Case 2: Corpse in a Garden

It was only his second day on the job and considering that they'd just had another murder called in, he knew it would be a busy time in Grimsborough and frankly he was kind of glad for it, plus Jones was an affectionate drunk and he really couldn't complain about that.

Reaching the taped up, abandoned house that was typical of the area they were greeted by two uniforms, two coroners and a short pudgie man with a cheap suit and thin hair.

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to mean me changing clothes later."

"That's industrial." Jones sounded a lot more chipper then JJ expected after drinking twelve pints for a none soldier as well as someone from outside of New Orleans but then again he neither knew what Grimsborough was like or his partner that well.

Climbing out of the cruiser the elder detective talked with the one who called it in, Dave Simmons but he was already looking, he quickly found the hand that the witness had seen as well as the corners took that part.

Also there was a small set of documents and files covered in mud that were definitely out of place.

"Hey JJ, do you see anything off with that tree?" Jones was right, the leaves, they were way to neat for a garden like this, like someone had raked through them it wasn't hard to find the small business card at the bottom. The back was worn however.

Bagging them they both entered the, frankly disgusting, house.

"I think I found the owner of that hand." There was that mix of disgust and humour in the brunettes voice.

Popping his head into what turned out to be the bathroom JJ wrinkled his nose slightly, easily noticing the fat naked body in the tub missing a hand, he called out to the coroner before stepping into the room.

"Well, what do ya suppose the killer used?" Jones snorted as he looked at the bloodied saw as well.

"And do you think that those may belong to the Vic?" Pointing at the crumpled but more importantly clean, suit.

"Very observant old timer, care to explain the fresh bottle of lighter fluid, or the immaculate tie clip?"

"Watch it kid."

"What ya gonna do? Spank me?" The southerner smirked as the other flushed bright red, though what really made Jones flush was the spark of arousal it sent through him, something a guy hadn't been able to do since he was in college.

"Alright, let's get this bagged and back to the lab or I might just." Something flashed in the red-head's eyes that sent another spark through him, right, this partnership really was going to be interesting.


Jones again watched in awe as JJ worked through the evidence with skill that made the lab techs jealous.

The mud was cleaned from the file's and number restored on the card, a tech taking them to computers.

The lighter fluid turned out to be from a local store, the tie clip meant nothing until JJ searched through the clothes and took a print from it, the tooth discovered in the pile was given to one of the lab techs.

Then they were off to the store.

Walking into the store they found a scraggly man who looked like a stiff wind would take him down.

"Joe Stern. We need to talk to you. A bottle of lighter fluid from this store is evidence in a murder investigation, we need to know who bought it." While Jones talked with Joe, JJ drifted around the store.

"You don't seriously think I keep track of all my customers, dozens of people come through here every day, I can't keep track of them all." Damn the guy even sound like a hick.

"Well then I'm sure you won't mind Officer Jensen looking around, in case there's anything else you forgot." The shop owner grumbled but consented.

And of course it had to lead them to the trash.

"Why is it always the trash?" David just shrugged with a smile as they left.


The only thing the search of the trash turned up was a band aid before the night encroached, nothing else was ready and it left the two detectives to their own devices.

JJ drove to his home in the Historical centre, the beautiful Victorian era three story felt cold before he walked into the warmed interior, the Spanish style that was so reminiscent of the French Quarter back home with its sculpted metal banister and warm colours.

Sliding into the kitchen he pulled out one of the pre made home meals and threw it in the microwave, grabbing a beer from the fridge, taking a swig before stripping off his jacket and two gun holsters, the one around his shoulder and the other that hugged his thigh.

After eating he washed up and climbed the stairs, stripping down to his boxers before strapping another holster around his thigh, the large hunting knife making him feel more secure before double checked both doors and each window before falling into bed, happy not to have any reports.

Closing his eyes he focused on the gentle brush of the wind, keeping his breathing even until he managed to shut off his brain, falling into a fitful slumber full of blood and screams.


Just as JJ walked into the station David caught him.

"Perfect timing, Nathan's just finished the autopsy and Grace has the lab results."

"Body first." JJ suggested and they set off down the stairs and to the back where they found the morgue.

A tall black man in scrubs was carving into a body.

"Hey Nathan. May I introduce Sargeant James Jensen, JJ this is our head ME Nathan Pandit."

"Nice to meet you JJ."

"You to Nathan, any chance you can tell us about our vic Ned Dillard?" That charming southern smile was in full force.

"I might, the hand matches the body and there's no doubt in my mind that the saw you found is the murder weapon. What I can also say is with the strength needed to move and saw off the victim's hand the killer would need to be a man."

"I have a sister who will say that's rubbish but it points us in the right direction."

"Thanks for the info Nathan, see you later." David wrapped up and they walked away with a wave, climbing the building to the labs.

"Ah you must be JJ." A beautiful women with long red hair tied back smiled at him. "Grace Delaney, it'll be nice to have another red head around."

The southerner smiled as he took her hand, brushing a kiss to the back of it.

"A pleasure to meet you ma'am." The smaller red-head giggled.

"It's Grace, now I have a lot of results for you two."

"First the tooth, it is not from the victim and matches the imprint on the bottle of lighter fluid, the tie clip had a finger print on it, not a match to anything in the system but it does match the murder weapon. We're still working on the stain documents, that's with Alex now."

"So the killer is a man wearing a bandage, who's also missing a tooth and wearing a tie." Jones noted that down. "And we have one suspect who matches that."

They thanked her before walking up one more floor.

A boy who looked barely out of his teens that screamed nerd met them.

"Well Sargeant Jensen, I'm Alex Turner but you can call me Digital God."

"Careful Alex, you're good but not that good." The elder detective cut him off and the boy pouted.

"Spoilsport I've got that number, it leads to a Marie Sanchez, she's a house maid, might work for the victim." Alex shrugged before looking at the screens. "And I've got those documents running through the computer to clean them up, I'll message you when I'm done."

"Thank so Dillard or Sanchez." JJ paused, pursing his lips.

"Sanchez."


While it was obvious from appearance that Marie Sanchez was not the killer, it pointed them in the direction of someone who might be.

Dennis Brown was a tallish man with dark hair, a bandage, tie and missing a tooth. Ding, Ding, Ding.

"Dennis Brown, Ned Dillard was killed the other day, we have reason to believe you offered your service's as a bodyguard not long before." Jones didn't mince his words just stated the facts bluntly.

"Well yeah, guys put a lot of honest people out on the streets, thought he could use the protection ya know, guess I was right." The man eyed JJ wearily, the detective matching his height of six foot but seemingly out weighing him when it came to muscles.

"Huh, and you wouldn't happen to know anything about those people would you?" Jones pressed using the man's discomfort to his advantage.

"Sure here's a list I tore it up thinking I wouldn't need it but maybe you can use it." They smirked at each other once they were in the car, JJ putting the pieces together on top of a thin file.

"Fuck, he did screw over a lot of people...Including Joe Stern."

Jones glanced at his partner.

"Skip Dillard for now, let's go see Joe, besides, I've got an idea."

Blue eyes swam with confusion but he went with it and head to the store, and spotted the camera on the wall.


It took as good as nothing for Joe to hand over the camera footage and then about as much for Alex to work out the killer was six foot, well would you look at that.

And while Dennis Brown may not of sung like a canary, his body language sure did under the interrogation, combined with the match to the lab results it was already going through the paper work for court.

While writing up his report David's phone rang.

"Guess what Alex just found?"

"His first girlfriend?"

"Ouch." He laughed at his partner.

"No, I wish it was only that. Tony Marconi, a suspected gangster, more like the mafia then the local gangs which is why we haven't caught him. The file was a land registry belonging to Marconi, it show he wanted several priorities held by Ned Dillard and had put in offers for them only to be rejected."

"Hey Jensen, Jones, the Chief wants you."

The two detectives walked to the office, knocking and entering.

"Jensen, Jones, nicely done today, we've discovered that Brown received a large amount of money to an off shore account."

"Marconi paid him." Jones growled and JJ fought down a shiver, that, could be fun.

"Also Joe Stern requested our help." The Chief made no move to correct them on the Marconi incident.

"Go talk to Simmons, there has to be a reason why he was there in the first place, I'll get Stern."

By ten O'clock they were shattered and just managed to finish typing reports, praying they didn't get an early call out but hey they'd stopped a drug drop and caught a murderer, they were just happy to get home.