I'll Help You Hide From Them

A New Case

When Kier's been discharged from the hospital, Laurence calls me to a crime scene.

I stop by at Kier's house, looking nervously around at the mess and crime scene tape on the door.

"If you want, you can stay at my place until whoever killed your brother is put away." I offer.

"Thanks but I'll be fine." Kier replies.

"At least stay at my place until your home is no longer a crime scene." I suggest.

Kier goes a little quiet for a moment. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He asks out of nowhere.

"I had an older brother." I tell him truthfully.

"Had? Is he dead?" Kier cautiously questions.

"No, he's in prison." I admit.

Kier gives me a curious look but doesn't say anything. "What do you know about the case we're going to be working on?" He changes the subject.

"Someone was murdered underneath the subway." I tell him, trying everything I can to take my mind off Ralph's murder case.

"I don't know, I know someone's dead and all but I'm kind of excited to work on my first case with you." Kier admits.

I wrap a friendly arm around him. "I understand, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Ralph did this thing where if it was a stabbing, he'd buy the whole department breakfast." I tell him nostalgically.

"He hated stabbings. After he was stabbed by a suspect, he tried to get rid of all of the knives in the house. Were you there when he was stabbed?" He asks curiously.

I nod. "The suspect took a hostage when we went to arrest her. She almost killed her own sister but Ralph wrestled the knife away from her. She stabbed him in retaliation but I put her in cuffs, getting an ambulance for Ralph." I recall.

"You two were really good together." Kier sighs.

"It just takes a lot of practising together to find your own rhythm." I reassure. "I will do everything I can to protect you from any form of danger that we'll definitely find."

He smiles at the sound of this. "I'll try the same then."

While we're walking, I can tell that he's trying to ask me something, struggling to find a way to word it.

"What's on your mind?" I nudge him as encouragement.

"That voice, when you heard it, you were terrified. It's almost like you've heard it before." He works out. "And that interrogation that I wasn't allowed to look at, you were reluctant! There must be something more going on than just my brother's shooting."

I go quiet for a moment, trembling at the memory of being abducted and losing my hand and finger.

Kier notices my change in expression. "Look, I'm sure something horrible must've happened to you as well as my brother but there's just so much that I don't know because we're no longer investigating my brother's case." He tries to reassure.

"They used me as bait to set a trap for your brother." I mutter more to myself than to him.

He looks at me as if he can tell that there's something I'm not telling him but he begins to develop an understanding and looks away. "I hear that the Captain has one of the best stations in the whole country. I bet you have something to do with that." He tries to cheer me up.

"Maybe, I can't tell." I shrug.

"Cheer up, we're here already." He smiles.

The sight of a man with a blue rope next to him makes me put on a glove on my other hand, handing gloves to Kier.

"A strangling, we haven't had one of those in ages." I point out.

"Oh Detective Woolnough. It's good to have you back on the clock again." Ryan the medical examiner smiles at the sight of me. "Is that Detective Kemp junior?"

Kier shakes Ryan's hand. "Kier Kemp, I haven't made it to detective yet." He greets.

"Ryan Martin. Up for some extra curricular extra credit then are ya Kier?" He replies.

"Not exactly Ryan. I requested him as my new partner." I answer on Kier's behalf. "What else do we have here? A name, a job or something?"

Ryan gives me a soft but understanding smile. "His name is Ian Mendez. He also didn't die here, he was moved."

"You're on a roll today." I smile at him. "Any unique observations Kier?" I check.

Kier looks down at the body for a moment. He then crouches over the man, taking an interest in some marks on the man's face. "He was recently gagged and these markings on his wrists suggest that he was also probably bound. I'd say that he was abducted." He deduces.

Ryan nods. "That could be true but take a look at this." He carefully holds a UV light over the back of the man's hand for a stamp to glow. "There's a BDSM club in the area with an entry stamp like this."

"Ryan, I never would've guessed." I tease a little, trying to hide the fact that I'm disturbed by how there are people who like being kidnapped for fun.

"It's a little thing I do." He laughs.

"Well, I think that's all we can get for now until you've given him a proper autopsy. Bag the rope as evidence and those cigarette buds. I get the feeling our killer didn't mind hanging around after dumping the body." I tell them. "We could get lucky but I'm not betting anything on it yet."

"Right away Woolnough." Ryan replies as he instructs his people to process the rest of the scene.

I get Kier to follow me to interview people in the neighbourhood. As expected, none of them saw anything since the body was probably dumped late at night.