Crowbar

Agoraphobia (part 1)

Friday, 26th of January, 1996, just past 4 in the afternoon there was a buzz at the Maine residence. Alex's wife had thrown a party for her husband's continued success. Friends and family arrived with gifts and good wishes much to the delight of Mrs. Emily Maine who was in the habit of surprising her husband with such events.

Emily, Jimmy's cousin, and her son, Matthew, met Alex some two years before when her then husband was confiscated by the detective for aiding and abetting a drug smuggler. Fed up of the painful relation and the dubious actions of her husband she assisted Alex in bringing him and his friend down. The two grew close and got married soon after.

Jimmy walked up to Emily and asked her where Alex was. She looked around but could not spot him. They both looked at each other and smiled. "I'll see to it," said Emily and walked out the back door to find Alex standing leaning against a tamarind tree just left of the back entrance of the house.

"Everything ok?" she asked.

Alex looked up at her and waited. "Yeah," he eventually said with a nod. "Yeah, everything's ok."

"Why are you out here then?" Emily was smiling, trying hard not to laugh.

"Why are you smiling?" Alex said and Emily began giggling.

"Jimmy's right," she said. "You really do hate people!"

The detective pushed himself off the tree trunk. "I don't hate them per se. It just tires me... you know?"

"What? Meeting people tires you?"

"Yeah."

Emily leaned forward and laughed. "Seriously? Are you not a detective? You meet people all the time?"

"Well..." he waited a few moments before saying, "That's different, I guess."

"How so?" She leaned back.

"I don't know! Ok?"

Emily could no longer contain herself. She was laughing out loud. "For God's sake man!" she exclaimed.

"Hey! Why are you out here anyway?"

"Why are you? Those people aren't here for me. They're here for you. They're celebrating your feats. Be a little more courteous, will you?"

Alex looked away, Emily crossed her arms. Breaking the silence, after many moments, she quietly said, "Well if you're not going in then I'm not going in either."

"Look, just give me a few minutes," the detective quickly said.

"Sure. Take your time."

"Come on, Em."

"What? Those people are here for you, not for me."

"Ok." His hands were now on his hips. "One, they are only here celebrating their relative cop's success in hopes of gaining whatever unlawful lawful advantage they can. And two, don't act like you didn't know this was going to happen."

Emily burst into laughter. "Oh that I knew!" she said and continued to laugh.

"Seriously?" Alex asked leaning closer.

"Ok, ok, DUMBO! Get recharged and get inside."

But as she turned around to leave, Alex said, "It won't happen here."

"What?" Emily asked, half turned away facing her husband.

"You want me recharged. Well it won't happen here."

She looked up at the sky and whispered, "Please don't..." Alex took out the car keys from his pocket and began to move. "Al?" Emily said. "The guests?"

"Deal with them..."

Alex drove straight to the precinct. People were shocked to see him there. So eager to leave yet so quick to return. The two weeks' vacation was much awaited and talked about, not just by the detective himself, but by almost everyone at the precinct. And there he was, returning to his office on just the third day.

"Everything alright, detective," asked Raul, the security guard, at the front door. "We didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Agoraphobia, my friend," said Alex as both of them laughed.

Alex marched right into the Chief's office. "Alright old man, I'm back! Throw it at me!"

"Throw what, hotshot?"

"Anything, a cold case, a hot case, a briefcase, a suitcase, or whatever! Just throw it!"

"Cool down Alex! You're on vacation, so technically, I can't give you any case."

"What?"

The Chief burst into an uncontrolled laughter. Gathering himself, he eventually said, "Just messing with you! Handing him a case file he said, "Here you go."

"Crowbar... hmm... Peter asked me on it. Didn't look like much, but I will give it another look."

"Atta boy! Dig deep. This has everyone talking."

With that Alex took the file and went to his office wherein he sat for a half an hour looking at the case file. Then he went to the evidence room, sat down with the evidence, case files and some old criminal records for some time more before rushing out. He chatted with many people around at the precinct before going back in. After pulling some records and reading some case files he eventually made his way to the Chief's office.

"Hey, Chief," he said. "Where are we with this?"

"With what?" Roy reciprocated.

"With this... 'Crowbar' case."

"Oh... We have apprehended the asylum escapees this morning and, as far as I am concerned, the case is closed. But your good partner Sally says that the lunatics escaping from the asylum and their DNA at the crime scene was all a set up, and that the real culprit is still out there. And its 8 o clock, go home!"

"Well, I think she might be right." Alex paused for a while and then continued, "I will have to have a conversation with the 6 living victims - and with these 15 people." He handed a paper to the Chief which had a list of names and their corresponding addresses on it. "I looked around a bit and asked officers and attendants about any bizarre events, of equal proportions, reported recently. There have been quite a few. I believe there are not 11 but 26 victims here."

"Uh-huh, Sally got these same people too," replied the Chief as he read the names with a concerned look on his face.

"Well, where is she?"

"Oh, she left. I mean with the arrest of the lunatics we thought 'job well done'. Plus those 15 people couldn't provide us with anything useful either. Tell Rigby to call Jimmy, he must be munching at Mugsy's down the street!"

As Alex turned around, the Chief shouted, "You go ahead and get to the bottom of this as fast as possible, man! This case is giving me the creeps. But right now," he stood up, "I'm going home!"

The Detective, giving a thumbs up to the Chief, went off to search for his good friend cum assistant, who was at Mugsy's, and with him he decided that they would meet all the 21 living victims one by one. It took them just a day and a half – 7 people Alex interviewed himself, Jimmy interviewed 6, while the rest they met together.

Thereafter, Alex called in a meeting, inviting Roy, Sally and Peter. Jimmy, as usual, arranged most of it, and in the midst, made everyone aware that the case making all the buzz, now known as 'Crowbar', was on the agenda...

(To be continued...)