waiting in the car. I got a couple of phone calls I have to make. Don’t keep me waiting long either.”

  Kent responds, “I’ll be out in a few.”

  Harper sits in the car on the cell phone while Kent walks out the house.

  Harper jokes, “Took your ass long enough. Where you want to go eat?”

  He stands by the driver side door and says, “It doesn’t matter to me. We can go anywhere.”

  “Okay, hop in lets go. We can go to that diner off Blue Hill Avenue. I need one of those burgers right now.”

  Kent gets in the passenger seat while Harper puts the key in the ignition. Harper puts the car in reverse and the guys start to make their way through the city. After some time passes, the guys begin to speak to one another.

  Harper asks, “So what you been doing with your time?”

  Kent takes his shades out of his shirt pocket and puts them on his face.

  “Nothing really. I’m just spending time by myself, just relaxing.”

  Harper quickly turns his head at Kent and is in shock by his last remark.

  “Really you’re going to sell the house? I thought you loved that house bro?”

  He replies, “I do love the house. I shared that house with Amy and Ryan, and since they aren’t here, it’s just not the same. It brings back all these memories for me, and I just can’t handle that. I’m emotionally spent Harper, I gotta leave it behind.”

  “Yeah I completely understand. Sometimes certain things have to be left in the past. I’m sure Amy would agree with that decision. I’m behind you a hundred percent Tom don’t worry.”

  Kent says, “I know buddy. Thank you.”

  They pull up to the diner and both get out the car. They walk in the diner and the place is empty.

  “Nice and empty just like I like it,” Harper says.

  They both walk to the back of the diner and take a seat in one of the booths.

  The waitress from behind the counter walks up to them.

  “Can I start you guys off with something to drink?”

  Harper turns to her and says, “Get me a coffee with cream and two sugars please.”

  “I’ll have the same.”

  The waitress walks away and the guys begin talking. Kent sparks the conversation.

  “So how’s everything at the station these days?”

  Harper checks his cell phone for a second.

  “Everything is a mess right now bro. Captain Leonard is always breathing down my damn neck day and night. Everyone is in frenzy about Craven being murdered. I feel bad that we lost one of our own, but that motherfucker deserved it.”

  “Yeah I can understand. Mark wasn’t the best cop or the cleanest but he was one of our own. He did fuck over a lot of people. I hate to say it, but he got what he deserved.”

  The waitress comes back with the two cups of coffee for the guys.

  She sets them on the table and says, “Can I get anything else for you guys? Are you ready to order?”

  Kent asks, “Can you give us a couple of minutes to just look through the menu?”

  “Okay I’ll come back over,” she says.

  Kent continues with the conversation.

  “So how are Marven and Maddox taking it?”

  Harper shrugs his shoulders at the question.

  “They're pretty upset about it.”

  Marvin walks around all sad and Maddox talks to people as if he’s the fucking king of the world. I can't stand those two motherfuckers. Shit is going to get crazy pretty soon.

  Kent responds, “I can understand that. So any new leads on any suspects?”

  Harper inches closer.

  “The woman across the street, Pamela Dunn, and her son, Walter, gave us some information. Walter said he saw a black four door sedan with a custom license plate that night park on the street for some time. I mean this kid said he just looks out look out the window, and for some reason couldn’t sleep that night. It’s weird, I know, but that’s all we got so far.”

  Harper pauses to make sure the waitress isn’t on her way back over.

  “Honestly, I’m pretty happy. I’ve been waiting for a break in this case since we found him dead. Cap has been on my back, Marven and Maddox keep walking by my desk, I guess to let me know they are watching me or some shit. I think I’m struggling with the case because I don’t have you by my side. If we can find this car with the special license plate, we could have a key person for our investigation.”

  Kent looks at him with a straight face, not trying to reveal anything. He knows that the four door sedan belongs to Mary. He can’t afford for Mary to get caught up in this mess because it will just lead back to him.

  He decides to ask Harper another question.

  “Did the boy see who was driving the car? Could he tell if it was a male or female?”

  Harper confirms, “No, it was too dark for him to make it out, so we just got the custom license plate. Hopefully that will be enough for us to make a connection.”

  Kent is relieved by the lack of information they have about the car. Out of nowhere Marven and Maddox walk into the diner.

  Harper sees them.

  “Look who just walked in.”

  Kent turns around and looks at them as they walk towards the table.

  Maddox adds, “Hey, I’ve never seen you guys in here before.”

  Harper pauses for second and responds, “Yeah we thought we try it out. We know some cops always hang out here.”

  Maddox puts his hand on the shoulder of Kent and says, “Hey buddy. How are you? How you feeling?”

  Kent looks at him then lowers his vision to look at Maddox’s hand that is still on his shoulder.

  “I'm doing fine.”

  Maddox looks at his hand on Kent’s shoulder and knows that he does not want it there. He takes it off then he looks at Marven.

  He later says, “How are things going on that case Harper?”

  Harper doesn’t care to answer his question, but he does anyway.

  “The case is going fine. I have a couple of leads and they have all come together. Everybody at the precinct will be happy very soon.”

  Maddox replies, “Good work. Finally we can catch this bastard. I want to catch h
im myself, but the captain told me I can’t be on the case.”

  The waitress comes by the table.

  She looks at Maddox.

  “Hey baby, would you like to sit with them or do you want your own table?”

  Maddox says, “No sweetheart we will sit at our usual table.”

  Maddox looks over at the guys and says, “Okay guys, we will leave you to it. Kent, take care of yourself. We all miss you buddy. Hopefully one day you will come back.”

  Kent turns his head to Maddox.

  “Yeah me too. Sorry about Craven. I know you guys were pretty close. Hopefully they will find the bastard who did this to him and bring him to justice.”

  “If they don't bring him to justice I will. Either way I will be able to sleep well at night.”

  “See you guys around.”

  Maddox and Marven walk over to their table. Maddox and Marvin walk to their table and sit down. The waitress walks over to them and begins to take their order. Harper and Kent watch them very closely. The waitress comes back to their table afterwards.

  “Can we get the check please?” Harper asks.

  “Okay sweetie. Just give me one second.”

  She goes right over to the cash register to print out their receipt. Harper takes cash out of his pocket and slams it on top of the check and tells her.

  “You can keep the change.”

  She smiles, “Thank you.”

  The guys get out of their booth and proceed to leave the diner.

  As the guys try to leave the diner Marven calls Kent’s name.

  “Hey Kent. We are a long way away from the Academy aren't we?”

  He pauses for a second.

  He stares at Marven and says, “Yes, we are.”

  The guys leave the diner and get into Harper’s car.

  Harper turns the ignition on and says, “What the hell was that about?”

  Kent looks at him for a second and says, “Me and Marven have history together. We went to the academy together. We were damn near best friends and now look at us. It's crazy how life turns out.”

  As Kent is talking he shakes his head. Then the car takes off down the road.

  POLICE ACADEMY

  Kent walks into a room and he sees two twin size beds. He puts his bags down and sits on the bed on the left. A few minutes later man walks in and Kent stands up.

  “Hey buddy. My name is Thomas Kent.”

  The man shakes his hand.

  “My name is Jake Marven pleasure to meet you.”

  They begin to have small talk about their lives. Shortly after they get to know the basic, they put on their police academy uniforms and head out the room.

  Kent says, “I’m really nervous about today.”

  Marven looks at him and says, “You shouldn't be. You're going to kill it.”

  Kent bends over to tie his shoes.

  “I appreciate that.”

  The drill sergeant catches everyone off guard when he beings to yell out loud at everyone.

  “Get your little asses in line right now. No talking. Be quiet and listen or you guys will be running all fucking day long.”

  Later on that night the guys are in their room having a conversation.

  Marvin says, “That was a hell of a day wasn’t it?”

  Kent takes his shoes and his socks off

  “It damn sure was.”

  He then lies down on his bed and takes a deep breath.

  Marven says, “I never thought that I would even be in the police academy. In high school I was a great athlete so I thought this was the best fit for me because I knew I wasn’t going to have a desk job.”

  Kent sits up on the bed.

  “Being a cop is a calling. We are called on by God to protect and serve. This was the only thing in life I wanted to do.”

  Marvin shakes his head up and down in confirmation and says, “You know what. I never looked at it that way. You couldn’t be more right. Thanks for sharing that with me.”

  Kent adds, “You're welcome.”

  He then takes his pillow and fixes it upright.

  “I have to get some sleep. We have an early morning ahead of us. Tomorrow will be a better day. Each day will get better, and in no time with will be cops.”

  Months later they are at the graduation for their police academy. Kent walks over towards Harper in a well-dressed police uniform.

  Kent looks over at Marven.

  “Today is our big day buddy. Are you ready?”

  “Of course. It's been two six months of hell. I couldn't wait for this day to come.”

  They both begin to laugh.

  A couple of hours later the boys meet up and have their certificates in hand.

  “I wonder what precinct they will put us. I hope it's a good one with some solid cops.”

  “Only time will tell.”

  “Congratulations buddy. I will for sure keep in touch. I have to get out of here now hopefully we will know soon which precinct we will be assigned to.”

  Marven says, “Yes you're right. I hope we are together we make a great team.”

  Kent looks at him and laughs.

  “Yes that would be great.”

  Kent shakes his hand then walks away.

  A couple of weeks later Kent walks into the precinct he is assigned to and sits down on a bench. A couple of seconds later Marven walks in the same double doors he just came through.

  “Hey buddy. How are things?”

  Kent recognizes the voice. He looks up and recognizes Harper right away.

  “Wow. What the hell are you doing here? Are you assigned here too?”

  Marven says, “Yes. I got my assignment last week. It looks like we will be working in the same precinct.”

  Out of nowhere a man walks up to the both of them.

  “Are you the new recruits?”

  They both answer in unison.

  “Yes we are.”

  Each of them put their hands out. Kent extends his hand first.

  “Thomas Kent.”

  Then Marvin put his hand out.

  “Jake Marven.”

  The officer on the other side of the handshakes responds.

  “My name is Carl Maddox. I want to welcome you guys. I hope you two will make great cops.”

  The guys look at each other with smiles on their faces. They know that this will change their lives forever.

  8 - FRENEMIES

  Kent sits in his living room looking through photo albums. As he flips through page by page, he stops to take in a photo of himself and Marven sitting outside in a sand pit. It was an old photo taken during their days at the police academy.

  “Damn, that wasn't too long ago.”

  He then flips another page and sees a picture of himself and Marvin at the graduation ceremony from the police academy. He then flips another page, to a picture of them standing in their official police uniforms.

  “Wow. This was our first week on the job.”

  He closes the photo album and begins to shed a tear while looking up at the ceiling.

  “We were like best friends. Why did you have to get involved with those fucking crooked cops?”

  Kent and Marven’s relationship went bad when Marven started associating with colleagues in the department that some people called dirty behind closed doors. Kent warned him and told Marven that he couldn’t associate himself with him anymore if this continued. But Marven made a decision and decided to stick with his new group of friends within the precinct. This led to them going their separate ways and for years they have kept their relationship cordial while working on the job.

  He gets on his knees and begins to pray.

  “Lord God. Sorry for the sins I have and will commit. I lost the people that were most important to me and there is no turning back now. I know my family is out there somewhere with you watching over me. Take care of them for me.”

  Back at the precinct
Harper sits at his desk when his phone rings. He picks it up.

  “Detective Harper.”

  “Hey detective we are returning your call from the registry of motor vehicles.”

  “Hey how are you? Any luck on that license plate?”

  He picks up a pen and a pad and writes down the info being forwarded to him about the license plate. He hangs up the phone and gets up to make his way towards the Capt. Leonard’s office. He knocks on the door.

  “Come on in.”

  The captain is finishing up his lunch. Harper opens the door and closes it slowly.

  “Oh sorry Cap. I didn’t mean to disturb you during lunch.”

  “It’s okay Harper. If you’re disturbing me while I’m eating it must be important. What is it?”

  Harper takes a seat in front of the Captain.

  “Okay, Cap. I just got a call back from the Registry of Motor Vehicles.”

  The captain covers his lunch.

  “Yeah, so what do you have for me?”

  Harper takes out his notepad.

  “They said the black sedan belongs to a man named Paul Ansley. We have an address on him but the car was registered in another state so I have to call the registry in that state and cross-reference all of the details.”

  “Well that's good news. At least it's one step closer to where we were yesterday.”

  Harper takes the notepad and shoves it back in his pocket.

  “I am going to give them a call right away.”

  “Alright, detective great work.”

  The Captain goes back to eating his lunch as Harper exits his office. He walks back to his desk and is greeted by Maddox, who looked to be waiting for his return.

  “How is the case coming along?”

  Harper takes his notepad out his pocket and puts it in the first draw of his desk. He looks at Maddox.

  “It's going well. We finally have located a driver, but we just have to make a couple of more calls to confirm it and get an idea of the person.”

  Maddox takes a sip of his coffee he puts it down on Harper’s desk and grabs him by the shoulder.

  “I really appreciate all of your hard work you are putting into this case.”

  Harper looks surprised when he hears these words. Maddox picks up his coffee and walks away from Harper's desk. Harper looks at him as he walks away and speaks under his breath.