If there was to be an agreement between the cops and the bad guys, was they are to be no events on a Sunday. Even God asked to be rested on that day, and here I am dragging on my suit before speeding down to this low down part of the city. It would had been a call for the junior detectives but the one which lying there ain't for juniors.
"Hi Frank." Frank; never knew or cared to know his last name, is the Sargeant of the precinct,and normally he does the normal shift as he was due to retirement. He known me for years and handed me my morning coffee; dark chemical laced drink that spot on the cells in the brains. Frank been doing it for me in the crime scene or at the precinct desk. If he ever retires, I am sure he would still pop over with my coffee. If you are thinking otherwise, please don't. Frank is happily married with three grown up kids, while I am the one still queuing for the baseball home run with my wife. We have hardly gone beyond first base most times since she came down with one of her breasts removed.
"James Stewart, Eighteen, Brighton Avenue, one gunshot wound. Fatal shot was the head." Damned he won't be seeing no baseball game anymore. I walked with Frank to the dead body in the alley. Its like any alleys you seen in these parts of town; dump bins that can stored any forms of garbage including dead bodies. The ground strewn with discarded drugs accessories and other messy stuffs.
"Brighton? Long way from home." Brighton on the other side, and its the affluent side of the city; unlike this slum. I lived in the northern side where the common decent folks lived. We bridged the two sides, so they used us as the marker for the boundary line.
"Could be picking up drugs or drove over for sight seeing, bumped into some gangs and then ended up dead." Frank gave his simple assessment of the situation. He once told me that teens are stupid; like his own, they get into trouble not because they want to but are stupid to be caught at it. I laughed at him thinking it was a joke but his expression shut me up. Later I was to know his son was caught with some quantity and booked for distribution. I did him justice later, when I hauled up the culprit who was above the son, but the man got it worse from Frank. It would had been assault charges but we covered our own in the precinct.
"Witnesses said they saw a blue sedan speeding away. Number plates given to the Precinct." Frank continued.
"Have you called Dan?" Dan was the coroner. Frank nodded and pointed to his watch. I remembered then Dan would be at Church now. I told Frank to wrapped up the body and bring it over to the morgue. There was not much that Dan would missed anyway, if he does come over.
I stopped by Di Angelo for my morning meal to reduce the chemical from the coffee burning up my innards.
"Jim, I heard the news." Di Angelo does not need the TV to tell him; he has us as his patron. All the guys stopped over here. If we died of food poisoning, they would just close down Di Angelo.
"Uptown goes off the track and got shot at East Side" I replied as I bite into my morning meal. "F.***! Why didn't you take out the onions?"
"Hey, Jim. Dan told me last week to feed you some greens. He said you hardly eat any." Di Angelo now acting preppy like my wife.
"Di Angelo, Dan is a f******g coroner. All his patients are dead people. He can stuff all the green in them but not me. Except for the green pepper." I pulled out the raw onions and threw it on the table. We can cursed at Di Angelo, but you do not dirty his floor. His mother sweeps them and he's personal when it comes to his mother.
I was to continue eating when my new partner sat down in front of me. She is young and at my age, they are all good looking. The only I am not f******g her was because she likes the other gender more. I am a straight man; nothing against the wishes of God stands my belief.
"I am sorry, sir." Marcy was her name; blonde, short cropped to the neck, and wearing casual. She carries her Glock in the shoulder straps on her sleeveless blouse covered with a dark jacket and jeans pant. I know she also strapped a .38 short stub on her left ankle above the trainers she wears. She still calls me Sir despite the partnership and I kinda liked it with our age difference.
"Body in the morgue...." I repeat the details when Marcy tried to tell me why she was late. I am not into any details of her personal life. I am just here to solved the murder.
Just then another figure walked; a pair of blues with their caps still on.
"Hey, Jim. We solved your case." Brian Keep; my burly Irish patrol man with his fist tougher than my jaw. "Keano and myself saw the blue sedan and we radioed in. He began pulling away., so we chased and cornered him. The driver got out and started shooting. We replied and he's dead."
I looked at the Irish cowboy and then at the African descent.
"Why didn't you radioed me?"
"I did not know you were on. I did radioed Precinct later and they told me you are the Boss. So I came over." Brian explained himself as he sat at the next table. "The gunman was also from Brighton. Could be fall out."
Damned! I hate smart asses patrol men. They think they can owned up to us if they can collared the criminals. I got up and walked out of the place with Marcy picking up the tab. Juniors are to do that if they want to taught by me.
Two hours later I was at the home of the Stewart with Marcy comforting the mother while I talked to the father. A rich man with a big house, larger lawn and more servants than my Precinct numbers.The victim was their only son, aspiring doctor and good son; they all are. The gunman was their son's good friend, Seeley Brown ; dropped by most times or play ball with him. No reason for the other to kill the son, let alone even own a gun. I said my goodbye and went over to see the other family. They all read the same script and I am at a dead loss. When I asked have their son's ever played with gun, the protest was enough to bring even my dead mother to come alive. However, I did noticed the Stewart had a rifle collection. When I asked him, he told he used to shoot the ducks but not anymore.
It does looked like a closed case. Until Dan called. It was near to lunch. I offered to come down to his office at the morgue. He asked for chinese takeaway; the one with the innards and lots of sauces.
"Jim, deceased was shot before he was dumped but he was dead before then. Cause of death was the blow to the head. There was the wound marks caused by it. And later he was shot near the spot with a gun." Dan slurp up his noodles like strings of intestines from the takeaway bowl into his mouth. I knew Dan long enough that he can eat anywhere and with no regards to the smell and scene. He once chewed a doughnut while checking at the dismembered body. Dan is a good coroner but he had thrown out the book of rules a long time.
"How long, Dan?" I asked as I chomped into my cheese burger, while Marcy took a rain check on the meals.
"An hour." Dan replied. An hour could mean near to my area but before Brighton. So the boy was dead when he left Brighton.
"He was also bruised on his body. Could be due to fights or he struggled before he was shot. Still examining." Dan had bowed down to his food. That means it would be after lunch when he continue. I left Dan to his innards while I finished my burger on the walk to the car.
Our next place was a common friend of both the boys. It seems that they hang out with this third one and he lived just out the Brighton area; in mine to be exact. So the upper level does mixed with the middle levels.
"I was with them last night until about five this morning." Sikes Marlowe; a growing boy with a body build for the baskets, was at home when we came in. "After our game, we went bar hopping."
Mother had earlier said she did go to Church with him that morning. They missed the morning session, but took the later one. She claimed that she had to sleep into late morning because of her ailment. She also does not know when James came in, but he was there for the church service.
"I slept until nine and then left for church with mother." Sikes gave us his statement. He also said the others looked cool and they had no issues. He also denied knowing of any gun owned by the other.
"Some bad punch to the face?" I asked Sikes when I noticed the forming shade on the left cheek.
"I got that yesterday in the games." Sikes demonstrated his hoop and how he was knocked. He also said he played with the others including the other James. "We had a tussle with some others."
Both Marcy and myself left at about three in the afternoon and decided to drive back to the precinct. On the way back, I turned the car to the Stewart. I did noticed the ball court with stands for the ones who coached well from the side line. It was a short distance from the house near to the boundary, but a short drive from the Stewart. Since it was late afternoon, they could be boys playing there. There were a few of them of the same age as the boys.
"Mike, you played with James and his friends yesterday?" Mike another NBA aspiring star with the way he lobs those balls. They all are until they learned that the entrants are limited and the books may the next option to afford the ball games ticket.
"Yeah! We did. We hit them for sixes and then the Stewart boy elbowed me." The boy pulled up his shirt. There was a bruise there. "He was wearing those elbows protector and it hurts. We fought and then got separated. We went separately. He came at me last night near my house. He was holding a gun."
I pulled out the prints on the gun taken from the dead gunman.
"That's the one. I begged him to let me go and he laughed. He mimic the shooting and it was then his other friend came running up to him to go. They struggled and I ran for home." The boy explained. He explained their looks to me which I duly recorded.
"And you are playing ball again today?" I asked him back.
"I have to. We got a game coming up next week against the Brighton team. We can only play here at this hours, before they took over for the evening session."
"You ain't from Brighton?" It was Marcy who asked over my shoulder. I should had seen it; they don't looked like Brighton. They are from my area or East Side. Our ball courts are limited and some are in a bad condition compared to here.
"I was born and raised in the East side." The boy explained. "Two years ago, my dad did better and we moved over to the North side. But in me, I am still the East side. We are called the East Landers. We are tough as nails."
I was born there too and grew up until I was into my teens. I knew what it was like to live there; show your cowardice and you dead meat. This one grew up there and like me was given a chance to get out before we rot. I left the boys there. I turned the car around and headed out to the Marlowe' place.
"James, you got three seconds to spill it all out or go downtown with me.." I placed my cards on the table towards the young boy. I can read in the face of the boy he had more to say.
"Okay, but no downtown trip. It would kill my Mum. She got a weak heart." Sikes pleaded with me. I may be tough on the threats, but inside me, I am a melted butter; softy to the end. "After the fight, we grabbed some beers and went girls' meeting. At about four in the morning on the way back, James argued with Seeley. It was Seeley who wanted to kick ass but Jame told him to cool off. Then James pulled out the gun and pointed it at Seeley. It was then I panicked but Seeley managed to grab the gun. He hit James with it. He then asked me to walked home while he dropped off James. I was pissed but on seeing James lying there unconscious, I took my leave of the car and walked home. It was not far anyway."
"That's all I knew that happened." Sikes continued on. "I came back at five and the rest you knew."
My portable rang and I answered it. It was Dan with some more updates. I told Marcy, we were leaving and on the way back to the Precinct, she asked me.
"Do you know what really happened here?"
"Case closed. James Stewart was shot dead by his friend Seeley who later shot it out with the Police."
"Bullshit, Sir.....I am sorry, Sir. I mean how can that be." Marcy rebuked back and then corrected herself.
"Dan found James' tissue inside Seeley' hand. That could had been the result of their fight in the morning. Seeley was seen last with James. He killed James when he hit him in the car. He got worried and panicked. So he decided to drop the body in East Side but he had to shoot it to make it appeared as if he was slain by the gangs. He could had panic again when the Police cornered him and fought them too."
"Case closed." I muttered out. Marcy wanted to speak more but I motioned to her to keep quiet. I drove back to my house at almost six in the evening. On the way back, I saw Mike walking down the street with his gang. I drove up to them and stopped the car. I got out and looked at the boys.
"I got one more question." I placed on my smile. "Boys, why did Seeley tried to shoot my men? They were Police Officer."
Both the boys looked at each other and then back at me. They shook their head.
"I guess we would never know. God may also not know. He could be on leave today." I answered for them before driving off. Maybe my men were just trigger happy or Seeley did try to shoot it out.
Some cases are not meant to be solved entirely especially on a Sunday happening. Its almost seven now and I am going home to solved my dinner issues tonight. Then later I would speak to Jenny on the baseball runs tonight. She could had signed off Sunday off days too in the marriage contract.
I wished I had then. It had to be the coffee effect.
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