Two police officers and a university professor have been murdered. No murder weapon was found on both crime scenes except for a student ID card. Detective Joe Pratt suspected the owner of the card to be involved in the murder one way or another but...
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Saturday, 1:45 AM Joe was standing at the entrance of the GCPD. He had just gotten there. He watched as patrol and desk officers, detectives, sergeants and even CSIs moved from one place to another in distress. 'Who wouldn't?' he thought and strolled in. 'It's quarter to 2 in the morning.' He knew what he had to do, 'address them, give a speech,' but he doesn't even know how to begin. He knew he needed to tell them what to do or probably how he planned to handle the case at hand. He kept walking until he was noticed and saluted. He responded appropriately and moved further into the oval office where he stopped on the round GCPD logo imprinted on the floor. He looked around him and noticed he had gotten everyone's attention with his walk-in. Everyone stared at him as if he was the center of attraction in a fashion show. "What does this logo represent?" he asked no one in particular, pointing to the ground. "Freedom from fear," he continued when he got no response, as expected. "Giving hope to the people, protecting the citizens of Greenville." He was beginning to raise his voice and this brought him only more attention. He now cared less about the staring eyes gazing at him. All he wanted was justice for the dead officers. He felt guilty. If I only he had checked out the place himself, they wouldn't be dead or probably they would. But he let his promise to his daughter get in the way. Now, he promised himself, he would get justice for Paul and Mark by all means. He looked down at his feet as tears were beginning to form around the corner of his eyes as he spoke. "But we have failed them in doing that," he continued. "Two officers were murdered right under our noses, just three junctions from here." He looked back up and they could tell that he was hurt. No one dared to speak. He turned around and realized he hadn't said what to do, only what had been done. "A highly respected professor was also murdered and what have we done about that too?" he yelled. "I'll tell you. Nothing!" He turned round, noting every face as he did. They all looked sad. "We are going to do something about it now. We will get those criminals and attain justice for the dead officers." That didn't sound like a plan, he thought. "I know officer Mark and sergeant Paul are your partners and their death really hurts but now isn't the time to cry but act." He held back his own tears as he gave out instructions. "I'm putting together two teams. Team A would be in charge of the professor's death while team B, on the dead officers." "Detective Emkay," he called, after much thought and looking around. Joe wondered why he called her by her alias like everyone else does. Her real name was Marie Klint but she preferred to be called by her initials. The one who answered the call was a female, not much taller than Joe himself. She was gallantly dressed in her tight T-shirt and jeans. She wore her short hair in a ponytail which made her look more like a male than a female except for a protruding chest. She wore no make up which makes her looks more casual than usual. 'Oh! I forgot, it's the middle of the night.' Joe stopped staring immediately. "You are in charge of Team A. Take officers you need on your team and a partner that can help out too." By partner, he meant a fellow detective like her. "Your job is to find out evidence that will help catch the killer. Every bit of evidence!" he yelled for the second time that morning. "Yes sir," Marie responded in the affirmative. "Interview any witness you can find, let forensic do their thing. I know something was left at that crime scene just like the other" - he raised the ID card given to him by Naomi and threw it across the room at Dr. Fabian - "I want you to run fingerprint recognition on that thing and bring it back to me. Also, run a background check on the name." "Sir?" Marie called. "If I'm in charge of team A, who's in -" "I am," Joe responded, without letting her complete her question. "Okay sir." "Listen up everyone," he addressed the group. "Whichever team you find yourself in, I want you to check in with your team head every hour via the platform. Every name, evidence, clues, suspects, motives attached to the murder one way or the other. I want them updated every hour." He heard nothing but murmurs from the crowd and yelled again, "Is that clear?" "Yes sir!!!" "Get to work lads. The first 48 hours are the most important." He dismissed them. Minutes after Joe gave out instructions, everyone headed back to their respective sections and now had something to do. Joe was still standing on the spot where he made the speech. He looked across the room from where he was standing, at Marie, who was assembling her team already. 'Already,' he thought. That was one of the characteristics he loved about her. She was devoted to her work and won't let a second slip by. He was glad he made her team head instead of Stanley. "Isn't she beautiful?" a voice asked from somewhere around him. He hurriedly turned his head to the left, where the voice came from and there he was, Stanley, smiling sheepishly. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Joe pretended not to hear him. "I mean her," Stanley pointed towards Marie. "Just beautiful." He chuckled and left Stanley standing. "See me in my office right away, Stan," he said as he left. "Okay sir," He responded jokingly, and ran after Joe. "I'm not surprised you made her team head, you know," Stanley kept talking as he walked behind Joe to his office. Joe, however, ignored him. He smiled to himself on reaching the door to his office. 'Lieutenant Joe Pratt,' he read out in his mind, the name on the door. He recalled the day he was promoted to lieutenant detective. It was a day he would never forget due to the other incident that happened that day. That same day at the inauguration ceremony, the police chief was murdered. His killer hasn't been found till date. It was the day Shadow's murder spree started again after The Bryant's incident. Yes, The Bryant's Incident as it was popularly referred to by the people of Greenville. A whole family was murdered by the gang and it was made to look like a car accident or so the police believed. That was 10 years ago and now, there is another murder. 'Three murders in one night,' he thought out loud. 'What do you think, Lieutenant? Stanley asked. Joe wondered if Stanley had heard what he said but he answered anyway. "I don't know," He turned the door knob and opened the door to his office. He went immediately to the coffee machine and poured himself one. After which he collapsed completely on a chair, frustrated. The memories of Shadow's torments on the city were still fresh. "You think he did it?" Stanley pressed further as he took a seat himself. "Who?" "Shadow?" "No," he answered with a wave of his hand. "He's dead, remember?" "Yeah, I remember. A dead body was found behind the station and people were so eager to label him as shadow because of the demand made by his people. People we don't even know are shadow. We all want someone to blame for the 4 year terror on the city but that dead guy isn't the one. Shadow can't go down like that." "You sound more like Naomi." "About how he died, you sound so unsure." "No matter how I see it, what matters is he's dead." Joe concluded. "I mean there has been no serious crime committed for 9 months, except for petty theft." "Except that now there are 3 murders in one night. Who do you think did that? Petty thieves?"
