Hinesville: Homicide (Part 2)

Hinesville: Prologue (Part 1)  (18+) Fictional Drama: Georgia LEOs 18+ for cussing

Cooper easily found the crime scene, it wasn’t hard to see the police lights in the dark. He parked his truck at the edge of the emergency vehicles, grabbed his bag of gear, and stepped out into a small puddle from the early evening rain. Even though it stopped raining, that second phone call took longer than expected, and Vivian had been here for a half hour already. He ran down the street to get to the crime scene tape. The police lights flashing gave the feeling of a strobe light to the area. He reached back and grabbed his flashlight out of the pack. He knew he would be needing it soon, and couldn’t imagine they brought the flood lights out here.

“Hey, Coop.” Officer Eugene Black wrote his name down on the crime scene log, and held the tape for him.

“Hey, Gene.” Cooper jogged into the scene and asked, “What do you have here?”

“Davy, Danny’s trainee, is waiting for you at the second line of tape. He has all of the info.”

Cooper came to the second row of tape, where Officer Davy Banks was waiting to fill him in on the scene.

“What you got?” Cooper ducked under the tape.

“Dispatch sent a couple of units here on a possible domestic. Me and Danny got here first and found the vic. Livor mortis had already started, so we knew he was 10-7 when we got here. We called EMS anyway, and they called Gail, with the coroner’s office. She’s with Viv in the back yard along with the body,”  Davy replied, following Cooper toward the house.

“Thanks Davy, I’ll get with you if I need anything else,” Cooper told him as they reached the house.

The neighborhood was middle-class, working families in an established area, but most of the houses had been there since the sixties or seventies. The house within the crime scene had a great look about the front. It appeared to have been updated in recent years, had a well manicured lawn, and was very picturesque. There was definitely curb appeal.

Cooper hurried through the fence gate, on his way to the back of the house. He noted there was a six-foot wooden privacy fence, but he would bet nosey neighbors could see what they wanted. He turned the corner of the house, and saw Vivian on the patio, squatting over the body with gloves on. She was wearing a certain pair of jeans he thought she looked good in.

Cooper pulled on his latex gloves, and stepped over to the scene. “Viv, what do we have?” He focused on the body of a middle aged man sprawled out on the patio. The body stared up from the edge of the concrete slab of a patio, partially on the grass. The roof above part of  the slab also looked new–and expensive.

"Peter Smith, fifty four, what appears to be a gun shot wound to the neck, and when we turned the body over, we found another one in the back," Vivian explained, furrowing her brow as she studied the body and the area surrounding it. She couldn't quite figure this one out. The scene just didn't make sense to her. It almost seemed as if his heart slowed before he was killed, which, unless he was sleeping on his patio, didn't explain why there was so little blood or lack of a struggle. Vivian couldn’t see any defensive wounds either, and the patio furniture was still in it’s place.

“What do you think?” Cooper squatted down, surveying the scene with her.

She stood up, stepped over and perched near the head of the man, “You see the pool of blood? How it’s big, but not huge.”

Cooper nodded as he inspected the space. He looked down at the body, and it didn’t seem like any homicide he had ever worked or studied. He knew rarely did one homicide occur anywhere close to the next, but they all followed certain rules. Yet none of them seemed to be addressed here. The body was outside, but the back door was closed. There wasn’t any blood on the grass, and it was restricted to one shallow pool on the patio, a few inches from the edge. In addition, there was no blood spatter. It looked as if Pete walked outside, laid down on the edge of the patio, and allowed his killer to inflict the injuries–with no struggle.

Vivian continued to look over everything. The metallic smell of blood was hanging heavy in the air. “It’s a couple of pints, but it’s not a bleed out.” Vivian tried to rationalize what she was seeing. “I’m guessing the gun shot wound to the back was the kill shot, and there was a lot of internal bleeding.” Vivian thought about what she was saying, and then told Cooper, “I know I keep saying ‘gun shot wound’, ‘cause that’s what it looks like right now, but there’s just something about these wounds that doesn’t seem right.” Vivian glanced around the plain back yard, and decided to let the crime scene techs check it out. She was ready to get back into the house and start exploring.

“Did the neighbors see anything?”

“I talked to them very briefly, I got here about thirty minutes ago. They heard a commotion, though, and didn’t know what it was.” Vivian took a few paces toward one of the houses and pointed at it. “The guy that lives here, walked to the fence to see if he could see anything, heard someone back here, saw Pete on the ground, and a man running to the trees along the back of the property.” Vivian walked to the back door motioning for Cooper to follow. “Right now I want you to see the house. We can go talk to the neighbors later.”

Cooper stood up and walked over to where she was. The coroner’s investigator, a woman in her fifties, arrived to retrieve the body.

“Gail, let us know when you get anything,” Cooper called to her.

“You got it Cooper,” The coroner’s investigator replied while her and her assistant prepared the body bag.

The two walked through the backdoor into the house, and entered the dining room. It adjoined both the kitchen and living room, and one could see across the house to the front door. What they could see of the house appeared as if it hadn't seen any decorating since it had been built. The olive green carpet, early eighties drapes, dark wood paneling, and seventies style heavy wood furniture left a lot to be desired. It was a complete contrast to the newly redone exterior. All you could see is open drawers, and papers thrown around the room. It appeared as if someone grabbed handfuls of paper, and just randomly tossed them about the area.

"The difference between the outside and the inside is incredible." Vivian glanced around at the mess on top of the mess. “Now, I don’t think Pete here was going to have his home photographed for Home & Garden Magazine anytime soon, but I don’t think he usually had every paper out and tossed all around the room either.” Vivian took a few paces into the house, and turned fully to Cooper. “That outside door was locked when officers arrived. We couldn’t find any blood in the house, so the current collective thought is he was killed on the patio. But this mess isn’t a struggle. There wasn’t a fight in here.” They both looked around at the strewn papers, but lamps and end tables were untouched, some even had a coating of undisturbed dust on them. Vivian let her confusion show on her face, and the thoughtful look returned. With one eyebrow slightly raised, she asked Cooper, “Did he help the killer toss the house? Why would Pete help him search for whatever he was looking for? And he is the resident according to his license, and the online property tax records.” She glanced around again, shaking her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Cooper observed the surroundings, understanding her point. “Maybe he killed him, came back in and then ran?”

“Not according to the neighbor.”

“True,” Cooper conceded. He looked around and knew they would come back to this, but he wanted to get deeper into the house.

“C’mon.” Vivian waved for him to follow, and proceeded down a hallway toward the bedrooms.

Cooper looked around a room, noting that every drawer was pulled out and appeared to be rummaged through. He turned back to her to see she had walked off, and followed her further into the house. She showed him a large deep safe in the wall. It appeared as if the safe at one time had been covered with the drywall, and someone had pealed it back to get to it.

“A safe?” The dismay was etched in her face. “Looking at the inside of the house, and the lifestyle Pete had, this doesn’t make sense to me, especially since this safe is like super heavy duty, and bolted to the floor.” Vivian pulled on the open door to the safe and revealed what was left of its contents. The remainder of the papers within the safe seemed personal. Letters, deeds, titles to vehicles, birth certificates, but none of it seemed to warrant a safe of this magnitude or secrecy.

Cooper understood her point, it seemed ridiculous, or Pete was living a double life.

“Someone may have gotten out what they wanted ‘cause there’s nothin’ particularly important in it,” Vivian remarked as the two stood in the room, staring at the safe.

Just then, Cooper and Vivian heard movement in the attic. They both looked up to the ceiling and drew their weapons. They stepped, quickly but quietly, out to the hallway, grabbed the lights of two crime-scene techs, and motioned for them to leave. Vivian called over two patrol officers, indicated to them they needed to be quiet and pointed to the attic. Cooper pulled down the attic access and Vivian started up the ladder. She pointed her weapon and flashlight in the direction of the noise as she reached the attic, and easily spotted a man, hiding in a area near the edge of the space.

“Let me see your hands! Now!” Vivian yelled and the man quickly stuck his hands out.

Cooper was right behind her and had the man at gun point. “I got him.”

Vivian holstered her weapon and stepped over to the man, who started to crawl out of a crevasse along the eves of the roof. Vivian grabbed his arm and pulled him out, having to carefully step on the beams in the attic so she didn’t fall through the drywall on the ceiling. She pulled one hand behind his back, and cuffed it when he started to fight. Cooper holstered his weapon and went to help Vivian. She almost had him under control when they heard the creaking. All three of them stopped moving, but it was to no avail. The next thing Vivian and Cooper knew, they plummeted the ten feet to the floor below. Cooper was able to land on his feet as dust and debris littered the room. Had the suspect not landed on Vivian's leg, she may have been able to hold her footing. Despite the fall, she was still holding the one cuff that she was able to get on in the attic, she quickly used the man’s disorientation to get his free arm in the other.

The suspect looked around still stunned by the ordeal. “Shit! That fucking hurt!” Only now did he realize his hands were cuffed behind him. “Hey! How did you get me cuffed?”

“Shut up!” Cooper bellowed as one of the uniformed officers pulled the suspect out of the rubble. They checked him for weapons, and took him away.

“You alright?” Cooper looked over at Vivian, a searing pain in his arm.

“I think I twisted my ankle,” Vivian groaned out, and limped over to a wall as other officers arrived. She propped herself with one hand and used the other to dust herself off.

“Clear the attic, make sure no one else is hiding up there,” Cooper ordered two uniformed officers.

The two officers drew their weapons, went up the ladder and disappeared into the attic.

“What happened?” Cooper turned back to Vivian, who had hobbled into the middle of the room.

“Jackass landed on it,” Vivian moaned and stumbled over the rubble of the ceiling.

“Let’s get the EMT’s in here to look at it.” Cooper followed her into the hallway.

“I’m fine,” She called over her shoulder, as she hobbled into the living room. “Are you okay?” She looked to see a gash on his arm. “You got cut.” She took her latex glove off and put her hand on the, now profusely bleeding, cut. “Davy!” Vivian yelled toward the front door.

“I’m fine, It’s just a cut.” Cooper protested, but he knew it was bad.

“What, Viv?” Davy ran over.

“Go get the EMT’s!” Vivian ignored Cooper, and pulled him out of the front door.

Davy ran to the ambulance, and the EMT’s jogged over. Vivian quickly recognized them as Kenny and Jane, and quickly explained what had happened.

“He’s going to need stitches,” Kenny reported looking over the wound.

“Are you serious?” Cooper was disgusted.

The man nodded.

“You’re going to need a few stitches,” Jane told him, and they escorted him to the ambulance.

“This is bullshit,” Cooper bitched and really checked the wound. “I landed on my feet.”

“You probably caught it on something on the way down.” The EMT looked to see if there was any debris in the cut.

Vivian turned to the officer, who was just a few steps away. “Davy, aggravated battery on a police officer, two counts, and unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling. I’ll have the report done by the morning.”

“You got it, Viv.” Davy left to take the suspect to the station.

Vivian let Cooper know she was going to meet him, while he climbed into the ambulance. She called Captain Sullivan on the way, where he met them upon their arrival. The medics brought Cooper to the back, and immediately the nurses stitched his arm. Vivian explained to Sullivan what happened, and what the suspect was to be charged with.

“Good.” He nodded as they walked to check on Cooper. “What’s wrong with you?”

“The suspect fell on my leg when we landed,” Vivian informed Sullivan as they reached at Cooper’s ER bed.

“You’re getting checked out, too.” Sullivan could see her about to protest, and quickly added, “It’s an order, not a request.”

“Yes, sir.” Vivian limped back to the ER lobby to check in with the lady at the desk. After all of Vivian's information was collected, the receptionist told her to go back with Cooper, and the doctor would look at her, too.

The two made their rounds with the hospital. Cooper walked out with twelve stitches and Vivian with a brace, and an ice pack on her ankle.

“I want to go back to the house. We didn’t get to finish, and we can interview the suspect later.” Vivian looked at the clock as she started the car. It was four in the morning, they couldn’t talk to the neighbors yet, but they could finish going over the crime scene.

When they returned to the house, several people were still there, including the CS techs. They would be there for, at least, a couple of hours longer.

Cooper and Vivian walked in, and started to look around. Vivian checked the room with the safe, and noticed someone had cleaned up the debris from the ceiling. She decided to take another walk through the room. She noted several items that seemed unusual, but there was nothing usual about this case. There were several items, in full display, that were worth a fortune. A baseball card in a case sat next to a baseball signed by Hank Aaron himself, and a large vase sat in the corner that she was sure was pricy at worst. She walked over to the next room. She could see guns on wall racks, a decorative sword, hunting trophies, and a crossbow. She slowly walked through the house, taking it all in. It seemed like a typical guy house; nothing was particularly fancy, old mismatched furniture, and, beyond the mess of being tossed, it was clean. She continued walking around, getting a feel for the victim. It was the suspects she just couldn’t understand. She considered that her and Cooper had the man in the attic, in addition to the man fleeing the house, so there are multiple suspects. The first impression she had of the scene, was disorder--extreme disorder. It was as if the suspects went into the house and just randomly tossed papers around. There were all the things of value that weren’t even touched, but a box of Ban-Aids was dumped out. The techs were now working on the safe, so Vivian left that room alone. She would come back to it later.

Cooper had wandered into the living room, and looked around at the disarray. That’s what he was so frustrated about, even at a disordered crime scene, there should be a certain order to it. But this scene, it just didn’t make any sense. It was as if a group of people came in and tossed it, and they only pulled things out of drawers. Cabinets went untouched along with containers and boxes. It just looked like someone came in and made a mess, just for the sake of it.

They stayed for a few hours, going over the crime scene, looking through evidence, and trying to size up the case. They eventually left, grabbed something to eat at the diner around the corner, and then headed back to the station.
                                                                                                             
Cooper and Vivian walked into the squad room at eight in the morning, and over to their desks to find a parachute. Everyone started to clap as Vivian bowed.

Detective Jimmy Burks walked over and slapped Cooper on the back, “For the next time y’all have to go into the attic.”

Cooper laughed, shook his head and looked over at Jimmy, “Man, you should have been there to catch us.”

They all laughed and the two threw the parachutes under their desks. Vivian went to retrieve the thumb drives the crime-scene photos were on. She wanted to take a look at them in case she missed something.

Captain Sullivan stopped her as she passed, and looked at her over his glasses. “This is your only case until it’s solved.”

“Yes, sir,” she answered. She knew with all of the oddities, in addition to the fact it was a homicide, that Sullivan was anxious for them to finish with it.

The two went over what they had, the reports from patrol, photos, and notes, and used the information to prepare to interrogate the suspect. Cooper was to be the lead and Vivian would be there to assist.

Cooper soon peppered him with questions while the two men sat at the table. Vivian stood in a corner of the room, listening to the interview, trying to find any clue as to what they were looking for. Vivian, at one point, wished she had taken the interview. It seemed Cooper was giving the suspect some softball questions.

Vivian examined the suspect as she watch the questioning. He looked like he was in his mid to late thirties, and didn’t seem to have a worry in the world. He had an arrogant grin on his face as he looked at Cooper, seeming to Vivian, that he knew a lot more about what was going on than any of them understood. His jeans and black t-shirt accompanied a chain that ran from his belt loop to his wallet. Vivian thought, with the heavy steel toed boots and the scruffy beard, she could see him easily slip onto a Harley and ride off.

"You guys have no fucking idea," the man said with a smirk as he fiddled with his handcuffs.

Cooper looked down at his notes and seemed to hesitate.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vivian questioned him from the corner, a little impatient from the lack of sleep.

“Look, man, I’m not telling you shit, so you can skewer yourself, like Todd, and go to hell,” the suspect said with all of the confidence in the world. “I want a lawyer.”

Cooper saw “that look” on Vivian’s face. He concluded the interview, and called over an officer to have the suspect brought back to the jail.

He didn’t even have to ask what she wanted to do. “Come on, I’m driving.” The two were soon knee-deep again in the rubbish of Pete’s house.

“Why did he call him Todd?” Cooper thought out loud as they both rehashed the interrogation in their heads.

“Why did he say go skewer yourself?” Vivian’s confusion was present on her face. “Did he stab him? Who in the hell even uses that word? But I did see a sword on the wall in the other room.” Vivian went down the hall to the room behind the safe, and pulled the sword off of the wall. “There’s no way, this is too long, and there’s no blood on it.” She looked at the, obviously, decorative sword. It was in a sheath covered in detailed gold leaf designs, and embedded gems that she thought looked real. The blade and hilt were just as ornate.“I want to take this for evidence.” She pulled the sheath off again and noted the detailed etching on the blade that matched the gold leafing on the cover and grip. 

“A dagger?” Cooper was almost embarrassed to say it out loud.

“It seems logical, with the sword and all, but who the hell uses a dagger?” Vivian stepped over to the door of the room, still limping a bit, and tagged the sword for evidence. She walked back in the room, looking around, still noting that nothing looked “right” despite the chaos.

“Maybe we should call Mason for an assist?” Cooper didn’t think any of it made sense either. “The city limits end at the woods  behind the house. The one suspect did flee into the woods, and it’s not irrational to think he may have dropped some evidence.”

“Tom, with the State Police CSU, was helping our techs, so let’s wait.” She thought about the safe, and walked over to where it was in the wall. She looked in the wall beyond the safe, and pulled out a red folder. She opened it up and began reading. Cooper stepped over and read the contents over her shoulder.

“It’s time to call Ben and Nate.” Cooper pulled out his phone and quickly dialed their friends and co-workers at the FBI.
                   
“Yeah, I think so.” Vivian walked back to the living room as she read the information. “Why didn’t the techs find this? I realize the new guy was here, but he’s been great up until now. All I did was walk up to the safe and could see it in the wall.”

Cooper shrugged. “We can take it up with them later.” Cooper waited for Ben to answer the phone. “Ben, we need y’all at one of our crime scenes.” 

“What do you have?” Ben knew it had to be something crappy for Cooper and Vivian to call.

“We will not discuss this over the phone, just trust me you need to come here,” Cooper grumbled, and looked over at Vivian in the living room as she continued reading.

Vivian looked at the contents of the folders, which added fuel to the fire of her confusion. She sat on the arm of the couch reading the pages. It appeared to be e-mails between individuals, discussing special operations missions, and nothing was redacted. It was, plain as day, a complete run-down of the participants, their performance, and the results of the missions. She couldn’t comprehend why Pete would even have this in his house, and, guessing by its location that it came out of the safe, why was it there to begin with. There was so much randomness to this case, it was too random. Vivian read them, knowing she would have to answer for it, but, also, realizing she needed to because it was property of a homicide victim. This, obviously, could be the reason he was killed.

Ben and Nate arrived, but not before their friends found four more files. They walked up to the house, past the yellow police tape, and met them inside.

“What y’all got guys?” Nate looked over at the two, the concern reflected not only in his expression, but in his voice.

Vivian handed them a red folder. They knew immediately what it was, and both of them wondered where they got it from.

Ben looked at her suspiciously as he took the file, and opened it, hoping it wasn’t what it was.

The FBI agents began reading the information. The surprise was evident on Ben’s face after he began reading.

“What the fuck, right?” Vivian looked over at the her friend, seeming almost angry. “There are five we found near the safe.”

“Who knows about this?” Nate demanded an answer with his tone.

“The four of us, and possibly the subject we pulled out of the attic.” Cooper wondered why Nate was so stern.

“Where are the other folders?” Ben glanced up as he continued to read.

Vivian handed them to Nate.

“You can’t tell this shit to anyone,” Ben barked and closed the folder he held. He looked stressed to Vivian.

“No, shit man.” Cooper appeared pissed.

“You think you have to fucking tell us that?” Vivian questioned Ben a little angry at him herself.

Nate walked out of the house and into the front yard to make a call. He wanted to find out where these folders came from. He knew it wasn’t his team, but still hoped it was a friendly agency. He knew something was off. It was obvious they were meant to find them.

Ben looked over at them and sighed in disgust, “This is some deep shit.” He rubbed the back of his neck and tried desperately to think of a way to get them out of what was about to happen next. “Pack some clothes, copy everything you have on the case, and get to Statesboro.”

“What’s going on Ben?” The anger and confusion settled heavily on Vivian. In the eleven years she spent at the PD, this had never happened.

“Just fucking do it!” Ben snapped and pointed at the door. “Now get out of the fucking house! There’s a team coming to clean it!” Ben threw the folders down on the coffee table. “Why did y’all have to read that shit?”

Hinesville: Seeing Red (Part 3)  (18+) Viv and Coop try to find out what is going to happen now that they have read the info.