Purely F****** Sinful

Chapter 13

Anthony returned to work at the precinct. He first reported to Captain Bayer's office, knocking on the already open door. The captain looked up from his deskload of paperwork.

"Ah, Detective Harvey! Glad you're back. Are you trying a new rugged look around the station?"

In his haste to be on time, Anthony had forgotten to shave.

"No sir, just running a little late this morning," Anthony replied.

The captain gestured with a curt nod. "Have a seat."

Anthony sat in the chair opposite of Captain Bayer's desk. "We need answers, Harvey. Since you were the only witness to what happened that night, I'm putting you in charge of this investigation. This is a high profile case, probably the highest of your career. I've got the mayor breathing down my neck and I need you to get to the bottom of this. Can I count on you?"

"Yes Sir!" Anthony replied with enthusiasm. He stifled his inner anxiety.

Captain Bayer considered the detective. "Good. You're dismissed."

Anthony left the captain's office to spend most of the day at his desk, re-reading all the reports on the night club murder and scanning the police archives for a proper candidate for Angel to... make disappear. Sure, there were plenty of thugs, drug dealers, pimps, and similar scum, but he felt they were not deserving of the death penalty.

"Anthony! I see you're back today. I have something to talk to you about."

Anthony looked away from his computer monitor. Matthew stood nearby in an all-too-serious pose.

"Look, if this is about the other day, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that."

"No, no. It's not about that at all," Frank said. "I have a lead on Maria's killer!"

Anthony practically jumped from his chair. "What do you got?!" he shouted.

"I'll explain at Blaine's lab."

They briskly walked to the medical examiner's lab in the precinct's basement. Anthony was anxious. Could this finally be the big break he had sought all this time?

Matthew and Anthony stepped into the pathologist's realm. They found Blaine staring at his computer monitor.

"Okay, Blaine," Matthew said. "Show Anthony what you've found."

Blaine turned around, "Hey! Glad you're back."

"Spare me the pleasantries and get on with it," Anthony said impatiently.

"Right," Blaine said. He ignored his friend's brusqueness. "So, as you know, one of the only pieces of evidence we have in Bridget's shooting is a partial fingerprint on one of the bullet casings found at the crime scene. Due to it being small and incomplete, we've been unable to identify who the print belongs to."

"That is, until now," Matthew said with a big smile on his face.

Blaine turned back to his computer monitor. "The FBI was kind enough to allow me to try out their new experimental software. Using a database of billions of fingerprints, the software is able to 'guess' what the rest of a partial fingerprint could look like. It was able to compile eighteen possibilities."

"So?" Anthony asked, waiting for the punch line.

"So," Matthew said. "The weapon used in the shooting was a rare 9mm Belgian revolver. We know this because, when this gun is fired, the hammer leaves a unique imprint on the casing. We cross referenced the eighteen possible fingerprints with the number of registered Belgian revolvers on file and found a single match!"

Blaine typed into his computer and then turned his monitor toward Anthony. "Meet Mark Santana. The man has quite the rap sheet. Burglary, drug trafficking, and is currently on parole after being convicted of armed robbery. He was released on good behavior just before Maria's murder. We checked the surveillance footage of the robbery and sure enough, the masked armed gunman was holding a 9mm Belgian revolver."

Anthony's blood boiled as he stared at the mugshot of Mark on the monitor. "So what the f**k are we waiting for?!" he shouted.

"With this software being experimental, it wouldn't be admissible in court." Blaine said.

"But," Matthew interjected. "It does look convincing. Convincing enough for a judge to issue a search warrant. If we find the revolver with his prints on it, we can match them to the casing found at Bridget's crime scene."

"How long?" Anthony asked.

"The warrant should be signed by tomorrow morning," Matthew said. "I have a team already assembled and ready to go. Blaine here will be with us to handle the evidence."

It all seemed to fit together so neatly. Could this really be right? There was, however, one way to know for sure.

"Good work, both of you. Thank you," Anthony said. "Tell me what you find once the search warrant is a go."

"You'll be the first to know," Blaine said with a reassuring smile.

Anthony left the lab, grabbed what he needed, and left the precinct. It was time to take Angel out to dinner.