Heartless People

TWENTY-ONE

We don't murder, we kill . . .
You don't murder animals, you kill them.
~ Samuel Fuller

MICHAEL

"I believe your daughter and her wife just dismissed me." My nose flared as I clutched onto the phone in my hands.

"Why is it whenever they do something wrong, they magically become mine?" my wife asked as she dressed.

"Because . . ."

"Choose your words carefully, dear."

Walking up behind her, I grabbed her waist pulling her to me. "I ruled once. I was king, and yet my own children are dismissing me as if I were a butler. When did I fall so far?"

She laughed, turning back to me. "My dear, you were king, and when you were, no one could speak a word to you. Your word was law, and those around you listened. Neither your children nor I could talk you out of anything you wished. But you gave up your crown because it no longer fit. In doing so, you agreed to allow Lauren  and Camila to rule as they wished."

"They may bloody well destroy this family." I pouted as she kissed me.

"Then let them. We have more than enough independently to leave and never be found if we wish. However, you and I both know they aren't destroying this family." She was right, but I didn't like it.

"I just wish they would—"

"No. You promised me you would only get involved if they asked. They haven't, so stay the fuck out of it. You have done your part. I just want my husband."

Staring into her eyes, I nodded before grabbing hold of her shirt and ripping it from her body. Buttons popped off her like bullets.

CAMILA

Flipping on the television, I couldn't help but grin.

"Three weeks ago, Commissioner Patterson, you stood before us all and promised to make this city safe! You promised that you would put an end to the
blood and corruption, but instead, all you have done is made it worse! For three weeks, it has been raining blood! The death count is up to twenty-seven that we know of. Most of them innocent people who just want to live their lives in peace. People are dying left and right! You did this!" A man yelled out in the crowd.

"My son was walking home for school. He walked that same path every day and then . . ." A mother sobbed with a photo of her son in her hands.

"Twenty-seven in the suburbs, fifty-four in the city, two a day in the most poverty stricken parts of the city. Commissioner Patterson, is this the new normal?" a reporter asked.

Commissioner Patterson looked old, tired, and stressed as he tried to find the words.

"The Miami Police Department is . . ."

"The Miami Police Department is no safer than we are! How many men and woman have we lost in the last three weeks?"

"We have lost at total of nineteen men in the line of duty." Commissioner Patterson sighed. I could feel the defeat coming through the screen.

"How can you keep us safe, if you can't even keep your own people safe?"

"Is the FBI going to get involved?"

"Nope," I said aloud and even if they did I had more than a few friends I could call on.

"Each one of these instances has been at the hands of multiple criminals, leaving them up to the Miami Police Department to solve. However, they will
be consulting on many of the cases involved." The Commissioner stood firm.