Crime Scene 1
The city of New York wakes up to the first rays of
spring, right after an extended period of extreme winter, with feet’s of snow
piling around everywhere, marking a question of sustainability among everyone. The
downtown is bustling with the usual traffic as office commuter’s pitch into
every mode of public transport to reach their place. As the routine life of the New York's residents play in at a fast forward mode, amidst the busy population a
section of life seems to be rather busy with something else. Something that is distinctive
to the routine office goer’s.
Located approximately 3.5 miles South-East of Yonkers
city is the famous Van Cortlandt park, housing the city’s largest freshwater
lake. Though the lake draws in little crowd, it is usually the park which fills
in with a heterogeneity community, but less than that of the central park. However
during the migratory season, one could witness flock of birds nesting on the
lake and the nearby forest area residing within the park zone which adds to the
number of footprint recorded.
The possibility of finding the common Snipe (a bird)
from the perimeter of marsh is on high odds especially post winter, though one
may be lucky to sight a few around the grassy area of the marsh. And if one
goes north along the wetlands and take the first path on the left, you find the
wooden footbridge. It is the best vantage for wood duck and warbling vireo, with
the wood duck even occasionally spotted in winter too. Amidst the union of
onlookers, budding and tenured Ornithologist are found wandering the park most
of the days studying the behavioral pattern of each home and visiting birds,
making a record of each. There are times when limitless tripods are found set
up across the hot spots of the park, wherein the bird photographers, ranging
from amateur to pro, awaiting for their right shot, that may bring some
spotlight onto their career. So a bustling of activity can always be recorded
over there.
As the spring has pitched in, it is the time of the
year for the songbird’s migration to the lake and Roger was way ahead of his
schedule at the park, to glimpse and picture a few. He was one of the other
photographers who throng at the park every day looking out for these birds.
This day as he was setting up his tripod at his usual spot and waiting for the
birds to turn up, something phenomenal caught his sight. Far away from the lake
and very close to the parade ground, birds were flying in an unusually low and
closed pattern. This rare sight stuck his senses and so he made his way towards
the woods. As he closed upon the spot, he was flabbergasted to see the Cooper’s
hawk soaring way down its flight level. He was taken aback as it was an unusual
behavior of them, as they were mostly seen prowling above the forest edge or
field using just a few stiff wing beats followed by a glide. But here it was
just the other shade of life.
As he closed on into the woods, he was welcomed
not just by a few but almost by a dozen of them, all in an attacking maneuver. Confused
with the bizarre behavior of these birds early in the morning, very slowly he
starts connecting the dots over the picture, which the reason probably could be
that the flock had hunted down their prey, if I am not wrong. As he was
observing the act and drawing his theory around them, one of the bird swiftly
flew past his head missing him by inches and thereby disappeared shortly behind
a bush, a few feet away from where he was standing.
Since Roger had much knowledge about the bird’s
behavior, especially the ones that he mostly snapped on his camera, this sudden
flight of the hawk did not blow him out actually. He knew that in pursuit of a
catch, their flight almost becomes powerful, quick and acrobatic, allowing the
bird to drift its way through the tree branches at top speed. Disregarding this
behavior of theirs seriously, he turned back to get out of the woods and get
back to his camera. Taking few steps back, that is when he noticed something
unusual. There was a long trail of drag mark right from the park heading
straight into the woods right across him. Is this the trail of the golf cart
which someone would have accidentally driven into the woods (Mind Voice)? Wondering
so, he bent down to check the mark of the trail and finds it negative for any
traces of the cart’s wheel. So what could it be then?
Trying to reason it out
he started searching the area when some shredded leaves, few feet from him, caught
his attention. Observing them closely, he was blown out as smudge of blood were
found around the trail and leading straight into deep woods. With the blood
dried out and the sight of Cooper’s hawk over the woods, he sensed something
dubious had happened here. He made a swift move in the direction of the hawk
that had earlier disappeared behind the bush.
OMG!!! What the hell is this?
He was completely thrown
off by the scene. In such an unpalatable state lies the body of a teenage girl, somewhere in her mid-20s. The Hawk’s had already feasted upon her though
not completely leaving little traces of identification. Though shaken up by the
scene, he did not panic and had to think of something very quick since the
number of birds had picked up in number over the area. String of thoughts kept
bombarding within his mind but nothing seemed virtuous. “Should I get out of
the park and find some help?” No, that would not help since no one would have
turned up at the park this early. So what else? “May be I should go to the lake
and seek the help of fellow photographers?” Hmm, no. That would take me a lot
of time to reach and get help. Meanwhile the flock of hungry predators will
feed upon her completely leaving just the bones behind. So sensing the severity
of the situation, he immediately grabbed his cell phone and dialed in 911.
In the meantime, somewhere far in the downtown away
from the crime scene, the steam from the room was getting hotter and hotter
with every minute departing. The 2 inch foam lined soft filled heavy punch bag responded
actively with each of the rhythmic punch that it acquired. With every punch,
the muscle seemed to flex and sculpt the person’s body and there was a complete
professionalism seen in her every move. The sweatshirt was completely drenched
with sweat. Focus and determination were discerned with every punch that the
bag received and there were no room for an error.
After long hours of
mercilessness, the punch bag finally finds its mercy with the cell phone
ringing in the background and the punch lightens up with the rise in the
ringtone volume. The person walks away from the bag and grabs the cell phone.
“Detective Natasha here”. With every passing minute on the call her tone
tightens up and finally drops the call saying “Find you in the next 20”. Natz,
as how she is popularly known among her community, is a homicide detective with
the 13th precinct of the New York City Police Department. She comes
round every morning to the NYPD police academy across the 28th
avenue in Flushing village, north central part of the New York City for an
intensive training just to orient her mind and body for the day’s work.
Meanwhile at the park, the CSU (Crime Scene Unit of the
NYPD Detective Bureau's Forensic Investigations Division) had taken
over the area and covered its perimeter from public access. Natasha arrives at
the park only to find it unusually crowded just as line of NYPD’s car were
parked at mad angles over the Broadway 9, one of the busiest highways of the
city. She directs few cops to clear out the traffic and leave the crime scene
out of any trouble. She then finds her way towards the crime scene when she was
greeted by Detective Jaden, one of her other colleagues at the precinct. So Jaden,
what have we got here? Jaden starts debriefing on the primary investigation
report. Our victim is a teenage girl somewhere in her mid-20s. No ID’s found
or recovered so far. Chances of robbery or sexual assault too seem negative.
Christina is out around the park, gathering information from the ornithologist
and the photographers who were present early in the morning for any suspicious
activity recorded. And a guy named Roger, a part time bird photographer, was
the first to report the scene to 911. He claims that the body should have been
there for couple of hours. You mean our guy knows something about the murder (Stopping
by). Well not exactly Natz, but he claims to know it by the behavior of the
birds that were feasting upon the body. He claims to know about the behavior of
the birds around here.
Oh that’s great and please tell Roger to meet me at the facade of the park. Meanwhile let me go and check out on the body. Being a
homicide detective and handling a dozen of criminals, Natasha holds the credit
of solving a good number of mystery cases similar to the one she is about to
take up. As
she enters the wood amidst busy law enforcement agents working on the scene, a
stench of foul smell greets her heavily. She sensed the body would have been
beyond decomposition as she walked her way towards it. With blotch of blood around
the body, the epidermis layer of the skin was clearly visible, credits to the
hawks. Apart from that, there were no traces of any stab or bullet marks on her
body. As she examines the body, she is greeted by Dr. Windy, the medical
examiner associated with the precinct and a close friend of Natasha. Hey Windy,
any luck so far with the victim’s body? To be honest there is nothing much I
can say until I take it to the morgue. However to give you a heads up on the
case, my primary findings shows the victim had few bruise marks on the hand and
shoulder as you can see it here, pointing her finger towards it. She would have
received quite a blow or two from the attacker. There is skull fracture leading
to complete blood loss, which explains she could have either hit something hard
on the ground or was beaten up hard. Finally to dump the body out of sight, the
attacker would have dragged her into the woods. The approximate time of death
stands somewhere around 11 pm and 1 am. Apart from that, the ancillary attacker,
who seemed attracted with her, were the Cooper’s hawk, which started feeding
upon the body this morning. Oh!! Thank you Windy. Give me a call if you get a
catch out of the lab.
Taking a walk outside
the woods, Natz was quite puzzled as to what would have led to the murder? As day
breaks in slowly, the park seemed to sparkle in with the lake’s beauty with the
first rays of sun hitting it. Flock of birds were seen flying in and out,
giving on lookers a sight to behold. Natz seemed to love it too and so she drifts
her course in the direction of the lake. Minutes later, a mile from where she
had started walking, a sumptuous statue greeted her on the way. It was the
statue of an American White Pelican, giving out a resplendent pose, with its
wings wide open to the lens of the world acclaimed bird photographer, Mr.
Arthur Morris. She was quite impressed with the craftsman’s skill in chiseling
the statue to such perfection, however something more amazed her over there. As
she closed on to the statue, she witnessed a smudge of dried blood over one of
the wings.
The ground around the statue too seemed disturbed recently with
patches of earth upturned. Apprehending something could turn out there, she
called out for Jade repeatedly. However minutes later it was Christina who
turned out. Yo Natz what happened? Jade is out looking for the security
official in charge during the time of murder. And I enquired couple of people
out there and they seemed positive to not know our victim or had hardly seen
her visiting the park in the recent past. Oh okay, thank you. Christi, have
this area covered up too for investigation, especially the blood on the statue.
Check for any available prints and canvas the perimeter for any evidence. Call
the CSU and ask them to sweep the area for any possible prints available. Send
out this small piece of cloth from our victim’s sweatshirt, which got ripped
off during her fall, for any possible match of DNA against our record. Acknowledging
her, Christi moves on fencing the area, instructing cops to clear the crowd and
look out for any kind of evidence. Detective Natasha, Dr. Windy asked you to
have a look at this, which she found it inside the victim’s pocket.
It was a
neatly folded tissue from the “Hyacinth’s Haven Restaurant”. Thank you
sergeant, I shall take forward it and I remember seeing it downtown. Well yes if
I am not wrong, it is on the 139th street and close to the City
College of New York, detective. It is a fine little restaurant that serves
palatable Jamaican food. I have been there twice with my girlfriend. The in-house
music was soothing over there. You feel a sense of calmness when you're in.
Thank you sergeant and kindly send out uniforms with photograph of the victim
over there, just to check out if she was dining in with someone or if people around
there recognize her. Roger that detective.
As Natasha turns her back to the
sergeant, Christi comes running towards Natz. Natasha, I have found something
here. It is a couple of credit cards along
with a college ID. Looks like out victim had dropped in during the duel. Aha!!! So the victim is Leena, an under grad in Peace studies from the Manhattan
College, which is right opposite to the park. Well, this tells us why she had traveled all the way uptown from the restaurant. So Christina, why don’t you get a catch
of her record from the college authorities and run down a search on her financial
statements too? May be we can narrow it down to something. Meanwhile let me
head back to the precinct with Roger and hear out his statement. And put on a
word with Jade to meet me over there, if you could? Don’t worry; we shall meet
you back at the office with something useful. You have my word Natz (giving a thumbs
up).
...to be continued
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