"So he hears the gunshots, and he screams as he ducks behind a dumpster," Roy said, recalling his first case with Dick. "It turns out the 'gunshots' he heard were a bunch of kids throwing rocks at dumpster lids."
Richard, thoroughly embarrassed by that particular recollection, had turned a deep shade of red.
"Cut me some slack. It was my first case. I was a little jumpy." This, of course, did nothing to stifle the laughter.
Almost exactly as everyone managed to calm down, six cell phones rang.
"Really?" Raven asked as she listened to Roy's phone play "I'm Too Sexy."
"I keep it honest where I can," Roy deadpanned. Raven merely raised her eyebrow for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Ignoring the two, Dick answered his phone first.
"Yeah, we're all here. We'll be there in 10 minutes Cap," he said as he closed his phone, placing it in his pocket.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The detectives arrived to a brutal scene. Recognizing one of the police officers as patrolwoman Karen Beecher, Dick walked over to her, Raven in tow.
"Hey Dick," Karen greeted, shaking his hand. Noticing the striking woman beside him, Karen inquired. "Who's the rookie?" she asked, nodding in the direction of Raven.
"Raven Roth, formerly of Jump City PD. Trust me: I'm no rookie," Raven said shaking her hand. Turning her attention to the ugly scene before her, Raven stared for a moment, obviously pensive. "Who's the victim?" she asked, looking at the petrified face of a young woman.
"Her driver's license says she's Alana Gould," Karen responded. "It was neatly stacked next to her body, along with what imagine what her pocket change, and a business card. Slade Wilson."
"So this is a message," she stated firmly. Dick couldn't help but agree. "Cause of death?" Raven asked, continuing her inquiry.
"Can't be a hundred percent until the M.E. gets here, but by the looks of things, multiple gunshot wounds," Officer Beecher replied.
"Not to mention blunt force head trauma," Roy added, crouched down beside the victim.
"Nice of you to show up, Harper," Dick stated in passing as he scoped the area.
"It's nice to know I'm missed," Roy replied, giving no indication as to why he took so long to reach the crime scene. Dick decided it wasn't worth the effort. Raven noticing the something was off, ignored Roy's skirting around the obvious question.
"What sort of evidence do we have so?" Raven questioned, observing the little yellow numbered cars thrown about the scene.
"All we have that is of immediate use is this bloody rock, which was obviously one of the weapon's used on this girl," Gar said from behind Officer Beecher.
"Did you look for any prints?" Richard asked, earning himself a glare from Gar.
"No, they forgot to teach us that at the Forensics School for the Professionally Negligent," he replied sarcastically.
"Sorry," Dick said, his hands up in surrender.
"Apology semi-accepted. And there are no prints to find. Whoever the perpetrator was, he or she was very neat. And very obviously not a rookie," Gar added matter-of-factly.
"No prints and essentially no murder weapon. Do we at least know time of death?" Raven asked, clearly exasperated by the gruesome and fact-less situation before them.
Karen shook her head, "We're not sure. Still waiting for the medical examiner."
"Perfect," Raven replied. As if a light bulb suddenly shone, above her head, Raven suddenly perked up.
"Hey, give me your gloves," Raven demanded of Dick, swatting him in the chest to get his attention.
"Don't you have your own?" he asked, clearly unwilling to share.
Raven paused, turning her attention from the body to Dick. Hands on her hips, Raven responded. "Really, are we regressing to kindergarten? I'm not asking for you Lincoln Logs. Now give me your gloves so I can be of some use," she finished, holding her hand out, as she refocused on Alana Gould. Once she felt the presence of gloves in her hands, she put them on, and began her work.
"What are you going to do?" Dick asked. "You're not a medical examiner and the actual medical examiner will kill you if she finds out you messed with the body."
"I interned with a medical examiner before I decided on my career path, so I think I know how to avoid destroying evidence. And I don't plan on doing a field autopsy, so relax," she added. Once again refocusing, Raven knelt beside Alana Gould, touching her arm.
"Rigor has set in, so it's been a few hours." Something obviously caught her attention, and Raven tilted her head to get a better angle at Alana's neck. "She was strangled post mortem," Raven said, observing the faintest of finger marks, brushing away some of the poor girl's long brown hair.
"It's nice to know that we have quite the Renaissance Man on our team," Roy stated somewhat sincerely. "'If you're not too busy working on the string theory or something, we should get back to the office and track down this Wilson guy," he suggested.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Alana Gould, 28. Employee at Greenstation Industries. According to her boss, she is a loyal worker that never missed a day," Victor said in monotone, unhappy with the
"Who's her boss?" Roy asked.
"Slade Wilson." Roy gave Vic a look of disbelief. Though it took him a while, Vic looked at Roy and arched an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Slade Wilson?" Roy asked, as if uncertain.
"Yes," Vic replied, a little irritated at having to repeat himself.
"Slade Wilson? As in suspect numero uno?" Roy added, in complete disbelief. Victor raised his eyebrows at the realization.
"I'd say a visit to Mr. Wilson is overdue," Victor said with a smile on his face as he put on his jacket.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"You were right, the victim was strangled post mortem," a tall man with short but styled brown hair said to Raven.
"Do we know what the cause of death was?" Richard asked Bart Allen, the medical examiner.
"It's hard to tell. She was badly beaten and shot fourteen times. Judging by the bloody rock, I would say she was knocked out by a knock to the head, then shot. Obviously it was unnecessary to shoot her fourteen times. She was dead by shot number two or three," Allen said, pointing to the first few gunshot wounds in the chest as he explained. "Whoever did this did it out of anger. This was clearly uncontrolled rage."
"Which suggests this was a crime of passion," Dick put forth. However, upon further thought, such a claim made no sense. "The killer left no viable forensic evidence that we have discovered," he continued, leaning against a counter. It was obvious to Raven that the wheels in Dick's head were turning. "This was a calculated maneuver. This required a certain level of execution that is nearly impossible to accomplish in heated passion." With Raven's next comment, Dick took notice that Raven was keeping up just fine.
"This was a message," she stated firmly. "This was meant as a warning to anyone who was on their way to following in Alana's footsteps. She was an example."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So Mr. Wilson: did Ms. Gould seem different or distracted in the past week?" Victor questioned, not actually interested in Wilson's answer. In fact, he was more interested in how he reacted to this whole line of questioning and the authenticity of his answers. Mostly he was leaving this up to Roy though. As the king of bullshit, he could easily separate sincerity from performance.
So far, Roy was seeing that Mr. Wilson was on edge. He had his hands behind his back, but Roy could tell he was fidgeting. A sign of anxiety. No matter how good a performance someone can put on, it is difficult to hide the body's biological tells.
"No," he began what could be perceived as uncertainly. "No," he continued, more sure. "She seemed as normal as ever," Wilson rolled off, glancing at the clock. Victor, as perceptive as Roy in some regards, took notice of this.
"Is there something pressing you Mr. Wilson?" Victor asked with concern as sincere as most of Wilson's answers had been.
"Well, I am a business man, so one can assume I have business to tend to," he said with some obvious and generally unappreciated venom. Roy narrowed his eyes.
"Just a few more minutes of your time, Mr. Wilson," Roy replied with mock politeness. An unidentifiable expression crossed Wilson's face.
"I'm sorry, but I have a very important meeting with my shareholders," Wilson said, seemingly agitated.
"Sir, just give us a couple more-" Victor began, but was cut off.
"No, I'm sorry. I have no more time," he said, moving towards the door of his office. Opening his door and ensuring eye contact, he continued, "Further questions can be asked through my lawyer. My secretary will show you out."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So what did Mr. Moneybags have to say?" Willis asked, hoping for some positive news. Before answer, Roy hung up his jacket on the coat rack by his desk. Taking a seat, he leaned back in his chair, letting out an exasperated sigh.
"He verbally told us nothing useful," Roy replied. "Physically, he was showing obvious anxiety, possibly guilt. He is definitely hiding something, if not involved."
"I want a thorough background check. Leave no stone unturned. You're so sure he has something to hide. I trust it'll be found," Willis ordered, gruffly.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Raven sat at her desk, staring at the fluorescent computer screen for what seemed like days. Finally, she found something of interest.
"There are some suspicious things linked to this Slade Wilson," Raven shouted called across the room, garnering the attention of her fellow detectives.
"What is it?" Roy asked, eagerly anticipating anything resembling good news. The past hours being fruitless, morale was low and desire to go to a bar was high.
"It took a while to notice, but Wilson has some interesting conflicts in his income tax report," Raven said, pointing to the screen in anticipation that everyone else would see her findings.
"I don't see it," Roy replied, clearly not understanding her. "It's obvious that you're pretty much a less annoying version of Rain Man, but we can't all be brilliant." Her eyebrow too tired to arch, Raven completely ignored Roy.
"You see, right here, on his income tax form, it says that his business makes about two billion dollars a year. However, on the company website, it says that the company makes about 2.9 billion," she explained, hoping that everyone understood.
"Could it be a typo?" Victor asked, not sure he wanted to get his hopes up on what could have been some typist's mistake.
"When a guy can hire serious professionals for these sorts of things and he runs a business that relies on his appearance as a successful man, the more specific the better," Richard said in an effort to make his fellow detectives understand.
"What keeps him from lying?" Vic asked posing a good question. One for which Raven had no answer. Taking a minute, Dick finally answered, as if he had an epiphany.
"Serious business interest would look beyond the revenue statement on the company website. They would certainly not appreciate being drawn in by a thinly veiled line. If he lied that blatantly, he would have no business. But, by putting out two different statements, he's banking on the fact that he will never be audited, or that and IRS agent would even bother to look at the site."
"Which is a pretty big risk on its own," Vic finished. "He must be working very hard to at least appear squeaky clean."
"As I was going over the website I found a shareholder's only section and hacked in, but-" Raven was cut off by Roy's exclamation of surprise.
"You hacked in? Maybe you belong in TARU," Roy said.
"Yes, I hacked in, but that's not the point. The point is that shareholders can be part of a business inside the business. Which is most likely where the extra revenue is coming in. After a few calls to some old Jump City contacts, I've come to the conclusion the Greenstations is part of an international drug smuggling ring. All it takes is the right password and immediately, you have drug smuggling boats at your disposal," Raven said as she sat back in her chair.
"What do we know about shipments?" Richard asked.
"They send the goods in with shipments of building supplies." Raven answered. On the same track as everyone else, Roy posed another question.
"How are these drugs distributed?" Raven turned her chair toward Roy.
"From what I can tell, they're probably using mules. People that can't obviously show the connection between Wilson and heroin," she answered. "However, it turns out Alana Gould was roommates with Rose Wilson, Slade's daughter.
"Assuming that this is sheer coincidence, wouldn't this very obviously lead back to Wilson?" Victor asked, obviously stumped by the idiocy of Slade Wilson's plan. It was Roy who answered this time.
"You were in there questioning Slade with me. Arrogance was pouring off of him. He probably thinks he's untouchable." Victor couldn't help but agree. He turned to Raven when it was obvious she had more to tell.
"I ran Rose Wilson's name through the system, and came up with three counts of heroin possession with intent to distribute," Raven answered, staring at Victor.
"If Wilson really was involved, he was certainly tying up the wrong loose end," Roy stated incredulously. His callous statement was followed by silence.
"I think it's time we pay Rose Wilson a visit," Dick suggested.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Raven, Dick, and Roy approached the reasonably lavish home quite cautiously. It surprised them that a drug addict like Rose Wilson lived in such a wealthy looking home. But then again, when Daddy pays the bills, it's apparently easy living.
Dick looked around the neighborhood, noticing a suspicious absence of lights. It was well past sunset and every other light on the block was on. "Doesn't look like anyone's home," Dick remarked.
"Wow, you really are a detective, Grayson," Raven deadpanned. Shaking her head, she continued, "We should probably knock anyway. Due diligence, and all," Raven said as she rapped on the door. After a few moments of silence, Raven, obviously impatient, decided she needed to be a little more direct. Roy beat her to the punch.
"Rose Wilson, this is the police. We have a few questions regarding Alana Gould. If you could spare us the few minutes it would take, we would appreciate your help" More silence followed. And then there was shuffling.
"Around back!" Dick said in excitement as he opened the gate that led to the rear door. Raven paused. As Roy was pulling out his gun from his hip holster, he called out "I'll stay up front, you grab the back door!"
Running along the cemented walkway, Raven noticed several surveillance cameras. Though not completely unreasonable for a home of this caliber, she thought it was a little odd. However, she didn't really have time to focus on minor peculiarities. As she turned to face the steps Dick was about to ascend, she noticed a gleam in the moonlight. A gleam that resembled a spider's web. Suddenly, it occurred to her.
"TRIP WIRE!" she screamed, tackling Dick.
The force of the explosion blew the pair back against a tree, causing some serious pain for Raven, who was mostly on top of Dick in an effort to protect him. Dazed from the blast, the two of them lay still as the back porch was engulfed by flames. Almost entranced, neither of them could hear Roy shouting as he ran behind the house to check on his associates. Raven's attention snapped to Roy, whose mouth was moving. She couldn't quite make out the words. Finally her hearing returned.
"Are you alright?" Roy shouted, moving to put out a flame that had caught Raven's jacket. Rolling off of Dick, Raven instructed Roy to check on Dick, who was apparently unconscious.
"Raven, you were just on fire. Let me—" He was cut off by Raven putting her hand up.
"Him first. I'm awake. That's already better than I can say for him," she said, rolling onto her side. She winced, a movement that didn't escape Roy's observations. However, he decided it was easier to appease and took a look at Raven's partner. Dick was breathing steadily and rosy-cheeked. A little fed up with waiting, Roy smacked him.
"Wake up!"
Surprisingly enough, Dick stirred, and, as if shaking off a bad dream, shook his head and sat up.
"What the hell—" Dick's exclamation of obvious confusion was cut off by Raven's exasperated answer.
"Trip wire nearly blew us to hell. Be a little more observant next time." Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, Raven's hand went to her back. Dick was already standing, getting up with a little help from Dick. Again noticing Raven's obvious difficulty getting up, Roy abandoned Dick, kneeling next to Raven."
"Take it easy," he instructed as he took her arm and placed it around her neck. Hoisting her up with his arm around her waist, Raven was obviously standing with at least a little difficulty. She winced. Moving to go walk on her own, Roy insisted he help her out.
"Well, that was quite incriminating," Raven managed to sputter out between coughs as Roy walked with her to the squad car. He helped her rest on top of the hood as he pulled out his cell phone. Requesting an ambulance, Roy leaned on the hood alongside Raven while Dick took a seat on the curb. When the ambulance finally arrived, they checked Dick and Raven for concussions, both testing negative. Treating Raven's burn from the fiery shrapnel, examining the resulting bruise from her impact with the tree, and patching up the lacerations on her face from the blast in general, Raven looked to be in much worse shape than Dick. When she finally leapt off the back bumper of the ambulance, Dick and Roy looked a little shocked to see all the bandaging.
"You look like hell," Dick piped up. Raven punched his arm as hard as she could, obviously hitting a bruise. Dick winced, muttering a string of words unfit for human ears. Roy laughed, as he got into the driver's side of the car, getting ready to leave.
"And that's why I didn't say anything."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
When Richard and Raven returned to station, they were immediately greeted by Gar, who was in the office comparing evidence with Victor's notes about the Alana's crime scene. Turning from Vic's desk, Gar looked taken aback.
"Jeez, you look like—"
Roy cut him off before he could say anything lethal. "I'd lay off the commentary. Most of Dick's injuries at this point have nothing to do with the explosion he set off and nearly everything to do with commentary." Gar decided to take Roy's advice and stay quiet. The silence continued until the detectives heard the door open. A platinum-haired woman walked in, looking around somewhat expectantly.
"I'm Rose Wilson," she said. "I'm here about my roommate, Alana Gould."
Raven, suddenly getting her second wind, indicated she would handle the situation. Approaching Rose, the first thing Raven hear was "You look like shit." Roy and Dick's eyes went wide. Raven, generally unphased, just grabbed her arm and firmly stated, "You're coming with me."
Leading her past the desks and down a somewhat dark hallway, Raven brought Rose to a small, taupe room. After being blown up, she decided interrogation was a little more appropriate. Letting go of her arm and indicating the seat in across from the chair she had pulled out, Raven sat down, followed by Rose.
"Well, Ms. Wilson, you are not exactly a shining example of character right now," Raven said, playing with the pencil that was resting on top of the note pad that was already in the room.
Willis decided to let Raven interrogate her alone, seeing as she tried to come on to Richard. And Roy. And Vic. Raven had been interrogating her for a good forty five minutes with no result. Raven was looking across the table intently, studying all of Rose's facial expressions and body movements. So far, she was reading nothing. Rose, on the other hand, was leaning forward, elbow on the table, head resting on her hand. Clearly losing patience, she sighed.
"Look, like I told you before, I didn't do anything. That apartment belonged to Alana," she exclaimed in a desperate attempt to salvage her innocence.
"Such arrogance," Raven exclaimed in disbelief. "Do you really believe the police aren't savvy enough to do a little research? Your daddy's name was on the deed. That house was in YOUR family," Raven said, obviously as impatient as Rose.
"No, I swear, it-" Raven cut off the blubbering woman. "Quite frankly, I have had enough of your bullshit, Ms. Wilson. We are not as incompetent as you'd like to believe. Who the house belonged to is a matter of public record." Raven began to raise her voice. "Now, if you don't stop lying to me, I am going to place you under arrest for impeding an investigation. You don't exactly look like you'd fit in in cell block A?"
Rose Wilson's entire demeanor change. In the beginning, it was that of a woman trying to prove her innocence. Now it was that of a woman who knew they knew she was duilty of something, but couldn't prove what she was guilty of.
"Darling, you couldn't touch me even if it was that simple." Rose grinned. "I'd like my lawyer now."
Furious, Raven stood up, the picture of composure. "This isn't over,' she stated simply as she stepped out of the interrogation room.
"She's not about to say anything. She's But she knows something," Raven said angrily.
"She's got to be in her father's drug ring. She knows why Alana was murdered. She knows everything we want to know. Right now, she's holding all the cards," Dick said calmly as he began formulating a new way to attack this investigation.
