The Plan

Chapter 1

March 20, 2011 (8:00pm)

                She left him with a kiss.

With swift strides, she left the dark alley.

One down, she thought.

The cool wind blew her long, shiny black hair.

She smiled faintly. Tomorrow would be another day.

Her plan was just beginning…

 

March 20, 2011 (10:00pm)

 “Where exactly did you find the body?” a police officer asked.

“There,” the homeless man answered and pointed at the dark alleyway, finger shaking.

“Why did you move it?”

“I thought he was just drunk! I swear I did not kill him! I thought he was taking my spot!” cried the homeless man, smoke coming out of his mouth.

Detective Lawson watched the interview for a moment then threw his cigarette and walked away to the direction of the body. This was supposed to be his rest day, he thought with ire, blowing out smoke.

“What else do you have?” he snapped at one of the men who were hunched over the body.

“Aside from his wallet which identifies him as Ken Cooper, nothing,” a black guy stood up to answer. “We were lucky enough that the homeless man returned the wallet. No cash found, of course.”

Lawson moved closer and leaned over the body. The man’s eyes were still open and a clean slit ran along his throat. Though the body had been moved, he had not been dead a long time before that because blood was all over the ground, surrounding his head.  “What’s that?” he asked, moving his head to the right for a closer look at the man’s cheek.

An officer wearing white gloves moved the dead man’s head to the right, exposing the body part in question.

“What the—” an officer said with shock.

“Is that a kiss mark?” Lawson asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Yeah, you bet it is.”

He stood up and said, “Scrub it for DNA.”

“Wait, you think our killer’s a woman? This guy’s big!” the officer said, looking down at the giant man.

“I’m not saying anything. Just scrub the damn lipstick for DNA.” He got up and started to walk back to his car. “And call me once you get a name!”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

“Detective!” another officer rushed to meet him. “We ran the victim’s name. Found out he’s working at a local strip club as a bouncer. People said he came in for work around seven this evening.”

“And how did he end up here?”

“The barman said he saw Cooper come out of the back door to meet a friend and never came back.”

He just stared at the officer impatiently.

“We asked him if he saw the friend and he said yes. I asked what he looked like and he said it was a lady.”

That got Lawson’s attention. “A lady?”

The officer nodded. “Yes. He specifically said she had emerald green eyes and that he would not forget it for the world.”