Detective Scott Greenfield had seen death before. Car crashes, tragic accidents, even murders. But this? This was something else. He could only shake his head as he looked around the inside of Apartment 2-M. The room was covered in yellow evidence tents, and several CSI investigators were looking through every nook and cranny, searching for anything they had missed. Scott turned his eyes away from the dead body at the corner of the room, and turned to the man next to him, one of the CSI people. "Find anything new?"
"From what I can tell, you were right." He said, looking over the dead body. "This was a premeditated murder, not a botched robbery. Victim was sleeping at the time, but was woken up by the blast."
"Blast?"
The CSI man turned and pointed at the door, which had a hole where the lock should have been. "We found explosives residue on the door. Perp used some sort of breaching charge to get it open."
Scott nodded. "Some people said they were woken up by a loud bang."
"Right. Then, our guy walks in, shoots the victim five times, and then shoots him in the back of the head to confirm the kill. Didn't try to steal anything, either." He pointed to the night stand. "We found a watch, phone, and a wallet in the night stand, untouched."
Scott grimaced. This was no accident. This was a cold, calculated murder.
He didn't even know what hit him. Looking away, he began to step outside. "I've questioned everybody here, but there's still one more guy I need to talk to. Call me if you find anything."
. . . . . .
The drive to the bar gave Scott some time to think about the past few days. The police department was struggling to deal with the sudden influx of homicides, all of them involving some sort of strange weapon or method. He was willing to bet that the bullets used in Grayson's murder hadn't been normal bullets, but he'd have to wait for the autopsy report to come in before he could be sure. Was it a deranged serial killer? A group of criminals? Some sort of cult? He didn't know, but he needed to find the truth, whatever it was. Hopefully, this Darnies guy would know something. He might have known the victim, and therefore might know any suspects.
As he drove closer to the bar, the first thing he noticed was the smashed window.
The hell? He couldn't see or hear a fight going on, though, which calmed him down.
I'll have to ask about that... His thoughts were interrupted as a group of men, obviously drunk, ran from the building like the Devil himself was chasing them.
Oh. That explains it. Parking his unmarked Crown Vic, he looked inside, and could see plenty of people. Walking into the building, he scanned the room. Two things stood out to him-the woman from the apartment, sitting at the bar, and a man with a bloody rag around his arm, sweeping up broken glass, who happened to match the description he was given. He stopped for a moment to listen to a woman-presumably the owner- talk to him.
Two royal flushes in a week? Hoo boy... He wasn't here to prosecute him for scamming people in card games, though. There was something more important now. Doing his best to look non-threatening, he approached him with a slight smile. "Mr. Magula?" He took out his badge. "Detective Scott Greenfield, Gravette Police Department." He put away his badge. "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"