Chapter Three: Alex
“You’ve done good, Jordan.”
“Thank you, sir.” I stared back at my commanding officer and tried to fight a smug smile.
I worked hard for this. The badge in my hand was the physical proof of all my hard work over the past few years. I started at the very bottom of the precinct, and now I was a detective. It was surreal. But it was damn well earned.
“Unfortunately, you’ll be jumping right in. We just got word of a homicide while you were in the ceremony.” Harold walked around his desk, and opened a nearly empty file. It must have all happened fast.
John Harold was a hard ass, one of the few Lieutenants in this precinct. But the 78th was known for our high ranks and decorated officers. I wondered why he had left the ceremony early. We were both in our ceremonial blues, and if I was going out in the field, I would have to change.
“Really?” I take the folder. All it had was the 911 report and transcript, along with the location.
“Yep. CSI is already out there, officers are taking statements.” He gave me a look under his hard brows that said, ‘what are you still doing here?’
I nodded and took my leave.
Some of the other officers on the floor congratulated me as I made my way to the locker room to change. A few of the women had come up with a new reason to have drinks with me after work. I responded with empty promises and my best smile.
Women had a thing for us cops, and especially detectives. I didn’t even mean it in a cocky way, but I was a good-looking guy and had the body to match. I’d been with almost every female in other precincts, it would be foolish to fool around in my own precinct.
I got to my locker and grabbed a pair of slacks and blue dress shirt. It was weird to be dressing in anything other than my normal uniform, but it felt good, too. All the studying for the exam, making sure I was squeaky clean as an officer. Even as a fucking traffic cop. I had instinct and I had heart, it was how I made it that far.
I hadn’t been assigned a partner, so I got in the signature detective town car and headed to the scene. I was a half mile out when I saw all the regulars. The coroner, crime scene investigation trucks, even a few news trucks. I got why they were there though; it was a nice part of the park with seemingly no past events. They had a story lined up.
I found a tight spot next to a cruiser and stepped out, headed to the crime scene.
I started making a list in my head before writing it down. He was an older male, but not past forty, judging by his hands and face alone. He died in shock, because his eyes were still open. He looked the business type, because he was wearing slacks, a dress shirt, and a trench coat. I could already tell something off happened here.
“Cause of death is obvious.” Amy Hale was the ME, she was a bit older than me, but still damn sexy. I would know, since we had a few run ins with each other before she settled down with a hot shot lawyer; the damned DA himself.
“Oh really?” I smirked, looking down at the close-range gunshot wound to his chest.
“But he does have marks around his neck, so the perp could have shot him as a throw-off. I’ll know for sure when I get him in my lab.” Amy leaned down and pointed out the grip marks on his neck. I nodded in understanding.
She came out to a few crime scenes, but always dressed in her black scrubs to do it, with protective boots so nothing got contaminated. She had her long blond hair tied up, and I gave her a once over when she wasn’t looking, but she just didn’t do it for me anymore. Pretty much no one did at that point.
“Okay. Anything else?” I took all my notes down in my pad and walked around the body.
Before she answered me, I noticed Nate and Max blocking a flurry of even more reporters trying to get photos of the body.
“Put up a guard here.” I instructed one of the CSIs. He nodded and ran off. I shrugged my shoulders back, liking the new authority I seemed to have.
I called Nate and Max over, to see if they had anything else to say. The three of us had been best friends since day one at the academy. We just got along, and had each other’s backs, always.
“Hunter,” Amy greeted Max formally. “Logan.” And then Nate.
“Are we getting the body out of here soon? These guys are chomping at the bit,” Max said. He adjusted his radio and gave instruction for them to hold a barricade.
“Yeah. Just waiting on CSI,” Amy answered, not looking at him. She was focused on the body.
The more I looked, the more similarities started to jump out at me. The fact that he was in a semi-secluded location for one, was like two other crimes in the last four weeks. His attire too, business like.
“This look familiar to you guys?” I turned to Max and Nate.
“Yeah. But you don’t.” Max chided. I frowned as he nudged Nate and laughed. They did their jobs well, but still found time to joke.
It was my first official day as Detective Jordan, so I should have prepared myself for their shit.
“Save it.” I sighed.
They stopped laughing slowly and took long looks at the body. As they walked around, they were safe to not contaminate anything the CSI was working on.
“It looks a lot like the ones from four weeks ago. That guy in the alley and the one in the abandoned garage. Especially the gun shot and strangulation marks,” Nate said.
He was the one that always noticed the big correlations. Max was good with the details, and worked most of his cases on missing children, so that was why he was good with patterns. When we were all in blues, we closed the most cases. Come time for the test, they opted out, even though they were just as qualified as me.
“The gun shot is the COD, but the others were from strangulation, your guy is changing his deal.” Amy said.
The four of us exchanged looks.
“Then we have our work cut out for us.”