John Steel Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 3-1

The trip to the crime scene was more like an interrogation. Tony had regretted telling Barbara Tooms anything about his new girlfriend because he knew that even if she couldn’t ask the questions, Joshua would. Tony loved her like a sister, but she was too much into the ‘need to know’ group. She was a gossip, and her husband were worse because he fuelled her addiction. Tooms checked a message on his phone. It was from Barbara, Tooms smiled before replying to the message and tucked his phone away into his pocket. Tony felt nervous as Tooms adjusted his seating position to face his partner.

“So, who is she, and where did you meet?” Tooms asked as they passed another coffee shop.

“You’re kiddin’ me, right? Can’t it wait until after we have solved the case?” Tony asked, knowing full well that Tooms would be badgered with the same questions when he got home. Tooms just shrugged and gave a little noise of disapproval.

“What?” Tony asked in response to the little ‘Huh’ that his partner let out. He knew what it meant—his mother did it every time she wanted to show her disapproval of a choice he had made—normally a girl he was dating.

“Nothing,” Joshua Tooms replied. “Just you never mentioned her before, that’s all. We have been partners for how long? And you keep this from me, man, I thought I knew you?” Tooms looked away in a childish manner as if turning his back on Tony.

“Barbara’s gonna nag the s**t outa ya if you don’t bring back some gossip, ain’t she?” Tony said, realising the real pain his friend was going through.

“You got that right. And it’s all on you, brother, it’s all on you,” laughed Tooms, after he gave up trying to keep a serious face. Tony parked as close as he could to the building. Black-and-whites cordoned off the area, as well as the police barriers that were blocking off the building to people who just wanted to get a view of the crime scene. Tooms and Tony approached the building and showed their shields to one of the uniforms at the cordon. Even though it was late, ‘rubberneckers’ had gathered there, eager to feed their morbid fascination.

Inside the building, the two detectives spoke to another uniformed officer, who directed them upstairs to the fourth floor. To their dismay, they had to take the stairs as the elevator was in use, with the CSU – or Crime Scene Unit offloading in their equipment. The stairwell was only just wide enough for two. The walls were painted a sickly yellow, probably to hide the dirt, so that the owner didn’t have to clean them too often. However, in general, the building was clean, with no apparent cracks or peeling wallpaper. This was a ‘cheap rent’ place, but the landlord had some sense of pride about his property, that much was obvious.

“So, this girl of yours, where did you meet?” Tooms smiled as Tony shot him a look.

“Seriously? We’re on the way to a crime scene, and you’re bringing this up now?” Tony asked, even though he wasn’t surprised. Tooms shrugged and smiled as they reached the first floor.

“We met at a flower store, OK?” Tony said, feeling he had to give his inquisitive friend some information or the trip to the fourth floor would be unbearable. Tooms stopped and turned, placing a hand on Tony’s chest to halt him.

“Wait a minute,” the Tooms asked him. “you pick up a chick while you were getting flowers for another girl?” Tooms shook his head in disappointment. “That’s … cold, man. I don’t know whether to be proud or disgusted, man, No wonder you’re single!” Tooms turned and started towards the stairwell. Despite his words, he was impressed, but he didn’t want to let Tony know.

“The flowers were…. for my mother. It was her birthday.” Tony felt almost embarrassed to admit how it had happened. The sound of Tooms’s laughter echoed up to the second floor.

“OK,” Tooms stopped, his face cringed with disappointment. “I preferred to be disgusted and proud, now I just feel…. never mind,” Tooms said, shaking his head as he walked, all manner of being impressed had crumbed.

“So, where does she live? What does she do?” Tooms grilled Tony once more.

“She has just moved actually. Moved in with an old college friend, she said. Better on the bills as her other roommate bailed on her,” Tony explained. Tooms shook his head, for he could understand that kind of situation. It had happened to him once or twice before he joined the service. As they rounded the corner of the fourth floor, Tooms and Tony saw the circus getting ready. CSU were putting on their coveralls and opening aluminium cases that had their gear neatly packed inside. A young blonde CSU woman was getting her camera gear ready and attaching the special lens lamp onto the Canon 1d. As far as they could see, each member of the team of six had a task: fingerprint lifting, fibre collection, or laying evidence markers.

Tooms led the way into the room, which was empty apart from the ME (Medical Examiner), Tina Franks. The dark-skinned woman was crouched over the body, blocking the two detectives’ view.

“What we got, Doc?” Tooms greeted her as he pulled on his surgical gloves.

“White female in her late twenties, I would say,” Tina said as if she was reading off a menu. “Cause of death is undetermined as she has multiple injuries.” The police’s medical examiner wasn’t being callous or unfeeling, and she was simply being focused on the job.

“Do we have a name?” Tooms asked as Tony walked around the ME to look at the body. Something about the corpse looked horribly familiar to him. He thought he recognised her clothes and the small silver pendant necklace that had a small dragon on it.

“Her name was Amber … Amber Taylor,” Tony announced, deathly calm. Both Tooms and Tina looked up at their pale-looking colleague. Tooms’s stomach turned over as he had a horrible feeling.

“Don’t tell me that she was—,” Tooms began hesitantly.

“—My girlfriend. Yes, she,” Tony’s voice was a choking whisper, “was.”

Joshua grabbed Tony by the arm and walked him out. Tony’s face betrayed a jumble of confused emotions. Should he cry? Yell? Break something?

“Make a hole!” Tooms yelled, forcing people out of the way with his roar. Uniforms and techs parted like the red sea, allowing the two detectives through. They headed for the elevator, and Tooms barged past a couple of techs who were waiting to go in.

“Get the next one,” Tooms ordered the two shocked men, letting the doors close in front of them.

Outside, the cold wind stung the two friends like a swarm of wasps. It was cold enough to see the smoky breath of passers-by. Tony was uneasy on his feet, his legs unable to support him. But his powerful partner held him long enough for them to make it to the wall next door. Suddenly Tony vomited in the bushes next to the building. Tooms stood watch over his partner as he hung onto the wall and screamed out in emotional pain. Tooms’s massive hand hovered above his partner’s back, ready to give him a sympathetic pat, but somehow it felt not so much wrong as not enough.

“No point tellin’ you to go home, because I know you won’t,” Tooms said. “So, get your ass to the precinct, man. I will fill you in there.” Tooms rested a gentle hand on his partner’s shoulder. Tony stood up. His pain had turned to anger, and it showed in his eyes. Tooms looked over towards the crime scene as Tony sat down on the doorstep of the adjacent building. Joshua pulled out his cell phone.

“Yeah, McCall? It’s Joshua. We got a bad situation here.”

* * *

It only took fifteen minutes for McCall to turn up. Her arrival was signalled by the roar of her GT 500 Mustang. Tooms looked over from his spot next to Tony on the neighbour’s front step. He stood up and looked down at his partner.

“Back in a bit, man,” he told him. Tony, unable to talk, just nodded in response. Tooms smiled and walked over to the beast of a car. The motor purred as she let the engine idle before switching it off. Detective Samantha McCall swung her long legs out of her car and stood up, showing her catwalk model height. Her gaze was on Tony as she slipped on her black leather jacket.

“Hey, Joshua, how’s he doing?” she asked as the large black cop approached her.

“Pretty much as you would expect,” Tooms replied as they hugged as if they were close relatives. They made their way towards Tony, who was staring down at the pavement while his thoughts were elsewhere. The sound of the clacking heels of Sam’s high leather boots caused him to look up at them. Samantha McCall gave him a comforting smile, then moved closer. She had shoulder-length brown hair and had an athletic form that was currently hidden beneath a pair of jeans that hugged her perfect behind and a black baggy T-shirt under a black leather jacket. In another life, she should have been walking catwalks or photoshoots in faraway places, but her father’s death by gunshot had made a model’s life impossible for her. Indeed, McCall had the looks and the body of a supermodel, but she also had the brains and the instincts of a first-rate cop, something she had always wanted to be after coming from a long line of police officers, detectives, and one lawyer. Detective Samantha McCall walked up to Tony and gave him a hug. She knew what he was going through, and if anyone did, it was her.

“Where’s Steel?” Tooms asked, looking around and paying attention to the rooftops. “I figured he would have come with you?”

“Who knows?” She shrugged as she spoke. McCall didn’t really care about Steel’s whereabouts; she was too preoccupied with Tony’s pain.

“You OK, partner?” Tooms asked as he watched Tony nod, then shrug with mixed emotion. He knew the answer, but he just wanted to hear it from him.

“No, not really. I just saw my girlfriend dead on the floor with bits cut out of her,” Tony growled. He wasn’t mad at Tooms. He was angry at whoever was responsible for the killing.

“You know the captain ain’t gonna let you work this?” Tooms told him. “In fact, he probably won’t let me be on the team either.” Tony looked up at Tooms, confused.

“I am your partner, man,” Tooms explained. “He ain’t gonna let us work this.” Tony knew he was right, but he wanted blood.

“I’ll talk to the captain and make sure Steel, and I get the case,” Sam said. Tony looked up and gave her a smile of gratitude. Sam simply nodded with that same sympathetic smile.

“Head back to the precinct and start digging up what you can about her,” McCall ordered. Tony was confused.

“I thought we weren’t on the case?” Tony stood up. He suddenly looked different, less angry, and more driven.

“You’re not on the case, Tony, but you are the only one who knew her. For that reason, we are using you as our best source of information until someone better comes along. Is that a problem, Detective?” she asked in a stern voice. But Tony saw through her plan to keep him in the loop, despite the regulations.