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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default A Thin Blue Line

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    Monday, August 12, 2013
    7:07 AM
    High Park


    A motorcycle cop meets Detective Tanner at the service road's access to unlock the pylons, and then lead his car at low speed into High Park towards the crime scene. The sky is a general, overcast grey (though patches are starting to burn off). The park designers did a good job of hiding the surrounding buildings, but Thad can see a few townhouses that serve the University community poking above the treeline about a hundred yards off. The park is mostly abandoned, as is to be expected this early in the morning, but a few joggers were in evidence. Their heads swivel as they pass by the crime scene.

    The scene itself is crawling. There are at least five uniformed officers, a pair of squad cars with flashing lights, and a crime scene unit van. It appearsto be a planned grove of trees and underbrush, a fairly isolated corner of the park opposite the service road from an artificial creek. Tanner can see the vague shape of a gazebo through the foliage, but not much else. That entire section of the park is marked off with yellow police tape. Numbered plastic triangles lead into the grove like a trail of breadcrumbs.

    The motorcycle cop pulls to a stop at one of the gravel paths, and comes over to Tanner to explain the seen. He points to a young woman in school sweats and sneakers, who's sitting on a bench with her head between her knees and an aluminum water bottle clenched in her white-knuckled hands. "Jogger found the body about forty minutes ago, had her phone on her, called it in. She's still pretty shook up. CSU guys have been here for about fifteen minutes. The body's in there." He points into the grove. "You'll want to be sure you have a firm grip on your breakfast, Detective. It's bad."
    I'm not an evil GM! Honest!

  2. - Top - End - #2
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "So was my breakfast, so if I lose it, I guess I'll come out even."

    Hmmm... the body isn't going anywhere, so I stroll over to go talk to the jogger.

    "Hey. Heck of a way to start your day, idinit? I'm Detective Tanner. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a lot of questions. They're just standard questions I have to ask everybody, no need to worry.
    So...
    What's your name and address?
    How often do you jog here?
    What time did you arrive this morning? Is that about your normal time?
    About how many other joggers do you normally see around this time? Was today normal in that regard?
    Do you know many of the other joggers?
    Have you seen anyone new lately? Anybody creepy?
    Did you see anything out of the ordinary today, or over the past week or two? New vendors? New joggers? Birdwatchers? Guys in suits? New people who don't seem to have any reason to be here?

    What about the victim? Have you ever seen the victim around before this morning?

    Did you hear anything? People yelling, screeching tires, gunshots, anything like that?

    Take your time, take deep breaths, and tell me everything you can remember."

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    The jogger seems shaky, but actually seems to welcome having someone to talk to.

    The answers, in brief, are:

    Her name is Janet Sanders. She's about to start her sophmore year at the University. She lives about three blocks away (still in your district), and you get her address. She jogs through the park twice per day, same route, once just before sunset and once just after sunrise. The body wasn't there yesterday evening. She's running a little bit late today, but not much. She didn't think to look at the time, but she'd guess it was around 6:30. She called 911 within a minute or two... she checks her phone, and the call log says she called at 6:21.

    The park's been pretty deserted today, but she figures that's because finals week just ended and the half of the University that stuck around for summer classes has left for vacation. The ROTC has also stopped doing its runs. She knows a few of the other joggers but not many, and didn't recognize anyone today. There's almost always a person or two that's new to her, but no one really stands out in her memory as being new today or yesterday evening... except, of course, the body. She adds that there's this one guy, she thinks he's homeless, who's been around for the past week or two and who usually shouts offensive things at her as she passes. She also remembers signs that the park was open two hours after sundown Saturday and Sunday, which is normal, but due to some sort of construction they'd been closing it at sundown for a few weeks up until then.
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  4. - Top - End - #4
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Hmmm.. okay. Thank you very much. Here's my card. Call me if you think of anything else. Have a ni.. er, try to have a nice day."

    Okay... park closed early due to construction. That means a construction crew. I wonder when they left last night?

    Hostile homeless guy? Oh, yes.. I gotta find him. I'm pretty sure he's not my guy, but only because I almost never have it that easy. Still, with nothing better to do all day than people-watch, he probably saw someone or something interesting, and killers often ignore the homeless as much as everyone else does. Being a new denizen of this park, though... that's interesting.

    Well, I reckon I'd better go check out the scene and ask the techs working it what they've figured out so far. I mosey off toward the body.
    "Man, look at all of these little evidence markers. They're everywhere. I'd hate to have to be the guy who had to sort through all of this stuff to see what was useful and what was unrelated crap."
    Ah, here's some CSU guys nice and handy.

    "Hey. How's it going? Detective Tanner. Looks like I caught this case, so... what did I catch? Should I throw it back? hehheh"

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Most of the evidence markers are flagging drag marks, which have almost certainly been photographed by now. A couple of coins got dropped along the way, and each has its own flag, but the rest of it seems to be drag marks.

    The CSU tech looks up, and you recognize him as Jake Jaffe. You don't know him all that well, but your paths have crossed a few times in the 10 years he's been in CSU, so he's not a complete stranger. He's in his forties, has graying hair, an alimony, kids he gets to see every other weekend, and a job he hides in the rest of the time. Usually quiet but with a bit of black humor snark.

    Jake points over your shoulder, to where the medical examiner (or, rather, more likely the assistant medical examiner unlucky enough to be on shift this early) is looking over the victim. "See for yourself."

    The victim is, or was, a Hispanic man in his mid to late twenties, maybe early thirties. He's almost totally lean muscle, without a trace of fat, and his face is frozen in a picture of agony, rage, or both. He looks tough in a wiry sort of way. About 5'4", crew-cut hair, hints of tats visible around his neck and some definitely visible on the backs of his hands. He's got slacks, shined shoes, a black T-shirt, and a button-down royal purple shirt with some sort of houndstooth pattern, which is hanging open. The sort of thing you might wear on a first date. (Well, maybe Thad wouldn't wear it, but.)

    He's hanging from a tree by a noose of blue nylon rope, the sort you can buy cheap at any hardware store. The rope's looped over a branch about ten feet above the ground, and then secured to another branch around ground level.

    He's also been disemboweled.

    On the tree trunk just above his head, in what looks to be orange spray-paint, has been stenciled the number "1".

    "I don't know how you do it in Alabama," Jaffe says in a deadpan. "But around here, it's too late to throw them back once they've been gutted."
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-02 at 12:12 AM.
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  6. - Top - End - #6
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Well now... here's something you don't see everyday.

    It looks like he was either killed or subdued elsewhere, depending on how much blood there is under him, and then strung up here for us to find. Kinda overkill, idnit? Any ideas on the time of death? I'm sure being sliced open like that messes up the liver temperature, but you guys probably have a formula for that, right?

    "One," hunh? I guess this guy is just getting started.

    Make sure to get good pictures of all those tats. The gang task force guys will be able to tell us if they mean anything. Looks like he's dressed up for something more sociable than gangbanging, though. Hmm.. where would a guy like this go to party on a Sunday night around here?

    Did he have any wallet or I.D. on him?"

  7. - Top - End - #7
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "You'll have to ask the doc about time and cause of death," Jaffe says. "I just find the drag marks and footprints and flag them for the photographer and lend a hand when asked. There's a lot of those, but they don't tell us anything except that he was dragged here from the service road by someone. And they're not good footprints either, nothing we can work with, not in gravel and pine needles. Someone with a shoe size of somewhere between 8 and 10, it looks like, but even that's a bit uncertain. Nothing else here, except what you see and a couple of nickels and the normal park litter, and I have to flag all of that too just in case. Some muddy tire tracks on the service road, but way too many to have been just last night, most of them have to be normal traffic. Oh, right. Nickels. He's got no ID on him, no cel, not even keys. Nothing in his pockets except a crapload of nickels. Couple lying back that way, might've spilled out of his pockets, or they might've been there all along and it's just coincidence. No idea what that's about, guess that's your job. Oh, and I have to flag it every time someone gets nauseous and messes up the crime scene. That's one jogger and two cops, so far.

    "We'll get good pics of his tattoos once we get him back to the lab and get his shirt off, but for now we've only rolled up the sleeves to check his arms. The ones on his hands pretty clearly put him in a gang. Sort of. Semper Fidelis. He's got USMC on his right bicep, with a flag and an eagle and all that other business. Bunch of Latin on his left forearm. Right forearm has a couple of names and a bunch of I-dunno-what. Maybe Arabic. A picture of a graveyard on the left bicep. Oh, and he's wearing an empty ankle holster under there. And there's nowhere near enough blood for him to have been killed here."
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-02 at 08:29 AM.
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  8. - Top - End - #8
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "A crapload of nickels?
    Hmm.. Cheap nickel slots, maybe? It sounds like he might of hit the jackpot...before he cashed out, that is.
    I'll have to check around for any low-rent casinos in the area.
    Heh. Maybe somebody was just mad that he got on "his" machine and won.

    I wonder if the killer had some help? This guy was a marine, and he looks pretty tough for a dead guy. He was also armed, unless he pawned his gun for gambling money. Hmmm... yep, we're either looking for at least a pair of killers, or for one seriously tough SOB.

    Okay, thanks. I'll talk to the doc."


    I walk over to the M.E.

    "Hey, doc, how's it hanging? Well, aside from the obvious. Any ideas yet on the time of death, or the actual cause?"

  9. - Top - End - #9
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Hardly a big jackpot," Jake clarified as Thad walked off. "I'd be surprised if he had more than two dollars. It's just... it was JUST nickels."

    ****

    The ME was examining the abdominal wound in detail when Thad came up. "They're both pretty hard to determine," she said, without looking at him. She was relatively young, probably 30s, new to the job and thus stuck with the early shift on a Monday morning. No one Thad knew. "He didn't die from hanging. No bruising around the rope. That was strictly post-mortem. And given how undisturbed his entrails are... well, relatively undisturbed, you can see that the scavengers have been feeding, but they weren't dragged along the ground... he was disemboweled after he was hung, which would make that post-mortem too. But I'm seeing signs of pre-mortem damage to the abdominal wall, too. If I had to guess, I'd say he died from an abdominal wound, and that it was later exacerbated post-mortem. I'd say cause of death was probably exsanguination, but his stomach's breached, and if that was pre-mortem then hydrochloric acid in the bloodstream could have been a contributing factor. Sorting out the pre-mortem and post-mortem injuries is going to take the lab. And there's so many of them, and all the parts are so disordered, that pinning down individual injuries might be impossible. I can tell you that the main abdominal cuts were made post-mortem with a large blade, possibly a carving knife or a sword. It penetrated deep and sliced through the vitals in many places.

    "Time of death... we normally check cooling with a liver probe or, failing that, a rectal thermometer. But the open abdominal cavity makes both unreliable. Added to that, the body was likely moved before being dumped here. That's too many variables... what time was he killed, what time was he dumped here, what time was the abdomen opened, what was the temperature where he was kept before the dump. So without temperature, I'm stuck with livor mortis and rigor mortis. Much less reliable. I'd say he was killed sometime between 11 PM and 2 AM last night. We should be able to narrow that window down by an hour, maybe an hour and a half, once rigor peaks and starts to subside, which will be about 12 hours after death."
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  10. - Top - End - #10
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Okay, thanks. I guess I'll check back tomorrow with the lab to see what they found."

    Hmmm.. The nickels could have resulted from an evening in a cheap casino, or maybe this guy liked to keep a roll of them handy for fighting. A roll of nickels in a guy's fist lets him hit about as hard as he could if he was wearing brass knuckles, after all, and this guy looked like a fighter. Of course, guys who use the old roll of nickels trick tend to be guys who are out looking to get into fights, and start them. Goons. Was our friend here a goon?

    He maybe died from an abdominal wound other than having it sliced open, resulting in bleeding to death internally? Is that what she said? Ouch. I heard a guy's spleen pop once. I never heard anyone scream that much before or since. Maybe this guy got into a fight who ruptured something with a solid punch in just the wrong spot? Hmmm.. that wouldn't explain this crazy decorative scene, though, would it?
    Hey, waitaminute.. that would have taken a really hard hit. Unless the killer has a black belt in something, using the roll of nickels trick would have made it a lot easier. Maybe they're not his nickels, but the killer's? No, that's nuts. Why leave them with the body? Hmmm. on the other hand, the whole thing is nuts, so... maybe..

    I should probably take a look at those nickels to see if they're unusual in any way, like they're all old collectibles or something.
    For now, though, I gotta see if anyone saw anyone around here last night with a sword or big knife. Let's see... I have to find the construction crew and the hostile homeless guy, at least. It's been awhile since I had a nice stroll in the park, so today I guess I'll make up for it. Onward!

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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Thad starts asking around the park while the ME and the crime scene unit finish up.

    The first thing he gets is clarification about the construction crews. Construction finished on Friday, which restored normal park hours. At least, that's what the people who seem to know the first thing about it seem to think. Thad hasn't talked to anyone official yet.

    Second, Thad manages to track down the homeless guy very easily. He's made himself pretty recognizable over the past few weeks. Thad finds him sleeping in a bush, with a brown paper bag (contents obviously glass, possibly devoid of liquid), a ratty blanket, a backpack, and a german shepherd curled up next to him. He's white and appears his mid thirties, though it's possible that the grime has added a bit to his apparent age.

    The dog alerts at Thad's approach and growls, which causes the guy to wake up. "Waddyawant?" From the sound of it, the bag's definitely been emptied of its liquid contents.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Hey, how ya doin? I'm Thad Tanner, a detective trying to make sense of the murder scene over there... ( points over there ) and I need to ask you a few questions.

    How long have you been staying here?
    What's the dog's name? Is he your watchdog, or just your best friend? Did he run off last night or get to barking like crazy over something?
    What's your name?
    I heard you were yelling things at joggers, what's that all about?

    Did you see anyone around here last night, maybe one guy, maybe two or three, carrying around a sword or a really big knife? What about any rope?

    That service road down there, did you see any vehicles on it last night, or anyone walking around it? For that matter, did you see anyone at all around here late last night? Did anyone come around your camp, maybe?

    Oh, one last thing, there was a construction crew. Did you see any of those guys around yesterday or last night?


    I look around the camp for any clues, like blood on the dog's fur, nickels, or anything else that might strike me as interesting.

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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "I'm Barry," the homeless guy says. "This here's Grumphy. She's mine. She's nice so long as you don't sneak up on her, doesn't run off like that. ... and, uh, I don't live here, not really, I just got... er, sleepy and dozed off last night. I'm not homeless, so you don't gotta bust me for vagrancy." He makes a very lame attempt to hide his paper-bag-and-bottle when he says he got sleepy. Then he realizes it's a lame attempt and pulls it back out. "Yeah, okay, I was drunk. Turns out I'm an alcoholic. I mean, genetically. My parents never let me touch a drop, my Dad always went on about how it was evil, never really got it then but I think he knew something about it from his folks. But the first time I tasted booze when I was in college and away from them... I was gone, you know? Just gone. No hope for me after that. My life went to crap. Anyhow, that's what I'm doing here. Trying to tell all those stupid college kids what partying around will get them, how them doing drugs and booze and sleeping around is why their life is crap. They never listen. Stupid ****s. But what else am I going to do? You ever read Salinger? It's kinda like that."

    Grumphy comes forward a bit, sniffing at Tanner and wagging her tail at him mournfully.

    "Oh, right. You're asking 'bout... stuff. Construction crew... they finished up... I dunno, Thursday? Friday? Is today Sunday? I think it's Sunday. I thought it was Monday, but this place is way too dead for it to be Monday. Anyhow, they're gone, they took down all the signs 'bout the park being closed at dusk... that was a hassle, let me tell you... and they got the lights working again. Surveying and running lines and insulation and load tests and all that other stuff I wanted to do once. I hung around listening to them a lot. Brought back memories. Anyhow, some genius back in the 60s thought that the best place for all the power lines around here was underneath artificial creeks on concrete beds. That stuff LEAKS after a few decades. Stupid ****s. That's the 60s for you, everyone was doing some sort of drug and it shows.

    "Oh, right. Last night. Don't know anything about swords or knives, but yeah, there was a car out there. SUV. Dark, Black or maybe a dark blue or something. Headlights woke me up. That was between.... well, that would've had to've been between 12:45 and 1 AM when it showed up. Pulled out of here before 1:15. You can hear the college's clock tower from here, you see."

    Barry licks his lips and considers Thad a bit more shrewdly. "Say... cops pay informants, right? Think you could give me enough to buy myself breakfast if I give you a bit of the license plate? I don't remember all of it, but there were three letters that were the same as from my first car. I remembered that."

    He gives a tiny, almost imperceptible glance at his paper-bagged bottle when he mentions breakfast.
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-03 at 04:51 PM.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "... Sure, why not? Here's 20 bucks. I'll give ya ten more if you go have a look at the dead guy and tell me if you know him."

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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Barry suddenly grins manically, getting a glint in his eye, and happily takes the 20. Most of the signs of hangover seem to have vanished, likely at the prospect of some hair of the dog that bit him. "Hey, thanks a lot! E-D-T, those were the letters. And sure, I'll have a look. Lead the way!" He gets up (with only a hint of an unsteady sway) and follows along. Grumphy crowds in at his thigh and he scratches her head in a cheerful manner as he walks.

    In the end, he doesn't recognize the guy being zipped up in the body bag, says so, and collects his tenner. As he and the dog are leaving, the M.E. stops Tanner. "One more thing I hadn't mentioned earlier. It's probably not relevant, but the victim's nose was broken recently. Not a serious break. I'd guess two weeks ago, maybe three."
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    HA! I knew he was prone to getting into fights. Thanks. I'll check in with the lab tomorrow to see what else you guys find."

    Hmmm... so now what? I guess its time to play license plate bingo. A dark blue, brown or black SUV of some sort with the letters EDT on the tag.
    Sheesh. That'll only be a couple dozen or so, right? Better call it in, then.

    "D-51 Tanner here. Inverse 10-28 on a License tag, partial known is Edward-David-Tango. Displayed on a dark colored SUV, black, brown or blue. Just get me all the EDT tags and send the list to my desk. I'll sort through them when I get back to the barn."
    Last edited by Kislath; 2013-11-04 at 01:37 AM.

  17. - Top - End - #17
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    The dispatcher copies the request, with only a moment of hesitation.

    What's Thad doing now?

    Spoiler
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    OOC: I should have mentioned this earlier, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with infodumps early on. The department's issued smart phones, and there's a secure ap that lets you access most of the department's databases. You can also check Google and social networking sites, and that's surprisingly useful for a detective. Using your radio to ask dispatch for paper copy to be sent to your desk is strictly for dinosaurs. ... of course, it's possible that Thad's a dinosaur, and his department-issued, impossible-to-learn smart phone is in the back of his desk drawer, where he tossed it the day he got it. Still, you can retcon that if you want and get pretty instant results.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Well, time for lunch. I'll grab a bite and meander my way back to the office. Upon arrival, I find my desk and the pile of papers on it. After watching some kid zip through his work in a just a few minutes on his spiffy new smartphone, I have to wonder if I'm doing this wrong. I should probably try to find the instruction sheet they gave me with the phone and actually read it.
    Now, lets see....

    Line by line, I sift through all the plates that have an EDT in them, crossing out the ones that are obviously not what I want. Whoa.. a Subaru Brat? Really? I haven't seen one of those in years... hmm... eventually, I have a much shorter list of just the SUV's.
    Okay... I'll make some piles. First pile are the ones of obviously the wrong color, like the whites and tans and reds. I don't discount them completely, though, since they may have been repainted or just looked darker at night.
    Pile two are the ones which aren't local, over 25 miles away from town.
    Pile three are the ones which ARE fairly local.

    So, how many are left in pile number 3?

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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    The office is not the most peaceful work environment, as Thad well knows.

    First, Kevin Wright comes by and interrupts you. He's the Union rep, and he's trying to get as many cops as possible to come demonstrate at the state capitol (about an hour's drive away) next Monday. There's a bill that the Union's trying to get through the legislature that will make it illegal to record police officers engaged in their duties, and it's very important because of all the horrible ways that camera phones have been used to reveal undercover cops, and the boys down in Brookvale are practically on camera every time they step outside and the bad guys just know when they're coming, and we need all hands on deck for this one, and the bill's going to go before the legislature this week and this is EXACTLY the moment when a show of strength can make the difference in putting it through, and Kevin KNOWS you support it fully but wants to talk scheduling and he's trying to get more people in around 10 to noon.... you can take half a sick day, right?

    .... yeesh. He's like a cross between a caffeinated chipmunk and a used car salesman.

    It'll be hard to shoo him off without committing, but Thad eventually gets rid of him (more easily done by agreeing, of course). He's hardly been back to his lists for more than a few minutes when his boss, Lieutenant Louise Paige (reluctantly known as Lieu-Lou) comes by to tell you that you're being called as a witness in one of your cases about three weeks from now and to pencil it into your calendar. She also says she wants brief status updates on your case -- email's fine -- either every evening or morning... and that if anything's getting in your way, just tell her and she'll do her best to make it vanish, because that's what she's there for. That's her normal policy, but for some reason she thinks you need reminding on a regular basis.

    Then with her gone, there's Nguyen, the precinct's newest (and youngest, and most awkward) detective, who's on his lunch break and wants to chat to anyone not ready to run away about the upcoming football preseason game (about a month off) and his fantasy football draft, and how a buddy of his at Metro (which is an unofficial way of referring to the task forces and offices that aren't assigned to a particular precinct) passed a rumor onto him that so-and-so first-stringer is being looked at by Vice, so he knows better than to draft him.

    .... all in all, it's not the quietest place to work. But then, Thad's probably used to it, and the work's easy enough to multitask.

    In the end, he gets a list of 11 SUVs, along with registration addresses, that meet his pile 3 criterion.

    ((OOC: Sorry for that barrage, but I felt I needed to establish some setting.))
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-05 at 12:41 AM.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    heh. I wonder if Lieu Lou can get rid of the other two idiots for me? Probably not.

    Okay.. time to fire up the computer and see what I can see about the people on this list of 11. Going down the line, I'll check Facebook first for the owners of these SUVs to see what I can find about them.
    This time I make two piles.
    Pile one are soccer moms, high school kids, companies and the like.
    Pile two are the men.

    Next I'll further check out all the men in pile two for criminal history and employment records with the official databases, looking for anything that might seem interesting or possibly related. If anything pops, I'll grab some backup and go have a chat with some people. Eventually I'll probably pay them all a visit, of course, but I'll start with the more likely suspects.
    Last edited by Kislath; 2013-11-05 at 01:53 AM.

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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Thad's got his piles mostly made. It's slow going, because a lot of the names generate multiple hits on Facebook. He pulls up the Facebook page for SUV #9 (dark green 2008 Explorer), and suddenly sees a familiar face staring back at him from the computer screen. It takes a minute of staring to recognize him, because he looks so totally different. He's wearing a jacket that hides his lean musculature and huge-framed glasses that make him look like the biggest dweeb ever, but Thad finally places him as the kinda-badass-looking victim. He's standing in front of the Arch, which is one of the landmarks on the University's main campus. His name is Herman Rodrick, and his registration lists his mailing address as a PO Box in town.

    EDIT: You made this discovery before you started running backgrounds.
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-05 at 03:59 AM.
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  22. - Top - End - #22
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Dang.
    Good news and bad.
    Bad- the if the SUV was the victim's, that's a dead end.
    Good- At least I have his name.

    I start searching all records and cyberspace for anything I can find about him, and put out the APB on the vehicle.

  23. - Top - End - #23
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Your search on Herman Rodrick comes back pretty quickly, because he's already in the police database, as Former Probationary Special Detective Herman Rodrick. Enlisted in the Academy when he got back from Iraq three years ago, with glowing recommendations from the Marines. Listed as an expert in explosives disposal and on the short list of Bomb Squad alternates in time-critical, can't-wait-for-Metro situations, though he never fully qualified. That explains why he was made a Special Detective. That rank's supposed to be reserved for specialists, like the bomb squad or the crime scene unit or profilers or sketch artists and so on, but the Brass also likes to bestow it on favorites as a way of giving extra pay, and the title has a bit of a foul odor because of that. There's a constant tug-of-war between Brass and Union about it. In his case, he apparently gave three well-attended seminars to the Bomb Squad about his experience with IEDs in Iraq while attending the Academy, so it seems legit.

    On course to graduate with top marks in record time, though he managed to skip a lot of coursework because of previous experience and correspondence courses. For his Probie year, he was assigned to the 23rd Precinct. Thad remembers that this was a Big Deal. The 23rd and 26th together made up the Brookvale neighborhood, which was one of the worst parts of town. Shuttered industrial yards, low-income housing with no prospects, lots of racial tensions, high drug use, gangs, all feeding into and reinforcing each other. The current Mayor in her original run for office promised to clean up Brookvale, and she went about it by using the police as a sledge hammer. All the other precincts were called upon to give up about a dozen highly experienced and competent officers for transfer into the 23rd and the 26th. Thad recalls one hothead who was always champing at the bit, and one career screw-up, both of whom suddenly became experienced and competent officers when the 8th precinct brass saw a chance to transfer them out. In addition, an entire year of raw Academy graduates and Probational Officers (cadets in their last year at the Academy) were assigned to Brookvale under the more experienced officers. One editorial called the strategy "The Surge", after the Iraq Surge, and the name stuck.

    Four months into his assignment, Probationary Special Detective Herman Rodrick beat his desk sergeant into a bloody mess and became Former Probationary Special Detective Herman Rodrick. Somehow he got out of jail time and is serving probation, on the condition that he regularly attend mandatory sessions with a department psychiatrist. That seems a bit funny, but there's a lot missing from the official record and obviously some sort of deal was struck. The Department file grows a bit sparse on him at that point, noting only that he's kept most of his sessions (three missed due to illness, not deemed a probation violation), and that he's been brought in a few times and questioned about his ties with a Brookvale gang known as the Wolfpack.... but again, not enough to nail him with a probation violation.

    About when Thad's finishing up this reading, he hears back from Dispatch about the APB. Traffic Enforcement towed Rodrick's SUV from an expired meter near the University less than an hour ago. It's sitting at the Franklin Avenue Impound, about ten minutes drive away.
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-05 at 11:39 PM.
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  24. - Top - End - #24
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Wow. Did not expect this.

    Okay... first thing first, I put in a call for a CSU team to inspect the SUV.

    So.. a quick list of suspects gives me crazies, gangbangers, or cops. Wonderful.

    I'm gonna have to talk with Herman's shrink, former Desk Sergeant, probation officer, and gang buddies. Oh goody.
    Man, of all the rotten times for my partner to be on vacation.

    I guess I'll start with the probation officer. I have to find out what that fight with his sergeant was about, and everything that happened afterward. Herman's actual address would be nice, too.
    Hmmm..
    Maybe I should go check out the SUV first, just in case.
    Last edited by Kislath; 2013-11-06 at 12:25 AM.

  25. - Top - End - #25
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Herman Rodrick's address is listed with his probation.

    Getting access to the impound lot is fairly straightforward. The lot has someone on hand who slim-jims the lock open nicely, and the CSU guys get to work while Thad watches. After a few minutes, Jake comes over to Thad.

    "Registration is in the name of Herman Rodrick, driver's license and proof of insurance match, all in the glove box. There's also a Glock 22 in there with three fully-loaded clips. We've got some old blood on the back seat and a very bloody duffel bag in the cargo area. Large one, big enough for a corpse. And three nickels in the duffel. Coupled with the count from this morning, that makes... a buck fifty? Yeah, one-fifty. Definitely not a big slots win. There's also a toolbox back there with a couple sections of rope matching the one your boy was hung with, and there's easily enough room for there to have been a third. ... ah, there's also wires, pliers, breadbox circuit boards, wire cutters, batteries, wirestrippers, soldering irons, bunch of wristwatches, and all that good stuff that we normally think of as bomb-making materials. Everything except detonators and explosives."
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-06 at 03:49 AM.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Okay, thanks, Jake."

    Hmm.. what the heck is going on here?
    He didn't hang himself, so the killer left all of this rope and the duffel bag. Logically, it makes no sense that the killer would have left all of this other stuff, so for now I have to assume it's Herman's.

    I really need to have a look inside his home.

    "Jake call me as soon as you guys are finished going through this mess. Anything here that isn't our victim's, we need to find.
    Yes, I know you you already know that. It's just something we detectives are supposed to say, right? heh. Happy hunting!"


    I call the probation officer. I need the address, and any info he can give me on what Herman's beefs with the world might have been.
    Then I call the Lieutenant. I need a search warrant for Herman's place.

  27. - Top - End - #27
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Thad gets the P.O.'s voice mail and leaves a brief "get back to me" message. Lieu-Lou gathers the information she needs for a warrant from you, says it will be pretty straightforward, and promises that you'll have it in about an hour. Just seconds after Thad hangs up on her, the P.O. calls him back.

    "This is Probation Officer McKennet. You called me a moment ago but I couldn't beep over. What can I do for you, detective?"
    Last edited by Reltzik; 2013-11-06 at 02:25 PM.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    "Oh! Hey, that was quick.
    I'm calling about one of your clients, Herman Rodrick. The good news is your caseload just got little lighter. The bad news is he's dead.

    He isn't just a little bit dead, either. He was murdered last night, then hung by the neck and disemboweled in High Park. A real mess.

    The reason I'm calling should be obvious by now, right? I'm trying to find out everything I can about him. First of all, he got kicked from the force because he got into a fight with his Desk Sergeant. Do you know what that was about?

    He seemed to be prone to fighting other people, too. He ran with a gang, the Wolfpack. What do you know about those guys?
    He had what I'm guessing was most of a roll of nickels in his pocket, but no wrapper. I have some ideas about that, but nothing solid.

    I guess I'm hoping you can maybe fill me in on what was going on in his life, who he might have been having some trouble with lately, that sort of thing."

  29. - Top - End - #29
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    There's near-silence at the other end of the line. You can -- just barely -- hear a TV or radio or something in the background. It drags on for about twenty seconds, before Mckennet asks, in an audibly strained voice, "Herman Rodrick? ... Let me pull up his file." More very awkward silence. "Um. It says here that Officer Rodrick learned of several acts of sexual harassment by Sergeant Adamson directed towards female officers and cadets, and subsequently attacked him. Both Adamson and Rodrick were dismissed after the incident."

    The stress in McKennet's voice is palpable. "He's known to associate with several members of the Wolfpack, yes. That's a local gang. Strictly Brooksvale. They control Upper Brooksvale, but they've been moving into Lower Brooksvale too. Roderick being an actual member... we've never confirmed... um.... the.... uh, the 23rd's brought him in a few times to sweat him, but he never..."

    More silence. The stress is almost deafening.

    Finally, McKennet blurts out, "Um, sorry Detective, uh, something's just come up, I have to get back to you," and the line goes dead.
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    Default Re: A Thin Blue Line

    Crap. Looks like I gotta hightail it to the Probation Office. I report it to dispatch, and request a uniformed patrol unit be sent there immediately as well.

    Methinks Herman's Proby has an unwelcome visitor of the homicidal variety.
    Last edited by Kislath; 2013-11-08 at 12:57 AM.

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