008

Cole returned to work at the precinct. He first reported to Captain Finnegan's office, knocking on the already open door. The captain looked up from his deskload of paperwork.

"Ah, Detective Harvey! Glad you're back. Are you trying a new rugged look around the station?"

In his haste to be on time, Cole had forgotten to shave.

"No sir, just running a little late this morning," Cole replied.

The captain gestured with a curt nod. "Have a seat."

Cole sat in the chair opposite of Captain Finnegan's desk. "We need answers, Harvey. Since you were the only witness to what happened that night, I'm putting you in charge of this investigation. This is a high profile case, probably the highest of your career. I've got the mayor breathing down my neck and I need you to get to the bottom of this. Can I count on you?"

"Yes Sir!" Cole replied with enthusiasm. He stifled his inner anxiety.

Captain Finnegan considered the detective. "Good. You're dismissed."...

Cole left the captain's office to spend most of the day at his desk, re-reading all the reports on the night club murder and scanning the police archives for a proper candidate for Zafira to... make disappear. Sure, there were plenty of thugs, drug dealers, pimps, and similar scum, but he felt they were not deserving of the death penalty.

"Cole! I see you're back today. I have something to talk to you about."

Cole looked away from his computer monitor. Frank stood nearby in an all-too-serious pose.

"Look, if this is about the other day, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that."

"No, no. It's not about that at all," Frank said. "I have a lead on Maria's killer!"

Cole practically jumped from his chair. "What do you got?!" he shouted.

"I'll explain at Vince's lab."

They briskly walked to the medical examiner's lab in the precinct's basement. Cole was anxious. Could this finally be the big break he had sought all this time?

Frank and Cole stepped into the pathologist's realm. They found Vince staring at his computer monitor.

"Okay, Vince," Frank said. "Show Cole what you've found."

Vince turned around, "Hey! Glad you're back."

"Spare me the pleasantries and get on with it," Cole said impatiently.

"Right," Vince said. He ignored his friend's brusqueness. "So, as you know, one of the only pieces of evidence we have in Maria's shooting is a partial fingerprint on one of the bullet casings found at the crime scene. Due to it being small and incomplete, we've been unable to identify who the print belongs to."

"That is, until now," Frank said with a big smile on his face.

Vince turned back to his computer monitor. "The FBI was kind enough to allow me to try out their new experimental software. Using a database of billions of fingerprints, the software is able to 'guess' what the rest of a partial fingerprint could look like. It was able to compile eighteen possibilities."

"So?" Cole asked, waiting for the punch line.

"So," Frank said. "The weapon used in the shooting was a rare 9mm Belgian revolver. We know this because, when this gun is fired, the hammer leaves a unique imprint on the casing. We cross referenced the eighteen possible fingerprints with the number of registered Belgian revolvers on file and found a single match!"

Vince typed into his computer and then turned his monitor toward Cole. "Meet Markus Santana. The man has quite the rap sheet. Burglary, drug trafficking, and is currently on parole after being convicted of armed robbery. He was released on good behavior just before Maria's murder. We checked the surveillance footage of the robbery and sure enough, the masked armed gunman was holding a 9mm Belgian revolver."

Cole's blood boiled as he stared at the mugshot of Markus on the monitor. "So what the fuck are we waiting for?!" he shouted.

"With this software being experimental, it wouldn't be admissible in court." Vince said.

"But," Frank interjected. "It does look convincing. Convincing enough for a judge to issue a search warrant. If we find the revolver with his prints on it, we can match them to the casing found at Maria's crime scene."

"How long?" Cole asked.

"The warrant should be signed by tomorrow morning," Frank said. "I have a team already assembled and ready to go. Vince here will be with us to handle the evidence."

It all seemed to fit together so neatly. Could this really be right? There was, however, one way to know for sure.

"Good work, both of you. Thank you," Cole said. "Tell me what you find once the search warrant is a go."

"You'll be the first to know," Vince said with a reassuring smile.

Cole left the lab, grabbed what he needed, and left the precinct. It was time to take Zafira out to dinner.

*****