Who Killed Vic's Wife?

Jenko’s trip back down to his seat ended with a brutal thud. A blinding glimpse of darkness forced his two knees to bang onto the seat in front of him. As his eyes began to adjust to the light, the whole of his vision locked on a sign denoting train car number 7. The five seconds after his brutal awakening were flooded with supersonic shrieks of women, children, and a baby. There is always at least one crying baby on any sort of mass transit, whether train, plane or spacecraft.

After about four seconds, when the screams started to calm, Jenko leaned his head back onto his window, hoping to get some more sleep. After one more second, his post-nap grogginess wore off, and he thought when the hell did I get on this train?

He shot up, the sounds of screams poisoning his ears, the baby trying to overpower her elders and unsurprisingly succeeding. The crowd was gathered together in front of him, mostly hidden by the seat on which his knees were resting. Two men stood firm in front of the group, protecting their families from what he would soon learn was laying on the other side of the train car.

Jenko made eye contact with both men in front, unwittingly activating his USPD standard ‘Sus-Specs™️’- which when first invented by MIT engineers were known as ‘biocular longwave retinal scanners’. The name was changed upon adaption by the USPD by none other than the 68th president of the United States- George Washington Rogan.

The specs scanned the first man:

• Theodore “Teddy” Brunson
• 48 years old
• African American
• Chicago, Illinois
• Accountant
• Husband and father of 2
• 4 previous arrests
• -2156: possession of marijuana
• -2158: assault and battery
• -2159: possession of marijuana
• -2162: possession of marijuana

Then the second:

• Victor “Vic” Vedlum
• 54 years old
• Caucasian
• Chicago, Illinois
• Unemployed
• Husband and father of 2
• 2 previous arrests
• -2169: assault and battery
• -2177: domestic assault

“Hey pal,” said Vic as the screaming died down. ”You a cop?”

Jenko wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He was given the Sus-Specs™️ when he arrived at the academy only a few months ago and had been using them mostly to sleep on trains. The blackout feature is a lifesaver. There wasn’t a lot of time to sleep at the academy. He had been working so hard in the two months before this short vacation back home that he must have blacked out while boarding and robotically put the specs on like he was keen to do. He couldn’t for the life of him remember boarding the train at all, but he was happy he was there. He had finished top in his class at the academy and was going back to celebrate with his wife and daughter.

“Uhmmm, yeah,” he said on his way to his feet. This is when he first noticed the blood. The two leading men were both dripping into pools of red, their white shirts tattooed with splotches of various monochromatic shapes. “What happened here?”

They didn’t react at first, glaring at him like he was missing a brain cell or two. Then, almost in synchronicity, they pointed behind him, towards the bathroom. Jenko turned around. He’d been shown scenes of these kinds of things during his first few months at the academy, but this was the first time it was real.

The Sus-Specs™ didn’t recognize her because her eyes were closed, also there was a knife in her chest. He could feel his stomach drop at the sight, but he didn’t want to make that known to the civilians. His brief walk to the body felt like an eternity, each step getting heavier as his legs tried to pull him away from the grotesque sight. There was so much blood. How could a human being have so much blood inside them? Especially one as small as her.

He tried to pull himself together. He hadn’t made it known how perplexed he was about this entire situation, and he intended to keep it that way. So much had happened so fast. It didn’t matter how he got there. The point was that he was there. He’d been learning how to help with situations just like this. He was going to help. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and thought back to his training.

“Ok,” he turned back around to face the rest, “is this everyone who was in the car when it happened?”

They all nodded. “And I’ll help you even more,” said Vic. “It was him,” he pointed at Teddy. “This man killed my wife.”

He was not expecting that. Nothing like that had ever happened in any scenes he’d been studying at the academy.

“He’s lying,” said Teddy rather calmly. “And if you give me a chance I’ll explain what I saw.”

“WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK AT ALL?” exclaimed Vic. “LOOK, YOU HAVE HER BLOOD ALL OVER YOU.”

“So do you,” Teddy responded. Jenko had yet to hear a different inflection out of the accountant. He briefly imagined how many people fell asleep as he advised on their taxes.

“Okay, okay, relax, both of you.” Jenko looked at his watch only to remember he had no idea what time he boarded this train or how long the trip was supposed to last. “When is this train slated to land at… our destination?”

“We’re meant to arrive in Chicago in ninety minutes,” said the woman directly behind Teddy. She had an infant in her arm and held her other child close by her shoulder. The Sus-Specs™️ did their job.

Liberty Martinez-Brunsen

• 47 years old
• African American
• Chicago, Illinois
• Public Defender
• Wife and mother of 2
• No previous arrests

“Thank you, Mrs. Martinez-Brunsen. Now, I’d like to hear both of your stories about what happened. When we get to Chicago we will all go down to the station and get all the way to the bottom of this.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a calming beep played over the train’s speaker and one of three round lights by the PA system flashed green. “What was that?” Asked Jenko.

“I think it does that when we pass a big city or something, said Liberty. “We must have just gotten to Pittsburgh.”

Jenko had Liberty take all the kids, including the toddlers whose mother was just brutally murdered in front of them, and had them sit facing away from the body. He grabbed Teddy first, brought him to the other side of the train- Teddy insisted that he be able to see ‘the other gentleman’ while the interview was going on- and asked what happened.

“Those two had been fighting the whole trip. The lights were flashing on and off for a little. Then went out completely for a second or two, the train shook like crazy, and that’s when I saw him pull out the knife-”

“Vic you mean,” he thought back to all the questions you’re meant to ask in these interviews and they were all coming naturally to him. It was like he’d done this exact case before.

“Yeah, Vic. He ran up to his wife, and she screamed. I got up and rushed over to them. I tried to pull him away. But he got it off before I got there,” Teddy used his right hand to stab the air with an invisible knife. “I grabbed him, and he pulled me down onto her. That’s when I got all this blood on me. When I saw that she was dead, I ran back to my own family to try and protect them from this maniac who’s going around wacking wives. He followed me over and at that point, the lights turned back on, then you woke up. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a certified wife killer out there and I’ve gotta protect my family.”

“I just have one more question. This arrest for assault in 2158.”

“That’s not much of a question,” he said after Jenko waited too long to proceed.

“You know what I mean.”

“I was at a bar with my wife. Some drunk fool comes in and starts messing with her. I warned him, but he touched her and I spent the night in jail.”

“Ok, thank you, Teddy,” said Jenko. “You can go back. Send Vic over please.”

“It was him,” said Vic a fraction of a second after sitting down next to Jenko.

“Can you please explain what happened?”

“He killed her. I saw it happen. He pulled a knife out and killed her. I tried to stop him, and he got blood all over my shirt.”

Jenko waited for him to continue the story, but his mouth didn’t open. “Do you have anything else to say?”

“What else is there to say? Just arrest the n***** that killed my wife,” the intent in his eyes was clearly more directed at Jenko than Teddy, but the targeted phrasing he used could not possibly have applied to Jenko.

“Can you explain this arrest for domestic assault last year?”

“Ugh, that was just a misunderstanding.”

“Well can you fill me in on what was misunderstood?”

“Ava fell down the stairs and the neighbors thought they heard something more. I got let out as soon as I got to the station. It was nothing.”

“And how was Ava after she fell down the stairs?” Jenko asked.

“I don’t know, she was fine. A couple of days in the hospital and she was good as new. It was nothing.”

Jenko sent Vic away. He needed to go over the evidence. There had to be something here, something definitive. He looked down at the body. He remembered back to the academy. There were a few scenes he’d seen just like this one. He tapped into the Sus-Specs™ and looked back at them and the notes he took during the lessons. The first thing he noticed was the way the knife went in. Angled in from the left, consistent with a left-handed assailant.

This was promising. It should be an easy solution now, but he couldn’t tell them he was looking for a lefty. He made his way over to the mix of families at one side of the car, sitting diagonally across from each other, the men in the aisles protecting the rest. As he walked over, the second green light lit up, indicating that they must have passed Toledo. Did that make any sense though? It had only been twenty minutes, and trains built after 2175 were only capable of going 150 mph. He’d never been a mathematician. He let it slide.

“Thank you both for your cooperation with this investigation. I just need you both to sign your statements.” Jenko handed the notes he’d taken during each interview back to the respective gentleman. Teddy used his right hand. Vic, on the other hand, used his left. That was it. That should be all the confirmation that Jenko needed to make the arrest. Once the train was stopped, the Chicago division of the USPD would be waiting to bring him in and get his wife’s body out of there.

The case played out so easily, but something wasn’t sitting right with him. No. It was over. The evidence was blatant. Vic couldn’t even come up with a story that made him look innocent. He’s left-handed just like the perpetrator. How come something was telling him that it had to be Teddy?

It wasn’t a gut feeling. He knows when his gut is communicating with him. It told him when it was time to sign up for the academy. It told him to go talk to that girl at Walgreens who was now waiting for him back in Chicago.

He looked over at Teddy. His visage didn’t appear cunning or nervous in the slightest. He sat there with a straight face, maybe a little on the down side. No doubt regarding the brutal murder he’d just witnessed. Witnessed? Did he do it? Why was Jenko doubting himself? He thanked the two for their signatures and returned to a seat towards the middle of the car. He has some thinking to do.

He didn’t get to think for too long. After five minutes, he heard a crash, and the two men were on top of each other in the train’s aisle. The two were taking turns on top of the scrum. When Jenko got up to check it out, Vic was on top, mounting punches to Teddy’s cheeks. Teddy spit to the side and grabbed onto both of Vic’s wrists. He was clearly struggling.

Teddy was able to get Vic off of him. He held both of Vic’s wrists to the floor and the punching stopped. Vic started to writhe, screaming and spitting into Teddy’s face. Scenes like this were shown to Jenko all the time at the academy, but they were usually in reverse. He needed to restrain them, but he had only one set of cuffs on him.

Again, this decision was punishing his brain. The logical thing was to take Vic, but something was telling him that if he didn’t restrain Teddy it would end catastrophically. But why? What was he not seeing? What in his education at the academy was lingering in his mind but refusing to come to the surface?

The two struggled more and more. Vic was able to free his right hand, return to the upper position and throw a few more blows before Jenko ran in. He had to think fast. What was the safest course of action? What would protect these people the most? Who is the more dangerous out of the two? Vic was the killer, was he not? Why didn’t he trust Teddy?

It all ran through his head at light speed. He made his way there, pushed Vic off the accountant, pulled his cuffs out and began to run through the Miranda rights. He glanced down at Teddy. The man was on the ground, face bloodied, but not a hint of anger. He finally made a decision, lacking any confidence he thought he’d earned throughout this short investigation.

Jenko wrapped one cuff around Vic’s left wrist, routed the other through a bar above one of the headrests and back around Vic’s right wrist. An uncomfortable buzz rang throughout the train’s speakers. The third light turned red instead of green, and all the lights went out.

…

“Ugh, alright show him the riot tapes and run it again,” the liutenant said to his secretary from behind the glass. Jenko sat unconscious on the chair inside, several wires stuck to his head and an IV in his arm.

“Are you sure, sir? We usually just dismiss if they fail seven times.”

“This kid has passed every other test we’ve thrown his way. I’m not failing him until we know for sure he can’t get through this one.”

“Well, sir, if he’s passed everything else, why does he even need to pass the train exam?”

“Come on Jensen. Do you want a bunch of those people running around the country, rioting and breaking laws you work so hard to enforce?”

“I… I just don’t think-”

“JENSON,” the leiutenant said. “Run it again. We’re getting this through Jenko’s head whether he likes it or not. Everyone always learns the right way eventually.”

The young secretary saw the button and tried to think of a way out of it, but he couldn’t find one. He hit the button. A short video of scenes from DC on July 6th, 2170- the 30th March on Washington- played into Jenko’s subconscious mind. He watched horrors from what is well known as the deadliest day in modern American history.

…

Jenko’s trip back down to his seat ended with a brutal thud. A blinding glimpse of darkness forced his two knees to bang onto the seat in front of him. As his eyes began to adjust to the light, the whole of his vision locked on a sign denoting train car number 8.