Ten Days Later
"Jim," Fisk's voice cut through the murmur, as Jim walked back into the squad after taking Hank out.
"Yes, Boss?" Jim turned to face the Lieutenant.
"You up?" When Jim nodded, he continued, "Tribeca Grand Hotel, on Church and Walker. Triple homicide and one assault on her way to hospital. Take it, I'll send Russo and Selway to help you as soon as they're in from lunch." The Lieutenant handed a faxed sheet to Karen.
"I'm good to go." Karen said to her partner.
Jim turned Hank around and they headed back.
"Hold on, Jim, EMS." Karen cautioned. They had stepped out of the elevator and an EMS unit was hurrying a gurney along the corridor toward them.
Jim pressed back against the wall, nudged his partner, "Can you get a look at her?"
"Yeah, I'll meet you at the door." She made eye contact with the officer standing at the penthouse door and tipped her head toward Jim. The officer nodded. "There's an officer waiting for us there."
Karen followed the EMS unit as they took the unconscious woman into the elevator and down. She took some photographs. "Looks like a drug overdose, coke, maybe, but she's also got some bruising and it's possible she's been raped," the paramedic said.
"Thanks. You taking her to Bellevue?" Karen asked.
…
At the penthouse suite door, Jim introduced himself and had Officer Pennister bring him up to date. "We got called by hotel security - they were alerted by a housemaid. She came in and found two of the DOA's as they are now. Security also found the unconscious woman and the third DOA locked in the bathroom."
"The maid is here?"
"My partner's just escorting her to the staff bathroom, she was pretty upset."
"Alright, make sure she see's no one and waits for us. We'll need to talk to her when we're done here." Jim waited while Pennister called his partner on the radio and relayed the orders. Then he asked, "You were first on the scene after that?"
"Yes."
"Could you describe the woman they just took?" Jim cocked a thumb at the departing ambulance officers.
"Yes, um, she was unconscious, she'd been vomiting and was lying in it on the floor."
"Okay and what does she look like? Height, weight, …"
"Um, okay, about 5'5" slim build , blonde hair, very pale skin and dressed racy, like a hooker I guess. Short leather skirt, she had on a red bra, no panties."
"Hair long or short?"
"Long, long hair, but real blonde, not like out of a bottle you know. I guess if she was a hooker she was at least a classy one."
Karen walked up. "I'm ready, Jim."
"Thanks, call us when the maid get's back okay?" Jim said to the Officer Pennister.
"Sure, Detective." The officer watched Detective Dunbar park the dog just inside the doorway of the suite and take Detective Betancourt's arm.
Inside they pulled on gloves and Jim pulled out a wad of evidence bags. Karen pulled out a camera, took the bags from him and placed them on a clear space on the table by the door. "Want a look through to start with?"
"Sure." He took her arm again.
She looked around as she led him in. "Big suite, open plan, huge round bed in the middle. Mirror on the ceiling but not as tacky as some places. Two L-shaped couches. Nice chocolate brown colors. And phew, there is at least a grand worth of coke lined up on the coffee table here."
"Blade? Snorting tube?"
"Yeah, fancy blade and rolled bill."
"Any blood on the blade?"
"Not that I can see."
"Other drugs?"
"Some packets," she moved them slightly with her gloved finger, "yeah, pills, blue and white."
"Clothes?"
"Yes, lots, skimpy girl things strewn around randomly. Shopping bags too, expensive stores. I'd say they've been on a spree and treated him to a fashion parade."
"Hooker clothes?"
"Hard to say. They might be too high quality for that. Can't see the guy's stuff yet."
Jim dismissed it. "Let's check out the bathroom where they found the one who's alive," he suggested.
Karen led him around the lounge area to the bathroom. She stopped at the door. "It's a mess, broken bottles on the floor at the door, some blood, I'd say the woman who was locked in here threw a tantrum, threw everything at the door."
"The third body?"
"In the tub." Karen leaned around the corner. "Oriental, by the looks of it, long back hair, small hands."
"Ligature?"
"Not that I can see, in fact, she looks…peaceful. Head back on the edge, a towel under her head.
"Blood in the water?"
Karen touched his arm, asking him to stand still, and stepped carefully into the room. She leaned over the bath and blew some of the bubbles away. "No, water's clear of blood, could be vomit though. No blood around the bath either, although, the tiles and the bath are black, so we'd better ask CSU to give us a definitive answer on that."
"Is there a curtain around the bath?"
"No, glass partition, hand prints, some residue, that sort of thing."
Jim sighed, what a waste, "Okay, what else?"
"Let's see, there're bubbles still floating in the bath, as well as a couple of empty bottles of champagne."
"Any drugs in here?" Jim asked.
"No, a bottle of vodka, empty - but no coke residue or anything."
"And the unconscious woman was where?"
"Right in front of you, behind the door, in all the glass."
Jim's brow furrowed as he built a picture in his head and sought his next question.
"We want to know if the two girls were alone in here when the one in the tub died. What about clothing, any men's clothing, condoms or evidence of sexual activity?"
"No clothing at all, the one in the bath is naked, and the one they took away only had her bra and panties on." Karen opened the cabinet doors, nothing unusual.
"Hang on, let me check something." Karen walked carefully onto the granite tiled floor. She looked carefully at some substances on the counter. "Looks like seminal fluid on the counter. They sure had a big night."
"Way to go, I guess." Jim gave Karen a sad smile, "Anything else in here?"
"No, let's check the other DOAs."
Karen led Jim back to the centre of the main room, around the couches and over to the bed.
"A woman and a man, it looks like he had been sitting on the edge of the bed, she's on the floor in front of him." Karen stopped and then continued in a low voice. "Looks like they were engaged in …foreplay when it hit them."
"You're kidding?"
"No, the guy, though, he's laying back on…" Karen stopped. She stepped back, moved Jim back a couple of steps. He could hear her breath catching in her throat.
"What? What is it Karen?" He kept his grip on her left arm and found her right also, turning her to face him. "Karen?"
"Ah, Jim, I'm not sure. No, maybe I'm wrong; I only had a glimpse…" He could feel her turning in his arms to look over her shoulder.
"What?" Jim wavered between impatience and care for her. "Karen, tell me what you're looking at."
"Your brother, Jim, I think it's your brother that came to the squad. I…"
He blinked, pursed his lips and spoke calmly, "ID, look for some ID. Come on, you've seen plenty of dead men, Karen. Snap out of this." He let go of her arm and gave her a little push toward the bed.
She looked for a wallet. "He's not in his clothes, just a robe."
"If this is Bobby, there'll be boots, cowboy boots, somewhere and, ah, a big, black leather coat. And his wallet should be in the coat." Jim waited.
Karen spoke from near the door. "Yeah, a coat and ID."
"Well?"
"Robert Dunbar, 8 August 1961."
Jim nodded. That was Bobby's date of birth.
Karen tore her eyes off her partner's face and looked back at the dead man on the bed. "It's him," her voice was thick with emotion, "Jim, I'm so sorry,"
Jim shook his head. "Don't go to mush on me Karen. I'll deal with my shit in my time, okay?"
Karen nodded. Jim was frowning, maybe looking a little disappointed, but certainly nowhere near upset. "Alright," with a last little shudder she pulled herself together.
Karen described the woman at Bobby's feet, redhead, petite, young, maybe 16 - probably not. Jim frowned. "That's Bobby's style. He never was one to pay attention to the law."
"Where he is, on the bed, any pillows?"
"Ah, yeah."
Jim checked his gloves; "Show me."
Karen stepped her partner up to the body and put his hand on the pillow. He reached under his brother's body and extracted a gun. He held it for a moment, emptied it and snapped it shut again. He remembered Bobby as a child, when Jimmy was about six, and his brother was ten. Bobby was showing him this exact gun. Their Dad had just given it to him for his birthday. The image of the grey steel, the short stubby barrel, was as clear as if he were looking at it today. "This is my gun, Jimmy, and no one can touch it but me. And even you can't touch it, unless I'm dead and you have to use it to avenge me." He'd sounded so serious, and Jim had looked up at him with hero-worshipping eyes, "Okay, Bobby, I won't touch it unless your dead and I have to avenge you." He hadn't known what avenge meant but he understood the rest. And true to form, he had never touched his brother's gun until this moment.
"An unarmed Dunbar is a dead Dunbar." The words his father had used when Jim was given his own gun on his tenth birthday, rang in his head, slurring like his father did when he was drunk.
Karen saw deep currents of emotion briefly in Jimmy's face and then they were gone. His hand was steady as he slipped the weapon into an evidence bag and sealed it, handing it to her to label. The ammunition went into another one, as per regulation, and she labeled that too.
Karen couldn't wait to get out of there. Jim was as thorough as usual. They went over the crime scene for any signs of other people but found nothing.
Jim kept things moving. "Alright, these two look like a simple OD's so far. I suspect our girl in the bath is the same. Let's get these bodies to the ME and see if that fits."
Tom and Marty could be heard coming down the hall, arguing about who had made them late. Jim turned to Karen, touching her arm. "Let's not mention the connection right now. I'll tell the Boss when we're sure."
"If you say so," Karen said as she guided him back to Hank.
Jim nodded and slapped his thigh. Hank moved into position.
"Are you guys finished already?" Marty asked.
"No, can you do the photographs and talk to the maid? We're going to head over to the hospital and see if the girl might come around," Jim answered.
Karen looked up at him. She'd forgotten photos completely and didn't even know there was a maid involved. She picked up her camera from the table and held out the evidence bags to Marty. "You might want these. It's been a drug party."
"See you back at the squad." Tom looked carefully at Karen. She was pale and solemn. Jim looked the same as ever. Jim started down the hallway behind Hank. Tom stepped behind Marty to give the other Detective some room. Then, with a gentle hand on her arm, Tom stopped Karen as she went to follow her partner. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, it's fine." She nodded and avoided his gaze. "See you back at the squad."