Justice Hurts

He slowly entered the room and wearily put the whiskey on the dresser. His visitor was already waiting for him. A female wig made of real hair was probably worth a fortune. Half an hour ago, it caused him an extreme degree of excitement, and now seemed like an absurd masquerade. Strange, but only now it occurred to him that for all this time their intimate relationship has been one-sided and after psychotherapeutic sessions with discussion of critical patients, his partner always acted as the main one and always used an imitator, without bringing the matter to direct contact. Woodruff always was driven as a slave. Maybe his partner had HIV? Weird… No, the tests said otherwise. In addition to increased hormonal levels, there was nothing to worry about – just perverse imagination.

He caught himself comparing his visitor to the strikers from Lookouts nightclub. Clearly Michael had to break with this past once and for all. Yes, everything has changed and it was time to end this. In the semi-darkness he could see only a shadow on the bed with no face.

«You are simply the best!» I adore you! Thanks for the whiskey, but I changed my mind. Give me some water. What’s up with her? Is she sleeping?» a familiar voice wondered.

Michael told him sparingly about Carol’s strange behavior after taking the sleeping pills. Then he looked down and sighed. Now he had to overpower himself and say the most important thing.

«Listen, we need to talk. I’m going to start another practice and collaborate with a university. So I’ll have to devote more time to work. I would like to stop our relationship for a while. Do you mind?»

His words, oddly enough, did not cause his partner to react violently. The young man took off his wig, put it in his backpack, and nodded his head.

«Okay. If that’s what you want.»

«Will you call a taxi? Michael asked hopefully. The answer was quite predictable:

«Balls! If you’re doing this to me, then at least take me home! This will be your last gift. Maybe you can tell me something else and then you can return to this «sleeping beauty’ of yours!» In another situation, Woodruff would have found a way out and would never have left Carol alone, but now everything was different. Perhaps the young patient was jealous of him and Carol, maybe something else, but he clearly needed to be reassured. Woodruff had to make sure that his visitor would not do anything wrong on the way home, so Michael agreed. This was the last favor before starting a new life and the next day he could be free to start preparing for the scientific conference of state psychiatrists.

«Well, get dressed. I’m going to the garage,» he nodded.

«Okay, I’ll be right there.»

When the door closed, the young man got out of bed and poured whiskey into a lonely standing glass goblet. Then he took out a napkin and quickly wiped the bottle. After thinking a little, he quickly did the same with all the places on the bed, the doorknob and the nightstand. He pulled off a sheet and a bedspread, a pillowcase from a pillow and a small towel, putting it all in his voluminous backpack. The next place was Woodruff’s office and the laptop on the table with the lid open. After a moment, it, too, was in the backpack along with the battery charger. Next was the living room. It was necessary to act quickly as he wouldn’t get a second chance. He was definitely lucky that day. Going to the sofa, he wanted to get a box with a medical kit from his backpack, but suddenly stopped. Something in the still pose of the woman sleeping on the couch was unusual. His fingers carefully touched her neck over her collarbone – there was no pulse. Nor was there on her hand. There was a cosmetic mirror in his backpack. Bringing it to Carol’s nose, he counted to ten. However, the surface remained smooth and not foggy. The guess was confirmed – there was no breath and her heart did not beat. There was the last way – his phone. Finding «Rantastic» cardiograph icon on the screen, he took her pale, thin finger with a napkin and put it on the back camera. The first and second attempts showed zero result. After the third time, there was no doubt she had no pulse. Wiping Carol’s wrist and neck with a napkin, he pulled her smartphone out of her bag. Gently holding her index finger with a napkin, he pressed it to the scanner. The screen did not want to unlock. His hands were trembling, but then it worked out for the sixth time. Now the last thing he had to do was to type 911 on the numeric keypad, and he could go.

Michael Woodruff was about to return to the house, when the back door opened and his secret visitor fell with a sigh of relief into the back seat.

«Sorry,» the face of a strained apology reflected in the rearview mirror. «I did not touch your creams and manicure sets, don’t worry. Here, my hands don’t smell. Go! I’ll be looking at you from behind like in a taxi.

«Where are we going?»

«Go to the port, and from there to Green Street.»

The conversation along the way did not go well. Michael tried to tell some details from his recent practice but was nervous and kept opening and closing the window all the time. At one of the traffic lights, he still overpowered himself and decided to thank his visitor for his patience and everything that was between them. The answer struck him. He was apparently right having decided to give him a lift to his home. He had a panic attack.

«That bitch should have thanked you for licking her behind her husband’s back!» he cried. «Now she will not say anything – she must have had a heart attack. She deserved it! Yes, don’t look at me like that! She was no longer breathing. I tried a mirror – it was clean. She got what she deserved! It’s fair, right? Yes, justice hurts!» The man in the back seat of the car was clearly gloating. In the rearview mirror, his face blurred with a contemptuous smile, and anger flashed in his eyes.

«What?» muttered Woodruff, hardly understanding the meaning of what he just heard. His blood pressure jumped instantly, and his ear drums pounded. Thoughts in his head started circling around the drugs he had prescribed Carol, around sleeping pills and alcohol – could their combination really cause a heart attack? «We must urgently return!» he croaked, feeling that he was starting to suffocate. At some point, he felt so bad that he dropped his head on the steering wheel and stopped.

«I cannot breathe. It’s burning in my chest,» he breathed out with difficulty. «There’s St. Mark’s Hospital… around the corner. We’ll stop by. I will ask „Nitrolingual“.»

«I have „Cardiotex“,» the voice said behind him.

«Not enough. It’s weak. Also, I have to ask them…» then a spasm caught his throat, and Michael fell silent, trying to concentrate on the road.

When they stopped in the parking lot behind the hospital fence, he felt even worse. Tearing off his shirt, he began to gasp for air, holding out his hands to the glove compartment. His face showed that he needed urgent help. Michael was breathing heavily and holding onto his chest. His passenger took a small plastic jar from his backpack and handed a pill over his shoulder along with a bottle of water. Michael was about to faint. Having hardly swallowed the first pill, he could not take a second sip and dropped the bottle from his hands. The young man picked it up, closed it with a cork and took out napkins. The pain lasted several minutes. When Woodruff stopped wheezing and froze in an unnatural position, his patient lowered the back of his seat as far as possible. Now, from outside, no one would be able to notice the person lying on it. Then he disconnected the DVR and took Woodruff’s phone.

«Sorry, I wanted to do that a bit later. You’ve spoilt it. You betrayed me. Well, somewhere by the sea, of course, would be more pleasant, but it’s not bad here either,» with these words he began to wipe the psychiatrist’s dark hands, neck and ears, then he did the same with the inner surface of the door. Michael’s smartphone was the latest model, but the psychiatrist didn’t set up a face recognition input on it. Unlike Carol’s, his screen was unlocked immediately, so he disabled all passwords at once. When everything was finished, glasses wrapped in a handkerchief appeared from the backpack, while napkins returned to their place along with a bottle of water. This was difficult to do, as the backpack was packed tightly. Having wiped the dark glasses with a cloth, he put the handkerchief back on, and before putting them on he carefully looked out the window. There was no one around, so he could go out. Holding the door with the last napkin, he sharply pushed it back, trying not to touch it. In the darkness it was not visible how a small handkerchief fell out of his full backpack, slipping from a seat onto a rubber mat. The road to a McDonald’s with free Wi-Fi was ahead. Yes, his life really was getting interesting, and the coincidences in it did not seem to be accidental.

CHAPTER 4

There was silence at first but something was in its way. The distant, insistent ringing of the phone broke through the fog of sleep and reached the depths of his desolate consciousness. His eyes slowly opened, and his hand reached for a bright spot on the nightstand.

«Lieutenant Lindstone?» it sounded somewhere far, far away, as in space, but his brain has already begun to work. His first thought was about the voice – who has such a sharp, creaky voice in their department? «Lieutenant Lindstone?» was repeated.

«Yes, I’m listening,» he said, quietly gurgling and wheezing at the same time.

«This is Sergeant Huston. We have an incident. The corpse of a woman was discovered in a house. There’s a suspicion that it’s your wife.»

«What?» for a few seconds he could hear only a thumping heart beat in his head and nothing more. In his mouth, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and his throat was blocked up from the disgusting bitter aftertaste of alcohol. «Repeat,» he asked, in a barely audible tone.

«Sir, we have an incident…» followed the repetition of the same words.

«Address?» he got up and sat on the bed.

«I’m texting it to you now, sir.»

«Thank you… Oh, shit!» his attempt to get out of bed was unsuccessful. A sharp pain hit his head, right in the middle of his brain, before spreading from his forehead to his temples and sank down the back of his head to his shoulders. He obviously has to take something urgently. Last month, the psychiatrist prescribed him a new antidepressant, but it was unclear whether he was allowed to take them in the morning, and in particular, after alcohol. Would it be better to take aspirin? Hell, it was necessary to call the doctor and ask him what to do.

Suddenly, his thoughts returned to the call, and his whole body strengthened, as before jumping over the abyss. Even the pain hid in the back of his head, frightened by the tension of the brain. A huge ball of fire was approaching him, gradually filling the entire space around with bright light, and Carol stood still in the middle of it, looking at him. His head seemed to burst from this feeling, and, clutching his temples with his hands, he moaned. He knew he had to urgently put his head under cold water. A chair, a wall, a door, a faucet, water, goosebumps – all these existed, but he was not able to get rid of the vision. Only the headache subsided a little. William quickly changed clothes, drank some water, which made him feel even worse, and yet he swallowed one capsule of the new medication. His thoughts were revolving around a luminous ball, not daring to get inside. He was watching it from the side, blocking his emotions inside and tried to restore the course of events of last night in his head. Taking a bottle of water, he called a taxi and went out onto the porch. The cool spring air touched his face pleasantly. It was only six in the morning. His gaze lingered on the SMS with the address, and for a few moments the letters were dancing before his eyes, as if they didn’t specifically want to connect together. He had already read them and realised that it was him who was trembling along with the phone, and a wet layer appeared on his eyes – either from tears or from the light wind. The rustling sound of rubber on asphalt made him tear himself away from the screen. He had to go and now the light ball in his head turned black, and Carol’s figure turned into a white outline. The world in his head turned upside down.

«Eleven Walnut Street,» he said in a hoarse voice to the taxi driver, sitting in the back seat. The car slowly moved forward. Outside the window, yellow maple leaves were dancing in his eyes. He closed his eyes and there was an unpleasant feeling of slight nausea in his stomach. It was better not to look out the window. So, what happened? How did Carol end up in Doctor Woodruff’s house? It was clear that this happened by chance, but then what the hell could get her there the night before?

CHAPTER 5

«Stop at the yellow ribbon!» he said to the driver. The taxi drove up to the fence, a few meters from the policeman on duty. The man took several steps, but when he saw who got out of the car, he stopped.

«Good morning, sir!

«Hi Douglas. How are you? It’s meant to be your day off, isn’t it?»

«Yes, it is, but we were told to come here urgently. Sorry, sir, but Inspector Wilson asked me to call him when you arrive.»

«Tom? Is he here?» That was unexpected, although, if he thought about it, it was quite predictable. William raised his collar and put his hands deep in his pockets, and he turned to the house. There was a familiar lawn, a yellow mailbox at the gate, steps made of dark stone and a wooden door without glass – soundproof and thick. He almost imagined opening it and entering inside. He seemed to recall having been here just recently, maybe a couple of weeks ago.

«Bill! Hi! How are you? Sorry, bad question. Anyways…,» Thomas Wilson’s usually good-natured face grimaced unpleasantly. «Follow me, let’s talk inside.»

«Who called you?» asked William, climbing the stairs. The door was ajar.

«The guard, Mike Rith, you know him. I worked with him in the investigation department. When he saw that it was your wife in the house, he decided to call me. Was that okay?»

«Not really,» he had to report to anyone on duty in the department. «Okay, what is it?» he thought it wouldn’t matter but everything happened by itself – his nose and eyes started stinging after which everything disappeared into a translucent film of tears. Quickly brushing them with his sleeve, William took a deep breath and held it there, closing his eyes and freezing for a few moments. Suddenly, he composed himself, the tears stopped and now he had to pull himself together.

«Put these on!» Tom handed him shoe covers. «There are still so many questions. The guys will need to work with prints. Don’t touch anything!»

«What happened?» William asked sharply, feeling that the inspector was hiding something.

«I think it was a homicide – either intentional or accidental. Calm down, let me tell you something. At five thirteen a 911 call was received from her mobile: no-one spoke. The operator registered the call, but did not hang up. Something seemed strange to her. She requested a geolocation of the place, received confirmation and transmitted the request to the patrol for a routine check. When they arrived, the door was open, everything was silent, and then everything was as it is now. Look!»

They walked through the narrow corridor to Doctor Woodruff’s office, and Tom gestured him forward. A cuff from a white shirt appeared from under the sleeve of his jacket. It stood out sharply against the dark skin of his hand, appearing as a strip between the past and the future – before and after.

William nodded and stepped inside. A table, an armchair, two wide semi-circular sofas, a low table with a glass were in their places. There was something like whiskey inside the glass. Carol reclined, leaning her head back, her knees were shifted to one side, to the armrest, one hand lying limp on her stomach, the other on the couch. The phone was nearby. The face in the dim set of the gray morning looked even paler than usual. How many times had he seen such a look? With fixed pupils staring into space and relaxed lips, she looked like she was sleeping with open eyes. The lump appeared in his throat again. William swallowed several times, went to the far wall, trying to find something small and inconspicuous, which could easily slip away from the eyes of experts.

«Suicide?» he asked, not believing this option.

«Unlikely. Until we’ve collected everything here, we can’t say for sure. Plus, I’d love to chat with Doctor Woodruff. By the way, did you also visit him?» Tom pursed his wide, fleshy lips, which made his face look Joaquin Phoenix in Joker. William felt that the pain in his head had passed, but the nausea remained, and now this piling up of stupid images began to interfere with focusing on the circumstances of the incident. He might not have had to take that painkiller at home.

«Yes, I’d consulted with him about depression four years ago after Sofia passed. It was hard then. Carol and I would come to him since he was just an ordinary person. This is a strange situation and there are so many questions.»

«I agree completely. You will need to make a statement and describe your relationship with Carol. I don’t want to talk about it here right now but do I make myself clear?»

«Yes of course! Thanks, Tom,» William sighed and turned away from Carol’s body. «She told me she wanted a divorce yesterday evening. She said she’d work until the end of the week and then go and live with a friend of hers, Tina, initially and then with her mother, but it didn’t happen. She obviously went to the wrong friend.»

«Don’t jump to conclusions as nothing is clear here. Let’s forget what you’ve just said, I’d prefer to wait a little while. Let’s go, forensics have arrived now. It’s necessary to collate all the evidence. You’ll have to tell everything to the detective.»

«To the detective?»

«Of course. Don’t think you’ll be assigned to investigate this case, especially after she told you about the divorce last night,» The inspector raised his eyebrows, which made the whites of his eyes look even larger, as if they were painted on his face. William nodded and rubbed his forehead. Tom was probably right.

«Mister Wilson?» someone outside called to Tom. They went outside and saw several cars, from which medical experts and policemen were getting out. Sergeant Huston from their office stood nearby. «I have been entrusted with conducting this case,» he began timidly, noticing William.

«It’s quite clear, Sergeant. Lieutenant Lindstone has examined the scene and he’s ready to share his thoughts with you. I hope you know the procedure,» Tom asked rhetorically, adding: «So stay calm and do everything by the book, is that alright Bill?»

«Okay,» William doubted his own judgement, but wasn’t going to go it alone or go against the sergeant. He had an overwhelming feeling of nausea, but managed to control it. «Don’t worry Tom, I’ll be fine. Let’s go back to the car. I feel terrible and just need to sit down.»

The day had just begun and gray skies seldom signify sunny weather. The city had just awoken, but to William, an eternity had passed, and it felt as if night should soon fall.

CHAPTER 6

Sergeant Huston drafted a preliminary statement and let him go. The next day, William would have to go back to the office to give more detailed evidence. He was recorded as a witness. Everything went like clockwork, yet a black cloud constantly hung over William’s head, as if acid had been poured into his skull and burned his entire brain.

In the taxi, William felt even worse. As he sat in the back, drinking water, something hit him. He’d made a mistake. That whiskey he drank last night. The drink’s effect had continued to set in. When at home, William had wanted to find a cure against the nausea, but he ended up vomiting right into the sink. Following this, he brought an unfinished bottle into the living room and poured it, along with two others that were sat in the lower cupboard. Then, he went into the bedroom and had a lie down. Beginning to shiver, William wrapped himself in a blanket and soon fell asleep.

The doorbell rang for several minutes, but William heard nothing. It was only when someone shook his shoulder that he started to open his eyes. Memories returned, as did the vision of Thomas Wilson with them, who stood nearby. Tom looked at William sympathetically.

«You left the door open. Let’s have a chat’, he said. They went to the kitchen. «Sit down,» Tom gestured. «I’ll make some coffee. Want some?»

«No, just water thanks. I felt sick when I got home. Any news?»

«You don’t look too great now either! Are you trying to sober up? Okay, let’s talk about Carol, but it needs some perspective. What happened between you? I’ve known you forever, but I need to understand what happened.»

«She filed for divorce’, said William, rubbing his forehead. Then, he went into more detail about Sofia and all the reasons Carol wanted a divorce. Tom picked up his coffee and they went to the living room.

«I have a lot of questions, to be honest,» Tom said, taking his first sip of coffee. He leaned over and picked something up. It was a button from Carol’s blouse. He held it close to his eyes, then looked at William.

«Yes, I see it, it’s her button. It came off yesterday when she left. Tom, I know you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth.»

«The truth is irrelevant in our business, only evidence and the decision of judge and jury. The evidence doesn’t stack up.» Tom looked at his friend, noticing him tense and lean forward, clearly expecting more details to emerge. He’d seen this expression a hundred times before, especially when solving difficult cases. He knew William too well and didn’t believe Sergeant Huston’s assumption. Huston saw a motive in William’s behaviour, but Tom was more careful not to jump to conclusions.

«So what?» Lindstone finally asked.

«First, the bad news. We haven’t found Dr Woodruff yet. Don’t make that face at me, I know as much as you do. I don’t think he was alone in the house. Why? There were no sheets on the bed. They just disappeared – no sheets, no pillow cases, no duvet covers. Strange, isn’t it? Carol’s clothes don’t have a single thread from the bedroom. Secondly, only one camera spotted his registration plate on the exit to the highway at the end of the street. There’s no further video evidence yet. The pictures were enlarged, but no one else was visible in the car. Why would the doctor leave the house with Carol left inside? Was he aware that she was already dead?»

«Maybe he was taking a second corpse in the trunk or someone was hiding?» William suggested, frantically making sense of what he heard. He was immersed in the investigation and wouldn’t rest until he had answers.

«Totally agree,» Tom nodded. «I also believe someone else was in the house. Officers are already looking for patient records, despite having no warrant, but we’ll solve it. Thirdly, there’s no computer, nothing. Looks like he kept all his notes on a laptop – there’s a wireless connection and we’re checking logs by his IP address. Maybe he accidentally recorded a video at home, but we have no evidence. Did he take it with him? If so, what for? What’s hidden on it? Were there notes about you and Carol?»

«What notes? Are you joking? A list of drugs and confessions of helplessness? There must be evidence about other people on there too – it doesn’t matter if they were in the house or not, but maybe they ordered Woodruff to take the laptop for them?»

«If that person existed, then yes, it’s a possibility. Fourth, Carol’s car is in his driveway, yet she was supposed to be at her friend, Tina Laiton’s. Tina was waiting up for her. It seems Carol stopped by for a while, but we don’t know why. To me, it doesn’t appear to be an affair, but that’s my opinion. I knew a little about her, but after my divorce from Tina, I don’t want to make assumptions.»

«Don’t worry about it. Your situation was completely different,» William didn’t agree.

«Was it? You were always in the office, too, I saw it myself. Where was Carol though?»

«Do you think she could cheat on me?» – There was doubt in William’s voice.

«No, I don’t. I’m making an assumption.»

«I also think that she could have said thanks to Dr Woodruff over the phone.»

«Let’s dig a little deeper. Why would Carol have phoned 911? She dialled and said nothing. Twenty-two seconds passed before the operator’s question. Therefore, something must’ve happened to her during this time. Okay, here’s a suggestion. Carol felt bad, she dialled the number, and as the call reached the operator, she was already in a state, so she didn’t feel fit to answer. We’ll get more answers later. The pathologist will help with the time of death a bit later on. However, the question regarding the emergency call remains unanswered.»