Chapter 2: Down to Business
Davis, South Los Santos
20 Minutes Later
Detective Harrison parked his unmarked black 2007 Chevrolet Impala LTZ police car in the parking lot of the neighborhood Discount Store on Macdonald Street, a site that had been designated as a temporary parking area for all the emergency vehicles responding to the tragic scene unfolding at the Ring of Fire Chili House located directly across the street. Upon exiting the vehicle, he looked across the street at the area now taped off in four corners by yellow crime scene barrier tape and articulated the presence of a large panel truck decked out with blue and orange colors with the large "GQ Postal" logo emblazoned on the side. He hurriedly jogged across the street and displayed his newly-bestowed LSPD Detective's badge to the first uniformed officer he encountered.
"How you doing?" he said, "I'm Detective Troy Harrison with Homicide. Where can I find Detective Xander?"
The young twenty-something white male officer looked to the GQ Postal truck. "He's checking out the victim inside the truck", he replied before handing Harrison a small clipboard which contained the official LSPD log sheet, "Log in, if you would please, Detective."
Harrison nodded and signed the log with the provided pen, at which point the officer lifted up a section of the yellow tape that the detective subsequently ducked under. Moving closer to the truck, he saw that the sliding side door of the large vehicle was left open. A pair of lifeless feet, clad in black steel-toed work boots, extended outward from inside the truck.
The detective cautiously stepped up onto the running board of the truck and peered inside. The very badly beaten body of a brown-haired white male, dressed in a purple and orange GQ Postal uniform, was lying face down across the interior of the truck. Though his face was not immediately visible, the back of his had was. Harrison was astounded at the sight of three very ghastly, bloody, and open crescent-shaped wounds that had apparently been the result of a very savage blunt-force beating with some type of hard implement.
A man's head then peered over the truck's front seat. "I take it you're our new Senior Detective", the man said, "Harrison, right?"
Harrison looked up at the man, silently welcoming the sudden distraction from the horrific, violent sight he saw before him. "That's right", he replied, "That would make you Adam Xander, I guess, huh?"
Detective Adam Xander very carefully slid up to a standing position from the truck's front bench seat, being very mindful of the unfortunately now deceased soul laying not five feet from him. Xander was a tall white male with light brown hair in a freshly-done short buzzcut appearing to be in his early to mid-twenties, dressed in a button-down gray dress shirt, matching gray denim jeans, and white sneakers. A black leather gun belt containing his Smith and Wesson M&P M2.0 pistol, a black leather pouch containing a set of handcuffs, and an LSPD Detective's badge all rounded out his appearance.
"That's me", Xander said in a very welcoming tone, "It's nice to finally meet you, man. Chief Sacco gave me a glowing endorsement of you when I met with him yesterday. Sorry for not shaking hands." He motioned with his eyes down to his hands, which were covered with a by a pair of blue nitrile exam gloves.
Harrison took the cue from his new partner, removing his own pair of blue exam gloves from his pocket and putting them on his own hands. "No worries, my friend", he replied, "It's nice to meet you as well. What's the story with our dearly departed friend here?"
"A kid refilling the newspaper dispenser at the end of the lot first noticed the truck about forty-five minutes ago", Xander explained, "He thought the truck was stopped in a rather odd position, so he walked over to check it out and found not only the side door still open, but our victim laid out as he is now."
"Got it", Harrison replied as he leaned a bit further into the truck, trying to get a better look at the man's head wounds. "I see three open crescent-shaped blunt-force head wounds", he continued, "My first-blush guess is that this poor guy was blitz-attacked from behind with what I would safely assume was some kind of hammer. Looks like he never saw it coming." He sighed deeply for a moment before continuing. "Poor dude", he said, "Who is he?"
"His name badge is draped around the rearview mirror up front here", Xander replied, "Jonah Zebedee, age fifty-two. He's a driver based out of the GQ Postal Distribution Center in West Vinewood. I found his wallet in the glovebox, no money or cards missing. His driver's license lists his home address as being on Spanish Avenue in Hawick."
Harrison nodded, taking in all the information, before realizing something. "People who drive for these big parcel delivery companies have to keep some sort of delivery log, right?" he asked.
Xander briefly scanned the driver's side of the cab before finding the log on a clipboard that sat on the dash just beyond the steering wheel. "Found it", he said as he examined the list, "I've got three addresses with bar codes underneath each of them. He must've had to scan each individual one before physically delivering the letter or the package. I see handwritten check marks next to all three addresses."
It was then that Xander noticed something out of place. "Wait a minute", he said, "It looks like the bottom half of this log has been torn off. Looks like someone tried to alter the list either before or after taking out Mister Zebedee here."
"Damn, man", Harrison said with great regret in his voice, "That's cold. Beating somebody to death over a package?"
"I know", Xander replied, "No kidding, right?"
Harrison then extended his hand forward toward the victim's back pocket. "I've got something in his pocket here", he said. Unfolding the paper item, he read something that tugged at his heartstrings even more. "Oh man", he said, "It's a birthday card dated just yesterday." "'The big Five-Two!'" he read out loud, "'Happy birthday to the best husband and dad ever! Love, Elaine, John, and James.'"
Xander bowed his head with great regret. "Holy shit", he replied, "That is cold."
Just then, a very attractive, tanned, and athletically well-built strawberry blonde woman, who appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties and wearing a black LSPD windbreaker, appeared in the open doorway of the side door. Harrison noticed that just beneath the image of a white LSPD badge, the bolded white text read: "CRIME LAB".
"Adam" the woman said, "I've got something you should see out here."
"Okay", Xander replied before motioning toward the woman with an extended arm, "Detective Harrison", he continued, "This is Anna Barakova. She's a criminalist with our crime lab." He repositioned his gesture back in the opposite direction toward Harrison. "Anna", he said, "This is Troy Harrison, our new Senior Detective and my new partner."
Harrison, immediately taken by this young criminalist's stunning looks, managed to manifest a nervous smile. "Hi", he said, "Nice to meet you."
Likewise, Anna was taken by the appearance of the handsome Detective Harrison, but despite this, managed to keep her professionalism intact. "Nice to meet you too, Detective" she replied in a very polite tone, "You're from Chicago, right?"
"Actually", Harrison clarified, "I'm originally from Southern Vermont. But yes, I did work in Chicago for a while before accepting this job here."
The two detectives carefully made their way out of the truck, at which point Anna showed them toward a spot on the sidewalk that was nearly brushing up against the edge of the taped off crime scene area. A very obvious boot print was noticeable in the concrete sidewalk. Even just by eye, Harrison could tell that it wasn't the average, everyday print.
"First off", Harrison said as he meticulously examined the print, "It doesn't look like whoever left us this print stepped in regular dirt. It's too dark in color." He gestured his gloved hand up toward his nose, trying to catch a whiff of an aroma. "Smells metallic, too" he continued before noticing what looked like squished granules and a very small and torn piece of paper embedded deep within the print itself.
"What's that mashed up white stuff?" Harrison asked.
"It's funny that you ask that, Detective" Anna replied, "I found a very similar-looking print at the scene of a vandalism last week."
"Oh yeah", Xander interjected, "The City Hall thing, right?"
With an affirmative nod from Anna, Harrison's interest was now peaked. "Go on, please", he said.
"About a week ago", Anna began, "A guy managed to walk right into the front lobby of City Hall carrying a big white five-gallon paint bucket. He left it right there in the middle of the floor and ran right back out the door before the security guard could grab him."
"And when the guard popped the lid off the bucket", Xander added, "He got blasted in the eyes by an explosion of sparks and powder."
"The guard lived, I hope", Harrison said with great anticipation.
"Oh yeah", Anna replied, "The explosion wasn't that powerful. However, it's only because of what we could only assume was a miracle that it ended up not being so."
"What makes you say that?" Harrison asked.
"My analysis of the compounds found inside the bucket", Anna explained, "The building's sprinklers went off right after the explosion ignited, so the chemicals were partially diluted by the water. However, my trace evidence analysis yielded traces of ammonium nitrate, strontium carbonate, lithium carbonate, and lithium chloride."
"Come on, Anna" Xander interjected, "You know all that high-school-chemistry shit is Greek to me. Speak English."
"Ammonium nitrate is a compound found in fertilizer", Harrison commented, "Among other things. It was used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City back in the Nineties."
"What about that other stuff?" Xander asked.
"Well," Harrison said after taking a second to think, "As far as those other things are concerned, the only common denominator I can think of is fireworks."
"Red fireworks to be exact", Anna added, "That's very good, Detective Harrison. Do you have a forensic science background too?"
"Actually, I do" Harrison replied, "I was an FBI agent for ten years before I became a cop. I spent my first two years with the Bureau working with the Evidence Response Team in Seattle."
Anna smiled with a newfound prodigious interest. "Cool", she said, "Maybe you can come help me out in the lab sometime."
Harrison also smiled out of gratitude for this attractive young woman's respect. "I'd like that", he said.
Xander grinned while observing the exchange between his new partner and the criminalist. He was soon interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. "Excuse me for a minute, love birds" he sarcastically said before he stood back up and stepped away to take the call.
Harrison watched with interest as Anna meticulously tweezed the traces of the mysterious white substance off the ground with rubber tweezers. "Barakova", he said, "If you don't mind me asking, is that Russian?"
"Yeah", she replied, not taking her eyes off the ground. "My parents are Russian", she continued, "They moved to the States from Saint Petersburg while my mom was pregnant with me. I grew up in Liberty City."
Harrison nodded. "I spent some time in LC on cases back when I was with the Bureau", he said, "I once spent three weeks with my partner in this tiny safe house in Hove Beach. Did lots of bowling in what little off-time we had."
Anna chuckled. "I was more of a 'rebel-against-my-parents-and-ride-on-the-back-of-motorcycles' type of girl back then", she said candidly.
"If it helps", Harrison said, "You wouldn't know it now."
"Thanks", she said, "After my dad died, I decided to clean up my act. I got my GED, and I ended up doing so well I earned a Chemistry scholarship to Yale. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry now."
"So, the rebellious motorcycle girl from LC became a criminalist in sunny Los Santos", Harrison said, "Very cool. Sorry to hear that your dad died, though. That had to be tough."
After carefully bagging the particles of white substance in a paper evidence bindle, Anna shrugged her shoulders in retort. "It was at first", she replied, "But my mom ended up finding a job that fit. She became a waitress at the Sixty-Ninth Street Diner and ended up being surprisingly good at it. She manages the place now."
"No kidding", Harrison said, "That's neat. Good for her."
"Hey guys", Xander interjected as he knelt back down between Harrison and Anna, "That was Lieutenant Wong on the phone. I briefed him on the situation here and he's on his way to Hawick to break the bad news to Jonah Zebedee's family."
Harrison stood back up to an upright position, as did Xander. "Would it make me an asshole if I said that I'm glad it's not us being tasked with doing that?" Harrison asked.
"Not at all, dude", Xander replied, "It is the toughest part of the job after all."