FORGET ME KNOT.

Chapter 2

The Bloody Bride

Al was glad to be going to work. A rare feeling and occurrence but when it did come about, was usually treated as a bad sign for incoming workload. Work was still none-the-less the perfect place to escape. He had spent the early part of his morning avoiding eye-contact with his new uninvited guest claiming to be ‘Candy Kane’ who happened to be the latest murder victim of Happy Valley whose case was assigned to the seasoned detective – if Houston’s ‘reliable’ source was to be trusted.

Al had continuously brushed past the young female – to get to the bathroom across from his bedroom; to grab his keys that had fallen under the kitchen table and back to his starting point to prepare for the day and gather the rest of his belongings before disappearing through his bedroom window and down the fire escape. She may have said a few things along the way, but Al had years of experience drowning out ‘unnecessary noise’ that often came in handy in his line of work. He felt silly on the way down, surprised at his cowardice and cursing at himself. Following his initial theory of drugs being the cause of his predicament, going to work might not have been the best idea, but it presented itself to be the only place he would find the answers he desperately needed. He was not going to nor was he prepared to accept ‘a ghost,’ for an answer; but first he had somewhere to visit and someone to see…

“Haven’t you read her file? I thought this was your case.” Stan Glass the medical examiner of the Happy Heart Hospital morgue was both unimpressed and surprised with Al who was always on top of his cases, lacked knowledge of his current case and most importantly the victim. “I just wanted to hear your opinion on the situation Stan.” Al assured him with a smile. “Sure, that’s why.” Stan curiously added, continuing to size him up as he unveiled Miss Candy Kane’s corpse. Stan with his back to Al didn’t notice the detective flinch at the sight of the now exposed and freshly cleaned Candy; not because of the multiple and pattern-less stab wounds dressing her fully naked bodice or the fact that her green, pupil-less eyes hadn’t been closed. All signs of dark red had been washed off, clearly exposing the chalk white underneath. Dead-Candy may have appeared unrecognisable to those who had briefly known her or someone who had only met her in passing, but to someone like Detective Al Koholick who possessed an eidetic memory there was no mistake to it. He had memorised every inch of her, replayed the same image of the young female from before looking up at him, for this very moment –  ‘That’s her…this Candy’s eyes are a darker green but, what am I thinking? They’re the same person.’ This was all the detective needed and he was convinced. Once again, he had the right answer though he hated the feeling of being right in circumstances he preferred not to be.

Stan began with the usual procedure – “Victims name was Candy Maree Kane, age twenty-nine. The only daughter of Sugar Kane and the late and great Dr Percival Kane; he was my idol, the very reason I chose the healing arts as my career path. I examined his body as well, now his daughter. Just the mother left and I would have the whole set...” Al coughed; The young doctor would often get carried away at the mention of his former mentors name, even if he was the one doing the mentioning. Stan was the go-to-guy for all things Dr Percival Kane. Al would not be surprised if he dedicated his whole thesis on the man. However, Dr Percival Kane’s profile was not what he was interested in now; it was his daughters. “Sorry…hey, you want to play a game?” Stan continued. “No.” Al replied. Stan shot-back; “Well tough! We are doing it anyway since you interrupted my morning omelette; I will let you figure this one out on your own. I want you to take a closer look at Miss Kane over here and tell me how she died. Feel free to take your time; I have nowhere else to be.” The detective however did but he knew all too well, how stubborn Stan could be and mornings were not exactly the best time to catch him.

Al thoroughly scanned Candy’s body repeatedly making sure on his final answer as he and Stan both shared the same passionate hate for two things – uncertainty and the wrong conclusion. To the un-trained eye and judging from the multiple stab wounds she possessed, loss of blood would have been the obvious answer, however that’s why people were sent to school for this kind of thing. Al may not have been as well versed on the art of determining a victim’s cause of death, but he did know Stan and according to him, the first and obvious answer was not always necessarily the correct one.

“She was strangled.” Al concluded. “How d’you figure that?” asked Stan, his mouth forming a hint of a smile as Al continued, “her neck; It’s faint but there are signs of strangulation, my guess she was strangled with a soft material of some kind wrapped around a few times. The killer wanted to throw you off with the multiple stab wounds. I conclude that the killer strangled her to death, and then stabbed her multiple times perhaps to make sure she was dead or…wasn’t satisfied it was over so quickly.” Stan continued with his questioning, “What makes you think it was quick?” Al hesitated, not sure himself why he had said that, “Just a guess.” He answered as Stan shook his head. “This was the work of one tempestuous killer. Well done. Not many mortals would have guessed Asphyxiation, although not many mortals are you or I for that matter. That’s why you’re the only one I would open my doors for this early in the morning,” said Stan in a congratulatory tone, clearly impressed with Al’s impressive assessment. “It’s nearly 10 am…” Al pointed out. “What’s your point detective? You know what fascinates me about this case. The killer knew every major artery to hit; the second thing I noticed and it almost threw me off my first hypothesis, but she cannot fool me. I saw right through her plan.” This time Al was thrown off, now it was his turn to ask the chatty medical examiner, “What makes you think the killer was a she?” Stan was now wheeling Miss Candy Kane’s lifeless body away, Al noticed, in the direction of an open refrigerator door on the middle end of a three-by-four fridge system at the far left of the room. “Just a guess!” Stan shouted in reply.

“Well thanks again Stan.” Al bid the medical examiner farewell with a wave and back turned, Stan mirroring the same action as he reached his destination. The detective had not heard the Weasley-haired, twenty-nine year old man gently whisper to the lifeless-beauty, ‘Sleep Well, Miss Kane;’ as he gently lay his right hand over her almond shaped emerald-eyes to close them for the last time.

Al noticed everyone in the eighth clasping today’s newspaper, some pointing, others in heated discussions but everyone could not resist a side-glance at the detective as he walked past. He had arrived at his old desk, his nameplate partially covered with his own copy of The Happy Times; the words ‘TRAGEDY AT THE GENERAL LIBRARY!’ clearly printed and capitalised under the newspaper company’s name. Al noticed his fellow officers jumping out of the way of a silver haired, speed walking Captain Walter Tower of the 8th precinct. The Captain made a sharp turn towards the direction of his desk and if he had not been looking straight at the detective, Al would have thought he was heading for Miss Lucy Lou the jet-black haired secretary sorting files behind him – who often got the Captains coffee order wrong.

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you all night and this morning.” the captain hoarsely interrogated at him; the Captain wasn’t known for his stamina or relay endurance. What he lacked in athleticism he more than made up for in his leadership. He was the finest captain the whole of Happy Valley had ever seen. Al looked up to and greatly admired the man. He then remembered his cell phone he had switched off and neglected to bring with him to work. He had a nagging feeling he had forgotten something during his rushed exit this morning. This case was doing a number on him already. “I was just at the morgue, got a look at our murder vic – Stan wasn’t too pleased I interrupted his breakfast.” Al replied. The captain straightened up after catching his breath, his arms removed from Al’s desk now placed on his hips, shuddering as he spoke “I’ll never understand how that boy can eat down there. I can’t even stomach my own vomit at my wife’s book club; which reminds me, we’re reading one of your old lady’s next. The one about your parents? What’s it called again?” the captain stopped mid speech to ask him; “Bony and Wide,” Al glumly answered. “That’s the one! Anyway, Lou has all her files ready for you. I trust you won’t need any further explanations from me.” The captain nodded towards Lou signalling her for the files, ‘You didn’t give me any,’ Al could only say in thought. “Have fun kid.” Al heard the captain finish, as he hit him on the back and continued walking, disappearing into his office – blinds shut.

“Morning Lucy.” Al nodded at her, mimicking the captains’ gesture towards her and holding off on taking his seat remembering the long night before. The few hours of sleep, he had only barely helped. “Alright…” Lucy replied, looking the way Al felt; ‘Seems I’m not the only one the morning’s bit in the ass,’ Al thought to himself agreeing with the bags hanging under Lucy’s eyes. She too had spent the better part of the night working late usually on the captain’s orders and like him was also absent from last night’s TRAGEDY at the General Library. The detective was however uncertain what time she had clocked off or if she left at all. The station would often joke that she should just move into a holding cell. Her attire certainly looked different, to the naked eye – Al assessed looking her up and down. The Manilla case file she dropped over the Happy Times on his desk brought him back to reality, labelled ‘The Bloody Bride’ and had today’s date and year of the dragon. “The Bloody Bride? I see it already has a name…” Al pointed out before recalling another odd feature of last night’s intruder; he wasn’t ready to refer to her as ‘Candy Kane’ just yet partially for its ridiculousness – she was wearing a wedding dress. “If she had any hope of making it down the aisle, am I right?” Lucy joked with a serious face; that was just her sense of humour. Lucy rarely displayed any other kind of emotion besides annoyance and exhaustion for as long as Al had known her.

“Speaking of ridiculous names…” Lucy pointed out half giggling and showing more life than earlier; also a characteristic of Lucy, she never missed the opportunity to poke fun. “Were we Lou?” Al fired-back using the Captains nickname for her, which he knew, would irritate her. “Don’t you have files to file? You should probably go do that now; it’s nearly noon and you know that’s the Captains peak time. Judging by his mood earlier I’d prepare myself for unreasonable demands.” Al concluded finally having the courage to sit down on his uncomfortable and arm-less black leather swivel chair. He didn’t have to wait long for confirmation that his comments had hit home, “Whatever; God I hate everyone here,” she said that last part under her breath as she stormed off, back to the mountain of files on her desk outside the Captains office.

‘Well here goes nothing,’ Al thought to himself as he opened Miss Candy Kane’s rather thin case file. He had guessed it before he even touched the rough texture of the case cover – the file in its entirety appeared to only consist of one A4 page. The first page itself did not display much; information only covering half of the white sheet. A photo ID of the victim when she was alive, details of the victim and her death, 'No criminal record…Oh wait, there’s another page,’ Al was almost relieved and rather uncertain why – it was her medical report signed off by Stan, dated and timed long before Al had interrupted him. The detective could not help but wonder if Stan was another Lucy Lou; never been caught leaving the work place.

The detective read on, remembering every little detail of the victim and murder. Aside from her family history, which Stan had already briefed him on earlier, her file read Miss Candy Kane was a music teacher at Happy Valley High School and was engaged to a Mr Adam Sapple – he too a teacher, of English, at the same high school. Their wedding date was set two weeks from the day Candy was found murdered. It was obvious from the short paragraph on Candy and Mr Sapple that they shared many similarities but their differences were what stood out. Miss Kane from wealth and privilege; Mr Sapple from working class and a family with a history for violence, unspecified on the current report. Mr Sapple was alive and Miss Kane was dead, her body occupying drawer number seventeen at the Happy Heart Hospital morgue. Al would have to read up on the rest of their love story in the now ex-fiancés file, but for now, he had somewhere to be. The Sapple family file and the first potential suspect up for questioning would have to wait.  

“Hey, where’re you going? Got a lead?” Lucy rather shouted as if in protest to the departing detective.

“I forgot a few things at home and...I just might.” Al answered, thinking to himself, ‘How many detectives could say, the murder victim is available for questioning?’

Al had learnt much about his new case today, all in the space of five hours and he hadn’t even had breakfast yet. Candy Kane’s autopsy report stated, as Al had correctly identified, her cause of death was Asphyxia by strangulation. Al had also correctly guessed the murder weapon; the soon-to-be-bride forever immortalized as the Bloody-Bride thanks to her killer – was possibly strangled with a soft material, the exact texture was classified as ‘Unknown’. However there was one thing the report and Stan had missed and neither could have possibly accounted for; Candy Kane may have been murdered in cold blood – but she was still alive…‘in spirit anyway,’ Al quickly added to himself.

And Detective Al Kaholick of the Happy Valley Police Department was going to find out why…

“So where are we heading?” a female voice suddenly asked.

The detective abruptly stopped, nearly slamming into the stations exit door, distracted by the sudden appearance of this morning’s apartment intruder walking along side him.