FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter One

Detective Joseph Namer angrily drove a police cruiser to a new crime scene he had been called to investigate. The problem was that he had an hour left until his shift ended and now this was going to ruin his plans to leave on time. Plus, this was adding a mountain of paperwork, depending on the findings, to the pile he already had. He had hoped to clear away some of it in the last hour before going home, but now his plans were ruined.

He did not have much of a social life to worry about because he lived alone in his apartment with his kitty. It had been a few months since he had broken up with his last girlfriend. He was just not the type that believed in marriage and she was pushing for it to appease her friends or family. It just seemed like another "I gotta show off to my friends and family" plan and he honestly liked being with her but he did not love her. No matter how hard he tried he just did not love her in the way other couples were.

He was fine being alone, he felt better that way because it felt more peaceful. The cases he had been on had elements that were better left unspoken and coming home to a "Hi honey, how was your day?" made things awkward. His other girlfriends had accused him of all manner of things because of his introverted nature over his job, but how could he explain how he found dead bodies to anyone?

There are just some things about being a police officer that only another police officer would understand. Even when several of the guys from work wanted to go out drinking he just did not feel comfortable going out for a good time after seeing a suicide or a wife beaten black and blue by a jealous husband.

Marms was his ginger kitty and he was all the companionship Joseph needed. Marns loved him to death and at least with him Joseph did not feel as constrained as he felt with other people. He could talk and tell Marms about his day and the little kitty would blissfully purr as he was petted. He would not give Joseph a horrific look if he described how a body was found or judge him as Joseph ranted and raved about how low some humanity is. Nope all Marms cared about was food and being petted.

He quickly pulled into the parking lot of the nursing home and slid into a parking space. The lights of the cruiser shone on the hood as he reached over and turned off the emergency lights. He made a quick check to make sure he had everything he needed and stepped out and adjusted his suit. The best part and worst part of being a detective is that you did not need to wear a regular uniform but he had to look respectable so his wardrobe was limited to suits, that he felt made him feel uncomfortable.

He nodded to a fellow officer that was in the early stages of setting up a crime scene. Yellow police tape was being stretched out as a warning not to enter the area. A couple of officers were taking up positions in case someone decided to be nosey and enter the scene. The public did not realize that this could contaminate the area and made it difficult to get clues. Plus should this go to court a contaminated scene could allow a killer to walk free after their lawyer picked apart the evidence gathered.

He unconsciously adjusted his suit jacket again to make sure he looked respectable and frowned as he felt his stomach slightly resting on his belt. His cheeks felt itchy from the stubble forming and he had not shaved since the morning. His face tended to be very sensitive so once evening came around the stubble always bothered him.

He adjusted his suit coat and noticed the brown color and groaned within himself. He hated this color suit, unfortunately it was next in line to be worn. The suit matched his brown hair and eyes but when he was a young boy he had this one aunt that used to buy all his clothes brown colored. He just got sick of wearing brown and like most boys his age he liked the color blue.

He did not live with that aunt but his parents used to make him wear the clothes on holidays and visits to her to show appreciation for the gifts. It was not that he did not like the clothes but in addition to hating the color she picked he would have preferred to get a toy rather than clothes. It was not like you could really play with clothes like you could an action figure or a car or something. The best you could do is get the clothes dirty then have to listen to your parents yell that you had gotten dirty.

"Enough stalling." he said to himself as he entered the nursing home. The lobby was very plain looking with old paintings that were starting to fade hanging on the walls. To his left a table and chair had been set up and reminded him of something a little girl would use for a tea party. The chair's fabric looked as faded as the paintings.

To his right a large desk stood behind a wall and he saw a covered body being loaded onto a gurney. Blood had been splattered on the wall behind the desk and everything from where the body had sat was drenched in blood. Joseph made note of a bullet hole in the wall. He walked over to the body and noticed how small it seemed compared to the other officers in the room. A pair of lifeless eyes and an open mouth looked off staring blankly. There was a bullet hole in his forehead that had turned a blackish color. Judging by the size of the hole he guessed it might be a .45 caliber bullet.

He stepped away and turned towards an older woman who was sobbing as she tried to steady herself against the far wall furthest away from the entrance. She stood by a door that led to an elevator. She looked to be in her sixties or seventies with her hair being a dark grey color hair and her skin on her face was wrinkled. She was about five feet tall so Joseph was considering using the tea party set to sit because he was looking down on her and he did not want to be towering over her making her feel uneasy. In some situations it would be useful to get an interrogation but not here.

"Ma'am I'm Detective Joseph Namer from Fallen Rivers Police Department." he said as he showed her his badge which he gently took out of his pocket. "Can you tell me what happened here?" he asked, trying to be as compassionate as he could. He knew how upsetting these things could be but he could not let himself become involved. He was surprised at how upset she was because nursing homes must deal with people passing away all the time, so like him they must know not to get attached to anyone.

"I'm sorry," she said as she used a tissue to clean her eyes and she tried to stifle a sob. Joseph just waited patiently as she steddied herself.

"Why don't we sit down, if that is alright with you." he said and they walked over to the tea party seats and made themselves comfortable.

"I'm the nursing supervisor, my name is Alice Reed, I'm the one who phoned in the shooting." She said as she appeared to be pulling herself together and she was becoming more stoic as she spoke to Joseph.

"Do you know what happened to the security guard? Anyone actually see the shooting take place?"

"No, we found him like that. one of my nurses came down to make copies. We have a copier in the room behind the security desk." Alice pointed to an unseen room that Joseph assumed was behind the reception desk that turns into a security desk in the evening.

"What was the name of the nurse?" Joseph asked and removed a small notebook and a pen from one of his pockets. He glanced at a clock hung above the door that led to the elevator. He silently groaned as he saw what the time was and how he should be home right now. He quickly dismissed the thought as Alice continued and he wrote the nurse's name down and even checked to make sure he had it correctly for his reports later.

"So she came to make copies and as she went from the elevator to the copy room, she looked in to see if she could say 'Hi' to Peter. When she looked in she saw him lying on the floor and ran in to see if he needed help. Then she saw the blood and called me immediately."

"What time did she call you?" Joseph asked.

"Around six o'clock I think because at first I thought it was someone was going to be calling out from work but when I answered she was hysterical." Alice replied.

"Didn't anyone hear the shot? Even in a place like this it would be hard to hide a gun going off." Joseph asked and saw a frown appear on her face as she realized what he was asking.

"It's not as easy as that. This is a bad neighborhood and in the next street over there were gang members living there. They caused all kinds of trouble so it's hard to know if they were up to something or not."

"Could they be involved in this shooting?" Joseph asked.

"I doubt it because Peter was always quiet so I doubt that he would have anything to do with them and even when he started here we warned him to stay away from."

"What was he like when he was working here?"

"He was nice and all of the girls seemed to like him. He would smile as they came on shift and he took his job very seriously."

"How so?" Joseph interrupted. There had been cases of security guards getting themselves into trouble because they thought of themselves as being the same as police officers. If he had been pretending to be a cop then it might make sense that the gang had gone after him.

"He would jump in and take charge if we had any problems and made sure everyone was safe. He always went straight by the book." Alice said. Another officer approached and whispered to Joseph that a second body had just been found in the bathroom.

"Excuse me Alice." Joseph said as he stood and followed the officer to the bathroom. The bathroom was very small and containing only two stalls and a sink that were on the left hand side when you entered. At the far end of the bathroom there was a window with bars on it. The rank smell of blood filled the air.

Under one of the bathroom stalls was a large pool of blood flowing into an uncovered small drain that was housed in the middle of the room. By now the flow had virtually stopped and what remained was coagulating. Joseph examined the drain and wondered why it was uncovered as he looked down the hole. He motioned to another officer and he took out a flashlight and shone the light down it. He could see down the pipe but there was nothing except the blood.

Inside the stall the body appeared to be a man wearing a long black coat. The kind you might see being worn at funeral services or by expensive lawyers. The head of the victim was shattered beyond recognition. A few limp fragments hung on the chest and shoulders and blood was splattered everywhere. The body was positioned so that it was slumped against the wall of the stall and explains why his clothing had not absorbed all the blood dripped from the head wounds.

A handgun and a cover, looking like it would fit the drain, was on the floor next to the toilet. The evidence seems to suggest this individual removed the drain cover then went into the stall to die?! It could not be suicide because he damage was too great. Even compared to what happened to the security guard, there was no way this was a suicide. Someone had to have killed him somehow and maybe left the body to try and trick the investagaors ino thinking it was a suicide and close the case.

Joseph hoped that if there were any fingerprints on the gun that they would find more than just the prints of this person. At least that would make it easier to find out who the killer was of these two bodies. This no longer looked like a simple gang violence scenario because gangs would not go through this trouble. This was beginning to look like the work of a serial killer.

Joseph returned and sat down next to Alice once more to continue the questioning. She was looking around confused as to what was going on and this made Joseph think that they had no idea about the body in the bathroom.

"Ma'am were you expecting anyone tonight? Anybody dropping by, maybe from a funeral home to pick up a body?" He asked as she looked at him blankly.

"No not really... unless you count someone coming to get Peter's body I mean."

"I mean besides Peter, ma'am. Did any of the people living here pass away and leave you to have to call a funeral home?"

"What's this about?"

"We found a second body in the bathroom wearing a long black coat. If you saw it do you think you could identify it?" Joseph asked.

"What second body?" Alice rose and confidently made her way to examine the second corpse. She returned and shook her head in disbelief.

"Any idea who he might be?" Joseph asked.

"I have no clue all I know is that he shouldn' be here."

"Is there a way we can look at the security cameras?" He asked.

"I'll have to call maintenance, they are the only one with access to the camera system." She went to the desk but Joseph stopped her before she disrupted the area. She explained she needed a binder that held the numbers to get a hold of maintenance and he allowed her to get it taking special note to make the reasons the binder had been taken. She was then instructed not to use the phone at the desk but another one somewhere else because the one at the desk was now considered evidence and could not be disturbed.

Joseph stood nearby supervising and the radio on his belt activated and he listened to the message.

"Security officer is here asking for admittance to the crime scene." Joseph acknowledged the message and walked to the entrance to speak to the officer and the guard. He was from the company the security guard here worked for. He had been dispatched, being a supervisor for the company, to help in any way possible in the investigation.

After allowing him entrance they returned to the lobby where Alice reassured them that the maintenance supervisor was on his way in to give them access to the cameras. Joseph looked at the clock again and groaned within himself. He was going to have to call out tomorrow because this looked like it was going to take all night to investigate.