"The Kiss Of Death"

"The Kiss Of Death" (Story by Butch Leake)

Lady detective Sachel Drummond had been working in the Boston Police Department for three years, a fact which seemed unbelievable for many in the force. Her ability to close cases and solve mysteries had made her a sensation, a legend in the department. The detectives in the department used to refer to her as “Sachel the Great.” They would offer her the toughest cases, and she had never failed them.

Sachel had her priorities in order. She was excellent in her cases, but her keen eye for detail extended far beyond her work in the department. She had taken note of the comings and goings of people in the city over the years of her life. It was all out of habit, but it had come in handy many times. Her mental database of the city and its people had helped her solve many tough cases.

On one particularly rainy evening, Sachel received a call from her boss, Commissioner Hall. The commissioner’s voice sounded like he had been through a lot, and his words were a reflection of this. “Sachel, we’ve got a problem. They’ve found a body in the park. A young woman. She’s dead.”

Sachel knew the drill. She dressed quickly and headed out to the park. Given that the commissioner had called her, there had to be something larger at play. His calls usually meant that the case was difficult enough to keep his detectives up at night.

When Sachel arrived at the park, the place was teeming with police officers. The media was already there, and there were people gathered around, whispering. She pushed her way through them and headed to the commissioner’s location.

“Commissioner,” she said, “what’s the situation?”

The commissioner looked fraught. “It’s a murder. The young woman is named Adi Brocklehurst. She was found in the park, near a tree. There’s no apparent motive, but her parents say that Adi was a prominent activist in their community.”

Sachel turned to the body of the young woman. Adi had been strangled. The look on her face was one of agony, as though she had been trying to call for help during her last moments on earth.

Sachel’s eyes swept the area. She saw that there were no obvious signs of a struggle, so Adi had not been attacked randomly. She had probably been brought there by someone she knew.

“Sir, I need to see Adi’s parents. What do they know?” Sachel asked.

The commissioner sent two of his officers to get Adi’s parents and then led Sachel to a private area. Adi’s parents were inconsolable, and it took some time for them to calm down enough to talk.

“Adi was born with a passion for helping those who couldn’t help themselves,” Mrs. Brocklehurst said, her eyes teary. “She was an activist in her community, always working to make sure that they were safe and free. She ran for school governor’s office twice, although she was unsuccessful both times.”

Sachel listened closely. “Who would want to kill your daughter?”

The parents looked at each other. They knew that there was a list of people who would have wanted Adi dead, including some people in positions of power in the city.

“She was working on a case that was bound to upset people. She got anonymous calls and threats.”

Sachel nodded, but she knew that that information wouldn’t make her job any easier. She decided to head to Adi’s place of work to gather more information about her lines of investigations.

Sachel arrived at Adi’s office and greeted Janet, her colleague who had contacted her by email.

“Yes, Detective, I was the last to see her. Adi was going through some case we were working on together, and she left in a hurry.”

“Can I see the file she was working on?”

Janet hesitated. She knew that anything Adi worked on was private. She, however, knew Sachel’s reputation and knew that if she could help them in any way, she would.

Janet led Sachel to Adi’s workstation and unlocked the cabinet, took out a file and handed it over to Sachel. Sachel went through it and saw some articles that Adi had pulled out from some old newspapers.

The files showed that an organization called the Patriot Faction was causing mayhem in the city. They were trying to bring the city to anarchy, and there were rumors that the Faction had fighters in the police force.

Sachel realized that any action against the Patriot Faction would cause some major ripples. She could imagine factions within the police force that were there to protect certain interests. The situation was beginning to look dire.

Sachel headed back to her office and spent the night going through every possible angle in the case, without much luck. The lack of information meant that it was becoming more difficult to close the case.

In the next week, Sachel visited the park where Adi had been killed several times. She hoped to find some clues or information that could bring her closer to the killer. She even walked around like anyone else until one sunny afternoon when she saw something that caught her eye.

There was a tree that had several knots, like a fingerprint. It appeared like some marks were made on the tree with a wire or a sharp object. She went closer to the tree, and as she examined the deep grooves, she noticed the same type of marks on some of the nearby trees.

Sachel realized that the marks were signposts. Adi had probably gone there to meet someone, and the trees marked the way to the person.

This time, Sachel was sure that Adi had been set up. It was now time to make moves in the case.

A call from Janet three days later revealed that Adi had a secret crush on one of her colleagues, a person who might have provided her information about the Patriot Faction.

Sachel had a lead and was excited. The Patriot Faction’s presence in the police force meant that the perpetrator would be difficult to pin down. Nonetheless, Sachel knew that if she followed the clues and made all the connections, she would find the killer.

For a week, everything seemed calm, and Sachel was beginning to worry that they would never find the killer. Then, a package arrived at Adi’s father's house. As the father opened the package, the contents spilled out and revealed a piece of string, a wire, and a strange instrument.

Sachel recognized the instrument immediately. It was a device that could detect life from a distance. It was used mainly by assassins, who could use the device to spy on their prey before killing them. The postal tracking code revealed that the package had come from a nearby post office.

It seemed that the attacker had used the instrument to track Adi and had trailed her to the park where she was subsequently killed.

Sachel went to the post office and searched the records. It was a lead that came through. The records showed that a person had brought a similar package the previous week, and the person's name was John Hanson, one of the police force’s notable detectives.

As soon as Sachel caught wind of the information, she contacted the commissioner, who issued an arrest warrant for detective John Hanson.

Sachel and her team that had been working hard on the case arrived at detective Hanson’s offices the following morning to arrest him. They handcuffed him and drove him to the police headquarters.

Sachel watched as Hanson was being interrogated. The case had come a long way. She couldn’t believe that it was over. It had taken so much work, hours of sleepless nights, of tracking down clues, and finding witnesses.

As she watched Hanson being taken away, Sachel breathed a sigh of relief. The case had been solved.

One could say that the killer had been caught because he had been too confident that Sachel would not be able to solve the case. For Sachel, the case had been an uphill task, and closing it had given her an immense satisfaction.

The end of the case had left Sachel feeling drained, but she was also proud of the work she had done and the people who had helped her along the way. She'd learned that the kiss of death from the Patriot Faction didn't have to be a hard truth. With hard work and determination, anyone could overcome even the toughest obstacle.