Chapter 4

Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Death.

Detective Bradley Jones was surveying the crime scene at the luxurious apartment building downtown Boston. During his tenure with the Boston Police Department, he’s seen quite a few murders already. He had a much better than average record of solving murder cases, even really tough ones. He already knew that this new case will not be simple.

The deceased was a scientist and a businessman. He didn’t have a criminal record, not even a speeding ticket. He lived well, dressed well, and had a reputation for dating pretty, young, and mostly rich women. The neighbors heard nothing, the doorman saw nothing. There were no signs of struggle, no evidence of foul play, except of course the dead man.

One shot between the eyes usually carried some significance. Arthur Lewis was not connected to the Mob, not as far as the police records showed anyway. This shooting was not a warning, it had no message, and it was terminal. The man had no known enemies, he wasn’t married, and if he had family, it was very far away. No doubt, Detective Jones though, this case will be interesting.

He spoke briefly to the crime scene investigation technician that was collecting evidence, and gave him a few instructions. “Look for a safe deposit box, bring every piece of paper with you to HQ, all computers, hard drives, CDs, DVDs”. The guy asked if he should bring music CDs and movie DVDs as well. “Yes, moron”, he spat, “bring anything you even think can serve as a data storage device to any kind of data”. He added some instructions about looking into the closets, possible fresh fingerprints on dishes, signs of forced entry, and finally, cellular phones and car keys.

This was no crime of passion, thought Detective Jones. The guy met his assassin next to the elevator. He must have known the murderer, as there were no signs of struggle. Mr. Lewis must have been on his way to some social function given his attire. Art was in some kind of a rush and had to leave in a sudden, given that there was a half drunken cup of coffee on the kitchen counter.

Assassinations of businessmen and scientists were not very common. Murders of businessmen, who happened to have been scientists as well, were almost unheard of. Detective Jones, who has been with the police force for many years, did recall a similar incident, a couple of decades ago. There was a lot of money involved then, and a couple of women. It was an easy case, and he solved it in no time. This one was different. Unless some women and a bunch of money would present itself during the investigation, this one may prove as a new class of crimes in Boston Greater Area. Detective Jones, of course, was the right man for the job. He was experienced but not too old. He was highly motivated, but not vindictive. His cases were usually clear cut, evidence was presented, juries were convinced, and they were convicting. His conviction rate was way over ninety percent, and the isolated cases were acquittals were dealt, were ones were the DA screwed up somehow. Hung jury was not on his list.

His new assistant, a brand new graduate of the police academy, and the daughter of someone or other, was interviewing a neighbor. By the puzzled look on her face, Detective Jones concluded that she was on to something. He opened his sports jacket, removed his hat, and walked over to the other side of the room. He introduced himself, nodded his head to the neighbor, and listened while the guy was voicing the usual displeasure over the crime committed right under his nose. Not atypical, he also said something about where the world was heading these days, the behavior of youngsters, and the uselessness of the police force. Detective Jones kept his poker face, until the speech was over, and then started questioning the neighbor on his own.

“Did you know the deceased?” he asked. The person had said that he met Arthur Lewis in the elevator a few time. “Nice guy”, “very polite”, “European”. Detective Jones despised people, who thought European was a synonym to good manners, charm, and good taste in food, wine and women. Personally, in his line of work, he had met quite a few people of European decent, who were far from polite, and their taste in wine, women, and anything else for that matter was ridiculous.

“Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary recently?” the detective inquired. “No” said the man, “there was nothing unusual”. “Is there anything at all you think we should know?” he asked. The answer was negative. Detective Jones was ready to start reciting the thanks and the good byes, when the person said that he did see something unusual that involved Arthur Lewis. In fact, he added, at the time it looked very peculiar. “A delivery guy from some restaurant showed up one night and knocked on the door. He was wearing the uniform of some fancy downtown restaurant”. Detective Jones was getting ready to move on, but then he heard the man say “you would expect a food delivery guy to be carrying food, wouldn’t you?” “Well”, he said, “this delivery guy was empty-handed”. Detective Jones was now fully engaged.

This entry was posted on 5. November 2009 at 04:44 and is filed under History of the World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.