Noir
Case of Bruce Howard
Emmanuel Obi, Jr.
Copyright 2011 by Emmanuel Obi, Jr.
Smashwords Edition
Noir
Case of Bruce Howard
By: Emmanuel Obi, Jr
I was sitting with my feet on my desk, reading the paper, when the first bullet hit my desk lamp. It was soon followed by 20 more seemingly all at once. I took cover under my desk as hot lead tore through my office. I watched my curtains rip to shreds as the window behind my desk shattered. I don't know if I felt or heard the bullets collide with the thick maple desk but I was thankful that I didn't get the one from IKEA. I pulled Lucy from the middle desk drawer and waited for my moment.
I heard the click. His clip was empty. I ran from my desk and dropped my shoulder into the remaining shards of wood that used to be my door. I quickly gathered myself and looked to my left and my right. To the right was the elevator; to the left was the exit to the building. I headed in the direction of the exit when I heard the elevator ding behind me - he would expect me to head toward the exit. He's headed up. I reversed direction and headed for the elevators in a dead sprint.
With Lucy firmly grasped in my palm, I rounded the corner and pointed the gun at the man standing in front of me. It took a second for me to realize it was Dr. Wilkins, the dentist whose office was on the third floor.
"Did you see anyone?!"
"No! No! I was stepping out of the elevator and heard the noise so I got back in and came down to see what was going on! That's it! I swear! Please!" His reply was full of anxiety. It was then I realized that I still had my gun pointed at his forehead.
"Sorry, Justin." I holstered Lucy. No point in chasing in the other direction. The guy had too much of a head start. "Someone just shot up my office."
"What? Are you serious?!" He peaked around the corner and saw the scattered remains of my door spread in the hall. "Oh shit! That's crazy. Are you alright?"
"Yeah." I noticed his hands were shaking. "Are you okay?"
He saw me staring at his hands and rubbed them together.
"Yeah, that was just the first time I ever had a gun pointed at my face."
"I'm really sorry. Listen, have you seen anything suspicious in the last ten minutes or so?"
Justin rubbed his eyes, trying to calm himself. "No, not that I can think of. I only entered the building two minutes ago."
"Did anyone walk in with you or behind you?"
"No, not that I saw." He shook his head as he thought carefully.
I let out a deep sigh, "Thanks anyway."
"Sorry I couldn't be more help, Bruce."
"No worries." I walked back to my office and looked through the doorway.
If words could describe what it felt like to look into the bullet riddled room then I didn’t know them. I've been close to death before. I've been shot at before. But nothing like this. Smoking holes everywhere. I shouldn't have survived this. I pictured my blood drenched body still sitting in my chair.
I took a deep breath, shook my head and tried to gather myself.
My cell phone rang. It was Courtney, a young secretary at the vet's office. She was really helpful in a case a few months ago. I even went on a few dates with her but eventually I broke it off. The maturity difference was too much for me to get over. Plus Rebecca and I were starting to get serious.
I know what you're thinking but I was honest with both of them. Courtney knew about Rebecca and Rebecca knew about Courtney. And when I let Courtney down she understood and we stayed friends. Rebecca? I don't know. We were together but . . . I don't know.
"Hi, Court."
"Hi, Bruce." She was so bubbly. The enthusiasm that comes with youth. Annoying in a lot of ways but . . . beneficial in others. "What are you doing? You want to grab a quick afternoon coffee at Annie's?"
"Sorry, kid, I'm a bit busy."
"I hate it when you call me kid."
"You're 24."
"So that makes me a kid?" She replied. I could hear the smile on her face.
"Pretty much." I smiled.
"So how many kids have you fucked? Didn't realize that you were a pedophile?"
"Touché."
"Okay, well I'll shoot you a text later." Did she have to say 'shoot?'
"Okay, bye Court." I put my cell in my pocket.
The flurries kissed my face as I crunched though the snow headed home. I tried to compose a list mentally of the people that would want me dead. My brain wasn't that big. I had helped the police on tons of cases. Hell, 60% of my income came from the city. Tons of people from drug dealers to gang leaders to murders. Not to mention my own cases.
I turned the doorknob.
When I opened my eyes they wouldn't focus. Everything was a combination of fuzzy shapes and colors. My ears were ringing but I could faintly hear Timmy. My eyes began to adjust and I could finally see Timmy kneeled over me. It looked like he was shouting at me but I could barely hear him. I looked past him and saw Nancy and Rebecca with fire extinguishers spraying down my door. I noticed that the door was in pieces all over the hall and that my back was against Nancy's door. My brain was slowly catching up with the situation.
Did I just get blown up?
Nancy and Rebecca were done putting out the fire and walked over to me. Nancy took the phone from Timmy and continued to talk to who was on the phone. I
"Bruce?! Bruce?!" Rebecca was calling out to me now. "Can you hear me?!"
"Barely." I replied "Did I just get blown up?"
"I think so. Are you okay?" she asked.
"I just got blown up so I'm not in great shape."
"What happened?" Timmy asked. He was clearly terrified. This kind of stuff wasn't something that a kid should see.
"Let's get inside." I looked toward Nancy. She nodded, still on the phone.
I sat forward and let Timmy and Rebecca help me to my feet.
There was a rush in my head followed by the worst headache I'd ever had. I stumbled from the pain. My head felt like a baseball at the Home Run Derby. Then I felt the other pains. I would say where but I wasn't sure. The pain was everywhere. I felt like I had done a belly flop onto concrete from a third story window. I moved gingerly into Nancy's apartment and they guided me to Nancy's bedroom where I collapsed onto her bed.
"What happened?" I tried to lay back and relax as best I could but there was no comfortable position.
"I don't know." Nancy spoke first. "Timmy had just gotten home from school. Five minutes later the apartment shook and there was a bang on the door. We rushed out and saw you lying in front of our door and your apartment was on fire."
"I was taking a nap." Rebecca added.
"Why were you sleeping at Nancy's?" I was confused.
"No, at your place."
"What! You were in there!"
"Yeah, but I'm okay. Not even a scratch."
"How?" I was beginning to wonder.
"Well it looked like the bomb was put into the closet next to the front door. So it wouldn't have been near me."
"How did a bomb get in my closet?" Rebecca shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm going to go outside and wait for the police. They should be here any second." Nancy said as she left the bedroom. Timmy sat down next to me on the bed. Rebecca took my hand.
"Thank God you're okay." Rebecca sighed. "When I saw you and you were so still, so lifeless. That moment felt like an eternity."
"It's okay, Rebecca. It'll take more than a bomb and a few bullets to stop me." I tried to comfort her.
"Bullets?! What bullets?!"
Oops.
*****
I laid in bed unable to sleep that night. Half because I was in a foreign bed in a foreign place and half because someone was trying to kill me. Maybe the kill me part was a little more than half. I was in a hotel now, Rebecca laying close but not touching me. She couldn't touch me. She couldn't, everything on my body was in pain. My pain was in pain.
Back at Nancy's, after the EMT's checked to make sure I was okay I spoke with Sergeant Sharper. She was the first officer on the scene. I gingerly walked up behind her as she examined the scene.
"So what do you think?" I said trying not to sound in as much pain as I was in.
"Wow, you look like shit." She smiled.
"I got blown up, what's your excuse." Sergeant Sharper, Mary, wasn't a fan of that comeback. Sergeant Sharper, in actuality, was a gorgeous woman. Her beauty was only matched by her rough and violent persona. She had even been in trouble for roughing up suspects. Mary enjoyed a few things rough. I still have the bruises to prove it. Don't ask how I got them.
"Just as charming as ever, Bruce."
"What happened?"
"Well, Rebecca was right." Mary explained. "The bomb was in the closet. Which, to me, says that whoever did this is an idiot or in love with you." She saw the doubt in my expression and continued. "If someone wanted to kill you they could have just put the bomb at the top of the door or hid it somewhere near the door. It appears to be small enough for that. But they put it in the closet, with the door shut. So a large part of the explosion was absorbed by two doors, the closet and the front door, before it reached you."
"So whoever is trying to kill me isn't trying to kill me?" I found this hard to believe.
"My guess would be that they're trying to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"I don't know. How many wives have you slept with this year?" She spoke through an arrogant smile.
"FYI, I'm in a relationship. No more wives for me." Her smile was gone. This bit of information seemed to bother her.
"Yeah, I heard that the player had settled down a bit." A cruel smile drew across her face. "Maybe the bomb is a warning about that or revenge. Someone you hurt in the past that's trying to get back at you. Someone that can't believe that you snubbed them and decided to be with someone else." My eyebrow rose. "But that's just a theory."
After this discussion with Sergeant Sharper, Rebecca and I checked into a hotel. I told her that it wasn't safe to be around me with someone gunning for me but she refused to leave me. She was a good woman in a lot of ways.
So I laid in bed, a foreign bed in a foreign room, trying to make a list of all the women I hurt. That list might be longer than the list of criminals.
What about female criminals? Any person that could get into my house without being noticed and plant a bomb was either close to me or a criminal.
The closest people to me were Timmy, Rebecca and Nancy. I don't think they teach explosives in fourth grade so Timmy is out. Rebecca and Nancy had reconciled since they had their own little explosion in the hall. I got the feeling that Nancy didn't like the fact that Rebecca and I were together but I don't think she would blow my apartment up to get her point across. There was Sergeant Sharper and Courtney, both of whom I spoke with this morning. But I also ran into Jason Wilkins.
This was insane. I couldn't stick to only women suspects. There were tons of men that probably wanted me dead too. I can't assume my would-be killer is a woman because she was dumb enough to put a bomb in my closet. Besides Mary would just punch me in the face. And Courtney didn't even like when I killed spiders.
So now I was back to square one.
*****
It was so easy to know where to begin with other cases. But for me, I had no idea where to start.
An idea clicked in my head when I was brushing my teeth - even my teeth hurt. I called Lieutenant Harper and asked him to give me a rundown of prisoners released within the last year.
The list that he emailed to me wasn't nearly as long as I thought it would be. I recognized a lot of names, which was unsettling to say the least. But I skipped over a lot of them because it seemed that most of them wouldn't be smart enough to pull off something like this. These weren't the brightest men in the world, hence prison.
One name gave me pause, Sam Brennen. I helped the cops put him away a few years ago. He'd actually been put away for arson.
*****
Sam's home was shockingly nice for a guy that just got out of prison. White house, light blue shutters, picket fence, well manicured lawn, what appeared to be an herbal garden on the side of the house.
I knocked on the door.
"Wow, you got a lot of balls showing up at my home." Sam opened the door.
"Nice to see you too, Sam. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"No, not at all." He took a drag from his cigarette.
"Where were you yesterday?"
"None of your fucking business." He said with a smile.
"Where do you work?"
"None of your fucking business." His smile never went away.
"Can anyone account for your whereabouts yesterday?
"None of your fucking business." He chuckled.
"Fine. I’ll be back with the cops and a warrant."
"Good. You do that. Just don't get killed along the way."
"How did you know . . . ?" Sam slammed the door before I could finish. I wanted to kick in the door but I resisted. I turned and walked away but stopped before I reached the end of his lawn. How could he afford all of this? This house was really nice. Yet he was at home in the middle of the day so most likely he didn't have a job. He knew about the attempts on my life. Or did he? He said don't get killed along the way. That could have been him knowing something or his idea of a clever come back.
Fuck it. I pulled Lucy and walked back toward his front door. I needed answers and he was going to give them to me. I knocked on the door and side- stepped the peep hole.
"Who is it?" I kicked the door in, hard enough to rip it off the hinges. The door crashed into Sam, sending him to the ground. I shoved Lucy into his mouth.
"You got ten seconds to tell me who you work for." He made a noise and I pulled the revolver from his mouth.
"Go to hell." He sneered. I held the gun firmly in my palm and slapped the hell out of him with it. He let out a squeak as his mouth was filled with blood.
I counted. "6 - 5 - 4 . . ."
"I thought you said I had ten."I slapped him with the gun again. Another cry slipped past his lips
"That was before your smart ass comment." The way I felt right now I would pull the trigger. My life was on the line and he wanted to play games. "2 -1." I pulled back the hammer.
"Hey wait! Wait!" He shouted through blood stained teeth. "Allen Gregory! Allen Gregory! He owns the Zebra Lounge. That's why I went to prison. The police never made the connection. I would burn the houses of Allen's competitors that wouldn't cooperate."
"And now you're after me?" I said through gritted teeth. My revolver pressed firmly against his forehead.
"I didn’t do that. I swear. I'm not a hitman or something."
"Yeah, you just burn down homes for money. Has he mentioned me?"
"Yeah, we've talked about you a few times. He told me you gave him that burn on his face. But that's it. I don't know who is after you but he wouldn't mind seeing you dead." He spoke quickly, scared. I believe him. He didn't know anything. But Allen did.
*****
I received a text message on the way to the Zebra Lounge.
What the hell happened?! - Courtney She'd figured out her Iphone. Congrats.
What do you mean? - Bruce
I went to your office to force you into a cup of coffee and it was wrapped in Police tape and there was a cop guarding it. He said he couldn't tell me anything - Courtney
Yeah, apparently somebody has it in for my office door - Bruce
I saw it. I can't believe you got out of there alive. We need to talk. I can't believe you were almost killed - Courtney
Well I have some business to take care of but we can meet later - Bruce
Don't do anything stupid - Courtney
No promises - Bruce
I walked into the Zebra Lounge as I hit send. There were two guards standing at Allen's office door. I usually didn't carry my brass knuckles with me but unfortunately for these guards I brought both. Two quick punches and they were both counting sleep. I walked into the office without bothering to take them off. I would need them again.
When I walked in I was clearly interrupting something. There was a young woman, very young, with her tongue in his ear and a hand in his pants behind his desk.
"You need to leave." I said sternly. They both looked exasperated until they noticed the blood brass knuckles clutched in my fists. The girl was suddenly terrified and bolted out of the room. Allen shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"You still upset about that?" I pointed to the burn scar on his face. "I disrespect you and I needed to be taught a lesson or made an example for others to not cross you." He shifted in his chair again.
"If that were the case," Allen replied. “And I'm not saying that it is; what evidence do you have of that? What brought you here?"
"My gut."
"Then you must have a stomach virus."
I smiled. "Clever. Usually I would have a snappy retort but forgive me; I'm outside of myself right now. Attempts on your life tend to do that to a person."
He chuckled, "That's understandable. Clearly you're a bit unstable." He motioned toward my knuckles. "But I'll have to bring this to your attention. In a court room hunches and gut feelings don't hold much weight."
"True. But only if you're going to prison for attempted murder on me." I pulled out my cell phone and with a few touches I played an audio file.
"That's why I went to prison. The police never made the connection. I would burn the houses of Allen's competitors that wouldn't cooperate." Sam's panicked voice played from my phone. I pushed the record feature on my phone before I kicked in Sam's door.
All of the blood rushed out of Allen's face. His attention switched from my phone back to me. I put the phone in my pocket and took off my trench coat.
"The police should be here in about three minutes."
I clenched my fists and walked towards Allen.
*****
"So it was Allen," Rebecca asked as I nodded and dropped onto the couch next to her. "How did you know?"
"Funnily enough, it was just a feeling. He's tied up in crime and was probably taking some push back because of how I disrespected him. If he wanted to keep control of his empire then I needed to be taken out, made an example of." I took off Lucy and put her on the coffee table. Rebecca flinched. My revolver half scared her half turned her on.
"A hunch." I nodded as I raised my merlot to my lips. "That doesn't sound like you. Usually you break down everything and have a thousand reasons that everyone else missed."
"Well I could have waited for him to try to kill me again but I thought it best to stop him before that." She shrugged at my answer. She was unimpressed.
"So, you got him. I guess that's the important part."
"Sorry to disappoint you." I crossed my arms.
"Don't be like that." She straddled my lap. She held my face and looked into my eyes. "You got him. That's the important part."
"Yeah, I got him." Why did it feel like I was lying? Rebecca was right. Every case I had the proof to lead me to the person. This time I just went to him without anything to back it up. I guess that just bothered me.
"Bruce, I'm just worried. After this whole thing I realized that I love you." It was the first time she said I love you. "And I don't want to lose you. That's probably why I'm scared about you not getting the right guy. I mean I went to your office and saw everything. It's amazing that you got out of there." Why did that phrase bother me?
"Did you talk to the cop that was there?" I asked; the gears in my brain were churning.
"Yeah, he wouldn't say a word. Hell, if I didn’t know that it was your office then I wouldn't have known."
I could feel the dots connecting. Something was . . .
"Oh my God, it wasn't Allen . . ." I whispered to myself. Rebecca's eyes widened but she wasn’t looking at me. Before I could follow her eyes I saw blood erupt from her shoulder she screamed and fell onto the coffee table, shattering our wine glasses before hitting the floor.
I stood and turned toward Courtney, her pistol smoking, aimed at me.
"If the cop wouldn't tell you anything then how did you know I got out of the office? For all you knew I wasn't in the office at all."
Courtney smiled, "Too bad you didn't figure that out sooner."
A hundred things came together at once.
"You worked with the Sphinx? That's why you were so eager to give his info in San Diego. You thought; he thought that it would solidify his alibi. You helped him knock out the cops."
"Fernalithal is just as potent in aerosol form." She replied. "There just isn't much use for it. However it is very is to convert." She was encouraging my thought process.
"So you gas the place." I heard Rebecca moan on the floor. I had to find some way to distract Courtney so I could take her out and get Rebecca out of here.
"So you weren't trying to kill me?"
She giggled. "Of course not. I just wanted to get your attention. Do you really think that if I took an automatic rifle to your office that you would have lived? I shot the lamp first so that you would have a chance to take cover. Bomb in the closet so that you wouldn't get hurt.
"How did you get into my place?"
This made her laugh out loud. "I've had a key to your place since the first time you fucked me. Did you really think that I would give you a piece of me and I not take a piece of you?"
"Well I didn't think you were crazy enough to shoot at me either."
"Watch your mouth." Her smile disappeared. I could still hear Rebecca. I needed to speed this up.
"But why? No one was coming after you. No one even knew you were involved with the Sphinx."
"Are you kidding?" She seemed insulted by the question. "This has nothing to do with him."
"Then why?"
"You should have picked me." I felt the burn in my chest before I saw the flames explode from the gun. The second burn was in stomach. I fell backwards, through the coffee table. I looked at Rebecca and saw her clutching her shoulder, tears falling from her eyes.
I saw something out of the corner of my eye, next to her knees. Lucy. I tried to ignore the pain. I grabbed Lucy and threw myself toward the couch. I pushed myself up and onto my feet. Courtney had been walking toward us and was surprised to see me popup. I raised my gun as she raised hers. We fired. I don't know where I hit her but I felt her bullet tear through my stomach again. I heard her scream and fall to the ground as I fell onto the couch. Courtney managed to get to her feet, I could hear her foot steps as she ran out of my apartment and they faded as she ran down the stairs.
I turned toward Rebecca; she'd managed to pull herself to the couch. She placed her hand over my chest, trying to cover one of my wounds. She sobbed. She really did love me.
"I'm sorry . . .” She placed her finger over my lips.
"Save your strength. Everything is going to be okay. Just hold on and save your save your strength." She pleaded. "Nancy! NANCY!!!"
I love you too.