The Memoirs of a Forgotten Man

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Part Six

I remember a case I worked on many years ago. I had less years under my belt back then, with the lack of experience that brought to the table. It was the first case I had worked on that involved a child victim. And we arrested someone for the crime. Had him put away. He never put up much of a fight, which surprised me. Practically confessed to the whole thing. But what stands out in my mind is that Domenic - my partner back then - was convinced he was just the fall guy for someone else. But try as we did we could not get him to admit to such a thing. He took responsibility for the whole ordeal. Went to prison, and he is still in prison.

Now normally such a thing is what a detective is after. To find who did it. To collect the evidence. To secure a conviction. To bring some sense of closure to the victim's family. But when you are convinced the wrong man has be put away - or in this case it wasn't so much the wrong man, but just not the main man. He certainly did have something to do with it. But any evidence pointing to him being the actual killer was just circumstantial. Except his confession.

Domenic never really got over that case. It was the one that asked more of him than he was capable of giving. Knowing that there was someone out there responsible for a child's murder, and having someone in custody who could shed some light on just who that was, yet he chose life in prison over revealing what he knew. Why does somebody do that? What drives a man to make such a choice?

Seeing our current victim, still laying there, whilst we wait for him to be moved to the morgue – something about that old case intrigued me. Some sense of parallel to what I was now dealing with. It had been many years since then. But could there be a connection? I'll need to look into that old case, see if there are further similarities to this one. Something is bugging me though. I can't put my finger on it just yet, but hopefully one of the old files will help shed some light. Meanwhile, back here in the land of the present, a small child lies motionless in front of me, in a small empty room, in a dark and abandoned part of town. Whatever clues exist are not jumping out at me. Just like my earlier case with Domenic. It suggested to him then that someone came in after the body was disposed of and altered things. Cleaned the scene somewhat. It feels like that now. It just feels wrong, somehow. Beyond the obvious.

“Why do you think they brought the body into this far room?” My colleague asked a pertinent question. It had occurred to me that it was a potentially odd occurrence. The apartment we were in opened initially into a small hallway, which lead to the living room. There was a kitchen towards the entrance. And two bedrooms and the bathroom at the back of the apartment. And the killer chose the left bedroom, after having walked all the way through the rest of the place. Was he subconsciously trying to bury the body? Why not just bury the body, for real? Left room over right room – did that matter? Did that hold any significance?

“I have wondered that. It is the furthest room in the furthest apartment from the street entrance. If they were trying to hide the body, why leave it out like this? And why pose it in such a way. And why call it in? There appears to be two conflicting sets of actions and motives. Are we dealing with two people? Or one person who is severely conflicted within themselves?”

“It appears to me that the pose holds much significance to the killer. That's my initial reaction on viewing the scene. And if that is the case, then is it a stretch to suggest that other parts of this crime scene hold significance also. Such as this particular room?” I don't think he was far of the mark at all with that assessment. We do appear to be dealing with a case flooded with significance. And where there is significance, there is a reason for that. A reason why the killer feels that way – a reason why the killer responds in the manner he has, and not in some other way. These are not random events here.

“I think you are right about that. Cracking the meaning of this room may be key to cracking this case. Understanding why the killer considers this room to be of significance is of primary importance.”

I exited the room and walked into the second bedroom. It was the mirror image to the one the killer had used. The two doors were situated next to each other. I studied it carefully, from ceiling to floor, taking in all of the room. It needed a clean, but apart from that it was still liveable. The windows, the walls, the floors – I may as well have been in the other bedroom. Was there a difference? Was there a reason for choosing one room over the other. I stood in the centre of the room, and took in one last quick look before exiting. There's no crack over the door. Minor difference I suppose. But looking at that door triggered something in my mind. Not sure what. What was the view from the first room with the door closed. Something I hadn't checked out yet. But curiosity had gotten the better of me now.

I walked back into the room with the child's body. I needed to see something. I wasn't exactly sure what it was. But being in the other room prompted something in me. It set off that detective's intuition I have mentioned. And it never pays to ignore it when it hits.

“Could you shut the door for a moment?” I asked the other officer whilst standing towards the back of the room beside the body.

I stood there, staring at the door, not exactly sure why. But speaking of significance – that door seemed to hold some. But how could I get an understanding of that just by looking at it? Not everything I do on a case is straight out of the detective's handbook. So long as it gets results.

I felt it again. Like when I first saw the body. That feeling of deja vu. I felt it mostly in the head this time – a lightheadedness that had me feeling weak at the knees. It was strange, like I lost all sense of present time, just for a brief few seconds. But for long enough to notice. And be noticed.

“You feeling alright?”

“No.” And I wasn't feeling alright. Not at all. I wasn't about to be sick. It wasn't anything like that, like back in the days of being on my first case, and not having hardened up to the realities of what a crime scene can throw at you. No, this was different. This felt personal. This felt like it was somehow connected to me directly. Like my memories and this case were somehow intertwined. And now being here, seeing this for myself, with my own eyes, was starting to cause those memories to fray at the edges, to start to unravel. Something was beginning to awaken. “That door. I've seen that door before.”

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This fiction is my own work, written for Steemit
Image Credit: Unsplash.com

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Bad Trip	My Sister's Keeper	The Memoirs of a Forgotten Man
Chapter One	Chapter One & Two	Chapter One
Chapter Two	Chapter Three & Four	Chapter Two
Chapter Three	Chapter Five & Six	Chapter Three
Chapter Four	Chapter Seven	Chapter Four
Chapter Five	Chapter Eight
Chapter Six	Chapter Nine
Chapter Seven	Chapter Ten
Chapter Eight	Chapter Eleven
Chapter Nine	Chapter Twelve
Chapter Ten	Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Eleven	Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Twelve	Chapter Fifteen
Short Fiction	Chapter Sixteen & Seventeen
The Fountain of Youth	Chapter Eighteen
Bang Bang You're Dead	Chapter Nineteen
Where Did the Time Go?	Chapter Twenty
Run From the Screams	Chapter Twenty One & Twenty Two
Saved By the Rain	Chapter Twenty Three & Twenty Four
I Think I've Remembered This Before	Chapter Twenty Five
A Mother's Love	Chapter Twenty Six
	Chapter Twenty Seven & Twenty Eight
	Chapter Twenty Nine & Thirty
	Chapter Thirty One
	Chapter Thirty Two