Brenda stood in front of the empty ambulance, breathing deeply.
"Where are the bodies?"
"Uh, they moved the bodies, Chief, that's what I was trying to tell you."
"Well for heaven's sake! Didn't anybody tell them this was a crime scene?" Brenda knew that her anger was misplaced, but honestly. They'd gotten her out of bed with Sharon, and now, there weren't even any bodies!
"There's something else," Tao said, handing her a clipboard. "This is a run sheet, and it says here, that they performed a Georgia Street Lift." He grinned expectantly.
"Well, what does that mean, Lieutenant?"
Tao gestured to Gabriel, and wrapped his arms around Brenda's ribcage, as Gabriel lifted her by the calves. Brenda startled, and put her hands on top of Tao's.
"Oh! Well then call the hospital, and tell them to BAG HER HANDS, for goodness sake!" Brenda straightened her jacket.
Glancing around the scene, she tried to imagine where the killer might've gone. Just then, Gabriel approached.
"You know, there's only one route from the park to the hospital, at least, as far as ambulances are concerned. If this wasn't a random killing, maybe the killer had an accomplice here waiting?"
"Two killers, then. Okay. Let's see if there's any surveillance in the area that might help, and since we don't have any bodies here, let's go to where the bodies are."
Brenda looked at the woman laid out on the slab. She was young, and pretty, with the kind of mouth you knew would have an easy smile. She watched as Tao blew the fingerprint dust gently over the gloved hands, and then saw Dr. Morales stalk away from the table, wincing and pulling his scrub cap off.
"Everything alright, Doctor?" She asked, moving towards him.
"That's Anna Vargas. We were friends. Good friends." He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, and looked away, eyes glimmering.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Doctor. You don't need to do the autopsy right now, we're just here to get the fingerprints. We can have another Doctor handle this, if you'd rather."
Tao lifted the prints with clear tape, and showed the result to Brenda.
"Looks like we've got one clear one. Okay. Let's go run that, and, uh, let's see where we stand on the 911 call."
She followed Tao out of the morgue, pausing to rest her hand gently on Morales' shoulder.
"I am sorry, Doctor. Let me know if you need us to reassign this."
Brenda remained silent on the way back up to the murder room, deep in thought. Hopefully Tao had already handed the prints off, because the sooner she could move on this, the better she'd feel. She glanced at her watch, and wondered if Sharon was still sleeping, or if, and at this thought, her heart thudded, if she was in the shower already. "Ohh. That woman." She groaned, pushing her hair back from her face. Stepping off the elevator, and moving towards her office, she saw Gabriel moving towards her.
"We got a match on the prints!" he gestured to where Buzz sat at a computer terminal.
"Already? Well that was fast. And this is why we don't move the bodies." Brenda walked over to the desk, and leaned over, peering at the screen.
"Kevin Mason. He applied to the LAFD." Gabriel passed Brenda a folder.
"Hope they rejected him." Buzz mumbled, as he enlarged the print image on the screen.
"They did," Gabriel replied, "four times. The last time was in 2007, which is when he seems to have fallen off of the map."
"Okay. Let's run down all of his known addresses, and see what we can shake loose." Brenda snapped the folder closed.
She turned towards her office, but stopped as Sanchez and Flynn approached.
"We got a hit on that cell phone. It's a prepaid job, first used today." Sanchez reported.
"But, it's got an FBI flag on it, because it was purchased along with another phone, that was used in an unsolved bombing attempt, two years back." Flynn elaborated.
"Okay. Thank you, gentlemen." Brenda replied.
She started off towards her office, and her heart sank at the sight of Will Pope's stiff shoulders leaned against her door. Sighing, she moved towards him, her lips pursed thinly.
"Will. This is a nice surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Two years ago, there was a bomb planted outside the IRS office. Counter-Terrorism investigated, didn't find anything. Chief Delk turned it over to the FBI." Pope explained.
"Chief!" Tao called to her from across the room, as he sat down in front of another computer.
Glancing at Pope, Brenda shrugged her shoulders, and walked over to see what Tao had found. She could feel Pope standing behind her, air whistling nasally as he breathed. They listened to the 911 call, and Tao noted that the caller sounded out of breath, just like the patient the paramedics had picked up.
"So, the caller might be our killer." Brenda surmised, as she walked back to her office, Pope hot on her heels. "But, tell me again why we think these two murders are related to an unsolved terrorist attack from two years ago?"
"Brenda, look, if these were ordinary homicides, I would let you pursue this investigation, but these murders are now linked with an ongoing joint investigation between our own C-T unit, and the FBI!" He kept his voice calm, but the vein in his forehead told Brenda that he was expecting her to put up a fight. She didn't want to disappoint. "Please note the use of the words terrorism and Tommy Delk." He continued, his voice dropping into a tone of reproach.
"What kind of a grown man calls himself Tommy anyway?" Brenda muttered, then scowled as the name finally clicked. "Oh! He's on the short list for chief! That's why you want me to deal with him."
"No, no." Will stuttered, looking chagrined. "This is good police work. And they're going to be here any time now, because they had a flag on that phone number. My advice, is to put out the welcome mat."
"I'd rather wait until I have something to trade!" Brenda groaned, exasperated.
"You do. You have fingerprints, and a name. So let's go sit down with Delk, and figure this out. He's got a bit of an ego on him, but he's not unreasonable." Will gave her the smile he used when he was trying to be charming, forgetting that it hadn't ever worked on her.
"Only if he understands that until I talk with him, he's not to speak to the FBI."
"Believe me. If these cases are connected, it'll be a huge help." Pope exhaled loudly.
"If I find this 911 caller, I won't need any of his help." Brenda retorted, rubbing her neck in frustration as Pope left.