Tears of the Fallen: Dominance

“Hey kid, don’t let your mom catch you with those cigarettes.”  Looking back to see that smug look on his face as usual, I begin my smart response to him, “Yeah, well at least I don’t still live with mom like you, Hans.” To which gets me a knock to the back of the head as usual.  “Geez, Hans you gotta loosen up a bit or else.”  He quickly replies, “Or else what? What is little Hoss going to do to big bad me if I don’t loosen up?”  Slowly lighting my cigarette I turn my head away and smugly reply, “Nothing!”

He slowly props against the building looking off into the beauty of the Seattle night, and without warning he says, “Hoss have you ever thought about finding another job?”  Feeling a tad puzzled by his remark I laugh and say, “Another job, you’re kidding being a detective is all I’ve ever wanted.”  He goes silent, and lets out a deep sigh.  Hans stays silent until I finish my smoke, and when I go to trash the butt he walks off without even a goodbye.

I start to wonder what he meant, was he experiencing doubt about being a detective or was he questioning my motives for being a detective.  Seems impossible to know what he thinks, yet that remark and the way he said it seemed out of character from the Hans I know.  Maybe it’s nothing and I’m just overthinking this like always.  He couldn’t be having doubts about the force seeing as he’s basically the most liked guy within the entire department.

Turning back to the entrance to go back to my life behind the walls of the place called home to so many.  Seattle Police Department home away from home is what our families would call this place, but for most this place seems more like home than our actual homes.  Guess that’s just my mindset about this place though, some here would rather get transferred or just quit the force all together.  That reminds me I need to check with Chief and Ashburn to see if Hans had said anything odd to them as well.

Slowly, but surely going on my way to my desk in the hopes that no cases came across my desk, while I was away.  Swear if I see another case file I’m gonna scream, unless it’s something very different from our usual cases seeing as I’ve heard ‘em all by now.  Rapist turned serial killer, local gang murders, killings for revenge, and even a few random killings here and there.  Making my way to my desk I see a new file across my desk.

As I start to open the file Hans snatches the file out of my hands and says, “This one’s out of your league kid, so leave it to the big boys.”  Quickly turning around to see his face and that smug look is there once more.  For sure he’s back to normal, and earlier was just a fluke nothing more.  So there’s no need to talk to Chief or Ashburn since he’s the Hans I know so well once again.  “Hans, you sure the big boys can handle this one or do you need your mom with you to make sure you can handle it?”  To which gets me the same knock on the back of the head, “Kid you’re too young to worry about me, better worry about yourself or else your pretty wife will be all alone one day.”

“Yeah, yeah…you just wait and see I’ll out live you, unless you let me on this case.”  He raises his brow to my interest in the case, and gives in as he usually does.  “Fine you can join in, but promise me one thing kid.”  Quickly replying, “Yeah, what’s that?”  Leaning in closer to me so that he can whisper his reply in my ear, “Don’t get in my way or else.”  With a laugh I ask, “Or else…what is Lee Hans gonna do to little ‘ole me if I get in his way.”  Without a single smirk or smile back to me he silently lays the files down on my desk and walks back to his desk.

I turn my attention back to the file once again, gently opening the folder expecting to see the worst as always, only to find what seemed like a clear open and close case.  A homicide with several clues including the murder weapon, a neighbor’s testimony of seeing someone dressed in black rushing out of the victim’s home, and a handkerchief lying beside the victim.  It’s obvious that it was someone the victim knew, but why would Hans say this case is for the big boys.  Unless he was referring to another case, but he couldn’t be this is the only case that was on my desk.

Questions arise through my mind as I begin to look at the forensics photos, like why was a handkerchief lying beside the victim and
not only that how did the murderer enter into the house in the first place, also why did they run away from the scene instead of trying to clean up behind themselves.  Could it be…nah impossible, but may be it is…part of the unsolved handkerchief murders case from two years ago.  Where a man in black was always spotted leaving the scene of the crime with a handkerchief laying on the victims’ face, yet this handkerchief was obviously beside the victim and not on the face like the others.  Maybe it’s no connection to that old case, seeing as the motives for those attacks were about money; this one seems to be a personal murder from an inexperienced murderer.

Hans walks over and places his hand on my shoulder and with a loud booming laugh he exclaims, “You’re thinking too hard about this one Hoss, your first instinct was correct it is a personal murder, but why is the question, is it not.”  With my head focused on the file I answer with no worries, “Surely, why is the question, but the one thing that concerns me is why a handkerchief.  Does this murder have some connection to the handkerchief murders from two years back?”  Hans leans his back against my desk and after a deep sigh he begins again, “You’re thinking too hard about this one Hoss, think more small scale this is a murder that just happens to look like the handkerchief murders from before, but it’s obviously missing a few things.  There’s no money involved, no handkerchief on the face, and not to mention the killer did a sloppy job by leaving the weapon at the scene.  So it’s just a matter of time before forensics makes a match, unless they find no prints on the knife which is highly unlikely.”

With beads of sweat dripping down my neck I turn to Hans and ask, “What did you mean earlier that this case was out of my league?”  Hans looks directly at me with that smug look on his face as always, “I was just yanking your leg kid, I already deduced from the first few lines that this was an open and close case, find the person who last entered and you find the culprit.  Swear you take me too serious some times Hoss, but guess that’s cause of our very serious job.  You’ve gotta loosen up a bit kid…or else.”  And I quickly answer, “Or else what?”  As if to mock me from earlier he turns his head away and smugly replies, “Nothing!”  As he begins to walk back to his desk I start to remember his words from earlier “…have you ever thought about finding another job?”  I try my hardest to focus on the case at hand, yet the way he said those words earlier concern me like something just isn’t right, but maybe he’s right as always I’m just over thinking things as usual.

Focusing back on the case at hand my mind begins to wonder more about who was the last person to see the deceased alive.  While trying to answer that important question my eyes begin to droop as my body gradually begins to prepare for a quick rest.  I awaken at the sound of everyone clapping their hands checking my watch for the time before I notice anything else, and to my disbelief I learn that my quick rest lasted five hours.  I begin to look around for Hans to discover him standing in a crowd of my peers with a pair of handcuffs in his hands.  He turns to me and says, “Hoss looks like you overslept, I already solved the case.  Oddly enough the neighbor was the culprit, there was no man in black instead the neighbor had fought with the victim about money he had lent her, and the victim laughed saying she would never pay the money back.  In a bit of rage the neighbor grabbed a knife from the counter, thus proceeding to murder the victim and using a handkerchief to attempt to wipe his fingerprints off.  And it would’ve worked if he hadn’t dropped the handkerchief when trying to leave the scene.”

I look directly at Hans and ask, “Why did he call the police?”  He laughs, “That’s simple so that he could say that he saw a man dressed in black running from the victim’s house, yet what he didn’t know was that he had left his handkerchief at the scene, thus leaving all the evidence we needed to link him to the scene of the crime.  Open and close like you had originally thought, thanks to forensics matching fingerprints on the handkerchief to our lovely neighbor who had bent over to pick up a dropped pen belonging to a rookie cop.  Yep, it was that simple Hoss, thanks to that mistake we had the evidence to lock him up.”  With sort of a confused look I open my mouth and say, “How did you know about the pen?”  He smirks and says, “Because I know that cop, he’s always dropping things at scenes plus he said he had dropped his pen and the nice neighbor had picked it up for him, which piqued my interest in the pen.  After that I asked Mike for the pen so I could just check a hunch, turns out my hunch was correct in the end.”  After that I head back to my desk to pick up my things with only one thought on my mind now, Laci.

***

Arriving home with my mind focused losing another easy case to Hans like usual, damn.  I wish I could show him that I can be a great detective on my own, yet he keeps watching over me like a hawk.  Slowly exiting my car to see the loveliest image in whole world waiting for my return, as I begin to walk to the steps she exits our home, and runs into my arms as my briefcase falls beside me.  Enjoying the warm embrace of my wife once more, and the words of Hans ring in my ears once more,  so I just close my eyes and enjoy this moment.

After a few minutes pass we go inside only for me to discover the changes to the house again.  Another color change to the curtains, chairs moved to different places, and tablecloths changed once more.  Wish she would just be happy with one style within this house, but that would be asking too much considering she’s an internal designer.  Slowly letting out a deep sigh, and beginning to speak my first words since coming home, “Hon why did you change things again?”  With a quick glance at me she replied, “Because I felt something was off, so I changed a few things here and there.”  The words here and there worried me so as I began to wonder what else had been changed since I had last been home.

An hour later after the odd conversation about the changes, I slowly open my briefcase to see a case file that I hadn’t placed within my briefcase earlier.  First question that comes to my mind is did Hans place this in my briefcase, or did someone else do it?  Firmly grasping the file carefully as I begin to lift it out of my briefcase, and ever so gently opening the file to see McAlister’s photograph clipped to the front of the file.  Terrence McAlister III, a serial rapist and killer, is this what Hans was referring to earlier when he said ‘to leave it to the big boys’.  So that means the other file that I had originally gotten was just a ruse so he could tell me in his own way that we had a big case.

Looking through the case file to see Terrence McAlister III’s body had been found floating in Lake Union near Westlake, flipping through the pages of the report to see no definite leads to who could be responsible.  I begin to worry as to what kind of person would murder McAlister considering McAlister had gone missing two weeks prior to this report.  With my right hand under my chin and the file in my left I began to try to understand the situation better.  There were many people who would want McAlister dead including myself, yet who would know where exactly to find McAlister unless…

Without a warning Laci puts her arms around me, causing me to lose my train of thought for a moment.  I turn my head to my wife and ask, “Need something, hon?”  With a smile on her face she says, “Yes, can you take the trash out.  After that you can get back to your work.”  Releasing a sigh I get up to take the trash out, as begin my walk to the kitchen to pick up the trash my mind begins to race once more.  Questions begin to fill my mind from whom could’ve committed this murder, to the when it occurred, while the why is so obvious since McAlister is a monster who’s ruined so many lives.

Lowering the bag into the trashcan only to wonder how much about this case Hans had already pieced together.  Slowly releasing a deep sigh after finishing my task out here, guess I won’t know the answer to my own question till the morn.  As I reenter my home I notice the clock on the wall as it reads 6:05 am on the dot while the McAlister case still stirs within my mind.  Stretching my arms out and letting out a heavy yawn, I begin to realize I need to get a decent rest on my bed instead of my desk.  With a tired look upon my face I begin my walk to the bed, and after a few minutes I flop right upon the bed to fall asleep.

Awaking from my peaceful rest I turn my head to see the clock on my nightstand read 4:30 pm, guess I overslept.  I begin to turn my head in the opposite direction only to see my wife sitting beside me reading another one of her fashion mystery novels.  As she takes her eyes off her book for a few seconds to notice my eyes are fixed on her book and with a smile as she turns another page.  I never could understand why she liked mysteries that always involve fashion in one way or another; swear if she enjoyed real mysteries then she should just follow me around for a day.

With a yawn I begin to rise from my lax position and head towards the bathroom.  After few minutes within the bathroom I emerge ready to head back to the precinct in order to gain answers to the questions that need to be solved.  Quickly making my way to the closet in order to get a change of clothing due to the aroma of cigarettes has set in once more, and as I begin to remove my current clothing my wife asks, “Hon, you can’t change into clean clothes until you take a bath.” Still removing my clothing I reenter the bathroom and close the door behind me as I prepare to take my bath.

Fifteen minutes after my relaxing bath I exit into an empty bedroom wearing just my towel around my body.  As I walk over to the dresser for my underclothing I notice Laci’s book laying on top of the dresser, as I begin to reach for the book I hear her little ‘tsk, tsk’ behind me.  Turning around with the deer in the headlights look on my face she walks over to pick up her book and kisses on my cheek before she exits once more.  Turning back to the dresser to pull out my underclothing and proceed to clothe myself once more, afterwards I make my way back to the bathroom to put my towel away.

Exiting the bathroom once more I get my suit off of the bed and put it on in a hurried pace without noticing I left my coat and tie still on the bed as I proceed to walk out of the room.  Once I enter into the hallway Laci raises an eyebrow at my appearance, and asks, “Why do you look like you just came out of a tornado hon?”  And she points to our bedroom as If to tell me fix it or else be the laughing stock of the precinct.

A few minutes later I emerge with my tie and coat in my hand and my attire looking more professional than earlier.  Noticing Laci still putting things away or moving them can’t tell which she’s doing, and with a little look of help on my face she lays the towels down to help with my tie.  “I don’t know what you would do without me, Hoss.”  With a look of uncertainty on my face I answer, “I’m not sure, but I’d rather not find out today.” Once she finishes she kisses me goodbye for now, and after the kiss I begin to put my jacket on during the trip down the stairs to the door.  As I make my way downstairs I notice my briefcase beside the door as usual, and I pick up the briefcase before I exit the house with the McAlister case still fresh on my mind.

***

Arriving back to the precinct after my drive from home I see Hans standing on the side of the building as usual, so I park my vehicle and after I exit I walk over to Hans to ask, “So did you go home?”  He says without looking at me, “Kid this is a full time job, you may be able to enjoy a few hours at home with your wife, but for me coffee is the only break I can get.”  I place my hand on his shoulder and smugly claim, “Well you could always retire and leave your job to me.”  He knocks on my head and replies, “Yep still not ripe yet kid, when you get ripe then I’ll retire.” With a chuckle he adds, “But that’s not going to happen anytime soon kid.” He then proceeds to leave, but before he gets too far I shout, “Hans about that case you put in my briefcase.”  He turns back and shouts, “It’s the major league kid, and you’ve been drafted.”  And with a wink he enters the precinct; guess my hunch was right, but what exactly is the motive though.  I begin to ponder that question as I make my way into the precinct.

Once inside I make my way to my desk like usual, and before I put my briefcase on my desk Captain Ashburn walks over to me.  With a mighty chuckle he looks down to my briefcase, and says “Lee you sly dog recruiting your understudy for that case, but rest assured he won’t have it easy even if he is yours.” He turns his attention to me and exclaims that he needs the McAlister case file back, and without a single pause I open my briefcase and hand the file over to my superior.  He then walks over to Hans, and places the file in his hands before saying ‘good luck’.  With my briefcase still open I pull out a notepad and pen to write down everything I could recall about the case.

Without warning the file that Ashburn had asked for comes down on my desk underneath a familiar hand.  I turn to see Hans standing over me with that smug look on his face, and before he could say what was on his mind I quickly ask, “Why did Ashburn ask for the file?”  Hans lowers his head for a minute as to think of an excuse, and replies “Simply because this is a big case, recall McAlister was a serial rapist for while then he turned into a serial killer of those he had raped.  It’s not a case to be taken lightly kid, whoever killed McAlister has some balls seeing as it was damn near impossible to track him down.  Ashburn assigned this case to me and me alone to be honest, they put their best and brightest on this case, and I drafted you for the role of assistant.”

My calm face began to frown at the mention of ‘assistant’ and I loudly reply, “I’m not your assistant Hans, I’m your partner.  Swear after a few months of working together you’d at least view me more like a partner than an assistant.  Maybe, I’ll have to solve this case in order for you to treat me like a partner.”  With a knock on the head he says, “Still not ripe yet, when you get ripe you’ll understand why you’ve been drafted as an assistant.  Besides I never said that my assistant would be a background role, it’s the major league kid and there’s no time for bickering in the dugout.  So buck up and let’s start to solve this case before it goes cold.”

Once he removes his hand from the file I open it once more to look at the details again.  While my eyes are fixed on the file Hans picks up my notes and starts reads a line I had written aloud, “Clearly there’s a piece of evidence missing, but is it exactly that is it though.”  He places his hand on my shoulder and says, “Come with me kid, we need to talk in private.”  A bit shocked by his words I clumsily drop the file on the desk, and with a stern look he begins to clean the mess of papers I had made.  After the papers are reorganized into the file once more, I take my leave of my current surroundings to follow my partner to a more secluded location.

Eventually Hans finds an isolated location and he hands me a folded piece of notebook paper.  Without a word exchanged I begin to read the words on the paper, and become shocked at the information that I have just learned.  Hans opens his mouth and says, “Hans there only a few people in this department who know this, we can’t let this information out to the public or else we won’t catch our killer.  So far they think the murder went off without any errors but my notes for certain show there was a piece of evidence missing, but for good reason.”  I lower my hands and reply, “Yeah, but a major piece of evidence like that could make or break our case.”

Hans leans his back against the wall and lowers his head before the statement that would shock me.  “Kid, forensics already restored the phone and discovered the last number dialed, the only problem is we don’t have enough facts about this murder to act upon our discovery.”  With a deep sigh he continues, “Until we solve the why McAlister was killed we can’t just arrest someone with just evidence proving they may be involved in this case.”  As those words enter my ears my grip on the paper loosens, and as it falls I begin to repeat why over and over again.  Hans moves from his position and proceeds to knock on my head, “Kid, you why I said this is the major league all the evidence in the world can only take you so far, if you don’t have a cause for why the murder was committed then unfortunately…”

Before he could finish his sentence I begin my reply, “There is no way I’m gonna let someone get away with murder, no matter what.  We have evidence isn’t that all we need nowadays.”  He looks me directly in my eyes and says, “We need probable cause kid, right now we have a possible suspect but without something linking them to crime scene other than redial we’re at a loss for who could be our culprit.  Personally when I first saw this case I thought it could be anyone who could’ve killed McAlister, but something didn’t sit right with that assumption.  Why was McAlister at Lake Union in the first place, how’d the killer know he’d be there, why was that number in his redial, and most of all that seems completely odd.  Who knew McAlister’s phone number?”

I begin to ponder over these questions as Hans begins to walk off without speaking another word.  Turning around to ask Hans one last question, “Hans, one thing I just don’t understand is the phone, I thought McAlister had gone off the grid after his last killing.  Why would he have a phone, unless…”  Hans turns around with a surprised expression on his face and replies, “Kid, you may have given us a link!  Which means we need to find the scene where McAlister was killed, I heard from Ashburn that the murder most likely took place at Lake Union Park when one takes the time of death into consideration.”  I bend over to pick up the paper Hans handed me earlier, and begin my reply, “Well if that’s the case then we should find some interesting leads at Lake Union Park, like maybe a murder weapon or some other clue.”

Raising my head up to notice that Hans had already left, feeling that he probably was going to check on the possible Lake Union Park link that Ashburn had given him earlier.  I take another look at the paper once more, and crumple it up before throwing it away.  “Guess we don’t need that anymore.”  I walk away from the secluded place with questions still on my mind, and my blood begins to warm from the thoughts swirling inside of my head.  “We need to find the scene of the murder…’cause there’s definitely some unseen links in this chain.”

A while later I arrive at my desk with the sound of applause behind me, turning to view the latest successful detective only to notice Chief Myers standing in the background with a cigar in his hand, watching ever so carefully as he lowers his cigar and gestures for me to come there.  Without a word exchanged between me and my colleagues I go to Chief’s office, and with a ‘Hello’ from my lips the chief calmly says, “Have a seat Mark.”  Taking a seat with my hands folded in my lap Myers begins to speak again, “Mark do you know why you’re here?”  With a puzzled expression on my face I reply, “No sir.”  He picks his cigar up and takes a puff before lowering it once again to speak, “To be blunt you’re here because Hans told me that he wanted you to be on the case officially, and I heard from Ashburn that this job should be left up to Hans alone seeing as he’s our lead homicide detective.  But I feel that Hans may be right since this case does seems to have a lot of holes in it, plus you’re quite bright for your age Mark.  You’re 28 if I’m not mistaken, correct?”  With a quick response I say, “Yes sir.”

He begins again after another puff on his cigar, “Well you can be on the case seeing as you are Hans’ partner, but a word of warning Mark.  I’ve heard about your emotional breaks in the middle of cases due to sympathizing with the victims or the culprits in certain situations, and I don’t want any of that bull shit on this case.  We’re in the business of locking away bad people, some cases may be tough while others are simple that’s obvious, but you never make a case personal.  From my experience it always ends badly for those who allow their emotions to intervene in their cases rather than their minds.”  With beads of sweat rolling down my neck Chief fans his hand towards me as if to shoo me away, with that I say my thanks and good day to Chief.

With a few steps away from Chief Myers’ office I notice Hans giving advice to a few other detectives, and without a word exchanged between us I make my way back to my desk to start working on the McAlister case once more.  I begin to write my theories thus far down on my notepad from a possible family member of McAlister’s wanting him dead to a possible ex-lover who may be upset about the lifestyle he was living for these recent years.  So many possible answers but only one truth in the long run and at this point I have no clue what is the truth.

A few moments pass and Hans comes over after helping other detectives out on their cases, he leans his back against my desk as usual and begins to say, “Hans we’ve been cleared to search for the real murder scene of McAlister, Henry told me that because it was me that he’d make an exception, but only on one condition though.”  I quickly ask, “What would this condition be?”  He lets out a sigh and begins again, “That we take a member of forensics with us just in case we find anything.”  With my heart beginning to race at the thought of forensics with us I slowly say, “Does that mean…?”  Hans quickly interrupts, “Yep, she’s coming with us.”  A drop of sweat rolls off my temple as my palms begin to sweat as well at the mere thought of working with her once again.

Hans points to her in the crowd wearing her cap as usual, with a ‘damn’ slipping from my lips as she waves at us.  I turn to Hans with puppy dog eyes to plead him to find anyone other than her and Hans lets out a chuckle.  “Hoss you better deal with her seeing as you’re the only one she’s interested in.”  The thought of her only being interested in me haunts my mind, as I slowly begin to hope that things will change.  Hans puts his hand on my shoulder and whispers in my ear, “Hoss we both know Cynthia won’t cease her crush on you despite the fact you’re married.”  His words weren’t reassuring since I already knew this information and feared the approaching investigation.  Like a bolt of lightning I hear the sound of Chief Myers’ door slam shut, with the first thought in my mind Ashburn must have learned about me being officially on the case.  “Guess it can’t be helped we’ve got a job to do and doesn’t how it gets done as long as it’s done.”  Releasing a heavy sigh from my body, I begin to get up from my desk to prepare for the oncoming awkwardness of being near Cynthia, and before I take a step away I look up to see everyone looking directly at me as Cynthia has that huge grin on her face.

Feeling like my world has just come crumbling down as I walk out of the precinct with Hans on one side and Cynthia on the other, personally wanting to sleep with wolves than stay within 10 feet of her.  As we make our way to Hans’ car I notice Cynthia say, “Wait a moment guys I need to make sure I have everything.”  She opens her case and double checks her supplies, a few moments later she closes her case and enters the backseat of Hans’ car, while Hans and I enter into the front seats of the car.  Without any further interruptions we leave the precinct with Lake Union Park as our destination.

***

The drive to Lake Union Park was unbearable to say the least not a word was exchanged from either Hans or me, yet Cynthia decided to talk about herself and forensics the entire trip.  Once we reached our destination I exited the vehicle as fast as I could, since I didn’t want to spend another moment cooped in one place with her.  I begin to look at my surroundings once I exit the car this is South Lake Union Park before its open to the general public, with amazement on my face I say, “Wow.”  Hans looks over to me after he exits the car and replies, “Kid just ‘cause you’re here doesn’t mean we can stay forever, recall this place isn’t open just yet for a reason.  So let’s find some evidence that the murder took place here and get out.”

Cynthia opens her door with her bag of supplies in her left hand, as she exits the vehicle she winks at me and chill begins to go down my spine.  We decide to go our separate ways in order to find any possible evidence making sure to give a loud yell if we find anything at all.  I begin to search very thoroughly with no sign of any trace of evidence nearby at all; before I can pull a cigarette from my pocket I hear a loud yell of a woman.  Rushing to the location of the yell, I see Hans grinning from ear to ear while Cynthia holds a Glock 22 in her left hand, my eyes squinting at the thought of finding a Glock of all weapons out here.  I begin to ask Cynthia where she found the gun, but Hans beats me to the punch, “Where did you find it?”  She points to a odd spot in the plants, she moves her right hand in the area where it had been hidden.

With certainty in her voice she makes her assumption regarding the case, “I think someone tried to hide the gun in plain sight, but they did a crappy job.”  I begin to wonder why she found the gun so easily, but my worry fades away after she turns her head to me and begins to say, “Hoss I found a key piece of evidence, do you think I can finally have that date?”  I begin to panic hoping Hans will save me, only to realize he’s heading towards where we parked, I quickly reply in a bit of panic, “Umm…umm…what’s that Hans you want me over there,” with that I run off to Hans direction without looking back.

Moments later she returns to the vehicle with the gun sealed in a bag, releasing a sigh of relief once she comes back since I realize that this could be last time with her for certain.  As we make our way back to the precinct that worry from before arises once more, why did she find that gun buried in the dirt so easily it had only been a few minutes since we had all begun our searches to no success on my part.  Maybe I’m just overthinking, there’s no way she could be connected to this case at all.  Hans hands me the car lighter since he can read me clearly and remarks, “Hoss you look like you need a smoke you can smoke as long as roll the window down, understood?”  I nod my head in agreement as pull out my trusty cigarettes once more, slowly lighting my best friend I begin to intake that most divine feeling with each puff.  Hans stays silent for the rest of the ride while I smoke my cigarette, and Cynthia stays unusually quiet in the backseat as well.

Once we reach our destination I toss my butt out before I roll up the window, I begin to exit the car with a feeling of uneasiness in the pit of my stomach, after everyone’s out of the vehicle Cynthia kisses me on the cheek while Hans has a stern expression on his face.  She turns to Hans and exclaims, “Well Hans I had fun with you all today, guess I should get this gun to evidence or else it’ll be my buns on the line.”  As she walks away I say under my breath, “Good riddance.”  Hans walks over to the side of the precinct and leans his back against the wall as usual and says, “Hoss you know she’s the culprit right?”  A bit shocked at his remark I reply with sweat dripping, “Surely you’re kidding right Hans?  There’s no way Cynthia of all people could be our culprit.”

With a heavy sigh Hans begins again, “She’s our culprit seeing as that gun won’t make it inside the building at all, but recall I said it earlier just cause we have a suspect it doesn’t mean we can just arrest them without a motive.  Which is why I asked Henry if I could carry her with us to that location, do you understand the strings that had to be pulled just to get us in there Hans?”  I begin to back away with a faint feeling arising within my stomach, Hans lowers his head and begins again, “It’s alright to let her go for now, but she’ll be back since she has the crush on you.  And that’s where you’ll come in, you’ll play on that factor in order to get the evidence away from her so that we can successfully get it examined before she cleans her prints from the gun, if she hasn’t already done so.”  I rush off in Cynthia’s direction without saying a word to Hans, since I don’t want to believe what Hans just said.

After twenty minutes of running I finally catch up to Cynthia only to see her disposing of the evidence, I quickly get her attention and with pause she tries to open her mouth to speak, but I speak before she does.  “Hans was right…” I begin to say as few tears fall my eyes, “I wanted to believe you weren’t involved in this case at all, but turns out I was wrong.”  She turns to me and says, “Hoss it’s not what you think…”  I start again before she can finish her sentence, “I don’t know your reason for being involved, but you need to turn yourself in if you’re responsible for McAlister’s death.”  A figure emerges from the shadow behind me and says, “Good job kid.  Now Ms. Hill would you please explain, what your connection is to this case, before someone begins to think the worst.”  I turn around to see my mentor, Lee Hans, the one and only man who would’ve known this is where the culprit would be.

He lowers his head and says, “It’s because of your sister right?”  Amazed by the statement from Hans, I ask, “Sister?”  Hans promptly replies, “Janet Renee Hill, age 17 and the only living member of Cynthia’s family she had left.  I knew all about the case and I’m sorry your sister had to die in such a horrible way, I tried my best help in the search for McAlister, but we didn’t turn up any leads.”  Taking a brief pause he begins again, “I’m just guessing now, that the phone in evidence is your sister’s phone and that explains how McAlister was able to go off the grid, but you probably noticed her phone was missing from her body and began to search for it only to discover someone else had it.”

Cynthia lowers her head and explains herself, “I called wanting to know what had become of my sister’s phone if someone had just picked it up or turned it over to authority figures at the scene of the crime, but I wasn’t expecting to hear his voice though.  I asked who I was speaking to and he answered Terrence, and it I knew immediately what needed to be done.  So I asked if we could meet at the park in development near South Lake Union, I knew that no one was supposed to be there especially at night so I thought it was the best place to kill the son of a bitch who took my sister away from me.”  I begin to sympathize with her after hearing her explanation, and I let my emotions slip, “A justified killing.”  Hans rushes over to me and grabs me by the collar and begins to yell, “Hoss there is no such thing as a justified killing, we’re detectives we catch criminals no matter who they are.  Do you understand that, I thought you of all people would understand that seeing as you only wanted to be a detective since you were a kid right, don’t let your years as a cop be wasted on sympathizing with a CRIMINAL!”

I lower my head in shame from Hans’s words; he turns his attention back to Cynthia, and asks a blunt question to her.  “So why did he call you before his death?”  She responds with no hesitation, “Because he wanted to make sure I was coming, he thought I was going to freely give myself to him, yet I only wanted to kill the son of a bitch for not only raping my little sister but for taking her precious life away.” With tears falling from her face she continues, “After I came over to him I pulled out my gun and killed him right there in cold blood, he feel backwards into the water and I began to think he’s gone I need to hide my weapon and leave the scene before anyone came back.  And that’s how I killed Terrence McAlister III.”  Hans quickly says, “It would be best for you to turn yourself in because I know my partner would be saddened if I had to arrest you myself.”

After the awkward silence she left with us to go inside the precinct to turn herself in for the murder of Terrence McAlister III, I began to feel really crappy for getting personally involved in yet another case by sympathizing with people in the case.  “Damn…why do I suck at being a detective?”  Hans places his hand on my shoulder and says, “Don’t beat yourself up over this kid, you’re still new to the detective status only been six months since you were assigned as my new partner, and you’ve got a ways to go before you’re ripe kid.  But rest assured once you are ripe that sympathy for people in cases will be your strongest tool when it comes to getting culprits and victims to do what’s necessary like moving on or turning themselves in like this case.  It’s only because of her crush on you that she left herself open I said it before only you could deal with this, and you did the right thing when you confronted her.  All I did was lay the track you followed up.”  After a slight pause I reply, “But you were the one who solved the case though.”  He closes one eye and speaks once more, “You had a hunch something was wrong from the moment she found the gun, so you had as much a role in solving this case as I did.  Yet the ones responsible for setting me on the right path was our forensics team, thanks to them we knew a possible suspect but that was all.”  Slowly I begin to raise my head with a glimmer of hope for better days to come.