Corporate Hospitality

Chapter 1

The rain battered against Jenny's trench coat. She upturned her collar to give her some sort of protection. It was cold and sharp against her skin. She had been called in to work her magic on a case. She had read over the file before she left her home. Two deaths in one week. One a worker of a big company called Teo, the other a worker for Marvo. These two companies have always been at each other's throats. Competing for the publics preference. They were both hotel companies. Jenny finally reached the mansion they had been staying in. Personally she didn't like it. She thought it was too flashy, with it's white marble walls and golden railings. The rain put a sort of evil demeanour over the estate. She opened the heavy wooden door. Inside where members of Teo and Marvo. They were talking quietly, probably discussing the death of one of their employees. Jenny went over to Sergeant Jordan. His grey hair was falling out and he was trying to cover it with his dark grey fedora and a fancy suit to distract people. Of course this didn't work on Jenny, she always looked at the smaller things, like the way he was slouched. His wife had been making him sleep on the couch again. Bad man, he's been caught with another woman. Jenny smirked silently to herself. He was smoking his pipe, it made this all seem like some sort of black and white movie.

" Miss Hendricks, " he tipped his fedora down slightly in a fake respectful greeting. It sounded genuine to the untrained ear but she knew he didn't like her.

" Sarge, " she greeted in a casual manner, even after his respect, which was not genuine. She was a somewhat arrogant person, she didn't like showing respect even though it was a flaw. She really had to stop, she knew it irritated people. He looked her directly in the eye to try and intimidate her but she wore her smirk which made him gave up.

" I assume you'd like to see the bodies and the biopsies? " He said with a raised eyebrow. She shook her coat dry. Her leather gloves creaked as she flexed her fingers.

" It'll be the highlight of my week, " She sarcastically said. He rolled his eyes at her.

" This is serious! " Jordan hissed. Now she was the one to raise her eyebrow. Since when was she ever serious? They decided to end the conversation before Jordan himself committed a murder. He led her to the room the Teo employee had been killed in. They opened the dark wooden door which showed a library. She quickly scanned the room for anything that caught her eye. You come to a library for one reason and one reason only, to find information. But what had he been trying to find out? She swiftly moved to the desk.

" I assume the room had been dusted for prints? " Jenny questioned. Jordan nodded. He picked up the stack of books and files and sat down on the chair which was parked just behind the desk. She flipped through them, they were all business books. They had some things in common but nothing suspicious. It was stuff like promotions, career ladder, how much money you could get for different jobs. Jenny dismissed the books and moved onto the body. Jordan grabbed her arm.

" I must warn you, it's pretty gruesome, " He warned. She shrugged his hand off.

" I'm used to it, " she told him and lifted the white sheet. The mans skull had been viciously assaulted with a heavy weapon. The skin flopped in on the breakage and the dried blood stuck his hair together in clumps. He seemed young, in his 20's or 30's perhaps, but Jenny wasn't good at guessing ages. It was pretty timid compared to what Jenny was used to. She placed the sheet gently back over the mans face. Jenny understood why Jordan warned her it was gruesome when it wasn't too bad. She had seen organs pulled from the body, he thought a woman couldn't handle it. She stood up and looked at the biopsies. Nothing surprising, broken skull which the dent already made evident. His watch seemed to have broken on impact of his harsh fall. Died at 5:03 pm two days ago. Normally the body would have been taken to the morgue, but the police knew straight away that this was going to be a case for Jenny Hendricks. They were always to stubborn to accept that they needed her. She stood up and took one last look around the room, this one was more thorough. Whoever the killer was they had been careful but they seemed inexperienced. He had left chips of the weapon. It felt like rock dust. Perhaps from a brick or an ordinary garden stone. I placed it in a plastic bag and it was sent away. We would test the walls of the house, any stone substance that was on the grounds. I handed the small bag to forensics.

" Got any idea's Hendricks? " Jordan asked coldly. Looks like he's cutting the nice act. Jenny sighed and scanned the room.

" A dozen so far, I'll be eliminating them along the way, " she informed Jordan. He looked at her wide eyed.

" You've only been here 2 minutes! " he exclaimed. He refused to believe Jenny had already come up with that many theories in such little time. Surely she was kidding.

" The time is no problem, the intelligence of the person makes all the difference, " She told him, " Now this other body? " she inquired. He opened the door for her and she sauntered out.