A woman giving birth was one of their biggest sacrifices but there was another deeper pain than that; loss of their loved one, the one that was in their womb left by the one who devoured their love and left them dry. Sheila Gooding was one such victim. She was one of my concerns for some time; yet I shared her sacrifice very deeply. It all started one of those fine days that turned sour with one phone call.
"Jim, I was at Maggie's. We need to talk." It was Jenny calling me when I was Di Angelo. I had just completed my meal and was to leave when she called. I was to reply to her when I got the short messaging. It was a 187 ( Homicide ) and I had to attend.
"Jenny, I got to...." She hung up at me. She knew my lines better than myself at times. I stood up and walked to my car. The portable rang again.
"Jimmy'" If Jenny called me that; it meant listen or f*** yourself. I stopped by the car and held up the phone. She went on with what Maggie told her; or what was to be told for me. The gist of it was the same of what I heard a few times in the last years' how we can get the baby we wanted. Jenny had two miscarriage and I am not keen to be dragged through as lab rat again.
It was then a lady bumped into me. She was in rush and did not stopped to even apologies. I would had not remembered that incident if she had dropped her portable there. I tried to tell her but she was past hearing distance. I picked it up and placed the portable inside my jacket pocket before I drove to the crime scene.
It was a doctor; a practicing one in the fertility clinic and once before I was her patient too. Her body was found in the plush apartment which was registered to her name. She was dressed in her surgical gown but nothing underneath it. She was secured to the bed with her underclothes formed into restraint binding ropes. Her lower abdomen was cut opened and her womb with the uterus laid outside. Dan was already there, and had stooped over the body.
"Hello, Dan." The Coroner looked up at me and smiled. He was obviously happy with his smile beaming from across his face.
"Good day, Jim. How are you?" I was taken aback by the generosity in his manners. Dan did not stopped at there. He walked over to the dresser and looked there. Then he walked back to the bedside. He saw me looking and smiled again.
"Don't looked overly concerned. I am okay." Dan replied. "Subject died four hours ago. Cause of death was blood loss due to her extensive wounds. I would know more when I get her back at my Morgue."
I left Dan to his works and continued with my investigation. The dead was Melinda Green, aged 35, single and lived alone. She was last seen coming back here at midnight by the Security Desk and was alone at that time. She was discovered by the maid at ten this morning. That was over an hour ago, so the murder was at dawn. Or between the midnight and dawn, she could had suffered for some hours.
Soon I was back at the Precinct and was introduced to my new partner; another rookie, Harry Mecham. He was past his graduation and now spending his time in my Precinct. He was nobody' son of any Precinct, but a grocer from another city. I passed him my notes and he started scribbling the essential points. I was flipping through other files when Frank passed by my desk.
"Jim, George' wife just gave birth this morning. Their fifth in their family and I hoped he stopped." George was our office executive and ensured our cheque weekly were issued on time. "We are going over this evening. Care to join?"
Frank knew my answer beforehand; since we lost ours, I never did joined in any of these celebrations. I politely declined and asked Harry to attend on my behalf to meet the rest. It was an hour later, we had a lead; a witness saw the victim talking to a lady before she reached home. We got the description, no names but we got an address. I grabbed my coat and asked Harry to followed along.
The place was a dancing club with a niche for the patrons to picked up their partners. It was named Crossover. It only operates at night but during the day, it was manned by the staff and performers. They have live band performance and the current one was named Jazzy. There were a five member band who do the alternative music dressed in drags. As everyone was busy working, there was nothing to do but listened to the band. Soon they ended their practice and rested by the side. I spied the lead singer who walked over. I introduced myself, and I got his name.
"Kenny, do you recognised this lady?" I showed him the photo of Melinda. He looked at it and smiled.
"She tried to picked me up last night but I declined. I don't really go for ladies." Kenny smiled at me and then looked at Harry who sat there sheepishly at the next table. I got the gist from him; Melinda comes here whenever they are performing. She likes him but for several times, he had joined her but not last night. He told me he was into threesomes. That caught me off guard. Okay, I am a traditional guy with straight views, and besides that, I was not into groups. I even refused to have Jenny' once owned Scottish Terrier in the house when we were rumbling within those walls.
But sadly, Kenny could not tell me who the other man or lady was. Soon we left the place and I went home. Jenny was in her bad moods and I ended up with pizza and beer. Not too bad for me, but they placed too little cheese on it.
The next morning, I was greeted by Harry at the desk with a smile. Heck! Why is everyone smiling nowadays? I am still being ignored by Jenny and they are all smiling. Frank was too with his tales of George and the baby. I was to start work which was having my first cup when Harry beamed over.
"Jim, I got a lead." Harry stood there smiling. "The victim was seen getting into a cab with a lady. I traced the cab and it turned out he dropped them at her place. They went up together."
It seems Harry was working all night including going back to the club. With the new information, we rushed down to visit the apartment but the they just changed shift ten minutes ago. So our witness have left. I asked for an address and drove over there.
Mark Kinsley lived across the city and should be on the train then. We drove to his last known address and found it occupied by someone else. The lady of the house told us there was no Mark Kinsley staying there. We walked back to the car and drove round the block looking for Mark Kinsley. By chance, we arrived back at the house half an hour later and we saw the man identified as Mark Kinsley walked to his house. He spoke to the lady we met and then turned over. He saw us in the car and turned to run down the street.
"Harry, he's on the run. Give chase." I was the driver then and as he was younger, I reckon he can run.
"Jim, drive and intercept him." I'll be darned; another lazy one like me. I drove down the street and cut off the man known as Mark Kinsley. It was then Harry opened his door and jumped before he pulled out his gun.
"Make my day, punk." Harry called out that cheesy line. If I was not upset then, I would had laughed but I let Harry collared the man. We took the man aka Mark Kinsley to the Precinct and started on the interrogation.
"Hey man. Mark Kinsley my assumed name. I needed a job, and for an ex-con, its difficult. I got this fake ID to get the job." Mark explained himself. "I ain't done nothing bad yet. I been straight since I came out. I don't even ID who comes and go from the building. The tenants like it; its personal whom they meet."
I asked Mark Kinsley who was with Melinda that night.
"She came in alone like what I told the officer but there was one other who walked in just behind her. It was Ms Gooding."
We ran a check on Ms Gooding and found her staying on the building but at different floor. She was seen with Melinda before, but they went apart for sometime. That was according to the maid who cleaned the rooms.
"They used to share beds." Mrs.Sanchez was like me; we are good natured citizens with no vices. "I seen the ladies together on bed when I come into change the sheets. They were 'marimacha' there."
I got her meaning. So I ran a check on Ms. Gooding. She was like the victim; single, professional veterinarian and missing since the murder night. I placed an APB on her and did more checks. It was Harry who suggested we checked out the victims personal stuff like the office for clues.
Melinda was one good doctor; helped some parents who were in need of children. Her therapy works on medicine and also counseling. She was quoted in an article we found in her office; 'its not about sex but emotions.Work on your emotions and you may pregnant. Or even a boy'. If I told that Jenny, her reply would be 'just get it over so I can sleep. But we found something interesting on Gooding. It was also then we got the call from the uniformed. They found Ms,Gooding.
I joined the negotiator at the ten level apartment building. Ms.Gooding was standing at the edge and intended to jump. The negotiator was at a loss with her, but I stepped in.
"Ms. Gooding, its me. Detective Jimmy. I am coming over to speak to you." I did crawled over until three feet from the edge. I was a fool, as one; I was no trained negotiator, and two; I hate heights. "Can we talk? I met Melinda before."
I knew it was corny but I had to say something. Then I added in the next line.
"I heard about the miscarriage. You need not blamed yourself. She understood........" Harry found Melinda notes and there was one folder on Sheila Gooding, her lover. They were in love and soon wanted a baby. Sheila offered to carry one for them, by getting a donor, but the pregnancy went wrong. She had to let go of the child. Since then, Melinda pushed her off leaving her an emotional wreck. There were others in both their lives but none stayed long. It was recently, Sheila came back for Melinda and they were reunited. Until that night.
"Yes, I killed her. She wanted me to try again. She said she can get a real man for me. We can f*** and I would be pregnant. But I can't as I loved only her. I can't f****d another man. I also did not tell, I had an operation to sealed my tubes after the miscarriage. But Melinda persisted. I lost it and killed her."
"I wanted to euthanasia her right of birth too but it was all wrong. I ended up killing her."
Sheila Gooding died that day; she jumped before I could save her.
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