The Church Read online

  “Cheryl?” He said as he reached the young woman. Her head snapped up to meet his dark gaze. As if forgetting where she was, she looked at him with curious eyes.

  “Kane Bamidele. You called me an hour ago.” He said quickly, trying not to choke at his own name before flashing his PI ID.

  “Oh yes...right.” She blushed. “This way please.” She led him to the waiting room inside the hospital and sat him down. The interior of the hospital was not so impressive to Bamidele. The walls and floors were a dirty white color, and the chemical smell of the hospital hung in the air like perfume. The whole room smelled of death and despair.

  “So what’s your relationship with the patient?” She said as they sat down in the row of chairs next to the hospital triage. Kane hesitated. It’s been a long time since he and Sol went out for a beer and talked like old pals, so he can’t really call himself a friend. His ethnicity is obviously a dead giveaway if he says that he’s family. “Husband” is also out of the question since neither of them carries a wedding band. He lowered his head and gave a quiet sigh.

  “I’m just a co-worker.” She nodded at his remark.

  “Cheryl, I need you to tell me what happened.” He told her, his dark brown eyes instinctively searched her for answers – clues for something that he himself doesn’t know yet. How did she die? She lowered her gaze to the floor. With a tremendous amount of difficulty, Kane tried to search any hint emotion in her deep-set eyes and found nothing.

  “What is it?”

  “The hospital has a non-disclosure policy...” She said.

  “And?” He felt the blood rushing to his head.

  “I’m not supposed to tell you anything...” She whispered. This immediately infuriated him. The last thing he needed was someone getting in the way of things like this. With heavy hands, he slapped his own thighs and laid his head back. During his time as a police, Freddy always told him that if it doesn’t help, he doesn’t need to yell. At that brief moment in the hospital waiting room, Kane almost forgot everything his friend had taught him. Sometimes uncontrollable anger can be a bitch.

  “Okay then, Cheryl. Do you mind telling me why the fuck I drove down here at three in the morning?” The hoarseness of his voice made the hairs on the back of her head stand up. He could feel the anger beginning to settle down beneath his skin. The sight and smell of the hospital did nothing to help that.

  “I’m sorry...”

  “Oh so now you’re sorry?” His eyes snapped open and looked at her. He felt his blood boiling in his veins.

  “All the information about the patient should only be relayed to relatives and close friends.” She said, looking at him straight in the eye.

  “WHY THE FUCK AM I HERE THEN?” He blurted out. Suddenly, every eye in the waiting room was looking at him. Conversations stopped to hear his own, and the whole room hushed at the sight of his angry face. He sighed and sat low on the chair. In his head, he started to recite the alphabet. He did this ‘til his blood ran calmly again.

  “I’m sorry for yelling, but do you actually think she would waste her dying breath to contact someone that she doesn’t see as a close friend?” He whispered after a few moments. Her face burned bright red as she nodded in agreement. Her hands found themselves fiddling with the frayed ends of her scrubs. Her eyes tried their best not to meet his own.

  “You’re right...I’m sorry.” Kane slowly neared her face and forced her eyes to meet his.

  “Cheryl, look, I know I look scary, but please, help me here. I know I am in no place to tell you this but get a damn grip.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “I just lost someone an hour ago. I don’t need this kind of bullshit. So if you’re not interested in opening your mouth, I will walk right into the office of the Chief of Medicine and have your ass thrown out of this god forsaken hospital. Do you understand?” Blood suddenly left her face. Her bottom lip quivered in fear as Kane looked deep into her eyes. Somehow, she knew he meant it.

  After a few minutes of deafening silence, she finally spoke up.

  “She was admitted – sort of – into the hospital at around 1:45 in the morning.” She muttered through her thin lips.

  “Sort of?”

  “Well, no one exactly knew how she got here...” She drawled.

  Confused, Bamidele shook his head and looked down at the tiled floors. With all the energy that’s left in his hung-over body, he tried his best not to break anything – especially a couple of bones.

  “Okay...and how did you find her?”

  “I was just about to start my shift. I saw her right there” She pointed at the chair sitting right next to the door of the entrance. “I thought she was just a visitor taking a nap until she started coughing. She had hard time breathing and her skin...her skin looked red.”

  “Was anyone else with her?”

  “Not that I know of.” Kane sighed and took out a notebook. She wrote down the symptoms she enumerated for him, before looking back up at her tired face.

  “Okay. So she was admitted at around 1:45 am but she has been sitting here for some time before someone got to her?” He asked her. Her face turned red as she slowly nodded her head.

  “Has anyone else seen her here aside from you?”

  “Well, some of the nurses on call did, but none of them thought much of it.”

  “And how did you guys react when you saw her coughing?”

  “At first, we thought she just had the chills but when I got near her to assist, I saw that she was about to pass out.” She looked back at the chair. “When I touched her shoulder, she started yelling. She kept asking where she was and she called out a name – your name, I believe...” Kane lowered his head in guilt.

  “She started going on about something...I don’t really remember what it was. Then, she collapsed on the floor and had a seizure. That was about the time we took her to the ER.” She said. Kane could hear a smidge of guilt in the young woman’s voice – the same guilt he could hear in his own labored breaths as he listened to her story.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t know...” He gave a reassuring pat on the back. He could tell by the sight of her that she was inexperienced. Her face was young and still free from the scars of hard work.

  “I could have saved her...” Tears were starting to pool around her eyes.

  “No. You couldn’t have.” He abruptly added. ”But I could have.” He thought to himself.

  “What?” She looked at him in disbelief.

  “Cheryl...I’m guessing that this is your first time seeing a case like this...but I’m pretty sure you know the symptoms. Heavy breathing...confusion...seizures...Cheryl, she was poisoned.”

  “We thought so as well...but it was too fast. If it was food poisoning, the symptoms – “

  “Cheryl, this isn’t food poisoning.” He stopped her. He looked around the ER. There were a few people walking about but so far, none has turned a curious eye. In a low voice, he added, “I don’t know what it was, and I don’t know how it happened but I’m pretty sure no one dies that quickly from food poisoning...at least not as quick and definitely not as mysterious.”

  She gave him a weak nod.

  “I need you to do me a favor. After the autopsy is conducted, I need you to directly give me the information, call me” He whispered. “Also, if the cops come sniffing around, leave out the part where you called me. Just, leave my name alone in general. Can you do that? I need to find out what happened to her and I don’t need distractions”.

  There was a moment of hesitation in the girl. Kane could practically see the gears turning in her head. When she didn’t answer, he gave her the look. It was the type of look he gave to people who wouldn’t comply. It was the look that meant business.

  “Okay,” she meekly replied. All color was gone from her face as she averted her eyes and looked down on the floor.

  “Good. That’s all I needed to hear. I’m sorry if this night has been a hassle to you.” He said as he got up from the chair.

 
“It’s alright.”

  He closed the notebook and shoved it back in his jacket. He took his wallet from the backside of his jeans and took out a small card. “Here. Take this. This is her card. The phone number written here is her family’s home phone number. I trust you know what to do next.”

  “Yes.” She mumbled.

  “And take this as well.” He gave another card. “This is my number. Contact me when you have details. I’ll be heading out now.” As he was about to turn around, Cheryl stopped him.

  “Wait...there’s something else.” She handed him a small, crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. “She gave this to me before she died. It could be useful.”

  His heart dropped to his stomach. Messily written on the paper was the name of the church that Marisol talked to him about.

  “The Power Assembly Church of God”

  A part of him prayed that it was far from the reason for her untimely demise...but now the picture is clear. He shoved the paper deep into the pocket of his jacket.

  “Thank you, Cheryl. I’ll contact you when I need more information, alright?” He said as he walked out of the hospital. As he got into his beat-up Honda, he can’t help but wonder when was the last time he visited a church.

  “Time to pay a visit to good old’ G, this Sunday. It’s been a while since I’ve said a prayer.” He thought as he turned on the ignition and drove off.

  Chapter 2

  “Kane, I have to tell you something really quickly...” She said as she sat across the booth.

  “Jeez Louise, Sol, you barely just got here!” He laughed, “If this is about work, I really don’t want to hear it. It’s Friday, and Friday in my language means booze day!” He said as he took one glass from the stack in the middle of the table. He picked up the large pitcher of ice cold beer and poured. As he did, he felt Sol staring at him from across the table.

  “What is it?” He said as he filled two glasses to the brim.

  “You don’t want to listen to me again, do you?” She said. Annoyed, she dropped her purse on the table, causing some of the beer to spill.

  “I paid 10 bucks for this shit, don’t go spilling it everywhere,” Kane said as he tried to contain the booze. He raised one of the glasses to his lips and took a good long gulp before letting out a loud belch.

  “Damn, that feels good.” He said, pushing a glass towards Marisol, spilling some of its contents on the wooden table.

  “Come on, it’s Friday. Drink.” He took another sip of his beer.

  “I don’t feel like drinking tonight, Kane.”

  “Why not?” She looked around the crowded pub before leaning forward. She gestured for Kane to follow suit, which he reluctantly did.

  “Because I have to tell you something” She whispered.

  “What?”

  “A month ago, I heard about this church-“

  “Oh, so you’re Christian now, eh?” Kane interrupted, flashing a sly smirk at her.

  “Kane, I’m serious.” She said.

  “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” He set his glass down on the table. “What is it?”

  “I’m thinking you might want to look into it as well.” He looked at Sol seriously then.

  “What is it about?”

  “You might laugh.”

  “Try me.” She paused, contemplating whether or not she should disclose. Kane tapped his fingers at the table, impatiently waiting for her answer. She sighed, looked around, and then stared at him straight in the eye.

  “A conspiracy theory.”

  “A conspiracy theory?” He said as he raised his brows.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any leads?”

  “Well, no-“

  “Sources?”

  “I’m getting into it, I have – “

  “Then it’s none of our concern for now. I have no taste for fruitless investigations, Sol. You know that. Talk to me about it when you’ve got a solid lead on it. We can’t waste manpower and time.” He said as he chugged down the glass of ice cold beer.

  “Especially mine. I like you and so wouldn’t want you to waste your money on something with no headway”

  Kane thought long and hard as he drove out of the city. The sky burned orange as the sun rose in the east. He rolled down the window and let the earthy scent of petrichor soothe his nerves.

  “I need a break.” He thought.

  He parked the car by the side of the road and stepped out. The road was nearly empty with just a couple of cars driving towards the city. Kane glanced at his watch and saw that it was already six o’clock in the morning. He barely slept for two hours and yet he felt wide awake. The faint pounding in his head was getting stronger by the minute, much to his annoyance. He leaned against his car and looked up at the purple sky.

  “Now where do I go?”

  Marisol Campbell wasn’t just any journalist – she was Kane’s best friend, and the death of a friend and a source meant immediate action to him. Anything involving the people closest to him meant a personal attack. Whoever killed Marisol just got themselves a one-way ticket to Hell. But where do I start?

  From his jeans, he took out a crushed pack of cigarettes. He took one from the dozen and put it in between his lips. He searched his pockets for a lighter and after finding nothing, he threw away the cigarette in rage.

  “God dammit!” He screamed as he kicked his tire in indignation. He was tired, stressed, and now, grieving. Someone has to pay...but who?

  Feeling defeated, he got back into the car and sat inside for a long while. The flow of traffic outside of town was very light, with only a few cars passing by every minute. Every so often, a car would slow down in front of him and ask him if he needed any help, much to his irritation. After a few minutes, he decided to grab his phone and call up Freddy.

  “Hey, man...” He said when he finally picked up.

  “Kane, it’s four in the morning. What do you want?” Freddy Wayman said, still half-asleep. Freddy and Kane go way back. He’s one of the very few people Kane let into his life because of his medical condition, along with Marisol. These people help control his anger and also keep him from doing stupid things even though he knows no fear. Now that one of them, his best friends is lying somewhere in a morgue, he needed Freddy more than ever.

  “Listen, something just happened...” Kane paused, not knowing how to continue. Words flew around his head but none of it could soften the blow of the news. How do you tell someone that a friend of theirs just died out of the blue?

  “Well, if you’re looking for advice, you better ask Sober Freddy. Drunk Freddy is still up and running right now.” He heard Freddy get up from the bed with a grunt, probably toppling down a couple of things on the bedside table in the process. “BUT if you’re looking for GREAT advice, fire away, hombre. Drunk Freddy’s giving away a shit ton of it for free!” Kane stayed silent as Freddy laughed away.

  “Go on, man. I haven’t got all morning.” Freddy said after his fit. “Spill the beans, K.”

  “Marisol...” Her name felt like daggers, scratching down the sides of his throat. “Marisol just died.”

  “Nice.” He laughed. “You’re kidding, right”

  Kane stayed silent.

  “Right, Kane?”

  Kane shut his eyes and lowered his head.

  “Kane?”

  A deafening silence enveloped the car, slowly suffocating him. Neither of them spoke for a while - both waiting for the other to make a move.

  Just as he was about the slide his finger to the red button, he heard Freddy sigh.

  “Damn.”

  “I know.”

  “Good morning to you too, I guess.” They both laughed. Kane has always been known to be an incredibly straightforward man who hates beating around the bush. Instead, he always insists on tackling down the Bush and beating it to a pulp with his bare hands. Freddy saw this as comical. Whenever the chance would present itself, he always smacks Kane with a dead panned joke, much to Kane’s annoyance.
/>   After a few moments, Kane cleared his throat. “I don’t know what to do next...”

  “Well, that’s the first time.”

  “And I intend for it to be the last.” Kane shut his eyes and leaned his head against the steering wheel. “Well, Drunk Freddy, I am in desperate need of some great advice from your wise ass, no matter how fucking pissed I am at you right now.” He mumbled against the phone.

  “What happened to her, anyway?” Freddy asked. With a heavy heart, Kane told him everything that transpired hours ago, from how Cheryl woke him up at 2 AM all the way to the point where he called Freddy in desperation. Tired and frustrated after the tale, Kane lifted his head up from the wheel and looked at the thicket beside the road.

  “Have you told her parents yet?”

  “No, and I don’t plan to anytime soon. I need to know what happened to her first.”

  “I see.” Freddy cleared his throat. Not knowing how to respond anymore, he asks, “Well, have you checked her apartment yet?

  “The apartment!” Kane slaps his forehead in utter disbelief. “How much did I really drink last night?”

  “Freddy...you are a genius.” He turns the ignition key and starts the engine. “You are a fucking genius.”

  “Okay...uh...thanks?”

  “You are very welcome,” Kane said as he ended the call. Like a predator catching the scent of a prey, every last nerve in his body spiked up. The throbbing ache in his head has cleared now and the clouds in his vision slowly faded away. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he turned the car around and drove back to the city.

  This is one job he will do for free. And when he does free jobs, people tend to get hurt. Right now he needed to hurt someone....badly!

  Chapter 3

  Kane carelessly parked the car by the sidewalk, splashing water on a man who was jogging by. Kane heard him yell as he ran up the stairs to the apartment building.

  Marisol’s apartment was located somewhere along the dodgier part of town, where you’re more likely to get mugged than find a decent falafel stand. It was an old, low-rise building made of brick and stone. The walls were covered with a thin layer of mold and the paint on the windowsills was beginning to chafe. Kane pushed the creaky door of the entrance and got inside the building.