Paving Dirt Roads
5.23.2013
Summary: What do you get when you have this mix: A Curse, not-so-typical cop story, set in dual locations and ensuing romance? This story!
AN: This story is going to read as a TV series.
AN2: Serena's rankings are going to be American and some might be in British. Not telling which are which at the moment.
Episode 0
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"Congratulations Detective, you've been promoted." A hand slapped onto her her shoulder like a child's toy and Serena's head turned towards her captain.
"Promoted?" She asked trying to make sense of it. "I've only been with this division now for six months."
"And in that six months you've shown exemplary capabilities. Your record at tracking down the criminals you've been assigned have been staggering. I don't think we've seen your record for closing cases in a long time and definitely not in the short time frame."
She was kicking herself for overdoing her job. She had set the bar too high and now it was going to do all the kicking she wanted for her. "Well thank you boss, I wasn't expecting a promotion."
"You'll start D2 on Monday, why don't you finish up with the cases you can and make it easier for your replacement to try and fill your shoes." The man laughed. "Though I think it will be very hard for whoever comes next."
"Will do." He made to leave but she turned and raised her voice just slightly. "Sir? What department are you moving me to?" Please be narcotics, please be narcotics, please be-
"Homicide." When she paled slightly he laughed. "Would you rather I put you on cold cases? You'll have to earn your way up to that one. Or rather down, I suppose. Either way you need to spend a year on fresh homicide cases before you can move departments. It was the only opening I had and you'll fit in perfectly. They're all a bit... different, like you."
Nobody was different like she was but she gave a short nod. "All right sir. Thank you sir." She would somehow find the ability to survive a year in homicide.
Serena turned back to the caseload on her desk. Currently she was filling in with follow up traffic accidents. She didn't mind it, it was usually cut and dry. There were occasions where there was something going on beyond what was said but most of the time it was unraveling who was to blame for the accident and she usually didn't have to dig too deep. She was really only put on the case when the accident resulted in serious injury or death.
She had wanted narcotics because she would prefer to take the slow path for once. Just because they knew who did what when didn't mean they could move right away. They had to figure out a way to go up the ladder towards the ones pulling the strings. That was interesting. That made her use her mind for something more than what she was doing now.
The last case required her to just sign some paperwork when one of the officers brought her the report. It seemed legit and after looking through the information all of it was there and clear cut. Technology made a lot of this moot anyway.
Serena flipped open her newest case file to land on her desk and she scanned the report. Something here didn't add up and she'd have to go investigate further. She knew she should probably just make a note and move on to her other cases but this one had her lifting up the phone to call down to the junior officer for further details.
The answers she got didn't please her and she pushed away from her desk. She'd have to go first to the scene of the crime and then she'd be knocking on the doors of those involved, maybe even get some witness testimony. She stuck her head in to her boss's office. "I'm tracking down some loose ends. I'll be out for a few hours."
"Bring an officer with you." He held up a finger before she could move away and just pick one up from downstairs. They usually took out fifth year officers as backup unless they knew what kind of situation they were heading into. "Better yet, take Kyle with you. He's getting promoted into your position, better he learns the ropes from the best."
"Sir." She gave a short nod and found the detective in training. He'd passed his exams but he was still waiting back for his interview results. Serena now knew but couldn't say anything. She had to make it seem like she was doing him a favor so if he didn't pass this time he could the next go around. "Officer Ramsey, you'll be with me today."
He pushed to his feet. He was talking with one of the other detectives looking for details about one of their cases and how they were going to handle the special situation. "Sounds good Detective." He turned to the man still working. "Thank you for your insight."
"No problem. Oh, Detective Williams, I hear congratulations will be in order soon."
"I haven't the foggiest clue what you're talking about." Serena played dumb, but she had only found out herself not too long ago. Guess gossip got around quick.
"Right. Anyway don't let it go to your head. You'll probably be stuck in D2 for a long time. That's where most people end up stalling."
"I am not too worried about that. My interest lies in being a good cop, not upward mobility."
He leaned back in his seat as Kyle stood to stand by her side, waiting to go. "Still homicide is a pretty impressive gig to fall into. I hope you don't burn out within the first few weeks."
Homicide, along with narcotics were the golden fields most officers strive to find themselves in. Most stalled in that position as the other detective said, some purposely stuck with it while others continued to grasp at the next wrung in the ladder. She'd be one of the first to fulfill her roster and then transfer to something tamer. She still needed to complete that first year though and she hadn't even started yet. She tilted her head forward. "If you want it, you'll have to earn it. Good thing you'll have another year before you can apply for it. Ramsey, lets go."
The two of them headed out and drove to the intersection just inside their district. She parked and got out of the car. Kyle was a little slower and had to run to catch up to her. "What are we looking for?"
"Street light distances."
"Why?" Kyle had read the report on the way over but he hadn't caught the issues that Serena had. She didn't answer at first, just looking and counting the seconds between each.
"Just go and check the ones across the street to see if their bulbs are intact. I might have to come here again tonight to see if they all work but you might be able to see how old they are due to their clarity."
She did another sweep of the area and then closed her eyes, trying to imagine what the scene had looked like. She didn't have all the information she needed but there was a small amount that she could at least lay the ground work. She heard very little traffic now and knew at night there would be even less. It wasn't a very busy part of the city, in fact except for the nine and five hours this area was pointless to drive through. So what had two vehicles been doing in this area at the same time?
When she opened her eyes all the traffic and people that were currently there disappeared to be replaced with empty streets. The vehicles at the scene of the accident dropped down into place. A fiat was in the right lane nearing the intersection when a white van crashed into its side. Original reports said that the van turning left probably thought that the lane was empty. Being so late and so quiet.
The man going through the intersection had said that they saw the van but it had been waiting to turn until they passed.
Routine. Yet it didn't sit right with Serena. The way the van had crushed into the car's side wouldn't leave her. There was very little reason for the van not to see the car by the time those two moved into position. Yes the fiat was small but it wasn't invisible. Not in the way the crash happened at least. Definitely was shady when the van just backed up and went around the fiat, fleeing the scene.
"Lights look relatively new." Kyle announced as he jogged back over to her side, his voice dispersed the images Serena was seeing, making her lose her concentration. But it was enough, she'd seen what she needed to for now. "They don't look brand new though. Want me to go talk to witnesses that might be regular to this corner?"
"You won't find any. Come on." She walked back to her car and slid into the driver's seat and drove further down the road. She cut across when the traffic was clear and then clocked her time in how long it would take going the speed limit from where she had turned around to the intersection. Then she went back again and took a long way around the block, at speed, and pulled back onto the road going the opposite direction. She was frowning as the times almost lined up. Depending how long before they had headed into a parallel road and then if they'd gone faster they might have been able to go one road further and then swing back around to wait for the car to cross their path.
That would mean the van intentionally hit the fiat. That would mean they had known where the fiat was coming from and where it was going and knew the best place to ambush the car.
"What are we doing?" Kyle was surprisingly patient but Serena ignored him. It was time to go visit the victim and question whether or not they had any enemies. Serena hoped for their sake that they didn't. The man's accident might be the first thing to happen if that were the case and there might be more coming their way if demands weren't met.
She drove all the way from the Quarter to River Ridge. All the tree lined homes were grand and spacious. She pulled up to the one her gps told her to and she would have never guessed this was the home the Fiat owners had lived in. It was a bit more upscale than their neighbors in this particular area. "Green-snobs." Kyle muttered before Serena got out of the car to greet the man and woman who were making their way out of the house.
Serena might have agreed with them if she wasn't already focused on something else. "Mr. and Mrs. Tansandri?"
"Yes." The man came forward in front of his wife.
"We're with the NOPD." Serena flipped out her credentials. "We'd like to ask you a few follow up questions."
The suburbs bothered her. Everything was a front and not all of the ones living here agreed with it but were still stuck with the layout. It was the most creative-sucking thing in the universe, living in the nearly identical land as their neighbors. Each with their 1.5 trees in the front yard. She'd take the country any day over this. Only a few brash enough or with enough money split away from the mold, only to be copied and spiraled into the same pattern again. Where was the unique individuality?
"Of course detective." The man was saying holding out his hand to be shook but Serena ignored it and walked towards the garage. He turned and followed her with his eyes. "Would you like to go inside?"
"Go on ahead, Officer Ramsey will be with you. If you wouldn't mind, may I look at the car involved in the accident?"
The couple shared a look. "You may but we've gotten the all clear from someone else in your office saying that they had enough pictures and we could get the repairs done. You won't see the damage anymore." It was the woman's turn to talk.
"That's fine, I won't take long." The man let her in through one of those side garage doors and waited at it while she walked in. "I'll meet you inside. I'll even lock up for you if you're worried about it." Serena turned and wanted the man to leave so she could do her thing in peace.
"Oh, it's fine." He held up his hands in peace. "I'll be inside. Take all the time you need." He backed out and closed the door for her. Serena turned her back on the man and faced the car instead.
The side was smooth and perfectly finished. She ran her hand along the repaired surface allowing her thoughts to drift and re-imagine the impact again and again. Letting her thoughts go back further. Where had this car been before?
Her eyes fluttered quickly as she looked back. Then she pushed herself to her feet having an idea of where to go next. She went into the house and found Kyle scrambling to find questions to ask the couple. "What color was the car that hit you?"
"It was a white van." The man corrected.
"Had you seen this van earlier in the day?"
The husband and wife shared a look and Serena lifted a brow, waiting for their answer. "I don't believe so. But it doesn't mean its not possible. Why? Do you believe it followed us?"
"I want to know what you were doing in the warehouse section of the Quarter that late at night." Serena sat down and leaned her weight onto her elbows. "If the van was following you, there has to be a reason."
"Maybe it was a gang initiation."
"I highly doubt that." Kyle's voice had their eyes shifting in his direction. "They'd use black vehicles, easier to slip into the night with. They also have no reason to be in that area either. Nobody lives near enough to want to buy from there without it being incredibly obvious."
Serena gave a slight incline of her head, he was right. "If he followed me-" The man started again but Serena shook her head. "I'm not sure what the reason could be. It's possible he did."
"You sure it was a man?"
"Of course." The man suddenly sat up straighter as he filtered her words another way. "Think I'm having an affair? I'm not-"
"I'm not, but it does lower the suspect pool by fifty percent." Serena waited for the man to cool off. "Any of your friends own a white van?"
"No- right honey?" He turned his attention to his quiet wife.
"I mean there's several white vans out there now. White's the season's hottest color. The Shanigans just bought a white SUV-mini and a white car."
"Any trouble at work?" Kyle asked, directing the attention elsewhere.
"No." The wife shook her head. "Nothing."
"What is it the both of you do?" Serena lowered her hands to her knees.
"Well Tom's a banker and I work in a genetics research lab."
Serena could see Kyle's attention perk up at that announcement. Only time would tell if he was interested in the man or woman's job choices. "Any family members that are jealous of your success?"
A frown crossed the man's face and her question had them both thinking about it. "I don't believe so. None of them own a white vehicle of any sort."
Serena nodded and then stood up. "Thank you, you've been very helpful. We'll contact you if we find the culprit."
Kyle jumped to his feet as Serena was already half way out the door. "Yeah. Thanks." He shook their hands and ran to catch up with Serena, at the door and opening it. He didn't say anything on the walk to the car, the couple stood watching them leave. Inside the car and on the road again was different though. "We're already leaving? Don't we have more questions?"
"Why waste their time? We already have as much as we need from them. Why have we taken this road trip? What have you learned or put together?"
"That the lights were properly spaced in the accident zone and all were working at the time." He continued not waiting for her affirmative, that much was obvious. "The man was alone in the car but when the hit and run happened the people didn't stop long enough to steal anything, so it was more of a scare tactic than anything else."
Serena's eyes darted over to him. "So not just a hit an run?"
"Your little trip around the block made that much obvious." Kyle's tone turned dry. "I'm a little unsure though why you had to see the car alone."
"I wanted to check something out. Don't worry about that so much." Serena waved him on to continue.
Kyle nodded. "Think it has something to do with the man's job?"
"No." Serena turned off on their way back and headed down a different road than what would bring them back to the precinct.
"The woman's then." Kyle gave another nod. "So it was intended to scare the woman into thinking her family isn't safe. That makes sense, why harm the one that you want to do something for you when you can go after the people they care about."
"Right, so solutions?"
"Go to the workpla-" He glanced up when she suddenly pulled into a parking spot and sure enough, they were already there. "I can see why you've been promoted."
Serena grinned at him as she released her seat-belt. "Officer, you've seen nothing." She got out of the car and walked away from the building and further into the parking lot.
Kyle found himself jogging to catch up with her again. "Where are we going? The office is-" Again his voice died off as she stopped next to a white van. There was red paint at the front of it, small enough that it wouldn't be noticed by anyone that wasn't looking for it. "An office feud?"
"I think that whatever is being worked on in there is very important." Serena had proof, now she needed the reason. This part of the job made her happy. It was something she couldn't just guess at, she had to actually reason it out and get a confession.
"I'll run the registration." Kyle wrote down the plates and headed back towards her car to radio it in. "I'm surprised they kept the car in plain sight."
Serena ran the back of her thumb nail against her eyebrow and looked at him slightly bored. "Why? They were hiding the fact that they were behind it. It didn't matter. The message had been clear."
"They had to know an officer would be looking into it."
Serena shook her head. If another detective had been on the case they might have just signed off on the hit and run. It was common place enough. She just didn't buy the story. She lead the way into the building and flashed her id when they met with a secretary. "Genetic Engineering."
"Fifth floor." The secretary didn't even bother to slow them down, probably used to police coming in and out all the time.
When they got up to the floor they were met by another secretary and a security agent at the door. "We're looking for a Mr. Tantanini."
"He's in room 503." The secretary responded then waved at the security guard to let them through. The guard followed them into the room and the man looked up with some surprise at the intrusion.
"I didn't think you'd be coming here." Mr. Tantanini admitted without prompting.
"Probably thought that nobody would talk." Serena hitched a hip on her end of the desk. "Are you going to come with us willingly?"
"Yes. Let me phone my lawyer real quick."
"We'll do that for you." She gestured with two of her fingers for Kyle to go around to arrest the man. He stood up with his hands in the air and Kyle slid the cuffs onto one wrist before moving it behind the man's back and latching it onto his other hand. He gave the man a quick pat down and then they were going out again. Kyle read him his rights as they rode down in the elevator.
"Who told?" Mr. Tantanini asked once he was seated in the back of the car.
"Your van." Serena said and glanced at him through the rear-view mirror. "No need in having anyone destroy it. We've already towed it and took several pictures. We have ample evidence of your intentions. All that remains is your signed confession and we won't have to drag you through court and you won't have to pay hefty lawyer fees, for this at least. I have a feeling you'll be putting that money to use elsewhere."
"Why'd you do it?" Kyle asked, clearly not seeing the point yet.
The man settled back into his seat and sighed, knowing it was pointless and he'd get better treatment with cooperation. "The treatment we had developed for childhood acne resulted in unforeseen complications."
"Such as?" Kyle prompted, truly curious about all of this genetic stuff. Serena noted this in her mind's catalog of information, he'd be good in something that worked closely with MEs or the private sector, anything that might have common run-ins with science.
"Well... those children grow up and have children of their own."
"Those children have double time acne?" Kyle sounded disappointed.
"Oh nothing as base as that Officer Ramsey." Serena teased. "I have a feeling the results are going to be far more profound to get a coverup with such forethought."
"The lady-detective is right." Serena hated whenever people added lady or madam to a title, they still had the same occupancy, and were still the boss. Unless it was a specific address. She wouldn't want to be called Mr. President, but that was different than talking about her. The Madam President was a redundancy, she was still the President, the first made her sound like a spouse. Even in this day and age though people tried putting females into their perceived spots, below the males. She had to fight to be treated with respect when her skills should have spoken for themselves. Nobody, male or female, were able to do what she could. She was an individual. She ignored most of it, biding her time when she could rub their disbelieving faces in it, always subtly of course, as they were also so subtle about putting her down.
"So what is it?" Kyle pressed. "What happen to those children?"
"They grow something that was previously discarded in our hereditary evolution. The children have tails Mr. Ramsey."
Serena smirked as Kyle's face expressed his disbelief and how the man in the back seat was determined to insult all of them today, despite his appearance of cooperating. "You're kidding!" Kyle exclaimed and turned to look to see if the man was silently laughing at him. The man wasn't. "No way."
"Can you see now why I went to extreme measures to make sure my employees didn't talk? With the low number of patients it couldn't be traced back to me."
"You could have hurt someone Mr. Tantanini." Serena chided. "That was very foolish of you."
"There were no cameras in the area. I felt reasonably sure that my message would get across and I wouldn't have to resort to anything more drastic." He gave a small snort. "My own car giving me away! But surely someone had turned you onto me."
"You did." Serena gave him that information. "You did a swing around and there was absolutely no reason for you to be waiting there for him unless you had known it would be deserted at that time and laid in wait. From there it only took a little digging, anyone they knew with a white van was likely to harm them. Since no family, friends or neighbors had one, it had to be someone they worked with."
The man nodded and closed his eyes. "I'll be out again in two years. In the meantime it'll be minimum security prison and the people in there will give me great connections. I'm not to worried. I'll be out earlier on good behavior."
Serena had to admit that it was probably true. Nobody spoke for the rest of the ride to the precinct. They booked and processed him and then she and Kyle called for lunch. "You did a good job today officer. Some day you'll make a decent detective."
"Thanks for the shining compliment." He responded dryly but she was only teasing, he'd be fine, and fairly soon he would be one. She just didn't want to give it away. "There's something I was wondering about." Kyle put his sandwich down. "Why did you check out the car?"
Serena could give him several answers but she only shrugged and took another bite. He was still waiting for her response by the time she swallowed. "See if I couldn't find any more evidence the photographs missed. There's several reasons to repair your car right away and one might be to hide the evidence if you know the person who hit you. Of course their reason held strong too, they probably didn't want to drive around town with a dent or it could have impeded their use of it too. The van couldn't have hit him too hard though, any harder and it would have spun the car or crushed the man inside. I wanted to get a feel for it myself."
Kyle nodded then took up his sandwich again. "Any other cases I should be on the look out for?" His eyes flickered to the stack she still needed to go through.
"The next detective will handle those." Serena pulled a few from the top. "But you can give me your thoughts in the meantime. I think I'll have you shadow me for the next few days, so you can help the detective out when he or she comes into position. Help make the transition smoother."
Kyle gave her a smile that would serve him well as a detective, it told her that he saw right through her and knew the truth. She gave him a wink in response.
EAN: No, Darien's not driving a Fiat or a white van. He's not even in this chapter. I know. I know. Sad day. He won't be in the next one either, I believe. Well I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. It was just a feet wetter, not a really major case. Next chapter she'll be a D2 and will have been for a few months. (P.S. Just so we're clear, yes, Kyle is Kunzite. No, he's not really a major character, he's just good at his job, as well, and kind of smart).
EAN2: Just so we're clear on one thing in particular, the 'cases' that happen throughout this story aren't real or even intended to be good. A lot of crimes that happen are pretty cut and dry or have really stupid motives or are just accidents, etc. This story isn't going to go away from reality in quite that way for the most part. The rest of this story will. It's not about the cases in general, its about the rest of the story. So its completely a step away from crime dramas on TV and more like Sailor Moon really is. The youma of the week were just distractions and didn't really lead to a point other than just being there and energy gathering. The point was all off screen or the interactions between the characters and how they dealt with the problems. Hope we're all good and I don't get reviews about that in particular. The rest of your feedback is welcomed!