Murder on West 50th street.

Chapter 1: John Doe. (Part 1)

Beep Beep Beep Beep

Stupid alarm clock!

Beep Bee-

I grabbed the hell machine and was about to throw it against the wall when I controlled my anger and just squeezed it tightly, taking deep breaths. If I had thrown it, I would have had to go and get my third one this month. Muttering curse words under my breath, I got out of my warm, comfy bed and made my way to the bathroom. I live on East 66th street in Manhattan. My apartment, small but adequate, has one redeeming feature which is its proximity to work. I live two blocks down from the New York public library and one block across from Starbucks. I am close enough to Central Park to go jogging there every morning. Since today is the weekend, I will probably go for a longer run.

After having washed my face and brushed my teeth in my white tiled bathroom, I dressed in my tank top, shorts and my sport shoes. I grabbed my phone, my headphones, a water bottle and headed out the door.

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While I was running, I took in my surroundings. The grass was green, the sky was blue and there was not a cloud in sight. The people around me were wearing light clothes, seeing as it is summer time. The children were playing with their dogs and toys, the teenagers were sitting on a wall, on their phones and laughing hysterically. Perhaps one of their comrades had told a joke. The mothers were all sitting on benches around the park, keeping a watchful eye on their little ones while talking to the other mothers around. There was a slight breeze, cooling down my hot and sweaty body. I felt at ease with the familiar scenery, letting my guard down a little bit.

30 minutes into my jogging session, my phone started ringing, startling me and putting my senses back on full alert. I quickly pulled out my phone and proceeded to answer it.

"Hello? Is this detective Cortez?"

"Umm, yes?" I answered.

"This is Zach. I want you to come straight to the office. We have a new case."

Zach is my boss. He is very strict about the rules and does not like being contradicted so I don't really have a choice.

I sighed.

"Fine, I'll come."

"Good. Be here as soon as you can and I am sorry about your day off."

He hung up but I just stood there, shocked. He said sorry!! He never says sorry! Either this is a really important case and he needs me or he has been having troubles with his wife. His wife, Sonia Grey, is always complaining that he has a very bad attitude towards everybody and has been threatening to make him sleep on the couch if he continues. Maybe he finally got his punishment. I started heading to Starbucks to get my daily coffee dose and made my way home.

As soon as I arrived, I went to take a shower to remove the film of sweat off my body, using a flannel to wash over my bullet scars. I have been shot a few times while working for the police and I have the reminders to prove it. Once clean, I dressed myself in my faded blue skinny jeans, my dark blue blouse and my faithful black combat boots and tied my long and wavy hair into a high ponytail. I put my gun in my belt, hid my knife in my right boot (in case of an emergency), pinned my badge onto my belt loop, grabbed an apple and my keys and left the apartment.

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"Zach! It's me, Ella!" I said, knocking on his office door.