Chapter 1 - Fighting Chance

This is the first chapter of the book.

        With Michael’s house now a crime scene, he spoke with homicide detectives as the investigation was done. “So, you’ve found her dead right here Mr. Wheeler?” said one homicide detective. “Yes.” said Michael. “Are you absolutely sure of that?” said another homicide detective. “Yes.” said Michael. “Can you tell us if your wife had any enemies? We like to know if there are anyone with a motive to do this.” said one homicide detective. “Honestly, I can’t think of any. I’m sure there were many that disliked my wife’s work as a human rights advocate. I just never believed that something like this would happen.” said Michael. “So, you can’t think of anyone at all?” said the other homicide detective. “Wait a minute, there is someone I can think of. Daniel James.” said Michael, “Who is he?” said one homicide detective. “My training officer. Yesterday I stopped him from unjustly stopping an innocent man. He got angry with me about it.” said Michael. “Can you think of anyone else?” said the other homicide detective. “No.” said Michael. “Okay. We will contact you if we find out any new information.” said one homicide detective. Later, that day, Michael was called over to Commissioner Thomas James’ office. In there was the head of the police force sitting at his desk. Daniel was in the room too along with the homicide detectives from earlier. “Yes sir. Officer Michael Wheeler here.” said Michael. “Officer Wheeler, I believe that these detectives have been questioning my cousin Daniel regarding the murder of your wife.” said Commissioner James. “Wait a minute. He’s your cousin?” said Michael as he looked at Daniel. “You’re damn right. He is.” said Daniel. “And yes, I believe you have something to do with my wife’s death.” said Michael. “I don’t. I was nowhere near your house when that happened, and I have proof.” said Daniel as he pulled out his phone and showed a picture of himself eating at a restaurant with a time stamp and date that matched the one for Shawna’s death. Michael, the homicide detectives and Thomas viewed the picture closely. “It’s true. You didn’t do it. Well, I will not rest until I find her killer.” said Michael. “Well good luck with that. Oh, and I will be letting this slide this time. You ever accuse me of something like this again and I will take it to court.” said Daniel. Michael sighed and said, “Sorry.” “Good. Now that is out of the way. You two can continue with your training. Before you go Wheeler, I got to ask you something.” said Commissioner James. “Yes?” said Michael. “Have you and I met before?” said Commissioner James. “No. This is the first time we ever seen each other.” said Michael. “Oh okay. Well, carry on.” said Commissioner James. “We apologize for this as well.” said one of the homicide detectives as they leave the room. With no idea on what to do except think of the note, Michael spent his nights at bars in the neighborhood when getting off shift while staring at the note that his wife’s killer had left. When every glimmer of hope seemed lost for Michael, he found himself approached by the same African American man in a white suit. “Hey.” said the man in a white suit. Michael looked at the man and said, “Yes?” “Awesome. I knew I’d find you in a place like this.” said the man in a white suit. “Why would you want to find me?” said Michael. “You don’t remember me from the other day?” said the man in a white suit. It took Michael a few minutes for him to open his eyes clearly and say, “Oh right. You’re that guy I protected.” “Exactly. And honestly, I didn’t really need to be saved. I could’ve gotten out of that situation myself.” said the man in a white suit. “What do you mean by that?” said Michael. “I will reveal that when the time is right.” said the man in a white suit. “So, what do you want with me anyway?” said Michael. “I’m here to repay you for standing up for me.” said the man in a white suit. “Repay me how?” said Michael. “You want to find your wife’s killer, right?” said the man in a white suit. “Yes. You want to help me in this?” said Michael. “Of course. I may have what you need to succeed in solving this case.” said the man in a white suit. “I guess I have no other choice. I’ve gotten nowhere farther in this. Anyway, what’s your name?” said Michael. “My name is Kenan. Kenan Johnston.” said Kenan. Michael pulled out his cell phone and looked up Kenan’s name via search engine. “Kenan Johnston. Wait a minute. You’re the owner of Johnston Industries.” said Michael. “Yes.” said Kenan. “This is amazing. You guys run an amazing business.” said Michael. “Thanks. May I have your name?” said Kenan. “It’s Michael. Michael Wheeler.” said Michael. “It’s great to meet you, Michael. Anyway, how about you come to my house?” said Kenan. “Okay sure. Just remember I am a police officer. If you try anything funny, I will shoot you.” said Michael. “Fair enough.” said Kenan as he led Michael out of the bar. Kenan then took Michael to his house on Columbia Road via rideshare. Inside the house there was a petite Caucasian woman with long red hair wearing a blouse sitting on the living room couch. “Kenan, you are home.” said the red-haired woman as she approached Kenan and embraced him. “I’m glad to be back.” said Kenan as he hugged the red-haired woman back while rubbing her stomach. The red-haired woman giggled and looked at Michael and said, “Who’s this Kenan?” “This is Michael Wheeler. He is the nice police officer who helped me the other night.” said Kenan. “Oh, you’re the nice, good cop who protected my hubby from that racist? Thank you for doing that.” said the red-haired woman. “No problem. I was just doing my job keeping the peace.” said Michael. “Well anyway. Michael, this is my lovely wife Elysia. She is the co-owner of Johnston Industries. As you can see, we got little ones on the way.” said Kenan. “Oh, that is awesome news. Congratulations to both of you.” said Michael. “Thank you. Anyway, say Elysia, Michael and I will be downstairs in the basement. I will be having him test you-know-what.” said Kenan. “Wait, you’re giving him that?” said Elysia. “Yes. I feel that it is good to do so. I feel like he needs it if wants to find his wife’s killer.” said Kenan. “I see. Well Mr. Wheeler I wish you nothing but the best in your investigation.” said Elysia. “Thank you, Mrs. Johnston.” said Michael. “Okay now. Follow me, Michael.” said Kenan. “Got it.” said Michael as he let Kenan led him down to the basement room. Michael flinched and grabbed his gun as the windows shut, got covered with metal partitions and the lights in the room turned on automatically. “Settle down now. It does that by itself. This is a precaution so no one can see what we’re doing down here. Also, we have lights down here.” said Kenan. “Okay.” said Michael as he let go of his handgun. “Over here.” said Kenan as he walked Michael over to his shelf and grabbed a cardboard rectangular box. “Okay. Say what’s in that box?” said Michael. “It’s what you need for your investigation. Take it.” said Kenan as he handed Michael the box. “Okay.” said Michael as he took the box, opened it and noticed that the container had a silver encrusted metallic wristwatch. “There. What do you think?” said Kenan. “I’m thinking how is a watch going to help me catch a killer?” said Michael. “I’m not kidding you, Michael. That watch is more important than you think.” said Kenan. “What do you mean by that?” said Michael. “That watch in your hand is a time machine. I named it The Cassius.” said Kenan. “This is a time machine?” said Michael. “Yes.” said Kenan. “Then that means you are…,” said Michael. “You are right. I am the Time Guardian.” said Kenan. “I heard about you when I was at the police academy. Everyone spoke about you nonstop.” said Michael. “Great. Now as a way of returning the favor of standing up for me, you may use that watch to bring that killer to justice.” said Kenan. “Before I do that, there is one thing I like to do with it.” said Michael. “Sure. What timeline are you planning to visit?” said Kenan. “I want to see my childhood self. My wife and I were childhood friends. We would play together all the time.” said Michael. “I see. One more thing. Whenever you use the watch, I want you to say: ‘Cassius activate!”, said Kenan. “Okay, I will look at this as a test run.” said Michael. And so, Michael set the date on his watch twenty years prior to the night of going into Kenan’s house. “Remember the catchphrase.” said Kenan. “Oh right. Cassius activate!!” said Michael. At an instant, the watch glowed red and a time portal appeared in the room. “Jump in the portal Michael.” said Kenan. “Okay.” said Michael as he did as Kenan said. And with that, Michael took Kenan’s watch as gaining a fighting chance to solve the case behind Shawna’s death.