Criminal Masterminds: Walk the Line [locked]
The thin blue line. How far would you go for you partner/colleagues?
[locked from absolutely everyone]
That thin blue line we, cops, all walk, I’ve crossed it. I’m covering for Harry, who killed his uncle.
Five years before I met Harry his uncle, Justin Morningway, was found dead in his Gold Coast mansion by someone who worked for Mr. Morningway. Our ME at the time was an alcoholic and ruled the death a heart attack. With that information, the lead detective believed Harry’s alibi, that he was out of the country at the time, and that was the end of Morningway’s case. Fast forward to a few months ago and an anonymous tip saying that Morningway was murdered and Harry did it. Kirmani got the call and that made the case mine. I shouldn’t have taken it, everyone in the department knows how close Harry and I are. I should have passed it off, but I knew the other detectives wouldn’t give him a fair shake. He’s not really popular within the department, most of them think he’s a con artist. I don’t and even with my bias in his favor, I could be objective. Or so I thought.
I talked to Harry first and asked him what he thought happened to his uncle. We fought about it. I knew before going into this that some of the things I was going to say and do were going to hurt Harry. I knew it was going to get ugly. I didn’t realize how much it would hurt me in the process. Cops always tell themselves, “we’re just doing our job, it’s nothing personal”. Well, I told myself that but it was Harry, it was personal and it hurt. I kept doing the job though. I exhumed his uncle so Butters could do a new autopsy. His preliminary report stated that Morningway had died from a crushed heart, like someone had pressed something heavy down on his chest right over the heart. I had no choice. I only had one suspect and that was Harry. I dragged him in to interrogation and used the old “here catch this bottle of pills” trick to get his prints.
At the time I did it to prove Harry’s innocence. I was positive that none of his prints would be found at the scene and that would be the end of it. I could find the real killer and fix things with Harry. Nothing ever works out that easy though. Harry’s prints were at the scene, on a cufflink Morningway was wearing. It was probably then that I realized Harry had killed his uncle. A print on a cufflink at the scene, you can’t date fingerprints, but that’s a big circumstance for someone who was supposed to be out of the country. He did it. Harry used enough force and enough hate to crush his uncle’s heart. There were signs of a struggle, but not enough that a self-defense claim could be made. Not with the way that scene looked. So, there I was faced with the cold hard facts that my best friend had killed someone and I was probably going to have to arrest him for it.
I guess you could say we both got lucky. The next day when Butters did the full autopsy all signs of crushing force was gone. The body was still decomposed, everything about it said that Morningway had been dead for five years but how he died was suddenly gone. Butters put down unknown but homicide for the cause of death, the prosecutor had enough to indict Harry and probably enough for a conviction. So, I lied in my report. I made up evidence that put Harry in Peru at the time, like his alibi said, so he couldn’t have been around at the time of the murder to kill his uncle. Instead of saying Harry’s reactions to my questioning were signs of guilt, I wrote that they were signs of a nephew distraught over revisiting the death of his only family.
After that, the prosecutor didn’t have a leg to stand on, but the case was left open. There’s no statute of limitations on murder, you know. The last line I crossed, I took evidence from the evidence room to give Harry that picture of him and his dad back. He doesn’t know about any of this. He’d probably be pretty pissed at me if he did. It’s too late now to take it back though and undo it.
I’ve crossed the line, hell, I’ve blown the line out of the water. I’m covering for murder, choosing a friend over my badge, and there are times when I think I should just walk away from my job. I can’t though. Even now, when I’m not what anyone should call a good cop, I can’t give it up. I’m still trying to walk the line I’ve already crossed.
[locked from absolutely everyone]
That thin blue line we, cops, all walk, I’ve crossed it. I’m covering for Harry, who killed his uncle.
Five years before I met Harry his uncle, Justin Morningway, was found dead in his Gold Coast mansion by someone who worked for Mr. Morningway. Our ME at the time was an alcoholic and ruled the death a heart attack. With that information, the lead detective believed Harry’s alibi, that he was out of the country at the time, and that was the end of Morningway’s case. Fast forward to a few months ago and an anonymous tip saying that Morningway was murdered and Harry did it. Kirmani got the call and that made the case mine. I shouldn’t have taken it, everyone in the department knows how close Harry and I are. I should have passed it off, but I knew the other detectives wouldn’t give him a fair shake. He’s not really popular within the department, most of them think he’s a con artist. I don’t and even with my bias in his favor, I could be objective. Or so I thought.
I talked to Harry first and asked him what he thought happened to his uncle. We fought about it. I knew before going into this that some of the things I was going to say and do were going to hurt Harry. I knew it was going to get ugly. I didn’t realize how much it would hurt me in the process. Cops always tell themselves, “we’re just doing our job, it’s nothing personal”. Well, I told myself that but it was Harry, it was personal and it hurt. I kept doing the job though. I exhumed his uncle so Butters could do a new autopsy. His preliminary report stated that Morningway had died from a crushed heart, like someone had pressed something heavy down on his chest right over the heart. I had no choice. I only had one suspect and that was Harry. I dragged him in to interrogation and used the old “here catch this bottle of pills” trick to get his prints.
At the time I did it to prove Harry’s innocence. I was positive that none of his prints would be found at the scene and that would be the end of it. I could find the real killer and fix things with Harry. Nothing ever works out that easy though. Harry’s prints were at the scene, on a cufflink Morningway was wearing. It was probably then that I realized Harry had killed his uncle. A print on a cufflink at the scene, you can’t date fingerprints, but that’s a big circumstance for someone who was supposed to be out of the country. He did it. Harry used enough force and enough hate to crush his uncle’s heart. There were signs of a struggle, but not enough that a self-defense claim could be made. Not with the way that scene looked. So, there I was faced with the cold hard facts that my best friend had killed someone and I was probably going to have to arrest him for it.
I guess you could say we both got lucky. The next day when Butters did the full autopsy all signs of crushing force was gone. The body was still decomposed, everything about it said that Morningway had been dead for five years but how he died was suddenly gone. Butters put down unknown but homicide for the cause of death, the prosecutor had enough to indict Harry and probably enough for a conviction. So, I lied in my report. I made up evidence that put Harry in Peru at the time, like his alibi said, so he couldn’t have been around at the time of the murder to kill his uncle. Instead of saying Harry’s reactions to my questioning were signs of guilt, I wrote that they were signs of a nephew distraught over revisiting the death of his only family.
After that, the prosecutor didn’t have a leg to stand on, but the case was left open. There’s no statute of limitations on murder, you know. The last line I crossed, I took evidence from the evidence room to give Harry that picture of him and his dad back. He doesn’t know about any of this. He’d probably be pretty pissed at me if he did. It’s too late now to take it back though and undo it.
I’ve crossed the line, hell, I’ve blown the line out of the water. I’m covering for murder, choosing a friend over my badge, and there are times when I think I should just walk away from my job. I can’t though. Even now, when I’m not what anyone should call a good cop, I can’t give it up. I’m still trying to walk the line I’ve already crossed.