The Genesis Chamber Read online

  At thirty-eight years old, Andy had forced himself into this morning regimen after joining the police force, following in his father’s footsteps. It’s a discipline that comes with the job, his father told him. Get used to it, which he did, with surprising ease.

  With those words of wisdom resonating in his head he opened his eyes, stretched his body, got out of bed, and made his way to the bathroom to shower. By the time he came back to the bedroom the curtains had been opened, flooding the room with bright Florida sunshine. He dressed in his usual white shirt, tie, and trousers, and went to the kitchen to get breakfast. He found his wife pouring the much-needed kick-start to the day, the morning coffee.

  “Do you want breakfast, honey?” she asked, without turning away from the coffee machine.

  “No thanks, babe. I’m meeting Maria at Coop’s.” He looked around the breakfast room. “Where’s Jen?”

  “She’s still in bed,” she answered, and passed him a mug of piping-hot coffee.

  “What?” His agitation was apparent. “She does know she starts work with Chris today, doesn’t she?”

  Kim immediately turned round and raised her hands, gesturing for him to calm down. “Honey, it’s okay, I’ll get her there on time.”

  “Maybe so.” He started towards their daughter’s bedroom. “But she needs to be awake before she gets there.” He reached the door and knocked twice. “Jen, come on.”

  “Go away, it’s too early!” a muffled voice shouted from inside.

  He huffed and opened the door, slightly vexed. “Jen, get up. You’ve got to be at Uncle Chris’s office at 9:00 a.m.”

  “Dad!” his offspring protested, and pulled her duvet over her head.

  “Get up, young lady,” he insisted.

  “But, Dad, it’s school break!” she argued.

  “Yes, and you’re going to spend it working.” He paused for a second and changed his tone to try and diffuse any argument that may be arising. Then, he tentatively took a few steps into her room. “Look, Uncle Chris has gone out of his way to give you this chance. Not everyone has the opportunity to get this kind of experience for free, and get paid for it.”

  “Other kids get to enjoy their summer vacation, but not me!” she snapped and sat up.

  “You’ll thank me for this in a few years.” He wasn’t going to back down.

  “But—” she persisted.

  “I’m not going through this again, Jen. Now get dressed and be ready to leave as soon as possible,” he ordered, and left the room, closing the door behind him before his daughter could answer him back.

  “You’re so fucking anal,” she muttered under her breath, but loud enough so that her father could hear her.

  “Clock’s ticking, Jen!” he shouted back, as he walked into the master bedroom where Kim was choosing her clothes for the day. “That went well.”

  “Why, what happened?” she asked, placing a blouse on the bed.

  “Apparently I’m ‘fucking anal’.” He gestured quote marks, two fingers on each hand.

  She sighed and dropped her shoulders, as if she was exhausted. “Oh no, I can’t cope with you two arguing all the time.”

  Seeing she wasn’t in the mood for another confrontation, he gently grabbed the lapels of her robe and pulled her towards him. “Come on, honey. I just want her to have a chance when she leaves school. And if it means spending time gaining experience now, then I can put up with a little bit of teenage attitude.”

  She snuggled into his chest. “I know, but she does need to spend some time with her friends.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He kissed her on the forehead, placing his hands on her shoulders and held her away from him, looking her up and down. “Did I mention you’re looking mighty fine this morning?”

  “In this robe? Don’t change the subject.” She looked at him with great cynicism.

  “Would I do that?” He sheepishly smiled. “I’m just paying my stunning wife a compliment.”

  She carried on getting her clothes ready while he went to the bedside drawer and got out his hip holster and clipped it to the right-hand side of his belt. He then retrieved his gun, clipped the magazine into place, and holstered it. Finally, he clipped his police badge to the left side of his belt.

  “I’ve got to get going, honey. Make sure she gets there on time,” he pleaded, as he grabbed her round the waist to kiss her good-bye.

  “I will,” she assured him. “And stop worrying about her, she’ll be fine.”

  A peck on the lips from her husband brought a smile to Kim’s face.

  “I know,” he said, and gave her a cheeky pat on the backside, grabbed his jacket, and walked to the front door with her following close behind.

  “Good-bye, Jen!” he shouted over his shoulder, and stopped when he heard her bedroom door open.

  “Go to hell!” she shouted, and slammed the door closed.

  That wasn’t the response he expected. “Love you too, sweetie!” He shrugged and winked at his distraught-looking wife.

  As he made his way to the car with his jacket slung over his shoulder, he spotted his ever-annoying neighbor from across the street waving at him.

  “Morning, Jeff,” he said through a forced smile.

  “Morning, Andy.” The over-enthusiastic neighbor waved.

  The detective smiled to himself as he remembered overhearing his neighbor confiding in one of his guests at a recent BBQ he was hosting, fantasizing about being the cop across the street with the hot wife and loving daughter. At the time it had vexed him, but on reflection, he was quite flattered at the fact that someone else wanted to be him.

  “How are you today?” Jeff continued. “Are you ready to haul ass on the bad guys?

  “I’m fine today, Jeff. Always ready for what the criminal community has to throw at me.” He smiled broadly at him as he opened the rear door and hung his jacket on the hook inside before quickly glancing at his watch. “Got to go, I’m running a bit late.”

  “Oh, okay. You have a good day.” He awkwardly waved.

  The detective couldn’t help noticing that his neighbor looked a bit rejected at his lack of enthusiasm to stop and chat longer.

  “You too, Jeff,” he said as he got in the car, closed the door, and looked in the rearview mirror. The sight of Jeff returning to his front door reassured him that it was safe to leave without him having to stop while his neighbor leaned through the window aimlessly chatting about nothing. So he started the car, reversed out of the driveway, and headed off to meet his partner at the diner.

  Twenty minutes later, after negotiating the increasing early-morning traffic, he pulled the car into the parking lot of Coop’s Diner. He parked next to a few squad cars and made his way towards the entrance. The sound of a car entering the parking lot caught his attention. He knew by the reckless way the car was being driven it could only have been his partner, Maria Hernandez.

  Maria swung her car into the nearest available space and got out.

  “Morning, Detective Cooper!” she shouted.

  “Morning, Detective Hernandez.” He smiled back.

  He held the door to the diner open for her and as she passed, he caught the distinct smell of stale alcohol. Andy made no effort to hide his disappointment in his partner.

  “Good night last night?” he said sarcastically.

  Maria stopped and turned around, embarrassed, and she tried to change the subject.

  “You’ve changed something.” She proceeded to look him up and down. “Your hair; you got your hair cut.” She huffed. “Jeez, Andy, you look more like Chris than ever now.”

  Before he could challenge her about the alcohol, she turned away and continued into the diner, leaving him looking slightly incredulous.

  Detective Maria Hernandez was fast becoming the talk of the force due to her hard-drinking lifestyle, which surprisingly didn’t seem to interfere with her detective skills. At twenty-nine she was one of the youngest female officers to make detective in the Orlando PD, b
ut her off-duty activities we’re becoming more and more disturbing.

  Once inside the diner, they walked past a table of uniformed officers eating breakfast. One of the officers nudged the other sitting next to him and nodded at the female detective. He immediately sat up straight with a confident smile.

  “Hey, Buenos Días, María. Fancy a few shots? Muchas fiestas chica?” he said playfully.

  She stopped and looked him straight in the eye. “If it wasn’t for this mother of all hangovers you’d be hearing two shots right now, one for each fucking testicle.”

  She continued towards her seat as the other uniformed officers showed their appreciation for her witty comeback with a round of applause.

  To save face, the officer grabbed her by the forearm. “Don’t be like that, Maria.”

  Without breaking her stride, she snatched her arm away. “It’s Detective Hernandez, and go fuck yourself.” She scowled and left the officer red-faced as he was verbally ridiculed by his eating buddies.

  Maria didn’t stop at their usual seats, she just carried on walking.

  “Hey, where are you going?” her partner inquired.

  “Order me a coffee while I go to the john, will you?” she answered over her shoulder, and continued towards the bathroom.

  “Okay, but the ladies room is that way.” Andy pointed in the opposite direction.

  She stopped and looked at the “Gents” sign above the door she was about to go through, then looked back at the puzzled male detective.

  “Yeah, I know.” She paused for a moment, as if contemplating heading towards the other bathroom. “What the hell.” She shrugged. “It’s all the same to me.” Then disappeared into the bathroom.

  Andy smiled to himself and sat in his usual seat at the counter. He was about to shout his coffee order when he spied one of the uniformed cops approaching him.

  “Andy, can I have quick word?” the uniformed cop asked nervously.

  The detective turned his seat sideways to the counter so he could face the officer. “Sure, what’s up?”

  The uniformed cop moved in closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Last night, we were called to a disturbance at O’Leary’s Bar.”

  “Oh yeah?” The ranking officer looked bemused, but knew exactly what was coming next.

  “Yeah, when we got there we found Detective Hernandez drinking shot after shot after shot.” The uniformed cop looked around to see if anyone had heard what he said.

  Andy looked him in the eye. “Was she on duty?”

  The cop looked more nervous. “No, but—”

  “What’s the problem then?” He cut him off.

  The cop took another look round. “The problem was the two guys she laid out on the floor.”

  “Oh.” This got his attention, and he looked around towards the bathroom door to see if Maria was coming. The uniformed cop did the same.

  Satisfied the coast was clear, the uniformed cop continued. “Apparently they had a dispute about the best recipe for fajitas.”

  Andy sat back in his seat, smiling. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  The cop looked a little agitated. “No. Look, Andy, if she carries on like this we’re going to have to arrest her and she’ll lose her badge. We managed to talk the guys out of pressing charges, but as you know, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Maybe you can have a word.”

  “Well, she does know her fajitas; but you’re right,” Andy conceded, and stopped smiling. “Leave it with me; I’ll have a word.”

  The cop looked relieved and smiled before taking the opportunity to have a slight dig at the female detective. He checked the bathroom door again, then got closer to Andy.

  “We’ve also heard she likes a corn dog or two.” He sniggered and looked at the other cops for approval.

  “Oh yeah?” He put his hand on the cop’s shoulder. “I’ll be sure to send her over when she comes back so you can ask her yourself.”

  The cop stopped sniggering immediately. “No, you don’t need to do that.” He shifted uncomfortably and leaned further in. “Seriously, as a friend, you need to put a chain on that puppy.”

  “Yeah, thanks for the heads-up.” Andy nodded in appreciation and the cop made a hasty retreat.

  His attention was drawn to Beth, the waitress, who had finished cleaning the tables. She waved her hand as if fanning her face as she approached, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she squeezed past him to get behind the counter.

  “Morning, Andy, what can I get for you?” she asked, in her usual cheerful manner. Beth had been the only waitress at the diner since Coop took over, and a faithful one at that. Something the retired cop was only too keen to point out if anyone had a complaint about the service there.

  “Good morning. Can I get two large coffees please?” He strained to see into the kitchen. “Is he in?”

  “Who? Coop? He’s in the back. I’ll get him for you.” She poked her head through the serving hatch to the kitchen. “Coop, Andy’s here!” Then she produced two large mugs from under the counter and placed them in front of the waiting detective. She reached to the coffee machine, retrieved the half-full jug and filled the two mugs. “Enjoy. Coop will be through in a moment.” She smiled and continued with her chores.

  Coop entered through the swinging door leading to kitchen. “Morning, son.”

  “Morning, Dad. You okay?” He greeted his father with a quick hug over the counter.

  “Fine, you?” He nodded as he positioned himself in front of his son and leaned on the counter.

  “All’s good with me,” he replied.

  “You still getting grief from Jennifer?” Coop smirked.

  “Oh, you’ve heard,” Andy sighed.

  “I’m an ex-cop and her grandfather; of course I’ve heard.” He winked as he straightened up.

  The younger of the pair went into defensive mode. “I’m just thinking of her future. I don’t want her to end up in a dead-end job or even worse, a cop.”

  “Hey, being a cop is not a bad thing,” his father reminded him. “It’s done right by you and me so far.”

  “Here it comes.” Andy sat back in his chair, getting agitated at the thought of another lecture.

  Coop looked around and leaned back on the counter, placing his hand gently on Andy’s shoulder in an attempt to reason with his son. “Look, all I’m saying is that Jennifer needs to grow in her own time. Making her spend summer vacation working is taking away some of the time she should be spending with friends.” He removed his hand. “I know you mean well, and I kind of agree with you, but you need to cut her some slack. Give her some downtime from the classroom before you lock her into a boardroom—”

  “Parental guidance from you? Really?” he sarcastically cut his father off.

  “Hey.” He raised his hands as if surrendering. “I’m only saying.”

  Andy took a breath and calmed down. “I’m sorry, Pops, just feeling a bit stressed over the whole thing.”

  “Stressed over what thing?” Maria asked.

  The sudden appearance of Maria returning from the bathroom surprised Andy. He signaled to his father not to say anything. She looked at them suspiciously, then shrugged her shoulders and sat on the stool next to her partner. She took one look at her coffee and stood on the footrest of her stool, enabling her to lean over the counter and fumble around on the shelf underneath.

  Coop slapped her hand away as she scowled at him. She sat down in her seat, glaring at the retired cop as he retrieved a bottle of Tylenol and placed it on the counter in front of her.

  “Is that what you’re looking for?” He smiled.

  “You’re a lifesaver.” She snatched at the bottle.

  “What else can I get for the best-looking detective in the state of Florida?” he asked.

  “A reason to live.” She popped the lid off the bottle and dropped two tablets into the palm of her hand. “Failing that, just keep the coffee coming.” She launched the tablets into the back of her throat and wa
shed them down with a large gulp of coffee.

  “That bad, huh?” He turned to his offspring and smiled. “How about you, son, what can I get for you?”

  Andy glanced sideways at his partner and winked. “I’ll have one of your finest Southwestern omelets.” Then he gave his father a devilish nod and risked another glance at Maria. “Don’t overdo the egg base; leave it nice and runny, just the way I like it.”

  The female detective glared at him. “Seriously? How can you eat that shit at this time of the morning?”

  “Because I wasn’t out drinking till six this morning,” he quipped.

  “Six fifteen,” she said sarcastically.

  “You need to slow down there, girlie,” Coop interjected. “Burning it at both ends doesn’t agree with this job. Take it from an old pro.”

  “Thanks for the advice, old man.” She took another slurp of coffee. “Spare me the lecture though.”

  Andy gave him a sarcastic smile. “Seems like your advice isn’t welcome anywhere today. It’s falling on deaf ears.”

  “Hey.” He raised his hands in defense as before. “I’m only saying.” Then he took a step back, reached under the counter, pulled out a notepad and started scribbling. “Andy, can you do me a favor?” He ripped the page out of the pad and passed it to his son. “This kid from the neighborhood went missing the other night. His mom asked me if I could get someone to chase it up. If you get a chance, will you look into it for me?”

  “Yeah, sure.” He took the note, had a quick look at the name, and put it in his pocket.

  “He’s probably holed up at one of his friends’ places getting bombed, but you never know.” Coop reached for a few dirty cups and started to head back into the kitchen.

  “Thank fuck I’ve got no kids,” Maria huffed. “Nothing but a pain in the ass.”

  “You should speak to Andy about that.” He shouted over his shoulder, “I’ll go get your breakfast, son.”

  Before Andy could reply, his father had disappeared into the kitchen. “Yeah, thanks for that, Dad. You should listen to the old man,” he said, turning to his partner. “You’re going to burn out before you’re thirty if you don’t slow down.”