The Tic Toc Murders

CHAPTER 1

  He seethed inside.  As hard as he tried, no one was willing to take a chance on him.  He had done all the work, taken all the classes, but to no avail.  All he saw was less talented people being chosen ahead of him.  The talent agents just kept sending him rejections.  This last one was the final straw.  It was from a little known agency on Lombard Street.  It had been at least 4 weeks since he had sent in his submission.  All he got back was a form letter stating the same old thing…. “Thank you for your interest in our agency, but, at the present, we have many people of your type already and can’t use you at this time.  Please feel free to resubmit in 6 months”.  Same stupid reply.  Some of his friends were represented by this agency and they weren’t half as talented as he was. The agency’s name was Smart Talent, and it was owned by a, has been, talent scout named Mary Trenter.  He had met her once at a party for new actors and had tried to kiss her ass.  She seemed to be interested in him and told him to submit his head shot and resume.

Finally, he was going to get a break.  But, just like every other chicken shit agent in this town, she wasn’t honest and strong enough to reject him to his face.  They must like the power to reject someone with just a form letter, he thought.  But, this was the last rejection Jack Townsend was going to accept.  He decided he would make them pay.  They would provide him with his way to get his fifteen minutes of fame.

CHAPTER 2

      It was just another day for detective Hal Warner.  He walked into the office, said his usual hellos and sat down at his desk with a cup of coffee.  His office was kind of dark and dingy with no windows.  Not much for a 20 year veteran.  All he had was his desk and chair.  The precinct was very old and hadn’t been upgraded in years because of budget cuts.  It didn’t even have video surveillance equipment.   As he began to sip his coffee, his eyes zeroed in on an envelope in his bin with just his name on it and nothing else.  He was just a little cautious opening it, what with the recent anthrax scares, but he saw no unusual powder or anything.  Inside was a single piece of none descript, white paper with a chilling poem.

“Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,”

“The clock is ticking, tic, tic, tic,”

“Five is the number to keep in your head,”

“Before this is over, all five will be dead.”

      That was it.  Kind of a simple poem Hal thought.  Was this some kind of joke?  Hal took it around the office to see if anyone had seen a strange person hanging near his desk.  But, he got a negative response. So, he put the letter in the middle drawer and dismissed the whole thing as some kind of prank.  He got busy with the pressing cases and forgot about the strange poem.

     Hal’s partner was Janie Platt.  She had just joined the division and had been assigned to him.  She was likable enough and very eager to please.  This was Hal’s 20th year on the  force and 8th year as a detective.  She was well aware of his experience and was a little intimidated by him, but tried not to show it.  He on the other hand was benefiting from her rookie enthusiasm.  She had gotten her degree in criminology before she joined the force. Whereas, Hal never went to college, but had the street smarts.  He was very happy with her, though, because she was as smart as she was good looking.  He showed her the letter, but she didn’t know anything about it either. Today they had the mundane task of checking out the murder of a homeless guy on south of Market but, things would soon change.