SOLOMON'S BRIDGE {Part I}

TATTOO *9*

DR. JAY

Its begun to look bad for law enforcement; and for him, the new face of the SSS. Indeed, Wale Adekunle's replacement has already spent a month on the hot seat, and there are no arrests, no suspects, no leads, and more dead bodies. Seven headless cadavers. Profile number eleven on highway three, who turned out to be Agent Red's cousin. Judge Francesca Duke's maid, security guard and future in-law. All these, within the space of two days, looked like the minute hell heard his name, Jay Hall, the worst devils came out to fool around. Red, Yellow and Gray accompany him to the house of the Judge.

Its a rainy Friday, much like yesterday; wet and cold, with storm clouds choking the sky. Its a celebrity case this time, with minimum facts already aired on Canaan CityTv 3 p.m. Breaking News, so, he isn't surprised to see the city's Inspector General of police issuing a statement to members of the press.

Judge Duke remains out of the country, while her niece, governor Hiram Duke's love child, stays hidden inside the sitting room, supposedly, being grilled by field officers from the police department, but awaiting his necessary interrogation. Yellow ribbon curtains off the garage area from the public, and forensic assistants scatter about the crime scene, first examining, cataloging, and then bagging the bodies; mopping up all the blood and gore.

The IG called it an open and shut case, "Dr. Hall. We meet again!" And just like the first time, the I.G seems almost stunned by his looks. Dr. Jay is beginning to think he has a twin hiding somewhere.

They shake hands briefly but firmly, "We do indeed! Please call me Jay. So; what have you done to my crime scene, Ushang?"

The tall, lanky man coughs politely, his fist covering his mouth, before unfolding to stretch and crack at all five knuckles, an action that does not escape Dr. Jay's notice, especially the tiny red and white striped tattoo on his wrist. Red. White. Stripes.

"Jay, you have to pardon the way my team bulldozed in here... naturally, as first responders, we have to treat it top priority; the judge is related to the governor, the sole surviving victim is an On Air Personality, and, the daughter of his excellency is most hysterical. Turns out that the main assailant, now deceased, was her fiancé, and still in the face of all this damning evidence, Miss Duke is convinced there is some kind of foul play. Just- just too many big names, Jay! The governor told me to wrap it up, like I said in my text message to you earlier, thankfully, it's an open and shut case."

"Then you'll have no trouble walking me through it."

"What, now? I was uh, going to send you a report---"

"Ushang, now is the right time. I promise you, I will study your report. Tell me what you think happened."

"Well; it appears that eh...the friend, that's the radio girl, was sent by Fanny, to return the Judge's car to the house, she's a sort of family friend, knows her way around, but she interrupted a robbery. According to her testimony, and, she notified us... ran out of here like a bat out of hell, no shoes, jumps in a taxi and starts screaming the moment she enters the police station; bloody mess she was... so, according to her testimony, the maid, that body bag ten feet to your left, was already dead. She drives in, parks in the open garage, which is sensory operated so, it drops to close immediately the car engine is switched off. She gets out, and the armed thief is suddenly behind her... pointing a gun at her neck. She tells us he was looking for the range rover sport. She recognizes him as Chris Bassman, Fanny's new fiancé from his voice, as he is about to kill her; then the security guard, that body bag five feet to your right, shot the guy in right side flank, as we noted and, later you can confirm with the autopsy team at general hospital, the bullet is a Brown Bess from a show piece military musket, ehh, which, I'm told usually decorates the top of the tv stand."