Copyright Notice: Some of the city names featured at the end of this chapter are very obvious references to the Grand Theft Auto games. As always, any locations, characters, etc. associated with GTA are the property of Rockstar Games and any related entities.
Chapter 4: In the Wind
Apartment of Maxwell King
The Wards
Roughly 20 minutes after discovering the body of alleged Black Viceroys enforcer Maxwell King, his untidy apartment was crawling with additional police and crime lab personnel along with an assistant from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. With Detectives Hank Voight and Alvin Olinsky looking around the apartment for additional clues, Detective Troy Harrison knelt beside Maxwell King's decomposing body wearing a protective mask over his face to stave off the putrid smell.
22-year-old Maxwell King had met quite the brutal demise. He had apparently been bludgeoned to death with the heavy base of a nearby table lamp, which laid on the floor close to the body. His body has endured several blows to the face, some of which resulted in a fracture to the frontal portion of his skull.
"Why the hell is it so hot in here?" Harrison asked.
Cook County Assistant Medical Examiner Ned Harlan pointed a gloved hand at the apartment's thermostat on the wall a few feet away. Harlan was a heavyset balding man in his late fifties who was also wearing a mask on his face. "The thermostat was set to Seventy-Six degrees Fahrenheit for some reason", he said, "Any ambient temperature higher than the basic room temp of Seventy-Two would cause moisture to develop in the room which in turn probably accelerated the decomposition process for our late friend here."
A now intrigued Harrison stood up and examined the section of the wall near the thermostat and noted an obvious dent in the drywall. He gently manipulated the face of the thermostat with his gloved hand, at which point the device came loose from the wall and hung on by the wires connected to it. "So, Maxwell struggles with his killer", he theorized out loud, "Gets slammed against the wall and against the thermostat, inadvertently upping the ambient temp in the room and speeding up decomp. Ned, does our guy have any trace of drywall dust on his back or shoulders?"
Ned Harlan logrolled the victim onto his right side, at which point Harrison saw a light powdery white trace on the back of King's left shoulder. "That's affirmative", Harlan said, "Great theory, Detective."
Harrison gave a very thankful smile through his mask. "I appreciate that, Ned", he said, "But I think that begs the question: 'what was our killer feuding with Maxwell about when he took him out'?"
Alvin Olinsky then stepped into the room, holding his jacket sleeve over his mouth to staunch the smell. "I think Hank and I can answer that for you", he said. The Gang Unit detective then held up a small knotted plastic baggie containing what appeared to be a white powdery substance in his free hand. "Looks like cocaine to me", he added, "We found at least a dozen more baggies of this shit set up on the kitchen countertop back here." He motioned to the small kitchen behind him.
Harrison then carefully sidestepped past Ned and the body and moved past Olinsky into the kitchen, where Voight was silently counting at least a dozen of the aforementioned cocaine baggies. "Damn", he said, "I can't tell if this dude was a gang enforcer or just a heavy dope dealer. I mean, I'm no Narcotics detective, but that has to be felony weight, right?"
"Absolutely", Voight replied, "This King guy was obviously a major player here in The Wards. We should check with Narcotics and see if he was on their radar at all."
"If it's okay with you, fellas", Harrison said, "I've got a friend at my district who's about to transfer over to Narcotics. I'm pretty sure she could check into things for us."
Voight traded looks with Olinsky before giving Harrison a confirmatory nod. "Okay", he said as he passed Harrison his business card, "Let us know if she finds out anything useful." He extended a hand. "Nice meeting you, Detective. If there's any other way you think we can help, don't be afraid to call us or come by District Twenty-One."
Harrison shook both Voight and Olinsky's hands and slipped the former's business card in the breast pocket of his jacket before the two Gang detectives left the apartment and headed downstairs. Harrison's radio then chirped to life. "Tran to Harrison", Sunny Tran's voice said through the radio.
Harrison keyed his radio. "Go for Harrison", he said into the radio, "What's up, Sunny? Over."
"Be advised", Tran said, "Captain Broussard's outside. He wants to talk to us, over."
Harrison keyed his radio once again. "Copy that", he said into the radio, "On my way down now, over."
Harrison then descended the apartment stairway, politely moving past the other personnel coming and going from the crime scene, and made his way out through the downstairs pawn shop and outside. The exterior of the Pawned Off Pawn Shop was now crawling with police cars and several other emergency vehicles, at which point Harrison saw Tran speaking to a white-haired older man he assumed was his new Captain.
As he started to make his way over to where they stood, he was suddenly stopped by Abby Asher. "Hey", she said as she put a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Abby", Harrison said, "What's up, kid?"
"Sergeant Mahoney told us that you guys were looking for a white van in connection to the Rodriguez case from last week", she said, "My patrol partner and I just responded to a call about a recovered stolen vehicle in a parking garage three blocks over. The description matched the white panel van the Sarge said you guys were looking for."
Harrison grinned. "Okay", he said, "Get on the radio and have it towed to the garage at the Thirty-Four, then call the Crime Lab and have them give it the once-over. I'll tell Sunny." He patted her on the back and put an arm around her. "That's great work, kiddo", he said, "I think you're going to make an excellent Detective."
Asher nodded. "Right back at you, Troy", she said, "Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"Well now that you mention it", Harrison replied, "We're waiting on Narcotics to take custody of some dealer baggies of cocaine that we found upstairs. Since you're going to be a big-time Narcotics Detective soon, you want to head up and take some pictures of them for me and safeguard the evidence until the detectives show up?"
Asher gave her friend a very excited and almost proud smile. "You got it", she said, "I'll put those calls about the van and then I'll head up and do that stuff as soon as that's done."
"Thanks kid", Harrison said before smiling back at her, "Oh, I mean 'Thanks Detective'!"
Asher nodded and headed inside as Harrison made his way across the street.
"Excuse me?" he said to the older man conversing with Detective Tran, "Captain Broussard, I presume?"
Captain John Broussard was a white-haired man in his sixties of medium height. In his corduroy jacket, paisley cardigan sweater, and dark slacks, he looked more like an experienced college professor than a police captain, if it weren't for the CPD Captain's badge he wore on a chain around his neck. "Yes", he said, "Can I help you?"
Harrison graciously extended a hand. "I'm Troy Harrison, sir", he said, "I'm your new Detective."
Broussard grinned as it dawned on him who Harrison was. "Ah yes", he said as he reciprocated the handshake, "It's nice to finally meet you, Detective. Your letters of recommendation from your FBI colleagues painted the picture of some sort of investigative superhero. Sunny here tells me that's not too far off."
Harrison turned to Tran, feigning a surprised expression. "Really?" he said, "And we've only just met."
Tran smirked. "What've you got upstairs, Troy?"
"Our victim is a black male identified as twenty-two-year-old Maxwell King", Harrison began explaining, "We received a tip from the people at OEMC naming King as a suspect in the shooting death of Ronaldo Rodriguez from last Monday." "OEMC" stood for Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which includes the city's 911 dispatch center. "Also", Harrison continued, "The Gang Unit from District Twenty-One was looking at him as a possible enforcer for the Black Viceroys. This was his only known address."
"At a pawn shop?" a confused Broussard asked.
"He apparently lived in the upstairs apartment, Captain", Tran clarified, "Hank Voight and Alvin Olinsky from the Gang Unit met us here. We secured the shop downstairs while Dobbs and Brooks watched the fire escape just in case anybody bolted out the alley."
"Voight, Olinsky, and I forced entry into the apartment after Detective Dobbs radioed to us that he could see a man down through the window", Harrison continued, "King was already dead when we entered, sir."
Broussard nodded. "I see", he said, "How long does the ME think he's been dead for?"
Harrison cringed for a moment. "I'm afraid determining Mister King's exact time of death is going to be a bit problematic", he said with a regretful tone in his voice, "We were able to determine that King jarred his thermostat during the struggle. The apartment's ambient temperature was accidentally increased, which sped up the decomposition process once he was dead. The entire living room was covered in flies, maggots, and one hell of a filthy odor by the time we got here."
Broussard sniffled. "I know", he said, "I tried not to be rude when you first came up to us, Detective, but I think the smell attached itself to your tactical vest, son. Why don't you head back to the district and shower up in the locker room?"
Harrison looked down at his vest and caught a whiff of the unambiguously bad smell himself once again. "Right", he said with a smirk, "My apologies, Captain. The district's just down the block, so I think I'll hoof it back. I've got Abby Asher upstairs documenting and safeguarding the drug evidence we found until Narcotics shows up to take custody of it. She and her partner also found the van King allegedly used in the murder at a parking garage three blocks over from here. She's got a tow truck on the way to pick it up, and a Crime Lab team is waiting for it at the district garage."
Broussard nodded. "Understood", he said, "That's fine work, Detectives. I'll see you back at the Thirty-Four."
Audio/Visual Room
CPD District 21
Officer Sheldon Jin was busy working at his computer in the Audio/Visual Room, which was actually nothing more than a small office adjacent to the lower level garage area of CPD's District 21. Jin was a handsome young Asian officer in his late twenties with dark hair, tan skin, and striking brown eyes. He was dressed in a black turtleneck sweater with blue jeans and black sneakers. Hank Voight soon entered the room by way of the garage.
"Jin", Voight said.
Jin turned around in his wheeled office chair to face the detective. "Hey Hank", he said, "I've got everything you asked for on that new detective, Troy Harrison."
"Such as?" Voight asked.
Jin clicked his mouse and brought up the dossier he had made on Detective Troy Harrison. Voight looked on curiously over Jin's shoulder. "For starters", Jin began explaining, "Before he went through CPD training and joined the department a month ago, he had spent ten years as a Special Agent with the FBI. He's apparently a trained behavioral profiler with degrees in Psychology and Criminology. I pulled up news articles about some of the cases he had a hand in. Vice City, Liberty City, Los Santos, San Andreas, Nice, France, Istanbul, Turkey, London, England…there's tons of stories here. He and his partner caught at least two dozen violent criminals in at least four separate countries over the course of four and half years. There was even a case referenced from right here in Chicago."
"What case?" Voight asked.
"Remember that whacko from two summers ago who tried to copycat Richard Speck?" Jin asked, "He killed those eight women in that townhouse on the South Side?"
Voight nodded. "Eddie Ray Smith", he said, "I do remember that. Harrison caught him, huh?"
"He and his partner assisted Homicide for two weeks", Jin replied, "They found Smith in the ER at Chicago Med getting treated for an infected bite mark he got after one of the women fought back."
Voight took a moment to take everything in. "So, he's good police", he said, "He can be trusted. I hope he can use those skills of his to navigate our streets. He'll need them."
