Darling... I Need Your Corpse (Mike Sanse Murder Mysteries #3)

By Anthony Mugo

When a decapitated body is found Diana Ciuri identifies it as that of her husband who went missing two days ago. Oscar Ciuri happens to be a popular candidate in the oncoming elections.
Senior Detective Cosmas Pai and Senior Detective Mike Sanse fell apart when the latter pointed his gun at the former. Pai transferred to Kathare to distance himself from Sanse. Sanse has since lost his job to become a private investigator in Kathare. He has information that could cost Pai his job.
And now Pai’s boss wants the two men to be partners all over again.
The two rivals must find a common ground and find Oscar Ciuri’s killer before his mad supporters burn down the town. Just when the two think they have it figured out another body surfaces...
Darling... I Need Your Corpse is the second book in the Mike Sanse Murder Mysteries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony Mugo
• Release date: Jun 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370572359

Anthony Mugo

Anthony Mugo was fourteen when he read The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. By the time he got to the last page he knew he wanted to become a mystery writer. His dream was realized with the publication of the Mike Sanse murder Mysteries Series. His Young Adult novella, Never say Never, is based on his struggles at getting an education. It won him the Burt Award. He won the same prize in 2014 with Ask the Stars. When Anthony Mugo is not writing he is reading. When he is not reading he is writing. He lives in Nairobi with his wife, son and daughter.

Book preview

Darling... I need your corpse

A Mike Sanse mystery

Anthony Mugo

Published by Anthony Mugo at Smashwords

Copyright ©2016 by Anthony Mugo

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews – without the permission in writing from its publisher, Anthony Mugo. [e-mail]

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

List of characters

About Anthony Mugo

Connect with Anthony Mugo

Other titles by Anthony Mugo

Chapter 1

Senior Detective Cosmas Pai wished he had magic as Diana Ciuri came to a stop at his desk. Her round face was rendered picturesque by sleepy eyes and puffy lips. Her boyish frame couldn’t have weighed a gram above fifty kilos. To correct some of what she perceived to be God’s mistake she had dyed her hair brown and bleached her skin.

Any contact? Pai asked.

Diana continued to stare at him.

Two days and no contact?

Detective Pai, have you ever rescued a kidnapped victim?

Pai had succeeded once and failed twice. Every kidnapping is unique.

How do you live with yourself? You couldn’t protect my husband and now you can’t find him.

Pai wondered how so petite a figure could house so much nastiness. How was he going to make her understand that solving a crime was not exactly like fixing a cup of instant tea? Her husband possibly bolted to escape her wrath!

Pai felt relieved when the office phone rang. His relief was short-lived.

Sorry, he said replacing the receiver. I have to leave.

Oh, I get it. A more pressing matter has come up.

Pai lost his patience. Yes. There is a body at Thima River Bridge.

Diana collapsed on a chair. Man or woman?

They didn’t say.

Pai busied himself tidying up his desk.

I want to see the body. I’ll wait outside.

A sea of eyes bore into Pai as he stopped for Diana outside the gate. Her entourage was growing bigger by the day. Tomorrow it will be the whole village, Pai mused. He turned down a couple of requests to ride along.

Evidence of previous day’s chaos littered the small town; placards, broken window panes, burned tyres. If a disappearance could generate such heat the town would burn if the body at the bridge was Oscar Ciuri’s.

Neither of the two spoke during the twenty-minute drive.

Thima River was the largest river in Kathare. The ten-metre long bridge was built ten years previously after its predecessor was swept away by the El Nino rains. A sizeable crowd had gathered on the bridge and either side of the river to form a human crime scene tape. A Regular Police officer was barking himself hoarse trying to push the crowd back. Pai ordered Diana to remain in the car and elbowed his way through the crowd wondering what attraction people found in a corpse. His legs grew shy of carrying him further two metres to the body. It lay on its back three feet from the river bank. Judging by the flat chest and the clothing it was a man. His head was missing. So were his legs from the knee and arms from the elbow. It was not just a murder but the work of a maniac.

Someone was really pissed off, the forensic officer working the scene said, his camera clicking away. Looks like he planned to toss him into the river.

No blood, Pai moved closer. He was butchered elsewhere. Where is the rest of him?

On the way to the Indian Ocean, I guess.

Any documents on him?

That’s why we called you in. The officer handed over a leather wallet. Your disappearance is now a homicide.

Pai’s heart somersaulted. Have you ever rescued a kidnapped victim?

Oh, oh, the officer said, his eyes trained beyond Pai who turned to see Diana approaching them. The crowd stirred with expectation.

Mrs Ciuri!

Man or woman?

I told you to wait in the car, Pai was fully aware that he was wasting his breath.

I am a big girl.

Let professionals handle this. Diana brushed him aside. Her legs grew less determined as she neared the body. She stood dazed for a while before she turned sharply, her hands covering her mouth to stifle a scream. When her eyes returned to the body all confidence had ebbed out of her.

Any identification documents on him? she stammered.

Pai mouthed ‘NO’. He imagined another death resulting from shock.

The forensic officer shook his head.

May I see the inner thigh of his left leg?

The officer tore the trouser to honour her request. Pai caught a glimpse of a black mole before Diana screamed and collapsed in his hands. He scooped her and dashed towards his car. A news van pulled up in time to capture him bundling her into the car.

Chapter 2

Michael ‘Mike’ Sanse had been sitting alone for an hour. Occasionally his eyes travelled with the bartender who did his best to ignore him. To take his mind off the bartender he tried to recall where he had seen himself today a year before. His transfer to a station nearer home was supposed to be complete. Of course Kathare was out since Pai had beaten him to it. Betty’s boutique was supposed to be on its feet. Betty had stuck with her kids until Jack, the last born, was six. She couldn’t stand house helps. Emma, at twelve, would be enrolling in a boarding school come January.

Sanse wondered what he would have done differently had he known that he would lose his family and his home within the year.

Self-appointed gurus were torn between blaming God and Fate. To him his predicaments were products of human deliberate choices to be evil. If God was to blame for a man’s decision to kill so was He for Eve’s decision to partake the forbidden fruit. And Lucifer’s rebellion. When a rogue bank repossesses a client on the excuse that they cleared their arrears hours late God has no part in it.

Sanse stirred with anticipation as a well-fed man in a well-cut suit walked into the bar and started in his direction.

Mike Sanse, right? the man said settling on a chair. They said you would be in a trilby hat and Kaunda suit. I am Mathew.

Sanse was positive that no hair could be as dark as Mathew’s without the help of some dye. Most likely his specs were an excuse to compensate for the protuberant forehead.

What can I do for you?

I’ll get straight to the point. Mathew placed a picture of a young woman in front of Sanse. Beautiful, isn’t she?

Sanse’s eyes followed the bartender.

When we got married a year ago she would call me at work. A welcome-home kiss awaited me at the door. Always. I was honey, darling, sweetie; the works.

Sanse moved furthest in his chair as though to distance himself from the dejected lover.

It was pure heaven! But it is no more. She is aloof and sulky. Think of a living ice block.

Mathew stopped to chew his lower lip. Sanse considered telling him to man up. That at his age he ought to know that if men dashed to investigators every time their women refused to play ball the world would come to a standstill. That perhaps his wife was reacting to the very ineptitude that had informed his decision to broadcast his woes.

Sanse could imagine the young man’s journey to his fix: a boy from a poor family studies so hard he posts his school’s best results. He heeds his father’s caution that in every girl hides a Delilah so religiously so that his idea of love is limited to the study of Romeo and Juliet. His hard work is rewarded with a well-paying job. He rewards his wise father with his first pair of Safari Boots and a stone house. Meanwhile girls are tearing at each other because, well, he is the most eligible bachelor about. He picks the princess because that is what brilliant men with well-paying jobs do. Now he was running scared because the honeymoon was over and the centre couldn’t hold.

I suspect she is seeing someone, Mathew went on. I want you to gather the facts. They say you’re the best. I will make it worth your while.

I am sure you will, Sanse said. Nevertheless, as a matter of principle, I don’t tackle infidelity. Indeed no one should.

Why?

Wife-husband love life should be left entirely to them. Thank you for showing so much faith in me nonetheless.

Do you wait until we butcher each other to arouse your interest?

Ask her if she still cares.

Mathew could as well have stepped on a landmine. Just like that?

Just like that.

What if she says she doesn’t?

Then she doesn’t.

That is tough. Here is my card should you reconsider.

Mathew pocketed the photo and marched out. Sanse studied the business card. Mathew Mithamo, Claims Manager, Borderline Insurance Company. He ventured on clicking his knuckles as a girl appeared at the door. She occupied Mathew’s chair.

Miss Naomi, Sanse said. Tell me we have a client.

Not yet, Naomi said. The landlord wants to see you.

Sanse continued to click his knuckles.

We need to find money soon otherwise...

Leave the worrying to me, Sanse said.

Silence took charge. Naomi had developed immense respect for the boss she had acquired out of desperation. Sanse’s performance in their last case was something out of a movie. However, she doubted the next case would find them in business. They were already three weeks behind in rent.