The Collection - Detective Jones, Part 4

Detective Jones sat in the cubicle, he called his office on the 2nd floor of the Los Angeles Sherifs Department, in Downtown LA. The 2nd floor could have been mistaken for any other office building in town, if it weren’t for the 4 interview rooms along one side of the floor with double sided mirrors and adjoining  observation rooms. That and the crime scene photos, that where posted on various Detective’s Cubicles and particle boards on the wall near the conference room. Along the west side of the office a row of  glass windows allowed the only light to filter in between the blinds that were always closed.  

The cubicle had the name plate Marion Jones, but everyone knew better than to address Jones as such. Gracie had bought him one of those sun lamps that reproduce the natural light, so he would get all of his vitamin D. Jones thought it a wast of money at first, its California for goodness sake. However, when he began his first investigation with the lamp on his desk, he felt better. He had no idea how much sun he was missing, when he was out at night, or indoors doing interviews. 

Jones stared at the Dr. Bates Coroner report on his desk, in the John Doe case. It had been 48 hours and still there were no leads on the victims identity.  Officer Mike Bell, came round the corner, with two coffees from the cafe down the street. It was an department understanding among the officers that the  office coffee (made by the senior receptionist, they had to call her an administrative assistant now, but she was just the receptionist, the Department had hired a younger girl to do the accounts and filing.

Ms. Doris Watts, had been around since after the second world war and had sued the department twice for age discrimination. She had said they had been trying to push her out of the job. According to Doris she had been answering telephones since the superintendent was in diapers and she had no intention of slowing down now, even if she was 70. If you asked any of the officers who worked with Doris they said she made the coffee as if she was back in the war too and it  was to be consumed only as a last resort. 

“Here you go boss,” Mike said, handing Jones his double tall espresso, and leaned against the corner of the cubicle. “ I spoke with missing persons, and there are still no descriptions matching our guy.”

Jones listened, sipping his coffee. Mike waited to see if Jones was going to say something, but when he didn't Mike continued.

 “I‘ve sent the information we did recover to the FBI. So far nothing. We ran his fingerprints Dr. Bates took during the autopsy, and there are no matches from cod-us.” 

“Alright, its time to make a statement to the public.”

Jones knocked on the office Superintendent Duke Habbour. It was only two walls of frosted plexi glass with a wooden door. If it didn’t have his name and rank on the door it could be mistaken for the lunch room. Duke had a phobia of germs and so had his own mini fridge and coffee maker, also hand sanitizer bottle installed by the door and another bottle on his desk. 

“Its time we went public, we have no identification, and no one is coming forward.”

“What do you have?”

“Nothing that could positively id the biddy, no tattoos of distinguishing marks. Just what looks like a possible animal attack, with the guys hands tied behind his back. We will need to ask the public if they saw anything suspicious in the park. Sean came back with a small lead, he identified a fiber embedded in the victims wrist as a type of nylon fishing line. Mike is on it, searching every shop in the city and every shop that sold that type of line within 100 miles of the park. “

“Okay, I’ll issue a statement, and keep the fishing line back from the public.”

The Collection - Detective Jones Part 3 A Fortuitous Birthday

The Collection - Detective Jones

Part 3 

A Fortuitous Birthday

By Margaret Shields

On August 22nd, Elijah Russell was convinced it was his lucky day. Not because it was his 31st birthday, nor was it the five dollars he found in the parking lot on his way to work that morning at PepCom the States Level four Bio lab. No it was because he had, one week ago visited the city of Los Angeles’ best Psychic. The one his cousin Rita had sworn knew about her having twin boys when the doctor’s said she was barren.  It was a little sketchy with the neon hand in the window above the the pizza joint on the corner of sunset and vine...the darker part of L.A.

Now though it seemed the twenty dollars plus ten dollar tip was all worth the prediction. The Psychic, Clara had foretold of a fortuitous birthday for Elijah. Clara had looked at his hand, studying the lines in his palm with liquid blue eyes and said today would mark a significant change in his life and to be bold. 

To be bold... Elijah had turned that phrase over in his mind all week. As he ran 3 miles after work, as he did his grocery shopping ( mainly consisting of Swanson’s frozen dinners, and Pepsi Cola.) As he played WarCraft on the computer. To be bold.

Maybe that was what gave Elijah the extra courage to talk to Chelsea the five foot seven drop dead blond receptionist, as he grabbed a Red Bull from the vending machine. Elijah entertained Ronnie and James with the tale over pizza in the I.T. office of PepCom. His coworkers and best friends had bought him tickets to the Star trek Convention in Las Vegas. Yes indeed this was his lucky day.

“This is amazing!” Elijah grabbed Ronnie’s laptop off his desk and shook it excitedly.

“ Chelsea doesn’t notice if your alive unless your Jim Forester”

“ Who is Jim Forester?” interrupted James, pouring hot sauce on his pizza slice.

“ Jim, you know the Federal Agent.” Elijah replied.

“ No” James folded two pieces of pizza in half and took a huge bite.

“ Jim the F.B.I. Agent He was the one that discovered the Ebola virus in a suitcase in LAX. He was on the news..” Ronnie explained.

“ Nope, not ringing any bells.” continued James

“ The jerk that double parked you twice in the parking lot and than made a big deal of having the notes on the lab techies computer fully and completely erased by professionals. After all we can’t have the security of the United States of America compromised”  continued Ronnie.

“ Oh him!” James clued in. “Yeah, I hate that guy!”

Ignoring the guys sidetrack  Elijah continued his rant over Chelsea’s attention.

“Or Chase in toxicology. He has no right to look that good in a lab coat!”

“Dude, when have you looked at Chase that way?” joked Ronnie, grabbing his Blackberry and off his desk and checking it’s messages with the emails on his screen.

“ Don’t you think its overkill him wining the California surfing championship?” moaned Elijah

“Yeah, man he’s an overachiever” James choked out of a mouth full of pizza.

“ Do you think Chelsea will come to the bar tonight with us?” asked Elijah cleaning up the pizza boxes.

“ Well,” Ronnie thought for a moment, “ What did she say when you asked man?”

“ She said she might stop by.”

“ Alright! Our man El is finally going to lose his virginity!” whopped James.

“ Shut up man.” Elijah threw a Pepsi can at him, James caught it midair.

The office phone rings on Elijah’s desk. “ IT department have you tried rebooting?... No there is no any key on the keyboard...you just need to hit any of the keys to continue...no, yes that’s right. Okay. Yes it is an inconvenience and terribly misleading sir. Okay now. Bye.”

“ Now, lets get serious men.” Ronnie standing up between the two men and placing his hands on Elijah’s shoulders.

“ When Chelsea said she might stop by, did she look you straight in the eyes?”

“ Well I think so, I wasn’t trying to stare..”

“ Did she lean forward” Ronnie went on, not waiting for an answer.

“ Did she flip her hair?, or lick her lips? Did she match your body language?”

“ My what” asked Elijah.

“ Your body language. I heard if they match you they want you man!”

“ I don’t know, I don’t really remember.”

“ Were her breasts plump?” continued Ronnie.

“ Her brea... What does that have to do with anything Ron?” Elijah broke away from Ronnie and returned to his desk.

“ Go easy on him Ron” came James’ voice from behind a bank of computer monitors.

The bar was pretty quite for a Thursday night. A handful of people were watching a football game and a couple of guys were playing pool. Ronnie had promised Elijah that this place would fill up after the game. But as Elijah waited for James and Ronnie who were apparently picking up a surprise for him. He sipped his beer surveying the bar again and wasn’t so sure the place would be packed with hot chicks man.

✎

Ronnie and James walk in and hand Elijah a fanny pack with the words  BARSTAR emblazoned in gold lamee. 

“ What is this?” looking form one man to the other.

“ This is what Barstars wear when they pick up chicks!” Ronnie explained “ It has everything you need for a night of conquest. Condoms, lube, even a sented candle and matches!” 

“ Dude, I somehow don’t think this is going to attract girls, Oh why can’t we be like normal guys.” 

“ Because we are computer geeks, and due to our lack of social skills we are isolated from normal society. I think it comes down to intimedation.” 

“ For us or them?”

“ I for one am intimedated”

“ If only women came with a user manual.”

“It is a higher calling we do. Working the inner dealings of systems far more advanced than many people will ever understand. After all you need a certain IQ to deal with the applications we work with let alone how we adapt them.”

After an unsuccessful night trying to pick up women Ronnie and James headed home, Chelsea had arrived when they were leaving and Elijah stayed to have one more drink with her. She finally called a cab and when she asked him if he wanted to share the ride. A sudden wave of nausea swept over him and the long day of work and drinks had finally caught up with him. And watched her walk out of the bar.

Its probably best I walk home anyway, it will be good to get some fresh air. Elijah thought to himself as he grabbed his jacket and left the bar.

A little more than a mile down the road he began to regret that decision as it began to hail. He pulled his t-shirt up over his head to soften the blow of the ice pellets. 

Wet and tired he looked up to see headlights in the distance and decided to signal for a ride. Clara had said to be bold, and as of yet nothing that had happened today seemed like it would change his life significantly So he thought to himself what the heck?

 The car slowed down and Elijah ran across the dark road, nearly slipping on the ice. a the passenger side window rolled down Elijah leaned over and peered into the dark interior of the midnight blue mustang, wondering to himself if this was really such a good idea after all.

The Collection - Detective Jones Part 1. A Body and a Theory

“Could it be a worse day to look at a body?” asked Detective Mike Bell, as he climbed into his partner’s truck. Grateful Detective Jones had turned the air conditioning on.  

“ It must be 90 degrees out there!” continued Bell trying to get comfortable on the leather seats.

“ We have to hurry,” said Jones turning onto the highway. “ The coroner wants to get the body out of the heat before it decomposes and loses anymore evidence.”

“ Yeah, so I got the facts from the state patrol, possible homicide.

 Apparently a trooper had given a driving citation along the this particular stretch of Highway at around 12 o’clock last night and reported nothing unusual at that time.  This part of the highway is up in the mountains a bit and far enough away from the turn off from the main highway out of Burbank. So it doesn’t get much action at night. Usually campers and people going to enjoy the park are entering during the day. Now, the next sighting was again by the trooper who was returning from his shift back to the station when he noticed what looked like an animal off in the brush on the side of the road.”

“ What time was that?” asked Jones

“ That was at 5 this morning.” 

The detectives drove along the Santa Clara highway away from Los Angeles and further into the rugged mountain range of Angeles National Forest. When they arrived at the scene Dr. Samantha Bates, the district coroner and Sean Wells the principle CSI investigator were already gathering evidence.

“ Doctor Bates, good to see you again” said Mike walking over to her. 

“ Hi Sam, what have you got for us.” Piped up Jones surveying the scene on the side of the dusty highway.

“ Well, boys I’m glad you got up here when you did, Sean and I have been developing a theory and if you had been another 10 minutes I’m pretty sure we would have cracked your case for you.” Sam smiled at the Detectives. Her blond hair tied in a ponytail swung as she ducked Mike’s fist thrown at her head in a joking fashion.

 It was always a ride when Jones had to work with Sam, and Mike. He always joked in a police department the size of the one in Los Angeles, why was he the one stuck with the twins? 

“ Yeah I know Sam, but L A ‘s traffic come on give us a break. Jones said “ Now, let’s get down to business.” 

“ Our victim is a male Caucasian, looks to be in his 20’s I’d say 28, 5,9  maybe 220 pounds thereabouts.  No I.D. He has blood in his hair and lacerations along his forearms and back. Signs of a struggle, I would hazard a cougar attack.” said Sam

“ It’s certainly possible at this time of the year, with so many wildfires their natural environment is reduced and so are their sources of food. They come down into more populated areas and we see more attacks.” Said Mike.

“ So this guy was out for a walk, maybe going home from a party, and is attacked by a cougar? ' Hazards Jones. “Then where are his shoes, or jacket. It is hot today but up here last night it would have been close to freezing.” 

“There are no signs of cougars in this area” said Sean walking up to the three.

 “However there are signs of what looks like a car track.” 

“ Mike go take the rangers statement, please” said Jones

“ Look at these marks on his neck, there is bruising here” said Sam, “ now it looks to me like it wouldn’t be enough to kill him. There is only one kind animal I know makes those kind of marks and they walk on two feet.”

“ The scene is very clean, No blood spatters or extra fibers that shouldn’t be here. I think this man was placed here” Said Jones 

 Mike came back up to the group wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. He was young only 30 himself, but his thinning hair was featuring a bright bald spot reflecting in the California sun. Detective Jones was feeling the heat too and now was ready to get back to the air conditioning of the office.

“ I think we have all we need for now,” Jones turned to Sam. “ You can take the body now.” 

“ Sean,” He asked the CSI bending over his mold on the side of the highway. “ You will send us the photos from the scene soon, we are going to run his finger prints in CODIS for now. See if we come up with anything.”  There was no hiding it in the young man’s face Sean had been violently ill before Detective Jones had arrived and looked like he might be again any moment. Jones handed him a bottle of water from his truck.

“ Yes, sir, right away.” Sean looked relived to be dismissed from the scene. The heat was climbing into the high 90’s and the smell of the body was unbearable for Jones, a seasoned Detective. He felt sorry for Sean, only been on the job a few weeks, and as far as he knew had not experienced anything like this. 

Driving back to L.A. Mike started tossing ideas. 

" If it was someone who dumped the body, than they were looking for time, because they must have know a body on the side of the road would attract attention." 

" Yes, but we have to look at the whole scene not just the body itself." said Jones " It is like a picture. We can't just look at the foreground, but what is in the background will give us the clues to solving this case. If Sam thinks its a homicide, than we need to look at everything. Including the time of death and what is close to that turn off.  Why there? The killer had to feel safe enough to dump the body there."

“ And why there were so many attempts to kill him.” offered Mike.

“ Yes, well perhaps the person was inexperienced or was smaller than our victim. But your right. Men tend to shoot or strangle, why than stab him.  He looked like he put up a fight, but there were too many scratches. Right now I would hazard a guess at this being a crime of passion.”

“ That’s a pretty bold move, we don’t have all the facts in yet.” countered Mike “It could have been a hitchhiker in the wrong place at the wrong time. With no I.D. we will have to wait for the dental records and check missing persons.” 

“ It could be, but I have seen that pattern before, and it is one only someone in a violent rage would do, someone obsessed with our victim. Those looked like signs of torture not killing.” said Jones.

“You think it was accidental than?”  asked Mike.

“ That would also explain the dumping where he could be found. Someone cared for him, and I think that someone is our killer.” said Jones

The Collection - Detective Jones Part 2 Femme Fatale

The Collection- Detective Jones Part 2

Femme Fatale

By Margaret Shields

Later that evening he was watching her do the dishes when she remarked

 “Femme fatale ...hmm, that sounds quite romantic.”

“It’s not like in those French films you watch Gracie, there is a real killer out there, destroying lives.” 

He regretted the words as soon as they had left his mouth. It had only been 2 years since Gracie herself had been kidnapped and her best friend killed in the attempt to rescue them from that monster. Yet tonight she seemed to have other things on her mind, as she let the remark pass.

“I could be a femme fatale, don’t you think?” she turned suddenly looking up coquettishly at him under her eyelashes. 

“I could get you into trouble...I could be very dangerous.” She said suddenly serious.

“Hon, you’re too sweet for me to every think that.” He replied as he moved to embrace her. Gracie turned suddenly intent on making Detective Jones see otherwise. Pulling a can from the fridge she faced him again.

 “I could make you do bad things with this can of...whip cream!” she smiled wickedly at him.

“Grace...No, I’m warning you” He hesitated taking a step back, hands outstretched. "You know I have to lose 20 more pounds before the reunion.” Undeterred Gracie pulled out a jar and undid the lid, hastely dipping her fingers deep into it’s dark contents, and pulling out a smooth substance that in the dim light of the kitchen gleamed a rich red. “Or how about some sinful chocolate.” She purred.

“No. Gracie, now look here.” He protested stronger this time but his willpower was fading and not just for staying away from the dessert. Detective Jones had been through a roller coaster with Gracie. Months of therapy, and couples counciling since the attack and while they still were very much in love, they had not made love in over a year. She could still not stand to be touched even when she initiated, he was always hesitant to follow through not wanting to bring on a flashback and have her hysterical. Even now when the therapist said she was ready and strong enough. Det. Jones wasn’t sure he was. Yet tonight seemed different. As he watched her move slowly forwards running her sticky fingers from her breast above her tank top to her collar bone, finally sucking in satisfaction she moaned.

 

It was too much for one man to bear. He couldn’t keep his eyes off his wife’s pretty collar bone and breast now painted in rich dark chocolate. He could feel his stomach muscles tighten as blood rushed to his groin, and he noticed an overwhelming amount of saliva in his mouth. His heartbeat quickened when the heat of her breath reached his neck.

“ Honey...I believe your drooling.” She giggled softly in his ear.

She steped back satisfied with a smile on her face, chocolate still on her chin and dipped her fingers in the jar again. This time pulling them out and holding them close under his nose. The deep rich scent which he missed almost as much as his wife’s sweet scent pushed him over the edge. He groaned loudly and grabbed her. Gracie shrieked with laughter as he hoisted her over his shoulders and made his way down the hallway to their bedroom, chocolate jar in the other hand.