Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
I was celebrating
with Frank on his son's engagement at Di Angelo when the call came in. It was a
187 ( Homicide ), that was under my concern. I placed the siren and sped there
which was across the city. I looked up at the address; right at the border of
the next next Precinct. Why can't they drop dead on the other side?
That part of the
city was all the average income with the two adjacent colleges and one high
school clustered within a radius of five miles. It was named the 'student
section' as there were students everywhere. I had to slowed down to avoid the
bicycles and cars driven by amateurs behind the wheel. I parked at about a
hundred yards away; the front of my car was all vehicles and more curious
people. I locked the doors to avoid it being taken for a joy ride by some
amateurs. When I reached the yellow line, I told the officer there to keep an
eye on my car. He looked up and smiled.
"If its dark
blue, then you are numbered five in my list." Darned, most of us drive
dark blue cars; who ever thought of driving a pinky Cadillac unless he or she
was looking to be mugged. I saw the Coroner van was inching towards the crime
scene with the crowds asked to moved by the uniformed ones. I reached there
before the van did, and met Dan. He was leaning over the victim's body.
"Hi
Dan", I did not get the respond I was expecting, but he replied to me with
his findings.
"Blunt trauma
to the head may had killed him, but I would need to examined more. He got
bruises over his body. I would say, severe beatings by one or more persons,
armed with a blunt weapon." Dan looked to his assistant. "Bagged and
moved it to the lab."
Dan stood up and
then walked past me. I tried to stop him, but he muttered about taking care of
Bernice. I left him to go while I checked with the uniformed for updates.
Later, I kicked in my report; homicide by aggravated assault and battery.
Possible crime hate. It got my licking my paws soon after when the Commissioner
lambasted me for shoddy work.
"That is not
a report. I do want probable causes. I want concrete answers." The
Commissioner hauled my ass into his office for the thrashing. "Do you want
this case? Or I could passed it to Gonzales and Andrew?"
I had stifle my
laughter. Those two names mentioned are stiff in the closets. They would love
this case, as it was their kinship who laid there dead. The Commissioner freeze
my thoughts.
"I just
attended a talk by the FBI on the rise of hate crimes. We ranked in the top ten
listing." The Commissioner looked at me square on the eyes. "Do I
need to make myself anymore clearer to you, Detective Barnes?"
I knew when I was
cornered. I nodded and took up my report to go back to the desk. I grabbed the
overcoat and went over to Di Angelo. I had coffee and hot dogs.
"Gracious me,
you hold that pose and I would had said you looked like me." It was Rose,
and she was not supposed to be here. Not at this hour, as we agreed on, but who
ever tell you a lady ever agree to you must be loony. She sat down at the seat
next to mine, and ordered coffee. I ignored her presence, but she spoke up
first.
"I heard of
the murder of Nathan Levin." Rose mentioned the name in my folder. "I
knew him sometime back. He was an activist on equal gender rights. He did
stirred up some bad press on the corporate for discrimination."
I gobbled up my
hot dog with the tip at my throat. I drunk it down with my coffee while she
continued.
"I may had
heard some news from the streets, but who cares when activist like us died with
mysterious circumstances." She finished her coffee and left. I looked at
her walking with her back swing that even a tiger could not resist to mauled.
"Jim, are you
cheating on Jenny?" I looked over and saw Frank seated next to me.
"Heck, no. I
was just admiring her butts." I laughed at my humor. Di Angelo came to my
rescue.
"If Jimmy
cheats, then I am better at poker." Di Angelo knew I brought Rose here a
couple of times; off duty and casual. He won't tell; he's my brother in name.
"Yeah! Yeah!
If the two ever did, it won't be me clubbing you." Frank picked up his
coffee and took a sip. "Anyone knows what a lady would like for her
wedding present?"
Thank the stars,
he changed channels. Soon we were giving Frank lot of ideas; more lewd than
lawful ones. It was Di Angelo who gave the most kinky one; a double headed
dildo. His reply was more amusing; its pleasurable at both ends. It was then
the scones came flying at him courtesy of the daughter who overheard the
discussion. We made our escape in the midst of the shelling.
I left for Dan'
morgue and he told me plenty.
"Subject did
not die of residual physical effects from that beating." Dan gave me his
assessment. "He had a punctured wound in his left ribs that was pierced to
his heart, thus rupturing it. I am looking at a sharp object with a sharper end
of about nine inches in length. He was not sodomized if you cared to ask. We
got some DNA and still running the checks."
Dan was kind to
showed me the punctured wound below the heart around the bruise marks. He then
walked away but I was not letting go. I walked with him to his inner office. I
watched the man sit down on his seat before I slammed the folder on the desk.
"What is
wrong with you?" I asked him. "Since I met Bernice, you had been cold
and not like yourself? Have we a problem?"
"No",
Dan replied. "I am just in my moods. So f*****d off, and I cared not whom
you may had fucked."
Dan knew or
suspected but he was keeping mum. So that was boiling inside him. It was his
hatred towards me for screwing his wife. I wanted to explained but the darned
phone had to ring. I picked it up and it was Rose. She may had found the
murderer. I looked back to Dan.
"I did not
fucked Bernice, Dan." That was not entirely a lie. We did fuck but we
could not complete it. I respected Dan too much to finished it off. I got out
and apologies to Bernice. Her reply was the same; I am sorry if I led you on. I
was lonely too.
"Que sera
sera.... Now get out of my office." Dan shouted at me. I left him to see
Rose. She was waiting for me at the apartment. I walked in, I f*****d her and
then she told me who was the one did the killing.
"I heard on
the street that Danny Oswald did it. He runs a hate group on gays, and was
loggerheads with Nathan." I looked at her. She was on first name with the
victim, as if she knew him well. She looked at me and smiled. "Nathan was
not all gay then. He was a man like you before. We had a fling in the earlier
days but stopped after the lust worn off."
If there was a
word to described me then, it was hoodwinked. I got up from the bed and turned
my back to her as I dressed. She leaned on her arm and smiled.
"Why? Because
I was with a so called faggot, that you felt turned off." Rose got up and
walked to the dresser window. "Is this only reserved for you? Or your
prick? Or don't I have a choice?"
I was buttoning my
shirt then when I stopped. I looked over at her but I had no words.
"Jimmy, you
had too much on you. You left it to fester to hatred on some. Don't draw the
line on others. They also have rights." Rose spoke up. I finished
buttoning up and left her standing there.
I would had picked
up Danny Oswald, but I left my mind do some thinking. I needed some evidence to
convict if he was guilty. I can't; I cleared the word in my mind before it came
out, believed all that Rose told me. So I donned on my detective coat and
approached the suspect with the usual questions.
Danny Oswald had
all alibis leaving me with a bad taste on my report. But Danny Oswald made one
mistake. He should had not told me his father ran a surgical tools shop. I did
a check on the father; Brian Oswald, was the founder and backer of the
organization that spew hatred for gays. More to it, Brian Oswald had a record
of intimidation and assault before, but was never convicted as he had good
friends. Among them was some corporate directors with better lawyers. He had no
alibi on the time of the murder but he claimed how could he being an older man
fought off 'that twerp who was younger than him'.
The next person to
gave his hatred speech was the Commissioner.
"Jimmy, I
don't intervened in your investigation, but don't offend the city' fund
providers with your baseless accusations. I hate to take you out but I would if
the Mayor called me one more time." Corporate sucks in the city sometimes.
But I was not getting anymore from Rose. She did not take my calls since that
last journey to heaven. She once told me; how come its always yours and never
mine? I never bothered to reply. I was getting old and held the right to be
biased in my opinion.
It was Dan who
gave me my popping smack when he handed me the report. It was the result from
the DNA test. I read it and then took off to see Brian Oswald. I met the
suspect at his office. He was filing his papers and had a orbitoclast for a paper weight. I showed him
the warrant to search his premises. He got up from the desk and reached for his
walking stick. I stopped him and requested for the stick.
"Why should I give you my stick? How am I to walk?" Brian complained.
"The same way you stood up. If your legs are strong enough to raise
you up, they are strong enough to move your body across the room."
Brian raised up his stick to hit me but I was quicker on the move. I
grabbed his arm to twist it so that he would let go of the cane. He fell back
against the desk but I had the cane. The other officers helped him up while I
examined the cane. It was heavy; there was lead inside the cane top like those
of the older days. More to it, the midway of the cane pulled out to reveal a
sharp nine inch sawn off orbitoclast inside it. It had traces of blood inside
the sheath of the lower cane body.
"I am leaving town." I guessed we won't be f******g no more. Then Frank walked in looking exasperated.
"I bought them a set of glasswares, and guessed what." We all looked at Frank.
"They told me that already had theirs. I could keep that alongside with their mum's ones." Frank replied. "I hate to tell you this but kids today ain't appreciative."
I could only smiled. I have no kids. But Di Angelo replied it loud.
"True but we still love them nevertheless." Then the daughter's voice was heard.
"I heard that, Pa."
Footnote:
Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes, or race hate) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group. Examples of such groups include but are not limited to: racial group, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or gender identity.
http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/lgbt.html
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