Alison Main

Main's First Case

"Officer Main reporting for duty, sir," Alison announced. It was her first day on the job and she didn't want to mess anything up.

"Welcome to the Boston Police force officer," a burly man with a rough voice said, "I'm your senior officer Dante Hubert, pleased to meet you." But, there was no pleasure in his voice.

Alison observed him and found he was the exact opposite of her. Dante was about 6 foot, stocky build with dark skin, bald head, brown eyes, and he looked about 50. Unlike her, 5 foot 2, chalky white skin, hazel eyes, red hair and only 26.

A male officer with brown hair, tan skin and about 30 stood up from across the cluttered room and yelled, "We got a 10-56 on Getty Street!" Alison knew coming straight from the academy that was code for a suicide.

"Call the crime lab Gates, then meet us at the scene. Get ready for you first case Main," Dante replied as he hastily got his stuff together.

"But I only just got here sir!" Alison exclaimed as she followed him out into the rainy Boston night.

Dante just sighed, "Doesn't mean you can't work." He got into his car and he asked, "Are you coming or not?"

******

"Looks like suicide to me, case closed," Alison muttered under her breath.

They were at a small three-story house that was yellow with white trim. It would have been pretty, if there weren't police lights glaring off of it and if there wasn't a dead body in the driveway.

"Your report Main," Dante said impatiently.

Alison hurried to get her notepad, "Her name was Vanessa Montgomery only 22, attends college, no medical issues except various headaches which she has prescribed medication for. She lives with her two friends, and they have been contacted, and she had no boyfriend. But overall just a regular college kid, Officer Hubert."

"Tell the crime lab to get a sample of that medicine. I'm heading home," he replied.

"Will do sir, drive safe," said Alison and hurried off.

******

Two days later the case was going cold as they were waiting for the test results. But in the meantime they were doing paperwork. Officer Gates came in the room and announced, "The tox screen came in, along with the samples from her medicine."

"And," Dante said impatiently.

"And Vanessa had consumed morphine which matched samples from her pills but isn't normally one of the ingredients," Gates reported.

"And that likely made her suicidal," Alison interjected.

Dante had a sharp intake of breath, " This is now a murder investigation. Gates find a paper trail. Main get a list of ex-boyfriends, friends and family and see if anyone had a criminal history. I want reports in an hour."

"Yes sir," they said in unison as they hurried to their desks. Officer Gates had hacked Vanessa's computer and loaded all her data on to their computers. Now they just had to search through it.

Alison started on Facebook because it would have a history of relationships and she could search the name through the criminal databases to see if there was a match. Vanessa's last boyfriend, whom she broke up with, was John Wallace. They broke up in October a week before the murder. Alison searched further and found that he was threatening to kill Vanessa. Alison knew she acted on impulse but John had to be their guy! He had to!

******

"WEEEE OOOOOO WEEEEE OOOOO!!!!!!" their sirens blared. Before they had left, Alison ran John's name through the criminal database. She got a hit, he had been arrested for domestic violence 3 different times and had punched a police officer. Needless to say John was very aggressive.

In the academy they had ranked Alison the best sharpshooter during training exercises. So Dante assigned her to stand behind Gates with a gun at the ready if anything went wrong. Gates was to arrest John. And Dante would stay behind and call for backup if needed.

They were almost at John's apartment. And Alison's adrenaline was pumping faster than a hummingbird's wings.

"Looks like a suicide, smells like a suicide, then it's probably a murder," Gates had the nerve to say. Alison still smiled but then immediately composed herself. She needed to focus because they had arrived.

Gates took the lead as planned. He tried the lock but it didn't budge. So they went according to procedure, Alison yelled, "Police!" as a warning then (with a lot of force) knocked the door down. Gates led the way through the house with his gun at the ready. Then things happened quickly.

John was hiding behind the door so when Gates went in John grabbed him and held a knife to his throat. Alison ran in the room, gun pointing at John. He was 6 foot 2, sandy blonde hair, and sickly skinny and pale with a mad gaze which could have scared Dante. And he doesn't get scared.

"John Wallace put the knife down and no one gets hurt," Alison said, her voice calm and steady but on the inside she was freaking out. Gates was struggling to get free from his headlock.

John laughed a mad man's laugh, "It all began when someone left the window open." Then he shouted for no reason, "And then I formed an idea! Suicide, to get rid of that nasty little b-"

"ENOUGH! Let the officer go or I will shoot!" Alison yelled out of pure anger. But John didn't let Gates go.

******

The ambulance came fast. But was it fast enough, Alison feared the worst. Dante sat behind her trying to talk to her, but she didn't hear anything over her sobs. Not many people have killed a guy, but it was him or Gates.

"You didn't kill him he's not dead yet. They are going to perform a surgery, he could live," Gates said softly. Alison sobs didn't stop for hours. Someone drove her home she couldn't even remember who. Eventually the sobbing stopped but the pain didn't, Alison thought it never would.

******

Alison woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. It was Dante, she answered it right away. Dante got right to the point, "John survived... he's in a stable condition. We're going to have him go to court as soon as possible."

Wiping the sleep from her eyes she replied, "That's good." Then cleared her throat after realizing that her voice was raspy.

Dante had more to add, "John confessed to killing her when in the ambulance. He's going to jail." there was a long pause, "You don't have to but, the judge would like you to testify against John since you are a witness."

Alison wasn't going to cry anymore. "Yes," she said her voice determined, "I'm gonna put that killer away forever."