Murder
"Do I dare disturb the universe? - T.S. Elliot"
"We interrupt this program for a police message. The Dullwich case robbery has been bungled and there are criminals on the loose."
A light smirk appeared across my face. Criminals and the corrupt was a way of life. Something that was now intrinsic to me. I lit a cigarette and sat there motionless, the spiralling wafts of smoke gently rose from my face. The rain was merciless outside, as was the night, the night never went away, it always came back with the criminals.
Out of the darkness the telephone rang. I was in no mood to pick it up. One sorry murder after another. The streets of Los Angeles were not that nice. Not like what they sold to you in the movies. There were no Orange groves here, there were murders and plenty of them.
"Yes, this is Renault speaking...what?...yes right away."
Sometimes it wasn't about the murder, sometimes it could be differnt. Today was different, tonight was different.
My rather large gut took its time to rise from the chair after a prolonged rest there. My longish face with plenty of wrinkles under the eyes and hair white around the temples struggled to cope with the job at hand. It was 2am. I took my coat, my cigarettes and armed myself with a revolver and went outside.
I hailed a cab. I told to the driver to proceed to 20th and Church.
"You're cut" the driver told me. "Well it's a pity you ain't a woman" I retorted.
He got me there dutifully in 20 minutes. There was a dead body near a woman about 10 metres from where Iwas. I walked over. I thought that this was going to be different. It turned out to be the same as any other day.
"Is this the man that called me m'am, is he Archie Leach?"
The woman was in a serious state of shock, she hadn't seen anything like his before. She was erratric and shivering profusely. She didn't respond. Yet at the same time, I sensed a real power within the woman, she wasn't spitting out fear, she was conjuring it.
"M'am I'm here to help. My name is Viktor Renault and I was called here. Is this man Archie Leach?"
She nodded but was quiet.
"Ok m'am we'll get you to a hospital."
It was the usual, man D.O.A. On the way to the hospital, I tried cajoling her although I wasn't much of shrink.
"M'am you can help me out here, what did you see, did you see the killer?"
"No, I didn't see anyone." She was really pushing it, her health wasn't all that good.
"Anything else m'am?"
"I heard two men run away into the distance after hearing a single shot fired. It sounded like it came from far away."
"Allright m'am, that was very useful, you take some care now."
We arrived at the hospital, I got her a placement. The doctor named Spade was a man who enthused with profiligate celebrity but he was professional nonetheless. He informed me that Miss Leach was in a state of shock and that she would take a couple of days to recover.
I left her after telling her that I will back the next day and went back to the office. I parked myself in the char. The rain was relentless. Some day a real rain would come and wash the scum off the street. That day wasn't this day, it would never be. I waited and waited and waited, waiting almost became a hobby.
I did some research on that man Leach. He was rich. Richer than I expected. Two estates, one here in Los Angeles, another in France. He had stocks in TWA and Pan-Am. Once again, the telephone rang.
"Just what is it do you think you're doing Renault? This is a police case and will be treated as such, you're going to lay off you understand?"
It was Dundy.
"Dundy, don't give me all that jurisdiction crap, the man called me, this is mine. And besides, it's been a long time since Iwas unhappy that a policeman didn't like me. I don't cry for that anymore you know?"
"..."
"You can tell that to Polhaus if you want, but this one's mine."
"You take chances Renault."
"I'm paid to."
He hung up. This was my one. Besides, the police needed me anyway. They liked to act as if they don't, but they do. They really do. I called Rachel. She was, for some reason, awake at this ungodly hour. I told her to run some more background checks on Archie Leach. I also told her to get me news on the Dullwich robberies. She did it all, even at 4am.
"You're an angel, angel"
I drove to St. Albert's only to find Mrs. Leach in a state of vile depression. Vile depression seemed the adequate description of her condition. I didn't know why she was like that. Only one way to find out.
"What's wrong?"
"My brother in law, he's dead - shot dead."
You start the ball rolling and it just doesn't stop.
"Look m'am, you can call me Viktor and I am here to help. I assure you that I will get to the bottom of this, all of it. I can feel your pain."
I really couldn't feel her pain, to me she was one of them, another person in society who lost some loved ones, big deal, happens all the time. I've seen too much for this type of melodramatic crap.
"Why would they hurt Archie, why would they hurt Randy?"
I assumed Randy was her brother in law.
"What were you doing at that time of night on that street when I found you?"
"We went ot the restaurant earlier in the evening and decided to take a cab home. The driver dropped us off there as he was busy or something. We didn't complain, just a short walk on a nice night. "
"Why did your husband call me? From your account so far I assume that he called from this restaurant. Which restaurant was it?"
"Tony's Italian one"
Nothing like the mob.
"So why did he call me?"
"I don't know."
"I do. He was getting worried. Do you know about the Dullwich case?"
She shook her head. How could anyone not know about the Dullwich case -- still I took her word for it.
I left after showing her some sympathy and a little empathy to match. I went back to the office. A queer man was out in the rain. He was looking at everything but my office. He was no more than a lad of 18 or 20. He wasn't nervous as such but he wasn't exactly smooth as butter either.
"Ok kid, you want to come in? Or do you want me to pull you in?"
"What? Is it a crime to look a the street?"
"Sure it is, when you've got a revolver in your hand."
He walked in, he knew I won. No two ways about it.
"So what's all this about?"
"Nothing"
"Don't waste my time kid, I've got work to do."
God, what an aweful cliche, I heard stuff like that in some of those Bogart and Cagney movies, I was losing my touch, for the moment anyway.
The kid stared at me.
"Who sent you?"
"Nobody?"
"Is that so... funny because your wallet says a man named Herbert is your benefactor. Any comments buddy boy?"
Ahh, thats better, I should really stop watching those movies, nearly lost my touch. Got it back though.
"Ok, Herbert did send me."
He tried to disarm me. I knocked him to the ground. He came to about half an hour later, by that time I knew more about him than his mother probably did. He asked for his wallet back. I obliged.
"You know Leach did it?"
"Ok you're going kid, you hear me?"
He left at that time, he was alarmed and shocked. I had something to go buy.
I took a trip down to the hospital again. Interrogation time.
"Do you know who William Herbert Shaw is?"
"What?"
"Do you?"
"He was an acquaintance..."
"...and a husband" I added.
"Listen here mister. If you think he has anything to do with this, you're sorely mistaken."
"I could be mistaken, I could also be right"
"Allright mister, I don't need you. I have friends"
"No no, I really want to help. I really do."
"Ok"
I left her. This was going in a different direction to where I thought it was going the first time around. Damsel in Distress didn't look much in distress to me anymore, though I couldn't rule anything out. My partner once said to me "Keep your ears open, your mouth shut and brain ticking", I'm still following that.
I went to the office and checked out about this Herbert character. Rachel had come in for the day and brought me a pile of papers on Leach and the Dullwich case. I took a glance at them. I lit the cigarette again. It had been a while since I did, running around here and there, my lungs gleefully accepted.
Sidney, the punk kid came to see me again.
"What are you doing with this pile? I told you it was Leach already."
"Stop disturbing me kid"
"Disturb you? What's the harm in that. Leach disturb the city, disturbed the universe"
"Quite a lot, because I'm coming after whoever did it."
"Coming after Leach, Gail Leach you mean?"
"I don't know"
"I do"
He kicked me to the ground. I woke up after some three hours. I was tied up. A gruff voice came from behind me. It wasn't the kid.
"He told you it was Leach right? Why did you go on?"
"..."
This case was far from solved.
This entry was posted by Blogpur, on
Saturday, November 05, 2005.
You can leave your response.
10:28 PM
I'm Waiting......................... (^!^)
Right Here Right Now
4:28 PM
I too am waiting.. are you penning this one? Brilliant Venkat!
7:42 AM
Thanks for your comments Rajesh and Prabhu. Yes it is my story, I have written it in full on paper, but my hands are a little hurt from playing cricket, that is why it is taking me some time to type it on the computer.
Sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy it.
As a matter of trivia, I wrote the story in 1 hr on paper.
6:12 PM
You are a great writer....... keep going....
5:40 PM
Ther you go, I've finished it. Part II may come sometime later, it may not. But I like this ambiguous ending.
2:12 AM
Venkat,
let the part 2 come..I would like to have a logical end .. what do you say?
7:26 AM
Thanks for your comments Prabhu, I will come up with it soon. I like to write in short bursts every now and then. I'll do it sometime soon.
8:09 AM
Nice one Venkat. Reminds me a little of Bogart and 'Maltese Falcon' ;-). Waiting for part 2.
1:39 PM
Thats great sowmya, because it is influenced by Dashiel Hammett's novel of the same name!