The Hands Of Time

Chapter 1: November 6, 2010

5:41am

Newark, NJ

As the snow began to fall down upon Newark, NJ that cold November morning, Jace Harris sat in his living room and wondered what it would be like to hold a conversation with God. No BS about the current status of the world or anything like that, Jace wanted to ask one simple question: why. Maybe the answer could help him through the grief that had put his life at a virtual standstill.

8:52am

Newark, NJ

Jace parked his white 1989 Mercury Topaz on Hunterdon Street off of Lehigh Avenue and began the short brisk walk to Cotton's Funeral Home, where the love of his life lay waiting to be mourned before she was buried.

Candy Evans had been murdered in her apartment on November 1st by the serial killer the media had nicknamed "Casper" who'd been terrorizing the city of Newark for over five years and the police had absolutely no clue as to the identity of the perpetrator. Nothing had been found at any of the fifty or so crime scenes except for a Jack Of Spades playing card that each victim was found clutching.

No one had ever so much as caught a fleeting glimpse of anyone and the culprit seemed to materialize out of thin air, do the deed, then go back through the same air from which they'd come hence the name of Casper, only this ghost was anything but friendly.

Jace had found Candy on her bedroom floor, cut from neck to navel so that her chest and stomach lay open and her vital organs were visible for all to see. Since that day almost a week ago, Jace hadn't been able to eat, sleep, work, or do anything that would resemble being productive. He wanted his life back, he wanted Candy back, but unfortunately it just didn't work that way...or did it?

The snow wasn't falling that hard in Jace's opinion but it was falling hard enough for the people to take notice. Waiting in front of Cotton's for Jace was his lifelong friend Joseph Patterson A.K.A. JP, who'd been someone for Jace to vent his emotions to during the whole ordeal.

They had been friends since 2nd grade when JP used to beat Jace up for his lunch money until one day Jace got tired of it and fought back. Now he got his ass whooped, but JP respected Jace for standing up for himself and gave him back every dollar that he'd taken from him. From that a friendship was born, but the two were polar opposites.

While Jace had gone and graduated Summa Cum Laude from a prestigious Ivy League university and held a career as one of the country's top scientific minds, JP saw and worked the streets like most people wished they could. He was the boss of a notorious gun running crew that sold weapons from Newark to Bangor, Maine and going back down to Miami, Florida. His business had taken a few hits over the years, but JP had maintained enough to live comfortably. No matter what he was doing or where he was, if Jace needed him, JP dropped everything to be there for his friend.

Candy's death was some kind of cold blooded and everyone in the city was on edge due to her murder. The previous victims were Caucasian businessmen and businesswomen; visitors to the Prudential Arena in Downtown Newark; "robbery victims gone awry" the police had said, but when Candy's body was found murdered in the same fashion as the previous victims the city went bat-shit.

Candy was homegrown; college educated and had a career. She was the anti-statistic of most women in her age bracket. JP had his crew keeping an ear to the street for any talk as to who may have committed this heinous act but to no avail; Casper had claimed another victim and then disappeared like a fart in the wind.

As Jace approached JP, he couldn't help but be amazed at the fact that his longtime friend was actually wearing a suit and tie. Even at the funerals of his gangster associates, JP had kept it hood at all costs. Today he was wearing an all-black suit with silver lapels stretched over his 6'2" 220lb frame, a black dress shirt with a silver and black tie, touched off nicely with a silver tie clip of a dollar sign.