Doppelgänged

Detectives Briscoe and Green stood over the body on the sidewalk.

The body, a middle-aged stockbroker name of Brent Harvey, had been killed at a hot dog stand.

All that red…Even Lennie Briscoe felt a touch queasy.

Whoever had killed the man had torn his throat right out; and this in a crowd of people waiting in line for their wieners and soda.

Now, there was considerably more than catsup splashed on the sidewalk and on the hot dog stand.

Lennie wasn't the only one feeling queasy.

"Scores of witnesses," Ed Green complained. "And not a one of them saw the killer. Not even the guy right behind him."

He was just standing there, like we all were, waiting to give his order, one witness had said. Then, he just fell over, and there was blood everywhere...

"Maybe Liz will have an answer," Lennie muttered.

"Yeah…" Ed muttered back. "Cuz, right now, I sure don't."

"She will," Briscoe assured his partner. "She's always come through for us."

…..

"It's not a knife," Liz Rodgers, Chief ME, said. "In fact, it's not any kind of bladed weapon."

"Liz…It sliced his throat wide open," Briscoe looked down at the corpse lying naked on the cold table. "He literally bled out all over that nice sidewalk."

"It wasn't even a razor blade," Rodgers flipped the sheet back over the virtually bloodless corpse. "Closest thing I can think of would be a claw, or talon."

"Mighty big claws to do that kind of damage," Lennie grunted. "None of the witnesses mentioned seeing any kind of creature, let alone one big enough to do…that."

"It wouldn't have to be big, Lennie. Even a squirrel could do that kind of damage."

"A squirrel, eh?"

"Well…It…could…"

Right…Lennie Briscoe thought to himself.

"Okay, so we call Animal Control," he couldn't keep all the snark out of his voice. "And they'll catch the perp for us."

Briscoe's cell phone rang.

"Ed here," Green's voice on the line. "It seems that Brent Harvey hasn't been a very good boy. Arrested three years ago on charges of murdering a prostitute."

"So, how come he's not in prison?" Lennie sort of already knew the answer. "Defense Attorney get all the evidence erased?"

"Yep, and you're gonna love this. He slit her throat. Just like what happened to him."

"Wonderful…And I was just about to call Animal Control when you called."

"Animal Control?"

"Liz says it's claws- "

"Or teeth," Rodgers put in.

"Or teeth," Lennie added.

"An…animal?" Green spoke doubtfully.

"Or someone training animals to kill,"

"Uh…Oh…man…This could bad. Really bad."

"You're telling me?" Briscoe sighed. "Call Van Buren. Let her know what we found. If someone's doing this, who knows where, or how, it will end…"

"Right."

Green hung up. Briscoe watched as Rodgers slid Harvey's sheet-covered body back into its refrigerated cubicle.

Hopefully Animal Control would identify the claw, or bite marks that had killed Brent Harvey.

Hopefully there won't be any more cases like this…

Again, Lennie Briscoe sighed.

I'm too old for this…