Chapter 6 The Bloody Office

It was Friday morning when I walked into work. It was six days since I started as a detective and this was the first time I didn't show up fifteen minutes early. Instead I was barely on time. I looked around and noticed that there were no other detectives in the office except Jones.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked Jones as I walked up.

"They're all on cases, new leads, that sorta thing. And surprisingly, no new bodies. But then again it's only nine o'clock," Jones shrugged. "It's been a pretty slow week."

"So we're still looking over these cases?" I asked. There was a stack of cases from the last few months that have basically gone cold.

"Guess they want your fresh, new baby blues to look them over, Kid," Jones said.

"Thanks, Jones," I said. I batted my eyelashes at him. I then sat down at my desk and began to look through the files.

"Jones! Barnes!" Captain Butler called out. We looked over to see the smiling Captain making his way over.

"Captain, what can we do for ya'?" Jones asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Just wanted to see how your partnership has been going. You've both solved the Cullson murder and the Bakers murder that Madden and Stanley weren't able to. I'm proud of you both. And I thought Jones would have asked for a partner transfer already," Captain said.

"He's threatened though," I said.

"She can be very annoying. She's too optimistic," Jones said. "I don't like optimistic."

"Better than being pessimistic," I snapped.

"I hoped this dynamic would work," Captain said. "And it seems like it does. That's why I have the two of you working these older cases. I was hoping you could get some of them solved. And also there's no new cases for you yet."

"Yeah it's been a slow-"

Jones was interrupted by his phone ringing. He picked it up and held it to his ear.

"Damn it. . . . On the way," Jones said before hanging up. He turned to me and said, "New case."

"Yes!" I shouted. "Never thought I would be happy to go see a dead body. Let's go, Jones!"

"This Kid is too much," Jones said with a shake of his head.

"Let me know if you need any help," Captain called as I ran out the backdoor to Jones' car.

///

We walked up the stairs of the office building. Jones was breathing heavily behind me. I was having a trouble breathing, but not as much as Jones.

"You okay, Jones?" I asked. I stopped on a landing above the steps Jones was on.

" 'M not as young as I used to be," Jones heaved out. "Someone is goin' to have to answer to why, because of a murder, they shut down the elevator."

I laughed and continued up the stairs. The murder was on the fifteenth floor and we were on the ninth. After many more stairs we reached the floor that the murder was on.

An officer was by the stairwell door when I stepped through. I pulled out my badge and showed it to him.

"Detective Anastasia Barnes. My partner is on his way up," I panted out.

"You might want to catch your breath. It's the corner office," the officer said as he pointed to a private office. Surrounding the outside of the floor were a half dozen offices. And in the center of the floor was a dozen separate cubicles.

I thanked him before going to the private office. It was surrounded by a dozen cops and about a half dozen CSI.

"Detective Anastasia Barnes. What do we got?" I asked as I approached.

"It's pretty graphic," an officer said. "And there's vomit from the person who found the body."

"Do we have a positive ID?" I asked.

"We're sending his fingerprints through the system," the officer said.

"Not his picture?" I asked.

"You'll see in a second," the officer muttered.

I walked into the office and stopped dead in my tracks. I felt bile rise up in my throat, threatening to come out. Now I'm glad I didn't have much time to eat breakfast this morning. I took a few deep breaths before I turned away from the body.

"Oh God," I muttered as I closed my eyes. "I-I need a minute."

I exited the office and leaned against one of the desks in the center of the floor. I took long deep breaths to clear my mind and throat. That image will be in my dreams tonight.

"Whoa, Kid. You didn't need ta wait for me," Jones wheezed from next to me.

I looked up to see the older man as he breathed heavily. He was looking down at me, expectantly.

"I'm not waiting for you. The body - it's bad, Jones," I muttered.

"Do you want to go in together?" Jones asked. "I can wait out here with you 'til you're ready to go in."

"No, let's go in and get what we need," I said. "The quicker we get this done, the quicker we leave. Also there's vomit on the floor."

Jones walked in before me. He stepped over the vomit and towards the body. I stayed on the far wall. I looked around the office so I wouldn't look at the body and also to get an idea of who this man was.

The man was slouched in the office chair. Blood pooled all around chair coming from the hole in his head. It wasn't actually a hole, more like a concave indent where his face should be. Blood was soaking into his generic brand suit. The indent in his head left nothing to identify him except blood, shards of broken skull and brain tissue. I can say happily, I've never seen anything like this.

"How sure are we that this is the man who works in this office?" Jones asked.

"No one saw him leave the office since yesterday afternoon," an officer said. "He left for lunch at eleven thirty and returned an hour later and no one saw him leave once he got in."

"Anyone go in and see him?" I asked.

"We're asking all the people who work on this floor, but so far, no one has," the officer said.

"Can we talk to the person who found him?" I asked.

"She's gone to the hospital to be treated for shock," the officer said. "She's been prone to panic attacks in the past. So when she found the body, an attack happened and she hyperventilated enough to vomit."

"We'll talk to her later, when she's up for it," Jones said.

"All the officers are downstairs interviewing the employees from this floor," the officer said. "But from what they've all said about him, he's-"

"He's a dick," I shrugged.

"Yeah, basically," the officer said. "How'd you know?"

"If you hated someone in your office, would you care if you haven't seen them in hours? Someone obviously hated this man enough to continue taking their anger out on him even after he was dead. Practical overkill," I said.

"But what we need to figure out is who hated this man enough to kill him, and who had the opportunity," Jones said.

"Was there anyone who didn't come to work today?" I asked. "Was there anyone acting incredibly disinterested in the murder?"

"I wasn't the first responder," the officer shrugged. "You'll have to ask Officer Glade. She was the first one on the scene."

"Thanks, we'll be going now," Jones said. He came over and gently guided me out of the office. "That is one of the worst crime scene's I've ever seen. After nearly thirty years on this job, I've never seen anything like it."

"I'm going to have nightmares about this for months," I said.

"And this is still your first week, Kid," Jones said. "You'll get used to it."

"I know, my mom did. She never brought her work home. But some nights I would wake up and she would be in the living room watching TV with a cup of hot chocolate. I would ask her if she had a nightmare because she would always make hot chocolate for me when I had a nightmare. She would say that the nightmares came from work. I would always fall asleep with her on the couch," I said fondly.

"Cute. Let's see what the officers have found out for us," Jones said as he led me to the stairwell.

///

"This is awful," Captain Butler said. He looked over the photos from the crime scene with his nose scrunched up in disgust.

Jones and I were back in the station. We got all the information from the officers who had questioned the employees and all we needed to talk to now was the one who found the body. The two of us were looking over the photos and the answers from the interviews when Captain Butler came up to see what the case we're working on was about.

"Yeah and we know next to nothing about who would want ta kill him," Jones said.

"Yeah. All his co-workers hated him, but none wanted to kill him," I said. "I even heard one of his co-workers say, 'Good riddance.' I want to get a positive ID and found out what his family says about him."

"If he even has a family," Jones said.

"I have a feeling you'll find the suspect soon. Don't tell anyone else, but you guys are my favorites," Captain whispered to us. He walked away with a smile on his face.

"Aw, I've been here barely a week and I'm his favorite," I laughed to Jones.

"He tells that to everyone. Don't let it get to your head," Jones said.

"Detective Barnes?"

I looked to see a man holding two boxes with wrapping paper and bows. But the man seemed familiar. But I doubt I've ever seen him before, I would remember. He had one of the most handsome faces I've ever seen. He wore an expensive suit, tailored to his broad shoulders and thin waist.

"Yes, that's me," I said. I stood from my chair and turned to face him.

"My boss wants to take you up on your raincheck. Dinner tonight. Seven o'clock after you get off work. He bought you these to wear. They'll be a car out front to pick you up," he said before he handed me the boxes he carried.

"Your boss?" I asked as I looked down at the boxes now in my hands.

"You know who it is," the man said. "He asked you out for lunch and you saw your partner coming back inside so you told him you'll take a raincheck. Goodbye, Detective."

And just like that, he turned and left the station. I rolled my eyes. Of course he would be cryptic like this. I turned back to my desk and placed the boxes on my desk.

"You can't be serious," Jones hissed. He glared at me from across the desks. "When did you blow off the Bangtan boss?"

"Sunday. When he told me the information he found about the Cullson case," I hissed back. "After we were done talking about the case, he offered to take me out to lunch. But I don't really eat a lot during lunch and you were coming back so I told him to raincheck. I never thought he would take me up on it."

Jones shook his head as he leaned back in his chair. "You've gotten yourself in trouble, Kid."

"So what do I do?" I asked. "Not show up? Just go home?"

"No. You have to go," Jones said. "You don't mess with RM. We do exactly what he asks us. So after your shift, you put on that dress and those shoes, and wait to be picked up. Even if your not having a good time, you act like it. If he gets mad at you, he will kill you."

"Great, this is the first date I'm ever going on and it's not even a guy I like. And even worse, a guy who wouldn't think twice about killing me," I said.

"It could be worse, you could be going on a date with a criminal. Oh wait!"

I laughed ironically. I then turned to the boxes. I opened the boxes and took out the contents. In the thicker box was a pair of thick strapped black heels that were the tallest pair I've ever owned. In the thinner box was an elegant black dress. It was tea-length dress with spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline. It was gorgeous. The quality seemed expensive on both the items. And smart RM took off all the tags so I wouldn't know the price of the items.

"You're gonna look great, Kid," Jones said. "But for now, let's get back to the case."

"Right," I said. "Murdered office worker."