Code 187: A Dragnet Story: All rights to the characters and background of Dragnet is the property of it creators. Story: The story is set in 1951. Friday and Romero investigate a homicide at a church. Rated T for violence.
In was Monday October, 29th. It was raining in Los Angeles; we were working the night shift out of Homicide division. In the Los Angeles police department, the detectives in the Homicide division work in pairs. My partner is Sgt. Ben Romero; the boss is Ed Baxter, the Chief of Detectives, my name's Friday
It had been a quiet shift so far, Ben and I had been finishing up paperwork. Ben was just finishing up the last of the reports. "So Joe, what are your plans this weekend?"
I shrugged. "Don't know yet? I may take in a movie with Mom."
Ben smiled "Why don't you and your mom stop by the house. The wife would love to see the two of you."
I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess, you have someone that you would like to meet?"
Laughing, Ben admitted "Yeah, the wife's cousin is in town. She a college girl from Portland, and the wife was hoping to set you two up."
"What is it about an unmarried man that says, let's set him up with a date?" I asked. But the conversation never got any further when the phone rang. The Chief picked up;
"Homicide, Baxter." The chief wrote down information. "Right, I'll send a team." He hung up.
"Friday, you and Romero head for 21st and Front St. St. Mark's church." He handed me the information that he had copied down.
We headed for the car. Ben asked "What do we have Joe?"
"The call from the church was from the night janitor, he said that he had found a body nailed to the cross."
1:54 am. Because of the weather it took us 20 minutes to reach St. Mark's church. There was a squad car and the coroner was already there.
Officer Tom Williams walked over. "Hi, fellows." He said. Pointing toward the inside. "This is an ugly one."
"Do we have an ID on the victim?" Romero asked.
"Yeah, victims name is Grady Smith 45, lived in San Diego. Apparently he was Navy worked out of the weapons testing center. Wallet was on the floor, had cash and his ID."
"So we can rule out robbery as a motive so far." I said.
"Looks that way." Williams replied.
Ben and I walked into the church. The huge cross that Smith had been nailed to had been taken down, as the coroner and ambulance attendances tried to remove him. The expression on the victim's face said it all. He had spent his last moments alive in complete agony.
"Let's take a look around, Ben." I said. We went into the church, and started to look around. There didn't seem to be anything that was out of place. Then, Ben called to me. "Come here Joe." He called. It was a briefcase that had been opened. The papers that had been in it had been smeared with blood. "This must have been what it was about." I said.
We took the briefcase and finished looking around. There did not seem to be much at first glance, but in this business sometimes first looks can be deceiving.
Ben calls to me; "Joe have a look." He was holding up a bloody hammer. "My best guess this is what he used to nail him to the cross."
"This had to be real personal, Ben." I walked back to the front of the church. "Whoever did this was sending a message, not just killing a man." Ben and I walked back outside. Officer Williams was interrogating the janitor who had found the body. "Now Mr. Colf did you see anything when you came to work this evening?"
The janitor, Jeffery Colf shook his head. "No sir. I walked in through the side door, just like I always do. Got my cleaning equipment together and started up front. I switched on the lights, and there that poor soul was hanging on the cross."
It was my turn to ask a question. "I'm Sgt. Friday; did you notice anything or anyone around the church on your way into the church?"
Colf thought for a moment "There was a truck parked down the street when I pulled up."
Ben spoke up "Did you notice the type of truck it was?"
"It looked like an old army truck; you know the old 2 ½ ton jobs. There was a guy sitting in the cab, but other then that I didn't notice much about it."
"Thanks Mr. Colf, you've been a big help." I told him as Williams sent him on his way. I thought to myself. An old army truck was a guy sitting in it, a briefcase with bloody papers, and a bloody hammer. Not a lot to go on. But better then nothing. The rain kept coming down, as Ben walked over.
"Not much we can do here for now Joe."
"Yeah, Let get back to the office with this evidence. Maybe we can find out what got Mr. Smith nailed."
End of Part 1: