Not Slow in the Matter of Sifting Evidence - Kid Flash 8-page comic #14 of 16 in series 2
Characters: Bart Allen (Kid Flash), Jay Garrick (Flash), Preston Lindsay, and supporting cast.
Rating: G.
Content: Humor.
Page Count: Eight pages of comics script.
Summary: Bart’s sure he’s found a way to protect Darrin Chambers from his old gang, so he turns his attention back to that group project for Criminal Justice class: the slight matter of solving a murder.
Continuity: Starting from the DC Comics standard, this series of eight-page backup stories about Bart Allen started here. This is part of the second story of that series, starting here. Bart is living in Keystone City with Jay and Joan Garrick; Barry Allen and Max Mercury are back.
Disclaimer: Kid Flash and his family and friends are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
PAGE ONE (four panels)
Panel 1. PROFESSOR McDONNEL sits at her desk in her office at Keystone Community College, speaking to students during an appointment.
McDONNEL:
You folks chose a tough class project--investigating a murder. As I read your progress report, so far you’ve identified a prime suspect, and exonerated him.
McDONNEL:
Which leaves you with an open case.
Panel 2. We see that the students in McDONNEL’s office are BART ALLEN, MARINA DESIDERIO, and BILLY JAKE HERSEY.
DESIDERIO:
Are you saying that if we don’t solve the murder of Raemond Ferguson--a case that even the police haven’t solved--we’ll fail the assignment?
McDONNEL:
No. Frankly, I didn’t expect any team to get as far as you have.
Panel 3. McDONNEL reassures the team. BART looks proud.
McDONNEL:
I’ll grade you on your analysis of the case--the investigation, media coverage, how the juvenile system played into it. Every part of criminal justice you can apply.
McDONNEL:
Spelling and punctuation will count, though. These last eight pages look like they were written in an hour.
BART CAP (expressing BART’s thoughts):
Ha! Just five minutes!
Panel 4. McDONNEL addresses BART, having guessed correctly who wrote that section, and he gets a little sheepish.
McDONNEL:
Spell-check is your friend, Mr. Allen. It’s not always a reliable friend, but you shouldn’t ignore it all the time.
BART:
Yes, ma’am.
•
PAGE TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. At the Sundollars coffee franchise near campus, BART and DESIDERIO sit at a table and talk.
BART:
So…what do we do now?
DESIDERIO:
Deputy, you were doubtful about this case at the start. What do you want to do?
Panel 2. In a continuation of the previous panel, showing the rest of the same table, HERSEY takes a swig of coffee.
Panel 3. HERSEY puts his coffee down on the table with a steely look.
HERSEY:
I want to nail the guy that killed Raemond Ferguson.
BART CAP:
Yeah!
Panel 4. The team is all agreed. HERSEY consults his papers.
DESIDERIO:
All right. What’s our next step?
HERSEY:
We start over. Reread the police file. Visit the crime scene. Talk to witnesses.
HERSEY:
I can drive up Saturday. How ’bout we meet here at two and ride over to Lampert Street where they found the kid’s body? We can scout the neighborhood while the sun’s still up.
Panel 5. On a sunny Saturday, HERSEY is driving BART and DESIDERIO through Keystone in his truck.
HERSEY:
My sheriff says he learned half of what he knows about forensics from one guy who came out from Central City a few years back--a lab rat named Barry Allen.
Panel 6. BART reacts with pleasure as HERSEY pulls up in front of an abandoned apartment building. The number “3858” is in fading letters above the door. The windows are dark and broken.
BART:
That’s my grandfather!
HERSEY:
Thought it might be, rookie. My sheriff says your grandfather is good police.
•
PAGE THREE (six panels)
Panel 1. HERSEY, DESIDERIO, and BART climb a staircase inside the abandoned building. The interior is dim without electricity but not dark, because of the exposed windows and missing interior doors. HERSEY wears his star on his chest and his gun in his holster. He holds a flashlight. DESIDERIO has a folder and a notepad. BART carries a bulging knapsack and a big, unwieldy flashlight.
HERSEY:
Police report says 9-1-1 got an anonymous call from a payphone two blocks over. The responders found Rae’s body in the back, second floor.
Panel 2. The team peers into a dilapidated room. There’s a large brown stain in the center of the floor. HERSEY is taken aback. DESIDERIO points out a little garbage in a corner.
HERSEY:
This room. Jeez, no one cleaned the blood off the floor.
DESIDERIO:
Because no one lives here.
DESIDERIO:
But someone was living here.
Panel 3. BART squats to take a photograph of an empty milk carton, two small bowls, and a can opener.
BART:
Ooh!
Panel 4. In the doorway HERSEY use a laser pointer to track the likely path of the bullets over the big bloodstain to holes in the back wall near a smaller bloodstain. Having put on rubber gloves (the dishwashing kind, not the surgical kind), BART is packing the bowls, milk carton, and can opener into a big plastic bag. He wrinkles his nose at the smell. DESIDERIO peers at the bloodstains.
HERSEY:
Looks like the shots came from this doorway. Angled down. One hit Ferguson in the back of the head.
BART:
That’s how he could be an organ donor.
HERSEY:
Must have been crouching.
DESIDERIO:
Or kneeling. There’s another patch of blood here.
Panel 5. Using tweezers, BART extracts some hairs from that smaller bloodstain and puts them in a plastic baggie.
BART CAP:
Tomorrow I’ll read all about analyzing DNA.
HERSEY (off panel):
That’s probably just spatter from the head shot. Sorry.
DESIDERIO:
But these hairs looks straight and blonde.
Panel 6. HERSEY examines the frame of a door leading out the back of the room.
HERSEY:
Huh.
HERSEY:
Look at these fresh screw holes. Someone fastened a lock on this door in the last few months, then took it off.
•
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. The whole team peers into the completely empty room behind that door.
BART CAP:
Empty?! Aw, man!
HERSEY:
New plywood over the windows. Nothing’s blocking the windows in the other rooms.
DESIDERIO:
So someone hid something in here.
HERSEY:
And moved it before the police arrived to find Ferguson’s body. Maybe the same people who called the police.
Panel 2. The team comes back out onto the building’s front steps, blinking a little in the sunshine.
HERSEY:
Good place to murder someone. Hell of a place to die.
DESIDERIO:
I’ll ask the neighbors what they remember.
BART:
Ooh, I’ll come!
Panel 3. DESIDERIO heads toward a thin, elderly black woman sitting on a lawn chair in front of another building with a yellow kitten on her lap. Behind her, BART looks miffed.
DESIDERIO:
No, thanks, Bart. I can handle this.
HERSEY:
Play to your strengths, rookie. Let the social worker do the interviews. You keep collecting evidence.
Panel 4. BART photographs a corner of the building where copper thieves have ripped out most of the pipes.
Panel 5. BART pulls one fading, tattered poster out from under another on a utility pole. It shows a simple picture of a yellow cat.
HANDMADE POSTER:
LOST CAT
Is it Yours?
Found on Aug. 13
Call Raemond F.
307-842-48[last digits torn off]
Panel 6. BART is peering at a mark on the sidewalk through a magnifying glass as DESIDERIO returns.
BART CAP:
Bugs are so weird.
HERSEY:
Anything?
DESIDERIO:
Everyone knew Raemond. No one knew why he was in there. They all stay out of that building, and no one would tell me why.
•
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. DARRIN CHAMBERS is waiting on the lawn of PRESTON LINDSAY’s house. PRESTON is there, carrying his camera. PETER KARLSON and HANNAH DINH have just arrived with their camera and sound equipment.
PRESTON:
Hey, folks! Darrin, that’s Hannah on sound. And this is the guy making the Kid Flash movie, Peter--
CHAMBERS:
Karlson. I remember you from juvy. You got out a year ago.
PETER:
Uh, yeah. I--
Panel 2. BART in his Kid Flash uniform skids to a halt beside the group.
BART:
I’m here! We can start!
Panel 3. With his arm around CHAMBERS’s shoulder, BART talks to the cameras held by PRESTON and PETER.
BART: Hi, I’m Kid Flash! And I’m here to help this citizen with his troubles, which I know absolutely nothing about! Um…which camera should I talk to?
Panel 4. PETER hands a cell phone to CHAMBERS as he and PRESTON continue filming.
PETER:
Just try to act normal, dude. This guy’s gonna call G.G. to set up a meeting.
PETER (to CHAMBERS):
You can use my uncle’s phone. For security.
Panel 5. Close up of CHAMBERS talking on the phone.
CHAMBERS:
G.G.? This is Darrin.
CHAMBERS:
Yeah, you can stop hunting for me. I’ll meet you tomorrow.
Panel 6. Pull back to show the whole group filming and listening to CHAMBERS as he speaks on the phone. BART is giving CHAMBERS a thumbs-up sign.
CHAMBERS:
3858 Lampert? Yeah, I remember using that place. Front stoop tomorrow at ten? I’ll be there.
•
PAGE SIX (five panels)
Panel 1. In his bedroom that night, dressed for bed, BART sets up a third alarm clock beside his bed. His bulging backpack of evidence sits nearby.
BART (calling out of the room):
Jay, if I’m not up by nine tomorrow, you can wake me!
JAY (off panel):
Well, I can try.
Panel 2. BART lies in bed with the light off, images from the investigation floating in thought balloons around his head. These include the bullet holes in the wall, the screw holes, the LOST CAT poster, the can opener, the bowls, a cooler that he carried to Coast City, the kitten in the old lady’s arms, the street number 3858.
Panel 3. BART’s thought balloon recalls CHAMBERS speaking on the phone.
CHAMBERS:
3858 Lambert? Yeah, I remember using that place…
Panel 4. With that thought balloon coming from his head, BART sits up suddenly in bed, a look of revelation and alarm on his face.
Panel 5. Title and credits space.
TITLE:
Not Slow in the Matter of Sifting Evidence
CREDITS
•
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. BART as Kid Flash vibrates through the door of PRESTON’s apartment, surprising PRESTON and CHAMBERS, who have clearly just been making out.
BART:
Good, you’re both here!
BART:
Darrin, you said your gang used 3858 Lambert Street, right? It’s on tape, right? What’d you use that place for?
Panel 2. CHAMBERS answers the question matter-of-factly, prompting PRESTON to look at him with a little alarm.
CHAMBERS:
We sold dope for G.G. Stored stuff till it wasn’t so hot. Did a couple of initiations. Why?
Panel 3. BART explains his brainstorm, which raises more questions than it answers. PRESTON, looking puzzled, asks one.
BART:
Because that’s where Raemond Ferguson was shot! He was living there, drinking milk out of a bowl!
PRESTON:
Like a cat?
Panel 4. BART now looks more puzzled than PRESTON as he tries to think things through again. CHAMBERS pulls on his boots.
BART:
Or maybe he was there feeding milk out of a bowl to a cat.
BART:
Ooh! Raemond found a lost cat!
CHAMBERS:
Who had kittens.
Panel 5. BART remains confused as CHAMBERS stands up, looking determined.
BART:
Huh?!
CHAMBERS:
About the time Rae died, a guy called Manny Okra came to our place and gave my sister Debra a kitten. Said its mother was dead, Rae wanted her to have it, something like that.
BART:
Let’s talk to Debra!
•
PAGE EIGHT (three panels)
Panel 1. CHAMBERS and PRESTON cross the street to the house where the CHAMBERS family has moved. BART is running impatiently around them.
BART:
Come on come on come on.
CHAMBERS:
Manny Okra might work for G.G. now. The day after Manny saw me, I heard that G.G. wanted me to check in.
Panel 2. CHAMBERS goes up to his front door, with PRESTON and BART close behind, and finds that it’s ajar.
CHAMBERS:
Uh-oh. Debra? Gramma?
Panel 3. Inside the apartment, there is a little yellow kitten but no one else. CHAMBERS, PRESTON, and BART find a message written on the white board in the kitchen. They are naturally alarmed.
MESSAGE ON WHITE BOARD:
Little G.G., Missed you here tonite. Your gramma and sister said they dont know where you are. So their helping me make sure you show up tomorrow. No cops. No Flash’s. G.G.
Continued here.
Rating: G.
Content: Humor.
Page Count: Eight pages of comics script.
Summary: Bart’s sure he’s found a way to protect Darrin Chambers from his old gang, so he turns his attention back to that group project for Criminal Justice class: the slight matter of solving a murder.
Continuity: Starting from the DC Comics standard, this series of eight-page backup stories about Bart Allen started here. This is part of the second story of that series, starting here. Bart is living in Keystone City with Jay and Joan Garrick; Barry Allen and Max Mercury are back.
Disclaimer: Kid Flash and his family and friends are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
PAGE ONE (four panels)
Panel 1. PROFESSOR McDONNEL sits at her desk in her office at Keystone Community College, speaking to students during an appointment.
McDONNEL:
You folks chose a tough class project--investigating a murder. As I read your progress report, so far you’ve identified a prime suspect, and exonerated him.
McDONNEL:
Which leaves you with an open case.
Panel 2. We see that the students in McDONNEL’s office are BART ALLEN, MARINA DESIDERIO, and BILLY JAKE HERSEY.
DESIDERIO:
Are you saying that if we don’t solve the murder of Raemond Ferguson--a case that even the police haven’t solved--we’ll fail the assignment?
McDONNEL:
No. Frankly, I didn’t expect any team to get as far as you have.
Panel 3. McDONNEL reassures the team. BART looks proud.
McDONNEL:
I’ll grade you on your analysis of the case--the investigation, media coverage, how the juvenile system played into it. Every part of criminal justice you can apply.
McDONNEL:
Spelling and punctuation will count, though. These last eight pages look like they were written in an hour.
BART CAP (expressing BART’s thoughts):
Ha! Just five minutes!
Panel 4. McDONNEL addresses BART, having guessed correctly who wrote that section, and he gets a little sheepish.
McDONNEL:
Spell-check is your friend, Mr. Allen. It’s not always a reliable friend, but you shouldn’t ignore it all the time.
BART:
Yes, ma’am.
•
PAGE TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. At the Sundollars coffee franchise near campus, BART and DESIDERIO sit at a table and talk.
BART:
So…what do we do now?
DESIDERIO:
Deputy, you were doubtful about this case at the start. What do you want to do?
Panel 2. In a continuation of the previous panel, showing the rest of the same table, HERSEY takes a swig of coffee.
Panel 3. HERSEY puts his coffee down on the table with a steely look.
HERSEY:
I want to nail the guy that killed Raemond Ferguson.
BART CAP:
Yeah!
Panel 4. The team is all agreed. HERSEY consults his papers.
DESIDERIO:
All right. What’s our next step?
HERSEY:
We start over. Reread the police file. Visit the crime scene. Talk to witnesses.
HERSEY:
I can drive up Saturday. How ’bout we meet here at two and ride over to Lampert Street where they found the kid’s body? We can scout the neighborhood while the sun’s still up.
Panel 5. On a sunny Saturday, HERSEY is driving BART and DESIDERIO through Keystone in his truck.
HERSEY:
My sheriff says he learned half of what he knows about forensics from one guy who came out from Central City a few years back--a lab rat named Barry Allen.
Panel 6. BART reacts with pleasure as HERSEY pulls up in front of an abandoned apartment building. The number “3858” is in fading letters above the door. The windows are dark and broken.
BART:
That’s my grandfather!
HERSEY:
Thought it might be, rookie. My sheriff says your grandfather is good police.
•
PAGE THREE (six panels)
Panel 1. HERSEY, DESIDERIO, and BART climb a staircase inside the abandoned building. The interior is dim without electricity but not dark, because of the exposed windows and missing interior doors. HERSEY wears his star on his chest and his gun in his holster. He holds a flashlight. DESIDERIO has a folder and a notepad. BART carries a bulging knapsack and a big, unwieldy flashlight.
HERSEY:
Police report says 9-1-1 got an anonymous call from a payphone two blocks over. The responders found Rae’s body in the back, second floor.
Panel 2. The team peers into a dilapidated room. There’s a large brown stain in the center of the floor. HERSEY is taken aback. DESIDERIO points out a little garbage in a corner.
HERSEY:
This room. Jeez, no one cleaned the blood off the floor.
DESIDERIO:
Because no one lives here.
DESIDERIO:
But someone was living here.
Panel 3. BART squats to take a photograph of an empty milk carton, two small bowls, and a can opener.
BART:
Ooh!
Panel 4. In the doorway HERSEY use a laser pointer to track the likely path of the bullets over the big bloodstain to holes in the back wall near a smaller bloodstain. Having put on rubber gloves (the dishwashing kind, not the surgical kind), BART is packing the bowls, milk carton, and can opener into a big plastic bag. He wrinkles his nose at the smell. DESIDERIO peers at the bloodstains.
HERSEY:
Looks like the shots came from this doorway. Angled down. One hit Ferguson in the back of the head.
BART:
That’s how he could be an organ donor.
HERSEY:
Must have been crouching.
DESIDERIO:
Or kneeling. There’s another patch of blood here.
Panel 5. Using tweezers, BART extracts some hairs from that smaller bloodstain and puts them in a plastic baggie.
BART CAP:
Tomorrow I’ll read all about analyzing DNA.
HERSEY (off panel):
That’s probably just spatter from the head shot. Sorry.
DESIDERIO:
But these hairs looks straight and blonde.
Panel 6. HERSEY examines the frame of a door leading out the back of the room.
HERSEY:
Huh.
HERSEY:
Look at these fresh screw holes. Someone fastened a lock on this door in the last few months, then took it off.
•
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. The whole team peers into the completely empty room behind that door.
BART CAP:
Empty?! Aw, man!
HERSEY:
New plywood over the windows. Nothing’s blocking the windows in the other rooms.
DESIDERIO:
So someone hid something in here.
HERSEY:
And moved it before the police arrived to find Ferguson’s body. Maybe the same people who called the police.
Panel 2. The team comes back out onto the building’s front steps, blinking a little in the sunshine.
HERSEY:
Good place to murder someone. Hell of a place to die.
DESIDERIO:
I’ll ask the neighbors what they remember.
BART:
Ooh, I’ll come!
Panel 3. DESIDERIO heads toward a thin, elderly black woman sitting on a lawn chair in front of another building with a yellow kitten on her lap. Behind her, BART looks miffed.
DESIDERIO:
No, thanks, Bart. I can handle this.
HERSEY:
Play to your strengths, rookie. Let the social worker do the interviews. You keep collecting evidence.
Panel 4. BART photographs a corner of the building where copper thieves have ripped out most of the pipes.
Panel 5. BART pulls one fading, tattered poster out from under another on a utility pole. It shows a simple picture of a yellow cat.
HANDMADE POSTER:
LOST CAT
Is it Yours?
Found on Aug. 13
Call Raemond F.
307-842-48[last digits torn off]
Panel 6. BART is peering at a mark on the sidewalk through a magnifying glass as DESIDERIO returns.
BART CAP:
Bugs are so weird.
HERSEY:
Anything?
DESIDERIO:
Everyone knew Raemond. No one knew why he was in there. They all stay out of that building, and no one would tell me why.
•
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. DARRIN CHAMBERS is waiting on the lawn of PRESTON LINDSAY’s house. PRESTON is there, carrying his camera. PETER KARLSON and HANNAH DINH have just arrived with their camera and sound equipment.
PRESTON:
Hey, folks! Darrin, that’s Hannah on sound. And this is the guy making the Kid Flash movie, Peter--
CHAMBERS:
Karlson. I remember you from juvy. You got out a year ago.
PETER:
Uh, yeah. I--
Panel 2. BART in his Kid Flash uniform skids to a halt beside the group.
BART:
I’m here! We can start!
Panel 3. With his arm around CHAMBERS’s shoulder, BART talks to the cameras held by PRESTON and PETER.
BART: Hi, I’m Kid Flash! And I’m here to help this citizen with his troubles, which I know absolutely nothing about! Um…which camera should I talk to?
Panel 4. PETER hands a cell phone to CHAMBERS as he and PRESTON continue filming.
PETER:
Just try to act normal, dude. This guy’s gonna call G.G. to set up a meeting.
PETER (to CHAMBERS):
You can use my uncle’s phone. For security.
Panel 5. Close up of CHAMBERS talking on the phone.
CHAMBERS:
G.G.? This is Darrin.
CHAMBERS:
Yeah, you can stop hunting for me. I’ll meet you tomorrow.
Panel 6. Pull back to show the whole group filming and listening to CHAMBERS as he speaks on the phone. BART is giving CHAMBERS a thumbs-up sign.
CHAMBERS:
3858 Lampert? Yeah, I remember using that place. Front stoop tomorrow at ten? I’ll be there.
•
PAGE SIX (five panels)
Panel 1. In his bedroom that night, dressed for bed, BART sets up a third alarm clock beside his bed. His bulging backpack of evidence sits nearby.
BART (calling out of the room):
Jay, if I’m not up by nine tomorrow, you can wake me!
JAY (off panel):
Well, I can try.
Panel 2. BART lies in bed with the light off, images from the investigation floating in thought balloons around his head. These include the bullet holes in the wall, the screw holes, the LOST CAT poster, the can opener, the bowls, a cooler that he carried to Coast City, the kitten in the old lady’s arms, the street number 3858.
Panel 3. BART’s thought balloon recalls CHAMBERS speaking on the phone.
CHAMBERS:
3858 Lambert? Yeah, I remember using that place…
Panel 4. With that thought balloon coming from his head, BART sits up suddenly in bed, a look of revelation and alarm on his face.
Panel 5. Title and credits space.
TITLE:
Not Slow in the Matter of Sifting Evidence
CREDITS
•
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. BART as Kid Flash vibrates through the door of PRESTON’s apartment, surprising PRESTON and CHAMBERS, who have clearly just been making out.
BART:
Good, you’re both here!
BART:
Darrin, you said your gang used 3858 Lambert Street, right? It’s on tape, right? What’d you use that place for?
Panel 2. CHAMBERS answers the question matter-of-factly, prompting PRESTON to look at him with a little alarm.
CHAMBERS:
We sold dope for G.G. Stored stuff till it wasn’t so hot. Did a couple of initiations. Why?
Panel 3. BART explains his brainstorm, which raises more questions than it answers. PRESTON, looking puzzled, asks one.
BART:
Because that’s where Raemond Ferguson was shot! He was living there, drinking milk out of a bowl!
PRESTON:
Like a cat?
Panel 4. BART now looks more puzzled than PRESTON as he tries to think things through again. CHAMBERS pulls on his boots.
BART:
Or maybe he was there feeding milk out of a bowl to a cat.
BART:
Ooh! Raemond found a lost cat!
CHAMBERS:
Who had kittens.
Panel 5. BART remains confused as CHAMBERS stands up, looking determined.
BART:
Huh?!
CHAMBERS:
About the time Rae died, a guy called Manny Okra came to our place and gave my sister Debra a kitten. Said its mother was dead, Rae wanted her to have it, something like that.
BART:
Let’s talk to Debra!
•
PAGE EIGHT (three panels)
Panel 1. CHAMBERS and PRESTON cross the street to the house where the CHAMBERS family has moved. BART is running impatiently around them.
BART:
Come on come on come on.
CHAMBERS:
Manny Okra might work for G.G. now. The day after Manny saw me, I heard that G.G. wanted me to check in.
Panel 2. CHAMBERS goes up to his front door, with PRESTON and BART close behind, and finds that it’s ajar.
CHAMBERS:
Uh-oh. Debra? Gramma?
Panel 3. Inside the apartment, there is a little yellow kitten but no one else. CHAMBERS, PRESTON, and BART find a message written on the white board in the kitchen. They are naturally alarmed.
MESSAGE ON WHITE BOARD:
Little G.G., Missed you here tonite. Your gramma and sister said they dont know where you are. So their helping me make sure you show up tomorrow. No cops. No Flash’s. G.G.
Continued here.