My alarm went off at 7am, as usual I got up and stumbled with half closed eyes to the kitchen to make myself a large cup of coffee. Leaning against the counter top I hear the coffee beans being crushed, I don't have to worry about the neighbors waking up from it because they leave before me, mostly around 6 they told me on the 5th of January 2006. As my cup is being filled with the warm liquid I turn around and wait till it's finished hmmm don't you just love the smell of fresh made coffee? I certainly do and this coffee machine is one of the best things in the world. Even though everything would do after you tried the coffee at the NYPD station, I'm glad I now work for Major crimes and they actually do have a nice working coffee machine. I take my cup and feel the warmth of the cup in my hands. My next stop will be getting the paper and a refreshing shower before I get myself to eat something. I will probably end up eating an apple or something, I've never been a breakfast person unless someone is making me a breakfast in bed of course. I blow in my cup before I put it on the counter top, time to get the paper, not only have my neighbors no problems with my coffee machine they also seem to like me enough to share their paper with me. Every morning I just have to open the door and the news paper is there waiting for me. I sit down by the table once I got the paper, I lean back to grab the cup and put it down on the table. I have exactly 8 minutes to scan the paper and finish my coffee.
7 minutes later I'm already finished with the paper, I know the headlines, the weather and I even read my horoscope. I'm not so sure if I'm happy with the last bit but if I really feel loved today it better be because of some handsome man crossing my path. I close the paper and put my coffee cup in the dishwasher. My feet lead the way to the bathroom, I turn on the shower and wait till it warms up. Like usually I decide to brush my teeth, why not spend my precious time on something that needs to be done anyway. Steam covers the glass window of the shower and I know it's ready for my appearance I smile and open the door to enjoy the warm water. It didn't took look before I realize I had to get out of the shower sooner than expected… My phone is ringing, I'm so glad I brought it with me into the bathroom, it sounds odd I know but when you get a call you just want to answer right? Opening the door from the shower I quickly dry my hands and grab my phone. Of course, who else would call at this early time, I smile and answer the phone "hey Al" I say and try not to let too much water drip on the tiles of my bathroom floor. "Carrie, you sound distracted and is that a shower running in the back ground?" I hear him ask and I can only imagine the small smile that would form on his face right now. "In matter of fact I'm still showering, I take we have a new crime scene?" I answer and shiver as the cold air touches my body, gosh I already miss my warm shower. "Alright, I'm on my way" I respond when I hear him say a street name that sounds very familiar, I've been there only 5 days ago but that didn't really catch my interest, the part where Al tells me that the body lays in an old subway tunnel is very unusual. Laying the phone away I get back under the shower to enjoy 3o more seconds of the warm rain of water.
Within 10 minutes I already close the door behind me and lock it safely from all those who would love to take a look around. I take the elevator down to the garage and sit down in my car. I turn the heating up to max realizing how fast the summer turned into fall, wind and rain cover everything in a piece of sadness. Umbrella's flying around, people wet from the rain and the traffic jam worse than ever. I could choose to drive slow and reach the crime scene in about an hour maybe two or I could turn on the serene and get there in 30 minutes? That isn't a hard question to answer and I decide to turn it on and hope people will get out of my way asap. After a few shout outs to drivers around me I think all my aggression is out for the day and I feel a smile appear on my face. Who says you have to do sports to relax? I just drive a car and after that I feel so calm and relaxed you have no idea. Parking my car on the VIP spot that some officers guided me to I get out and look around, I don't see Al anywhere, maybe he's already down there. I walk towards the entrance of the tunnels, I wonder how they found the body, he opening is probably 50 by 50 inches. "I need two officers here" I say and within no time there are two officers handing me a flashlight and help me into the opening in the street, how on earth did they get in here or worse, how are we supposed to get the body out of here. I place my feet on the stone ground after climbing down the stairs, lucky enough I see Mike walking up to me. "Carrie, there you are" I shoot him a sad smile "Traffic was terrible.. so what do we have?" Mike grabs his notebook and opens it on the page where his info stands of our victim "We got a young male victim around his 20s, two gunshot wounds to his head and Dr. Webster is still there to finds some more before they lift him out of there" He answers politely and guides me to the body.
I greet Al and Dr Webster before I stop next to the victim and kneel down. "So we got a shooter than can shoot into the dark and hit his target or someone that knew the victim" I think out loud and look up at Al. "Who found him here? Isn't it supposed to be closed down for every person, didn't they say it's dangerous out here?"I state and look back at Dr Webster who always knows anything. "Yes it is dangerous Carrie so I recommend you to put on a helmet just in case" I hear her say and raise my eyebrow. "Thanks for the advice but no thank you" I reply stubbornly and hear Al and Mike laugh in the background. "Carrie, I want you to see something else" Al says and starts walking into the direction of an old platform. We reach the platform and I take a good look around. "Weird, I thought there would be much more dust out here." I say while shining the flashlight into Al's face. He clearly doesn't like it and does the same to me and look at me with a serious pair of eyes. I lower the flashlight and smile while hearing Al says that there used to be a lot of dust but someone must have wiped it away. He points to the corner of the platform and I see a mattress, pillow and a blanket laying there. "Do you think there may have been someone during the shooting?" I ask knowing that the victim is highly unlikely to be a homeless person, his clothes were too new, hair done nicely and no beard that would indicate that he is somebody that could live on the streets or in tunnels. I would not be able to live in such a darkness, sadness and dirty surroundings. I would feel terrified of the unknown, scared of what might be down here, sad to watch my life go by without sun nor light. "Let's go back to the busy streets of New York, we have seen everything down here that we found so far" I hear Al say and I know my day has started with a new crime scene, underground, safely away from the pouring rain. That is not that bad is it? I think to myself as we make our ways out of the darkness into the light…. For now.