187
By J.Buchanan
Infinite Fiction 2016
187 ... A poetic fiction.
Noreen
I
The two detectives only had one objective, their investigation had to be selective. They had a good checklist of things to do, of people to see but they didn’t know who. Who’d be the one who’d seen the one, responsible for the scene of one dead woman lying on her living room floor. No forced entry or breaks in the door.
A serene locale was where it took place, a gated community, nice and safe. The townhouse was gorgeous, the neighborhood was equal, murders in this area rarely had a sequel. Killings in this suburb were few and far between, so neighbors helped cops with information streams.
The details provided were not subsided, they told what they knew to give detectives a clue.
“It could have been a crime of passion,” said one lady in a nonchalant fashion.
“But then again she was recently engaged. Her relationship was like a fairy tale page.”
“I agree with him,” said another dude. “That's just my opinion, not trying to be rude.”
“I doubt if her fiancée would do something that cruel, I saw him a lot and he always seemed cool.” This presumption came from a lady, who had a demeanor the opposite of shady.
Detectives listened and even took notes from over a dozen opinions and quotes from various neighbors in the subdivision. Hopefully this would help with their vision regarding the victim and her life; to find the one who took her life.
II
Decades earlier-
From the east Ukraine a family came to escape the chaos and make it payoff. Refugees, but they weren’t typical; they fled by plane when times were critical. Straight to America to the west coast, they started a life and even bought a boat.
This family was a good-hearted quartet, the kids were young and the father was a vet. The mother was young and she was a teacher, but to the kids she was a preacher. She kept them safe and her daughter in place.
Towards the daughter she was often mean. The beautiful daughter named Noreen, felt no love and that's how it seemed. Mom was too strict and dad didn’t care, Noreen felt that her life wasn’t fair.
Then by high school, Noreen would try to, become her own person and not be lied to. She was a girl who was very ambitious, although her parents had ulterior wishes. A marriage was set up with whom they regarded, as the perfect man to get her life started. She was against it but nevertheless, the wedding occurred with dozens of guests.
He was a friend, and a great guy, at first they were forced to see eye to eye. The fact that they both shared similar backgrounds, helped them to make it up into the next round. They settled down and went to the same college, just to gain knowledge and prosper in life. They studied in the day and were together at night. Their relationship thrived throughout undergrad, but beyond that period it was hard to last.
“Where have you been?” He would often ask her.
All of his gifts would never relax her.
“Just let me be!” was her favorite phrase. But outside attention was what she craved.
They had an argument before graduation, “You're always gone for long durations!” He nagged a lot but she deserved it. The purpose of wife, she did not serve it.
‘This is ridiculous...’ he often thought. ‘All she does is keep me distraught.’
Nevertheless, his love didn't waiver, all he wanted was cooperative behavior.
III
A year into grad school was weird and a tad cruel. Her marriage companionship was now an abandoned ship. Her feelings had changed like a leaf in autumn. No one to blame but at least she had taught him a thing or two about love and trust. Made him not want to keep in touch.
She was a young woman wedded too early, she had no time to fully be girlie. She was peaking and loving life, and to a fellow student she was way too nice. He was drawn to her looks and intelligence, and in no time her husband loss relevance.
They liked each other and started an affair, even though she got premium care from her husband and she took full advantage. He provided everything he could manage. The fact remained that lust was her covet. She cheated and didn’t think nothing of it.
When hubby found out, it was like a round-house to the face of his heart and more to his ego. He had no idea that her obstinacy was feeble. He filed for divorce, the obvious course, but she didn’t care because she was aware of the status of all her wayward feelings. She now had someone more appealing. New sparks flew and she was in love. Soon they married and she was indulged.
“This is the best day of my life so far!” Noreen was gleaming like a detailed car.
She had a new husband, his name was Jack. He was likeable and very laid back. They both were intelligent and so motivated, a great life together they started to create it. After med-school he became a podiatrist, while she became a research scientist. She was now a bona fide adult. Her goal in life was to find results and keep herself happy. Now she was happy, and thankful that this fairy tale was happening.
*******
They enjoyed years of glee in a subdivision, but it was careers that started their division. His practice was near and her lab was far away. The two of them no longer had every day to be together, and to bond; to see each other for the fun.
Both of their jobs kept them separate a lot, eventually they both started drifting apart. They ended up leading individual lives, but to make it work, Jack really tried.
“My beautiful baby, let's take a vacation. Why don't we do it for a two-week duration and go to spend some time together.”
Noreen was down for this endeavor.
-Almost a year later
By the time they reached their fifth anniversary, Jack was hoping that they’d need a nursery. He wanted a child and flaunted a smile, but all the while Noreen felt smothered. They lived together but no longer lovers. Her feelings changed just like the weather. Unfortunately they could not get it together.
No more romance like at the beginning. Noreen's old mentality was beginning. But since she’d been divorced already, she shunned another divorce already. So for her issue she didn’t get a tissue. She came up with a plan to mislead her man.
Her man allowed her to be gone for days, because he was unaware of her ways. He fell for her scheme as he trusted and loved her. It’s not like it seemed as she crept with another.
Noreen was a fiend for new things and flings. It turned out that she was actually seeing a man from the lab, her attention was grabbed when they very first met. The lust from within her took off like a jet. He liked her intelligence and also her looks. Them getting familiar was all that it took. Their friendship sparked and their love affair varied, but he did not even know that she was married.
Her new love interest was quite the man. Around the lab he was known as the man. His name was Dan, handsome vivacious, his appeal on women was rather tenacious. In actuality he had another dame, in a different department but the company was the same.
Dan was involved way prior to Noreen, but now he had two and he didn’t want a scene. Both women coworkers were eerily similar, both unaware that their feelings were similar. Fond of them both but Dan had felt stronger, for his main girl ‘cause he’d been with her longer.
Noreen was hoping for a ‘happily ever after’. It seemed he’d never get caught up in her rapture.
“I want to see more of y
ou,” is what she had told him.
“I feel the same way of you, to see you is golden.” These were his feelings but things were too complicated. This was the reason his actions were constipated.
Months went by and time seemed to fly. He couldn’t be exclusive and she found out why. She’d fallen in love, he was only in like; this troubling fact she’d come to not like. This other woman who was standing in her way, needed to be dealt with, like yesterday. Noreen took the time to watch and learn her, because she had plans to figuratively burn her. Dan and his girl they had no notion that both of their lives would face an implosion.
IV
“911, where is your emergency?”
“I need an ambulance here with urgency!” yelled a voice in a frantic manner. “It’s at 14 Harbor Manor!”
“Ok ma’am, tell me what happened.”
“I’m hearing screams and I think there’s a stabbing! I think someone broke into my neighbor’s house.”
“I’ll send help over without a doubt. Are you able to see the crime occurring?”
“No but it sounds so loud that I'm worrying. Please just hurry it sounds really violent!”
The phone hung up and the line went silent.
*******
‘Twas the first day of spring and her heart wanted to sing because Dan had proposed with a ring and a rose. His lady was driving and on her way home with a smile on her face and a glow just like chrome. But she didn’t know that Noreen had been trailing her, for almost an hour with plans of derailing her.
She walked in the door and Noreen was behind her, the stabbing commenced like a horror scene reminder. The poor young lady got slashed all over, before she knew it her life was all over. Blood on the walls, blood on the ceiling, the murder scene was a nauseous feeling.
The murder setting was unforgetting. Police walked in and could smell the sin. It was quite horrid and no one was there, just a dead woman with blood-soaked hair. Police expeditiously took tons of pics. They found a weapon as long as a stick. The shiny knife looked just like a machete. It was clear that the victim wasn’t ready.
The cops found out the ‘how’ in one try, now they had to discover the ‘why’.
*******
An hour later Dan arrived at her house. He became overwhelmed when he found out. Immediately on him the focus turned, he broke down quick as the truth he learned. He volunteered to go over to the station, to answer questions for a long duration. He wanted to help the cops find out, who killed his fiancé without a doubt.
The police interrogation lasted the longest. Dan’s emotions were the strongest when speaking with the police detectives, he got emotional and reflective. He was at work when this occurred.
“If I were the killer that’d be absurd!”
He told them everything he could tell, except the affair, he didn’t go there.
‘It’s in the past and it’s irrelevant...’
He’d kept Noreen in a separate element, away from what was his wife to be. Now his life was filled with grief. Now police were grilling him good, no holds barred, just as they should. He was treated like he was the suspect, proving him guilty was the subject. Especially since the 911 call, described the killer as male and all.
Finally when the questioning was over. They had the info they needed to go over. Dan had no reason to be terrified, the very next day his alibi was verified. He was recorded at work on tape, the very same time the murder took place. This sent investigators back to square one. The victim’s fiancé was no longer their one and only person who they thought had did it. It was clear he hadn't committed it.
Detectives began to focus their attention on what the anonymous caller had mentioned. They traced the call to a mile from the crime. The police were determined and on their grind. And in due time it was easy to realize, the 911 call was filled with real lies.
The cops noted all of the inconsistencies, and found out there were many deficiencies. The murder synopsis did not make sense, the investigation changed ever since.
V
Detectives became even more inquisitive. The murder scene was constantly revisited. They roamed around where it all took place, they found dry blood on a nearby staircase. This turned out to be a lucky break that was previously overlooked by mistake.
Samples were taken back to the lab, to see what information they had. Tests were ran, three a day, to find a link to DNA. But first they had to identify a suspect, before matching blood or their boss would be upset. This required much more work, to make the investigation work. Time forged on, the cops did too, they kept going back like they needed to do.
*******
In the meantime and in between time, the plan continued inside of Noreen’s mind. She was putting on moves like soccer. On a mission and nothing could stop her. She stood by Dan as a sobbing man; doing him favors and being his crutch, seeing him daily with gifts and such.
Dan had started to always confide in her. Sometimes he would even reside with her. Their relationship rekindled like the spring. But she was still married, and drama that would bring.
Her scheme was working and Dan was all hers. The feelings they developed were strong as all words. It’s what she wanted and what she seeked, but her full intention was not complete. Now the only one in her way, of being with Dan every day, was her husband and she knew, exactly what she had to do.
VI
The plot was set and Jack was surprised, Noreen his wife was way in disguise. A candlelight dinner she’d orchestrated; the cozy setting was the greatest. There was food, wine and all. He was expecting a good time and all. But then he noticed that she was sneaking, even when he wasn’t peeking. What he saw from his wife, confused and baffled his eyesight.
Jack remained quiet with no fuss or diatribe, when seeing some meds that he knew were not prescribed. He never expected for it to be cyanide. She put it in his wine and that was that, but he assumed it was an aphrodisiac. As soon as he walked into the dining room, Noreen was startled because it was too soon. She cracked a smile and he returned it. This lovely dinner he felt he earned it.
They sat and ate and talked and laughed. After that she went for a bath. He had a sip of the savory wine, and for a while he felt sublime. He leaned his head back on the couch, and had a grin across his mouth.
Jack looked forward to getting kinky, however his legs were getting tingly. He stood up quick to go check on Noreen but he no longer felt serene. His vision blurred like a fading camera. His legs gave out like he had no stamina. His senses got faint, then poor Jack fainted, and with unconsciousness he became acquainted.
Once Noreen heard her husband pass out, from the bathroom she brought her ass out. She went to his body to check on his breathing.
‘He’s finally dead,’ is what she was believing.
Noreen thought she had a successful plot, she thought he was dead but he really was not. She cleared the setting and prepared to leave, with plans of returning and finding him deceased. However, immediately after she exited, he started to vomit like he was the exorcist.
He woke feeling bad like his time had come. His very first thought was to call 911. He couldn’t get up so he moved like a snail, he now realized what his wife’s plan entailed. Jack was able to make it to his cell, and call for help as he wasn’t feeling well. Before the call’s end he passed out again, before he could tell of the danger he was in.
By him now being in this critical condition, Jack was now in a critical position. He told on his wife and gave his rendition of everything she had done.
She threatened his life because she was wishing for everything to be done. ?
?She thought she had won but luckily he made it, it was blessing he escaped being faded.
*******
Noreen got arrested and taken into custody. Her husband had much more faith than a mustard seed that she would get caught, but that's not what he sought. At least not really, his snitching felt silly. But she'd tried to kill him, which meant she didn't feel him, or want him alive. Her plan was contrived.
An excuse she would try it, but they didn't buy it. Investigators knew and they could not deny it. She claimed that the poison had come from his job. Such a good actress she even gave a sob. But she didn't know that her husband observed her, lacing his drink so that he could be murdered. Police knew it though. Jack went through it so, the cops wanted justice. And Jack was disgusted with what she'd attempted. He knew that she meant it.
Noreen was charged for the homicide endeavor. The Burr County court would convict her altogether.
VII
Police took her things and checked her phone log, discovering that she had made a phone call the very same night of the poisonous plight. The call was to Dan, an interesting man who they wanted to check and discretely scan.
The very next day they did not rest, they traveled to Ace County on an information quest. Why would Noreen have called this man? Maybe he was involved in her plan. Maybe he wasn't, they didn't know. That is what gave them a reason to go.