Chapter Text
“Captain, we’ve got a report of an 187 down at the docks. Female, early 20’s, found dead in an alley. Call came in from a local coffee shop owner. Dispatch ASAP.”
Reid sighed, as he pulls his squad car out to head down towards the docks. He loved being a police officer, he really did, but he had always hated hearing someone so young appear on his scanner. God, he was only 25, she was only a few years younger than he was. Reid grimaces, it’s not his job to feel bad for her, it’s his job to find the bastard who did her in and make sure he spends his life behind bars. So, he does what he does best; compartmentalizes his emotions, quells the lump in his throat as he pulls up next to the alley, and starts his first homicide investigation of the last two weeks.
“Captain” the uniformed officer acknowledges, as Reid flashes him his badge, and ducks under the yellow caution tape roping off the scene. “God Payne, how in the hell do you always manage to get here before me” he teases, walking up to stand beside Liam, one of his detectives, who’s already crouched down examining the body.
Liam stands, and turns to smirk over his shoulder at Reid, “good morning to you too” he teases back good naturedly, “crime scene tech is on their way with the ME, should be here in a couple minutes.”
“Good. What do we have?” Reid responds, glancing down to take in the body lying on the cobblestones before him. “Female, early 20’s, approximately 5’4’’. Single GSW to the back of the head. Local coffee shop owner noticed the blood trail this morning on his way into work, called it in.” Liam fills him in, as Reid snaps on his gloves, and crouches down to get a better look.
The first thing he notices is the blood, or rather, the lack thereof. With a gunshot wound to the back of the head, there should be blood everywhere, but all Reid sees is a single trail of droplets leading from the mouth of the alley, to the body itself. “Any evidence the body’s been moved?” he asks Liam, carefully scanning his surroundings for hairs, shoeprints, anything he can find.
“Nope, none. That’s what’s weird about this, if she was shot in the head, there should be blood spatter everywhere, but there’s nothing.” Liam responds, looking around the alley.
“Okay, so she must have been shot somewhere else.” Reid concludes, standing up to begin walking around the rest of the scene.
“My thought exactly. I had some uniforms canvas the local shops and apartments, but no one saw or heard anything suspicious last night. Gunshot of that caliber would have been loud, and this is a pretty crowded area. Someone should have heard something.” Liam responds.
Reid takes a moment to take in the body itself. Something about this whole scene, is off; it’s too clean. The girl’s body is laying on her back, left arm at her side, right arm crossed over her heart in a fist. Her eyes are closed, and her legs are straight, she looks almost at peace, Reid thinks. “Body’s clearly been staged here” he comments, looking at Liam, who nods in agreement. “Thing is, there’s no evidence the body’s been moved. No shoeprints into or out of the alley, no tire tracks, nothing. That much staging would require the killer to be standing right next to her, but there’s absolutely nothing in this alley to indicate that. I mean look around Reid, there’s nothing here.” Liam counters.
Reid looks around; Liam’s right. It’s like this girl just materialized into the alley out of nowhere. Nothing looks out of place, there aren’t any shell casings nearby, no stray hairs near the body, no shoeprints, no tire prints, nothing. Nothing but a single trail of blood, and a dead girl with a bullet in her brain.
“ID? You got here before I did, we have any clue who she is?”
“None,” Liam responds “no wallet, no ID, no keys, no purse, absolutely nothing. I sent my uniforms with her photo when they went to go canvas, but no one around her recognized her either. I’ll run her prints as soon as the crime scene techs can take them, but baring that or a dental match, she’s a Jane Doe.”
“This is starting to get a little freaky” Reid responds, cocking his head as he stares down at the body lying before him. “No ID, no evidence, no blood, no shoe prints, no one’s this careful when they dump a body.” He crouches down next to the body, “who are you?” he whispers, “who killed you?”.
“Sir!” he hears one of the cops standing at the front shout, pulling him out of his thoughts “ME and Crime scene tech are here.” Reid nods, “send them in.”
He watches as the crime scene tech unit floods the scene, and the medical examiner, Liza, rolls a gurney over to begin her initial examination of the body, her autopsy tech in tow.
“Single GSW to the back of the head, looks like about a .45 caliber,” Liza begins to rattle off to her autopsy tech, who’s making note of her observations. “Clean entry, no exit wound. Significant soot around the point of entry, indicating she was probably shot at point blank range.”
“Liza, good morning” Liam starts, his smile friendly as he and Reid make their way back over to speak with their medical examiner. Liza rolls her eyes, despite Liam’s best efforts, she’s never been too fond of him. “Payne, Williams” she states matter-of-factly, before turning her attention back to the body in front of her.
“Can you confirm cause of death?” Reid asks. Liza scoffs, “please, this one’s not exactly a head scratcher. Bullet in your brain’ll do it every time”. “You know I have to ask, Liza.” Reid laughs.
“Time of death?” Liam furthers, peering down at Liza’s examination of the body. “Hmm to be honest I’m not totally sure. Liver temperature would indicate she’s probably been dead about 8 hours, so you’re looking at between 2 and 3 am last night, but her body’s rigor indicates it may have been longer than that. I’ll have to run some tests when I get her back to the lab” “Got it,” Liam notes, moving away to talk with the crime scene techs, who are busy documenting the scene, cameras flashing rapidly.
Reid’s about to turn away as well, when suddenly Liza stops him. “You see her tattoo, Williams?” she asks, and no, Reid hasn’t seen that yet. He turns around, to see Liza point to a tattoo on the inside of the victim’s right arm. “Looks new” he comments, eyebrows furrowing as he examines it. “It is” Liza confirms. “Within the last few day’s I’d say. Looks like it might be covering up an older piece.”
“You’re not as safe as you think you are” he reads, his voice soft and confused as he examines the tattoo more closely. He turns his head, when suddenly he sees it, the glimmer of something metal in her clenched right fist.
“Liza, what’s in her hand?” he asks. Liza carefully pries open the victim’s fingers, to reveal a small pendant necklace. She carefully extracts it, before handing it over to Reid.
“What is it?” She asks, intrigued. “I don’t know…” Reid murmurs, it looks like there’s some kind of symbol or something etched into one side of it.
Reid holds the pendant up, and even in the dimly lit alley, it glints in the morning light.
From the adjacent rooftop, a man peers out from the shadows, watching the scene unfold beneath him. He takes a moment to observe the Officers, watches them scramble around the girl’s lifeless body. They look like ants, he thinks, running in a million directions, without any idea of what they’ve stumbled into.
He grimaces as he examines the girl’s body from the safety of the rooftop, unseen by the officers below. The police may not recognize her, may not know who she is, but he certainly does. He snaps a photo, and in an instant, he’s gone; vanished into the shadows.
He needs to hurry, Harry needs to know about this.