Frankie's Adventure, Chapter 5
By Simahoyo
Frankie's notes were starting to blur together. If he didn't get some sleep, he'd be worthless at work, so he put his notes away, and got ready for bed. His thoughts were bombarding his brain again. He tried imagining a hum in his head, drowning out the thoughts. So, then pictures of Adela zipped through his head. How the hell did Maura do that? He tried to remember, and thought the hum, and made like both sides of his mind picture go black and move in. He smiled to himself, and went to sleep.
Frankie was at work right on time, sat through the morning briefing, then took off with his partner. Harrigan thought he was God's gift to women, so Frankie drove while Harrigan hung out the window and posed. Frankie couldn't wait to get into the detective squad. The radio crackled, then, "3 echo 5, see the man at 13408 State Street. Possible DB." Frankie responded and they were on their way.
The place was a run down apartment house, the front door was covered with graffitti, and the concrete steps were chipped and broken. The door opened, and a man who looked to be German or something related walked out. He wore jeans, worn out shoes, and a Sox T Shirt, His blue eyes swept Frankie and Harrigan. "You the cops?"
"Yeah. (Can't you tell by the uniforms?) "Officer Rizzoli and Harrigan. What's going on?"
"I think one of my tenants died in his apartment. It stinks like hell, so, follow me." As they tromped up the filthy stairs to the second floor, the sickly sweet stink nearly knocked them over.
(Why didn't this guy check before?) The man opened the door with his key, opened the door, and stood back as the stink assaulted their noses. Frankie breathed through his mouth. He glanced over to the bed, and saw the stiff, partially decomposed. Frankie was mad. (Why hadn't this jerk checked earlier?)
"When was the last time you saw him?"
The man shifted his shoulders, and tried to arrange his features to look caring. "Two weeks ago, maybe three."
Now Harrigan chimed in. "And you didn't think to look for him or call in a missing person report?" Anger edged his voice.
"It's a privacy issue. If I invade his privacy, he could sue me."
Frankie looked at the body, then at the (probably) manager. "I don't think he can and hasn't been able to for quite a while. Didn't you notice the smell?"
"I thought it was just old garbage. Turns out I was right." And the jerk grinned like he was funny.
Frankie called it in before he said something he'd regret. He hoped it wouldn't be Frost showing up. His weak stomach would never make it. He did not want further conversation with the Tin Man (heartless bastard), so he closed the door again, to keep the scene pristine. He and Harrigan pointedly ignored Tin Man, after getting his name, as they took notes on the call. Frankie's radio crackle, and his sister's voice came through. "Hey, let us in." So he and Harrigan, followed by Tin Man, went down and let in Janie, Frost and Maura. Frost was not gonna make it through this one.
As they went up the stairs, Frankie stood next to Frost. "Frost, man, this is a gross one. You might want to hang back." Frost nodded his thanks. Frankie opened the door, and let Maura and Janie in, followed at a distance by Frost. Janie turned to Frost, who was already going grey. "Hey Frost, question Mr..." she waited for the name. "Tell." Harrigan supplied." "Yeah, Mr. Tell."
Frost was out like a shot, and down the hall with Tin Man. Janie explored the room, leaving the body to Maura. Frankie wondered if they were having another fight. Maura was inside her cone of concentration, checking the body over. Janie stood over her, looking down. Maura looked up and smiled. Nope. Not fighting. "Sorry, Jane, I can't find the cause of death. I'll have it for you after I do the autopsy."
"Well, he is kinda messed up. Time of death?" Maura gave Janie a mock sharp look, "I could theorize that it has been 2 weeks." Janie smiled at Maura, "Much better than guessing." (God, were they flirting over that yucky body?) Frankie needed an excuse to get out of there. "Should I wait for the forensic team outside?" Janie nodded, so he clumped down the steps and out the door to wait. It smelled a ton better out there. Poor Frost.
It was about a week later when Frankie heard the cause of death. He was so mad, he nearly punched the wall, but he had learned the hard way back in High School not to do that. He had busted his finger that time. He told Hennesy, who growled. "Starvation? That bastard of a manager. Is there anything we could report him for?"
Frankie was thinking, gave up and phoned Frost.
"Hey, man, I gotta ask if there's something we can arrest that scum Tell for?"
"There's no law against being one cold piece of work. Too bad. Even if we tried, 'Not reporting a death', he could lie his way out of it. Poor dude starved right in his room. The Doc found traces of pneumonia, which is probably what laid him up so he didn't get any food. She's pissed too, but I heard from your Mother that she dropped a wad on the local Meals on Wheels, so somebody benefitted."
"Typical Maura. I guess I can do some investigating of my own. You know my source. What was the vic's name?"
"His name was Mark Ryan, aged 35. Worked as a contractor till he lost his job oh, Man, Poor Guy. It was almost a year ago. Hope the gorgeous Ms. Osceola has info for you."
Frankie thought it best to start with calling her. Things had not ended well last time he saw her.
He found a private doorway and called her number.
"Frankie? How are you?"
She didn't sound so great. Frankie decided to go for laying all his cards face up. "Hey, Adela. Are you feeling okay? You looked a little shook up last time I saw you."
There was a sharp intake of breath. "You're right. I'm sorry I acted that way. I was reliving some bad memories. Forgive me?" The phoniness was gone.
"Yeah. It's no biggie. I do want to ask you about something I had happen recently. If that's okay with you."
"Sure. What happened?" She sounded interested.
"There was a guy who died in his apartment, and no one checked on him for 2 and a half weeks. He had Pneumonia, and couldn't go out, so he starved to death. I couldn't arrest the apartment manager–damn it. Any ideas?"
Her silence felt angry. Finally she spoke. "I guess murder is out of the question."
"I didn't hear that."
"If I knew the address, I'd hit them with publicity, and a long demonstration on the front steps. Where did all this happen?"
"Nice question, my brainy friend. Hiberian Royal Arms, 13408 State Street. I have some other stuff we need to discuss, when could I see you? "
He heard her start to speak, hesitate, then "You want to know about my reaction to Gabriel Dean's name."
"Yeah. The way things are looking, he could be family soon, so, yeah."
"I understand. You're a cop. You need to be careful of who you date. The reason I haven't talked about it is it hurts. You get that, right?"
He could hear it in her voice. She was practically in tears. "Yeah, I do. I promise not to be a cop about it all."
He waited, his heartrate going up a bit. "Frankie, meet me in my office. Is 6 Okay?"
"Yeah, it works fine. I'll talk to you then. Bye Adela."