Vice

by Nicole Marsh

  I look over and see Cooper surveying the crowd, assessing where to start the interviews. The venue looks packed, which means we’ll be here for a while taking statements. Off to one side, down the hall closer to the body, stands a tear-streaked girl surrounded by a group of security guards. Based on her appearance, I hazard a guess that she’s the one that found the body. If that’s the case, she’s going to be the first person we need to talk to and collect a statement.

  Cooper excuses himself and steps to the side, placing a call to request a forensics team to meet us here and begin the process of collecting evidence. I hear him ending the call after communicating the Commissioner’s message to “be discrete”.

  As Cooper wraps up his call, I address the woman that led us to the body. She is standing by herself, just off to the side and appears to be waiting for instructions on what she can do to help us. Now that we’ve stopped walking across the club, I get a better chance to look her over. I notice that she’s gorgeous, tiny, but curvy in the places that matter. She has a heart shaped face with deep green eyes and pouty lips, painted red.

  After scanning her body with my eyes, I ask her, “Miss Stone, can you tell us what happened?”

  She explains that she was at the bar reloading a drink tray and heard a scream. She immediately grabbed some of her security team and rushed to the back where they saw the body on the floor and the Escort crying surrounded by guards.

  At the end of her brief recap of events, she walks Cooper and I over to introduce us to Sira, the tear streaked girl that was the first to discover the body.

  We grill Sira with questions, but she doesn’t have any answers. She appears to be in shock and keeps repeating that she just walked down the hall and tripped over the body, then screamed. After we finish her statement, Cooper and I recommend that she be sent home to get some rest. Then we join Smith and Steele, taking statements from the other guests in the building.

  Cooper and I take a brief break from interviews to talk to the forensics team when they arrive. We watch from a few feet away as they finish taking photos and cataloguing evidence of the body in the hall. They have to flip the body over in the club before loading it up to head to the coroners for an autopsy. As of yet, the injury to the victim isn’t clear.

  Miss Stone and one of the employees of the Club stand beside us, watching on with looks of sadness as the girl is flipped over. Once her face is revealed from the flash of the camera, the sadness on Miss Stone’s face morphs into horror. I’m about to ask if she recognizes the victim, but she speaks before I’m able to.

  “She doesn’t work here, but she looks a lot like me. Doesn’t she?” She expels with a shaky voice, grabbing onto the arm of her tall blonde woman that stands next to her.

  I take a second to look at the victim before glancing back to Miss Stone. Their features are very similar, the same heart shaped face and pouty lips. They both have pert noses and long lashes that lay across their cheeks. When the victim was alive, wearing the black wig found near the body, she could have easily been mistaken in the dim rooms of the club as Miss Stone.

  Her friend replies quickly in a reassuring tone while I’m still assessing the victim, “A bit, but in the dark we all kind of look the same.”

  Although I disagree with Jenna’s employee’s assessment for a few reasons, mainly the club is dim, not dark, I don’t speak my objections aloud. The different girls in the club are distinguishable in the lighting, but Miss Stone and the victim have eerily similar features and outfits. I understand her concerns, but until we have more information, there’s no reason to create unnecessary fear.

  An exhausting five hours later, we sit down to talk to the last of the visitors that were at the Club when we arrived. We’ve seen Miss Stone periodically throughout the night, flitting about passing out water to guests that have had to stay to answer questions. About one-hundred people in total were in the Club that had to be interviewed.

  The responses we’ve gathered from the guests, so far, have been useless.

  No one knows anything. No one saw anything. Or at least, no one that is willing to admit it.

  Even the girl is a Jane Doe. No one has admitted to bringing her as a guest, or seeing her with any other guests.

  The hallway is also a dead end, it doesn’t have any cameras, as it leads to the dressing room for the employees of the Club.

  From the statements, we have no evidence, no motive, nothing. Hopefully forensics is able to find something to help this case.

  «»«»«»«»

  The statements are finished, the evidence has been collected, and the body is being loaded into the forensics van to head to the coroner for further investigation. The guests trickled out of the Club slowly throughout the night, as they finished their statements, but the Commissioner stayed behind to wait for us. He sent the young lady he was with home a while ago, after asking us to take her statement early in the night, so that she didn’t have to wait. I see the Commissioner now, standing next to a wall, waiting off to the side for Cooper and I, as we finish packing up our bag, preparing to leave.

  We approach the Commissioner and he launches right into what he needs, “I called your Chief. Some arrangements need to be made for the owner of the Club. He would like you and Cooper to bring Jenna in with you to the station to talk it over.” He pauses to take a breath before commanding, “Don’t bring her in the squad car with you. She can drive her own car, but one of you needs to ride in with her.” He waits for our nods to acknowledge his request, then he turns and walks to the front of the building.

  Cooper and I turn and look at each other. At the raise of Cooper’s eyebrow, we immediately hammer out a couple of quick games of rock, paper, scissors, to determine who gets to ride with Jenna to the station. After I win two rounds, I go to seek out the mysterious woman in gold, Jenna. I find her waiting by the front door with the Commissioner.

  “Jenna Stone?” I ask, holding my hand out to shake hers, as I speak, “I’m Alex Roth.” I continue, as she places her tiny slender hand in mine. My hand completely envelopes hers with some space left over and her tiny stature immediately makes me feel protective of her. After letting go of her hand, I relay the information from the Commissioner to her, “I was told by the Commissioner here, that you need to escort you to the station. I would be happy just to ride as a passenger in your car, if that’s okay with you.”

  Jenna gives me a brief nod of assent before turning to address the Commissioner. She places a soft kiss on his cheek and utters, “Thank you Trent. I appreciate your help and discretion.”

  To my surprise, the Commissioner gives Jenna a warmth filled smile and tells her something that is too quiet for me to hear. Whatever he says seems to reassure Jenna. After his words, she rolls her shoulders back and stands a bit straighter, then turns to me with a small smile, “Lets head out, I’m parked in the back lot.”

  Jenna leads me out of the Club, and I follow her to the back of the building. I watch as she presses the unlock button on her key fob and see the tail lights of a black Escalade flash in response. She wordlessly motions for me to join her getting into the vehicle before climbing in herself. I walk around to the passenger side and hop in.

  Jenna’s already buckled into the driver’s seat when I get in. Her head is hanging down and she’s looking at her hands clasped together on her lap. She lets out a deep sigh, lifts her head, and starts the car.

  I turn my body to face her as much as possible with the seatbelt digging into the side of my neck and ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She glances at me then turns her eyes back to the mirror, checking behind the car as she backs out of her spot. Keeping her eyes on the road as turns out onto the main street from the parking lot behind her building. “I’m not sure.” She finally replies. “Earlier this week…” She starts saying only to cut herself off mid-sentence.

  She softly shakes her head and I see her wipe away a tear that’s about to drip down her face. She inhales deeply, then begins
to talk again, “Earlier this week, someone left a dead rat in my apartment. On my bed. Gutted. Then a girl shows up dead at my club that looks like me and is dressed in an outfit so similar to mine.” She pauses, appearing to be thinking. “And the dark wig on the floor! This doesn’t feel like a coincidence to me right now.”

  She finishes talking and glances at me quickly, before returning her gaze to the street. She continues in a quieter voice, “I’m scared.”

  After she’s finished telling me what’s on her mind, I realize that Cooper and I responded to the Club building earlier this week. Instead of heading into the Club entrance though, the call was for the apartment above, the one accessed via stairs in the back lot. And Jenna was the girl in sweats. Cooper still hasn’t stopped talking about Jenna.

  Later that day when we went to lunch after our shift, still in our uniforms, he was convinced he saw her walking down the street. Leaving from the place that we were eating at. He had been a man obsessed.

  I didn’t realize why Jenna’s name and face seemed so familiar when we first met her at the Club. She was incredibly attractive, but also very dressed down when we went by her apartment to investigate the rat call. Her clothes and makeup for the Club though, make her look like a model after a photo shoot.

  I finally reply back to Jenna after mulling over the past week, “We’ll get this all figured out and keep you safe in the meantime.” I reassure her, “Let’s get to the station and see what Chief and the Commissioner have planned.”

  We arrive at the station with Cooper pulling up in the sedan right behind us. We all exit our respective vehicles and walk towards the entrance as a unit. Once inside, I usher Jenna to the elevator and we head up to go see Chief.

  To my surprise, Chief is impatiently waiting outside of the elevator doors in the lobby of the station. Once the doors open, he lets out a breath and utters “Finally.” The three of us file out of the elevator and follow him as he walks into his office.

  Chief Swan is a good dude. A good cop, but very reserved on offering opinions and as private as he can be on details about his personal life. His office has no personal touches, no photos or awards that he displays, and he goes by just Chief.

  Although he’s very tight lipped about sharing details from his personal life, everyone knows he’s divorced from a woman who’s a bit of a shrew. She still likes to come to the department to try to nag Chief about how he spends too much time at the station. The pair have two teenage children from their marriage and his ex-wife lords her custody of them over his head at every turn. His ex is a beautiful woman, but she’s very hard on Chief. It’s easy to see why things didn’t work out between the two.

  The four of us walk into Chief’s office and Jenna surprises me, and likely Cooper too, when she steps forward and hugs Chief after he closes the door. “It’s good to see you, Matt. Thank you for looking out for me,” she says softly. He gives her a gentle pat on the back in return and directs her to sit down in one of the chairs.

  Once we’re all settled into our seats, Chief jumps right into the reason for calling us to the station, “Unfortunately, I have some bad news.” He starts, “The information I’m about to disclose is to remain confidential for now. We don’t want to share this information with the public, for a couple reasons.” Chief glances between, Cooper, Jenna, and I before continuing, “The first reason is to deter false confessions, and the second is we wanted to keep from scaring your guests and the girls, Jenna.” Chief takes a deep breath, “A note was found by forensics…”

  “A note?” Jenna interrupts, her nose scrunched in confusion.

  “Yes,” Chief continues undeterred. “It was found in the victim’s mouth.” While he’s speaking, he places a picture from forensics on the desk in front of us. In the photo is a scrap of paper that appears crumpled and damp with the words, “No one lives that steals what’s mine.” scrawled across it.

  “What does this mean?” Jenna asks.

  “Based on the appearance and the attire of the victim… We believe the suspect may have had you in his sights, Jenna.” Chief replies, “Is there anyone you can think of that you’ve stolen from or may think that you stole from them?”

  Jenna pushes out her breath like she’s been sucker punched in the gut before responding, “I’ve never stolen in my life.”

  Chief nods like he suspected that would be her answer. He asks Jenna to step outside and wait for a moment with the receptionist while he talks to Cooper and I. Jenna stands up and gathers the small clutch she grabbed prior to leaving the club, and heads out of the office to wait.

  Chief waits until the door closes softly behind Jenna. He then turns to Cooper and I. “Cooper, Roth,” He begins looking each of us in the eye for a few seconds before speaking again, “I don’t think this murder was a random crime. Considering where the murder took place and how the girl was dressed, then factoring in the incident earlier this week… I think we need to consider the possibility that Jenna is in danger.” He pauses with a contemplative look on his face, “Jenna owns a Club that caters to many influential and wealthy guests. It’s well known within important social circles of Chicago. Based on our current evidence, we can’t be certain if this victim was mistaken to be Jenna, or was meant to be sent as a message.”

  “What do you need us to do, Chief?” Cooper asks, during a pause between Chief’s sentences.

  Chief glances at Cooper, “I’d like to place the two of you as a security detail for Jenna, until forensics is done examining all of the evidence. Hopefully they’re able to find us a starting point for the investigation from the body, but until we have a better idea of who’s behind this, I want to make sure that Jenna is safe.”

  I look to Cooper to gauge his response to Chief’s request. Usually we’re on patrol duty and respond to calls that may require a bit of investigative work, but we’ve never been placed as security detail. That’s not really something that anyone in our Department does or has done to my knowledge. Honestly that shit seems like something reserved for officers in the presence of diplomats or royalty… or something that’s only done in the movies.

  Cooper shoots me a glance, then answers for both of us while I’m thinking about scenarios that Chicago police officers might need to be used as personal security guards. “Sure thing, Chief. How do you recommend that we approach this?”

  Chief lays out all the details of the assignment. He wants us to be with her twenty-four hours a day, to keep her in sight at almost all times. The only place she should be by herself is in the bathroom.

  Chief waits for us to agree and asks if we have any questions. Cooper and I both answer no and Chief dismisses us, asking for Jenna to be sent back in to speak with him.

  We head out of the office and Cooper walks straight to Jenna, who’s waiting in a chair behind an empty desk near the receptionist. I trail a bit behind him, contemplating this sudden change in duties. Cooper tells Jenna that Chief wants to see her alone in his office to go over some details about how he plans to keep her safe.

  Twenty minutes later, and we’re still waiting for Jenna and Chief to finish talking in his office. I’m wondering what’s taking so long when it took him maybe a minute and a half to give us the details of this new assignment. It’s been a long day… er night, and our regular shift is already over, it has been for a while.

  Cooper and I are just standing off to the side, against the wall, watching the hustle and bustle of the station staff. The day staff has been arriving slowly at the station to prepare for their work day and we keep getting questioning glances, as we wait.

  Finally, after another ten minutes or so, Chief and Jenna round the corner together, with Chief smiling and Jenna letting out a small giggle. She gives “Matt” another hug.

  He looks at each of us sternly and states, “Take care of her.” Before turning back to head into his office again.

  Cooper steps forward with his hand outstretched to Jenna, “We haven’t been officially introduced yet. You can call me Cooper, o
r Coop.” Jenna smiles at him while she shakes his hand and replies back with her own name.

  After letting go of Cooper’s hand, Jenna turns to face the elevator and starts to head out of the station. After a few steps, she looks over her shoulder at Cooper and I to find us still leaning against the wall.

  She calls out, “Alright Hot Cop 1 and Hot Cop 2, looks like we’re stuck with each other for a while. It’s been a long night, let’s head home.” She winks at us and turns her head forward again, heading to the elevator.

  Cooper quickly quips back to her comment, as we start to trail behind her. “Which one of us is Hot Cop 1?”

  She laughs and looks over her shoulder again, making eye contact with Cooper. “Why you, of course, Handsome.”

  Cooper lets out a loud deep laugh at her response, while I scoff. Jenna giggles and turns around and struts into the elevator, holding her hand out to keep the doors open while she waits for us.

  Chapter 5

  Jenna

  I guess there are worse things than being stuck with two hot cop roommates after a killer attacks your business. I could be the girl that ended up face down in a pool of blood of her own blood on the floor of my Club, after being attacked.

  I’m trying to wrap my head around the events of the past twelve hours as I drive towards my apartment from the station. With Cooper as the passenger in my Escalade and Alex following behind in an unmarked Sedan.

  The Masquerade went better than expected, attendance was high and inhibitions we low, until a dead girl appeared in the back hallway. I was escorted to the police station to talk to the Chief, about concerns for my safety. At the station, Chief pulled me into his office after Hot Cop 1 and Hot Cop 2 returned to the lobby.