48 Hours to Die (3 page)

“What do we have here?”

“A woman was walking past this car and noticed some type of red liquid leaking from the trunk and called us,” The officer said. “Me and my partner popped the trunk and found this.”

Anthony Stone approached the car, peaked inside the trunk, and immediately covered his nose. Inside the trunk looked to be chopped up body parts of a woman. “I want someone to dust this entire car for prints,” he said as he slipped on a pair of latex gloves. The horrible scene inside of the trunk was enough to make anybody sick to their stomach. Anthony Stone looked around the trunk when he noticed an envelope with the number four written across it. He grabbed the envelope and found a letter inside.

“If you’re reading this, then that means that once again the police weren’t able to protect and serve the innocent. I wonder how many innocent people will have to die before the pigs finally start to do their jobs. We’ll soon find out because I’m just getting started.

Sincerely yours: Uncle Sam.”

Anthony Stone read the letter and immediately felt a fire burning inside his stomach. He badly wanted to catch this creep and teach him a lesson. He wondered what type of monster could do something like this to another human being, and more importantly, why?
 

Anthony Stone walked up to the uniform officer. “Any witnesses?”

“Nope,” the officer shook his head. “It looks as if the body has been sitting here for almost twelve hours.”
 

Anthony Stone felt his phone vibrating on his hip, he looked down at his screen and saw Captain Fisher’s name flashing across the screen, and he quickly stepped away from the scene and answered. “Hey Captain,”

“I need you down at the station ASAP we got the victims roommate here,” Captain Fisher said hanging up in Anthony Stone’s ear.

Questions

Anthony Stone stepped foot inside the precinct and headed straight for Captain Fisher’s office, before he even got a chance to knock, a strong voice on the other side of the door yelled, “Come in!”

Anthony Stone stepped inside the office and saw Captain Fisher sitting behind his desk with a cup of coffee in front of him. Over to his left, Anthony Stone spotted women with her face buried in her hands sniffling.

“Detective Stone, I’d like you to meet Tiffany,” Captain Fisher turned to face Tiffany. “Hey Tiffany this here is the detective that I was telling you about, he’s going to help find the guy who did this to your friend,” Captain Fisher stood to his feet. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he said then exited the office.

“Here you go,” Anthony Stone said as he sat on the edge of the desk and held out a tissue.

Tiffany looked up, and grabbed the tissue. “My friend didn’t deserve this,” she paused to blow her nose. “She was a sweet girl.”

“You and the victim were roommates?”

“Yes.”

“How long did ya’ll live together for?” Anthony Stone pulled out his pad and began writing.

“Two years,” Tiffany sobbed. “Melissa wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Did Melissa have any enemies?”

“None everybody loved Melissa.”

“When was the last time you saw, Melissa alive?” Anthony Stone asked.

“Last night,” Tiffany replied. “We went out to the club to celebrate my birthday.”

“How did you two get separated in the club?” Anthony Stone asked scribbling down everything that Tiffany told him.

“The club was so crowded it was like she was standing right next to me one second, then the next she was gone,” Tiffany wiped her eyes. “And that’s the last time I saw her.”

“Well then that means that her killer was more than likely inside that club,” Anthony Stone said out loud. “What’s the name of the club?”

“Club Blaze,” Tiffany answered. “Ever heard of that club before?”

“Yes I’m familiar with Club Blaze,” Anthony Stone replied. He had heard a lot about Club Blaze, it was the place where the big named celebrities partied when they were in town. Word on the streets was that Cub Blaze was one of the hardest clubs to get into. “Here’s my card,” he handed it to Tiffany. “If you hear or remember anything else give me a call.”

Anthony Stone left the precinct and headed straight for Club Blaze. He had never been inside the club before but he planned on making an exception tonight.

* * *

Anthony Stone pulled up In front of the club and the front was crowded as if there were a concert going on inside. Women were lined all up and down the streets dressed in there skimpiest outfits trying to catch the eyes of the rich and famous. The few police officers that were present on the scene did their best to control the crowd that seemed to be growing by the minute. Anthony Stone stepped out of his vehicle and headed towards the entrance of the club. As he walked, he noticed twelve to fifteen foreign cars lined up back-to-back.

Anthony Stone reached the entrance and was met by a huge bouncer. “I need to speak with Reggie Braxton,” he flashed his badge. The bouncer eyed the badge for a few seconds before allowing the detective access inside the club. Anthony Stone entered the club and immediately the loud bass from the speakers slapped him in the face. He squeezed through the crowded club and passed partygoers that danced wildly and others who were basically making love on the dance floor with their clothes on. Anthony Stone made his way over to a bouncer that looked over the crowd. “Where can I find the owner?” He yelled over the blaring music flashing his badge. The bounced eyed the badge suspiciously then said. “Wait right here!”

Anthony Stone stood over in the cut checking out the scenery when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He spun around and saw an attractive Latin woman standing in front of him.

“May I help you?” The woman asked.

“Yes I need to speak with the owner of this place,”

“About?”

“I’m sorry who are you again?” Anthony Stone asked.

“I’m Lisa the manager of this place and Mr. Braxton’s assistant.”

“My name is detective Anthony Stone and either I speak to Mr. Braxton or I shut this place down you choose?” He was tired of playing word games with the woman.

Lisa smiled. “One second detective,” she said then disappeared in the mist of the crowd.

Business

Reggie sat in his office watching CNN. He loved to hear about his crimes on the news, and he loved even more when they acknowledged that they had no clues or leads. Reggie sat up in his chair when he saw Anthony Stone on his TV screen and turned up the volume.

“Detective Stone, does your department have any clue who’s behind these murders and is this now a serial matter?” A reporter asked.

“No comment,” Anthony Stone replied as he pushed his way through the reporters.

“Do you have anything to say to the people?” Another reporter asked shoving his recorder up towards Anthony Stone’s mouth.

Anthony Stone looked directly into the camera. “Yes I want to say to the person or people responsible for these murders I’m going to find you,” he said with a smirk.

Reggie laughed as he sat back in his expensive chair. He thought it was funny for the detective to make a promise like that, a promise that he knew he would not be able to keep. A strong knock on his office door grabbed his attention. Reggie stood from his chair, walked over, and opened the door.
 

“There’s a detective here saying that he needs to see you,” Lisa said with a worried look on her face.

“Does he have a warrant?”

“I don’t think so,” Lisa answered.
 

“Did he say what he wanted?” Reggie asked.

“No all he said was that his name was Detective Anthony Stone,” Lisa said.

Reggie smiled. “Send him up.”

“Yes sir,” Lisa turned and exited the office.

Reggie sat behind his desk and poured himself a drink as he awaited the arrival of Detective Stone.

Nice To See You Again

“Detective Stone, have a seat,” Reggie smiled as he stepped to side so the detective could enter his office.

“How you doing today Mr. Braxton?”

“You can call me Reggie,” he smiled. “By the way it’s nice to see you again detective.”

“I’m sorry, have we met?” Anthony Stone asked.

“Once upon a time, but that’s not important how can I help you tonight?” The fact that Detective Stone didn’t remember him pissed Reggie off even more.

“Do you know this girl?” Anthony Stone asked handing Reggie a picture of Melissa. Reggie glanced at the picture for a second then handed back.

“I’m sorry I can’t say that I do,” Reggie sat back in his chair.

“She was murdered last night and last seen here in your club,” Anthony Stone said.

“I’m sorry detective but I don’t know every single person that enters my club,” he said with a straight face.

“I’m sure you don’t, but maybe one of your bouncers may have remembered a woman throwing up or saw her getting into a stranger’s car or something.”

“Are you saying that I or somebody on my staff is Uncle Sam, the serial killer?” Reggie asked with a raised brow.

“I never said that,” Anthony Stone countered quickly. “Why are you getting so defensive?”

“Detective if I was getting defensive I would have told you I’m not speaking to you without my lawyer present,” Reggie took a sip from his drink. “What I am saying is I’m not responsible for everybody that steps foot in my club, it’s not my fault if they can’t hold their liquor, or if they drink too much and end up going home with the wrong person, nothing I can do about that detective.”

“But you are responsible for helping me with my investigation,” Anthony Stone said. “Why wouldn’t you want to help me catch Uncle Sam?”

“Help you catch Uncle Sam?” Reggie echoed. “I don’t see you helping me fill this club up every night, but you expect me to help you do your job?” Reggie shook his head with a disgusted look on his face. “Are we done here detective? If so you can let yourself out.”

Anthony Stone wanted to bash Reggie’s face in, but instead he stood and left. He had more important things to do then to sit there and argue with an arrogant, rich asshole like Reggie.

Reggie stood on the balcony in his club and watched Anthony Stone’s every move until he had finally exited the club. He had fun toying with the detective especially since he knew that the authorities had no clue who Uncle Sam was. Little did Anthony Stone know but this had just became personal. “Uncle Sam is about to make your life a living hell detective,” Reggie said with an evil look in his eyes.

How Could You?

Anthony Stone entered his apartment and heard soft music. He walked further into the apartment and saw candles lit all around the apartment. He made his way to the dining room area and saw, Tasha sitting at the table all dressed up with a frown on her face. “Hey baby.”

“Don’t you hey baby me?” Tasha snapped. “You were supposed to be here three hours ago! You could have at least had the decency to call and say that you were going to be late!” Tasha stood to her feet and began blowing out all of the candles that laid around the apartment. It was Tasha’s birthday and Anthony Stone had promised her a romantic dinner, but as usual, he was too busy consumed with work.

“I’m sorry baby,” Anthony Stone began. “I was going to call but...”

Tasha tossed a glass against the wall. “Don’t lie to me Anthony; you totally forgot all about me and my birthday. All you care about is your stupid job!”

“Baby calm down,” Anthony Stone said. “My job is to protect and keep people safe if I don’t do my job then...”

“Protect our relationship and keep my heart safe how about that!” Tasha countered. “I’m not competing with your job!”

Anthony Stone went to grab, Tasha’s wrist so she wouldn’t walk away from him, but she quickly jerked her arm free from his grip and slapped him across the face. “Don’t you ever touch me again?” She said out of anger. She couldn’t believe that he had totally forgotten about her birthday, and what made it worst was that he didn’t even have the decency to call and say he wouldn’t be able to make it. “You got me sitting here in the dark with candles lit looking like a fool!” Tasha turned to slap Anthony Stone again, but this time he caught her wrist in mid swing.

“That’s enough!” He growled through clenched teeth. “You need to go in the bedroom and cool off.”

“Get your hands off me!” Tasha jerked her hand out of Anthony’s grip. “I’m leaving,” she said and stormed off towards the bedroom. Tasha stopped when she reached the bedroom door and looked back at Anthony Stone. “And since you love your job so much, maybe you can make love to that tonight,” she stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door so hard that one Anthony Stone’s trophies that sat on the wall unit fell over.

Anthony Stone sighed loudly as he flopped down on the couch. He didn’t mean to forget about Tasha’s birthday, but the brutal murders by the hands of Uncle Sam was enough to take over anyone’s mind. He understood why Tasha was mad, any woman would have been mad if the man they loved had forgotten about their birthday. The truth was he didn’t forget about Tasha’s birthday, he had just lost track of time.
 

Anthony Stone stood to his feet and was about to go and check on Tasha when he heard a knock at the front door. He wondered who could have been knocking at his door since he rarely ever had company drop by. Anthony Stone looked through the peephole and didn’t see anyone standing on the other side of the door. He slowly opened the door with caution and stuck his head out into the hallway. Anthony Stone looked back and forth. Empty. The hallway was completely empty. “That was strange,” Anthony Stone said to himself, he closed the door and saw Tasha exiting the bedroom with a duffle bag in her hand. “Where are you going?”