Detectives

Chapter 1 - The Case

I walked into the penthouse, not sure what I was doing there, domestic calls weren't really my thing. Looking around the place there were a lot more officers than I would have expected, even for a place with this much expensive-looking art and decor in it.

There was no shortage of high-end furniture, marble statues, and I was pretty sure that was a Picasso on the wall in the living room.

"Randal! Over here." Captain Tully called out and waved over at me. He was getting ready to retire in a few months, I doubt that whatever this was, he would get a smooth sail till then.

I walked over and arrived to him speaking on the phone, "Yes Sir, I understand Sir. No... no problem, I understand that discretion is key. Thank you Sir, I will Sir." Tully spoke into his phone and I could imagine the other side of the conversation without much effort.

"The Mayor?" I asked, only out of courtesy.

Tully huffed and nodded, "Yeah, this has all the higher-up's attention." he replied gruffly as was his way.

"I presume that's why you called me at 2 am?"

He nodded again, "You're on this case..." he said with a glare and a pointed finger, "...don't give me any hassle Randal."

I raised an eyebrow, "I don't know Captain... domestic isn't my beat... nor the best use of my time, don't you think? I've got the Handler case on the front burner and..."

Tully put up his hand to stop me, "They're all on the back burner now. This is priority one. No questions. Just get on it and get it solved."

I was about to try and protest more but was suddenly interrupted by a commotion coming from the direction of the bedroom. I turned to look to see three uniformed officers desperately trying to escort a woman covered in a blanket to the front door.

"Come on baby... just let me suck it a little! *giggle*" the woman exclaimed in a high-pitched voice that made it sound like she was whining.

The blanket slipped from her shoulders as she reached down towards one of the officer's crotch and a giant set of over-inflated breasts swung loose. The nipples were impossibly thick and hard, her waist looked like it should snap in two if she actually bent over, and she was completely naked.

That's when it clicked, "Mrs. Harrington." I said half under my breath and Tully huffed again.

"And that's why you're on the case. It took a half an hour for her husband to figure out who she was, he called it in as a home invasion. Said there was a crazy bimbo trying to rape him in the house."

I scrunched my forehead and took a second look at the once matronly head of the Harrington family. They were well known for their philanthropic enterprises throughout the city. The last time I'd seen a photo of her was on the front page of the newspaper after attending the children's hospital fundraiser and donating $30 million to it.

Her weather face, nearly snow-white hair, and wrinkled skin were well covered by an expensive designer dress and makeup, but there was no denying that she was in her seventies at least. The woman being escorted out couldn't be any older than 24... tops.

I turned back to Tully with a questioning look, "Don't ask me..." he said holding up his hands, "That's what you're here for." he finished with a smirk.

I let out a sigh and nodded, my reputation in the department was... mixed. Yes, I closed my cases, in fact I closed *all* of my cases. But I also tended towards more unorthodox methods to do so, that often made my fellow officers and superiors... nervous.

"You can interview her later if you want, but I doubt you'll get anything out of her. We've been trying for two hours and, well, you can see how she's responded. Her husband is having her taken to a private clinic... for discretion. If they have any luck with her they'll let us know."

I nodded and wondered what could possibly have caused such a change.

"Oh, and discretion is the word. This can't get to the press, so everything is need to know only."

"Got it Captain. Who was the first responder?" I asked.

"Wilson was first on scene." Tully said and pointed over to one of the uniformed officers.

I turned and started to walk over to him, but Tully called out after me.

"Oh, one more thing... you're going to want to talk to Vasquez first thing in the morning. She's got the other cases."

I turned my head back to Tully with a raised eyebrow, "Other cases?"

He just nodded and I continued over to Wilson, a heavy sigh slipping from me as other cases meant a pattern... which meant a serial attacker of some kind.

The fact that Vasquez had the other cases and hadn't been called into this one had me a little curious as well.

* * *

I looked out over the city as the sun rose from the Harrington master bedroom, it was larger than my apartment and I suspect cost more than my apartment building.

I looked down at my watch, 6:43 am, just enough time to get home and have a shower before heading to the station and tracking down Vasquez.

After talking to Mr. Harrington, along with the uniformed officers and everyone else that had come trampling into the scene since then, I knew little more than when I'd finished my talk with Tully.

Mr. Harrington had come home, expecting to find his wife doing, well, whatever she did all day, and instead found a "crazy bimbo trying to rape me", as he put it.

He managed to dodge her advances for a while, before locking himself in the bedroom, and calling 911.

It was during his wait for the police to arrive that he'd realized it was in fact his wife, though even now he still only half believed it. She'd started begging him to fuck her when he locked the door, just basic stuff at first, but slowly she had started adding in details to things that they had done in the past, places they had gone, etc, that finally made it impossible for him to deny.

A visit to the concierge's desk to retrieve the video from the lobby was unenlightening as there had been some kind of issue with the system and there was no footage for the last 12 hours.

The uniformed officers would be canvasing the neighbourhood for any other footage they could find when more of the businesses opened up, and the techs back at the station would be doing the same when they arrived for any of the traffic cameras.

In the meantime, home and a shower was the only other thing I could do at the moment.

I turned from the window and walked to the doorway, pausing for just a moment, there was one other thing I could do. I pulled my phone from my pocket, scrolled through my contacts until I found Benny.

"Hey, dig up any dirt on the Harrington's you can find."

I hit send on the message and walked out of the penthouse.

Chapter 2 - The Station

I watched the video on my computer, a man on a bicycle rolling up to the front of the Harrington's building, leaning it up against the wall, and walking in.

It was the best view we had from the cameras so far, and it looked like he was in his mid-thirties at the most, brown hair, and average build and height.

Aka, bubkus.

My only hope was that some other camera caught a better angle.

I let out a sigh just as my phone rang, "Warrant" I answered.

"It's Vasquez, Tully said you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, I'll be right down."

"I'll be here."

Then we both hung up and my uneasiness around Vasquez only heightened. It was the way she'd said "I'll be here", not in a confident tone, but a resigned one.

The fact her office was in the basement, when the rest of the detectives were up here on the 16th floor near the top of the building, was just another red flag.

* * *

"So Captain Tully tells me you have two cases that are related to mine." I said, tossing down the manila folder that contained what little I had so far onto her desk.

Vasquez was younger than I expected, couldn't be over thirty, with curly brown hair and a darker complexion. Probably from a South American descent if I'd had to guess. She picked up the folder and flipped it open.

"Oh... another one of these." she said and then reached around behind her, shuffled through a stack of folders on the credenza, picked out two, and turned back around, tossing them in my direction.

"You don't seem surprised..." I asked curiously as I opened the first folder to see a rap sheet for a brunette woman named Natalie, who looked thin and tired, and much older than the 28 the bio indicated.

"Not really. Only surprised that they gave it to you. But I guess when they're rich they get the VIP treatment." she spat out.

I quickly read the rap sheet, it was long and filled with drug and prostitution charges. I flipped to the next sheet and was unsurprising to see a new mug shot, she still had her brunette hair, but she looked completely different otherwise.

Gone were the bags under her eyes, the stringy hair, the hollow cheeks, the marks up and down her arms. Replaced by what appeared to be a young woman who was in the porn industry. Thick luscious lips, huge obviously fake breasts, heavy makeup, and perfect hair that formed a halo around her head.

I closed the file and flipped over to the second one.

The first page wasn't a rap sheet, but instead just a 8x10 photo of a family. Mother and father, along with two children. The parents looked to be in their forties, the kids in their early teens at most.

I flipped to the next page and the booking sheet was mostly what I expected. Public indecency, assault, and a few related misdemeanours.

The mug shot attached of Sarah Acorn was similarly different. It was the wife, though a good twenty years younger. Gone was the short dirty blonde hair, replaced with long platinum blonde locks down to her waist. Her lips dominated her face and her huge breasts sat unnaturally high on her chest.

I looked up at Vasquez with a frown, there was nothing else in the folders, "Is this it?" I said, flipping the page back and forth.

She rolled her eyes at me and nodded, "Yeah, what did you expect?"

I looked at the booking sheet again, "This was... three weeks ago... and this was almost seven... and you have *nothing*?"

Vasquez let out a sigh and then leaned back in her chair, "Tell me Warrant... how many cases do you have currently open?"

I raised an eyebrow and paused for a moment, "Seven, with that one." I replied pointing to the folder I'd tossed on her desk.

She pushed her chair to the side and turned it, then waved at the stack of folders on her credenza, "These are my active cases... 37 at the moment." she replied.

Then she stood up and walked over to the large filing cabinet on the side wall of her office, opening the top drawer, "These are my active but paused cases... 28 at last count, that are technically still active but I don't have time to work on them."

She closed the drawer and slapped the next two under it, "These contain my inactive cases, which means I haven't worked on them in at least three months... 73 at the moment."

Then she slapped the final drawer, "And these are my cold cases... aka the ones I get to work on if I take them home on the weekends or vacation. There's another filing cabinet of them in the next room. I don't count these... it's too depressing."

Then she returned to her chair, swivelled it back forward and looked me dead in the eyes, "So yes, I'm quite serious. That's all I've got on them. But I'm sure now that the great Detective Warrant is on the case... you'll clear them up in a jiffy." she said with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Ok, I get it Vasquez, no time for some hair-brained story of people changing in the blink of an eye into sex-crazed sluts. So what's your story? There's no way someone as young as you gets all the way to detective and then gets stuck in the basement, overworked and having all the cases no one else wants dumped on her."

She leaned back and half smiled, "Don't you already know? You're the great detective after all."

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to remember anything I'd heard about Vasquez. Then I opened them and concentrated on her. Slowly it started to come back to me.

"Shit... you're *that* Vasquez."

She nodded in return and we both sat silently for a moment.

It had been two years ago that the scandal had broken, the department had been running a sting on John's, using a recently closed down high-end escort agency as a cover, when they'd ensnared the Chief of Police.

Vasquez had been the one to snag him in the sting. A very sure way to pretty much end your career, even if it was the right thing to do.

I stood up and grabbed the three folders, "Alright, let's go." I announced.

"Go? Go where?" Vasquez asked, confused.

"You're with me, let's get all three cases closed."

She shook her head, "I can't. If I leave they'll..."

"They'll what? Dig a new basement level for you?"

Vasquez blinked and then smiled, "True... I wouldn't mind a basement to myself though." she finally said and then shrugged, before coming out from behind her desk and walking out with me.

Chapter 3 - The Informant

Vasquez was sitting across from me at my kitchen table, we'd spent the day collecting as much evidence as we could, visiting the previous victims and their families.

We'd tracked down Natalie working in a strip club. She was still mostly sex crazed, but could at least hold a conversation for a little while. All she could remember was that she'd met a man one night, nondescript, mid-thirties she thought, and then... just sex... sex and more sex.

She'd spent two weeks in a psych ward and they'd given her enough drugs and therapy to get back to some semblance of control over herself, and while the charges were pending, she was doing what she could to make a living.

Which, it turned out, was a lot better than her old life. She still remembered being that person, drugged up and desperate, it was just no longer who she was, or what she wanted. Now she had a steady job, a real apartment, and enough money to get herself on the straight and narrow.

Her John had been less forthcoming. In fact, he had disappeared completely. Talking to one of his buddies had revealed that he had fled pretty much right afterwards. The buddy's quote was "Nah, fuck that shit... I'm out of here."

As for Sarah, her story was a little different. She was still in the psych ward, undergoing extreme therapy to try and get her under control. A chat with her accountant husband had revealed very little other than the small laundromat they owned was close to where Natalie often worked the street along with her John.

It was at least some small connection between the two cases... the Harrington's on the other hand were all the way across the city, with no ties to either of them.

"Not a bad day's work." Vasquez said with a smile on her lips.

I sighed and nodded, "Yeah, just not very fruitful."

Vasquez looked up at me and frowned, "You look like shit Warrant."

I huffed and nodded, "Thanks, been up for... 38 hours now." I said pausing to check my watch.

"You need to get some sleep... We can pick up again tomorrow." she replied with a shake of her head.

I nodded in return and I got up to show her out of the front door, when my phone binged. I paused and sighed, I recognized the bing, before I turned around and picked up the phone.

"Hang on Vasquez..." I said and quickly checked my messages:

"Got what you wanted... be at the regular spot at 8."

I looked back at my watch, "Want to grab a bite before we meet my informant?" I asked.

"You're kidding right? You're going to fall flat on your face if you don't get some sleep."

"It's just three more hours... no big deal." I replied and reached for my jacket before gesturing to the door.

Vasquez shook her head, rolled her eyes and smiled, "Fine." she replied with what I almost thought was a growing respect in her voice.

* * *

Benny was a small man, a weasel of a man really, but he did always come through.

Vasquez was a few steps behind me as we walked down the dirty alleyway behind the diner we'd just finished eating at. In general I find dining alone preferable, but Vasquez held her own in conversation and I had to admit I had found it... pleasant.

"Who's the chick?" Benny's raspy voice piped up as we approached.

"My partner, Vasquez. She's kosher." I replied.

Benny looked around nervously and then finally pulled out a small notepad from his dirty jacket and flipped over several pages until he arrived at the one he was looking for.

He looked up and narrowed his eyes, "The usual agreement?" he asked.

I nodded and pulled out a plain white envelope from my breast pocket and handed it to him. He flipped it open and checked it over before stuffing it in the same pocket he'd fished his notepad from.

"Alright... you're not going to like this." he started and I raised an eyebrow, I was pretty sure I could feel Vasquez's eyebrow raise behind me as well.

"The Harrington's all look good on paper, but if you scratch at that paper just a little you find all kinds of dirt... dirt of the Zeeloni kind."

"Shit." I said aloud, the Zelloni family was the biggest crime family in the city.

"No way." Vasquez said from behind me.

"How deep?" I asked.

"Real deep." Benny replied ignoring Vasquez, "And both ways. You know that 30 mil she just donated to the hospital?"

I nodded.

"Just a way to launder money... it's going right back into the Zelloni family through the construction of a new wing on that place. Gonna come out squeaky clean."

"And she knows?"

"Absolutely. I'm told the broad used to date Nathan Zelloni, back in college or somethin."

I sighed and turned to the surprised face of Vasquez. We both shook our heads and then I turned back to Benny.

"What else?"

"Not much... just some minor stuff... here." he replied, tearing a few pages from his notebook and handing them to me.

"Thanks Benny. Appreciated as always."

"You too." Benny said with a smile and tapped his pocket where the envelope was and then he pushed his notepad into it as well.

We started to walk away when I suddenly stopped and turned back to him.

"Hey, one more thing... you know anything about a laundromat over on South Pennington Street?"

"The one right by all the whores?" Benny shot back.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Oh yeah, everyone knows the Acron Laundromat... need some money washed, that's your place to go."

"Controlled by Zelloni as well I assume?"

"As if anything isn't." Benny shot back and then threw his hand in my direction before skulking off down the alleyway.

This time when I turned back to Vasquez a smile was on her face, "You fucking genius..." she said and then we both hurried back to the street. There was nothing else to do tonight, so we parted ways and agreed to meet at the Zelloni's head office building in the morning.

When my head hit the pillow, my eyes shut and I was dead to the world.

Chapter 4 - Zelloni

"I'd like to speak to Jackson Zelloni..." I said to the receptionist as I held up my badge, beside me was Vasquez doing the same thing.

A good night's sleep had done wonders for my disposition... along with a nice long hot shower of course. Vasquez was as eager as a squirrel on caffeine and I wasn't entirely sure she wasn't about to just jump over the desk and dash right into Zelloni's office leaving a Vasquez-shaped hole in the door.

Of course this was just a casual visit, no need to set off any alarm bells at this point. Jackson Zelloni was very used to having officers drop by for visits, this one would be no different.

"I'm sorry Sir, he's in a meeting." the pretty young receptionist said in a halted, stilted tone.

"He's just going to have to cancel it!" Vasquez almost shouted and slammed her hand down on the receptionist's desk.

"He can't be disturbed at the moment... if you'd like to come back some other time." the receptionist continued without flinching.