Quick A/N: In certain chapters, such as this one, I will be focusing on characters other than Sam and Andy. I feel that all of the characters have good things to offer to a story and I want to give them all attention. Don't worry, Sam and Andy will be the main focus of the larger story.
Dov and Chloe pulled up in front of the apartment The victim shared with a roommate. Chloe killed the engine and followed Dov up the steps to the door. Dov pressed the button next to the names 'Lake/Daniels'. A moment later a pleasant sounding female voice came back at them.
"Yes?"
"Casey Lake? This is Detective Epstein and Officer Price from 15 Division. May we come in a speak with you?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," the pleasantness all but lost.
The door buzzed and Dov held it open and followed Chloe inside. Dov went to knock on the door but Ms. Lake opened it just as he was raising his fist. She motioned them inside to a small kitchen. Of to the right was a living room and a hallway that presumably led to bedrooms and a bathroom.
"What can I do for you, officers?"
"Why don't we have a seat in the living room?" Dov suggested.
Casey was clearly uncomfortable but complied. She sat in an easy chair while Dov and Chloe sat to her right on a couch.
"We're here about your roommate," Dov said.
"Mary? What did she do?"
"She was murdered this morning. We believe she was out for a jog based on the location and what she was wearing."
Dov wasn't sure if that last part got through because Casey broke down as soon as the first sentence hit her. Chloe got up to go the kitchen and get a glass of water for her. Dov waited until she had taken a few sips and somewhat re-composed herself before he started in on his line of questioning.
"Ms. Lake, I know this must be hard on you and a shock but we could really use your help, if you could answer some questions."
Casey nodded slightly but said nothing.
"When was the last time you saw Mary?"
She took a couple deep breaths to steady herself. "Yesterday afternoon around 1:30. We met up for lunch at this diner just down the block from her firm."
Dov wrote down the name and address for the timeline. "And where did she go after that?"
"Back to work, she was always working, sometimes 60 hour weeks. Long nights in the library researching, or at her desk writing legal stuff. I don't understand most of it."
"Do you know if she came home last night?"
Casey shook her head. "I was working late last night, I'm a nurse at Memorial. I left here at 4 and I got in at 3, her door was shut and I assumed she was in there. And in the mornings she's always quiet. She goes for a run, comes back, showers, changes, then heads of too work. She never wakes me."
Dov jotted Mary's basic routine. "I'm sorry, I have to ask this. Where you and Mary in a relationship or just friends?"
"No relationship, just friends." Casey replied quickly
"This might sound odd, but, did Mary have a cell phone?"
"Of course she does, doesn't everyone?"
"We figured, but had to ask because we didn't find one on her."
"You said she was jogging when…", Casey choked up, unable to finish the thought.
"Yes, she was jogging," Chloe supplied.
Casey regained herself and said, "She always has her phone. She has all of her music on it, she plays it when she goes for her runs. She definitely would have had it on her this morning."
"Do you mind if we check her room?" Dov asked. "Just to make sure she didn't leave it behind by accident."
"Yeah, I don't see why not." Casey got up and slowly led them down the hallway to the first room on the left behind the kitchen. She went to knock on the door before catching herself. The door opened into a well-kept room with a single window on the far wall. Casey walked over to the bed stand on the other side of the room. "This is where it would be, here's the charging chord."
"Can we get her phone number from you?"
Casey called up her contacts app and handed her phone to Dov.
"Do you know anything about this?" Chloe was at Mary's desk holding up a picture of a guy. On it was a sticky-note that had a single word written across it, or rather a name. "Who's Drew?"
Dov handed Casey her phone back and they walked over to Chloe.
"I've never seen him before," Casey said. The man was Hispanic, with the top of a tattoo sticking out of his collar and reaching slightly up the right side of his neck. He looked to be in his late 30s.
Did Mary ever mention anybody named 'Drew' to you?" Dov asked.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "It could have something to do with her work, she didn't talk too much about that."
"What kind of law did she practice?"
"She doesn't do a lot of trial work, mostly research and trial prep. But it's always business-like stuff."
You mean like corporate law, contracts, that kind of thing?"
Casey nodded.
"Could she have been doing some pro bono work on the side?"
"I guess so, she used to work at some legal clinics sometimes, before she landed with the firm. That was before I knew her though."
"Do you mind if we take this photo?"
"Sure, if you think it will help."
"Thanks." Chloe bagged the photo and Dov wrote down some info in his notebook and looked back up. "One last question, how did Mary get to and from work?"
"Public Transit. There's a bus stop 2 blocks down from here."
Dov took a note to check for surveillance footage.
They walked back to the kitchen and Dov thanked Ms. Lake for all her help. "Forensics and some lab people will come by to go over her room and take some stuff, like her computer." He also gave her his card and asked her to call him if she remembered anything else. She said she would and Dov and Chloe left. Back in the car Dov said, "Let's head back to 15. I'll call Swarek, update him, and then check in with Detective Anderson back at the station."
Dov pulled out his phone and began to dial as Chloe pulled away from the curb.