Wrongful Dismissal

Chapter 2

A few hours later Mason Adams stood in the middle of the living room floor. Everyone knew that he was getting ready, to give his summation.
"This was an assassination that was engineered, planned and orchestrated very carefully, in every detail. Someone killed him out of fear, envy, jealousy and contempt."
"What?" The Chief's outburst was a shock to everyone. "I thought you said there was more than one person here when he was killed."
"There was. Permit me to continue. There is one person at the top that engineered the whole elaborate crime having their minions actually commit the act. Ceyon Montcliffe just received his doctorate." Pointing to the wall of certificates, awards and diplomas. "He was a highly educated very intelligent man. He lived alone. Somewhat of a perfectionist. To say the least. The assassins were sent here by someone to have him killed. They lured him into a false sense of security in his own house and killed him here; where he would have no suspicion of what they had planned. A female that he knows very well was talking to him, distracting him, like this." Mason now took the position of first, the female with her back to the wall, and then the victim standing with his back to the hallway leading to the bedroom. "The female was in the corner facing him. The male, six foot, approximately two hundred pounds, went to the bathroom and a few minutes later quietly reentered the living room. He proceeded to hit Mr. Montcliffe over the head with the lid of the toilet tank."
Someone objected, "What?! What are you talking about? The toilet tank? Who would do that? Who would ever think of using that as a murder weapon? The bathroom is undisturbed. I checked it myself."
Another objected, "How would you know the height and weight of the perp?"
Mason continued as though no one had spoken, "You will find that the top of the lid has been wiped off but the underside is covered in Mr. Montcliffe's blood." He mentally brushed away the objection as ridiculous, as one of the police rushed into the bathroom returning with the lid and showing everyone, not a little ashamed that he missed it, the underside was indeed just as Mason had told them it would be. They immediately and carefully bagged it for evidence, forensics and exhibit.
"Mr. Montcliffe free-fell onto his face. He was dead by the time he hit the floor. As you can see a very large bruise formed quickly before the blood coagulated in his veins. The blood flowed through his nose after the stabs wounds had been inflicted. The 'coup de grâce', the execution, was administered with the two knives in the back of the head. One knife was stabbed by the male and the other knife by the female."
Murmuring was heard in the group of police. "How does he know that?" They questioned each other.
"The knife in the middle of his skull is larger and plunged in deeper, by the male with more strength, the second one was plunged in the skull by a weaker female, with regret, as you can see, obviously the second smaller knife is in the skull only partially."
Nothing was obvious to those standing around. They were learning everything through Mason.
"The knives made it easier for the assassins, as they are Shun knives. The best chef's knives in the world, Japanese, very sharp, very strong, and as a matter of fact, very expensive. Which is clearly in keeping with everything that Mr. Montcliffe had."
Mason was moving around as he spoke. He could not stay still.
"The same method is used to make Shun chef's knives as they use to make Samurai swords. The Japanese used Samurai and their swords to execute people by cutting their heads off when the accused is kneeling. The Samurai would swing the sword horizontally to sever the head from the body. Thus the need for extremely sharp and strong blades as it were."
Everyone was frozen in position listening to Mason pontificate.
"The victim, Mr. Montcliffe, was unfortunately, stabbed with his own knives. The only blessing, is that Mr. Montcliffe literally, excuse the expression, didn't know what hit him and didn't suffer at all. That will give his family and friends some comfort, I am sure."
Everyone present did not move, but for their eyes, they watched Mason moved around the room, virtually speaking to himself.
"Everything this man had was expensive......the best of quality. The male assassin got blood on his hands, went into the kitchen and flashed the blood off his hands, probably washing his hands in the sink afterwards. There are dry blood droplets all over the front of the refrigerator, walls and even on the ceiling."
"What do you mean regret on the part of the female?"
"She had feelings for him. She regretted the entire thing. Probably was a good friend of his, maybe she was more than a friend. You see here the second knife was at the base of the skull, not driven in with as much fury. Not driven into the middle of the skull. But in a more gentle way, for a psychotic person, but not as fierce as the one in the middle of the skull inflicted by the male. It definitely was a crime of passion and definitely an execution."
"Crime of passion?" A few people repeated.
Others, "An execution?"
"Why do you think it is the male that flashed his hands in the kitchen?" The coroner asked.
"The spatters are far reaching, meaning that it was given with much more force than a woman would give." Mason didn't like being interrupted.
Somewhat exasperated, "May I continue Chief?"
"Yes, of course, please." The Chief gave a warning glance at all the other police to not interrupt Adams.
"Thank you. The body had been here since Friday night. As you can deduce, the body partially decomposed, due to the heat and the degree of infestation of flies. The assassins knew Mr. Montcliffe's routine. They killed him and then had the calm wherewithal to turn the air conditioner off before they left, locking the door behind them. That would leave no suspicion because the victim always turned off the air conditioner before he left.
"What?" The Chief couldn't help himself. "What would indicate that the air condition was turned off?"
"The on/off switch on the remote control for the air conditioner is worn. Meaning he used it a lot." Mason answered out of respect for the Chief.
The Chief examined the remote control and noticed that it was true what Adams said. He couldn't believe it.
"His 2013 SUV was taken by the assassins who were in possession of his keys. His flat screen television, laptop and cell phone were taken by the culprits. You can see the marks where the television stood and the charger for the laptop over on the desk there. Which is now missing. The predators knew him well. There are no signs of struggle. Even the television was lifted with complete calm. You see there are no drag marks to show they were in any kind of hurry or in a state of agitation, after they killed him. They felt confident that no one would disturb them. As I said he knew them well. His box of receipts are missing for 2013. You will have to check into that Chief."
"How do you know that he had a 2013 SUV?" The Chief could not hold back from asking him.
"There are tread marks on the driveway in the sand. Those tires were specially made for that brand of SUV in 2013 with a diamond shape uniquely designed in the treads."
Everyone stared, with their mouths open. How did he know so much?
"How do you know his 2013 receipts are missing?" Someone asked.
Annoyed but not showing it Mason said, "Look here." He went to a closet that was full of shelves. A linen closet. On one shelf Ceyon had file boxes stacked. On the side of the box, facing out, he had written on each box the year. In each box were bills and receipts for each year. 2013 was missing.
"Why would an organized man like Mr. Montcliffe have a box for each year but in September of 2013 he doesn't have a box yet for 2013? Impossible! Someone took it. He probably had receipts in this box for items he may have paid for but had not received delivery as yet. For example building supplies. That must be investigated. One of the perps knew that he had something of value in the receipts so took the whole box."
The Chief shouted to one of the officers, "Check with the mother or the brother and find out if Montcliffe was building himself a house."
The Chief was the only one that spoke to Mason now, "We spoke to the cleaning lady. She was due to come in on Saturday. She sat waiting outside for two hours believing that Mr. Montcliffe went up town to pickup some groceries, which he did from time to time on Saturday morning. She said she called his number several times but there was no answer. She was fortunate that the killers had locked the door otherwise she would have been the one to find him dead on the other side of the door."
"Someone find out his cell phone number." Mason demanded.
The police got his number from Ceyon's brother, who was still waiting outside, and dialed the number. Mason took the phone.
"Hello!" Someone answered the phone. A man. Mason knew that it was the killer or someone who knew the killer.
"Hello! Ceyon? Where are you?" Mason asked in a light voice. The person with the cell phone hung up.
"Call Celtel and put a trace on that number." Mason said to the Chief. "Do it quickly. They are not clever enough to have removed the SIM card as yet."
"Can Celtel do that?" The Chief asked.
Mason just gave the Chief a look without words. He just wanted them to listen to him when he asked something rather than question him. "Yes, they have that technology. They can print out all the text conversations that people have and all the numbers from one phone to another phone. It was the killer or someone who knows who killed him and who arranged the hit."
"How do you know that it wasn't just random or someone followed him in?" One of the policeman asked.
"This is a gated community. The safest place to live in Jamaica. The second safest parish to live in Jamaica. There is a gate and a guard or guards at the gate twenty-four-seven. How did someone sneak in? Sneak past the guard? I noticed the guard is checking people going in and going out. The guard and the security company must be questioned. I suspect that the security guard is getting something from the assassins or the person at the top of this orchestration." Mason concluded. Then added, "Why today are they checking everyone coming in and going out but that night they didn't notice anything suspicious about another person driving Mr. Montcliffe's vehicle and easily and simply left the campus? Another suspicion, guard house is a stone's throw from the victim's house.
The guard didn't raise an alarm when at eleven p.m., a fifty-inch flat screen television was carried out of the house and being put into the vehicle and then two people driving through the gate and not one of those two people was Montcliffe? And in the dead of night, in this forested campus you could hear a mouse squeak. The two people moving a television that size would have to talk to each other and make grunts and groans of struggle with an awkward object of that size."
He could hear people whispering, "How would he know that the television was a fifty-inch?"
Mason pointed to the long low bookcase that was the stand for the television, "Because you see where he placed his DVD collection and his CD collection on either side where the television used to sit on this stand."
Incredible. How could one person come to all these conclusions in such a short period of time?
"Chief, I want to talk to anyone who is responsible for security. But I don't want anyone questioning the guard that was on duty on Friday night." Mason added.
The Chief wanted to give this additional information to Mason, "We actually went to the office of President of the university, to get the spare key to the front door. They keep security keys. Strangest thing....there is a board with all the keys of all the houses and apartments on campus. Kept there for emergency purposes. All the keys are there but for Mr. Montcliffe's house. That is the only key that is missing."
Mason said nothing just stared at the Chief for the longest while.
"Any reason given for the missing key?"
"None!"
"Interesting." Mason made a mental note.
Another detective came into the house just then and informed Mason and the Chief, "I just spoke with Ceyon's brother Matthew. He told me that Ceyon had just purchased a large amount of block and steel as he was beginning to build his house. It was all paid in full but not delivered."
All again with mouth opened stared at Mason Adams. He had just finished telling them what probably happened with the 2013 receipts and he was right......again!
"Get to the supplier with Ceyon's brother and tell them anyone picking something up in Ceyon Montcliffe's name they must notify the police. The killer is going to pickup those building supplies."
Photographs were taken of the body and the lid of the toilet tank. Also the refrigerator and the other areas of the kitchen as well as the bedroom and the bathroom.
"I will go and speak to his family and the friends gathered outside." The Chief announced to those inside the house.
As the coroner removed the body from the house the brother approached the body to identify it. He just had to look. Something compelled him. Grateful for small mercies that he hadn't gone missing but they knew where he was. They didn't want to see him on Missing Persons segment on TVJ where people are missing for years and years. They knew where Ceyon was, if this had to be, this is the way it should be.
Mason exited the house. He noticed the President of the university being interviewed by a reporter from TVJ News. He casually walked over there to have a closer look.
That evening in his hotel room Mason turned on the television, the news was on.
"There was a brutal murder on the campus of the University of Jamaica, over the weekend. A senior lecturer Mr. Ceyon Montcliffe was murdered. Dashan Brown reports." The news anchor said.
Dashan Brown interviewing the President of the university. "Doctor Marie Nicholson, is the President of the university." The microphone is placed in front of her mouth to speak. "We are at a loss for words. The students and the faculty are very upset. We send our condolences to the family."
'Hmmm....no emotion, no sympathy, no mention of his name, no loss of the person, only concerned about the faculties' feelings and the students' feelings. And the obligatory sentiments to the family. Interesting.' Mason thought as he watched the news coverage.
Dashan Brown continued, "Mr. Montcliffe was highly acclaimed and had only recently received his doctorate. He was forty-four years old. As you can see friends and family are gathered at the crime scene. His mother is present as well; medical personnel at her side monitoring her blood pressure. No one would allow the mother to view the body. The authorities thought it in her best interests not to see him in that state. We will keep you up dated on the findings as the investigation into his untimely death are revealed to us. Back to you Moreen."
Mason turned off the television ....he needed to think.
He went outside to take a walk around the grounds of the hotel and to sit by the swimming pool that was lit up. The grounds were relaxing and quiet and the palm trees that were planted all around were lit with white lights. He sat in a lounger and stared at the water rippling on the surface of the pool.