Chapter 2: The Investigation (I)
'Detective April Coleman'. She liked what the little brass letters told her. It was the result of years of hard work.
"Would you like to have some alone time with your desk sign?", Elena taunted her from the side. "You really seem to like it."
April jumped up. How long had she been staring at her own name, grinning and lost in thoughts? Elena, her new desk neighbor, however cackled about her own joke. April now saw how stupid she must have been looking daydreaming and joined Elena's laughing.
This beautiful Monday in May was her first day as a police detective, and for the time being, it marked the peak of her career. Ever since she was a teen, April had known that she wanted to work for the police when she was an adult. It started with an open-door day where the police station of her small hometown had invited all the students from the local schools to take a look behind the scenes of the police work. In an attempt to acquire young people for service, of course. That had worked brilliantly in her case and her career aspiration had quickly manifested.
Caused by her interest for police work, April also began following all kinds of cop shows on TV, regardless if real or fictional, sinister or funny. Her favourite show was 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' and her favourite character from this was Amy Santiago. While the creators had written her character to be quirky and sometimes a little bit crazy, for comedy reasons, April recognized Amy's other character traits: Her ambition and striving for perfection were virtues that made Amy a role model for April.
In self-mockery, April sometimes regarded herself as a little Amy Santiago. For example when she finished high school with a respectable 3.9 GPA, passed her studies with a flying grade or finished police academy as top of the year. She also moved away from home, to a bigger city where more scum on the streets promised more career opportunities for an asprining young cop.
But everyone has to start small, no matter how good their grades in training were. April joined the patrol services for the start. But she kept working on her education, spending most of her free time for self-studies and the visit of courses for further eductation. And when a detective position at a nearby precinct opened recently, she immediately applied for it.
"Don't even try it", her former colleagues from patrol services had tried to discourage her. "They never hire people under 30 to be detectives. They only take people with experience."
They had been wrong. And now, here she was. Detective April Coleman, age: 25 years. Despite her lacking practical experience (the internship as a meter maid during her training and her short time on patrol service were hardly enough to fulfill the job requirements), her education and her certificates had been very convincing arguments. It had also helped that her former chief was a good friend of her potential new Captain and talked of her in glowing terms when the two spoke at their monthly bowling match.
April was now the youngest detective the precinct had seen in almost eight decades. And the age gap to the other detectives, who all shared an open plan office, was evident. Even Elena, who was one of the younger detectives, seemed to be in her mid-thirties already, easily ten years older than April.
But that did not matter. April was not scared about the age gap to the others. And she did not have to. Elena, her new desk neighbor, immediately took her under her wing and showed her everything she needed to know about the office. Even the old coffemaker in the kitchen, which could be a little difficult to operate at times. April liked Elena and hoped that the two of them would get the chance of working on a case together soon.
April spent the next hour making her round through the office, introducing herself to her fellow detectives and engaging herself in their morning smalltalk. With one exception, all of them seemed to be quite nice. And while some openly expressed how amazed they were about the young age of their new colleague, they all recognized her enthusiam and passion for police work and showed her the same respect they would have shown to an older detective.
There was one exception, though. Cameron Parker, a shabby looking detective in his late fifites or early sixties. He occupied the desk on the diagonally opposite of April's. Ever since he had arrived in the morning, he had been staring at her like she was some vermin that he was disguted with.
"Did I do something to piss him off?", April whispered to Elena after the two of them had retreated into the office kitchen.
"Whom?", Elena asked, irritated by her third failed attempt to get the coffemaker going.
April slightly nodded her head towards Parker, internally grateful that his back was turned towards her for the moment, so that he could not continue his creepy stare.
"Oh, Cameron", Elena sighed. "Yes, you had the audacity to take the place of his old friend, Simon Phillips. The two of them were practically inseperable over the last couple of years and cracked countless cases together. At least until old Simon retired last month. Give him time and show him some sympathy. He will get used to you."
April was not sure if Elena's optimism was justified. She kept avoiding Parker for the rest of the morning. He was the only one she had not intruced herself to yet. And she did not get the chance to do so before her new Captain, Pierce Holt, assembled the department for their obligatory morning meeting.
He began with the official announcement of the personnel change: April being the new detective and the replacement for Simon Phillips. Everyone, except for Parker, formally greeted her with a quick round of applause.
After all general points the Captain had were checked off the list and the detectives had been dismissed, Holt asked Parker and April to join him in his office. April first thought that the Captain had noticed Parker's weird behavior towards her and was now going to scold him about it. She was not glad about this. This would probably do more damage than good and a reasonable collaboration with Parker would become close to impossible then.
But that was not what the Captain wanted to talk about. He assigned Parker to a new case. And since no other detective was available, Holt saw no other choice but to throw April in at the deep end on her first day and make her Parker's secondary.
While the senior detective acknowledged the Captain's decision only with an uninterpretable grunt, April was excited. Even if meant having to deal with that grumpy old jackass, she would be trusted with a real case! Her worries about being benched for the first couple of days and demoted to filing, since she was the new one, had proved to be unfounded. She could not help but to smile.
"This is hardly an appriopriate reaction of yours, Detective Coleman", Holt reprimanded her. "We are looking at a potential homicide."
April's smile immediately vanished. For a moment she thought of apologizing for her unfitting reaction. But she did not want to give this triumph to Parker, who would have unquestionably been delighted about this misstep of his dispised new colleague. Instead, she chose to silently listen until the Captain had finished his briefing.
"The body of a young woman was found this morning in a ditch next to the interstate just out of town. A farmer discovered her while he worked on his field. The circumstances suggest, that the woman did not die of natural causes, since she was found naked and with heavy injuries. Go and see the coroner in the morgue. The body should have arrived there by now. As soon as she has been identified, I want you to question everyone who had connections with her. If she really was murdered, your task will be to find out how, why and by whom."
Parker approved and made his way out of the Captain's office. April wanted to follow him, but was held back for another moment by Holt.
"Are you sure that you are ready for this case?", he asked her, partly sceptical, partly concerned.
"Of course I am!", April replied with determination. She was not going to reject this case!
"Alright, then go and join Detective Parker."
Parker had already left the detectives' office and made his way towards the elevators. He was just entering one of the cabins when April came running after him, barely making it before the automatic doors closed.
"We haven't had the chance before", April spoke quickly, still short of breath from her sprint. Extending her hand, she guessed that this was her last chance to properly introduce herself to her new partner before things got awkward. "I am April."
"Parker", he replied drily, ignoring her offer for a handshake.
What a jerk!, April thought.
To be continued.
Picture Credits for Chapter 2:
chapter_2_amy_santiago_brooklyn_99.jpg - Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", Fremulon, 2013-2021
