Humor Me

I have been looking at this file again to get some sort of a clue of what we are missing and then it hits me like a ton of bricks. Woodi decided to walk in at the right moment and I start to explain to him what I found.

"Just humor me for a second...I have been looking at the evidence of Sarah's disappearance the night of the party. What if the killer knew her? He either knew she would be at the party or waited for her to be alone and then kidnapped her. Then four days later she was killed at 3:23 am. He must have isolated her, raped her, stole her underwear, and tried to hide the fact that he knew her on the fourth day."

Woodi then takes a seat and I continue, showing him everything I have written down.

"Remember the tracks at the crime scene? We thought it was leading out of town. What if the tracks were leading into town? He must have come into town, turned off the main road, and drove under the bridge to the crime scene to dump her there. Keep in mind that he had to have had a secluded place to keep her for four days"

I then point to the whiteboard on the other side and make my case even more clear.

"You said that in the footage of the morning of the murder, you saw a pick-up truck at 4:15 am driving past? That could've been the killer driving to work after he dumped the body? The sorority is linked everywhere in this case. I think we need to go to the party house first and then the sorority house, are you coming?"

He stands up and gets his jacket.

"That makes sense. That could be the reason why she had smaller underwear. He must have kept it for a trophy of some sort. Nice work, Detective Mark. And hell, yes. I will be coming along, you don't have to ask me twice"

I take the piece of paper that Mia wrote the address on and we walk out to my car. We put the address in the GPS and start to pull off. I turn to Woodi.

"Where did you go last night?"

"I was on call. I had to go and assess a crime scene. It was another hit by the 23's street gang. I handed the case over to Gangs and Narcotics, that's their territory"

"How do you know that it was the 23's?"

"It's simple, there is usually one guy that they are after. They kill everyone except the guy that they are after. They pull off his pants, make him sit on all fours. Shove a 12 gauge shotgun up his ass and pull the trigger. Pretty messy but the message is clear."

"What?! That's just nasty. What's the message?"

"If you fuck with them, that's what will happen to you. That's why I handed the case over to Gangs and Narcotics"

"So that's what happened in my house? With the 23's that took out the other gang?"

"No, actually the 23's got wind that a rival gang that got their hands on some heroin. The 23's stormed your house and killed everyone. Cops were dispatched and they had to flee the scene. That's why they tried to set up the sting operation. The 23's don't like killing cops, it brings unnecessary heat on them. But if they are pushed into a corner, they will retaliate"

Woodi then looks at me with a hint of concern.

"Are you still going to stay at the home, or are you looking to stay somewhere else?"

"Well, to be honest, Madison offered for me to stay in her garden cottage. Just until I get settled and get a good place for me to move in...you know"

"What's up with the two of you? I've noticed a few glances between you two. Now, you are telling me that you are sleeping over? Man, she's fine. I wouldn't mind if I had my way with her. Did you bang her?"

I can not help but feel a bit of disgust rising up in my heart towards Woodi. He has been a decent guy so far but when I listen to how Woodi is talking about Madison, I just have this feeling like I want to kick his ass for talking that way about her. But I have to keep my cool. I don't want him to think that there is something between us because there isn't...or is there?

"Come on...man...no. She's just helping me get settled. Nothing is going on"

"I wouldn't mind if she helped me out...if you know what I mean."

"Woodi, let's focus on the case, shall we?! There's the house on the right."

"Fine, but we're going to talk about this again, okay?"

I just ignore him, walking up to the door and ring the bell. A shirtless guy opens the door and says;

"Yes?"

"I'm Detective Marks and this is Detective Woodward, we are with the L.A.P.D. What's your name please, sir?

"It's Doug. If it's because of the noise it's already handled, okay? There's no need for you to be here"

"This house was used for a sorority party about a week ago? A missing girl that attended the party was last seen here-"

As he tries to shut the door in our face while saying;

"I don't know anything about a missing girl. So, you guys can go and fu-"

I push the door open again and say;

"Listen, Doug, I can smell the weed on you. The girl that went missing was killed and we are looking where she was killed. If you close this door, I will come back with a warrant and the crime scene investigators will tear your house apart looking for any trace of evidence linking you to her death. Or you can answer a few questions now and we will be on our way, so, what will it be?"

"Killed?! Wait now hold on...I've got nothing to do with this"

"If that's true, then answer our questions. Who arranged the party?"

"That would be my girlfriend, Aliah"

"Why did the sorority have the party here? Doesn't the sorority have a house of their own?"

"Yes they do, but there was some sort of a problem throwing the party at their house, I'm not sure what it was. So, I said that they can throw it here."

"Can you remember a girl named Sarah Twaist?"

"Yes, she's Aliah's friend from the sorority. I met her a few times but never really spoke to her. She seemed nice and all, always friendly."

"Do you remember Sarah talking to anyone in particular or was anything out of the ordinary with regards to her?"

"Well, she was wasted like, early on in the party. She even danced on my table and it fucking broke man...that table was vintage."

"Okay, anything else that could be useful?"

"She fought with someone at the party. I think it was another girl."

"Do you know her name? Can you maybe describe her?"

"Short, black hair, earring through the lip and eyebrow."

I turn to Woodi and say;

"Sounds like Mia..."

"Okay, what else about the fight can you remember?"

"Nothing much. After the fight, Aliah came to ask me if Sarah could stay over. I didn't have a problem with it so I said it's okay with me."

"And then, did she stay the night?"

"No, Aliah was looking for Sarah later on but she couldn't find her. We thought she left by herself or someone took her home. That's it. That's all I can remember. Oh and by the way, I have a prescription for the weed if you were wondering"

"Yeah, everyone's got a prescription for it nowadays...If you can remember anything else, here are our cards. Please don't hesitate to call us"

He closes the door and we walk to the car. I look at Woodi and say;

"So, the sorority house is our next stop. It's not too far from here"

We drive to the house and get out. I look at the house and say;

"This is the house that's linked to everything. Wonder what they are going to say"

I follow Woodi to the door. A young lady dressed in swimwear opens the door and say in a sexy voice;

"Well, look who came knocking on my door. How can I help you, gentlemen?"