2019-10-02 - A Little Help From A Friend

Gabriel is seated at his desk in the detectives' bullpen, pecking out a report, occasionally looking over at the steno pad next to him where he took notes on the scene. For those listening on the radio, it wasn't anything too exciting. Even a routine unattended death gets the murder police called out, and that makes Gabriel. He is therefore in the process of writing up a gun-to-the-throat-clear-cut-suicide when Charlie is around, looking, well, not bored by it. But just-the-facts by it.

Unlike Gabriel, Charlie is working on a case that might get them all killed. Or, make them wish they were. She's been around the building, working weird hours while chasing down one useless lead after another. The lead she's been chasing down the last five minutes was the quest for coffee, and a non-sugary pastry as a snack. The coffee she found, "I really need to start packing a lunch."

"You need help running down some leads or something, Charlie?" asks Gabriel, looking up from his computer. "Once I get this report put in, I'm free for a bit. Nothing new on my outstanding homicides I need to chase." He taps a few more keys and then clicks 'Save.' Can never be too careful.

"Nah.." Charlie replies, setting her coffee down on her desk before she drops herself into her chair, spinning it around so that she can face him. "Just working on the Kruger murders...Running into a bunch of brick walls."

"Well, anything you want to kick around?" asks Gabriel, helpfully, raising his eyebrow at her. "I mean, if you're running into brick walls, it sounds like the sort of thing you might want a hand on, chica." He is just saying. But what is he? Just a murder cop.

"Yeah." Charlie agrees after a moment, reaching for her cup of coffee, picking it up to take a sip from it, "So, the Kruger's owned the motel, right?" He'd probably know that. "Someone comes in the morning of the 13th, and shoots them both, leaves. Stolen car, mask...looks like it's probably a male perp, roughly six feet. Only, they owed money to the wrong people, and it seems reasonable to start chasing that down. Which means I'm getting no where."

"Yeah. Professional shooter, then? Not some hopped up kid they pulled off of the street to do it?" Gabriel chews this over as he listens to the story from the other detective, sucking a little bit on his lip as he takes it in, leaning forward. "Okay, then. Damn. That will be hard. But then maybe work back to motive. Why take them out? If they're dead, they can't pay."

"True, once they're dead they can't pay. But, still....maybe they were done paying, and now they are a liability? Maybe a rival took them out to try and eat into Monaghan's revenue." She then sits up at that, reaching for a note pad on her desk to write that down, "There's a lot of reasons. And if it's not connected to that, or him, why a professional hit like this?"

"What about the motel itself?" asks Gabriel, speculating, looking for new angles on the thing. He is staring at the space above Charlie's head, off into the middle distance, as he meditates on all of this. "They're in debt to Monaghan. He bullies them or offers them some off of the debt in return for doing stuff. Stashing his people laying low. Shady meetings. Deals. Whatever. They see something they shouldn't."

"Sure, those are possibilities. It wouldn't shock me to hear that he was forcing them to use that place for that sort of stuff, either. Which, there's a lot of potential there for them to be able to see things." Charlie tosses her pen onto the desk, "Wrench in the story, the daughter dates one of Monaghan's bouncers or bartender, something. Works for him."

"Do we know how the daughter got along with her parents? I'm not saying that she'd want them dead, even if bad, but there's a difference between being broken up and not being broken up. Of course, an organization like that, bouncer might not know what was going on over there at the motel." Gabe picks up his pen and taps it against the pad he has, spitballing. "We talk to the daughter and the boyfriend?"

"Text messages show her and her mom got along, typical mom and daughter conversations. They talked before it happened, I'd have to check the time again." She reaches for a file on her desk, flipping it open, "Night before...and that several that morning. Can try and talk to the daughter again, didn't ask what she was talking about with her mom that day. She claims she didn't know they owed money, that they were good Christian folk."

"Hm. Probably not the daughter. I don't know." Gabe keeps turning around the case in his head, this way and that, seeing what might shake loose. "I feel like motive is the key, though. Who puts out a professional hit on two motel owners?" He shakes his head slightly. "No forensics, I guess?"

"No match on ballistics, the car used was stolen...it's still processing I think. I'll try and light a fire under some people about that, if we need to. We've got the footage back from the security cameras." Charlie flips through things, reading the information, "Man, black ski-mask, enters at 8:47 AM, yells at them to get down on their knees, shoots them in the head then leaves. Shoots female victim, then male...Which tells me that he wasn't concerned about Karl fighting back."

"Probably thought it was a robbery, not a hit. They cooperate, they get off with whatever's in the till or whatever." Gabe shakes his head. "Poor bastards." And then something clicks for him. "The daughter. Is that Elise? Elise Kruger? A nurse? She's a neighbor of mine. And she goes to Saint Mary's with me."

"That's the one." Charlie replies with a nod, picking her pen up to tap it against the desk as she leans back, stretching her legs out in front of her, "You think you might have a better chance of getting her to talk? I'm willing to say try it...All within the boundaries of the law, of course."

"I can give it a try," says Gabe with a shrug. "I'm not saying I can shake loose anything that you didn't already, but maybe work the personal connection, see if there is something else she doesn't want to tell 'the cops' but is willing to tell 'neighbor Gabe.'" He is clearly mulling An Angle for the approach.

"It could work." Charlie agrees, "And happening to just bump into her at church is a damn good way to make it happen...lawyer won't even be there. Not being brought down officially." So many skirtings of the rules here.

"Well, she's not a suspect, yeah? And I'm not looking to take her into custody. So yeah, don't need her lawyer or to read her her rights. She wants to talk, we can talk. She doesn't, then she can go on her way." Gabe nods his head and turns to his paper, making a note. "See, Charlie? I can help with things."

"I see that you can help with things." Charlie replies with a laugh, then she shakes her head, "You and me, then. We can crack this case." She turns herself back around towards her desk, "And the others that are supposed to be on the case, too. Whole fucking department seems to be on this."

"Well, a professional hit's a tough nut to crack. Reality of murder policing is that if someone is really trying not to get caught, it's pretty hard to catch them." Gabriel has had enough cases to know that, at least. He taps his pen against the desk and the nods. "All right. Guess I'm on the case, too, then. I'll let you know what I turn up, if anything."

"Sounds good to me." Charlie lifts her pen up, giving him a bit of a salute before she reaches for her earbuds, tugging them from her drawer to start plugging them into her ears, "You need anything else, hollar."