The crime scene was swarming with the reporters who tried to break through the police tape. Police officers seemed to have a hard time fighting them off. Since it was her first experience, Amanda regarded the scene with undisguised curiosity. She easily recognized Henry Moore, the head of the investigation division who was definitely in control of all specialists working there.
“He looks dead-serious”, Amanda thought, “I wonder how easy it will be to make him spill the beans. But where’s that Davis? He’s in charge of the case, he should be nearby”.
“What are you doing here? This is the restricted area”.
A loud, husky voice called out to her suddenly. Amanda quickly turned around. Before her stood a tall, stout man wearing a police uniform. He had his hand on the holster and was studying her with an attentive gaze.
“Here he is”, Amanda thought, “this behaviour absolutely matches his profile. When he’s working, there is hardly anything human in him. It is also said that he has a sixth sense when it comes to finding evidence”.
“I don’t mean any harm”, Amanda smiled, slowly raising her hands in the air, “I was just wondering how to get to Mr Moore.”
“Captain Moore, you mean?“, Brian said, frowning, “everyone is busy now, what do you want from him?”
“That’s my business. Mine and his alone. He should already know about me”, Amanda said, proudly raising her head and straightening her shoulders, “my name is Amanda Capiano.”
If Amanda wanted to ease Brian’s suspicion, she failed miserably. She hated using her family name to achieve her goals, but right now she thought it would quicken things. However, it had the opposite effect. The officer narrowed his eyes and hissed:
“So, Capianos decided to finally give themselves some trouble? That’s why they sent a little girl to spy on us? Or is it another fake to boost your image? You will just get underfoot!”
Amanda’s eyes flashed with anger. She was aware that some people weren’t fans of her family’s doings but never before she came face to face with such hatred. Besides, his derogatory comment about her was so unfair that she finally lost her temper.
“For your information, I have a degree and several years of experience in business! And we are no less concerned about these killings than you are! This is our town too, and we take care of it!”
“Take care of it, how? By hooking people on drugs? Or maybe making them pay enormous taxes?”
“Don’t talk about things you know nothing about!“, Amanda came closer and looked at him with contempt, “your job is to keep order which you are obviously failing judging by the current state of affairs!”
These words hit the mark. Seeing as the officer clenched his jaw Amanda smiled victoriously. It always brought her extreme pleasure to point out people’s weaknesses to their noses. She was a bit ashamed of her own outburst, though. But the famous Capiano pride always lets itself be known. Meanwhile, Brian managed to cool off and rein in his anger.
“Would he have hit me if I pushed him harder?“, Amanda wondered. She looked at Davis again. “No, he wouldn’t. He’s not the type to take out his anger on people. I see it in his eyes. He may be quick to blow up but he calms down soon enough”.
“...Do you hear me? I’ll take you to Moore”, Brian said a little louder.
“Finally, put the flags out”.
Brian said nothing, took her by the elbow and led her to the entrance of the Equinox.
“I saw him on the scene a minute ago, he can’t be...”
“You don’t know the way things are run by the police. He spends only a minute on the scene. Wait here. I’ll tell Captain about you and come back”.
“How do you know he’s there?”
“Because I saw him just before I saw you. Now shut up, you are giving me a headache with your questions.”
Amanda was silently fuming. It wasn’t enough that he caught her off guard, now he made her wait like some schoolgirl!
“Oh, hell no! I’ll get what I need myself!”
And she resolutely went inside.
****
Brian entered the club administrator’s office where his boss revised the evidence.
“Sir, there’s Amanda Capiano outside and she...”
“What?! Already? Damn, she’s fast...”, Henry hurried to the door, “what’s she like? What did you tell her?”
“She was trespassing on the scene, so I...”
“Ugh, you idiot! Your following the rules will be your downfall! And you’ll take me with you!”, Henry groaned and grabbed his head, “do you understand that one word from her and our heads will roll?!“, he exclaimed.
“She will become a pain, for sure”, Brian muttered, “but what is she really doing here?”
“Damn if I know! Evans dropped it on me yesterday without any explanation! It was already written in stone, she would be here regardless, he just “kindly” let me know! In any way, I can’t have a rookie on my hands now, her safety and well-being is on you, Davis!”
“Her safety? You can’t possibly expect me to... What about the case?”
“Oh, we’ll still be investigating, alright! They are interested only in the Nocturnal Phoenix case. So Capianos’ goals align with ours. This girl may even turn out to be an asset... I heard she is well trained... Ah, it’s just wishful thinking! Anyway, I’ll talk to her and then you and the forensics team will bring her up to speed”.
“But, sir...”
“No objections, this is an order!”, Henry slapped the table, “go!”
Disappointed and slightly annoyed, Brian left the office. In the hall he noticed Amanda, nonchalantly looking at the opposite wall.
“No surprise here. I’d bet 100 bucks she eavesdropped on the whole conversation”, he thought, “ well, to hell with her”.
“Go in”, he said curtly.
“Finally”, Amanda said, “it’s very chivalrous of you to make a woman wait”.
With that, she disappeared behind the door.
****
Captain Henry Moore had been the head of the investigation division of Moon Chasm Police for 7 years already. During this period he earned the reputation of a true professional in his field. He was fair and straightforward, knew when to use the carrot and stick approach and for that his people respected him.
When Amanda entered the office, she saw a dark-haired man in a police uniform sitting at the table. He clearly was on the wrong side of forty but looked fit and muscular.
Let’s see if he is at least a bit more polite than that moron.
As soon as he heard the door open, Henry got up from his seat and offered his hand. “Apparently, he is not”, Amanda sighed internally, “gosh, what kind of people I have to work with”.
“Hello, Captain”, she said without taking his hand.
“Good morning, Ms Capiano”, Henry started quickly, “I hope Detective Davis didn’t ruin your first impression of Moon Chasm Police...”
“Oh, he did, alright...But I’m not a scaredy-cat,” she laughed, watching how Henry tried to compose himself. He was obviously trying to appear unfazed by what happened between his subordinate and her.
“Well, true, Officer Davis can be harsh around the edges but he is one of the best detectives in my division...”
He is a responsible person and his peoples’ behaviour means a lot to him. He sounds genuine. But I can’t rule out the possibility of him getting some additional perks or payments for their performance.
“Never mind all that”, she said, “I believe you know officers from your division better but it’s not what interests me. Could you please tell me what is known so far?”
“Of course, Ms Capiano”.
“Call me Amanda”.
“Very well. So, the victim’s name is Nigel Malisson, 23 years old, white, single. Was found inside the bathroom stall in the restroom. He’s been dead for about 2 hours. Right now Officer Davis and forensics experts are at the crime scene... I take it you want to talk to them?”
“Indeed, I do”.
“Very well. I must contact Nigel’s relatives now, I’ll join you later for witness interrogation. Until then, good luck. I hope this collaboration will turn out to be fruitful for both sides”, Henry said the last words more confidently.
“Thank you, sir. See you later”.
Amanda took her bag and left. Henry exhaled and sank into the chair. That went better than expected. Capiano family did a lot for this town but still their name inspired terror in his heart. Rumours of Luis Capiano’s cruelty went far and beyond. But what about the girl? There is almost no information about her. Just that she is a mafia heiress and she is involved in expanding the business. Her skills, though... Her body is slender, graceful, she has long legs and wavy hair. What can that mean? She knows how to defend herself, that’s for sure. It can’t be any other way knowing who her parents are. But what is her agenda?
“Maybe it’s just another whim of a rich spoiled girl? What can be possibly interesting for her here? Yes, that must be it. It’s only a whim. Only a whim”. These thoughts calmed Captain a bit. Finally he allowed himself to relax. But the next second he jumped up, grabbed his jacket and hurried to the dancefloor.
“Who am I kidding, everything is connected. Luis Capiano never does anything without reason! If she is here, that means he wants to keep tabs on the investigation. But why? The case is not ordinary, sure, but never before Luis had paid much attention to criminal records of the Moon Chasm City, let alone sent a spy! There’s something bigger at play and I must figure out what it is! It’s for the good of the town!”
****
When Amanda came closer to the bathroom where the body had been found, she noticed two figures leaning over it.
“Right”, she thought, “Emma and Sean Lloyd, forensics experts. Cute how a couple can work at the same place doing the same job for so many years and still not get divorced. I wonder if they have kids...”
Seeing her, Brian clicked his tongue. Amanda rolled her eyes. “Real mature. As if I took his favorite toy away”.
“You must be Amanda”, a pleasant middle-aged blonde woman addressed her, “my name is Emma, I’m a forensics expert and this is my husband, Sean. He is the medical examiner”.
“Nice to meet you, I’m already aware of the general picture, but could you please tell me a bit more?”
“Certainly”, Emma smiled charmingly but then frowned, “this case is very unusual because we can’t identify the cause of death...”
“Yes”, Sean joined the conversation, “all blood analyses come out clean, no poison, no drugs, nothing. It’s like that in previous cases, I’m sure it will be the same in this one”.
“But surely you have something...”
“Of course, we’re not useless,” Emma said a bit offended, “do you see this?”
She took the victim by the shoulder. An image of the phoenix was painted onto the flesh. This mark was found on all bodies. This is how the newspapers came up with the nickname Nocturnal Phoenix. All victims were killed in night clubs and every one of them had this symbol.
“The image is kind of sloppy, the killer must have been in a hurry,” Emma added, “or someone scared them off”.
“Also, if you still don’t know, these are not tattoos,” Brian’s voice appeared out of nowhere.
Until now, he stood there with his hands in his pockets staring at the body. He was incredibly bored - he had heard this shit thousands of times. But he couldn’t refuse himself a pleasure to show his superiority over this over-confident girl. He already decided that she would become an awful burden for him. Why would Moore just dump this problem on him? As if he has nothing else to do but to babysit a spoiled girl in a “cruising for a bruising” mode. The only thing he had cared about last month was this case. Somehow it became very personal to him. Maybe because he pitied those poor youngsters whose life was so tragically cut short, maybe because of his heightened sense of justice... Sure, he had cold cases before. But not even once there was so little evidence! This Nocturnal Phoenix is toying with them! And these images... Phoenix is a symbol of this city, what does he want to tell them?
“...So the killer just paints the phoenix on the skin?”
“Looks like it. Take notice of how precise the strokes are. But as Emma said, the image is sloppy. So the killer is not a tattoo maker nor an artist”, Sean remarked.
“Huh, so we need to look for those who know how to skillfully handle a paintbrush...”, Amanda said thoughtfully.
“Yes, captain obvious”, Brian interrupted her, “now the briefing is over and you can go back to whatever luxury mansion you came from. Let the professionals work and don’t tire your pretty legs.”
“Brian, you could be more respectful”, Emma gasped, trying to diffuse the situation.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Lloyd, I’ll make myself scarce so as not to bother Mr. Prim and Proper. Thank you for sharing the details”.
And she left without sparing Brian a glance.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QDANoayAH
7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJrybKgY7i
