Danny and Sara began the tedious job of looking through Garry Whiteman's life. According to his friends and colleagues, he was well liked. His divorce had been trying, but in the end, he and his ex had managed to remain fairly civil, with joint custody. He didn't appear to have financial woes and nothing unusual was found in examining his banking records. He didn't have much saved, but he wasn't in too bad of shape financially. His will went uncontested.
His colleagues did mention that he had recently started seeing someone, a dancer, they thought, but didn't know much more that sparse pieces of information. Apparently they had been only going out a few months and Garry was very reluctant to talk of his personal life a work. None of his friends had met the mystery woman yet, but none thought that to be out of the ordinary for Garry. He had been, in harmony with all they had heard, a private man.
***
"Doc, do you have a moment?" Sara poked her head into the office door.
"Sure, anytime for you my fair detective. How may I help you?" Dr. Reubens waved her in and pointed to the chair next to his desk."
"Well, I'm not really sure. I was wondering if you found anything more with Mr. Whiteman."
"Hmm. Mr. Whiteman." He started shuffling through a stack of files in his in box.
"Garry Whiteman, our body with out the …"
"Ah, yes. Mr. Whiteman. Well, the fibers we found have been identified. Let's see, carpet fibers, very common. Cotton and polyester clothing fibers consistent with what he was wearing. Found a few stray fiberglass fibers, common insulation type. Nothing else really. Some wood splinters on his hands and under his fingernails. My guess is that he was recently doing minor repairs around his house or he was at the hardware store looking at supplies. Nothing really out of the ordinary."
"Damn." Sara got out of her seat and stared at the photographs on the wall.
"Was that not helpful?"
"Yes, yes. It's just that, oh I don't know. I was hoping there'd be more. I had a feeling there was more." She started to pace like a caged animal. Doc Reubens could almost see the gears working and the engine chugging in her brain.
"No. Nothing really out of the ordinary, unless you look at the fiberglass and wood. But there could be a very logical explanation for that." Doctor Reubens removed his wire-rimmed glasses and began to clean them.
"Well, it gives me somewhere to start. Thanks Doc." She turned to the door and stared at the doorknob as if it were doing tricks.
"Glad I could help." He returned his glasses to their rightful location and smiled at the pretty detective.
"Yeah, you did. I just feel like a big piece is missing."
"Detective, I feel like that every time things don't add up. It comes with Homicide." Sara gave a small sigh and opened the door. She paused briefly and looked back at the Doctor. Her mouth gaped open and closed a few times as if she wanted to say more. She shook her head and turned back toward the open door and exited the room
Doc Reubens sat behind his desk for several minutes staring at the chair where the detective had been sitting. Slowly he rose up from his seat and headed out of his office to the morgue. He felt the need to re-examine the remains of Mr. Whiteman. Although Mr. Whiteman's body had already been released to the family for burial, tissue samples still remained on file until the case was solved. Doc Reubens began shuffling through the results of all of the testing completed, looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
***
It had been a long day at work on Thursday and the entire ride home from the precinct, Sara had daydreamed of a hot bath, a cold beer and the leftover lasagna from Marie Siri that was stored safely in the storage compartment of her bike. She reached her apartment building and was letting herself into the door to her apartment when her cell phone rang.
Shit. This had better be good.
"Pez", she replied tersely.
"Am I interrupting a hot date" Danny joked, knowing full well of her plans for the evening. He had tried several times to relieve her of at least a portion of the lasagna, claiming he was wasting away from lack of good nourishing food. She threatened to call Leigh to confirm that accusation, and he reluctantly backed down.
"Yeah, my bath and I were about to get intimate, Woo. This had better be worth it."
"Sorry to ruin the evening Pez, but we got a call. Similar MO to Mr. Whiteman. Jefferson and 143rd, second floor. Meet you there in 20 minutes, or do you need me to pick you up?
"No, I'll probably beat you there. You drive like a blue hair, Danny."
"Surely you jest partner, I just don't feel like getting killed every time I get into traffic. Plus the beauty of a cop car with full sirens blasting is that everyone, well most everyone, gets out of your way."
"Sure. Jefferson and 143rd, second floor. Meet you there, oh Wise Asian Master."
"Glad to know you still remember." She snapped her phone shut, and put the lasagna in the refrigerator for later. Too bad, because she was really starting to get hungry. She, however, still remembered what happened after seeing Mr. Whiteman for the first time and didn't feel like wasting good food.
***
Sara arrived at the scene just as Danny was pulling up in a squad car. They met the responding officers in front of the building and were filled in on the initial call. The body of a female was found on the second floor landing by the gentleman in Apartment 2B as he returned home from work at 6:05. He immediately called the police. He did not recognize the deceased as someone who lived in the building. Other officers were taking statements from the other tenants on what they saw and heard from approximately 5:00 on. As of yet, no one had reported any suspicious sounds.
Danny and Sara climbed the stairs to the second floor landing and were greeted by Doctor Reubens.
"Was in the neighborhood and thought I'd swing over and get a good look at the scene." He nodded back toward the body.
The woman was probably in her mid thirties and in good physical condition. She had one bullet entrance wound in the chest, near her heart and one in the temple. She was partially wrapped in a white sheet. Immediately, both officers could see why they were called in on this crime. Covering the sheet was ballerina shaped confetti. It was obvious that the crime was not committed here, the lack of blood stood out, especially against the white sheet.
"Anything you can tell us, Doc?"
"I hope you both have determined that the crime was not committed here." Sara and Danny nodded in unison. "Also, based on the temperature of the body and the amount of rigor, I'd say she's been dead about 10 hours. But I can't say for sure until I get her to the lab."
"Right Doc. Anything else that jumps out at you?"
"Only that this is a sick individual. Confetti. It's almost like he enjoyed the killing, or he enjoyed the fact that she was dead." The doctor got up, removed his latex gloves as the technicians moved in to secure the body for transport and to gather the remaining evidence. As they moved the body, something fell out of the sheet. Sara bent over to pick it up and felt a hand jerk away her arm before she touched anything.
"Always wear gloves, rookie." Danny was holding a pair of blue gloves and an evidence bag out to her. She put on the gloves and turned the bag inside out. After picking up the object, the bag was flipped right side out and Sara was looking at a partial matchbook cover. "Warren H" was all she could read.
"Looky here, Sara found us a clue. Good job." Danny patted Sara on the head and was the recipient of a death glare.
"Oh, you'd better watch it, Woo. Doesn't look like you've earned her respect yet." Doc Reubens chuckled and received his own glare.
"That's enough you two." Sara barked.
All three headed down the stairs to the street. "I should have some preliminaries by noon tomorrow, if you'd both like to stop by. We'll run out to Lucky's and grab a bite for lunch and I'll fill you in." Danny and Sara looked at him with surprise.
"Yes, I like to get out of my morgue. The smell of formaldehyde makes me sick and I need a break every once in a while." He waved at them as he got into his car and headed back to the precinct.
Danny and Sara stayed a while longer, catching up with the other officers on their findings from the interviews with the building occupants.