DECEPTIO (Excerpt)

CHAPTER 5

Camilla was tired, her feet ached and she had a headache. She was emotionally and physically drained from the shooting of Senator Partridge and the events that had taken place subsequently as a result of that shooting. All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head and not have to wake up for several days.

However, she couldn’t do that. There was an investigation to be conducted. The person or persons responsible for the murder of Senator Robert Partridge had to be caught and brought to justice. Which was the reason why she and Jeremiah had been going round the student hostels on campus, in conjunction with other FBI agents and police officers from the Chicago Police Department, asking questions and hoping that someone had some useful information they could use that would help them catch the killer. So far, they had come up with nothing useful.

She and Jeremiah had been assigned to the C Tower of the James Stukel Towers, the newest hall of residence on the UIC campus. It was a modern building comprising mainly of glass and steel and it had four towers, all of which gave you different, panoramic views of the Chicago skyline. It was capable of housing 740 students in 4, 5 and person suites. Every two floors were connected by a lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Each hall of residence had what it called a Special Interest Community made up students who were studying the same course. This enabled them to form friendships and share ideas with people from their own fields. There was also a member of faculty living on the premises who was there to help them with any problems they were having.

Presently, she and Jeremiah were on the 7^th floor which housed the Arts/Architecture and Graphic Design Community. They had been interviewing the students they could find in their rooms for some hours and by now, they knew the responses to expect. No one had seen anything suspicious while on the field or noticed anything out of place in the days or weeks leading up to the speech. No one that is except Carey Payton.

Carey was in her first year at UIC and she seemed to really want to help. At first, Camilla and Jeremiah had thought that she just might have seen something. Until it occurred to them that Carey saw everything. Even what other people hadn’t seen.

Based on what she had told them, over the past week she had noticed a short guy with a squint and a limp in his right leg who was disguised as an electrician. According to Carey, he had looked like the “special forces guys you see on television, you know; Green Beret and marines’ type”. She’d noticed that he had been dressed in overalls and carried a bag which then she had thought contained his tools. Now that she thought about it, it had probably contained a gun which he used to kill the senator. However, when it came to getting her to describe what he looked like, they had run into a brick wall. She had vacillated between whether the guy had brown or blonde hair and whether he had a scar or not. When she finally decided he had a scar, she couldn’t decide whether it was on the right or left side of his face or the length. It was obvious she had been watching too many movies.

Jeremiah and Camilla had concluded that there was nothing to be gained by prolonging the interview. Over the past few months they had been working together, they had developed a kind of telepathic communication. At times, all that was needed was a look to pass between them for one or both of them to understand what the other was saying. This time, such a look had passed and they had both stood up at the same time, bringing the interview to an end.

“Thank you very much Casey. I must say that you have been very helpful,” Jeremiah said as he closed his notebook and put it into the pocket of his FBI jacket. “With the description that you’ve given us, I wouldn’t be surprised if we caught the guy before the week was up.”

Casey’s green eyes glowed brightly. “Are you serious? If you catch him, will you let people know that I was the one who told you what he looked like?”

“Certainly,” Jeremiah said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t get to appear on television,” he continued, tongue in cheek, watching as her eyes grew wider. Then he seemed to remember something and he frowned. “However, it might not be safe to mention your name or let you appear on television.

“Why?” Casey wailed.

“Well,” Jeremiah said, as he thought about it, “he might not be working alone. In fact, most likely he was sent by some people who had a grouse against the senator. If we mention your name or let you appear on television, they’re going to come after you.”

“Why?” she squealed. “What did I do?”

“Well, they’re going to say that you ratted on their guy and you and I know that these criminal guys don’t like that,” Jeremiah said solemnly.

Camilla didn’t know whether or not to laugh as the joy and triumph on Casey’s face changed to disappointment, then fear.

“I understand. I don’t think I would want to appear on television though,” she said, shrugging. “I’m not a showy person and I’m sure people would have been stopping me on the road and all that I wouldn’t have a life.” Then she seemed to think of something and a worried frown marred her brow. “Are you sure you won’t mention my name?”    

“I promise,” Jeremiah said as he began to walk toward the door.

Outside, Camilla shook her hand. “Thank you very much.”

Casey gave a tremulous smile as she did battle with her fear. “Just doing my duty,” she said. “Well, it was nice talking to you,” she said as she closed the door.

Camilla punched Jeremiah’s arm.

“Ouch,” he said as he rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”

“For lying to the poor girl and then leading her on,” she answered.

“It’s not my fault,” he said, shrugging. “The poor girl wanted to feel useful and needed.”

“But you didn’t have to lie to her about catching anybody. You know the description she gave us was pretty useless. We both know she never saw anyone.”

Jeremiah shrugged again. “It was fun.”

Camilla knocked on the next door. “I would appreciate it if you could curb your comedic instincts until we finish what we came to do,” she said dryly.

“I’ll try,” he said sighing mournfully, “but it won’t be easy.”

Camilla waited a few minutes for someone to answer her knock. When no one came to open the door, she knocked again even as she wondered if there was anyone inside. She had raised her hand to knock a third time when the door suddenly opened.

“Yes? How may I help you?” the girl who stood behind the open door asked.

Camilla smiled even as she and Jeremiah flashed their badges as they had done numerous times that day. “FBI. My name is Camilla Rodriguez and this is my colleague, Jeremiah Walker. We wondered if we could come in and speak with you. We need to ask a few questions about what happened today.”

The girl looked from Camilla to Jeremiah. “You mean the senator’s murder don’t you?” she asked.

Camilla nodded. The girl opened the door wider and stepped back, indicating that Camilla and Jeremiah could come in. Camilla followed Jeremiah into a tastefully furnished living room. There was a television set and two different looking settees’ in the room. There were also different colored throw pillows scattered all over the room. There were also personal pictures of people Camilla guessed were some of the other occupants of the room on every available surface.   

“Are your other roommates around?” Camilla asked as she took in the contents of the room in a glance.

“No. They’ve all gone out,” the girl replied. “Please sit down. My name is Sheldon. Sheldon Gaines. Can I offer both of you anything? Tea or coffee? I’m sorry but I don’t have anything stronger than that.”

“Nothing, thank you very much. Whose room is that?” Camilla asked, pointing to a door that had the poster of the Christian rock band Kutless.

“It’s mine,” Sheldon replied. “Why?” she asked defensively.

Camilla smiled. She could almost feel Sheldon’s animosity and her readiness to defend her faith and what she believed in. “Nothing. I’m a fan too. But I think that I prefer Jars of Clay.”

“You’re a Christian,” Sheldon asked, her eyes growing wider. When Camilla nodded, she smiled. “Cool,” she said enthusiastically.

Camilla didn’t know how long they spent discussing their favorite Christian bands, musicians and songs. They were in the middle of discussing the latest album by one of the bands that they both liked when a voice broke into their conversation. “I really hate to break up this musical love in, but we really do need to get on with why we came here.”

Both Camilla and Sheldon turned to look at Jeremiah. Sheldon took one look at Jeremiah’s bored looking face and turned back to Camilla. “He’s not a Christian is he?” she asked even though she already knew the answer.

Camilla shook her head as she answered, “No, he isn’t.”

Sheldon sighed. “I guessed as much.” She sighed again and asked, “So, what do you want to know?”

“Thank you,” Jeremiah replied, his lips curving in a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “First of all, were you at the venue of the senator’s speech this morning?”

Sheldon grimaced. “Yes, I was. He’s not, I mean he wasn’t exactly my most favorite person in the world; neither did I care much for his politics. But I had an idea that whatever he had to say might probably affect me sooner or later. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go hear what he had to say. And I was right.”

Jeremiah refrained from asking what she had been right about. “Did you notice anything strange or out of place while you were there?” he asked. “Maybe there was something that happened that you felt was suspicious and made you wonder?”

Sheldon thought about it for a few minutes then shook her head. “To be honest, I didn’t notice anything suspicious. The only thing I really did wonder about was why there was so much security around the senator.”

Jeremiah sighed. “What about in the days leading up to the speech? Or even in the past few weeks? Did you notice anything or anyone that seemed to be out of place, that didn’t fit in? Or was there an event that got you thinking that maybe something was up?”

Again Sheldon seemed to think about it for a few seconds then she shook he head. “No, there’s nothing that I can think of. Everything has been just the same.”

Jeremiah nodded. “What about you? Did you kill the senator?”

Camilla gasped. Sheldon looked at Jeremiah for a few seconds, her face expressionless. Then she laughed softly. “Is it because I’m a Christian? Don’t tell me you’ve been asking everybody the same question?”

Jeremiah rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m sorry. Forget I said that. I must be more tired than I thought. Sorry for taking up your time. I’m grateful for your help.” He stood up.

Camilla and Sheldon both stood up. Sheldon looked at Camilla. “There’s going to be trouble soon, right?”

Camilla looked from Sheldon to Jeremiah to Sheldon confused. “What trouble?” she asked.

Sheldon looked at both agents. “People are going to blame Christians for the senator’s death aren’t they? They’re going to want to kill Christians because they’re going to think Christians killed the senator.”

DECEPTIO is JC Cruz first novel. It's published by WestBow Press (http://www.westbowpress.com/), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.