Second Chances

Chapter 2

I trailed Cooper on the traffic and every now and then he would signal me in the mirror to ask me whether I was alright. Who did he think I was? I got my license at sixteen. He veered in a small street that was desolate and quite dark in the middle of the day. We both parked along the border of the road, and I climbed out of the car.

He waited for me to join him in a somber corner, and I noticed the victim's outline of her position of the body. The experts used a white marker to draw the exact position in which she was found. I shuddered at the thought of her lying in here and anger bubbled up inside me towards this scum who did this. I wanted this guy, yes; I wanted to tear him apart so bad for doing such a despicable act.

Cooper was the first one to break the tense atmosphere, "She was found at around two in the morning by a group of late-night clubbers. They were drunk and partying, but one was sober enough to dial 999. She was laying face upward with spilled blood all around her head and shoulders."

"The cut on the throat I presume. He dragged her here isn't it?" I followed the traces of her shoes on the dirty road to where her body had been lying.

"That would explain the missing patch of hair."

I glanced around the street and took note of the filthy place with the dustbins, abandoned flats, and rusted outside stairs. No one would have come here if it was not by force. The place smell of rotten food and carton papers would fly in the air as a gust of wind blew right through them. It was one of those scenarios which you would see in movies and that the actor would as if fall upon a hidden clue as he walked by. I forgot about Cooper as I took a stroll and began to look everywhere behind the big garbage cans, in the drains, and under an old Toyota with broken windows and a missing hood. I bent to see under the car and there I found a shiny object. My heartbeat took on speed as I called at Cooper.

"Hey Cooper, there's something under the car," I shouted at him. I could not as much as crawl under the vehicle wearing Jimmy Choo and Pepe jeans. They cost me a quarter of a month's salary. Cooper could do it. "Get down on your knees Cooper."

He lifted a brow at me with no pun intended but instead said, "Hayley I promise you if what you found is the crime object then I shall be indebted to you forever or better ask me anything you want, and I shall grant it to you if its in my power to do so." He laid flat on the dirty road to inspect whether what I saw was of significant importance.

"Be careful with what you're saying I might take you up on that offer. I love boons," I said as I stood up and looked down at his long back-side.

He puffed and forced out indistinct words. I had to bend down on my knees and told him to repeat the sentence. Cooper sighed heavily and said coherently and slowly, "I have plastic bags with zippers in the dashboard. Bring me one please."

I did as I was told and passed him one under the car.

Minutes later he pushed himself from under the old, rusted Toyota and stood up panting. He raised the knife at me and grinned, "If I was not afraid of getting slapped for kissing you I would have done it right now."

I frowned at the joke and ignored him, "It's clean with no blood. I think he removed all traces of fingerprints too. He is not foolish but arrogant enough to throw the knife under a car two steps away from where he killed his victim. And the police are stupid enough as to wrongly search the place and let this bladed article lie there out of our sight."

The grin vanished as I insulted his pals, but he was wise not to comment on it, "The lab will have to find something. After all the pain I went through to remove it under this car. My leather jacket is scratched, and my t-shirt no longer white," he said. He put the evidence in another plastic bag and tagged the date and place where it was obtained.