Double Time
The thunder rolled and lightning flashed across the New York City skyline as Michael Jameson was heading back to his apartment. He was soaked to the skin, as would any person be in these weather conditions, and was also dying to get into drier clothes, and therefore hurried.
When he got to his apartment, he fumbled for the key in his pokets with numb fingers. When he finally found it, he pulled it out and unlocked his apartment. He knew his girlfriend, Maria Smith, had a key to his apartment, but he didn't know why she would--or should--use it.
But when he opened his apartment door, he saw blood. Everywhere. And in the middle of it he saw his girlfriend. Maria Smith.
Michael Jameson pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. But his call was never finished, because once his call was dispatched, someone came from inside his apartment and shot him in the chest.
Detective Mac Taylor can notice many things before others. The first thing he noticed about this crime scene was how odd it seemed. He walked up to Danny Messer and looked over his shoulder.
"Hmm, key... no keycard. Guess it's better," he thought aloud.
"Yeah. If you want a copy of the key, just go to a locksmith and pay for one. That's that." Danny finished taking pictures and stood up. He moved to beside Mac and looked at the dead body of Michael Jameson. "You think there's any relation between the two vics?" he asked Mac.
"No, but that's just my opinion. Did anyone check for I.D.?" Mac asked. He stepped into the apartment, carefully avoiding the blood and body as he examined the female victim. "Of course I could be wrong."
"You? Wrong? Nah," Danny laughed as he started taking pictures of the victim inside the apartment. "And the male victim is Michael Jameson. Female victim is Maria Smith." A few seconds later, an officer stepped carefully into the apartment, standing beside Mac. Danny recognized him to be Don Flack, one of the main homicide detectives of the NYPD.
"No one saw or heard anything funny," he said.
"You sure?" Mac asked him. At the same time, Danny said, "Guy probably used a silencer."
"Positive." Flack turned and looked outside into the hallway. "Y'know, this may not be a hotel, but it's close enough. Top floor, room nearest the exit, rooms on only one side..."
"Murder central," Mac and Danny said together. Danny finished taking pictures and stood up to examine the crime scene.
"Hey, Danny... casing." Mac pointed it out to him and Danny picked it up with his tweezers and examined it.
"Looks like a .9 mm Glock standard issue," he said. "We can still trace it, I guess."
"We don't guess in this business, Danny." Mac walked over to the windowsill and found broken glass and blood. He took himself a picture and a swab.
"Hey Danny, I just found some reliable evidence. Broken glass and blood on the windowsill."
"I'll get a swab of my own and see." Danny got his kit and took out the phenolphthalein. He then proceeded to take a swab of the blood on the broken glass. He dropped a couple of drops of phenol on it and watched it turn red instantly. "It's definitely blood... but is it human or is it animal?" He then got out an 'animal/human blood tester' from his kit and turned the swab around inside the little circle. Instantly, the second line showed up, indicating it was indeed human. Mac watched all of this impatiently. "You could've just asked me my own personal opinion again," Mac said sarcastically. Danny grinned. "I think we have a suspect," he said.
"Take my swab back to the lab and run it through CODIS, see if you get a match," Mac told Danny.
"See ya at the lab." Danny turned and left Mac at the scene.
A few hours later, Danny chased Mac down in a hallway at the NYPD Crime Lab. "I got your results," he said happily.
"Really? Who'd CODIS pop out this time?" Mac asked.
"An Athan Jameson. Got arrested for DUI a few years back. That's the only crime he's got against him," Danny said.
"Until now. You know what he looks like, where he lives?"
"Yup. I'm about to head over there with a couple of uniforms now. Here ya go." He handed Mac a file and left. Mac opened it up and almost thought he was looking at their male victim, Michael Jameson. Then he realized that their victim must've been a twin. He called Danny.
"Danny, are you sure CODIS popped out Athan Jameson? because him and our male vic look an awful lot alike. Almost like twins."
He heard Danny sigh and say, "I'll ask him if he knew the victim in any way. Then I'll check in on the autopsies."
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Mac took a small break and ate half of his chicken salad sandwich and iced tea. When he was done, he walked into the layout room. There he found the personal belongings of Michael Jameson and Maria Smith waiting for him. He picked up Jameson's bag first and opened it. He pulled out the wallet and flipped through it to the pictures part. There was a picture of him and Smith.
"The crimes are related," Mac thought. He was wrong. But he knew that from the moment he said it. He kept flipping through the pictures.
There was another of Jameson and another man. One that looked just like him...
"Athan." Mac wasn't surprised the rest of the belonging in the bag was just clothes. That was all that was in Smith's bag, too. That and her wallet. And a receipt for a chicken salad sandwich from a Subway just a few blocks away. He opened it up and found one picture, the same one, of her and Jameson.
"They really cared about each other," Mac thought.
At that moment his cell phone chirped. It was Danny.
"We bringing Athan Jameson in now," he said.
"Why?" Mac asked alarmed.
"We smelled some strong stuff coming from inside and when we asked him about it, he tried to make a run for it. It's sweet Mary Jane, Mac. The guy has a freaking lab of his own. And he works at Subway. The one a few blocks away."
"Okay, see you in five," Mac said and hung up. He looked once more at the picture of Michael and Athan Jameson. He seriously thought that he had their killer.
"Hello, Athan," Mac said, inside an interrogation room in the NYPD.
"Who the hell are you?" was Athan's response.
Danny and Mac looked at each other, and Danny leaned over and whispered to Mac, "He's too bugged out to answer any questions, Mac."
Mac kept going. "You know, Athan, your brother was killed tonight. As well as his girlfriend."
Athan started crying. "I didn't mean to do it, man! It was a total accident! I just went over there to ask him a question and I ended up shooting him!"
"Why did you take a gun, Athan?" Mac asked. He knew that Athan was their killer, he just knew.
"To scare him. I needed money, to pay my rent, and I was just gonna ask him for that amount. It was $200 that I needed. His girlfriend was also an accident; she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time..." Athan trailed off, bloodshot eyes huge in the light.
"So you shot both of them?" Danny asked. He was speaking softly.
"Yeah. I still had my silencer on from shooting practice earlier today. And I guess I was so upset from what I did, I overdid on my junk..." He started crying again.
"Yeah." Mac motioned to the uniformed officer standing near the doorway and he came out of the shadows and cuffed Athan Jameson. He led him away, after reading him his Miranda rights. Both Mac and Danny watched the guy walk away.
"Poor kid. He didn't mean to hurt anyone." Mac turned and walked away.
Danny stayed and watched Athan until he turned the corner, then headed back into the lab.