Suspect for Persecution Part One
Con pulled into the driveway of a pleasant, friendly looking house with a huge elm tree in the front yard. The house was two storied and painted white with a light blue trim. There were flowers lining the path to the front door as well as the house and a lush, neat lawn wrapped around towards a back yard. The neighborhood where this house stood was full of haply screeching children as they ran up and down the street playing. Their were neighbors talking pleasantly about little things. The sky was even the perfect shade of blue. It all seemed safe, domestically tranquil; the American ideal of happiness. It was the perfect imagine of suburbia, an image that would forever be tainted.
"Hey Gray, CSI guys in side?" Con asked the officer who was standing guard.
"Hey Con. Yeah, it's just old Larry and me here," the young officer replied, stepping out of the way to let Con pass.
"Thanks," Con said as he took a deep breath and entered the house. It was his first time visiting the crime scene and he was amazed at how surreal it all looked. The destruction, the blood trail leading to the kitchen…this wasn't the Hardy house he knew. He was more then a little overwhelmed by the reality of it all. But he had a job to do, more so then ever now, so he pushed all his feelings away and headed for the one place he didn't want to see.
"Hey Larry, your call said you have something for me," Con called from the entranceway to the kitchen. He was booth looking and not looking around at the now rust colored floors.
"Sure do," Larry, a middle aged, thin, awkward looking man, said who was bending over something on the floor. "I've got a shit load of good news for you."
"Well, we could certainly use good news right about now. What's up?"
Larry stood to his full height of five four and faced Con a satisfied smile on his face. "Your boys were amateurs. They left foot prints, finger prints, and even DNA. One of them is a smoker too. And you're looking for three, two male and I'm almost sure one female. Also, they weren't here to take stuff, there's jewelry and money still upstairs. The only place they trashed was down here."
"That's good, that's really good. How long will it take you lab boys to process?" Con asked.
"I've put a rush on it, already sent the rest of my guys back with the stuff. I'm just here making sure we didn't miss anything. I've worked with Hardy before, and I have a lot of respect for the man," Larry said. The two fell into a semi strained silence as Con took a look around him. He could feel his stomach rebelling and he wanted to run, but Larry kept him there. "How are the boys?"
"Joe seems to be alright for now. He got lucky, they're pretty sure he's going to make it. Frank wasn't so lucky. We may be looking at a murder case…."
"Damn. At least when we catch the bastards we'll have enough evidence to nail them to the wall," Larry said somberly.
"Thanks Larry, for all that you and your team have done here. I appreciate it more then you know. Call me when you guys are done," Con said as he turned to leave, no longer able to stay there.
"Sure thing," Larry said to his retreating back already turning back to his work.
- line -
Outside the house Con took a moment to breath in the fresh sent of flowers in the early June sunshine. He needed it to keep him from losing his stomach.
Down the path, he could see the patrolman talking to a gentleman somewhere in his fifties who was trying his best to control a hyperactive puppy. The officer looked up towards the house and waved to Con.
"Detective! You're going to want o talk to this fellow!" he called as Con started to head over to the pair.
Con stuck out his hand when he arrived and said, "I'm Detective Riley, and you are?"
"Name's John Rose, I live across the street from the Hardys," the man said as he took Con's hand. "And this here is Kipper," the man added, nodding down to the puppy who was sniffing the detective's feet.
"Well hello there Kipper," Con said, giving the dog a friendly pat on the head. He then turned his attention back to the man and asked, "Mr. Rose, do you know what happened here last night?"
"I know that Frank and Joe were rushed to the hospital and that the police have been knocking on everyone's door except that I just got home and my son was out when they stopped by my house," Rose answered.
"Do you know anything about why?" Con asked, hopefully.
"Well, I don't know what happened in there," he said, nodding to the house, "But I do know that there was a beat up red Ford truck parked up the street for most of the night last night. And I do know that, that was the first time I saw that particular car in this neighborhood."
Con's ears perked up and his hart fluttered, "Did you by any chance get a license plate?"
Rose smiled and nodded, "Only because they had run up into Mrs. Patty's yard and dented her mailbox," Rose dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper and looked it over. "Yup, this is it."
As he was handing it to Con a black Honda pulled into Rose's driveway and a young man got out. The boy couldn't have been much older then Frank; he was tall with blond hair and green eyes. He was dressed in all black and very neatly. The way that he looked and walked kind of reminded Con of a vampire from some old movie he'd once seen.
"Bobby, come here for a second," Rose called over to the boy.
The boy did as he was told and joined the small group of officers and his father. "What's up dad?" he asked calmly, eyeing everyone with suspicion.
Con answered before Rose could, "The Hardy's had a break in last night and Frank and Joe were booth hurt."
Bobby's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped somewhat. "Are they alright?"
"They had it rough, but they're stable," Con assured the boy. "Did you see anything suspicious last night? Anything that didn't seem right?"
"I'm sorry officer, I wasn't here. I went out with my girlfriend and we met up with my cousin and his girlfriend. In fact, I spent the night at my cousin's house, I'm just getting back."
Con studied the boy, going over in his mind what the boy was saying, weighing it, then he nodded. "What about this past week, anything unusual?" again Bobby said no and Con felt his hope dwindling. But he decided to ask one more question, "You boys go to the same school don't you? Has anyone at school been talking trash?"
Bobby seemed to think for a minuet then he nodded, "You know there has been, but I don't think the guy meant anything by it…" Bobby said nervously.
"What guy?" Con pushed.
"This guy's sort of a friend; I mean I help tutor him sometimes with Frank. Frank and I are both part of the same peer mediation group and well we help some of the underclassmen with science and math," Bobby said, shifting his feet.
"Look, Bobby, I know that it's hard to give a friend's name to the police, especially under these circumstances. But right now Frank and Joe are in the hospital and the police are trying to figure out why. We need all the evidence and suspects that we can get. It's most likely that your friend has nothing to do with what happened, but we still need to know," Con stated, almost pleadingly.
"Bobby, help the officers please," Rose said, putting his own two cents in. Even the dog seemed to agree with Con.
Bobby gave a sigh and nodded, "His name's Josh Whelm, I hear him threaten Frank. Frank played it off, said that he was just blowing off steam, but…" Bobby looked over to the Hardy's house and drifted off.
Con let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and bowed his head, "Thank you," he said, "Thank you very much."
