Note: I thought for a very long time on whether or not to include the tutorial stage in this fanfic, but I ultimately decided to include it. The next two chapters will progress a little faster, and then after them, we'll really get into Criminal Case as a whole. I promise that if you stick with me, things will improve!
Jones and I had our first case quicker than we thought. He caught me as I was going down a hallway in Headquarters before I could
react.
"Marceline! Hold it!" He skidded to a stop as soon as he caught up with me. "A young woman was found dead at the entrance of town. We've been assigned the case together!"
"Wait… We're investigating a murder as my first ever case…?" I asked nervously.
"We sure are! The car's outside! I'll meet you in the lot!" With that, Jones left me there, processing all this. Murders are… intimidating. I wasn't sure if I could handle one so soon. I thought my first case would be some sort of petty drug incident. I took a deep breath, reminded myself of my training, and then followed Jones.
Jones and I stepped out of the car at the entrance of the city, right next to the 'Welcome to Grimsborough' sign. Jones immediately let out a whistle.
"At least the killer left the body in plain view," he commented. I only nodded in response. Leaning against the sign was the body of a young woman, probably in her early twenties, with long golden blonde hair. She was wearing a red dress, which was now soaked with her own blood. Her throat had been slashed, right across the carotid artery.
"I'll call an ambulance to load the body away. You look around, alright?" Jones stepped aside and pulled out his cell phone. I steeled my insides and started inspecting the crime scene. Through the grass, I spotted it immediately. It was a knife, smooth and covered in sticky crimson blood.
"Hey Jones!" I called. "I found the murder weapon!"
"Great!" he answered as he jogged over. "Well, that was easy…
"The victim's name was Rosa Wolf. Her body's going to be sent to the lab for an autopsy."
"Isn't that a little pointless with this case…?" I asked as we walked back to the car.
"Simple procedures, Marceline," Jones shrugged. "Well, you did great on your first investigation regardless!"
"Thanks, Jones," I rolled my eyes. That had been so easy that it was almost boring.
Once we got back to HQ, Jones led me to the lab on the second floor. Rosa Wolf's body was already there, hidden under a grey tarp. A man with dark skin, glasses, and a white lab coat came over to us. He wore a blue hairnet to keep his mid-length black hair from interfering with his work, and a pair of red glasses rested on his face.
Of course, Jones greeted him immediately.
"Nathan! How's it hangin'?"
"Another day, another autopsy," the person who I assumed to be Nathan answered calmly. He looked over at me and offered me a gentle smile. "You must be Marceline Marlow."
I nodded.
"Nice to meet you." I shook hands with Nathan.
"Now, about the body…" Nathan looked over at the tarp. "I studied the wound on the victim's neck and I can tell you for sure that your killer is right-handed."
"That doesn't sound too helpful…" Jones muttered.
"I do my job, you do yours." The coroner looked at me one last time. "Well, good luck on your first case, Officer." Then, he left to get back to whatever work he was up to.
Later that day, Jones and I found ourselves in an office on the top floor of HQ. My eyes were drawn to the humongous desk in the center of the room before a slightly gruff, commanding voice caught my attention. The voice belonged to a man with white hair, a moustache, and electric blue eyes.
"Officer Marlow, I'm Samuel King, the Chief Police Officer!" he introduced himself. My first impression of Chief King was that he was loud, large and in charge. I didn't want to get in his way, so I just nodded.
"Good to see you today, Chief!" Jones grinned. Chief King ignored him and turned to me.
"According to a witness, Rosa Wolf's killer wears a blue cap. Go back to the town entrance and find the evidence we're missing!" Chief King shouted at me with enough volume to silence a football stadium. Jones and I took off.
"Is he always like that?" I breathed as Jones drove us back to the city entrance.
"Pretty much, yep," came the casual reply. "But he knows his stuff! He's not Chief for nothing!" Jones added.
"Uh-huh…" I muttered. We stopped outside of a large, old home with loose brown tiles and a deer head mounted on the front of it.
"We'll check here," Jones suggested. "Rosa's body was found only a little bit down the road."
So we stepped out and split up as we looked around. There wasn't much to see, and Jones was about to head back to the car when I finally laid eyes on something interesting. It was a bundled, dirty piece of blue fabric, crumpled and hidden from view. Jones wandered over and inspected it.
"Good eye. This looks interesting… This fabric is covered in blood. We should piece it back together and see what it looks like! We'll take it back with us." And we did.
Jones said he had some paperwork to finish up, so I was left alone with the fabric. It really wasn't hard to piece back together. My hands seemed to move on their own. It was like a simple jigsaw puzzle. Once I finished, I looked down at the torn-up blue football jersey, and something caught my eye. It was a white number 9 in the very front. Hmm… It looked interesting… Jones breezed inside without knocking. Again.
"How's it going, Officer? Find anything?"
I showed him.
"Our killer's a football player who wears a number 9," I reported.
"Impressive!" Jones grinned. "That should make things easier! We'll have the thug behind bars in no time!"
"So we've got two suspects in this case," Jones prattled on as we headed towards the lineup room.
"I've got it, Jones! I went to a police academy too!" I sighed. He laughed.
"Gotta love a new officer with a sense of humor!" he chuckled. I let that slide, and we arrived. Behind the glass were two men, both of them wearing blue caps. The one on the left had shoulder-length greasy black hair, a leather jacket and a tattoo of a snake on his neck. He scowled at us as soon as we entered.
The other man was younger, possibly in his mid-twenties. His brown hair was better kept than the other's. However, a number 9 on his blue jersey blew away any and all positive thoughts I had about this man.
"The left one's name is Ash Bison. The right one's Matt Barry," Jones informed. "They're both right-handed. We checked. So, Marceline, who killed Rosa Wolf?"
Ash Bison glared at me, and Matt Barry gave a charming smile. I wasn't fooled.
"Matt did it. Matt killed her," I stated confidently. My new partner grinned.
"I thought you wouldn't be distracted by that sicko's charm!" he chuckled. "I'll handle Matt, you head back to your office and just relax, alright?"
"What about the report?" I inquired. "Won't the chief need–"
"I'll handle that, too! This is just a sort of practice case for you, Marceline. We'll ease you into this job. No worries!"
"But…" I felt myself frowning. I wanted to learn how to do my job. I didn't want to be shrugged off and treated like a child.
Jones saw my face and laughed quietly.
"We're not trying to insult you! Tell you what: for our next case, I'll tell Chief to give you equal responsibility. Is that what you want?" he asked.
I nodded. "Thank you." I curtly left. So that's the story of my first case with the Grimsborough Police Force. … It was far too boring. I should've known that it wouldn't stay that way.
