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This is just a piece i am working on and am not sure if I should finish it. Reviews and tips would be greatly appreciated

Laura thinks now that maybe if she hadn’t been in such a rush to take the presents to her room, if she hadn’t shut the door to her room that maybe just maybe she would have heard someone enter the house. Just maybe Laura would have heard the footsteps that paced into the kitchen where her mother was cleaning up from the party. She would have heard the intruder quietly shove a cloth down her throat to muffle her mother’s screams while the intruder strangled her mother to death. 

Instead Laura had to come out 15 minutes to late to find her mother there on the floor cold. The rest is a blur. The cops the detectives and the medical examiner all crammed into her small kitchen. The funeral, the weeks that followed and the tears she cried. What hurt her the most is that they never found her mothers killer. The detectives had never caught the killer.  She guesses that’s how she ended up here, at a crime scene waiting in her car with her hot cup of coffee in her hand. Laura never got the closure she needed the one thing that would put her mind at rest. The fact that she didn’t know who killed her mother and why drove her to make sure that never happened to anyone else.  Detective Sullivan tapped on her window with a puzzling look pulling her out of her memory. She smiled up at him and stepped out of the car. 

“Long night?” Sullivan asked as the walked towards the tacky yellow tape where the body was waiting.     

   “Something like that” Laura responded casually not wanting to explain her drifting off in her memory a few moment ago.

“Morning detectives” a uniform says while lifting the yellow tape so that Sullivan and Laura could duck underneath.

“What do we have this morning?” Laura asks looking down at the medical examiner who was also her best friend, Claire West.

“Just your classic murder” Claire responded. “See the tire tracks on his legs? Only the lower parts of his legs were run over. The thing that killed him was this” Claire says as she points to the strangulation marks around the victim’s throat. “Looks like he was strangled first then dumped here for Mr. Foster over there to run over him this morning” Claire states casually pointing the end of her pen towards the direction of Mr. Foster. Laura looked over at Mr. Foster who was standing unsure of what to do over by some vehicles. 

“Come on Sullivan” Laura says looking over at Sullivan who was getting the run down from one of the uniforms. “Let’s go talk with Mr. Foster.” Sullivan finishes up and follows Laura over to Mr. Foster.

“Hi Mr. Foster, my name is Detective Brooks and this is Detective Sullivan we just have a few questions about this morning okay?” Re-ensured by Mr. Fosters nervous nod of his head she continued. “How did you discover the body?” Laura asks

“Well I’m sure you’ve already seen the body” Mr. Foster stated. 

“We just need to check our facts” Sullivan answered.

“I ran him over this morning okay. Just glided right over him didn't even see him."

“Around what time was that?” Laura asked jotting down what Mr. Foster had just said.

“Around 6:15ish” Foster said “Look I’m gonna be late for work I really gotta go so if you’re finished with me can I please leave?” 

“I’m sure your boss will understand why you’re late for work” Laura stated before turning on her heels leaving Foster not very happy behind her. Sullivan and Laura walked back over to where Claire was still examining the body only to find detectives Bennet and Williams joining her. 

“Hey Bennet hey Williams you guys finally joining the party?” Sullivan snickered. 

“Unlike you,” Bennet replied “we don’t wait by the phone every morning waiting for someone to drop.”  He finished with a sly grin and a swig of his coffee. 

“Alright alright” Laura cut in. “Why don’t you go survey the crowd see if we got any by standers maybe someone saw the killer drop the body.” Laura says as she nods towards Bennet and Williams signaling for them to go survey the crowd. 

“If you hadn’t come earlier I was about to commit another murder” Claire says. “Those two have been at it all morning.” 

“Aren’t they always?” Laura snickers in reply. Williams and Bennet were known for their continuous bickering but Laura knew when it came down to it they always had each other’s back. 

“We got an I.D.?” Sullivan buts in.

Claire tosses a wallet towards Sullivan who catches. 

“No I.D. no drivers license or anything all the credit cards are still there along with some cash so it wasn’t a robbery.” Sullivan states 

“Well his fingerprints are in tack so once we get him back to the lab I should be able to pull his prints. But what I do have is a time of death. Based on his body temperate and the bruising around his neck I’d say he was killed around 11pm and 12am” Claire says looking up at Sullivan.  

“Alright thanks Claire” Sullivan responds. 

“Hey one of the bystanders might have something” Bennet says signaling for Sullivan and Laura to follows.  “His name is Roger White. He lives just across from our murder scene claims he saw a black truck pull in the ally where the body was found around 1 this morning.”

“That would match our time of death,” Laura says.

As they approach Roger White, a young man dressed in a white tee with holes all over it that matched the holes all through his jeans as well. 

“That would match our time of death.” Laura says. “Hi Mr. White I’m Detective Brooks and this is Detective Sullivan we just need to ask you a few questions about what you saw.”

“Sure, Sure” Roger White replies

“Can you please just tell us exactly what you saw this morning?” Laura responds.

“Ya around 1 am I heard a car pull in over there.” He says nodding towards the alley where the body is. “Anyways they were making quite a noise so I got curious ya know just kinda peeked out my window to see what all the commotion was about get a feel to what was going on. But what do you know right as I open the window to look out this black van pulls out in a hurry and flies out of there.” 

“Did you get a good look at the driver or possibly a partial on the license plate?” Laura responds

“Listen lady, I’m all for helping the police and all but it was 3:30 in the morning. Do you really expect me to think that ‘hey they could be dumping a body and maybe I should look at the license plate?’ No I was all for getting in back in bed and going the hell back to sleep.”

“And are you sure the truck was black?” Williams’s questions, 

“Look I may have been tired but I wasn’t crazy ya ya the truck was black.” 

“Thank you for your time Mr. White.” Bennet replies as him and the other 3 detectives turn to walk away.

              “Brooks” Laura says as she answers her ringing phone. “Ya I’ll be right there thanks Claire.”

“Claire got something.” Sullivan asks with a puzzling look. 

“Yup let’s go.” Laura says grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair and heading out the doors of the 34^th precinct. 

“Your vic is Thomas Moore, a zoo keeper at the Central Park Zoo.” 

“Really a zoo keeper wasn’t expecting that.” Sullivan says. Claire shoots him a glare. “Alright alright please continue my lady.” Sullivan says sarcastically. 

“As I was saying,” Claire continues “The killer strangled him from behind see how the bruising pattern is slanted upwards. Also the killer had an injured left hand when he killed Thomas.  You see how the bruising around the left side of his neck isn’t as consistent indicating the killer didn’t pull as hard on the rope. It’s most likely due to the fact that something was wrong with his left hand and so they didn’t apply as much pressure from behind.”

“How do we know its rope?” Laura questions.

“The bruising pattern is 2-inches thick and I found strands of a nylon rope dug into the marks on his neck so the murder weapon you are looking for is a 2 in nylon rope.” Claire finishes. 

“Thanks Claire.” Laura smiles “Anything else?” Laura questions her friend.

“Actually yes” Claire replies rolling Thomas to the side to offer a clear view of Thomas back to the detectives. . “I didn’t catch it at the crime scene but Thomas here has scratches all along his back and they are not from a human.”

Sullivan looks at Claire puzzled. “If they aren’t from a human then what are they from?”

“My guess would have to be some wild animal and from how wide the marks are I’m going for an animal on the larger side too.” 

“Hmm, alright thanks Claire” Laura says nodding a smile at Claire as she swings the doors open to leave the M.E.s morgue. 

Back at the precinct Laura and Sullivan find Bennet and Williams setting up the murder white board. 

“Victims name is Thomas Moore, works at the Central Park zoo as a zoo keeper” Laura says writing his name and occupation underneath his picture. “Claire also told us that the killer had an injured left hand when our Vic was strangled.” She moves to the other side of the white board and prints ‘injured hand’ underneath were it says killer with a picture of a question mark where the face should be. 

The four detectives sit together observing the white board. 

“Alright,” Laura says. “Let’s see if we can fill in more of the time line the day of the his murder. We know his time of death was between 2 and 4 am let’s find out what he was doing before that. Bennet, Williams why don’t you head down to the zoo and see if we can find out what time he got off work that night and where he might have gone. Also see if he had any enemies and while you are there why don’t you look around and see if you can find any large animals. Preferably with claws. Our vic had claw marks on his back.” Laura states as she writes ‘unknown claw marks’ under Thomas name and picture. “While you are up to that Sullivan and I are going to contact his family and let them know what happened. 

“Yes field trip.” Bennet says high-fiving Williams before he catches Laura’s glare directed his way. “Alright, alright we’re going.” Bennet says slinking off with Williams like a puppy that had just been let down.

“Come on Sullivan let’s find out if Thomas had any family.” Laura says once Bennet and Williams had left. 

“Mrs. Moore we are very sorry for your loss.” Laura says as she hands Mrs. Moore a tissue. “We just need you to help us answer a few questions about your son Thomas.” 

“Yes, Yes anything” Mrs. Moore replies

“Did Thomas mention anything was wrong or did he start acting strange recently?” Laura asks

“Not as far as I could tell.” Mrs. Moore replies. “Then again I wouldn’t have known I didn’t get to see him very much in-fact we didn’t have the closest mother son relationship. He would stop by every now and then for dinner and to say hello but not very often.” Mrs. Moore sniffles. 

“When was the last time you saw him?” Sullivan asks gently

“About a week ago he dropped by for his father’s birthday dinner and he wasn’t acting strange then. Then again I’m not the person the ask have you spoken to his roommate Alex yet?” 

“Alex?” Laura and Sullivan both say in sync as they look at each other with quizzical expressions.

“Yes, Alex Jones, his roommate for a few years now. Him and Thomas were inseparable when they were in college together. Oh my have you told Alex yet? He is going to be devastated.” 

“No we were un-aware he had a roommate until just now thank you Mrs. Moores.  Do you have the address to their apartment?” Sullivan asks 

“Why yes I do” Mrs. Moores replies jotting it down in the notepad Laura had handed her. 

“Thank you for your time Mrs. Moores once again I am very sorry for your loss” Laura says as she stands to shake Mrs. Moores hand indicating the meeting is over. “We will let you know as soon as we catch his killer.” Laura says 

“Yes thank you.” Mrs. Moores says turning to leave.

“Would you like to buy a ticket to the zoo?”

 A lady with one of those cheesy name tags pinned on her shirt spelling the name Wanda out asked when Bennet and Williams approached the entrance to the zoo. Williams already was annoyed with this lady just by her appearance which consisted of long fake bright pink fingernails, a horrible dye job on her hair bright pink lipstick to match her nails and her annoyingly high pitched and way to cheerful tone didn’t help either.

“All access pass.” Bennet said flashing his badge at her. “We’d like to talk to the manager.” Bennet continued. 

“Yes of course” Wanda replied moving away from her spot of selling tickets to customers to make an announcement on the zoo intercom. “Would Mr. Browns please report to the ticket selling window again would Mr. Browns please report to the ticket selling window.” She said into the phone announcing it all over the intercom so the entire zoo could hear. “You can wait there.” Wanda says pointing to a bench just off to the side of the window booth.

“Thanks.” Williams responded before following Bennet over and having a seat. 5 minutes passed before Wanda came out of the ticket selling stand to where Bennet and William were sitting. She was followed by a rather short round man with rather bushy eyebrows who waddled when he walked. Bennet nudged Williams in the arm and the detectives stood up.  The manager nodded towards the booth indicating that Wanda should get back to work. She not so happily sulked back to the booth clearly disappointed she didn’t get a chance to hear what they were going to talk about. 

“Do you have someplace we could talk?” Williams asks showing his badge at the manager. 

“Sure sure right this way.” He replied before waddling around the bench Bennet and Williams had been sitting on into a building just to the left. A cool blast of air condition hit Bennet and Williams in the face as they walked through the automatic sliding doors into the building.  Once inside an office Mr. Browns shuts the door behind them before moving to the other side of a desk and extending his hand for Bennet and Williams to shake. 

“I’m Mr. Zack Browns.” He says shaking the detectives hands

“I’m detective Williams and this is detective Bennet.” Williams replies 

 “Please have a seat.” Mr. Zack Browns says gesturing towards the two chairs where Williams and Bennet are standing. 

“Thank you.” Bennet and Williams respond in sync.

“Now how may I help you detectives? I ensure you all of our license are up to date so I’m assuming you aren’t here for that?” Mr. Zack Browns states positive of himself

“You would be correct.” Bennet responds “We are here because of Thomas Moore I understand he is one of your zookeepers?” Bennet says, making sure to not let on to the fact that he is dead to see Mr. Zack Browns reaction. 

“You would be correct, except strange thing is he didn’t show up for work today. I for one am very disappointed in him he has never let us down. He once came to work with a terrible cold I was ready to send him home but he said that would be un called for, after all the animals couldn’t catch his cold anyways. What a great worker that Thomas is always early and always working late for no extra pay at all.”

“Mr. Zack Browns we are here to inform you of his death. He passed away early this morning.” Williams says

“That would explain why he is late to work today. You are detectives are you not? So I’m guessing he died of un-natural causes no?” Mr. Zack Brown asks.

“Smart man.” Bennet says. 

Mr. Zack Browns smiles and sits up straighter very proud with himself that he was able to figure this out.  

“Mr. Zack Browns” Bennet says folding his hands on the desk in front of him. “If you don’t mind we have some questions about Mr. Moores activities yesterday.” 

“Oh yes please go ahead.”  

“Around what time did he arrive at work?” Williams asks.

“I can do you one better.” Mr. Zack Brown responds as he gets out of his desk and walks over to a pile of DVD’s neatly stacked on a shelf. He grabs the one on the top and pops it into the television he has in the corner of the room. On the screen appears Thomas entering the zoo. The time stamp reads 6:12. 

“6:12” Mr. Zack Browns says smiling clearly proud of himself, again.  Bennet scribbles this down in his notebook and then looks up and continues. 

“What time did he leave work?” 

Mr. Zack Browns fasts forward the video of the front entrance of the zoo until he spots Thomas leaving at 1:00pm for a lunch break and then returning again at exactly 2:00pm. 

“He left for an hour lunch break but was back at 2” Mr. Zack Browns says 

Bennet scribbles this down and then looks up letting Mr. Zack Browns know it was okay to continue. He fast forwards now until they spot Thomas again at 5pm the last person leaving the zoo. 

 “Are there any other exits out of the zoo that he might have used that day?” Bennet asks

“No. To make sure of no brake- ins or robberies we only have the only main entrance and exit.” 

“We will need that disk for the investigation.” Williams states holding out his hand. 

Mr. Zack Browns pops the disk out snaps it in its case and hands it over to Williams. 

“Did Moore start acting strange or different recently?”    Bennet asks

“Not really he did start taking a bigger interest towards the 3 tigers we have but besides that no. It’s not too uncommon for employees here to change interest in the animals they work with every now and then.” 

“What exactly was Thomas’s job?”

“Well before his sudden interest in the tigers he had been working and caring for the 5 black bears we have here along with the 9 giraffes.”              

Bennet looks up from his pad and paper, “Did Thomas have any enemies?” 

“Look everyone loved Thomas the guy was a good guy but when he became interested in the tigers I put him to work with Sarah Hill who was working with the tigers first.” Mr. Zack Browns leans forward on his hands on the desk as if he was about to tell a secret. “But I will tell you this if I wasn’t mistaken I would say she was a little jealous of the fact that she had been working with these tigers for 3 years and now all of a sudden she had to share with Thomas.” 

Bennet scratches down the name Sarah Hill before looking up. “Is there anything else you would like to share?” He asks.         

“No I believe that’s it.” Mr. Zack Brown says taking the pressure off his hands as he leans back in his chair.

Bennet and Williams stand up and Williams takes a business card out and hands it to Mr. Zack Browns. “Please contact us if you remember anything else” He says before turning around to leave. “One more thing” he says before he goes. We would like to have a look around your zoo if that’s okay?” 

“Yes go ahead be my guest.” Mr. Zack Browns responds before the door to his office closes with a soft click as Williams and Bennet leave. The automatic doors to the building slide open and they step into the hot summer heat. 

“What do you think?” Bennet asks turning towards Williams as they walk through the entrance of the zoo.

“I think we need to check this Sarah Hill out.” Williams replies 

“Lions and tigers and bears oh my.” Williams chants as he and Bennet make their way down the stoned path of the zoo. 

Williams and Bennet make notes of the larger animals as they walk through the zoo.  They finally get to the tiger attraction and stop to take a look.  There is no sign of Sarah Hill though. 

“We will have to come back another time.” Bennet says observing the tigers as Williams turns to continue through the zoo.

The Detectives finish the walk through and are offered a cheery goodbye from Wanda as they exit and walk towards the parking lot. Once inside Bennet turns up the A.C. to full blast. Williams starts driving back to the 34^th precinct to report and share notes with Sullivan and Laura. The drive back to the precinct isn’t very long and within minutes they pull up to the huge building, park and ride the elevator up to the 5^th floor. They find Laura and Sullivan adding to the murder board. 

“What did you get?” Bennet asks.

“Thomas’s mother says that Thomas had a roommate named Alex Jones” Laura says.

“What did you get?” Sullivan asks in return.

Vic worked at the zoo from 6:12 am to 5:00pm only leaving between the hours of 1 and 2 pm for a lunch break.” Williams says.

“But get this, Thomas suddenly picked up an interest in tigers and one of his co-workers, Sarah Hill, became a little jealous that Thomas was all of a sudden allowed to work with the tigers with her.” Bennet ads.

“Did you talk to Ms. Hill?” Laura questions 

“She wasn’t there.” Williams ads from his place at the computer “I’m looking her up in the data base right now.” 

Laura, Sullivan, and Bennet move over to circle Williams.

“We got her address and it appears she has a history of drug use and violence. She could have easily killed Thomas.” 

“Alright why don’t we call it a night for tonight?” Laura says.  “We can pick this up tomorrow.”

Sullivan and the other detectives agree and head home for the night. 

Chapter 2:

When Bennet walks  through the elevator doors into the 34^th precinct he spotted Laura already there. This was no surprise as Laura was always the first person to work.  Bennet smiles as he walks overs and joins Laura and begins studying the white board with her.

“Find anything interesting?” Bennet asks

“Not yet.” Laura replies

  Soon after Williams and Sullivan arrive too.

“Morning.” Sullivan says as he approaches to group.

The other detectives respond with casual  ‘good mornings’ and ‘heys’ back before Laura stars talking about how they are going to conquer the day. 

“Sullivan and I are going to go over to Alex Jones and Thomas’s place and see if we can find out anything else. Bennet, Williams why don’t you two head over the Sarah Hills and if she’s not there check the zoo again for her. Why don’t you bring her in for interrogation.”

“Alright. Let’s go.” Williams says as Bennet stands up and starts marching towards the elevator. 

“We better go too.” Laura says as she picks up her coffee from the desk and follows behind Williams and Bennet.

Laura and Sullivan hop into Laura’s Crown Victorian and head off towards Alex Jones apartment. 

“N.Y.P.D. open up.” Laura shouts as she knocks on the door of the apartment.  They hear footsteps coming from inside the apartment approaching 

“Alright alright I’m coming geez.” Someone replies from inside the apartment.  Laura and Sullivan hear the locks turning with a click and the door opens to reveal a young man with messed up hair, slippers and still in his pajamas.

“Can I help you?” He asks groggily. 

“Alex Jones?” Sullivan responds.

“Yes that’s me.” Alex responds

“N.Y.P.D we have a few questions about your roommate Thomas.”

“Can that wait till later it’s only…8am.” Alex replies looking down at his watch.

“No sorry.” Laura asks as she steps past Alex and into the apartment. 

“What’s this about anyways? What about Tom?”  Alex asks.

“Are you aware that he was murdered?” Sullivan asks.

This appears to wake Alex right up as he suddenly shuts the door and sits down on the blue sofa.

“He was murdered?” Alex asks sadly.

“Yes we are very sorry for your loss but we need help catching whoever did this so would you mind answering a few questions?” Laura asks as she gives a quick glare towards Sullivan obviously not happy with the way he just asked  Alex if he knew  Thomas was murdered.  Laura preferred to take a delicate approach when telling a loved one someone they knew was married.

“Sure go ahead.” Alex responds more awake now.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Sullivan asks.

“Let’s see 2 night ago  yes he came home from work around 5:30.”

“And what did he do that night?” Laura asks

“He came home and showered then we went out to get a couple of drinks.”

“And what time was that?” 

“Around 7 it was our tradition that once  a week we would go out to drink after he got home.”

“What time did you leave the bar?”  Laura says

“We didn’t leave together.” Alex states “I mean we did but he didn’t come home he said he had something to do. So we both got two different cabs and left the bar around 10pm.”

“Is that all that happened  Thursday night?” Sullivan asks

“Yes that’s everything.” 

“Did Thomas have a girlfriend or did he start acting strange in the past few months?” Laura asks.

“No, as far as I could tell everything was normal he never said anything that would lead me to think that. And no, Thomas didn’t have a girlfriend.” 

Thank you Mr. Jones we are very grateful for your help.

“Anytime.” Alex responds 

“Please call us if you remember anything else.” Sullivan says handing Alex a card. 

“Okay. I will. Thanks.”  Alex says as he closes the door to the apartment behind the detectives.

  Laura and Sullivan don’t even make it down the hall before Laura is on the phone with New Yorks cab company.

“Yes this is Detective Brooks I need to talk to one of your cab drivers about a customer Thursday night.” Laura says into the phone as Sullivan gives her a knowing glance signaling that he understands that she is contacting the cab company to find out where Thomas went the moments  before his death.

“Cabbie says he remembers Thomas Thursday night as it was the only guy he picked up from the bar that night says he dropped Mr. Moore off at the side of Central park zoo.”  Laura says to Thomas.

“Does Bennet still have the security camera footage?” Sullivan asks.

“I believe so let’s go check it out.” 

Laura and Sullivan walk into the 34^th precinct just to find that Bennet and Williams have Sarah in the interrogation room.  Sullivan and Laura walk into the observation room where the one way mirror is so that they can observe the interrogation but the other detectives, and Sarah can’t see them.  It appears that the interrogation just started.

“Ms. Hill can you please tell us how you knew Mr. Moore.” Williams questions. 

“Ya he worked at the zoo with me. Tell you what the manager played favorites with him. He use to work with the bears and giraffes and one day he gets a sudden interest in tigers and boom Mr. Zack Brown puts him in there with me. You know I’ve been working with tigers for the past 3 years and all of a sudden he gets to work in there with me with no experience.”  Sarah responds

“I bet that made you mad.” Bennet says.

“Of course it did I wanted to kill that man.” Sarah responds

“And that’s why Thursday night you followed him until you got him alone and you choked him to death then dumped his body in an ally.” 

“Wait. Thomas is dead?” Sarah asks leaning forward on the table. “Look I may have hated the man but I didn’t kill him.” 

It was clear even from where Laura and Sullivan were that Sarah wasn’t lying. Bennet asks for an alibi just to make sure.

“Ms. Hill where were you Thursday night between 11pm and midnight on the night that Thomas was killed?”  

“I was out with a couple of friends at a party.” Sarah says. “You can check with them.”

“We plan to could you please write down their names and phone numbers for us to verify that you indeed were with them last night.” Bennet says sliding a pad of paper towards Sarah. 

Williams stands up to leave and let Bennet finish up and Sullivan and Laura leave the observation room as well.

“Do you still have the security footage from Thursday night at the zoo still?” Sullivan asks joining Williams out into the hallway. 

“Ya why what’d you get?” Williams ask handing Sullivan the DVD.

“Alex, Thomas’s roommate said they went out and got drinks the night of his murder. Claims they both left the bar around 10pm  but took different cabs because Thomas told Alex he had something  to do something. So we called the cab company and talked to the driver who picked Thomas up from the bar. Says he drove Mr. Moore to the side of the zoo and dropped him off there around 10:30.”  Laura answers.

Bennet joins the other detectives around the computer as they fast forward to the footage of 10:30 that night only to see nothing.

“You said there aren’t any other entrances to the zoo right?” Sullivan asks.

“Ya that’s what the manager told us and we walked around the zoo after our interview and we didn’t see any other entrances or exits.”  Bennet replies.

“So what could he have been doing just before his death at the side of the zoo?” Laura questions. 

“I know how to find out.” Laura says. 

Author's Note

Please ignore any grammar or spelling problems I simply just ant reviews on this to see if people will like it thank you