The time is seriously late. I rush out of my apartment & head towards my car. I am about to open the door to the love of my life, my beautiful brand new Mercedes when it dawns on me that I have forgotten my files! I curse myself and run as fast as I can, back to my flat. I find the files on the nearby table stacked underneath the large pizza box, which has been lying around for sometime now. I grab the files & run back, trying to catch up with time but time does not wait for any man.
I drive towards work in a speed unbearable to most people but I am not most people; so I try to tell myself. It makes up for my lack of life! I pull my car, brake handle and do a skid in front of my office. I like showing off my daring style. I think it suits my personality!
I have literally fifteen seconds to reach the meeting. I like attracting attention but somehow arriving late and being made an example of, by boss is not the kind of attention I have in mind.
I walk in & find everyone already there. As usual I am greeted with a frown and a glance at their watch, indicating displeasure. I smile politely & take my seat. All my rookies smile at the prospect of my being put down but I rarely do. My arrogance is an indication of my skills. I am good at what I do, perhaps maybe even the best in New York.
I can hear my boss talking but somehow his words are lost to me. All I can think about is how hot the new case is. If I were to get my hands on this case, I will forever kiss goodbye to doing low rank work. I will solve it. This will make me invincible.
“In your own time!”
Everyone is laughing. I have been so lost in my own thoughts & dreams that I hardly heard my boss screaming.
God, this is not going to be a great start. I have made him angry.
He walks up to me & drops a heavy folder in front of me. I instantly recognise it. It’s a ‘drown’ case.
‘Drown’ is a term my rookies use to describe a case that will be a start to the end of your career.
‘Drown’ cases are unsolvable, the kind that no one else seems to wants, hence the name. Yes, it will be a challenge but frankly a one I can do with out. I am being punished perhaps for being too cocky!
I don’t dare to make a protest but I make sure boss knows how I feel. I deserve the other case more than anyone. I am a better detective, he knows that too.
I grab the file & walk out of the seminar room. I am too angry to notice any sneering thrown my way. I go into my office & slam the door shut. I light a cigarette & inhale deeply, that’s better.
The door opens and my boss walks in.
“Her name is Karen; she’ll be working with you on this case. God knows you’ll need all the help you can get” says Chief. I am too stunned to notice him leaving my office. A woman! That is just great. Not only I have a professional suicide plan on my hands, I also got to deal with a woman. Sure, she will be a great help.
I am too angry to even notice a new presence in my office. Talking to myself, cursing my bad luck seems to amuse the very same presence. I can hear a mesmerising laugh echoing in my office.
I turn around and there she is. Tall, blonde and beautiful. Too beautiful, in fact. God, how can she have all these qualities and still be a female cop. She is perfect but she can’t be. She is a vision of beauty. She smiles & introduces herself. I must have looked like a right idiot. I couldn’t help but staring at her. God, how am I to focus with her as my partner? I like calling her that.
I look at the case; the suspect is a Caucasian male, maybe thirty or thirty two at the most. He is wanted for three counts of first degree murder. With no previous convictions and records, the further I study the case, the more convinced I become that I am chasing a ghost. He has however a distinct murder signature. He does not torture his victims, yet he is a psychopath, who enjoys killing. I offer the case to my partner to have a look, to see what she is made of.
She runs her beautiful eyes over the pages & smiles. “The third victim is not his. We have a copy cat”, she says. I look at her in amazement. What is she talking about? How does she know? Why does she sound so sure? Thoughts begin to rush into my head. I think I am jealous. What if she is right? That will make her better at my job. This is hell.
“Detective, Detective! You seem lost” she says softly. “More than you know” I think to myself. She carries on. “All three victims were strangled to death without any indication of abuse. However if you look closely, the 1st & 2nd victims are strangled by someone using his right hand whereas the marks on the 3rd victim, argues a different angle. Our copycat murderer is left handed”
“There is no definite indication. Your evidence is purely circumstantial. The killer might have proceeded from a different angle” I protest.
“No that can’t be possible it will ruin his routine. It has lost its original signature. These murders to him are works of art. An artist will not change his style”, she says.
I have to argue. “Picasso constantly changed his style every time he fell in love with a new woman!” she smiles. I can see she is amused. “No, he changed subjects, woman not style!”
God she is good.
She diverts my attention to a different hidden clue. “The first two victims have the same expression on their faces when recovered. Their eyes muscles are tightened due to the force of suffocation but other than that, they seem motionless, almost as though they were not frightened prior to their attack. They knew the killer.
However the third victim is scared. Her muscles were reported as stiff in her autopsy. She has a broken finger which can mean a number of things. She was fighting her attacker and this happened before the strangulation. This I can tell by the severe bruising. A bruise of this magnitude needs time to develop whereas if you look at her neck, although stronger the force, the bruising seems to be not as bad. She did not know her murder”.
She keeps talking but all I can do is admire her. She took one look at the case and managed to find out new information, lost to so many others before her.
Maybe, it is not such a bad idea to have a woman on board.
“A woman’s intuition”….that can work in my favour.
I smile and whisper to myself, “Good morning New York” and what a brilliant morning it seems to be.