There was something strange and terrifying about investigating crime scenes. Under the moonlight, the twisted limbs looked like an artistic tantrum where the murderer collaborated with the stars above. Truly, it was the perfect time to discover the scene.
Of course, it wasn’t that the sight of mutilated bodies was anything to have tea over. Though, the grotesque scenes never seemed to bother me. I could see past death and into the beautiful night. Bars were open, parks were lovely to stroll through, and a popular coffee shop now held nighttime hours. Life couldn’t get much better. Not like I would be getting off work anytime soon to enjoy it. But in these strings of murderers the setup seemed nearly illusionary and brilliant in the most messed up way that you can imagine.
The scene developed slowly on the edge of the city’s riverbank. Other squads started to tape off the scene, meaning that my squad received more work while trying to take charge of the crime scene. I wasn’t complaining about the extra help. But people were idiots despite being dawned in police jackets and vests. Nowadays, everyone thinks that they are so important. They pass the academy, get their badge, swear into duty, and then spend seven-out-of-nine hours of their shift giving out traffic tickets.
The Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) never bothered to wear “proper” uniforms besides the jackets on top of whatever we were wearing when we got called. The policy used to be different in the past, but it only resulted in our unit arriving late to the scenes. Anyone who has a brain can guess the disadvantages of getting to scenes late. So now, if you put a jacket on with long pants, you’re golden to administration. It only took twenty minutes for the scene to be fully accounted for. I headed for the closest CIU jacket that crouched over the body and hoped it was one of my co-workers that I didn’t hate talking to.
“I wonder if it’s the same person responsible for this one,” I was delighted to see it was Drew Curtis taking photos.
In the academy, Drew used to come get dinners with me. He never talked much about his home life, but he did mention his fish one time. Though, it was probably dead considering how much everyone works in the unit.
“Well, I hope it is,” Drew adjusted his facemask, “If we have more than one person folding people into origami, I’m going to lose more weight than I already have.”
“Look at this,” He pointed to a rib that was sawed in half with white powder in a neat pile under it, “I guess we can figure that these murders are premeditated. And they’re not some psycho that carries around a bone saw all the time.”
“Yeah. Well, I only carry my bone saw with me on special days when my pockets are a little lighter.” I hummed while ignoring any sort of comments that followed.
“Very funny, Navin. Not the time to joke though. I’d rather not mess around while the scene is still fresh. There’s a lot to do and the victim still needs to be identified.” Drew grunted.
“Right. If you put it in the freezer, it may last longer” I remarked and ignored his uptight expression. I did that with meat, veggies, and soup. You could freeze anything with the right amount of work.
“Is David here? I know the Chief has been running to meetings lately, but he needs to sign off on authorization papers for the unit.” Drew seemed uninterested in arguing about the body this time.
“It would be better for everyone if he never showed up,” I reminded him and crouched down to examine the body myself.
“Even if he showed up, you know it wouldn’t be for long. It’ll make our jobs harder if he doesn’t.” Drew muttered, “What do you think about this one? It doesn’t seem like the other ones.”
This wasn’t your typical madman murder. A normal person wouldn’t go to these lengths to kill someone. Which is why, you could only rely on drugs and sheer dedication to the craft. It would be a dumb to ignore the capabilities of people on drugs or addicts. They do anything just to get another hit. This city was riddled in drugs, more than people realized. To spare the details, the legs were cut into wings. It looked like Chicken Little on a bad day. And the sight was making some of the rookie officers turn the river a little browner.
It was hard to admit that Drew knew what he was doing. He did and had proven his place on the team, even if he strayed away from the dramatics of the unit. Then again, everyone on this unit was here for a reason. Drew already knew what I was going to say.
Bones break all the time. You see jagged edges when they snap. It’s not clean or tidy, it’s like breaking shards of glass. If you don’t take the time to do it properly, you’ll get cut. The cuts in the ribs were too smooth. It was quite lovely how carefully they were cut. The artistry and precision were admirable. A knife or brute force couldn’t make works this perfect. If I had the opportunity to talk to the artist that performed on this display, I’d only have to critique them in one small detail. The small detail destroyed the whole scene.
My eyes peered down at the drops of blood seeping into the cracks of the sidewalk. The crimson trail dripping as routinely as a leaky sink. The type of sound that annoys anyone to the point of murder. At the end of the day, that’s what would get them caught. They were sloppy. All this work, for what? To slack and get caught.
“It may be elaborate, but they’re too messy.” I clicked my tongue, “I don’t think we’re dealing with the same killer.”
“I agree with Navin. This may be the work of a copycat.” A voice chimed in from behind, a hand gripped my shoulder tightly before letting go. David groaned as he settled down on the other side of the body, “How did you realize that, Navin?
Oh, great.
“…The blood.” I directed his attention at puddle that formed around the disassembled body, “The serial killer that we’ve been chasing hadn’t left even a drop of blood before. Previous scenes were clean.” I hoped that he would accept that answer.
David continued to stare at me through his glasses, a hand motioning to go on with my theory. I hated it when he pushed for answers. Everyone else would see this as encouragement, but I knew that he never held those intentions.
“Well…” I continued begrudgingly, “Considering the location, this part of the river’s walkway is not travelled much due to the flooding because of rain. A storm is forecasted for the early morning, which means that they not in a rush to set up the scene properly.”
He already knew what I was going to say. I assure you that he knew details that we wouldn’t uncover till later, but that’s just how he is. This is how it always was.
“Interesting…” David nodded and pulled out his phone, “I’ll be meeting up with forensics and going down with one of their guys to report this to the main station hall. Which means, you’ll both need to close the scene by yourselves after we finish.” Of course, we were left on clean up work again.
“Understood, Chief.” Drew didn’t bother to argue at this point, “Just Navin and I?”
“We have an officer from the advanced class that will be assigned to work with our team for a month. He starts tonight.” With that, David pressed a button, “If he doesn’t read the text in time, I’ll reject his application.” He snickered like a little kid, who was happy about causing trouble for once.
“So, you’re leaving us alone to close the scene for the night and you’re having us cater to an intern that may not show up?” I asked again.
All David did was give a thumbs up, “He’s not an intern till he shows up! Besides, he’s highly recommended. Top of the class like Navin was. And he’s apparently an interesting kid.”
“Did you just text him to come? It’s eleven at night.” Drew deadpanned.
“I did. Afterall, we never get a break.” David looked down at his phone, “Ah, I hate it when I do this. Stupid technology. Back in my day, it was never this complicated.”
Another press on his phone, “Okay, now I texted him. You two know what you’re doing. Just have him do tasks that you don’t want to do, right? Cool. I’ll be on my phone, if you need me, but I trust you both to be able to handle things around here.”
To translate, he means to leave him alone.
Without waiting for a reply, David ducked out and went to go whatever he normally did in these situations. I never tried to find out what he was up to.
“Every day, I think about quitting this place.” Drew sighed.
“You say that every day.” I reminded him. Though, I understand where he came from, “Let’s just let the rookie run the samples and tools back to the van?”
“Agreed. I don’t think that he can do much without proper training in our protocols anyway. I’ll make sure to pick up the training manuals from the headquarters when I stop by later. Not that I think of it, do we even know the intern’s name?” Drew asked.
I shook my head, “That’s more of the perimeter’s problem than ours. If the rookie can get through, it just means he has more patience than us.
𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝
“I swear that I’m allowed to be here!” A bystander begged one of the officers that stood outside of the caution tape. He held up his phone, the rain dripping on a lit screen.
Comically, I happened to stumble by the best spot to witness this interaction. But instead of rushing over to help David’s rookie victim, it seemed like a better use of my time to sit down, and people watch. It was one of the skills the officers should have in this field of work.
Drew and I had made bets on if the rookie would show up in time. I looked down at my watch, impressed by the prompt thirty minutes that it took to see, process, and act on the absurd request. I won, but I lost in the second half of the bet, where I said that the rookie would already be out and about. I figured that he’d have club attire.
Instead, the rookie showed up in their flannel pajama pants and what I thought to be a stained black hoodie. Blonde hair appeared to be stuck on his forehead from the sweat. I assumed that he sprinted like a madman here, which was wise of him. It was hard to tell in the dark and all our main spotting lights were at the actual crime scene. Besides that, the only lights were from the police sirens.
I guess some good things did result from David’s actions. To my enjoyment, it only got better. Plus, the best thing about running a scene was that no one could scold me now. As long as the higher-ups didn’t find out.
The officer shook his head, “I’m sorry but a text doesn’t give you clearance to enter an active crime scene.”
To this, the bystander only pushed the screen to closer to the officer’s face, “Look! It even says David Powell. The contact’s name. How would I know that?”
“Well, it’s public information listed on the public safety’s website. That includes the name of the Chief of Divisions.” The Officer explained, “You can change the name of contacts without verifying their identity.”
This was true. You’d be amazed by the abilities that the internet provides. For example, instead of waiting in line for my order, I can just pick it up at a scheduled time.
“I am a police officer! I am a student in the academy.” The bystander screamed. I could help but I didn’t want to. On technically, he wasn’t a police officer till he graduated. But I’ll let him have his moment.
“Okay. Do you have your badge?” He asked, unconvinced.
The rookie frantically nodded, “I do! It’s in my bag.” He pulled a small string bag from his back and shuffled through it, “C’mon. You got to be kidding me.”
“If you don’t have a badge, sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The officer’s command was met with silence.
“…I swear it’s the wrong bag. I have my academy card?” He gave a hesitant grin. I would have left it, but David would have my neck if the scene wasn’t taken care of quickly. I interrupted the officer and grabbed the card from the rookie’s hand.
“Connor Gaines?” I repeated the name and waved the old card in my hand, “This edition of the academy’s card is expired by a year. In other years, you may have gotten away with it. But they changed the color scheme recently. You should get it renewed.”
I handed it back, “I don’t have time for this though. You’re lucky that I got the Chief to mention your name over text.” Not to mention, it was a horrible process to have him do so. I wasn’t in the best mood because of it.
The officer was hesitant, “We’re not permitted to allow officers in without proper identification, sir.”
“Well, my boss’s word is enough identification for me. If you have a problem with this, you can report it to the head of the scene tonight.” I lifted the tape and motioned the rookie inside.
“And who’s in charge? I hadn’t heard anything.” The officer followed the statement up.
I looked around and scratched my head, “It’s almost like you’re talking to the head of scene right this minute.” I glared at the officer than by the rookie, “Let’s go. Hurry.”
“…Okay sir.” The rookie stammered and threw his string bag back on.
I stopped back in front of the CSI van and turned to face the rookie, whose eyes glanced around at the chaos of the crime scene. It was a lot to take in, but you got used to it. Teams were everywhere because agencies were in collaboration. For the most part, Drew had the actual duties handled. And I was busy avoiding the annoying tasks. Apparently, I wasn’t good enough at that either. It was hard not to notice the soaked flannel pajamas and stained hoodie.
“Take off the hood, rookie. Drop your bag here and jump into one of the hazmat suits. We don’t need your nightwear to contaminate our scene.” I reached into one of the containers in the truck and threw over a hazard suit. I didn’t really look at the size, but if he wanted to pass, he’d make it work.
He didn’t seem like a muscle head, but that didn’t mean he was a stick. I just hoped his brain worked better than his braun did. The last thing that our team needed was another hardcore gym rat that punched with his fists instead of his college degree. We had to deal with one last recruiting season, and I scared him away.
I gave him a look, “Do you know how to put it on? Or should I give you a demonstration?” I’m not giving a demonstration and if he asked, he was going home.
He vigorously shook his head, while jumping into the suit and zipping it up, “I am good to proceed, sir!”
“Quit with the formalities. I’m just a member on the team.” Though it was in everyone’s best interest to not be on this team, “Navin Chaikm.”
“It’s nice to meet you then, Navin.” He extended his hand for a shake, “My name is Connor Gaines. I’m a trainee in the advanced training program on track to graduate in the coming cycle.”
“Yes. I know. I read your academy card, remember?” I peered down at the handshake and just openly ignored it, “Anyways, can you carry heavy boxes?”
Connor dropped his hand, “…I can.”
“Cause there’s a lot of them.” I chuckled.
“Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle them efficiently as a team.” Connor tried to sound eager, but this wasn’t the team of unit that functioned in a normal team structure.
I shook my head, “Was my question referring to multiple people?”
“Oh, I guess it wasn’t.” He stammered.
“Great. Your deduction skills aren’t broken then.” I turned and patted him on the shoulder, “That’s a good start to a long month here.”
𒋝𒋝𒋝
Chapter Two
It was well into the early hours of the morning by the time David bothered to call.
“Hello?” I yawned.
“Morning, Navin. How’s the scene? Where you able to wrap everything up?” David’s boisterous voice rang from the speaker. I held it away from my ear and tried not to wince.
“Almost done,” I reported, “Did the papers get filed yet?”
There was a hum on the other side of the line, “Well, they’ve been completed for a good bit now.”
“So, you just stayed there?” I sighed, “Actually, never mind. I handled everything that we needed to. I’ll give you that report in person.”
I’ve had the displeasure of knowing David for a few years at this point. We’ve been on each other’s radar since I entered the academy, and I was trapped into this unit because of him.
“I’ve been stuck at forensics lab after we filed at the main station,” David drummed on, “The body is going through tests after arriving. Good job on preparing the scene for transportation.”
“Yeah well, it’s not my first rodeo.” I reminded him.
“I know that very well, Navin.” He confirmed, “The rookie? Do I have to rip the application up?”
I yawned and looked over at the van. Drew had been showing Connor where all the equipment needed packed up in. It had taken a bit to sanitize this time because of how messy the scene had been. Everyone was slowing down from exhaustion.
“He’s still awake. I guess he’s fine for now.” I admitted, “Besides, it’s too early to tell now because we just had him help on cleanup and loading.”
“That makes sense. You should get to know him more, Navin. He’s an interesting individual. Rogers, himself, recommended him for the unit.”
That was a name that I didn’t think I’d hear again. I couldn’t tell if I was glad or terrified to hear about Rogers again. It would benefit the whole city, if they put a tracker on that man. But that’s just my personal warning. Don’t be fooled. David wasn’t the best to deal with either.
“Rogers did?” I was shocked, “That old man has strange taste.”
“Rogers picks and chooses based on the needs that we require.” David let out a small chuckle.
“Right. I guess you’re right. Though, I don’t understand why Connor meets those requirements.” I was too tired to deal with this right now, so it was better to cut to the point, “I’ll stop by your office later. I need to finish some tasks up before the vans pull out.”
“I’ll see you, Navin” With that the phone went silent. That was the end of it for now.
“The CSI van is all loaded now,” Connor walked over and yawned, still somewhat awake despite the sun coming up now. I wondered how long he had been up till now. Frankly, I didn’t particularly care though. If he did his job, everything would run smoothly and be less of a headache for me.
“You double-checked with Drew?” I asked. It was more annoying to do the paperwork to cover any missed equipment. It was a one-and-done type of mistake and certainly not something I would want to deal with tonight.
“Yes. We went through the checklist.” Connor confirmed.
With Drew there, I didn’t question it much. He knew what he was doing, besides always seeming indifferent. And along with me, Drew was one of the oldest members of the unit.
The main members of the unit showed up to crime scenes, but sometimes our forces split. For example, David, drew, and I went to this one. We had a forensic specialist stationed at our office, but they had gone straight to the lab as soon as we got the call. We had two more officers that I didn’t care much about, a firearms specialist and former SWAT member. They were assigned to help with another unit for the time being and I hoped they would stay there.
I walked over to the van, making my way over to the driver’s side door, Connor scurrying behind me, “Hop into the passenger’s seat.”
He nodded quickly and passed Drew, who gave me an annoyed glance, “Where am I going to ride back in then?”
I rattled through my pockets and pulled out a spare set of keys to one of the squad cars and tossed it, “The unit that handled barriers today asked that one of us go back and help them with their paperwork.”
“…And let me guess,” He sighed, keys still in hand, “You wanted me to go?” Drew shouldn’t have been surprised. Afterall, I was allergic to paperwork.
“Would you rather take the rookie to a coffee shop for standard talks?” I hummed while hopping into the driver’s seat of the van, half my body hanging out.
Drew raised an eyebrow, “…Yeah, actually I would.”
I smiled and closed the door to the van. The CSI van’s engine roared to life, as I reached for the buckle.
I shook my head, “Drew said he wanted to go do paperwork.” For some reason, the rookie decided to stay silent the rest of the drive to the station.
𒋝𒋝𒋝
If I didn’t know anything about police work and what normally happened at the station, I would have been shocked about the office events too. David had come back to the CSI headquarters and decided to make it everyone’s problem, but mainly mine.
“You see that older man in the black jacket?” I sighed and grabbed Connor’s hoodie, slowing him down before entering the main room.
I wasn’t one to actively try to help anyone out. That took time, effort, and energy. But it
Either drunk from exhaustion, or totally out of his element, the rookie nodded hesitantly, “Uh, yes. I do Navin.”
“That’s the person that texted you so late to come to the crime scene last night.” I nodded, “The Chief. You should probably go meet him and introduce yourself.”
“Thanks for telling me. I’ll make sure to do that.” Connor laughed awkwardly. He stepped towards the door opening it to the main room, where David was giving a laugh too jolly for the early hour.
“Hello Sir.” Connor stepped forward into to hold out a handshake, “My name is Connor Gaines. I’m the cadet that Chief Rogers recommended to your unit.”
David looked up from his coffee, his eyes floating past the rookie and landing right to mine, “Navin! Just the person that I wanted to see.”
My feet moved faster than my mouth, as I whirled around towards the exit, “On second thought, I think Drew just texted me that I needed to go downtown to help with some paperwork.”
A hand grabbed my shoulder, “Nonsense, I just got off the phone with him.” David leaned his face over, which revealed a smile. It was unsettling to say the least.
“…Did you now?” Are you sure it was Drew?” I tried to save myself, but even I knew it was hopeless to try.
David pulled out his phone and held the contact’s name in my face, “Matches yours? Doesn’t it?”
“Wow… It sure does.” I huffed in defeat, before an arm slung over my shoulder.
“Did you want coffee?” David took us past the rookie, who at this point got the hint to just sit down on the couch. The Chief was erratic and frankly unpleasant to be around. He picked up a spare coffee and held it towards me, “Black. Just how you like it.”
I was not in the position to refuse and honestly, I was too tired to deny free coffee, “I bought the rookie here.”
David wasn’t the type of person to ignore his position when it came to images. But considering his personality, that wasn’t the case all the time. I just hoped it would be this time.
“Oh, I didn’t notice.” David laughed, his gaze not focused on Connor, who had the displeasure of viewing this mess, “Pleasure to meet you, son. I’m the Chief, but you can call me David.”
Connor jumped up from the couch to meet David’s firm handshake, “Thank you for hosting me in your unit for my academy internship.”
I took this opportunity to take Connor’s place on the couch. It would have been a good opportunity to scramble from David’s sight. But I know that vermin would have hunted me down regardless of whether I slipped away or not.
“How’s your class at the academy?” David asked, finally handing coffee to Connor.
The rookie seemed tense. It didn’t surprise me though. Anyone who met David should be nervous. Once you got past the jolly-to-for-all mask, he was really a fellow to be anxious around. I knew that all too well.
“It’s been pretty strenuous and demanding, but I’m grateful to have lasted past all the tests.” Connor admitted.
David looked over, “Navin, remember when you puked after the first five-mile run?”
“I had a fever that day. You knew this already.” I droned, not letting myself accept a peaceful headquarters visit.
“He says that, but the truth is that we went drinking the night before.” David nudged the rookie.
It wasn’t true. I had been ill the whole week and got carried to the bar with David and Rogers to act as a chauffeur. Of course, he’d never admit that to anyone when he told the story. Nor was it worth contesting my side of the story.
“Ah, I see. Well, I used to run track in high school and my family is big into marathons. Luckily for me, running wasn’t too bad of an adjustment when I entered the academy.” Connor replied.
“Stick around, kid! Drew is picking up food on his way back from the other station soon. We’ll have our debrief when he gets back. In the meantime, I need to talk to Navin in my office about how the scene went.” David smiled and walked over to me, his hand motioning me to follow him.
“Understand. I’ll just stay in this area then. It was an honor to meet you.” Connor settled into a slight bow before walking over to grab more coffee.
I didn’t see what exactly he did after because David was already leading me down the hallway, all the way down to his office.
The hallway was long, the gray walls making it almost intimidating for the single room at the end. Awards and plaques on the wall displayed, like them meant anything in the first place. It was a show. It was all a show.
David stopped in front of his office door, his keys jingling the lock open and lemon scented room freshener pouring into the hallway to cover up the cigar smell.
The door shut behind us, the lock clicking as David made his way to his desk and slammed the coffee on his desk. The jolly expression wiped off his face.
I’ve seen this side of him a million times. It didn’t bother me anymore.
He opened the cabinet on his desk, pulling and lighting up a cigar. The cigar was brought to his mouth, a plume of smoke hitting my face like it has been for years now.
David let out a deep sigh, a scornful face now replacing his previous smile, “Did you clean up the evidence well?”
I nodded, “The person was sloppy. How are they supposed to go through all the effort of following the details of the crime, only to mess up by leaving it messy? Now, the district will need to explain a copycat.”
“They’re getting too close.” He warned, “Way too close.”
“How close?” I gulped.
David blew a column of smoke into my face, while pulling a file from his desk. Photos of piles of drugs scattered across the desk, some falling to the floor.
“Well, there’s a big drug distributor in the city apparently.” David tapped his hand on the desk, his fingernails scratching the surface, “You know what this means, don’t you Navin?”
I dared not say anything. There was no point trying to defend myself in this scenario.
“I said, do you know what this means?” His voice rose slightly, not enough for anyone to hear from the main room. But you’d be surprised what could happen in this office that would be silenced by the walls.
I knew what he wanted me to say. That I was sloppy in cleaning up their mess. Or that I investigated the wrong targets, and the lead got dragged to the bloodhounds. There weren’t many people worried about leaving the city, but you couldn’t only wish for less headaches in jobs. You couldn’t avoid them.
“Rogers wants to see you.” David’s announced. My blood went cold, as the words left his mouth, “He’s worried about you, Navin.”
“Worried about what?” I tried to hide the shakiness in my voice, but after years of being exposed to Rogers and the real face of the police force, there were moments that I was disappointed.
By this point, smoke had filled a good majority of the room. I didn’t cough anymore from the smell like I used to though. My brain tried to rake at the possibilities that Rogers wanted to see me for. I couldn’t think of anything.
“Did you get carried away last time?” David asked, his tone could be mistaken as calm, if you didn’t know the Chief well enough. Most people didn’t know him to this level though.
“Last time passed investigations.” I reminded him, “I made sure of that.”
“Are you sure about that, Navin?” He asked quietly.
I nodded slowly.
David let out a deep chuckle that sent goosebumps down my arms. I balled my fists, as his quiet chuckles filled the smoke blown room.
“Navin, son?” David stood up and walked around the desk, “It’s time to do a lesson.”
“Understood.” My eyes shook, as he pulled the chain from his desk. The metal long eroded and soaked in old blood.
“Lift up your shirt.” David smiled, “It’ll be quick this time. The debrief is going to start soon. And we don’t want any visible bruises.”
I closed my eyes.
Kayanne Marti 
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