Document of Expectations

Monday, 9:10 a.m.

24 “tell me again who found smoke rise,” monique asked. “Department secretary,” said ogden, he had his thumbs tucked in his belt again. “she’s down in her office. mary’s fairly calm, but we called the health center doctor to come over to see if she needs some Valium or something.” “Don’t give it to her yet,” said monique. “i want to talk to her.” monDaY, 9:10 a.m. after an hour of taking photographs and bagging evidence, the police allowed the body of tony smoke rise to be removed. the ambulance attendant tucked the dead man’s long ponytail into the bag before zipping it and lifting it onto the gurney. Klaus also left for the morgue. “shame,” said clarke. “Handsome guy.” He then saw a framed picture of tony and three other people on a high bookshelf. “Look, indians.” monique looked up at the photo. “What a hell of a detective you are.” “not really. seems obvious as the balls on a boxer dog.” monique felt her eyes water even though she didn’t feel like crying. “What’s wrong? You cryin’?” she pushed her glasses to the top of her head and wiped her eyes. “nothing ’s wrong.” “Yes, there is too something.” she sighed. “an indian. Goddamit.” “You can’t take it personally, monique.” “sure i can.” “How can you take it personally if you don’t know him?” “i don’t have to know him.” “You always feel like this when it’s an indian?” “Yes. i do.” “that’s quite a burden you’re hauling around.” “it’s always something, clarke. it never ends for us. racism, poverty, discrimination, self-abuse, stereotypes. murder’s just part of it.” “all right. so indians get killed just like everyone else. every day. it’s not your fault.” “i’m not saying it’s my fault, clarke. We’ve been dying for over 500 years 25 and it sure as hell is someone’s fault. more than a few people. it’s the colonizers ’ fault for doing it to us and it’s our fault for letting it happen.” “okay.” He knew better than to argue with monique. she’d die trying to eradicate the country of racism. on top of that, her brother had been killed by some drunken white guys and that was her main reason for turning to law enforcement. revenge combined with intense anger towards the dominant society could be dangerous motivators. He worried about her. “check out this one,” he said as he picked up another framed photo. monique looked at the five people, clearly two parents and three children . one was tony, smiling with straight white teeth. His long-haired father smiled with the same teeth and towered over everyone in the picture. tony looked about six feet. Dad stood three inches taller and mom a few inches shorter. “mama looks like she could whip some butt,” said clarke. the woman’s dark brows framed intense, slanted eyes. she wore her black hair streaked with gray and pulled back at the sides, fastened with tortoiseshell clips. she appeared dangerous in a mature, cat-woman sort of way. two young men who looked alike stood next to tony. Both appeared to be smiling reluctantly, and monique figured they didn’t like having their pictures taken. one had sunglasses on his head that held back his hair. the other brother wore his hair in a single hair-and-leather braid that fell over his shoulder to his hip. He had inherited his mother’s threatening stare. “imposing family,” said clarke. monique looked at the photo once more. she recognized the look in the woman’s eyes. “Here.” she handed the frame back to clarke. “i have a feeling something significant will hit the fan when they find out what happened to their son.” monDaY, 9:15 a.m. after monique and clarke completed their initial investigation, they removed their gloves and jackets. as they left tony’s office, meg returned from printing the doors. ...