Skeleton in the Closet

By Terence Morais

Lives will be shattered. Why would a hatchet man be set on someone searching for his long-lost family?
Daniel Roger must untangle himself from a wrongful murder conviction and find his lost family before losing them forever.
No one gets to be together without being torn apart first. Not even Daniel."

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: May 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9789387649835

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Have you ever seen the eyes of the man who is about to be hanged? A dichotomy of bravery and cowardice. Those were the eyes of Victor Delk, who was sitting behind the defense table shifting constantly. His Armani suit crumpled silently like white noise as he leaned back and gestured his chauffeur, who occupied the first pew behind the bar, to come closer. What do you need when you find someone else writing your fate for you?

‘Hand me my hip flask.’ Victor whispered.

That’s right, a drink is what you’d need. The chauffeur slipped a hand into his jacket and pulled out a black hip flask with a silver top. Victor snatched it from him with his left hand which was gloved with thin leather. He opened the sliver top with his bare right hand. Judge Galloway banged his gavel, before he could taste the smooth bitterness of whiskey.

‘Decorum, Mr. Delk.’ Galloway’s voice filled the wooden- paneled courtroom.

Victor screwed the silver top back into its place and slipped the hip flask into his jacket, swearing under his breath. The whole court’s eyes were on Victor and he looked back at every one of them. Finally, his eyes settled on the person standing in front of the prosecution table.

‘Continue, Miss Keller.’ Galloway commanded.

Victor leaned towards his own attorney, Maximillian Reader. ‘What are the odds that this ends in my favour?’ Victor asked.

Reader was a short man with a mop of white hair hammered into its place with some gel right in the middle of his head. Sitting on a chair made him look like a midget. When he leaned over towards Victor it seemed like he was reaching over a wide canal.

‘Are you having the jitters?’ Reader smiled and retreated into the nest of the chair.

Keller announced the name of her next witness. A tall man who was missing the part of his left hand beyond the wrist, walked up to the witness stand. The bailiff held up a laminated card in front of the tall man. He read out the oath from the card and sat down.

‘I’m going to be slaughtered in public like a blood sacrifice to the devil.’ Victor mumbled.

‘Don’t flatter yourself. The devil is not going to accept a damaged soul such as yourself.’ Reader mumbled back, looking straight ahead at the tall man in the witness stand who was about to be questioned by Keller. Victor’s attention shifted to the line of police officers stationed beside his table.

PART I

1

Daniel Roger

The janitor’s closet was a crummy space. No one visited it during the office hours and it was rarely a place even the janitor used. But Daniel Roger had no shame in using it with a woman. The woman was tucking her loose blouse into her skirt and buttoned it up. Daniel pulled up his fly and swung open the door to an almost empty office. The last few people were packing up their laptops and sheets into satchels. He walked to his cubicle without turning to the janitor’s room which still contained the woman. When he dropped down on his swivel chair, he found his mobile beeping.

It was a reminder. It flashed a message asking him to call his dad. He swiped the reminder away and called his dad.

‘Did you take your meds?’ Daniel’s baritone voice travelled through the microphone.

‘Yes.’ James Roger answered.

Daniel heard a blaring siren from the other side. For a moment, he flinched the mobile away from his ear.

‘Where are you? Is that an ambulance?’

‘I’m in the hospital.’

‘Oh.’

‘I had a mild heart attack.’

‘Oh. Take care then.’ Daniel hung up the mobile and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around to see the woman who was with him inside the janitor’s room. She lowered herself into his lap and pulled him close by the collar.

‘You better don’t show up at my wedding tomorrow.’ She whispered and kissed his lips.

‘I’m a gentleman.’

She smiled and left his cubicle. Daniel watched her as she walked away and spun around in his chair. When he was about to pack his laptop into the bag, he felt a hand on his shoulder again.

‘Do you want me to cross my heart that I won’t show up at your wedding tomorrow?’ He said without turning around.

His smile faded away when the swivel chair was spun around. He was now facing a well-built man who had a well-trimmed white beard and a head of black hair peppered with silver strands.

‘Boss?’ The words escaped his mouth, involuntarily.

Victor Delk slapped him with his gloved left hand. The smacking sound reverberated across the empty office. Little globules of tears appeared on Daniel’s bruised face. There was a red handprint which Daniel massaged. Delk shoved a sheet of paper in Daniel’s face. Daniel snatched the paper from him and read it. The paper had big bold letters announcing that Daniel was fired. Daniel looked up at the towering figure in front of him. Delk held Daniel’s collar and jerked him from his slouching position. A button tore free from his shirt.

‘Have you ever been taught respect? You know what? I don’t care what you’ve been taught. When you are in my office I demand some respect for me and this place I have built. Yesterday it was the receptionist and today it is a woman who is about to be married and tomorrow it will be someone’s mother. You don’t deserve a place in my office. This is not some whorehouse; I don’t employ prostitutes. Pack your things and get the fuck out.’ Delk shoved Daniel back into his chair which almost tipped him over and he walked away.

Daniel looked around to make sure that no one had been watching him. He straightened his shirt, removed the tie and put it in a cardboard box. He filled it with his sheets, discs and a paper weight. Daniel pulled down the leather jacket he had slung over the cubicle’s partition and entered the elevator with his cardboard box. When the elevator opened to the parking floor on the basement, he found a trash can. He dumped his cardboard box in it and walked around a few cars to find his vehicle. He zipped his jacket up to his chest when he reached his lot and slung his leg over the seat and sat down on a black 1930 Brough Superior SS100. He bent down and opened the oil valves. It used to confuse him when he first laid his hands on that motorcycle but now it was clockwork. He removed the helmet from the handlebar and pulled out the gloves from it and wore it. He keyed the ignition and kick-started the motorcycle. The growling sound echoed throughout the basement floor. He rode it up the ramp and on to the road.

Daniel had gotten used to the looks from pedestrians when he rode down the road in that motorcycle bent over the oblong chrome fuel tank. A yellow Gremlin appeared on his right and rode along with him for a block or two. He didn’t mind it for the first block, but it annoyed him when it followed him for the second. He hand-shifted the gear and sped away leaving the Gremlin behind. He took a left turn towards his apartment and he saw a flash of yellow on his rear-view mirror before he was thrown off the motorcycle and on to the asphalt.

2

Nicholas Brown

About a mile or two away from the spot where Daniel was lying unconscious, a thick metal door swung open with a loud siren. The siren blared on until the door was slammed shut. Nicholas Brown was standing in a small transition space which had a CCTV camera installed at the top right corner of the space and there was a speaker at the top left corner.

‘Look up at the camera, prisoner.’ The speaker said.

Nicholas looked up at the camera and smiled. The door in front of him opened with a buzz and he stepped through it. A prison officer pointed him towards a counter. The malnourished man behind the counter handed him a bleached white shirt and a pair of faded jeans. The clothes sent a chill down Nicholas’ spine. It reminded him of the last night which he had spent before getting into prison.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder blade. ‘Get the clothes, prisoner.’

Nicholas took the clothes in his hand and went to a metal table nearby. He took off his orange jumpsuit and wore the white shirt and faded blue jeans. Then he was handed a ticket and a billfold, which Nicholas pocketed. The final door opened, and Nicholas stepped out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. He took in the surroundings and breathed deeply for the first time in twenty-two years.

‘Smells the same to me.’ He murmured as he scratched his scruffy beard. He walked to the bus stop in front of the facility and sat down. A couple of minutes later a bus arrived and he got in. He sat down near the window and realised that the world has moved on hastily.

3

Victor Delk

Victor watched Daniel leave the office with his cardboard box. He opened the window, flicked the ash off his cigar, put it back in his mouth and massaged his gloved left hand. It had become a habit although the injury had healed.

Delk walked over to his chair and bent down to open a drawer in his table. He pulled out a flip phone and called the only number on the phone.

‘He is leaving the building.’ Victor said.

Victor heard a grunt from the person on the other end and took it for acknowledgement. He ended the call and returned to his open window. He had a bird’s eye view of the road outside the parking outlet of his building. Daniel’s Brough moved down the road and a few seconds later a yellow Gremlin followed.

He stubbed the cigar on the sill and threw it out the window. Picking up his jacket which was slung over his chair, he left the cabin and took the elevator to the basement level parking. A white Bentley Continental GT3-R flashed its presence when he pressed the unlock button on his key fob. Delk walked up to the car and sat behind the wheel and closed the door. The car started with a silent thrum and it exited the basement.

Ten minutes later, the Bentley was idling about ten yards away from the front gate of the Metropolitan Correctional Centre. At the stroke of six, the small door embedded into a larger one flung open and spat out a man in a bleached white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Delk observed him as he murmured something to himself scratching his scruffy beard. Then he waited for him to get into the bus and Delk tailed the bus.

Delk followed the bus as it made stops along the way towards downtown. Finally, the man Delk had been tailing got down in a neighbourhood which brought back Delk’s childhood memories of gangs, hooligans and addicts. The bus left and Delk watched as Nicholas Brown walked up to a newspaper stand and brought himself a pack of cigarettes. Then he crossed the road and entered a dingy lodging facility. Delk resisted his urge to run him over. A window lit up on the first floor. Victor noticed this and pulled out his mobile and typed a text and sent to the phone’s only saved number named, Gary Hart.

4

James Roger

A man snuggled up in the hospital’s waiting room sprung up when he heard the approaching siren.

‘I didn’t do it.’ He murmured.

James Roger rubbed his eyes and took in the surrounding and realised that he was still in the hospital’s waiting room. He stood up when he saw the ambulance arrive at the front entrance of the building. A man in scrubs pushed opened the door with the gurney.

‘Need a doctor here.’ He cried.

There were seven doctors in the emergency room but they were busy with their patients. James got up from his chair and rushed to the gurney and pushed the man in scrubs aside. But the man in scrubs got ahold of James’ shoulder and looked at him.

‘Are you a doctor?’ He asked.

‘Yes. I am a neurologist at this hospital. Dr. James Roger.’ James shoved a hand into his slacks and produced a card. The man in scrubs examined it.

‘You got this? I have another call two blocks away.’

James nodded and the man in scrubs got back into the ambulance and it disappeared down the driveway. James raised his hands to examine the injury of the person on the gurney. He forgot his training once he saw the face of the unconscious person.

‘Danny? Danny?’ He tried to wake his son up as tears started to spill down his cheeks.

‘What are you doing?’ A doctor moved James aside and examined Daniel Roger. He rolled the gurney across the room and through a doorway. James wiped his tears with his sweatshirt and tried to follow the gurney but he was stopped by a nurse with a pad of papers.

‘Are you a related to that person?’ she asked, cringing her nose.

James crossed his arms upon his sweatshirt in an effort to hide the smell. ‘Yes, he’s my son.’

‘You have to fill up this form, sir.’ She handed James a pen and the pad and walked away from him as soon as possible.

5

Gary Hart

The dark interior of the yellow gremlin was filled with a hazy blue glow when the mobile phone beeped. Gary picked up the phone and read the text. He put the mobile back in his pocket and started the car and drove.

The yellow Gremlin came to a stop outside a cheap lodging facility. Gary popped open his glove compartment and a rusty police badge fell out. He threw it back into the compartment and pulled out a touchscreen phone and wound around it was a bunch of thin wires. He stuffed it into his jacket and got out of the car. The lodging which Mr. Delk had specified was a couple of yards away from the yellow Gremlin. He walked up the stairs and swung the door open. Behind the counter was a black man with an afro. Saliva had crusted on the edges of his lips.

‘What do you want, man?’

Gary slipped him a ten. ‘Where is the telephone panel?’

The man with the afro got up from his chair, gratefully, accepting the money, and opened the door behind him. ‘Why?’

Gary glared at him and walked behind the counter and through the door and closed it behind him. There was a bulb hanging above his head which filled the closet with a yellow haze. Gary pulled out the touchscreen phone from his jacket and plugged the wire from its circuitry to the panel and tapped a few button and the words, Wiretap Established, flashed. He tucked the touchscreen phone behind a few wires and left the closet.

‘What did you do?’ The man with the afro asked.

Gary remained silent as he wriggled his way out of the counter.

‘How did you get that scar on your chin or is it a cleft?’ The afro man asked again.

Gary sighed. ‘I got it when I killed a man who asked too many questions.’

Gary walked out of the building as the afro man watched him with raised eyebrows. He got into the car and waited. About an hour later, his mobile started to beep. He fished it out of his pocket and he pressed a button and pressed it to his ear.

‘This is Nicholas Brown.’ Gary heard a baritone voice.

‘Yeah, my brother told me you’d call.’

‘You got what I asked for?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you bring it to Marley Lodgings at-’

‘I know where that is.’

The call ended and half hour later a thin Hispanic man walked into the lodging and Gary saw movement of shadows in the window above and the Hispanic man exited a minute later. Gary got out of the car and followed him. He caught up with the man and tapped his shoulders. Before the man could announce his annoyance, he was pushed into a dark alleyway against the wall and his arm was restrained with a huge hand and Gary placed a switchblade against his jugular vein.

‘Take my money, man. Don’t kill me.’ Tears poured out of the Hispanic man.

‘What did you supply Nicholas Brown with?’ Gary asked him, nonchalantly.

‘I don’t know.’

Gary pressed