Rise of a Phoenix: Rise of a Phoenix (2 page)

“Oh God yes,
yes
!” This turned him on, making his actions more intense. But at that moment something made her to look up the alleyway. As she did so her screams of passion became shrieks of terror. Backing away quickly, John thought he had done something wrong. His gaze followed hers, and he joined in with her chorus of dread.

A gang of heavily built college students who had seen the happy couple dive quickly into the alleyway, came rushing towards them, assuming that the woman was in distress, and to their surprise they were greeted by the sight of the woman and the man, his trousers around his knees, both cowering like babes. They ran up to John and Sue, unaware of what was behind them.

“Hey man, you two OK?” said a large African-American kid.

“Hey what’s up? You look like you all seen a ghost or something,” joined in the other large skinny white kid. Then, catching on that John and Sue were intent on something behind them, they tried to see what it was. When they did, they yelled:

“Oh shit man, that’s fucked up!” The kids froze for a moment, then they made for the entrance of the alleyway, where their friends lay in wait. “Hey man, call the cops,” ordered the black kid to one of the others, who whipped out his cell phone and dialled.

“Hello, police department, what’s your emergency?” asked a female on the other end of the line. The skinny blond kid grabbed the phone.

“There’s a dead body in an alleyway,” he informed her, then burbled the address.

“Please stay at your location, we will send a unit to your location as quickly as possible.”The kid hung up, passed the phone back, and then he threw up.

Detective Samantha McCall woke to the sound of her alarm. The high-pitched ‘BEEP BEEP BEEP’ was irritating enough to do the job of getting her up after a short sleep, and she leant over and checked the time on the digital display. It read 05:00, then, giving a quiet moan of disapproval, she slapped the off button then collapsed back to her sleeping position.

Just a couple of minutes
, Sam thought to herself, but then she changed her mind and got up. She left the bedroom and made for the kitchen, where she reached for the coffee machine and clicked the button to bring it back from its slumber. Heading to the bathroom she prepared to shower, and the steam from the hot water filled the air, misting over the mirrors and small window in the six-foot-square room. She stepped under the torrent of water and just let the cascade run over her for a while.

Switching off the taps, stopping the warm flow, she stepped out of the shower unit, and wrapped a large towel round her slightly tanned body. McCall used her dry hand to wipe the fog from the mirror that hung above the white porcelain sink, then she looked at herself in the mirror. Staring for a moment, she smiled, and then left for the kitchen.

Coffee in hand, Sam headed for the bedroom, slipped on some jeans and a t-shirt and got ready for the day ahead. Grabbing a bowl of cereal and the freshly filled coffee mug, she entered the sitting room. As she approached the couch that was housed in a cut-out section of the floor, McCall stepped onto the cushions and sat down cross-legged, grabbing the remote for the TV, and clicked the ON button. With a burst of light and sound the set came to life and showed a tall man telling New York the weather for the day.
Great, another hot one
, she thought, then switched channels, looking for something less depressing than a news station.

Breakfast done, she switched off the TV set and headed for an antique desk at the back of the room, next to the entrance to her bedroom. Opening the left hand drawer she took out her service 9mm Glock 17 pistol and slipped it into the rear holster that nestled in the small of her back, then carefully picked up her police badge. Sam gave it a quick brush with her hand then clipped it next to the handcuff pouch above her right-hand trouser pocket and gave it a friendly tap.

As she reached the front door, the police officer grabbed her short leather jacket and slipped it on, checked the keys were in the pocket and left for the station.

It had taken her longer than normal to get to the station, but now she was sat at her desk with the reminance of a fresh coffee ready to begin typing up the mundane paperwork that followed the closing of a case. However, she did not mind, it gave her some time to reflect on the crime. In addition, she found that going over what had occurred during the investigation of a particular case, often taught her useful things to use for the next one. Her fingers danced over the keyboard like a pro: if anybody had seen her they might easily have taken her to be a secretary or typist, not a homicide detective.

She needed coffee. Standing up, she reached for the stained coffee mug with the faded police badge symbol on the side and walked towards the coffee room that was adjacent to the Captain’s office. The space was small with a couple of chairs and a square table next to the far wall, and a counter below a large window, which housed around four coffee peculators and a number of unclaimed mugs for visitors. In addition to offering refreshments, it was also a good place to go to unwind. Sam picked up one of the steaming hot containers and poured herself a mug of the dark liquid, the potent aroma of cheap coffee filled her nostrils. Fetching the milk from the small refrigerator she sniffed to see if it was still drinkable, and then topped up her brew.

As she looked out and surveyed the ‘shop floor’ before her, a bustling array of cops talking on phones, chatting to each other about the game, she smiled.
God, how I love this
, she thought to herself.

Taking a sip from the coffee she looked over to the desk in front of her, and the two detectives there beckoned her over. Joshua Tooms was a large African-American man, well over six-three tall with a ball players build and a van dyke beard that covered his heavy jaw. The other was Antony Marinelli. A well dressed Italian / Irish cross bread that was around two inches shorter than his massive black colleague, but his a medium build fitted well in his Italian suit. Tony was huddled over a desk writing down an address that was been given over the desk phone.

“Yeh, I got it,” he said. “We will be there as soon as we can.” He finished scribbling and put the phone down.

“We got one on the east side,” he said, waving the bit of paper in his hand. “M.E is already there.”

The two men grabbed their jackets and headed for the elevator at the far end of the room. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs,” Sam said, swigging the remains of the coffee down. She grabbed her jacket and waited for the return of the elevator.

The street was full of onlookers, press, and TV, she thought to herself. McCall had purposely parked quite a way from the scene, she knew that stretching her legs would do her good and it gave her time to get her head straight and her senses tuned. She parked, and then slipped out of the cool of the air-conditioned vehicle to the raging heat of the morning. Shutting the door, she then combed her shoulder-length brown hair through her fingers. Then, with a confident tap on her service pistol, slipped on a pair of sunglasses. She was ready.

Walking up the barriers, she noticed the large crowd of people shoving each other aside to get a look, and some press photographers trying for the shot that would make them big money. In the corner by the walled entrance to the crime scene stood a tall broad-shouldered officer that on Sam’s approach smiled, tipped his cap and lifted the tape for her. She ducked under the yellow police barrier, and as she stood up on the inside, McCall thanked him and smiled.

Stopping for a moment before venturing down, she viewed the crowd then turned once more to the veteran cop.

“Tom, can we get these people back?” she asked “A long way back?”

Tom chuckled then proceeded to move the barriers back further.

“Come on, folks, show’s over, come on now, let’s go.” The other officers followed suit, getting rid of the crowd.

Detective Sam McCall walked up to her two colleagues, who were busy questioning witnesses. As she approached Detective Tooms he looked up from the notebook which he was busy scribbling in, and met her gaze. She stood for a moment, letting him finish up. He thanked the two students he’d been talking to, and as they left McCall walked up to him.

“So what we got?” she asked him.

Tooms pointed out the couple who sat huddled together on the steps of an ambulance.

“John and Sue Mitchell, both thirty years old, just celebrated their wedding anniversary when they decided to go up the alley. Next thing these guys are hearing screaming and the students called 911.”

She regarded the couple, registered their fear.

“You been down there yet?” she asked him.

Tooms shook his head, “Been waiting on you. You want to talk to them first?” McCall nodded while she watched John and Sue cling tightly to each other.

“What the hell is down there?” McCall thought. She thanked Tooms and headed for the ambulance.

John and Sue Mitchell sat there, still shivering with fear as a result of what they had witnessed, their shoulders covered by blankets as they each grasped a cup of steaming coffee. As she approached them, she nodded to the paramedic who was attending to them; he immediately knew that as a, Give us a minute gesture. As he left them she gave him a quick silent thank you. He just smiled.

She took a minute to jot down the time, date and location in her notebook, then proceeded to start the interview:

“Hi, I am Detective Sam McCall.”

“Hi, I’m John Mitchell and this is my wife Sue.” The woman gave a slight nod.

“I know it’s difficult but I really need you to go through what happened.”

Sam gave them a sympathetic smile. They both looked at each other and nodded. It was Sue who started talking: “Well we had just had dinner at some Italian restaurant around two blocks away.”

Her voice was as shaky as the rest of her.

“You see it’s our anniversary and it was the first chance we’ve had to go out alone without the kids,” John explained, making an effort to keep his voice calm.

Sue continued after giving his hand a little squeeze. “Well we were just walking, enjoying the evening when John pulls me down here to well ... to be alone.” She looked down to the ground and blushed.

“Why?” Sam enquired, then she figured it out. “Oh OK, sure I got it.” McCall felt embarrassed for the woman. “Go on Mrs. Mitchell, but I think you can leave out those details,” she added, trying not to smile.

“Well we got down here to, well, you know, and it wasn’t until we got to the end before we saw it—her.” Sue Mitchell broke down in tears and Sam waved to the paramedic to take the couple away.

The woman detective seemed puzzled; she called over the other two officers to join her.

“What we got, guys?” she asked.

Tooms flipped open his notebook. “Well, those guys over there,” he pointed with the end of his pen towards the group of students sitting on the doorstep in front of a newsstand. “They saw the couple go down the alleyway and thought nothing of it till they heard screaming and thought the guy was doing a special on her and ran over and saw the body.” He closed the pad and returned it to the inner pocket of his short brown leather jacket.

“Well, we got nothing over here just some passers-by, didn’t really see anything.” Tony, the other officer, pointed to an elderly couple standing beside an ambulance.

McCall noticed that it was still the early hours, dawn hadn’t yet broken, and the alleyway was still in darkness.

As they moved deeper into the dank and filthy alleyway McCall moved quickly out of the way, as a fresh-faced uniformed officer almost bowled her over.
God-damn rookie
, she thought, watching him heading for a mass of large heavy-looking wheeled garbage bins. Sam and her colleagues rounded a corner to find a slim African-American woman leaning over something; she wore blue medical overalls that had the words Medical Examiner in yellow print on the outside. Her back was towards them, which obscured their view of the body.

“Hi, Sami,” she said without turning round. “Well we got a mean one here.”

“Hi, Tina,” McCall replied, always happy to see her friend. “What are you saying? A mean one?” she asked Sam’s eye gazed past the back of the ME and the sight before her made her want to lose her breakfast.

“Jesus, what the!”

The other two covered their mouths and turned round.

A young female lay on the cold ground, her naked body lay as if it had been posed, and her clothes lay folded next to her. All seemed relatively normal, apart from the body.

“Yeh, like I said, this person is nasty ... Brilliant but nasty,” said the ME, instantly regretting calling him brilliant.

“Why, what do you mean?” McCall asked curiously.

“As you can see,” Tina pointed with a gloved finger towards an area where the front of the torso should have been,

“The area here has been completely removed.” There was a large space, once occupied by a chest and stomach. All that remained was the upper and lower parts of the torso and the flesh and bone structure of her back. The lower section of the ribcage and raw naked flesh and muscle held it all together.

“Till I get her back to the lab I won’t know any more, apart from the fact that she wasn’t killed here.”

Sam looked puzzled for a minute then added with a confirmatory nod,

“There’s a lack of blood.”

The pretty M.E looked up at McCall with saddened eyes and nodded.

“‘Lack of’ isn’t the word. I mean I found no blood anywhere, it’s as if she had been completely exsanguinated. But, hey, don’t shout vampire just yet,” she said, looking up and giving Tooms and Tony a
Don’t think about it
look just before they could make a comment.

Tina waved at two orderlies to come and take away the ‘Jane Doe’, and the two men, both in their late twenties, brought over the body bag and trolley, then, taking great care, placed the corpse in the bag and took it back to the coroner’s wagon.

The three officers waited for CSU to finish their sweep. Sam watched impatiently while the team started to take photos and collect fibers and prints.