D&C 2.9; Ghosts and Hauntings

Ghosts and Haunting; Existence or Extinction

Ghost Festivals; I seen them all. We have diverse people in our city, we even have Madri Gras; our version along with the City Band playing the hymns. So how could we missed out on our every own Chinese Center, and they are celebrating the Ghost Festival. Its the one time a year open visa for the the underworld to come forth to our ghastly world. The Chinese would offered prayers and gifts to be sent via their version of courier; all in flames.

The call came when I was into my second bite on my hot dog. I was considering to place the hot dog down or gobble it all down. Frank who was seated next to me, picked it up and passed it to Di Angelo.

"Its Jenny. She was to tell you that she was having dinner at the Cheng'." Di Angelo placed the phone down. "Gee, I forgot to listen to the part of you invitation."

I would had punched Di Angelo when the phone rang. I picked it up while I swallowed the remnants of the dog.

"Yes, Jenny. I would be coming...." I paused. "No, Commissioner. I would be there. Sorry, Sir."

"That was the Commissioner." My allies of the Hot Dog Consummation Group all nodded. Bastards. "It was the ex-Mayor. He is dead. Gunshot in the chest."

That got Frank up and running. Later at the ex-Mayor' house, I was met at the doorstep by the Commissioner.

"I want this discreet." The Commissioner was serious. "I want you to handle it."

I was allowed to go in; minimum officers were allowed in. Dan had not arrived, but I was led to the crime scene. It was the library; one that you would find in any house which hold eight bedrooms with the olympics sized pool.

"He was found in the armchair there" facing the work desk. "He was shot in the head; chin up. No sounds were heard by the servant; so we could assumed it was with a suppressor. The library door was locked from inside, the glass door was locked, no trail of foot prints."

"We may have a ghost here." I liked the tone from the officer. We are in he paranormal mood then. 

"Officer Ridley, the only ghost is the ex-Mayor. He's dead and had become the ghost." I walked out of the house, on reprimanding the uniform officer. I met Dan on the way out; he was smiling. He never did liked the ex-Mayor. I voted for him, and regretted. Then another person pushed his way in; dressed in an expensive suit and carrying a bag that most medical examiner carry.

"Stop that man!" I shouted to the officer.

"Do you know who I am?" The man confronted the officer but I stepped in.

"Detective Barnes." I flashed my badge. "Who are you?"

"Doctor Irwin Levine, personal physician of Mr.Graham Well." The man who claimed to be the doctor. "My patient is in there."

"Your patient is dead. In that case, the Coroner takes over." The doctor went berserk and started threatening legal actions. I closed him up when I read him his rights.

"I am not a suspect." The doctor protested.

"Not in my view. Everyone connected to the Mayor is a suspect." That shut him up. But soon I was made to stand at the corner. The Commissioner was grilling me.

"I asked for discretion. And now I have a doctor out outside on the steps making press statement. Yours and my department. So tell me what you ought to know."

I walked out and drove to Di Angelo. Dan was there. I did not have to asked.

"The idiot shot himself. The gun was his. We traced that to his collection." Dan was smiling, and then sunk his teeth into the scones. He was the weird one to place ketchup on it. "Case closed."

"F*****d it! Dan, you know something." I looked to my on off friend. The ketchup smeared his lips. He looked like he had on lipsticks. Dead people do have lipsticks on to looked good. I wonder if they have cosmetics in Hell.

"I found a camera in the library. The idiot was ever a paranoia. He trusted no one, not even his own staff. He had cameras installed in several rooms including the library." Dan did not wipe his lips when he took the coffee. He left his 'lipsticks' on the cup.

"Did you see something which was not seen by the others?" We did confiscated the cameras. The camera in the library was facing from the behind the desk towards the persons seated there. It was also facing the door.

"He had signs of being hypnotized. He had those signs; eyelids fluttering, releasing of facial muscles, signs of pulse increased; he was heaving then relaxed at times. It was the subtle twitching; the sign that he was not relaxed when hypnotized. The most apparent sign was his eyes; they were watering." Dan gave his view. "I did some checking with my liberty of confidentiality with others of my profession."

"You made them squeak to you." I replied. "Or you guys gossiped."

"F**k you." Dan was being nice. "I checked that our ex-Mayor... I did expressed some respect there. After all, he's dead."

"Tell me, Dan. Or I would shoot you." I gave him my smile reserved for perverts.

"Don't feed on me. I am putrid inside me." Dan smiled. "The idiot was paranoia on his wife's death. He thinks she is back to haunt him."

I remembered the wife death; she committed suicide; with a bungee jump off the roof, without the rope. We could not investigate much; told to backed off and signed off. There were rumors that she was murdered by him. I dig further and found that Doctor Levine was his doctor that performed the act.

I got the warrant to subpoenaed the doctor records. He did do those on him. I hauled him in to my favorite room. He came with his lawyer.

"My client have nothing to said beyond that he was treating his patient to cure him of his illness." They left us with a sour note of harassment suit. When I was leaving the room, Dan bumped into me.

"Jimmy, I got the evidence." He shove the report to me. I read it and smiled. I stopped the doctor at the steps.

"Doctor Levine, you are under arrest for the murder of Graham Well." I read him the Miranda Rights. His lawyer went ballistics and on reading the report, he wanted to negotiate.

"Damned, Jimmy." Di Angelo offered me free coffee. He voted too for Graham Well. But he did not regret the vote. "How did you know?"

"We found his print on the gun cupboard handle. Also on the bullet case. The best we caught his reflection on the cupboard glass from the clip. The lens was wide and reflections are great." I placed mustard on my dog. "We found his suit threads on the high back seat behind the desk. If it my desk, no one would be allowed to sit there."

"Except your mistress with the legs wide opened...." Di Angelo replied. The scones came flying from the kitchen. They are branded 'Daughter's protest'.

"So how did he get out?" Di Angelo asked.

"He hypnotized the victim before walking out. The victim locked the door after he left. It was all in the clip. Initially we thought they had a discussion and Graham went lopsided. We thought it was normal then but Dan saw the signs. They was no voice on the clip but the body language tells a lot."

"That's circumstantial." Di Angelo replied.

"True, but Doctor Graham Well recorded all his sessions. He was too meticulous and forget to pressed the erase. We found the clip among his collection of recording. Criminals do screwed up."

"I did once. I bought a car for my wife. She crashed it before I could even drive it." The scones came flying.