Deep Cracks VII

Angels Who Give

The most beautiful thing about sleep is also its most dangerous; how you can somehow forget your worries and pretend like they don’t exist for a period, even though they still do. In fact, your problems could be getting worse while you’re asleep. Being unaware of what’s going on around you till you’re completely surrounded by it like prey waking up in the stomach of its predator. In short, I don’t like falling asleep without solving my problems which was funny considering the fact that this morning one of my problems had come to wake me up.

It was around the usual time Shayla would wake up and get in the shower first, then wake me up as well, even when I wake up earlier than her I allow her to continue the usual routine, but the knocking at the door had alerted the both of us out of bed. Considering our job descriptions, a due amount of caution was needed before opening the door for our unexpected guest so early in the morning.

She directed me besides our bed where we kept our guns while she tiptoed towards out bedroom window. As she peeked out of our curtain her shoulders shrugged disarmingly.

“It’s one of the cops I’ve seen on TV, I think I met him at one of your Christmas parties. You didn’t tell me you got a partner?” As she spoke the guest mannerlessly rapped on our door which gave me an idea as to who it was.

“I don’t” I said as I reloaded my semi-automatic with a new magazine then got up to answer the door.

“Should I be worried?” She asked as she quickly drew back the curtain reassessing the situation. After which retreated towards the other gun we had near our bed. My mind quickly simulated the worst possible scenario being my unit wanted the fact that they were all racist kept a secret, and this confrontation was done out of fear that I might say things I shouldn’t, but the hour was too irregular as a lot of people would be waking up to get ready for work…to many witnesses.

I walked over to my wife while she was still pulling out her own gun and rested my hand on top of hers, then kissed her on the cheek. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll take care of it so go back to bed”. I waited a bit for her assent before leaving the room.

Several courses of action ran threw my mind as I carefully walked towards the door. I wanted to refrain from making a scene as much as possible but I had also promised Shayla that I would handle it, so I decided to take the initiative. After all, the best way to handle someone who thinks they’ve caught you off-guard is to catch them off-guard instead. With one hand, I pointed my gun at where I assumed the center mass of the person behind the door would be and unlocked the door with the other. When the it opened, I found myself pointing my gun at my Sergeant.

“May I come in Henry? Or is now a bad time” it was hard to tell but I was able to notice the usual sarcasm of an elderly person who believed they were in control of the situation.

“That depends on what you’re here for Sergeant” Neither my gun nor gaze were lowered and both were deadly. He might not have been directly involved in the stunt at the office but that doesn’t mean he had no involvement. He noticed I wasn’t going to let up anytime soon so he slowly began reaching for his pocket. My gun made a click as I removed the safety but he didn’t flinch, instead he started talking.

“As you know, it’s been hard finding good men. Or at least, men I believe, are up to my standard. Which is why I took it upon myself to act as our unit’s Sergeants as well as its Lieutenant. That is, until now.” He brought out my gun and badge, well I thought it was my badge because it had my name on it but there was a different rank assigned to it. The rank said Sergeant.

I lowered my gun and tucked it away to receive the items shown to me. My eyes shuffled back and forth from my badge to my Sergeants face. “I don’t understand? The unit hates me after last night. I’d make a terrible leader”.

“It’s because even though justice isn’t always black and white, some actions will always be a stain on our community no matter what shade it’s in. And being able to notice that stain is what has always made good men.” The entire situation felt like an out of body experiences. I really couldn’t believe what was happening. Hundreds of thoughts blazed across my mind. Do I want it? is it worth it? Can’t someone else do it? is he lying? Could I make a difference? It was a large post to fill, one that called for a lot more responsibility but also had more control. In attempt to break my silence he added “So are going to come back and work for tax payers money or am I just wasting my time?”.

“Sergeant is that you?” my wife’s words jolted me back into reality like the sound of a bullet speeding passed my ear.

“Oh Mrs. Coleson, It’s been quite sometime since we last met” The Sergeants comical speech mannerism suddenly disappeared when he addressed my wife.

“I thought I recognized you. I got worried when Henry didn’t come back to bed after so long” As she spoke, she walked in between the both of us as if trying to established her place as a third character in our conversation. I was still left a bit too awe struck to compose a sentence that was up to pace with her and the sergeant.

“Everything’s fine Mrs Coleson. I’m just here to personally congratulate your husband on becoming the new Sergeant.” Towards the end of his sentence her face lit up with practiced excitement and glee. I knew she had been practicing for a day like this.

“Oh congratulations Sergeant Henry!” She gave me a wide embrace while she tucked in the gun, she herself had carried, into where I kept my own. I had somehow ended up holding three guns in total.

“Please you must stay for breakfast.” She said holding the Sergeants hands like a child eagerly expecting a toy. I’d seen her use this form of manipulation before. And it appeared to be working on the Sergeant.

“I’d love to” he said. The weakness of all great men will always be women it seems.

“That’s great. Please just wait in the living room, I’ll get everything ready in a second. Henry, you need to get ready for work”. Somehow I’d gone from being ready to put a hole in my superior officer to being promoted to Sergeant by him, and sharing breakfast with him. At least this way I can avoid a lecture by not telling Shayla how I quit my job.

Once I’d gotten ready and Shayla had completed her rendition of the typical suburban house wife. A role she secretly loves to play, The Sergea…I mean the Lieutenant and I set out to the office. Or at least that’s what I thought was going to happen until he gave me an address and told me to follow up on a new case. Apparently, he thought it was something I needed to see personally.

As I drove, I started to think about setting aside the time to take the Sergeants exam, so the rank promotion can be made official. The fact the Lieutenant could get away with deciding just who enters what rank was just another example of how much power he really had in our unit, but more so, how much trust the Chief of police and other dignitaries must have in him. With rising crime rates and increasing scrutiny of police (due to police violence and corruption mostly), outside of usual measures are being used to hand over power, but like Sergeant said justice isn’t always black and white.

I lingered a bit in that train of thought for a few moments longer and then was pulled out of it by the familiarity of the road I was driving on. My memory didn’t hit me until I saw police surrounding the house address that the Lieutenant had given me. This is where Mr Aderemi lives. Or rather, it was where he lived, now it’s been burned to the ground. As I found somewhere to park and got down from my car, my first thought was how the whole neighborhood must have waited until the entire house was completely burned down before calling in the fire department. There was basically nothing left of the house and if there was anyone inside, I doubt there’d be anything left of them.

As I walked towards the yellow tape, an officer attempted to stop me, I could tell he was the one I punched last night due to the black eye. I quickly showed him my badged and watched as he reluctantly stepped aside. I could get used to this. I looked for anyone that was taking any comprehensive notes to get an update of the situation. I saw a woman dressed in a patrol officer’s uniform doing just that.

“Good morning, I’m Sergeant Henry and I need as much information on what happened here as quickly as possible.” She took a minute to stare at me badge and divulged as much information as she could. A necessary precaution to be taken.

After a few minutes she ended with this “Umm I don’t know how to say this but this looks like a pretty open and shut case. The house got burned to ground and the fire department says there were no signs of the fire being started from outside of the house. And with so little evidence to go by, that seems like the best conclusion to go with.” I took a second to look around the site of the arson one more time and she was right.

“Any victims?” I knew the answer was obvious but duty demanded that I asked.

“Yes sir. The remains of two adults were found, one female and the other male. As well as a female child. Which fits the description of the family that lived here”. I nodded at her last words and began to walk away. Once again, I started playing out scenarios in my head. Did an accident take place? Unlikely. One night with him and Mr. Aderemi didn’t seem like the type of guy to die in a fire he started accidentally, much less sleep through one. Maybe the neighbors planned the whole thing. That was also unlikely, it takes a certain kind of edge to premeditate something as open as setting a house on fire and the community looked as if they had a hard time handling matches. So what was it that caused the arson?

I collected the patrol officers number and accepted waiting for everyone else to gather as much evidence as possible then spending time reading through the case reports as I walked to my car, but something else caught my attention as I walked away from the patrol officer, I noticed the burnt car in the garage. It still had its boot open which didn’t make a lot of sense. A fire wouldn’t’ make a boot pop open, in fact it should do the opposite and melt it shut.

I had no idea what to make of the discovery so I decided I wouldn’t waste too much time thinking of it. I still had to think about how I was going to resume at the office knowing that I was very unwelcome.

The drive back to the station was a quick one since I already knew the way from the night before. I hoped my confrontation with my coworkers would also be quick one. Getting down from my car and walking towards the entrance I tripped on a tattered looking open bag on the side walk. Who would leave something like this out here? I bent down to pick it up and dispose of it but the smell of how it reeked jolted me back upwards. I kicked it to see if there were any dead any animals inside but instead noticed traces of dried blood underneath it. Even with the sun fully out I could barely see the splatter.

I decided I’d leave it to the forensic team to figure out who the bag might’ve belonged to, but before I could walk away realization sparked within me. It belongs to the beggar. Where is he? For as long as I could remember I’d always seen the beggar in this exact same spot so why wasn’t he here today. It was something out of the ordinary.

Then, as if webbing together a sinister network of coincidences, I thought about Mr. Aderemi’s car boot being left open as well as his unusual questions about the beggar. Coupled with his sudden death a very unrealistic theory played out in my head. It was all pure conjecture and there was no way I could prove anything, but the sudden alignment of these details seemed to bizarre to be left unaddressed. I decided to call the patrol officer I had spoken to earlier.

“Hello, its Sergeant Henry again. I’m going to need you to get all remains you can find of the Adult male and send it to the forensic team for identification.”

“Yes sir. I’m on it” she said trying to hide her reluctant tone.

It might’ve been a pointless waste of time and resources, but I needed to make sure that it was all just a coincidence. If not, I’d be turning a blind eye on one of the cleanest cover-ups I’d ever seen.