Abel felt there was something amiss this fine Saturday morning. He had woken up in high spirits like every other day. He loved the fact that Dora would have a little chat with him on her way to work, but he had not seen her walk past. She never missed saying hi, even when he was inside the bookstore and didn't see her walk past. She would come in to say good morning. He liked the way she sounded when she said, 'Good morning AB.'
He seldom called her on the phone, she had given him her number when she was ill and he would call to check up on her. But after that he never called, there was no need as he always had a little chat time with her in the morning and at night when she walked by from work.
They were friends but he would like to tell her the truth about how he felt about her someday. Should he call her, wouldn't it be too troublesome to do that? He thought to himself. But when he looked at the time for the hundredth time he decided to call her. It was quite not normal for her to have walked past Samson Book Store on her way to work without saying 'Good Morning AB'.
***********
"Good morning Mr. Grey," Sera said as she walked closer to the desk in the glass box of an office. The office temperature was controlled, and neatly stalked books were displayed on the left corner in a fine polished five-decker shelve. There was a mini refrigerator behind the desk to the right and on it were neatly placed racks of cups and jars for beverages.
"I am Sera Michaels and this is my colleague Jason Den, we are Detectives investigating the body found on your premises.
Daniel was expecting the police to have made contact before now, he was surprised it took too long, he thought to himself.
"Please have a seat detectives, been expecting you," Daniel said gesturing for them to fill the seats opposite his desk.
Jason sat down taking in the bruise on Daniel's face. He looked at Sera who seemed to be speculating the same thing.
"Are you an early bird Mr. Grey?" Jack asked taking in the very simple but attractive glass box in one sweep.
The question caught Daniel off guard, he had been rehearsing possible questions but he never anticipated one like this. "Actually I am, I was among the first persons to turn up every working day. I have the keys to some vital sectors of the establishment and the engineers need my signature to retrieve items from our spare parts warehouse." Daniel said with relief. This isn't that bad he thought.
Jason noticed the sudden calm in Daniel's countenance and tried to hide his amusement, he liked to make them feel at ease so he would enjoy their confused state later.
Jason stood up and reached for his jotter from his jacket pocket as he walked to the shelf.
"Are you a violent man, Daniel?" Jason asked with his back to Daniel. "I can call you Daniel right?" He asked and turned to look at the now perplexed man.
"I am sorry I don't understand." Daniel began to stutter. "You don't I got this from the dead girl, do you?" He asked now sweating in an enclosed glass box with 16 degrees Celsius.
"He never said so, did he? Sera asked Daniel and made matters worse.
"I just found her there and I called it in as a law-abiding citizen, I didn't do anything." Daniel tried to exonerate himself.
Jason sat back in his seat and looked through his notes at nothing in particular, this act seemed to make the person on the hot seat assume you have all the facts right there in your notepad.
"Tell me, Daniel, so you were not involved in any form of argument with the deceased?" Jason asked him.
"No, I didn't, I have never even seen her before," Daniel answered and stood up.
"Seat down Daniel," Sera told him, with no room for an objection.
"So tell me how you discovered a body right out of your corner of the business? Your office complex is right beside your parking lot when you drive into TW dockyard. The body you found is far off at the dock." Jason asked.
Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was right about time these douchebags start asking the right questions. This was one of the ones he had rehearsed.
"My house is about 12 minutes' tops away from here so I get here at 6:30 am early enough to have a quiet moment at the cold dock before resuming duties by 7 am." Daniel sat back and watched the detectives listen to him with keen interest.
"I usually drive straight to the dock and smoke a couple of cigarettes before driving back to my office."
"So what was different today, you seem to have a routine cut out for yourself?" Sera asked trying to guide him to the point.
"I found a body, somehow I had missed it when I got there. But when I was about to leave the dock at about 6:40 I saw a purse and was surprised at what a lady's purse was doing out there. That was when I saw the body. I had thought she was alive but when I saw the level of blood, I quickly called 911." Daniel said.
"Nice story, what do you think Sera?" Jason said sarcastically.
"Lots of bullshit." She said looking straight into Daniel's eyes. "So how did you get the bruise? It sure looks like what a lady fighting for her life would do."
Daniel's face drained of strength as soon as the question was asked that way. He had anticipated that question about his bruise, but not tied to the corpse.
"I had an accident yesterday, am I a suspect in this murder? If I am, I would like for my lawyer to be here if I must answer any further questions." Daniel said with more confidence than he could have predicted.
Jason squinted his eyes as he looked at the man in front of him. He knew there was no way this guy would have swung whatever weapon that killed the young lady on the first contact. But why was Daniel throwing in the lawyer jab, something is fishy and he will find out what it is.
"You might want to tell me where you were last light at about 11 pm last night to 1 am this morning," Jason asked monitoring the expressions of Daniel.
Daniel froze for a while, he was right in front of the particular question he didn't really have an answer to. No, that there was no answer but it will put him in the most dangerous spot he would ever be.
***************
At the crime scene, the uniformed cops were almost rounding up with gathering evidence and scouting the place for possible leads to the murder.
"Guys let's wrap this thing up we have work to do." The inspector who had been bringing the Sera and Jason up to date announced.
They have questioned quite a few of the TW engineering staff as well as those whose duties were designated to the port. No one seems to know the dead girl or has seen anything suspicious around here recently.
He was engulfed in his thoughts when a phone started to ring. Nobody seems to be taking the call so he screams can you just shoot that thing off, I am trying to think." He screamed at no one In particular.
The look from the other officers, who seemed to be surprised at the still ringing phone made it obvious the phone belonged to none of them.
"Find it!" The officer in charge screamed and a junior officer traced the noise to the edge of the port.
The phone was hanging from a thick rope that was curled around a wooden peg. It surprised the young officer how the phone still hung there and not at the bottom of the sea.