The Mortal Shot

Chapter 1

The crime scene tape fluttered in the air. It was the same for her when she arrived to meet the body. After unbuckling her seat belt, she pulled out her sunglasses and also the pen and notebook that had been lying on the visor. Just before she got down, she pulled out her service piece and checked if it was loaded and then put the safety on.

She got out of the car and paused, just long enough for a short deep breath, for she knew that a body awaited, she pictured herself as the voice of the victims. Someone to ensure that they get the justice they deserve, Detective Natalie Alkoff was ready.

The heat was overwhelming and almost forced her back inside. New York was a furnace and the soft grass in Marine Park gave under her feet. Natalie could have made it easier by parking closer to the body but she liked to preserve a small area around the body, she treated it as she would a crime scene and carefully treaded towards the body.

There were a few campers nearby, Marine Park is the biggest park in the Brooklyn district and was always crowded this time of the year.

The others detectives from the 9th precinct, Leanna Harper and Emet Corning were questioning the campers who had discovered the body. Emet looked up from his notebook and gave Natalie a quick nod while questioning a young man with the brightest red hair she had ever seen.

As she walked towards the body her eyes met with the camper Emet was questioning, he had ruby red eyes, probably contacts and looked very interested. The other campers looked mortified and one of them was even throwing up. There was something about this man that caught her eye.

Natalie walked over to her friend Maddison Foster, the medical examiner. “Male unknown, no wallet, no identification, late twenties. No trauma or GSW to the body but the finger prints have been destroyed, the killer burnt his fingers.”

“There are no signs of a fire here, I'll ask Leanna and Emet to check out the surroundings once they're done questioning the witnesses.”

“I don't think we'll find anything, the killer was careful enough to remove all his teeth so we can't use his dental records to identify him.”

Detective Emet crossed the tape and walked over to Natalie and Maddison. “None of the other campers have seen him around and even the park rangers don't remember him entering.”

“This is just the dump site, we need to find the actual crime seen.”

Natalie heard Maddison clear her throat, “Since there's nothing left for me to do here, I'll take the body back to the morgue.”

An hour later Natalie was back at the precinct, she was having a staredown with the murder board and Leanna and Emet were standing around going through the witness reports. Natalie was the embodiment of sympathetic yet determined patience, she sat with her notebook and pen in hand and continued to look at the murder board, the light shined off her dark beautiful hair and her eyes were fierce yet calm like the midnight sky on a moonless night.

The phone rang and Natalie suddenly snapped out of her determined yet insane stare down, it was Maddison, “Nat I need you to come down to the morgue. Right now. Oh! And come alone.”