9:04 PM, 10/13/2019

By this point, the other detectives had returned to the precinct, and the body was being processed down in the morgue. I spotted the young detective and Casey sitting at a desk, reviewing something on a laptop.

"Rachel!" Casey waved me over, "Well, how did it go?"

"Surprisingly well," I began, pulling up a chair, "You were right, she must have just been in shock. She was completely different around me than you described- she was actually very helpful."

"Huh," he mumbled as a look of confusion crossed his face, before a smile, "She probably just really liked you. It's like that sometimes, you just connect."

I thought back. "I guess you could say that."

"And on your first try, too!" he joked, "Now that's potential."

We all chuckled before he took a look at my notepad. After a few minutes, Casey leaned back in his chair and handed back the notepad.

"Wow," he was clearly impressed, "She remembered the plate number? God, I wish all witnesses were like that."

"I wonder how she ended up there," the other detective commented, "Homeless, I mean. She's quite polite and-"

She gestured to the notepad, "-she seems very smart."

We nodded in recognition and shared a moment of collective thought, before moving on. After some deliberation, we decided to take the notepad to the captain. Prior to this, I had only met the captain once, at orientation, and only to shake his hand. When showed my notes, he was equally impressed.

"Not bad," he smiled. My pride was only muddled by the glower I could see the younger detective trying to conceal. I did feel bad, but also accomplished. Making others jealous was always a good thing, my mother used to say. With that in mind, I smiled proudly. "Thank you, sir."

The other detective and I stepped out of his office, and he and Casey discussed the case. Since we were only assisting the case and not leading, Casey would pass on the instructions from the captain to us. I was told this was not standard procedure, but since we were just starting out, it made sense.

The younger detective was still slightly pouting, and I felt obliged to say something. I didn't even know her name, and that alone was enough to make me feel guilty.

"Hey," I nudged her, "Sorry about that."

She stopped looking so frustrated, and a small smile flashed across her face. "No, no- I don't even know why I'm upset at all... you deserve the credit, what you did was good. I guess I was just upset I couldn't get to that girl."

"Thank you," I chuckled, glad she seemed to be warming up to me, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"Marina," she extended a hand, "Marina Perez. And you are?"

"Rachel Horowitz." We shook hands, and talked a little bit about our work prior to this job and our training academies. I found out that she was about two years younger than me, and this was partially to blame for her intense competitive spirit.

"I'm assuming you also had brothers growing up?" I joked, glancing toward the overhanging clock. It had been about twenty minutes now- I wondered what Casey and the captain were discussing.

"No, actually," Marina responded, "Two sisters. I'm the middle child."

"Oh, I know what that feels like," I was beginning to tell her about my four siblings, but the door of the captain's office opened and Casey stepped out.

"You two look happy," he chuckled, "That's good. I was scared you wouldn't take a liking to each other."

"W-why would you say that?" Marina responded a little too quickly, sounding flustered. I stood next to her in awkward silence, not knowing what to say.

He shrugged, and pulled his swivel chair toward him. He sat down and spun to us, "But that's not important right now, yeah?"

We both hurriedly nodded, so Casey continued on. "Anyway, the tech people got back with an ID, that's what the Captain wanted to talk about. It turns out our John Doe is Eustace Hasen, 51."

"Eustace Hansen.." I ran the name over and over in my mind- it seemed exceedingly familiar.

"Where have I heard that before?" Marina cut in.

"He was on the news a few months ago- he's the one who went into the active school shooting and disabled the situation."

"Oh," I took a moment to process this as memories of watching it on the news went through my head, "Wasn't it... and he didn't even have a kid who went to that school?"

Casey nodded.

"... Shit, man."

"Yeah," he muttered, rubbing his chin, "Well, I guess we have some people to talk to then."

Marina and I exchanged a glance. Neither of us really had a clue what the captain had been talking about, but it did seem semi-serious if we had to leave. Nevertheless, we did not have any time to dwell on- something I had picked up about Detective Casey was that he was not one to dawdle, he was very business-oriented. Despite this, he still managed to be very calm and not overbearing. I considered myself very lucky to have been assigned to him. Thunder outside boomed, and the rain continued to pelt down.

"So, Hasen had a wife and three kids," Casey sighed, "Kids are teens, the oldest is 16 and the youngest is 11."

"What was his job?" Marina asked.

"He was a librarian at Fawkes Center Library, he had apparently worked there for coming on eight years. Wife was a freelance architect."

I nodded. "So, what did the captain have to say on the case? Any insights or ideas?"

"We don't work off ideas." Casey's voice seemed suddenly colder and more serious.

"I- sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Casey cut me off. "It's fine. You're new. And he did have some advice- this case doesn't look similar to any in this precinct yet, so he's reaching out to one of his buddies a few precincts over. But I showed him the photos and the testimony and he thinks it's the work of a professional- Myra and Julian said the same. We could be dealing with a hitman here, or a possible serial."

Marina and I were both speechless for a few minutes.

"I-is this typical?" I finally spoke, "For a first case? I mean, should we be reassigned?"

"Absolutely not," Casey was less serious than before, but the undertone was still present, "So what if it's not typical? It's great experience. Unless you don't think you're up to it... but in that case, I would consider get reassigned to a uniformed."

"Anyway," he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, "Look, the storm is too bad to go anywhere right now. I assume you have an emergency change of clothes?"

We nodded.

"Good, that's good... I'll get the captain to sort out where everyone stays. Roads aren't safe right now. As soon as we can drive, we go to Hansen's wife and kids."

It stopped raining in the next morning, as the weather was temperamental as always. Roads were at least navigable now, so we got into the car and Casey made his way to what was listed as the current address.

On the way, I did not speak, scared I would make Casey further dislike me. Neither did Marina, who clearly had learned from watching my frivolous attempts to converse with him. Casey was similarly silent.

We got to the house and got outside, but Casey stopped us before we even reached the paved walkway.

"Alright, you two," he began, "Let me do most of the talking, remember you need to learn these skills. Don't except any kind of standard reaction either, everyone has a different way of dealing with grief. It's likely she'll turn to one or both of you for comfort because of the familiarity, but you never know. But please, be sensitive. This is gentle news."

Marina and I both nodded. Casey knocked on the door, while I looked around the premises. The small front lawn was immaculately groomed, clearly the work of a paid gardener. The house was a townhouse, not huge but very comfortable. There was a driveway, where a blue 2014 Toyota was parked. Strangely, it wasn't in the garage despite the rain, but I figured this was because they hadn't had a chance to move it.

Casey knocked again. Local schools had given kids the day off because of the rain, so the three children and possibly their mother should be home. I continued to look over the house, which was nice, quaint, and didn't really stand out. I looked over everything three times before it hit me.

"Casey, look," I tapped his shoulder, "The-the tire tracks. There's only one set."

He blinked, a look of slight confusion on his face. Marina turned to me with a similar expression.

"Just look," I gestured, walking over to the car. There's only tire tracks coming from this car. It's a two car driveway, and we know that the victim had a car, right? But there's only one set. Of-of tire tracks."

"Huh," he stopped, looking over the tracks, "Damn. That's really good."

I couldn't help but let my enthusiasm show, smiling. I began to walk back to the doorway before the door swung open, revealing a rather tall and muscular man in a bathrobe. His hair was wet and he looked like he had just come from the shower.

"I TOLD YOU IF YOU CAME BACK HERE ONE MORE TIME I'D CALL THE PO-" he screamed, before freezing in his tracks, fists still raised. Casey had pushed Marina back and had his hand over his holster but had not touched it yet. Marina looked absolutely stunned, and I had instinctively jumped back, stomping on some of the nice flower arrangements.

"-oh," the man stopped, looking at us all, "Well then."