Almost Perfect

PART 1

It was a bright Monday morning, regardless of the fact that bright was hardly the right word to describe the dark event that the country woke up to. Prominent lawyer, Philip Enmebaragesi was found dead in the infant hours of the day.

Not only was he famous for his out of the books name, he was known for his eccentric persona and frivolous spending as well as his fine taste in women. The apparent brilliance in the court room was just the icing on the cake. His propensity to tug at the strings of life was what made the reality of hanging himself off the backyard tree even more shocking, living more questions than answers.

A fancy black Chevrolet pulled up at the police department building, out of it stepped a tall, slender sharply dressed man in an extravagant black suit, complete with sunglasses, but without a tie around the collar of his silk white shirt that mimicked an angel’s glow. With a walk that exuded confidence, he proceeded into the building and headed into one of the offices on the upper floors, in it was a man and woman who apparently had full plates of work to chew through.

“Thanks for coming in very early detective Dickerson.” He sarcastically remarked.

“Just so you know chief, I had a lot of important stuff to handle.” Dick spoke as he approached the desk.

“Let me guess, another hair appointment.” The chief sternly asked, as he pulled off his reading glasses.

“Of course not, “he vehemently denied, “just so you know, it was a nail appointment; look at ‘em, shiny right?” He showed off his fingers with a huge smile plastered on his face.

“Why are we even talking about Dick chief?” She asked, “I thought we had a case on our hands.”

“This is another high profile suicide case which needs our undivided attention, you heard of it right Mr. Dickerson?” He handed a file of documents to Dick who then sat down next to Karen opposite the chief.

“Of course I did, “his eyes wandered through the pages as he quickly flipped then, “but if it was a suicide, then why do we have to look into it?”

“Because we have very good reasons to believe that this was not a suicide but a murder,” Karen spoke, “we did a quick examination on the body; he didn’t sustain a broken neck, something that is almost, always guaranteed after hanging from such a height, which might mean that he was murdered.”

“I knew it; Philip Enmebaragesi was too much of a man to out that way.”

“Regardless, what this means is that the killer is still out there and that’s what Karen and I have been trying to figure out for the last three hours before you walked in Dickerson.” The chief spoke while frigidly piercing his eyes through Dickerson who averted his eyes away from the Chief’s stare.

“I sometimes think that my overly gorgeous looks are a problem in this here department, which isn’t my fault if you think about it.” Dick remarked while adjusting the collar of his jacket.

“Whatever Dick, “ the chief scoffed, “I will need the both of you to go down to Palm Springs and pay our victim’s wife a visit, from what I gathered, the couple had been on each other’s throats as of late, something to do with the husband’s infidelity. As of right now, she’s our only suspect.”

‘You need us to go down there right now? I have a message appointment in the next thirty minutes.”

“You go down to that massage appointment and you will be disappointed with what I say you to next.”

“I was just making a joke chief.” He replied with a nervous smirk.

“Good, then the both of you should be on your way right now.”

PART 2

The two detectives arrived at Palm Springs thirty minutes later in one of the unbranded police cars. It was a serene environment which was unfamiliar with gruesome crimes. They walked in silence towards the house on the corner of the street.

“Philip Enmebaragesi was a man of good taste; I bet his wife is very hot.” Dick commented while heavily grinning.

“I wouldn’t expect a more mature comment from a man like Dick Dickerson.” Karen replied.

“The man was like a god; Dick Dickerson is who he is because of men like that, “he put on his sun glasses, “which makes me so sad that the world will no longer be graced by the likes of Philip Enmebaragesi.”

“That’s not what’s important; what’s important is that we find the killer.” Karen rang the door bell twice before the door swung open; a woman still in her night gown, with hair that resembled the wild jungles of Africa and a face void of a smile opened the door.

“Can I help you?” She asked after letting out a heavy sigh.

“Yes ma’am, my name is detective Dick Dickerson and this is my partner Karen Albini, we were hoping to have a word with the wife of the deceased, if you can let us have a word with her.”

“I am his wife, my name is Rita, cops already showed up here and I told them all I know.’ She slowly and lowly enunciated.

“Really!” he grew out a smile, “I told you Albini, that guy was a god.” He whispered with a grin to Karen who scoffed and rolled her eyes away.

“Can we come in and have a word with you ma’am? You might be interested in hearing what we have to say to you” Karen asked. Rita swung open the door further, allowing the two to step in; she then led them into the living room, were they were offered to take their seats. Karen’s eyes wandering all over place, perching on the splendor of the house but a completely different type of splendor caught Dick’s attention.

“Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Coffee will do.” Dick responded. Rita slowly dragged her feet away from the living room and returned a few minutes later with two coffee mugs on a tray. And both detectives each grabbed one.

”Ma’am, first of all allow us to extend our condolences for your loss,” Karen leaned forward in her seat and clinched her hands together while Dick leaned into his seat, as he comfortably crossed his legs, “we just hope that having a word with you isn’t asking too much.”

She took a deep sigh before speaking, “Sure we can talk.”

“Can you tell us what happened, how did you learn of husband’s death?” Karen questioned her as she prepared to take notes in her writing pad.

She took a few seconds before words flew out of her mouth, “Philip didn’t come home last night, something he did often so I went to sleep when the maid woke me up around 5 in the morning,” Rita took a longer pause so as to recover the potency of her voice which was waning, “she was screaming, telling me that something was wrong; I quickly followed her to the backyard, and there he was hanging like a piece of meat in a butchery.”

Rita began to softly sob; Dick retrieved a hanky from his jacket pocket which he handed to her, his hand then perched on her shoulder and gently rubbed it, “I know what you are going through,” he softly spoke, “but do you know why Philip would want to kill himself?”

She then wiped off her tears, “Something happened three weeks ago; my husband caused the death of a woman,” Karen took notes as Rita spoke, “he came home one night, he was drunk and very distraught, I knew that something was wrong. He told me that he hit a woman with his car as she was crossing the street. He wasn’t the same since; he drank a lot and he said that he wasn’t at peace because he fled the scene.”

“Why didn’t you reports his actions?” Karen asked.

“I don’t think that was her fault Albini, you shouldn’t put her on the spot like that.” Dick protested.

“He told me that was going to turn himself in, but days turned into weeks and now here he is, dead. She haunted him every single day; I think that’s why he did it.”

“Truth be told, we think your husband was murdered Mrs. Enmebaragesi.” Dick spoke.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well the preliminary tests suggest that he died before he got hanged, but nothing is set in stone yet.” Karen’s inscribed a wave of shock on Rita’s face, which was visibly bedazzled as she sat in silence with her mouth open for a few seconds.

“Who would do that to him?”

“I am almost certain that you ain’t had anything to do with it,”a concerned Dick softly spoke, “that’s why we’re here to find out if you know anyone who might want him dead.”

“Where were you last night Rita?” Karen sternly asked.

“Am I a suspect here officer?”

“No you’re not, it’s just some routine cop stuff; it’s all a formality.” Dick responded.

“I was here the whole evening, my husband went for work in the morning and the next time I saw him was on a tree.”

“Well you actually are a suspect because the information we got tells us that the two of you were not quite the happy couple, infidelity being the main reason.” Karen took her first sip of the coffee.

“You’re right; Philip and I had a lot of problems but I loved him and I would never do anything to hurt him.” Her eyes became watery again.

“Well with your husband dead, you inherit all of his estate; a lot of women have killed for a lot less. See why we need this information?” Karen asked.

“That’s ridiculous Albini, her husband cheated on her which means that if she divorced him she still gets a lot of his stuff so why would she kill him?” He remarked as his hand wandered on her back gently, “I’m sorry for partner’s insensitivity.

Rita suddenly refreshed her spirit, “Wait, my husband had some business associates, they were these two Russian men. He didn’t tell me what business he had with them but two weeks ago they showed up here, they went straight to his study room and I heard them threatening him.”

“Why were they threatening him?” He inquired.

“I don’t know but it had something to do with a business deal gone wrong.”

“I guess we now have our prime suspects,” Dick drew a smile on his face, “so where can we find our bad Russian friends?”

“They own a gentleman’s club down town called the Russian Bliss, “she replied, “I noticed that you haven’t touched your coffee detective Dickerson.”

“I’m not too thirsty today but maybe I can come for it some other day,” he grinningly suggested, “me and my partner should be on our way, but you can have my card; call detective Dick Dickerson if you need anything; anything.”

Rita responded to his smile with one of her own, forcefully forged on her distraught face before grabbing the card; Karen and Dick then exited the house.

“What was that all about?”

“What are you talking about Albini?”

“Don’t act like you weren’t hitting on our suspect Dickerson.”

“Of course not, I was only doing my job like the professional that I am.” He rebutted.

“No you weren’t, you were so caught up in her looks that you couldn’t do your job.” She spoke as she opened the car door to the passenger’s seat.

“What is this all about, are you jealous that she’s hotter than you?” He entered the car as well.

“She’s not hotter than me just because she’s blond, skinny and has bigger boobs and dimples.”

“Well maybe she’s not but she’s my type of people and I’m gonna bag her.”

“Come on Dick, the woman just lost her husband and besides she’s still a suspect; plus I think she’s so high maintenance,” Karen spoke, “the only thing good about her is her coffee, it’s quite delicious; you should have had some.”

“Don’t make me go back Albini.” Dick started the car and drove off.

PART 3

The Two arrived at a bar in a crowded part of town which was far from being affluent. After exiting the car, they proceeded into the Devil’s Hideout Pub.

“I think we deserve some timeout, it’s not like we have to solve the entire case in one day.” Dick remarked.

“Will you stop whining, we’ve only been to two other places.” She rebuffed.

“You’re right, but we must be careful, this guy is black and his been to prison; he’s a recipe for disaster.”

“What is that supposed to mean Dickerson?”

He gingerly and cautiously walked behind her as she led the way into the pub, “It’s just that such people don’t like to keep their hands to themselves especially when there’s someone as pretty as me.”

She turned her head to stare at him, “Well then maybe you should let me talk to him.”

“You know what, maybe I should face my fears, I have a learnt how to handle such situations by watching rap videos.” His words stopped Karen in her tracks, as her face was overcome by bewilderment.

“There is our suspect.” She pointed with her head at the man manning the counter.

“Oh my god, he is so big and dark, and it’s not even night yet but I see why they call him Knight; bet his favorite movie is the Dark Knight,” he chuckled with gusto, as Karen stared at him with disgust, “but don’t worry I’m a pro, I got this.”

The place was sparsely populated, mainly because it was only a few hours into the afternoon. Karen and Dick sat on the stools at the counter. Dick tapped on the counter to catch his attention, “Sup playa, me and this shotti right here need a drink, smell me?” Dick pointed at the vodka sitting on the shelf.

“Alright, two glasses on their way” After responding, he poured the vodka from a bottle into the two glasses, before serving them.

“That’s what’s up dog,” Dick responded a faux black accent causing both Karen and the bar tender face’s to form contortions, “let me holla at you my man.”

“Sure, what do you need sir?” The bar tender asked.

“I need some info, and word on the street is that people like you got the juice.”

The bar tender’s face wrinkled up while breathing heavily from the mouth and suddenly his eyes bore a spark of exasperation, “What do you mean people like me?”

Dick hastily stood up off the chair as the bar tender leaned his giant frame across the counter, “It ain’t like that brotha, I meant the hood fellas… you know, the gang bangers… people like you.” He stuttered as he nervously attempted to exculpate himself as he waved his hands forward to invoke pity.

He then relaxed and pulled back, smiled at Dick who drew out one for himself on his sweat drenched face, “I see so this is a black thing; I will ring your racist neck you little punk.” He leaned forward and violently wrapped his large hand around his neck, causing Karen to earnestly plea for mercy before he slowly loosened the grip.

“I am so sorry for my partner’s insensitivity Mr. Knight, sometimes he can be a little too shallow,” she spoke apologetically; slowly pouring water on his seething rage. Dick nervously returned to his seat, “I was hoping to have a word with you.”

“Wait, how did you know my name?”

“My name is Detective Albini and this is my partner Dick Dickerson, we want to talk to you about the death of ...”

“If you’re looking for a rat, I definitely ain’t your man, I don’t play that.” He interrupted her as he poured some liquor into a glass.

“Listen Jerome we were hoping to talk to you about the death of Philip Enmebaragesi.” She remarked.

A quaint expression was suddenly painted on his Jerome’s face, “I thought that dude killed his self, what do I got to talk about?”

“Turns out that he may have been murdered,” she explained before taking a shot of beer, “since he was the lawyer responsible for sending you to jail a few years ago that automatically means that you are a person of interest,”

“That means you got beef with him and you wanted to smoke him.” Dick chimed in.

“Shut the hell up Dickerson,” she ordered him as she took a sip from her glass, “Jerome we have documented proof of the flattering things that you said you would do to him when you got out, sentiments which you repeated last month when you met him outside of the Wyatt hotel.”

Jerome deeply inhaled, his face was plastered with despondency, “Listen ma’am, I was in a bad spot, but I ain’t killed nobody; I got an alibi if you don’t believe me.”

“It’s not up to me to believe you Jerome, besides as far as I’m concerned you’re not guilty of anything; at least not yet.”

“I appreciate you for not judging a dude because of his color like a lot of those racist dudes,” a sly smile slithered on his face, “you seem so smart ma’am and you are so pretty.”

“Wow, thanks.” A wide smile stretched across her face as she hung her head low; suddenly her ability to lock eyes with his disappeared.

“I think we should get going Albini, we got a whole bunch of stuff of do.” Dick tapped her shoulder.

“Here’s my card Jerome, you can give a call if you wanna talk about anything.”

“Just might call you tonight.” He winked at her after getting hold of the card; she endlessly ran her hand through her hair as she timidly smiled at him. Dick lightly grabbed her arm and guided her out of the bar. On the way out, she snuck in a few glances which Jerome reciprocated to in kind.

“What the hell was that Albini, were you flirting with that guy?” he questioned her with an exasperated expression fused with utter shock, “you have always had a propensity to be a little gregarious but that guy, that’s low even for you.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“For starters, it’s not that his skin color isn’t a match but that he’s guilty of a crime which might create a conflict of interest.”

“What makes you think he’s guilty? Please enlighten me.”

“His got a dark attitude, he’s clearly still in the dark ages, he went to the black trenches of jail, he is clearly not enlightened and he has a very violent, dark side; what more evidence do you need Albini?”

“You couldn’t have had a more suitable first name, you know that?” She asked with a lot of sarcasm peppered in her tone.

“You’re gonna regret your decision Albini, you don’t wanna get tangled up with the likes of him… “His attention was stolen by the sight of a frozen Karen, who suddenly clutched her chest, her breath suddenly shrunk, before her anatomy struck the ground of the parking lot. He promptly knelt down, “Karen can you hear me? Please don’t die on me, if this is because of the black dude, you can date him if you like, just don’t die!” He cried.

He placed his hands on her chest, and pressed strongly but to no avail. A small crowd began to swell, trying to catch a glimpse of the happening, “Can someone give this lady mouth to mouth; I just got my teeth whitened.”

PART 4

Dick, like a furious hail, stormed into the hospital. He walked down the wall to where Karen was recuperating. The Chief stood outside of her room as per instructions, observing her through the window.

“I can see that you had your hair done Detective Dickerson.” He commented.

“I did sir, almost missed my appointment, it was such a close call,”he walked towards the window to catch a glimpse of his partner, “how is she?”

“I ain’t gonna lie to you kid, but all we can do right now is pray for her.” He responded in a tone that bore despondency.

“I can’t believe it sir, she was right there with me and then the next minute she’s on the floor,” the prior vigor of his voice was now in absence, “damn near broke my newly done finger nails.”

“The doctor said that he discovered a rare poisonous chemical called Iplex in her system,’ he explained as a perplexed Dickerson lent his undivided attention, “it takes about eight hours before its effects kick in, at that time it’s too late; but some medication that she’s taking caused it to react a lot sooner.”

With his hand clenching his chin, Dick strolled around in circles as the chief’s words penetrated his ears, he then spoke, “It must be that guy Jerome Knight, we ordered beers from him but it took an awfully long time for him to serve us, thankfully I didn’t take mine ‘cause I didn’t trust the guy.”

“This might answer all our questions,” the chief remarked, “the autopsy results came in and the same chemical in Karen was discovered in Philip. So if we can prove that Knight poisoned Karen then we can link it to the Enmebaragesi case.”

Dick’s phone beeped, promptly stealing his attention as he stared at the screen, “I just got a message from one of Philip’s associates, he says that he has information that is vital to the case, should I go and see what it’s all about or you need me to be here with you?”

‘Get the hell out here.”

PART 5

After half an hour, Dick exited the associate’s office, clinching an envelope. He immediately entered his car and sped off. The sun was beginning to bid its farewell by the time he arrived at his destination.

The serenity of the environment was akin to his own neighborhood, which Dick afforded due to his father’s immense wealth, allowing him to live a life above most law enforcement officer’s reach. But police work was his passion, regardless of his carefree life style; he was brilliant whenever the sun shone on him.

After ringing the door bell on the oddly secluded funeral home, Rita opened the door; causing her to express mild shock at the sight of his presence, “Dick Dickerson, what are you doing here?”

“I was worried about you, so I thought I come by and see how you’re doing?” He responded.

“I am as good as I can be.”

“Good to know, ain’t you gonna let me in?” He plastered a charming smile on his face.

‘It’s not a good time, I just had a long day, and I can use some rest.” She replied.

“I got some information about the death of your husband and I thought I could talk to you about it.”

After a few seconds of hesitation while wearing apprehension on her face, she let him in, leading him into the living room, “Would you like anything to drink detective?”

“I’m good, don’t worry about me,” he said as he helped himself to a seat while she remained standing, “that dress you got on is very sexy.”

“My husband got it for me, he liked it a lot, and I am wearing it in his honor,” unlike before his wandering eyes kept scrolling through the place instead of perching them on her, “where’s your partner?”

“She had to fix a small problem,” he answered, “I was expecting more people here, this being a funeral house.”

“The people are gathered at our house over in Rosedale; Philip liked it better over there,” she ran through her words at a lightening pace, while sporting a huge smug of sweat on her forehead, “so what did you find out about my husband?”

“He got poisoned like a rat,” his brazen candidness couldn’t pierce the ice block in Rita who was unfazed by the cold remarks, as her mind appeared to be on a race of its own, “but before we get to that, I would like to talk about your husband’s quest to divorce you.”

Suddenly her rush was impeded, “What are you talking about?

“I got good information that you were the naughty one and not big Phil,” he retrieved photos from the envelope which he handed to her; suddenly her mouth was vertically stretched apart as she caught wind of the contents, “really wish I was the guy in those photos.”

“This proves nothing Dick, I needed the excitement that my husband couldn’t give, so I went out and got it, the only regret I have was getting caught because that bastard was abusive and manipulative; he never gave a damn about me.”

“What did he do?” Suddenly concern returned in his eyes.

“He slept with any woman he wanted to because he had all the money, sometimes he even brought those whores to our house.” She slowly sat down as tears slowly crawled down her cheeks.

“Why didn’t you just get a divorce?”

“He’s a lawyer, he knows how to manipulate the system in his favor and there was no way I was going back to a life of nothing,” she spoke, “but God took away his powers; he became useless as a man, and what was I supposed to do, remain faithful?”

She poured herself a glass of wine; she then let a lot of air through her mouth before she spoke, “So he wanted to divorce me because I could do what he couldn’t.”

“You just gave me more reasons to believe that you may have murdered your husband ma’am.”

“My infidelity proves nothing and you know it.” She rebutted.

“In this world people kill for money, love, anger and you had all those reasons to do it,” he poured himself some wine and took a sip, “that Philip was a hunk like me, but you wanted more. A twenty year old woman marries a fifty year old man with riches to spare, you didn’t care if he treated you like dirt because you knew that when he dies you take it all, after all he had no children, so you stuck around.”

Her eyes gleaming with the devil’s ire stared at him, “So what if I had motives? It doesn’t prove anything.”

He stared right through her fiery glare with his cold eyes, “My partner got poisoned earlier today, with the same stuff that killed your husband, “he broadly smirked at a frozen stiff Rita who still had the glass lodged in her mouth, “your boy toy Larry, he’s a chemist right? I guess he knows a few things about poisonous chemicals.”

He then grabbed the glass placed between Rita’s lips from her hands and depleted the contents, “This could’ve been the perfect crime if you weren’t going to jail and since you probably want to have sex with me, we can do it right now before I arrest you.”

Dick’s attention was averted when one of the doors swung open and out of it walked out the man in the pictures with Rita. After the two glued each other’s eyeball on one another for a few seconds, Dick attempted to pull out his weapon but he was out paced as the other guy already had his gun trained at him. Larry walked towards him and relieved him of his gun.

“Don’t you dare make a move punk, “Larry warned him, “are you okay honey?”

“I am all good.” She responded. “So what do we do with him?”

“Send him to where your husband is.”

“Come on Rita, I thought we had something special going on; don’t do me like that.”

“You just couldn’t stay out of my freaking business, you just had to be the hero, but guess what? There is no one that can stop me from getting what’s mine.” She walked up to Larry and stuck her lips against his.

“Listen you don’t have to kill me, we can just pretend that I wasn’t here and maybe we can have a threesome if you like.” He winked at them.

An angry Larry with the fury of a storm approached Dick, and stuck his fist to Dick’s head, sending him crashing to the floor, “You think this is a joke punk,” he banefully yelled, “on your feet punk.” Dick slowly arose.

“There is such a thing as a perfect crime,” Larry declared, “say goodbye Dick.” Before Dick could negotiate his way out of the predicament, Larry squeezed a bullet into his chest which sent quickly back onto the floor.

“We should get the hell out here before we run into more problems.” He suggested.

“Let me pack up and we’ll be on our way out.” She responded.

“Ain’t no time for that, we have enough cash to start all over again, let’s go.” The two shared a passionate kiss before walking towards the exit; however they stopped in their tracks on their way to the exit when the hammer of a gun clicked, “Where are you punks going?” Dick asked, as he grimaced in pain, while pointing a pistol at them “you should have aimed for the pretty face, ain’t a bulletproof mask for the face. And by the way, there’s no such thing as a perfect crime as long as Dick Dickerson has a spare gun in his boots.”

THE END

By Allan Shawa

From: Zambia