Beth had to fight the urge to smirk as she left the interrogation room. She was the youngest detective on the cold case force and she had successfully closed her seventh case of the year. She always felt a thrill of closing a cold case and delivering the news to the family who had longed for answers.
This case had left her with a sense of heartache. She had Lizzie Samuels finally crack in the interrogation room when she had read Mika's, the victim's, letter she had placed in one of those time capsule. The letter basically outlined how Mika believed Lizzie was unwell, but still her very own superhero. Beth had only gotten halfway through reading the letter when Lizzie cracked and confessed to the entire crime.
Beth had the confession properly documented and she was currently on her way to see DA Sasha Williams.
Beth's trek to Sasha's office wasn't too long. She hoped to wrap this meeting up in the next twenty minutes so that she could head to the locker and look through other cold cases to pull. Tips weren't coming in steadily and Beth liked to keep busy and continually solving these crimes. She would sift through the cases and choose one that had caught her eye and begin reviewing some of the basic evidence.
Outside of Sasha's office she could hear raised voices. That shocked her as Sasha was one of the most level headed DA's they had. She rarely heard her voice raised. All she could decipher from the yelling was that some kind of warrant had been denied. Beth could only shake her head as she imagined some of the more hot tempered homicide detectives getting upset.
Beth wasn't one to be intimidated by a hostile situation. Anyways, she also had an appointment with Sasha and with that thought she knocked on the door.
"Come in" Sasha's voice raised over the angry detectives she was currently dealing with.
Beth strode into the office, she was shocked to see Rick Grimes and his partner Daryl Dixon as the detectives who had raised their voices. She knew they were one of the most formidable teams' currently working homicide. Her mentor, Michonne, had spoken highly of the duo. Beth always had a sneaking suspicion she liked one of the duo more than the other with how fondly she would refer to their teamwork, but that was never proven. She briefly wondered what case they were working that had them so heated.
"I've got the Samuels' confession here for you Sasha" Beth figured she could wrap up the meeting even faster since Sasha was preoccupied with the two men sitting before her.
"Just the girl I was looking for. I need a small favor from you" Sasha smiled as if to ease whatever favor she was going to ask.
Beth didn't like the smile Sasha was giving her. The smile could only mean bad news in the end, but Beth owed Sasha a favor for getting her out of a sticky situation when Eugene in forensics had asked her out.
"What's the favor?" Beth was still on edge from Sasha's smile. She wasn't quite sure what the favor would end up being but it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"I need you to pull a cold case for me. I need the double murder for Amanda and Penny Blake looked into and you're the best at this" Sasha told her.
Beth was confused. She typically never questioned Sasha's motives, but a district attorney seldom makes a special request for a case to be pulled.
"Why? I mean I'll pull the case, but why that case specifically?" Beth was curious about this case. No matter what, Sasha had piqued her interest and she would look into this case.
"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me! You're putting this kid on the case? What has she been on the force for, like an hour?" The man whom Beth had assumed was Daryl Dixon.
He had the scruff and shaggy brunette hair associated with Daryl Dixon. She had heard rumors about how he was one of the best rookies when he came onto the force. That didn't change the way she bristled at his insults to her age. She knew she looked young, but she was a damn good detective and she wasn't going to be put down due to her looks. She had faced enough discrimination when she joined the force and she wasn't going to put up with the jab.
"I'm not a fucking kid and Sasha I'll pull the case and begin reviewing the evidence." Beth dropped the folder with Lizzie Samuel's confession.
Sasha gave an apologetic smile, "I appreciate you pulling it Beth."
She smiled at Sasha and nodded her head. She was going to pull those files and solve it as soon as possible to avoid having to deal with Dixon for an extended period of time. Beth left the room and paused outside of the door and she heard Dixon make a snide remark once again.
Though, this time Sasha defended her. "Sure she looks young, but she has the best record outside of Michonne for solving these kinds of cases. You would learn to hold that tongue so you don't burn bridges."
Beth was thankful for Sasha's intervention. She headed towards the locker and she followed the proper procedure for pulling old case files and evidence. The box was shockingly light. The crime was marked as 1997. Beth was surprised that the cold case box just included a few of the crime scene photos and the autopsy report and a very concise list of suspects. Beth was appalled by the lack of evidence. Though, it clicked into place when she read the husbands name. Brian Heriot, but that wasn't his name he was going by now. Now he went by Senator Phillip Blake. He took on his deceased wife's maiden name and choose his middle name to become his first name.
Beth had a gut feeling something had gone majorly wrong. She knew in 1998 is when Phillip had changed his name and began his campaign for Governor and won. Beth wondered if his campaign had allowed him to get the case swept under the rug.
She took a look at the detective's notes from the case and it all clicked into place. Captain Shumpert had the case pulled. He had been arrested a few years back in a major scandal. It had come out that Captain Shumpert had accepted hush money and made sure cases went away with the right amount on a check.
Beth was perplexed but prepared to take this head-on. She scanned a few more of the notes and began sketching out her own.
There was a coughing noise that broke her concentration. She saw Daryl standing in front of her desk.
"What can I do for you Detective Dixon?" Beth was trying to be polite even though she wasn't interested. Her last encounter hadn't left a good impression of him.
"We need you to keep us updated with the case you're workin' because we think it's tied to a current case" Daryl told her.
Beth understood where he was coming from. She knew the need to solve a case. "Got it, just write down the best contact number and we can arrange a meeting once a week to exchange notes." Beth looked back down at the notes figuring the conversation was done.
"Jus' don't fuck it up. A current case is riding on what you find kid." Daryl sneered.
She wasn't sure what she did to offend Dixon, but she couldn't wait to solve this case and make him eat his words. She watched as he wrote his number on her notepad and stood to leave.
Beth wasn't confrontational, but she couldn't help the words that bubbled up from her mouth.
"A current case might be riding on this old one, but this case deserves a closer look too. Cold cases are just as important if not more Dixon and you'll do your best to remember that."
I'm back at it again. But a huge thank you to Christy (bethgreenewarriorprincess) for taking over betaing and overall being an angel to me. Also, this one is for my baby girl Kels. I know you wanted this story and I hope it lives up to your expectations.