Chapter Two: All That's Left
It amused Levi to watch Eren out of the corner of his eye. His body rigid, sitting on the edge of his seat, completely erect, staring straight ahead and avoiding Levi's gaze at all costs. He wasn't sure if it was due to the fright he had given him in the elevator, or the nerves of visiting his first crime scene. Likely a combination of the two. All he knew was that toying with this newbie was going to be fun, even if this case turned out to be a complete and utter bust.
"You're getting me a new coffee, Newbie," Levi growled as drove out of the precinct parking lot, letting the car shift easily into second gear as he released the clutch. "You got cash?"
"Um.. yes! Sorry sir!" Eren turned beet red, obviously remembering the incident from a few hours earlier, and only just now realizing that the person who's coffee he had knocked over had been Levi.
Levi drove the car down the street to the nearest Starbucks, which was usually crowded with detectives and police officers due to it's vicinity to the precinct. He steered the car to the drive through and rolled down the tinted window on the driver's side just as he rolled up beside the intercom.
"Hello! Welcome to Starbucks! What can I get for you?" said a too cheery voice on the other end.
"Yeah, I'll have a grande half sweet latte," he said to the intercom, then turned to Eren. "What about you, newbie?"
"Umm..."
"Make it snappy, Susan!" Levi barked.
"A mocha," Eren blurted out.
"And a mocha for the princess. Make sure you add extra whip!" Levi said, turning back to the intercom. Eren half looked like he was going to interject, but clamped his mouth shut almost right away.
"A half sweet latte and a mocha extra whip?"
"That's right,"
"I'll see you at the next window,"
Levi threw the car back into first gear, and pulled around to the window where the girl with heavy make up, wearing a black t shirt, a green apron, and a fake smile handed them their coffees. Eren passed her a twenty dollar bill, trying to lean across Levi careful not to make any contact with any part of Levi's person.
"What's the matter, Newbie?" he whispered, "I don't bite. Hard." Eren blushed, but continued to focus on the task at had, but leaned in a little closer so he didn't look so awkward. The closer he got, the more the air around Levi changed. Instead of the usual smell of leather and cigarettes, his nostrils were filled with the scent coming off Eren's skin. Now that he was closer, he could smell the faith traces of the leather jacket Eren wore, and home brewed coffee. Even the musky smell of the day seemed to be settling on his skin, and yet Levi found that smelt good. It had Levi's head swimming. It was a smell that reminded him of things he could never have, yet craved more than anything.
It wasn't like how Erwin smelled. He just smelt of gun powered and strong, expensive aftershave. While that was a scent that sent him to different places, this was gentle and calming. It was... homely. Levi bit the inside of his cheek to distract himself from the scent. The girl handed Eren his change, and Eren relaxed back into his seat. Immediately the air cleared and Levi was able to take the coffee cup and tuck it into the cup holder by his right hand.
What had just happened to him?
Instead of caring, he threw the car into first gear and drove away from the Starbucks and back onto the street towards the crime scene.
It had been a few days since the last time he'd been laid. Eren's closeness must have reminded him of that. Most people didn't get that close. Most people knew better.
...
Levi parked two blocks from the apartment building where the crime scene was. Ignoring Eren's confused glances as he drove passed the horde of police cruisers, lights flashing red and blue on the street outside a twelve story apartment building laced with scaffolding. This was the most important part to a case, the walk up to the crime scene. He found that parking right out front never gave him the context he needed to understand everything. It helped him put the crime scene into a frame of reference. It helped him scope out possible locations of entry and exit where witnesses might not see. It helped him understand what the murder was looking at as far obstacles.
Parking the car, he slid out of the driver's seat, his half finished latte in one hand, and the other sliding his dark sunglasses up on top of his head. He knew the part of town they were in. It wasn't the most upscale, but neither was it in a bad part of town. He had to have a pretty decent salary to be living here, or he had to be sharing the rent with another person. It was likely that both people had well paying jobs.
The buildings were mostly older. Late 60s at the earliest, with rickety fire escapes and dark back alleys. Likely the murder could have hidden in one of the alleys. If he was skilled, he would have melted into the shadows that were cast on the narrow gaps between the brick buildings even in the bright cool light of the mid January morning sun. The murder could have scaled the fire escape to the window of his target, bypassing any door men or security cameras that might be in the lobbies of any of these apartment buildings.
He noted a number of faces peering down at the street that they walked along from the windows of the lining apartment building. Good. He thought, With nosy neighbors like this, someone might have seen something. He knew it was a long shot. Most of the time people kept to themselves, not making note of a stranger walking down the street in the middle of the night unless they are making a commotion. But with a low traffic street such as this, the likelihood of something out of the ordinary being noticed was higher than on a busier street in a worse part of town.
When he reached the front door of the apartment building, he noted three cameras, and a door man. If his murder was smart, he was willing to bet that the fire escape had been the mode of entry. The elevator, and the stair well were similarly equipped with security cameras, making it even less likely that a smart murder would have used either to reach the victim.
Levi climbed the stairs to the third floor where 20 odd individuals milled around with notebooks and cameras and a whole other assortment of equipment for specimen taking. A couple of the CSU guys waved or nodded in greeting, some shot bewildered glances at the young detective on Levi's heels. Eren was drinking in the crime scene in silence, trying not to let his shock show in his large green eyes.
"What have we got here?" Levi asked the detective walking towards him. Gunter had been with the force just over five years now and had worked with Levi on a few cases with him now.
"26 year old Caucasian male found at 0900 this morning by the Land Lady," Gunter paused and pointed at a woman who was sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket speaking quietly to Gunter's partner, Erd. "Looks like our perp came in through the window, the latch was broken. We've ID the vic as Marco Bodt." Levi nodded, scanning the apartment. From the door way, he could see tables and bookshelves over turned. It looked like someone was trying to get out of the apartment fast, like someone was trying to escape and was pushing obstacles into the path of their pursuant. There was blood smear on the over turned tables, a trail of blood leading down the hall and out the door.
Who was bleeding?
Who was being pursued?
Why?
"Alright. I want you to get uniforms to canvas the area. Go door to door to all the surrounding apartments. Find out if anyone saw anything weird last night, and get CSU to make sure they get these blood samples and send them to the lab." Levi told Gunter, his eyes flickering from one over turned table to another, looking for anything, a scrap of fabric, and hair fiber, anything.
Levi made his way into the apartment as Gunter moved away to talk to another police officer. He turned the corner and the full crime scene came into view. He heard Eren take in a sharp breath as his eyes fell on the destruction before him.
Levi had rarely seen anything quite as gruesome as what was before him right now. The entire linoleum floor of the kitchen was covered with fragments of shattered glass. Blood was smeared across the counter tops. The butcher block on the counter had toppled over, knives scattered across the counter. The fridge hung open, the food inside had either fallen on the floor amid the glass or had toppled over inside the refrigerator. Then he saw Hanji hunched over the body. She looked up at the sound of the glass crunching under Levi's boots. She smiled, pushing up her glasses with the back of her gloved hand.
"Yo! Levi!" she said. "Who's the kid?"
"Some newbie that Erwin dumped on me," he replied, letting his eyes fall on the knife from the butcher's block on the floor next to Hanji, it's silver edge painted red with blood.
"I bet that's not the only thing he's dumped on you," Hanji replied with a sly grin, to which Levi only raised an eyebrow. It wasn't really a secret. Rumors had been flying around since Levi joined the force six years earlier. Hanji laughed and turned back towards the body. "Make sure you've got a barf bag ready for the newbie."
Levi turned to Eren.
"If you throw up on my crime scene, I will make you bleed." He told the young detective with venom in his voice. "Do you understand?" Eren nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. "Good." And he knelt down on the opposite side of the body from Hanji, pulling on the blue latex gloves he kept in his pocket.
"Don't worry, kid," Hanji said looking at Eren over Levi's shoulder, "He might seem cold, but he's really a softie."
"What's the COD?" Levi asked looking down at the body. It was pretty gruesome. The body was mostly naked, wearing jut a pair of boxers. The kid's head was sitting at an awkward angle, obviously a snapped neck. Bruises had spread across his cheeks and his right eye, almost hiding the ghost of freckles that were splattered across his pale face. A couple of teeth had been knocked out. Lacerations covered his torso and his arms. Most of the wounds hadn't bleed profusely, leading Levi to believe that hemorrhage was not the cause of death, but most likely the broken neck.
"Your vic was in a pretty hefty fight, and by the look of it, he didn't have the upper hand at all. Who ever did this knew exactly where to hit to get optimal results. Although, my guess is this kid put up quite a fight. What ultimately killed him though is the broken neck. Looks like who ever it was got behind him and snapped it. He was dead before he hit the ground." Hanji explained, pointing out some of the lacerations that were interesting, and some bruising over his kidneys.
"Looks like were looking at a professional," Levi muttered, as he ran his fingers over the wounds on the kid's arms.
"Most likely." Hanji agreed, nodding.
"That complicates things a little," Levi continued, just running his hands over the bruising.
"One of the reasons I thought you might be interested in this one," Hanji replied, "I'm going to get him back to the lab, give him the full Hanji treatment. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting." Levi nodded and stood back up, doffing the gloves and throwing them away.
"Thanks Hanji." He replied. "Let's go, Newbie."
He made his way over to Erd, who had just finished talking to the Land Lady.
"Land Lady found our vic on the kitchen floor this morning while she was coming to talk to another tenant. She noticed that the door was open. When she got to the door, she noticed the over turned tables. Out of curiosity, she went in and found this mess.
Turns out Marco has lived here for about a year now with his boyfriend Jean Kirschtein. According to the Land Lady, they've been great. Always pay their rent on time. Never get up to any trouble. No complaints from the neighbours. They both work full time. Never have any visitors. Marco worked for Maria, a pharmaceutical and biotech company."
"Where's the boyfriend?" Levi asked.
"When the Land Lady got here, Jean wasn't here. House was empty except for Marco."
"Have we got a hold of Next of Kin?" Levi asked.
"Not yet, I've got some of my guys on it. Also, CSU found these on the kitchen counter." He held out his hand to show Levi two syringes filled with a yellowish liquid. Levi raised his eyebrow, this was beginning to look more and more like a planned hit.
"Alright. Send those to the lab. I'm confident with what we'll find in those syringes, but best double check. I'll check out Maria. You see if you can get a hold of his family, and the boyfriend."
"Sounds good," Erd nodded.
"And make sure Hanji doesn't go over board over there," he nodded back towards the kitchen.
"Of course, sir. I'll call you with any updates."
"Come on, Newbie." and with that he left the scene with Eren still on his heels.
...
Once back in the car, back in the silence where he could think, he tried to put together the pieces that he already had.
A body with signs of an obvious struggle. A planned hit on a worker at a drug company. A forced entry. A missing boyfriend. It wasn't much to go on. Yet.
"Good job keeping your mouth shut, Newbie," he growled, starting up the car.
"It was all rather shocking," Eren admitted, finally finding his voice, a small squeak of a voice.
"It doesn't get any easier," Levi answered and drove off in the direction of Maria's main offices in the downtown core.