Detective Chaka

Photo by Egor Kamelev:

Detective Chaka sluggishly hurried out the house and climbed into her car. With a sigh, she hesitated a little before she turned the key on the ignition, revving her old Land Rover to life. She began her drive back to the precinct. The roads were relatively empty at this time of day. It was the early hours of the morning.

At that moment, Chaka's mind was anything but quiet. She struggled to fight her sleepy eyes from shutting. She found herself reaching for her coffee cup and taking a sip to help keep her alert. Her head was aching and her muscles were weak. Yet she pushed her feet hard against the gas, speeding the car down the dark empty road.

She was really exhausted from last night. She had just closed a particularly grueling mystery case last night and was only looking forward to a well-deserved rest. Only for her phone to ring as she just got comfortable in bed and on the other end was the voice of her boss.

"Detective Chaka, there's a new case on our hands now and you're the only one fit for it. Get to the office in five minutes" he ordered. "The case files already at your desk"

Now her long awaited rest would have to wait.

Driving down to the precinct, she thought of what her new case was that needed only her attention. She tried to piece together any news of mysterious happenings recently, but none was coming. Arriving at the precinct, she parked her car in her designated spot and stepped out of her car. She brushed off a drop of coffee on her blazer, swinging on her holster up to her waist, she made for her office.

She got into her office and slumped into her chair and staring at her on her desk was the case file. It was a strange one, the only information to go on was a name and picture, a date, and a set of footprints with a scarf.

Jennifer Smart had gone missing three days ago without any trace at all. Only her footprints and scarf which were found in the sand on the bank of a beach in a small coastal town about an hour's drive from the city. After a resident had confessed on seeing her there struggling with a guy and a boat. The footprints and scarf had been photographed and sent to the lab for analysis, but the results weren't back yet.

Chaka knew that she wasn't going to be closing this case anytime soon. The feeling that this case was going to be difficult overwhelmed her. But as her Dad who was a retired captain would say sometimes the most challenging cases were the most rewarding. So, she bribed her mind to believe that she wasn't tired and was ready for the case.

She needed to start somewhere, quickly grabbing her blazer as she walked out of her office. First she stopped by the precinct lab and examined the picture of the footprints brought to the lab before she headed out the precinct to her car. She was going to drive down to the coastal town and see if she could find anything that could help her with the case.

Arriving in the town she first stopped at the local police station. She introduced herself to the officers on duty and asked them if they knew anything about the case. Anything strange maybe.

The officers shook their heads. "Not much to tell, I'm afraid. We just got a call from a local resident who said they saw someone who looked like the victim walking on the beach in the middle of the night. But when we investigated the scene, we found nothing other than footprints and a scarf. Hey parents have confirmed the scarf to be hers."

"Was there any sign of a struggle or any other evidence?" Maria asked.

"No, nothing else. Just footprints that led to the bank of the beach and then disappeared."

Photo by Miriam Fischer:

Chaka sighed, thanked them and walked away. She drove down to the scene, to investigate and see things herself. As she stood by the bank she noticed something odd about the footprints. She studied them closely and she noticed something strange. The footprints went deep into the sand, it looked as if the person who had made them was either carrying something heavy or was huge. But from the picture of the victim, she wasn't huge.

She walked back into the city and asked local residents if they knew anyone that owned a boat. That comes by the river bank. They thought for a moment and mentioned

"Only Gaffer. Gaffer the fisherman. He got hereee few months ago"

"And where does he live?" Detective Chaka asked.

"At the outskirts of the town just by the river bank".

Chaka got his address and drove down to Gaffer's house. On arrival at his house, she noticed that there was no boat in sight. After hours of knocking and no one seems to be home. She decided to check out the back of the house.

As she walked around the back of the house, she heard footsteps behind her. Gaffer startled on seeing her.

"I'm Detective Chaka." flashing her badge to his face "I'm the detective investigating the disappearance of one Miss Jennifer Smart. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Gaffer shook his head. "I don't know anything about that. I've been out on my boat the past few days."

Chaka raised an eyebrow. "Really? What boat? Because I can't see any boat nearby"

"I sent it to the mechanic, it broke down as I was trying to catch some fish. I guess I didn't Have much luck yesterday though."

Chaka looked at Gaffer's hands. They were really calloused and rough, just the exact kind of hands for a man who had spent most of his life at sea.

"Did you have any contact with Jennifer Smart?" Chaka asked.

Gaffer shook his head. "No, I don't even know who she is."

Chaka intelligently studied Gaffer's face. She could tell he was lying, but she didn't have any concrete evidence yet to prove he was. She just needed to find anything, anything at all as evidence to prove it.

"Can I search your house?" She asked.

"Sure, but be quick. I don't like strangers lurking around my properties"

Chaka quickly walked through the rooms. At the sitting room just above the fireplace she noticed that there was a photograph poking out the back of a big framed artwork. She quietly moved close to it as Gaffer tried to stop her. But he was too late as Chaka had already pulled out the picture and on it was Gaffer with a young woman. The woman was Jennifer.

Immediately, Gaffer broke down in tears with his hands up and confessed.

"I met Jennifer a few months ago. She was a student at the local college. We started seeing each other, but her parents never liked me. She wanted us to elope together. So I got this apartment and on that night she met me at the beach after I had come back from a hard day of fishing. She got into the boat and we got here. Her scarf must have fallen as she tried to get into the boat"

"So where is she now?" Chaka probed further.

"We had a little fight.. I told her to go back to her parents when I heard the police were looking for us. But .. but.. she got angry saying I was scared and didn't care about her. So she got on the boat and sailed out to sea. That's how she cools off."

"And you just let her. What if she gets into danger"

"I tried to stop her but she didn't want to be stopped. She would be home anytime soon"

Chaka arrested Gaffer and charged him with attempted kidnapping, but was later released after Jennifer parents didn't press charges. Jennifer on the other hand got back with the boat and was reunited with her parents. Chaka on the other hand, after she had handled and closed the case in a few hours and was back home to have her deserved rest.