Non-challenge: A Policeman's Tale (Day 18)
Title: A Policeman's Tale (Day 18)
Author:
ytak
Word count: 702
Rating (chapter): T (PG-13)
Rating (whole story): T (PG-13)
Comments: Root for me, I'm going to try to post more than one chapter a week. Story also posted here (one chapter behind).
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17
Day 18
A hot cup of coffee made its way into Takagi's cold but willing hands. He eagerly sipped at it, trying not to burn his lips.
The change from just before his shift began to now was dramatic. First, he gave Sato her gifts and now, he found himself standing ankle deep in snow at three am by a cold corpse.
He spent a moment contemplating his coffee. He was going to need a lot more coffee to get through the shift. And some aspirin. The chill made his bruised arm ache abominably.
Still, considering the situation of the dead man, he was in a lot better shape. Now that the crime scene had been picked over for evidence, he walked over to get a good look at the corpse. For all that the man looked like a statue of a sleeping man carved from alabaster, the tell-tale blood frozen on his side and staining the snow said otherwise.
The murder weapon was now stashed in an evidence bag. It was found lying on the ground next to the deceased. The snow around the victim was trampled from different people who walked up to the body to look at it. The footprints had all been photographed even though there was a strong possibility that they had been left by other people.
And there was the concern of the lack of a wallet. If it had been stolen, that could mean robbery was the reason for the murder. Still, it might be on the body somewhere. The frozen blood made it difficult to check the right side of the victim.
Shiratori stood off to the side, talking with the first officer on the scene and his partner who had just finished checking all the local bars with a photo of the dead man.
He walked over to Takagi with some people from the medical examiners office. They wheeled a gurney with a body bag on it.
The watched, shivering, as the body was carefully placed in the body bag. The blood stained snow stood out even more starkly now that it was not hidden by a body. On the snow, under where the man laid before, was an envelope and a partially used pack of cigarettes.
Takagi waved on over an investigator with a camera and had him photograph the envelope and cigarettes before picking them. First, he opened the envelope, looked it over and handed it to Shiratori. Shiratori's eyes went straight up.
“That's a lot of money,” he said, counting the amount, putting it in an evidence bag and labeling the bag. “The victim might have carried around cash and no wallet,” Shiratori said as he also told Takagi the amount in the envelope and they both put the information in their notebooks. Takagi noted the brand of the cigarettes and how many remained before putting it in an evidence bag.
“I suppose that's possible...,” Takagi said, a little doubt in his voice. “Only, what is it doing under the body like that. And it looks like the body was moved before it went into rigor.”
Shiratori said, “That is puzzling.” A moment of silence passed before he sneezed and gave an undignified sniff, “Please give these over to be logged, I'm going to go wait in the car.”
“Yes, sir,” Takagi said, feeling a little sympathy for Shiratori. It seemed that his superior was coming down with a head cold on top of his head injury.
It was a miserable night under any circumstance. There were too many questions and not enough clues to answer them. And Takagi could not fault anyone for not wanting to stay around any longer than they needed to. It seemed that the whole town was bundled away to keep warm. That was the only way he could explain the silence, the lack of people moving around town.
Not that he blamed them. It was too late, or too early depending on the point of view, and cold. There was not much they could do at this hour. Takagi sighed. The day shift would start looking for witnesses but considering the hour of the murder, he would be the one out tomorrow night interviewing witnesses.
Author:
ytak
Word count: 702
Rating (chapter): T (PG-13)
Rating (whole story): T (PG-13)
Comments: Root for me, I'm going to try to post more than one chapter a week. Story also posted here (one chapter behind).
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17
Day 18
A hot cup of coffee made its way into Takagi's cold but willing hands. He eagerly sipped at it, trying not to burn his lips.
The change from just before his shift began to now was dramatic. First, he gave Sato her gifts and now, he found himself standing ankle deep in snow at three am by a cold corpse.
He spent a moment contemplating his coffee. He was going to need a lot more coffee to get through the shift. And some aspirin. The chill made his bruised arm ache abominably.
Still, considering the situation of the dead man, he was in a lot better shape. Now that the crime scene had been picked over for evidence, he walked over to get a good look at the corpse. For all that the man looked like a statue of a sleeping man carved from alabaster, the tell-tale blood frozen on his side and staining the snow said otherwise.
The murder weapon was now stashed in an evidence bag. It was found lying on the ground next to the deceased. The snow around the victim was trampled from different people who walked up to the body to look at it. The footprints had all been photographed even though there was a strong possibility that they had been left by other people.
And there was the concern of the lack of a wallet. If it had been stolen, that could mean robbery was the reason for the murder. Still, it might be on the body somewhere. The frozen blood made it difficult to check the right side of the victim.
Shiratori stood off to the side, talking with the first officer on the scene and his partner who had just finished checking all the local bars with a photo of the dead man.
He walked over to Takagi with some people from the medical examiners office. They wheeled a gurney with a body bag on it.
The watched, shivering, as the body was carefully placed in the body bag. The blood stained snow stood out even more starkly now that it was not hidden by a body. On the snow, under where the man laid before, was an envelope and a partially used pack of cigarettes.
Takagi waved on over an investigator with a camera and had him photograph the envelope and cigarettes before picking them. First, he opened the envelope, looked it over and handed it to Shiratori. Shiratori's eyes went straight up.
“That's a lot of money,” he said, counting the amount, putting it in an evidence bag and labeling the bag. “The victim might have carried around cash and no wallet,” Shiratori said as he also told Takagi the amount in the envelope and they both put the information in their notebooks. Takagi noted the brand of the cigarettes and how many remained before putting it in an evidence bag.
“I suppose that's possible...,” Takagi said, a little doubt in his voice. “Only, what is it doing under the body like that. And it looks like the body was moved before it went into rigor.”
Shiratori said, “That is puzzling.” A moment of silence passed before he sneezed and gave an undignified sniff, “Please give these over to be logged, I'm going to go wait in the car.”
“Yes, sir,” Takagi said, feeling a little sympathy for Shiratori. It seemed that his superior was coming down with a head cold on top of his head injury.
It was a miserable night under any circumstance. There were too many questions and not enough clues to answer them. And Takagi could not fault anyone for not wanting to stay around any longer than they needed to. It seemed that the whole town was bundled away to keep warm. That was the only way he could explain the silence, the lack of people moving around town.
Not that he blamed them. It was too late, or too early depending on the point of view, and cold. There was not much they could do at this hour. Takagi sighed. The day shift would start looking for witnesses but considering the hour of the murder, he would be the one out tomorrow night interviewing witnesses.