James Locker: Detectives in A Trap

Chapter 1 Prologue

Crime Inspector James Locker was lying awake in his bed, sweating profusely. He had stopped taking his anti-depressants. This was necessary to feel anything at all and live a healthy life. James Locker was thinking about Emily. He could not comprehend what had happened that fateful day seven months ago.  James and Emily Luong had been in a massive fight. Why had they fought? His memory was so blurry so that he could not remember it. Emily had left with $ 20,000 of their savings. A day later he had received a text message stating that she despised him and that she never wanted to see him again. James could have filed a police report as she had stolen his money.  But James never did. Money was not an issue for him, and his primary concern was to understand what had happened so he could avoid it happening again. James had loved Emily too much to report her to his colleagues and have her deported. He thought about calling her, but he did not.

Ironically, James’ career had improved a lot during the seven months that had passed. He had solved some high-profile cases utilising his intelligence and his strong work ethics. Walking in an emotional desert seemed to a good thing when it came to solving murder cases. James had been promoted to the rank of police inspector a few months earlier. He also seemed to be in line for further promotions if the legendary Crime Detective Michael Fuller was to resign. That wasn’t likely to happen, as Michael Fuller was nine years away from retirement, and Michael was a man who was living for his work. In this way, James had become very similar to Michael in the last year.

James Locker's nightstand clock showed 3 AM. It was five hours to go before he and his colleagues and best friends Thomas Anderson and Adam Smith were heading to the airport. They had planned a month of travelling in Asia. Adam and Thomas had persuaded James to join them for a crazy month of travels, adventures, boozing, and banging.

Adam Smith had put it like this. “Hey look, James, I know it’s been tough for you with this Emily thing, but it’s time to man up and meet some other girls. Let’s go to Asia, and hook you up with at least ten girls to build your self-esteem again”.  James smiled, realising that his friends would probably pay some local talent to sleep with him to build up his self-esteem. 

James decided to play along with his friends’ plan. He believed that having casual s*x could work better than the psychologist sessions he had attended. If his friends did not intend to pull this off, he would not visit prostitutes on his own. Not because he had any strong moral objections to prostitution, but because he was not very turned on by the concept. James Locker took a shower, made some breakfast and enjoyed it in front of the TV while waiting for his friends. Despite his insomnia, he felt relaxed knowing that he would fall asleep on the plane. Thus he would have more energy than his friends once they reached the destination. The date was the 17th of July 2013.