Bill of Human Wrongs

Kurt sat at his desk, going over the details of the documents Joe had left him. The phantom suicidal wife of Senator Hancock was just that. But it wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted to get him on murder, preferably for the murder of Claire’s friend, Tony Geradelly. And his friend to a lesser extent, but he had been fond of the man. He wondered if there were other victims at the hands of the Senator.

Kurt’s thoughts flashed to the previous night when he had Claire in his arms. Her warm lips, her… “Damn it, Claire!” How could she have slept with that asshole?

The phone rang, it was the fire marshal. Kurt was filled in on the latest details of their investigation. “Yes, ok. Keep me posted. Thanks.” He hung up only for the phone to ring again. This time it was Joe.

“Kurt, I’m at that coffee house. I’ve got him, Kurt! I have a witness that saw a man tamper with the reporter’s brakes. Can you get down here?”

Joe was yelling into the phone to be heard over the sounds in the café. Reporters from every network were trying to make sense of the way Stephen and Eve had disappeared the night before.

“I’m coming now, Joe. Great work.” Kurt grabbed his coat and then picked up a photo of Senator Hancock that was lying on his desk. Then he grabbed one of the manuals with photos of known criminals from his book shelf. He removed one of the faces and replaced it with the Senator’s.

“Damn you, Claire. You are a damned full time job.”

Kurt used his siren to help him get past the protesters en route to the coffee house. The crowds were copious now that the vote was near. He saw Joe waiting in front of the now famous café, the reporters had turned the street into a chaotic mess.

“Kurt, over here.” Joe was waving at him.

He left his car and managed to get through the people, flashing his badge to encourage them to let him by.

“Joe, where’s this witness?”

“He’s inside, let’s go.”

Inside, Joe led him to a booth in one of the smaller chambers of the strange structural design.

“Mr. Jones, this is Detective Simmons. Can you tell him what you told me?”

“How do you do, Mr. Jones. As you can imagine, this is serious. It qualifies as attempted murder. We’re just lucky that the suspect you saw wasn’t successful.”

Kurt looked at the man sitting across from him. He was dressed in jeans and wore an expensive jacket. He guessed the man was somewhere around forty. He was pleased, he knew he was going to need a respectable looking witness for this crime. There would be high-priced lawyers involved if the Senator could manage to get this into the courtroom.

“Like I told the detective, I saw this guy lift the hood of the car. It was raining pretty hard that night so I was going to ask if he needed help.” He pointed in the direction of the street. “I live in the apartment building across the way so I got a good view of him.”

“What stopped you from helping him, Mr. Jones?”

“Oh, I went down there, but he was already gone. Man, whatever he did to that car, he worked fast.”

“Did you get a look at his face?”

“Sure, it was dark, but there was a street light over him.”

Kurt couldn’t believe his luck. He pulled out the book full of head shots and opened it to show him the first page. “Please look carefully at these photos, Mr. Jones.”

Kurt looked at Joe as they waited for their witness to scan through the mug shots. When Jones came to the Senator’s photo, he stopped. He pointed and said, “That’s him. This is the one.”

“You seem pretty sure, couldn’t it be…” Kurt pointed to a face that had similar features as Bill Hancock’s. “Maybe this guy?”

“No, it’s this one.” He pointed at the Senator again. “You see this guy’s haircut? He spends a lot for that look. You see? I’m a hairdresser. I notice these kinds of things.”

The satisfied sensation Kurt felt was almost overwhelming. “Mr. Jones, would you be willing to identify him in a line-up? And possibly be a witness in front of a judge?”

“I sure would, I like her show. This asshole was messing with my lady.”

Kurt stood and thanked him. “Joe, get the contact information for Mr. Jones. And Mr. Jones? I may need you later today for that line-up. Are you available?”

“Yea, I’ll make myself be available.” He pulled a business card from his wallet. “And Detective? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you could use some professional help with your cut. I’ll give you a free one.”

Kurt laughed. “Thank you, Mr. Jones. Joe will be in contact with you later today.” He slapped Joe on the shoulder and said, “Take care of our friend here, and,” he pulled some money out of his wallet. “Buy him some lunch. I’ll let you know when you can bring him in.”

Kurt exited into the street and saw Rachel and her crew pulling up. This day is getting better by the minute. When he was close enough, he called her name.

Rachel turned and smiled, “Kurt, I wake up to you and now here you are again.” She laughed at the expression one of her cameramen gave her.

“Listen, there’s a man inside with my detective. Do me a favor and be nice to him. He’s a fan of yours and an important person for my case. Maybe you could give him an autograph or something.”

“What case?”

“Got to go, Rachel. But I’ll be back here for the show tonight. In fact, I wouldn’t miss it.” He started his car while dialing his phone. “I want you to pick up Senator Bill Hancock as a suspect in the tampering of the Ross car. I’m on my way in.” Yes, this day keeps getting better and better. His thoughts of Claire and their kiss returned, but this time, he smiled.