The Strange Case of Apartment 1204

Bryan Harris flicked through the T.V channels, showing disinterest in most of the shows that were being aired. Not in the mood for reality shows...or comedy...or the news which is mostly always depressing, he thought to himself as he pressed the button on his remote and watched the channels change. He checked his watch and saw that it was 11:35 P.M. It was a Saturday and his friends from work had asked him to spend the night at the bar downtown called The Fireside, but he had declined because he had wanted to spend the night by himself. Now he was having second thoughts.

Bryan sighed and shut the T.V off and went to the balcony to get some fresh air. He slid the glass door to his balcony, feeling refreshed. He should probably try calling Ray or Vanessa or Sam, they'd probably still be there. He reached for his pocket and went to his contacts looking for their names. He pressed on Sam's name and waited for him to pick up his phone.

Across his apartment, he could see that there was the second apartment building. A few rooms were lit, some had curtains on. However, he caught an eye of a woman and a man arguing. He could see them clearly through the semi-transparent curtains. Bryan himself had suffered from heartbreaks in the past and now he just wanted to focus on his career until he met the right woman.

"Come on, Sam, pick up, pick up," Bryan muttered, when he noticed the woman holding a knife. His eyes widened with fear as the man began raising his arms in front of him as if to calm her down when the woman slashed his throat. Bryan covered his mouth, going inside the room again. He couldn't believe he just witnessed something like that. When he looked back at the room across from his building, the lights in that apartment were gone. For a second he looked at the dark room.

"Bryan? Yo, Bryan are you there?" It was Sam's voice in his ears.

"Sam?" Bryan managed to say.

"Finally, I've been calling out to you for the past few minutes, sorry, my phone was on silent I just saw -"

"Sam, I'll call you back," Bryan said, ending the call and calling the police's number instead.

"State your emergency," he heard on the other side of the line.

He felt his palms sweating as he stammered, "Hello...I'd...I'd like to report a murder."

~

Detective Jasper questioned Bryan about what he had witnessed. Bryan told him everything, what he saw through the window and how the man had been killed.

Now half an hour later, Detective Jasper, another detective named Walter, three other policemen and Bryan were at apartment 1204. The neighbors and the security guard were there too.

"Open this room," Detective Jasper told the security guard, then he searched for the right key.

"Are you sure you saw it happen in this room?" one of the neighbors, a man in his twenties, asked skeptically.

"Yes, definitely this room," Bryan replied. He went to the window and he could see his apartment room right across from this. "That right there is my apartment. I saw the murder happen here."

"How is that possible," another neighbor, a woman with red hair, said, furrowing her eyebrows. "No one has lived here for the past five years."

"What?" Bryan asked the woman, confused. "No, there were people here. There's a dead body in there. A guy was murdered."

"The door's opened sir," the security guard said, and the police officers went inside first. They turned on the light and looked around. There was nothing there. No body, no blood, no knife.

"As I said, no one's lived here for five years," the woman said, nodding.

"No, this was definitely the place," Bryan said, looking around for any evidence. He saw the semi-transparent curtains and pushing them out of the way, he could see his apartment clearly. He had just been standing there half an hour ago, on the phone with Sam, witnessing a murder. But the room looked clean. There was no sign of the murder taking place.

"Check all the rooms," Detective Walter stated and the other officers went around the apartment. Then, he faced Bryan and asked, "You said you saw a man and a woman arguing here? And the woman attacked and killed this man. Correct?"

"Yes," Bryan said.

"It's just not possible," a third neighbor stated. "No one has lived here for five years, this apartment has been empty."

Detective Walter approaches the security guard, "What's your name?"

"Tom Johnston," he replied.

"Tom, has anyone arrived inside the apartment around the time of 11 to 11:45?"

"No sir."

"Have you seen anyone leave? Any woman? Or man?"

"No, sir. It would all be in the records."

Detective Walter looked at Bryan and asked, "Do you remember how this woman looked like?"

"I couldn't see their faces from my apartment," Bryan answered. "But the woman was wearing a blue half-sleeved shirt and jeans. Her hair was either black or dark-brown. The man also had black hair and he was wearing all black."

"Saw anyone with such clothes today?" Detective Walter asked Tom.

"No, I haven't," Tom said, after a while.

"Honestly, detective," the third neighbor, a tall man with a moustache who was in his pyjamas said again. "Do you actually believe this murder took place? This apartment has been locked for years. We rarely even see the owner here. On top of that, there's no evidence, if someone died, there should be a dead body."

"The officers are still searching," Bryan said, defensively.

"Sir, we didn't find anything, everything seems to be alright," the other officers came in the room and stated.

"Are you sure?" Detective Walter asked.

"Positive," another officer said.

"See? The guy's probably a lunatic," the neighbor added with spite.

"What did you say? WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Bryan said, taking the tall man by the collar. "I JUST WITNESSED SOMETHING HORRIFYING AND YOU'RE SAYING I'M THE LUNATIC?!"

"Mr. Harris, please, calm down," Detective Jasper said, as he watched the two police officers pulling Bryan away from the tall man.

"Definitely mad," the tall man said, angrily as he stormed off. The other neighbors too, looked at Bryan with disgust and began walking away.

"Hold on, the rest of you," Detective Walter said, as the other neighbors stopped in their tracks and faced him. "None of you heard anything in this room? No scuffling? No argument? Nothing?"

"You expect us to hear things when no one's living here?" the tall man asked, annoyed.

"Bryan says he saw the two people arguing before she killed him," Detective Walter said. "And none of you heard anything? That's a bit odd."

"If we heard something, we'd definitely tell you, officer," the woman with the red hair, said. She looked exhausted, after all it was past midnight.

"Alright, we'll ask you all if anything comes up," Detective Walter said. "You may leave for now."

As the last neighbors left, Detective Jasper took him aside and said in a low voice, "There's no evidence that the murder took place. Could he really have seen this?"

"Both of you think I'm mental," Bryan said, overhearing Detective Jasper. "Look, I swear to God I saw the woman kill him. It scared me to death."

Detective Walter looked at Bryan carefully and then said, "You should go home and get some sleep too, it's late." He asked one of the officers to escort Bryan back to his own apartment. Bryan looked around the room, where there was no evidence which seemed impossible. Shaking his head, he left apartment 1204.

~

"This is a very strange case," Detective Jasper said as Detective Walter looked through the records. "Bryan says he saw the murder happen when there has been no murder. There's no evidence."

"Something's up," Detective Walter said, then after a pause he added, "But I believe Bryan."

"How can you say that, Walter? Where's the evidence supporting your statement?" Detective Jasper asked. "Perhaps he has a disorder he doesn't know about."

"Jasper, don't talk like that guy upstairs," Detective Walter said. "Perhaps someone hid the body and cleared up the evidence. I believe more people are involved in this murder."

"But how can anyone remove evidence so quickly?" Detective Jasper questioned. "Attacked by a knife, the floor was all clean. No blood anywhere."

"There are definitely other people involved. Plus, the security guard, Tom, says he hasn't seen anyone leave or arrive inside the building. That can only mean one or more of the people living inside this building is, or are, the culprit."

"Well, there's a possibility that Tom is in on the murder as well," Detective Jasper said, quietly. "They could bribe him."

"Yes, we should keep an eye on him and on most of the people in this building, also we need to find out who the owner of apartment 1204 is. We could find a lot of connections from there," Detective Walter said. "Last thing, I also believe Bryan's life could be in danger, after all, he saw the murder happen."

"Right, I'll make sure an officer is making sure he's safe," Detective Jasper said, nodding.

Tom walked towards them and asked if everything in the records was alright. "We'll be needing a copy of this," Detective Walter said. "By the way, we want to know who owns the apartment 1204."

"It's owned by this woman named Georgina Stevenson," Tom said. "She barely comes to visit, she officially lives in Oregon, however I have seen her son come at the apartment twice a year."

"And what's this son's name?"

"Dean Stevenson," Tom replied.

"I see, do you have any contact of him?"

"I can ask the manager for his contacts," he replied.

~

"Did you receive Dean Stevenson's address and number?" Detective Jasper asked.

"Yes, just did. His house is on the outskirts of town and from his call traces he is currently in town," Detective Walter said. "See anything suspicious on the records?"

"Not really, the last person to enter the building was a person named Gordon Fisherman at 10:32 P.M, the same person to call Bryan a lunatic to be precise," Detective Jasper said. "You better call this Dean guy, ask him if he had given any access to anyone at his mother's apartment."

"I'm on it," Detective Walter said, dialling the phone number.

After three rings, a frantic voice answered, "Hello? Hello?"

"Hello, this is Detective Walter from the Police Department," he replied. "Is this the Stevenson residence?"

"...Yes," the voice, which belonged to a woman, quivered through the receiver. She seemed nervous, Detective Walter thought. Could she be involved in the murder somehow?

"I would like to speak to Dean Stevenson please," he stated.

"So this call isn't to inform me that you've found my son?"

"Are you...Mrs. Georgina Stevenson?" Detective Walter asked, looking at Detective Jasper, who had his eyebrows raised. "Weren't you in Oregon?"

"I came here the day before," Mrs. Stevenson replied. "Dean had left the same night saying he had to do something important and then he hasn't come back. I called the police to file a missing report this morning and...I thought...when you called..."

Detective Walter began to hear sobs. "Mam, please, we need your help, we want to ask you who has access to your apartment 1204?"

"Just me and Dean, why?"

"Is he currently in custody of the key?" Detective Walter asked.

"Yes...why?"

"Do you know what he was wearing the last time you saw him? What color is his hair?" Detective Walter asked, hoping he might be wrong. Detective Jasper looked at his partner expectantly.

"Dark hair," Mrs. Stevenson replied, quietly. "He had on a grey t-shirt, dark jeans and a leather jacket."

Detective Jasper raised his eyebrows as if asking, Well?

The latter nodded and Detective Jasper ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head sadly.

Detective Walter sighed. This was the most dreadful part of the job, to confront the victims loved ones. He was pretty certain about it now. Bryan hadn't imagined the whole thing, after all. "Mrs. Stevenson, I don't know how to tell you this but...I don't think your son will be coming back."