Just Doing My Job

Chapter one

            Running across the floor, Penelope grabbed her coffee and leaped into her chair. Her partner, Matt short for Matthew, was typing furiously at his keyboard with only the face he makes when he spills his coffee on himself. "What's up Matt?" Penelope sternly said while logging into the New York City Police department's computer database. "We have a 78 on our hands little Miss Penelope." Penelope White was 28, 5 foot 8 inches, yet the shortest one in the office. She had dark brown hair, bright green eyes and had transferred from Georgia 2 years earlier. She had seen her fair share of homicides, sexual harassment, and so much more. "Great, just what I wanted to hear on a Monday morning." A 78 is a homicide involving a screwdriver, which were more common than some people would think. "Let's go." Penelope grabbed her coat off the back of her navy blue chair as Matt got his lying next to his computer that looked like it was from the 1990's.

            They got in their police cruiser and let out a big sigh. "Ready?" Matt said as he turned his head towards Penelope who was staring through the windshield in the passenger seat. "Yeah." Penelope said as if her words were hollow.

            Man, everyone is leaving me nowadays. My mom goes on a business trip for 6 months and I'm stuck here. I am just glad that she said she would be back. I could not live without her. She is actually coming home in a couple weeks. Me and the dogs are excited. She said she was going to throw me a big party for my 17 birthday. 17 years of surviving, 17 years of no dad, 17 years of life. 17 years old is a hard age to get to. Most of the people in my school don't. I live in a bad part of town so there is a lot going on. I have been approached by about 16 people asking me to join their gang. I said no, of course, but I wanted to say yes. My English teacher looks out for me a lot. He said that he got attacked by a gang once and he regrets that day ever since. I feel bad for him in my classes some days. He will sit at his desk before class and be looking at a poster he hung up saying Hang in there champ. He has been through a lot. That's why my mom gave me a knife for my 8th birthday. She taught me how to use it too. I am pretty good now.

When Penelope and Matt got to the apartment in Manhattan there were about 10 police cars. Penelope got out of the car and walked below the yellow police tape. "What's going on here officer?" Penelope stated firmly as if she was disciplining him while showing him her police badge. "Well ma'am, Ms. Sara Jones was murdered in her apartment. This morning at 8:00." "Thank you." Penelope walked away towards the apartment entrance. "Penelope! Wait!" Matt yelled from the car. Running, Matt came to her side. "You do remember I am your partner right?" "Yes Matt, I remember." Penelope rolled her eyes to Matt as he made a cheesy smile he would use on a 14-year-old girl. They both walked together to a room in shambles. There was floor lamps tipped over, blood on the furniture, and a body near the couch. Penelope slowly walked in-crunch, glass under her black flats. "Let's do this thang!' Matt said while putting on his special blue and white Yankees gloves that he had made and approved by the captain. As they split up, Penelope went left and Matt went right.

Penelope went to the kitchen, she saw a knife with a female fingerprint, eggs that had been taken off the stove, because of safely proposes, but had a picture right next to it. The fridge was open, and only had minimal blood on it, and the sink was clogged. The next room was the main living room. There was an abnormal amount of blood on the couch and the body was next to it. The screw driver was sitting next to the body, about 2 feet away. The table had a couple of tools like a hammer and wrench. Footprints of about a size 8 men was trailing off to the table and then to the door fading with each step. The lamp had been knocked off the coffee table and on to the carpet the body was lying on. The next room was the bathroom. The bathroom had kept the victim's dog. The dog was chow-chow, around 5 years old. The dog had scratches on him down his side. The blood was on the bathtub and all over the floor. Penelope came to the conclusion that the victim had been cooking breakfast and had called a repair technician for the sink. The technician came in, and got the dog in the bathroom. Then he had tried to strangle the woman. She struggled and got to the main room. He slammed a lamp into her head, missed then got a screwdriver from his tool box, meanwhile grabbing a wrench and a hammer accidentally and stabled her to death in the stomach. Then the technician ran away.