The Art of Deception Read online

  “Something fishy is going on Eddie. Miguel’s wife almost got killed because he was looking into Linda Walker’s background. We need to find this man before it’s too late.”

  “I heard about that case but I didn’t realize that there was a link between him and this case.”

  “Do you have anything that you can tell us?” asked Ginger.

  “Sorry Ging, I’m at a stalemate. These guys were very thorough. There were no prints at the crime scene…nothing at all to work with.”

  “Do you think we could view the crime scene?” she asked.

  “That’s completely out of the question. Civilians aren’t allowed at crime scenes,” Eddie replied.

  “Eddie, it’s been almost two weeks. I’m sure that your CSI people took everything they needed already,” Mark said.

  “We aren’t finished with everything yet. There are still some things that just don’t make any sense. We haven’t even allowed the family to begin taking out her belongings yet.”

  Mark knew that Eddie was a man with high moral standards. He stood by the law and everything it stood for and would do nothing to jeopardize his career. They were childhood best friends and, since those early days, they had both been honing the skills that helped them land their first jobs.

  Mark always wanted to be a journalist. When he was 12 years old, and Eddie was 13 years old, they created their own news program called Behind the Headlines. Mark was always the star reporter and Eddie was always the investigating officer. After Eddie lost his older brother when he was 14 years old as a result of gang violence, Mark became somewhat of a brother to him. They had been through it all together and Mark hated putting him in difficult situations.

  Mark knew that he couldn’t put one of his best friends into deep waters for his own selfish gain. He had to come up with a back-up plan. “Eddie, I understand. Ging, let’s go.” Mark said as he quickly guided Ginger away from Eddie’s desk and out of the police station.

  “Are you crazy?” Ginger asked when they were outside the building. “We could have gotten something out of him.”

  “No, we couldn’t have. I know him too well,” Mark replied.

  “Well, since you know him so well what’re we going to do now?”

  “I have a plan. Do you have any plans this evening?”

  Ginger laughed loudly. “Who would I have plans with Mark?”

  “I dunno. You could’ve found Mr. Right while I was away.”

  Ginger hit him playfully and shook her head. “Mark Douglas, you can be such a prick sometimes. I don’t have any plans.”

  “Meet me at my apartment at 6:00 then. Wear black.”

  ______________________________________________

  At 6 p.m. sharp, Mark heard soft knocking on his apartment door. He looked through the peephole and saw Ginger’s pleasant face. He opened the door and was greeted by a warm smile and big hug. She was dressed in black pants, a black T-shirt and a black baseball cap that hid her curly hair. She quickly let go of him and walked into the apartment. “So, what’s this brilliant plan of yours?” she asked.

  “We’re going to break into the apartment.”

  Ginger eyed him in utter dismay. “You must have lost your mind!” she exclaimed. She felt his forehead for any signs of a fever, then she hit the back of his head with her hand.

  “Ouch! What was that for?”

  “That was to knock some sense into you because clearly you don’t have any.”

  “We’re going to wear gloves and no one will know that we were there. We’re not taking anything…just having a look.”

  “I’m not doing it.”

  “Ging, come on. What have we really got to lose?”

  “Our jobs for one.”

  “Ramirez won’t fire us once he gets his hands on the juicy story we’re going to write.”

  “A juicy story based on stolen evidence!”

  “Well, do you have any other ideas? We need to get on it fast before the story dies down.”

  “We could be like normal reporters and watch the building waiting for the police to come so we can ask them questions.”

  “We’re not going to get anything that way. Besides, it’s been almost a week so I doubt the police would really be coming as frequently as they did before. Ging, I need to find Karen before time runs out. The guy I saw knows where Karen is. I think that it’s the same guy who almost killed my friend Miguel’s wife.”

  “This is one hot mess,” she mumbled.

  “Oh yes it is and we don’t have much time.”

  Ginger sighed heavily. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

  As they were approaching the door, they heard someone pounding heavily against it. Mark looked at Ginger with a suspicious look on his face. He hadn’t been expecting visitors. “Mr. Douglas open up. It’s the FBI,” said a loud male voice at the other end of the door. Mark didn’t answer. Instead, he crept quietly towards the door and looked through the peep hole. He saw a man dressed in plain clothing holding what looked like an FBI badge to the peep hole. Mark could make out what seemed to be a female silhouette behind him. He slowly unbolted the door and held it slightly ajar. “How can I help you?” he asked.

  “Hello Mr. Douglas. My name is Agent Cross and this is Agent Madden. May we come in?”

  “I’m not letting you in until you tell me what this is about.”

  “The local police called us in to help them investigate a high profile case. We were told that you were their main eye witness. We just want to ask you a few questions.”

  Mark opened the door fully and allowed the agents to enter. “Please have a seat on the couch,” Mark said. Agent Cross took out a tiny black note pad and flipped to a clean page. “So, what can you tell us about what you saw Mr. Douglas?”

  “Well, as I told the police, I was sitting at the table eating a burger my sister had bought for me when I noticed something strange in the window of the apartment across the street. When I looked closely through my window, I noticed there was a naked female body hanging from the roof.”

  “The report also said that you saw a man lurking in the shadows,” said Agent Madden.

  “Yes. I could only tell that he was very muscular with beady eyes.”

  “Did you know the victim?” asked Agent Cross.

  “No, I had never seen her before that day.”

  “But you can see quite clearly through her window. You’re telling me that you’ve never noticed her before?” asked Agent Madden.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying officer. I’m afraid that my friend and I were discussing some business. So, I’m going to have to ask you to leave now,” Mark said as he stood.

  Agent Madden eyed him suspiciously as she stood. She had chocolate brown skin, brown eyes, and a strong physique. Her resemblance to Karen was uncanny and it made Mark feel uneasy. Agent Cross walked towards him and held out his hand. As Mark shook his hand, the agent said, “We’ll be in touch.” Mark escorted them out the door and, when they had disappeared from sight, closed the door and walked over to Ginger. “I didn’t know the case was this serious,” Ginger said as Mark walked back to the couch. Mark didn’t respond. He was still shocked by how much Agent Madden resembled his darling Karen.

  “Mark, are you hearing anything I’m saying?” Ginger asked, concern ringing through her voice.

  “She looked so much like Karen.”

  “She did, but Karen doesn’t have any siblings right?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “How much do you really know about her Mark?”

  Mark thought about that question for a moment. He and Karen had been together for two years. Her parents had died in the Twin Towers attack when she was 14 and she was their only child. He trusted her completely. There are so many people in the world who closely resemble each other. So, this must just be a coincidence.

  “I know enough about her. I’m going to marry her, Ging. I have to be able to trust her.”

  “That’s between you and Kare
n. What I really want to know is why this case involves the FBI.”

  “We need to get into that apartment Ging and do some digging.”

  “The greater the risk, the greater the reward, right? Let’s do this.”

  Within minutes they were walking out of Mark’s apartment, down the stairs, and across the street. They were so focused on their mission that they didn’t notice the man hiding in the shadows across the street. He watched as they opened the door that led to the stairs of Linda’s apartment. There was no way that he could spoil this mission. If he did, he was sure he’d be a dead man. Now was the time to make his move. He placed his hoodie over his head, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked towards the building. Time to get the ball rolling.

  The building that housed Linda’s apartment was identical to Mark’s apartment building. There were five stories connected by old wooden steps. The entrance to the ground floor was a wooden door with frosted glass panes. Linda lived on the third floor. As Mark and Ginger ascended the stairs to Linda’s apartment, they heard the sounds of televisions blaring and smelt the scents of some good home cooked meals. Ginger heard her stomach growl and realized that she hadn’t eaten since yesterday. She also started to have an uneasy feeling as they began to walk up the dimly lit staircase. There was nothing right about breaking into a crime scene to snoop for information for an article. She heard Mark mumbling beside her and she realized that she had been tuning him out. “What did you say?” she asked.

  “Ging, I need you to focus. We can’t afford to get caught. Do you know how to pick a lock?”

  “Well, I sure wasn’t a saint in high school. We used hairpins once to pick the lock of a girl’s locker and then spray painted it and poured glue all over her stuff. Hilarious, I tell you.”

  Mark glared at her with a disapproving stare and shook his head. They were now at Linda’s door and both snapped on rubber gloves. Ginger fiddled with the messy bun that she had placed her hair into and found a hair pin. “Let’s get the ball rolling,” she said as she began to use the pin to pick the lock. Mark nervously fidgeted while trying to keep an eye out for anyone who might be passing. “If you keep behaving like that, we’re sure to get caught,” Ginger whispered. That forced Mark to focus on standing still and draw as little attention to them as possible. After a few minutes, Ginger pried the door open. “We’re in,” she said. Mark made the first step into the apartment and was greeted with a waft of stale air. Ginger wrinkled her nose as she followed him into the dead woman’s apartment. “It sure smells like death in here,” she said.

  “Yah, let’s see what we can find so we can get out of here.”

  “Where should we start?”

  “The bedroom always holds the deepest secrets. Let’s start there.”

  As Mark entered the bedroom, the first thing that caught his attention was how immaculately clean it was. Everything looked spotless, untouched. It was almost as if no one had been living in the apartment. “This place is too clean,” he said to Ginger.

  “The attackers wouldn’t have wanted to leave any evidence behind. Of course it’s clean. I think I found something.” She held up a white, unmarked envelope.

  “It’s an envelope. What’s so special about that?” he asked.

  “It’s what was in the envelope that matters. The envelope smells like sweet perfume and I see a stack of decorative paper beside it. She must have been preparing to write a letter to someone.”

  “Fine, but without the letter that find proves useless.”

  “The letter must be here somewhere. We just have to find it.”

  She began to pull out all the drawers in search of this elusive letter. Mark diverted his attention to the closet. He noticed a broad, rectangular, silver box neatly tucked away towards the back of the closet. He pulled the box down and opened it. His eyes became wide as saucers as he sifted through the contents. What he saw was not what he had expected. Before he could show Ginger what he had found, he heard the faint shuffling of footsteps in the living room. Ginger looked at him with fear in her eyes. Mark placed his index finger on his lip indicating that she should remain quiet. He tiptoed slowly towards the entrance of the bedroom, leaned his back against the wall, and tried to get a glimpse of who was moving around in the living room.

  The first thing he saw was the dark, hollow hole of a black pistol. Fear gripped every fiber of his being. He had no way to protect himself: no gun, no knife, not even a baseball bat. He also had to protect Ginger. He needed to come up with a plan. The man was coming closer and Mark could see that he was wearing a dark hoodie that shrouded his face. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ginger move towards the bedside table. “What is she doing?” he thought. Before Mark could make an attempt to signal to Ginger, he felt the barrel of the gun being pressed against his temple vein.

  “Make any sudden movements and you’re dead,” said the attacker in a deep voice. His left hand was around Mark’s chest and the other hand held the gun.

  Ginger was frozen in shock. Mark was sure that the terrified expression on her face mirrored exactly how he was feeling in that moment.

  “You’re going to walk with me into the living room,” their captor said.

  “I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” asked Mark sarcastically.

  “Your little friend over there needs to lead the way,” the hooded man said as he clicked the gun’s cartridge in place.

  Ginger quickly walked over to the bedroom door and the attacker indicated where he wanted her to stand.

  Although the attacker had a firm grip on Mark’s shoulders so it was impossible for Mark to free himself, Mark still tried to plan their escape. He needed a distraction, but the barrel of the gun pressing against his head made it difficult for him to think clearly.

  Ginger never took her eyes off of him. “What do you want with us?” she asked.

  “You don’t worry about that,” their captor said as he guided Mark towards the kitchen table. This short motion required his back to be turned away from Ginger for a few seconds. In that instant, she took the sole lamp in the living room and connected it with the back of the attacker’s head. He loosened his grip on Mark and hunched over in pain.

  “Run, Ginger!” Mark shouted.

  “I’m not leaving you!” she responded.

  “Just go. I’ll catch up with you.”

  Ginger took off at lightning speed through the apartment’s entrance and down the stairs. When she arrived at the building’s entrance she heard a loud gunshot pierce the air. “No! Mark!” Before she could think twice about what she was doing, she found herself dashing back to the apartment. As she ran, she pulled out her phone and dialed 911.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” asked the responder on the other end.

  “I heard gunshots at 213 Mallow Place. Come quickly.”

  She hung up the phone and bolted up the stairs. When she arrived at Linda’s apartment, all she saw was red streaks of blood lining the floor. She stepped cautiously into the apartment and saw Mark in the corner of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. His entire shirt was wet with blood and he looked so pale that Ginger was sure he was going to pass out.

  Ginger had on a black camisole under her shirt. So, she took off the shirt and began applying pressure to Mark’s wound. “Where’s the guy?” she asked Mark. Mark weakly lifted his right index finger and pointed at the window that led to the fire escape. Sure enough, there was a trail of blood leading to the window and down the fire escape. “The bastard couldn’t have gotten very far. I hope the police can find him,” she said. The sounds of wailing sirens could be heard in the distance. By now there was a large gathering outside the building as curious onlookers came to find out what was causing all of the commotion.

  Within minutes the paramedics were by Mark’s side. They gently removed the now blood soaked shirt that Ginger had been using to try to stop the bleeding. Mark had passed out and his pulse was weak. They put him on to the stretcher and took him quickly to
the ambulance. Ginger was following right behind them, but she was abruptly stopped by a firm hand grasping her wrist. She turned around and looked into the eyes of Eduardo. “Eduardo, I can’t talk to you right now. I have to go with Mark to the hospital,” Ginger said.

  “I’m coming with you. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

  _________________________________________________________

  Mark slowly opened his eyes. White walls, beeping monitors, and the scent of antiseptic assailed his senses. The stark white hospital gown made him feel exposed and the sharp pain across his chest made him fully aware of what had brought him here. At least he was alive, but he was no closer to finding Karen. The reality of the situation both frustrated and angered him. Not only had he lost the love of his life, but he was sure he was going to lose his job after what had happened.

  As the barrage of thoughts ran through his mind, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The sound caught the attention of someone standing in the corner of the room. The person quickly rushed over and, as she approached, Mark realized it was Ginger. She looked like she hadn’t slept in a while and her eyes hinted at impending doom. “Hey Marki boy. You really scared me yesterday.”

  “Hey Ging. Ah, you know me, never a dull moment,” he said with a slight smile on his face.

  She smiled and said, “Ain't that the truth.”

  Before they could continue their conversation, Eduardo entered the room with a stern expression on his face. Ginger looked at him briefly and then averted her gaze in shame.

  “I’m not here for pleasantries,” he said looking at Mark with anger in his eyes.

  “Yes, I know Eddie. We shouldn’t have been there, but…”

  “But nothing Mark. You shouldn’t have been there. You compromised the crime scene and got yourselves into danger that could’ve been avoided.”

  “Well, I think that guy would have come after me sooner or later. The closer I get to finding out more about the Mayor is the more weird things start to happen.”

  “It’s a sign…stay away. Don’t let me hear any of your crazy stories again. “