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- 10/26/2018
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Diamonds Don't Always Sparkle - 1. Playing the hand you're dealt
Diamonds Don't Always Sparkle
He always hated being woken in the middle of the night. He found it hard to get to sleep most nights, which he knew was due to the stresses of his job. Some of the horrors he had to deal with just stuck in his mind and, more often than not, as soon as he laid his head on the pillow, images of those would come flooding back. For that reason he now always took a book to bed with him. He hoped reading it would place fresh, and much more pleasant, images in his mind. Perhaps then the pleasant images would overcome the gruesome ones.
He didn't really mind what sort of book it was – just as long as it wasn't a crime novel. He could even read a horror story, because he knew that was fiction not fact and it was only the factual images of things he had seen himself that bothered him. Ghosts were simply figments of the imagination and unreal, so were not a source of potential terror and night sweats. Tonight he had been reading a travel book about a cruise in the Caribbean. There he had been put ashore on a palm tree fringed tropical beach where the sand felt like icing sugar beneath his bare feet. The sun shone from a cloudless azure colored sky, while gentle waves from a bright turquoise blue sea lapped the shoreline. He was reclining on a sun lounger with a cold pina colada by his side – and that was the last he remembered before that damned phone had rung.
And indeed it had worked. He had dropped off to sleep, but now he was roused from his slumber by the ring tone of his phone. He fumbled for it in the dark, eventually locating it on his nightstand.
“Diamond, here.” he muttered.
“”Sorry to wake you Detective, but we have a murder reported and you are the duty detective.”
He thought he recognized the voice of the duty night sergeant, Benson – or was it Hedges. He always got those two confused. He really needed someone to give him a tip so he'd be able to tell them apart.
“S'alright, Benson. Where's this one?”
“It's Hedges, Detective. It's at 875 Elm Park Drive. Local officer already on site, name of Perez, and he says he's already got crime scene tape in place. Can't raise anyone from CSU right now though, so it's all down to you.”
Great! Diamond thought. CSU goofing off as usual.
“Okay, I should be there in ten, fifteen at the most. Has he got any witnesses?”
“It was called in by a couple of kids. Wasn't sure it was genuine, but sent Perez to check it out. He confirmed it as soon as he got there. Don't think he saw the kids though.”
“Alright. I'm on my way.”
He struggled out of bed, found his clothes and walked out of the front door. Heclimbed into his car and set off. As he drove he gently fingered the diamond stud in his ear. He knew he ought not be wearing it while on duty, but it was the middle of the night and he was confident none of his superiors were likely to be at the scene. He drove through the heart of the down town area; past Sam Spade's Detective Agency and the Ace of Clubs lap dancing joint. Incongruously next to that was the Vet Surgery where he and his mother had taken their puppy to be spayed many, many, years ago. It hadn't meant anything to him at the time but now he always chuckled at the name over the barber's shop which was next to that - 'The Snip Joint' – it fitted the area so well and could almost apply to the vet's. He chuckled to himself as he imagined them placing a sign in their window saying, 'Bring your bitches for cheap neutering', suspecting that it could lead to an unexpected increase in their workload. It was that sort of area and one in which he'd spent a considerable amount of his time, both on business and pleasure. Tonight though everything was quiet, almost eerily so, until he reminded himself that it was just before 4am on a midweek night. Even down town closed down on occasions. Now there was just the odd discarded party hat lying on the pavement, or shifting gently in the slight breeze, as visible evidence of the activities of a few hours ago. That is apart from a couple of drunks slumped on a bench and a tramp wrapped up in the doorway of the barber's shop.
He drove out of the down town and into one of the older residential areas. One that he remembered had in his youth, been considered to be quite upmarket with houses set back from the street and in, what had seemed then, very large plots with grassed areas around them. Of course to a kid like him who came from, almost, the other side of the tracks, they would seem large and impressive with their three levels and many rooms. His home was on one level and with just two bedrooms, one of which he'd shared with his twin younger brothers. He'd fought his way upwards from there due to his innate intelligence and physical fitness. He'd joined the local police force and after some years of beat duty, he'd finally been assigned to the detective branch. That had only happened a couple of months ago. At the time he'd thought that without the stress of being the first one to attend scenes of violence and death, the night time images would diminish. However, he still had to attend those scenes and very often view them more close up. Consequently, getting to sleep was still a problem.
He turned onto Elm Park Drive. In the middle distance he could see a cruiser parked at the curb, so he pulled in behind it and switched off his engine. Getting out of the car he saw a uniformed officer standing in front of the house. As he walked toward him he recognized the rather overweight figure of Officer Perez – a long serving guy who he knew was now nearing retirement. Diamond thought how lucky the guy was. He'd put in his twenty five or thirty years and would now have a nice pension to enjoy. A brief picture of that Caribbean beach flashed into Diamond's mind.
“Hi, Perez. Where's the body?”
“Hi, Detective. It's just in the front hall.”
“Nobody else in the house?”
“It seems to be empty. I haven't been all over though. Didn't want to mess with your crime scene.”
“So no witnesses. What about these kids who phoned it in?”
Perez shrugged. “Dunno about them. Front door was open when I got here, but that might be because they were in such a hurry to leave they didn't shut it when they went. Or perhaps they saw it open, came to look around, then saw the stiff and ran off.”
“Yeah. Well unless we can track the number they called it in from, I guess we're not going to find them. S'pose I best go and look.”
Diamond donned his rubber gloves and pulled on a pair of elasticated plastic slip on overshoes. Perez had fixed a strip of crime scene tape across the outside of the door frame. He lifted it and ducked underneath before pushing back the now ajar door and stepping inside. There in front of him, lying prone on the wood floor, was the body of a fully clothed man, his head away from the door and his arms stretched above his head.
Diamond assumed Perez must have checked for signs of life when he first arrived, but thought it sensible to do so himself. He moved forward and then knelt alongside the man so he could check for a pulse. As he went to do so he felt sure the corpse moved slightly, but he dismissed the thought instantaneously – that only happened in books. Then the door at the end of the hall burst open and from it emerged the other members of the detective squad. They were carrying bottles and wearing party hats.
“Happy Birthday, Dick!” they chorused.
The corpse rolled onto its back and joined in the chorus.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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