Spring Misery
Mac Taylor stepped out of his apartment building feeling miserable. He looked at the yellow pollen-covered world outside. His sinuses sure knew where all the pollen was and so did his throat and eyes. It was still early in the spring but there had not been much of a winter and now the pollen was so thick, it looked like a haze in the city. Mac sighed as he trudged out to the Avalanche which did not even look black this morning. It was a dull yellow color. He had always liked the spring but he did not like the pollen that came with it especially when he had to go out to a crime scene which was down at the harbor.
As Mac was driving, he groaned as he saw the pollen even blowing across the street. His sinuses felt like they were almost twice as big as his head and they were just crammed inside his skull and trying to burst their way out. He could not take any allergy medicine today because he had to work and that stuff always made him feel worse and sleepy even when he took the non-drowsy kind. He was going to take two days off after today to get started on some allergy medicine so he could get used to it and it would not affect him so much.
Mac arrived at the crime scene to find a group of reporters standing at the crime scene tape. He got his forensics kit and headed that way. Of course, the reporters knew he had arrived so they wanted to ask him all kinds of questions before he even saw the body. "I don't know anything yet," he said. "I have not even seen the crime scene yet."
Mac went on over to where Don Flack was waiting and holding a handkerchief over his nose and mouth. "Morning," he said, his voice muffled.
"Morning," Mac replied. "Pollen getting to you too?"
"Oh, you know it. I have not had such a miserable allergy in years."
"Me neither." Mac felt a sneeze coming on and he felt like his eyes were pouring water all the time, but as he looked around, he thought everyone else looked like they were having the same problem because they were all holding a tissue or wearing a mask.
Mac grabbed his handkerchief and sneezed twice. He looked at Don. "I hope this doesn't get any worse," he said.
"If it does, I am going to have to take some time off," Don replied.
"So, what have we got?"
"A male victim, forty-three years old, New York address. He looks pretty banged up. I don't think he was killed here but I guess that is for you to decide."
"What makes you think he was not killed here?" Mac asked.
"Well, he's dressed in pajamas."
Mac scowled and looked toward the victim. There was a man lying on his back wearing blue and white striped pajamas. He had on no shoes and from the position of his legs, Mac thought they both looked broken. He looked at Don. "What's the victim's name?" he asked.
"Archie Woods," Don said. "He's a real estate broker and I found out that he has been missing for almost two weeks."
"Any ideas where he has been?"
"I haven't gotten that deep into it yet."
"Let me know what you find out. Who found this body?"
Don pointed to a man standing beside the rail of the boardwalk. "He says he came down here to fish and he found this guy lying here between these garbage cans. Says he didn't see anyone or anything."
Mac took pictures of the body and the crime scene. Then he squatted beside the body. "His legs are definitely broken," he said. He took more pictures of the legs. "A lot of contusions."
Just then, Danny arrived. "I'm here," he said. He walked over to the body. "What have we got?"
"A guy who looks like he's been tortured," Mac said as he was looking at the victim's hands. "Looks like he has several broken fingers."
Danny was looking at the guy's legs. "Wow, what happened to this guy," he wondered out loud.
"I don't know but it doesn't look like something that should happen to someone wearing pajamas."
Danny scowled. "That's right," he agreed. He looked at Mac. "You think this guy was tortured in a bed or something?"
"He was tortured somewhere or he was in an accident."
"Maybe he went out to get the paper or mail in his pajamas and got hit by a car."
"And got thrown here?"
"Maybe the person panicked and brought him here."
Mac considered that. "Why? That doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe the person was an ex-con or maybe they were texting while driving."
"That's not as bad as what it will be now."
Mac turned the body on its side and looked. "There are no gunshot wounds or stab wounds," he said. "It looks like he was tortured to death."
"Question is: by whom?"
Mac and Danny searched more of the crime scene area but did not find any more evidence. "So, now we have a guy who's been tortured to death by some unknown person," Danny said.
"He has been missing for almost two weeks," Mac said. "He was on the missing person's list. He's a real estate broker."
"You think maybe someone who was renting one of his properties kidnapped him?"
"We've got a lot of work to do."
Mac talked to the man who found the body but he had not seen anyone around. Mac and Danny went back to the lab. Danny went to work on what evidence they had while Mac went into the missing person's database. He found that the victim had disappeared while he was going out to check out a problem with a house he was renting to someone. The person whose house he was supposed to work on said that he had never arrived and there was no sign that he had ever arrived. No one in the area had seen him. Mac thought that was strange. No one just drops off the face of the earth and then suddenly shows up tortured to death. Mac was beginning to think this had been planned and carried out without error but he would find out who did it.
Danny came into the office after he got done with some of the evidence. "No prints on the wallet or anything except the victim's prints," he said. "We just got the pajamas from the morgue. Lindsey is going over them now."
Mac leaned back in his chair and thought. "Where has this guy been all this time?" he wondered out loud.
"Maybe Sid can shed some light on that."
Mac looked at his watch. "We'll give him a little more time," he said.
"I'll help Lindsey."
Mac grabbed a tissue as he sneezed again. He rubbed his head. This was going to be a difficult case if for no other reason, because of this allergy he had. He took some aspirin to help until he could take something else. He hoped he could get this case solved soon so he could take his two days. He had been planning to start those two days tomorrow but now that he had a new case, he would have to get it solved before he could take any days.
When Mac and Danny walked out of the elevator at the morgue, Sid was finished with the autopsy. "Morning," Sid said.
"Morning," Mac said as he was wiping his nose again.
"Allergies getting to you?"
"They sure are. What have you got, Sid?"
"Well, your victim was definitely tortured," Sid said as he walked over to the body. He held up x-rays. "Both his legs are broken, the right arm, seven of his fingers, all of his toes and four ribs."
Mac and Danny stared at the x-rays. "This guy endured all this?" Danny asked.
"What was the cause of death?" Mac asked.
"One of the broken ribs punctured a lung," Sid said. "The poor guy drowned in his own blood."
Mac frowned as he looked at the x-rays and the autopsy report. "So, he 'was' basically tortured to death."
"I have no doubt that these injuries were intentional." Sid pointed to the x-rays. "If you look closely at the x-ray of the broken toes and feet, you can see that it's almost like a crush injury and also the broken fingers are like they were just snapped."
Mac swallowed hard. He had seen people who had been tortured before. "Thanks, Sid," he said.
Mac and Danny went back to the lab. "Wow, that was some horrible experience," Danny said.
"Looks like a crime of hate," Mac said. "Why does anyone do something like that?"
"Could be a crime of passion too."
"Jealousy?"
"Either of those things."
Mac thought a moment. "We have to figure out who had something against this guy," he said. "He was a real estate broker. Who would have something against him?"
Danny considered that. "Maybe he cheated someone or raised someone's rent."
"And they would go to all those lengths for it?" Mac shook his head. "No, it must be something deeper than that."
"Maybe a jealous wife or girlfriend?"
Mac looked at the report. "Doesn't say he was married…divorced though. Maybe that is something to do with it."
"So, we have to track down his ex-wife, people who work in his company and the people who rented from him."
"Yes. And I want to know who's been running that company while he was away too."
"Right. Someone has to be taking charge."
"I think we have a lot of suspects."