III

November 7, 2016

1856 Hours

Dan blinked back to reality, and swiped a tear that had formed in his eye. He checked his Star Wars analog watch to check the time. They’ve been here for ten minutes and counting; no information has been given except for the fact that the son died.

“I’m so sorry George,” James said. George nodded slowly, his eyes covered in tears daring to come out.

“How is this connected to our soon-to-be case, sir?” Dan asked abruptly. He was trying to get back into the swing of things after that vivid little flashback. Sniffling, George wiped the tears from his face, and looked towards Dan.

“Yes, yes, yes. I’m so sorry, it’s been emotional.”

“We get it. I’m sorry sir, but we have places to be.” Snapping his fingers for additional effect. James turned his head towards Dan with a look that said: “Really?”

You’d think he’d feel some sympathy for this guy. Chelsea being the main reason. James thought. I remember that day, and I remember that day well. He was never the same.

“Alright boss, here it is.” George straightened himself, and spoke professionally, “I don’t know if you guys knew this, but Braydon, my son, was actually murdered.” James looked back at George when the word “murdered” was brought up. He took out his notepad, and readied himself to scribble down everything George was going to say. Dan just stood there and listened. “It might sound crazy. In fact, I know it sounds crazy, but I think I know who did it.”

James stopped writing, and looked up with a puzzled expression; a thought appearing in his head. Having the same thought, Dan raised an eyebrow in question.

“So wait. They haven’t caught the killer yet?” James asked. Dan looked at George intently, trying to break him down psychologically.

“Well… I mean they did.” George answered, which only raised Dan’s suspicions about this case more. “But, I don’t think he did it! I think he’s innocent.”

“Did the verdict plead guilty or innocent?” Dan asked as he looked at George stumbling over his words.

“He… pleaded guilty.” George admitted, a little uncomfortable about the candidacy of the answer. The father knew that they would barely even consider taking this case now. The agents before them didn’t even want to talk to him after he said “the mother did it”. Dan sighed and covered his face with his hands.

“Sir. What do you expect us to do with this information?” Dan mumbled from behind his hands. “All the evidence seems to be there. The evidence being he admitted that he was guilty. And frankly sir, with all due respect, you do sound crazy.”

“No! Hear me out!” George pleaded with a genuine look in his eyes. “Please.” Dan looked back at James, and his brother shrugged. Dan sighed once more, and waved his hand to signal for George to keep talking.

“Thank you so much. Now, I don’t think he’s the killer. It’s too much of a coincidence! He’s a low life criminal, why would he want to take the life of this… amazing man.” George’s voice cracked near the end, and he had to clear his throat to keep himself from crying again.

“May I ask what this criminal did when he killed your son?” James asked.

“Well. He killed him, then took the PS3 and hid it.” George explained hesitantly, knowing that the information would make the detectives question the validity of this case even further.

“Why would the killer take a PS3?” James asked, a little bewildered. George looked like he was going to answer, but Dan intervened.

“People are weird and steal stuff all the time. Keep going George.”

“Okay,” George said, then continued, “Then, the murderer was caught running away empty handed, no weapon or anything.”

“How did he get caught?” James asked.

“He was running around outside the police station causing a ruckus. That dumbass. Guess he didn’t get enough attention when he was little,” George concluded. James was nodding his head writing down everything he was saying, while Dan just looked straight at George.

“You never told us who you think did it.” Dan stated.

“Oh yeah,” George said, remembering he didn’t. He looked around to make sure no one was looking, and whispered, “I think it was my ex-wife.” Dan heard the scribbling of James’ pencil suddenly stop. He could tell James was highly curious, but Dan was done.

“Excuse me?” James asked, “Why would a mother kill her own son?” Dan was as skeptical as ever.

This is a waste of my time. Dan thought.

“Because she’s crazy.” George explained.

Dan took in a big breath of air, and let it out slowly. Then counted to ten inside of his head. If he had a nickel for every case where the client said, “My ex did it, I swear”. He thought about it, and realized he’d only have fifty cents. Still, ten nickels is too many nickels. These cases ended up false all the time anyways. The ex didn’t do it, and the client who hired them were just angry and confused. This is no exception. At least it wasn’t for Dan.

There were a few moments of silence before anyone talked.

“I believe you.” James said, breaking the silence. Dan’s stunned head turned around to look at James.

“You believe him?” Dan asked profoundly. James shrugged, then nodded his head yes. Like that wasn’t confusing.

“Do you not?” James fired back. Dan merely scoffed, and turned his whole body to face James.

“Have you been on these past few cases? Client’s want to believe their ex did the crime, and they ended up crazy!” Dan argued.

“Hey! I know I’m not crazy!” George exclaimed. Dan lifted a finger towards George to hush him up.

“I know! But have you been listening to him? The evidence is all there, and some of the details aren’t adding up!” James argued. Dan didn’t want to fight, so he turned back to George.

“Here’s my number,” Dan said as he handed George a business card, “Call us if there’s anything else going on.” And with that, Dan briskly walked away to the front of the service. James looked at George with a sheepish smile, mouthed “I’m so sorry”, and rushed after Dan.

“Dan!” James hollered after his brother. Dan just kept walking to the car, ignoring James’ calls for him. “Oh, come on you piece of s**t!”

Dan stopped three feet from the curb, and turned around.

“What did you call me?” Dan asked with a hostile voice. James walked up to Dan as the service let out. In tears, the friends and family of the Smiths were milling around the yard, talking to each other mournfully. “You heard me. Why do you have to be so stubborn?” Dan nearly scoffed at James.

“Me? Stubborn? Oh that’s rich, coming from the hypocrite! You believe this nut case?” Dan asked wildly. James was about to answer when Dan cut him off, “Stop. Of course you do. You believe everything people say.”

“Well deal with it! I happen to be caring, unlike you,” James spat back. Dan chuckled.

“Jesus. Is that all you got, fifth grader? Look, just get in the car, and let’s leave.” Dan commanded. He opened the driver’s side door, got in, and started the car. Dan expected James to go around the car and come into the passenger side, but when he looked out the window, James was walking into the funeral home.

“You got be- Come on!” Dan half-yelled before turning off the car, and getting out to march inside.

As Dan passed the crowds of people outside, he got weird looks. He didn’t expect to be in front of so many people, so his stubble was a little uncontrolled. That, and his hair was a mess. All Dan ever does is wake up and go do his job. Usually doing his job doesn’t involve him being in front of public places, and when they do. He’ll tidy up and be prepared for a lot of people. James on the other hand is always looking spiffy and on point.

Dan reached the entrance of the building, when a man stopped him from going inside.

“Hey, do you know the deceased?” The man said. Dan looked this guy up and down and associated the word “bum” with him. He barely had any hair left, and looked like he was in his late twenties.

“No, no I don’t. Please get out of the way,” Dan said, trying to sidestep the guy. That failed as a hand flew to Dan’s chest, making him tense up.

“Then what are you doing here, may I ask?” The man asked, a hint of something in his voice. It sure wasn’t nice.

“No, you mayn’t.” Dan said with a declaration in his voice. He pushed the man out of the way with one hand, making him fall into a pile of leaves and causing a stir amongst the visitors outside. Dan could’ve sworn he heard someone say “Papi, are you alright?”

He finally made his way inside, only to find a lot more people inside than people outside. Oddly enough, it was strangely quiet. Only death can seem to shut people up in big crowds.

How popular was this kid? Dan thought to himself as he subtly nudged past people, keeping an eye out for James. Dan noticed that Poison was playing by Bell Biv Devoe, and he nearly stopped right there in the center of the room.

Poison? Dan thought to himself. How old is this kid?

“Tell me more about your son,” A voice carried from the other room. Dan recognized it immediately as James’ voice, and made a straight beeline for the room.

Turns out it was the viewing room.

Dan looked around to find the hall neatly decorated. He couldn’t tell that the previous rooms were decorated or not, because of all the people compacted into them, but the viewing room was empty in comparison.

Blue stars hung from the ceiling, and were slowly swaying in the air by big fans on either side of the room. At the end of the room, opposite of the entrance, sat the casket where Braydon lied. It was covered in all kinds of flowers, and some flowers even had a police box as a replacement for the actual bud. The picture that showed the boy was filtered, so it looked like it was taken back in the 1880’s.

Dan noticed the casket and didn’t want to look, he wasn’t much for dead bodies. Especially dead children.

Shuddering, he looked around until he saw James sitting on the left side of the room. He was sitting adjacent to a woman, and they were talking. The woman had dark red hair that could be mistaken for a shade of brown if it was looked at from a certain angle. She had on hoop earrings, and a sparkly white dress with white heels that made her two inches taller. She had mascara on, and the only way Dan could tell from the distance he was at, was because there were streaks of it on her cheek.

“He was awe-inspiring, and the funniest man you’d ever meet. He was just so brilliant, and loyal, and honest, and such a genuine friend to anyone who had ever met him. I’d say he was my-” the woman broke down for a second, then gained her composure quickly. James was giving her a sympathetic look, and Dan just wanted to get James and get out of there.

“I’d say he was my hero.” She finished. James nodded his head in understanding, and Dan rolled his eyes.

“James,” Dan said, making sure his voice echoed so James could hear him. His brother ignored him, but the woman he was talking to looked in Dan’s direction.

“Do you know him?” The woman asked. James sighed, and that got Dan’s blood flowing with annoyance.

“Yes,” James said, a little exasperated. He stood up, and gestured towards me. “Kathy, this is Dan, my brother. Dan, this is Kathy, the deceased’s mother.” James introduced, putting a little emphasis on mother. Dan went to reach out to shake Kathy’s hand, but noticed her hands were full of used napkins, so he decided against it.

“How are you doing Kathy? As my brother, James, told you, my name is Dan.” Dan said, sitting down.

This better be quick. Dan thought impatiently.

“Yes, and you must be Harold’s uncle!” Kathy exclaimed. Dan kept his posture and facial features frozen in place.

Who. In the world. Is Harold. Dan thought to himself. James is smart enough to not tell her that we’re detectives, but he also wanted to talk to her. So naturally, he had to make a cover. If I’m his brother, and I’m Harold’s supposed uncle…

“Yes!” Dan exclaimed with a smile. “Oh, yes. I’m Harold’s uncle. That… rascal.” James smirked, and Dan took a mental note of that.

“Do you know how your boy met... my son?” Kathy asked with a slight hesitation before saying “my son”. Tears welled up in her eyes again, and something nagged at Dan’s heart. Seeing a mother heartbroken like this was troubling to him. Memories tried to reach him, but he pushed them back.

“Yes, dear brother. How did they meet?” Dan asked James, not wanting to talk anymore. James smiled sheepishly, and waved his hand.

“Enough about Harold, my son is actually grounded for… creating a fake email,” James lied. Dan laughed inside at the absurdity, but Kathy was nodding her head.

“Been there.” She stated.

“Yeah. Anyways, I heard that the murderer stole your son’s PS3. That’s just so… weird. You know? To take someone’s life and then their game console,” James said. Dan decided this was pointless, and told his brother he was going to go wait in the car. Dan got up, and went to go, but something stopped him. He looked back at the coffin, and decided to go towards it. James didn’t notice a thing as he looked at Kathy waiting for a response.

“Well. People are weird and steal stuff all the time,” She remarked. James gritted his teeth, and hoped Dan didn’t hear that carbon copy of his sentence he said earlier.

“Well, my brother is impatient, so I have to go,” James said, deciding it really wasn’t the time to question her right now about this. He pulled out a pen, and a piece of paper from his notepad. He scribbled something down, and handed it to Kathy.

“Here’s my number. If you ever need anything, call me,” James said. With that, he left to go to the car. Unbeknownst to James, Dan was not in the car, but he was slowly walking to the coffin.

Dan stopped two feet away from the coffin, and his heart dropped. Inside the coffin was a three old girl with blonde locks and light green eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Her eyes were misty and hollow, and convened a loss of a will and soul. Part of her hair was stained deep red. Dan covered his mouth, and backed away.

“Chell.” He said, barely audible. Chelsea’s head then turned abruptly to face Dan, and her eyes looked alive, yet as dead as ice.

“It was your fault,” she said, drawing it out while grinning from ear to ear. “All your fault.” Dan backed up into a chair, and sat down.

“No. I… I didn’t mean to! I tried!” Dan exclaimed. Everyone that was in the room looked in Dan’s direction, wondering if he was okay. Dan suddenly became aware of the other people in the room, and blinked hard three times. After the third blink, Chelsea was gone and Braydon was in her place in the coffin. Standing up, Dan straightened himself out, and quickly walked out of the building.

He made it outside, and went to the car. Within a matter of minutes, they drove off to go back to their motel. Dan hid his tears from James all the way there.

After stuffing the phone number in her pocket, Kathy heard, “No. I… I didn’t mean to! I tried!” from the front of the room. She looked over to see James’ brother, Dan, sitting in a chair, staring intently at the coffin and gripping the edge of his seat so hard, his knuckles were white. He then blinked hard a few times, and left quickly.

Making her way to her son’s casket, she wondered what happened with him. She looked down at Braydon lying in the casket. Emotions overran her as she stood there, looking at the lifeless corpse of her son. Sadness, loss, fear, anger, and something else was present. She pushed the feeling down, and tried to focus on the good in life.

“Kathy!” A man yelled from the other side of the room. She broke eye contact with the casket, and looked over to find her boyfriend, Burt.

“Hey there,” she said, happy to see him like always. They hugged, and went outside to get some fresh air.

“How are you holding up?” Burt asked. Kathy shrugged her shoulders, not knowing how she truly felt.

“Well that’s good. I thought you were you doing okay,” Burt said sarcastically, and they both laughed. Kathy’s laughter being a little hollow, but it still had some genuity to it. “Hey, who’s in charge of letting people in? Because I didn’t recognize those two men in the brown trench coats.”

“Oh, Papi,” She said. As soon as the name left her mouth, Jack came running up to her. He was disheveled and out of breath. “Look at that, speak of the devil.”

“What’s up Papi?” She asked, a faint smile on her lips.

“People are rude Kathy,” he said, “I went around looking for you. There was this guy who pushed me out of the way, and he walked right inside. I didn’t know him, and he said he didn’t know the deceased. I can’t find him now.”

“What did he look like?” Burt asked, on his tiptoes to try look over people’s heads, but he couldn’t accomplish that. All he could see was heads.

“He had a stubble, but it was a little out of control. Oh, and bad hair. Like he just woke up or something. And he also had a trench coat on, and…” Jack trailed off, trying to remember anything else.

“I know who he is.” Kathy said. Jack and Burt looked at her with a puzzled look.

“Well, who was he?” Jack asked.

“James and Dan. They’re brothers, and James has a son named Harold who’s seems to be a friend of Harold…” She trailed off. A cold shiver ran down her as she realized:

I don’t remember Braydon having a friend named “Harold”.

“Well, good. Because I don’t want any strangers to disrupt this evening. You know?” Jack asked. Kathy didn’t pay attention as she got out Braydon’s phone from her purse, and went through his contacts. No Harold anywhere. Jack left, deciding he was better somewhere else. Kathy then went to his FaceBook, and saw no Harold anywhere on his friend’s list.

“Braydon didn’t know a Harold.” Kathy said, a thought process going on in her mind.

“Who is Harol-” Burt was saying, but Kathy cut him off with a hush. She was pacing back and forth now; the leaves crunching underneath her as she moved quickly.

Who were those guys? She thought. I don’t think Braydon knew a Harold. I would most likely know… If he didn’t know him, then they had no reason to be here.

Then her brain thought of something else. It was an assumption, but it was very educated. After all, she is a math major.

There is no Harold.

They lied.

Reviews

[Norbanus]

This story has waaay too much potential to let it die of wordiness, repetition and passive voice.

Let's take a deeper look at this chapter and see if what I'm saying makes sense for you.

The chapter opens with wordiness already raising its ugly head.
Dan blinked back to reality, and swiped a tear that had formed in(delete 'that had formed in' insert 'from') his eye. He checked his Star Wars analog watch to check the time.(repeated word 'check' delete 'to check the time.' They’ve been here for ten minutes and counting;('Ten minutes and counting' cliché) (Consider deleteting 'They've been here for ten minutes and counting;' replace with 'After ten minutes,') no information has been given except for the fact that the son died.(Passive voice. Consider replacing 'no information has been given except for the fact(cliché) that the son died.' With 'the man provided no information except that his son died.')
“I’m so sorry George,” James said. George nodded slowly, his eyes covered in tears daring to come out.(Consider and action tag instead of a dialogue tag, perhaps: 'James diverted his eye to avoid seeing the tears daring to come out of George's eyes.')

That's enough for today. Let me know if you have an interest in seeing any more of this chatter.