Chapter 83: A Case Is Just a Case
After ten minutes, Mr. Wenner arrived at the scene with a school staff member in tow.
The staff member's expression was even grimmer than Wenner's. After Bernie reported the situation, the man's face shifted slightly before he hurried away without a word.
Mr. Wenner handed command of the scene to Bernie and departed just as quickly, leaving Theodore and Bernie exchanging puzzled glances.
Bernie directed the detectives to cordon off the area while Theodore found a security guard to contact an electrician. The visiting team's locker room was pitch black, they needed proper lighting to work the scene.
Forty minutes later, Gary arrived in a rush. The electrician, however, was nowhere to be found.
After a brief discussion, they decided not to wait any longer. They gathered their flashlights as their only light source and called two detectives to accompany them. The group of five, wearing gloves and shoe covers, entered the scene.
The visiting team's locker room consisted of two sections: the main locker area and an inner restroom. Two rows of rusted iron lockers stood along the walls, most missing their doors entirely. The few remaining doors hung crooked and looked ready to fall at any moment.
Two long benches sat between the metal lockers, surrounded by scattered debris, crumpled papers, tactical boards, and empty water bottles littering the floor.
The restroom lay beyond the locker area, its floor covered in dried urine stains and scattered toilet paper. Four stalls lined the back wall, three missing their doors completely. The innermost stall's door hung at an angle, its hinge torn loose, creaking with each breath of air.
Someone had slumped the deceased in that final stall.
He knelt face-down over the toilet in an awkward position, as if he'd collapsed while trying to stand.
Gary conducted a preliminary examination and found a fractured nasal bone, an abrasion on the left cheekbone, and a ligature mark that circled the neck horizontally below the thyroid cartilage.
The ligature mark measured approximately 2.3 inches wide, forming a complete loop without any crossing or lifting points. Parallel grooves and regular granular impressions marked the flesh within.
The victim's left ankle joint was swollen with torn ligaments and subcutaneous bruising. His right palm showed abrasions, and three longitudinal scratches ran along his right forearm, each measuring roughly 1.9 to 2.7 inches long.
Inside the deceased's pockets, they found a wallet and half a bottle of amphetamines.
The wallet contained several cards, some banknotes, and loose change, but no identification. The victim wore a Woodson Memorial High School coach's uniform, marking him as a suspected member of the Free Fighters coaching staff.
After completing the preliminary examination, two detectives placed the body in a bag and carried it away. Gary departed with them to transport the corpse back to the forensic lab for a complete autopsy.
Theodore and Bernie remained behind to investigate the crime scene.
Theodore first examined the restroom floor carefully. Thanks to the football players who had visited Oak Grove Manor High School over the years, and their habit of relieving themselves wherever convenient, the urine stains and toilet paper on the floor revealed relatively clear drag marks.
The marks extended all the way to the doorway before disappearing, indicating someone had killed the deceased elsewhere and moved him to this location.
Theodore carefully examined the locker room, suspecting it might be the actual murder site. Although the visiting team's facilities were isolated, the massive crowd at tonight's game would have made dragging a body in from outside extremely risky.
Limited by their inadequate lighting, the two men couldn't conduct a more thorough investigation.
After leaving the scene, Bernie instructed the detectives to maintain the seal on the locker room while he and Theodore returned to the branch.
They had expected that with a homicide on their hands, the entire Homicide Team would be recalled to work through the night solving the case.
Instead, they found themselves staring at an empty office, just the two of them. The rest of the Homicide detectives had already gone home.
Theodore and Bernie exchanged glances, both sensing something strange about the situation.
The next day, Mr. Wenner didn't appear until noon, looking exhausted. He clapped his hands and announced the start of the investigation into the current case.
Theodore and Bernie noticed that many detectives appeared bewildered, clearly unaware that a homicide had occurred the previous night. The two exchanged another worried look.
Amos Williams was the deceased—head coach of the Woodson Memorial High School Free Fighters football team.
After announcing the victim's identity, Mr. Wenner asked Bernie to give a case briefing.
There wasn't much to report. The autopsy wasn't complete, they'd only just learned the deceased's identity, and the scene investigation had been cursory at best. A detailed examination would have to wait for an electrician to restore proper lighting.
Like all the others, this briefing was exceptionally brief.
After the meeting ended and they distributed assignments, Mr. Wenner called Theodore and Bernie to his office.
Wenner mentioned that someone had burglarized a senator's home and stolen a valuable sculpture, and the East District Branch hoped to transfer the two men over to find the thief and recover the artwork.
He gave Theodore and Bernie a choice: transfer to the East District or stay with the current case.
"Mr. Wenner, is this because the deceased was black?" Theodore asked directly.
Wenner didn't deny it. He explained that after yesterday's game, the black community would view the entire Free Fighters coaching staff and players as heroes.
Bernie's 'Schrödinger's intelligence' happened to be functioning at peak efficiency. He understood immediately. "But we don't know anything yet. Maybe the killer is black."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized the implications himself. Finding out the killer was black would create even more problems.
Theodore felt they were overthinking the situation. "A case is just a case," he emphasized.
Mr. Wenner glanced at him, then pushed the folder he'd been holding toward them. "Make your choice."
After Bernie pushed the folder back, Wenner offered no further instructions and waved them out.
Watching them leave, he slid the folder into a drawer and began popping chocolate balls into his mouth. Soon, he had finished the entire drawer's worth.
After leaving the supervisor's office, Deputy Inspector Burton's assistant intercepted them.
Burton proved more direct than Wenner, telling them straight away to withdraw from the investigation. He stated frankly that this was a murky situation they shouldn't get involved in.
When they refused again, Burton looked utterly disappointed and dismissed them.
They headed first to the forensic lab, where Gary was working diligently in the dissection room with his students.
Theodore and Bernie waited until Gary emerged, wiping his hands on a towel.
He told them someone had strangled the deceased from behind. The killer had used a band approximately 2.3 inches wide, with parallel grooves and regular granules embedded in its surface.
The front of the victim's coach uniform showed spatter bloodstains, while the back was stained with accumulated dust and urine.
Gary also sketched the pattern of the murder weapon. Bernie recognized it immediately as the distinctive design of a football equipment strap.
Finally, Gary produced the cards from the wallet and handed them over. Not a single word appeared on any of them, just images of scantily clad women in revealing poses, striking alluring positions.
Bernie recognized these as well: calling cards from Rose Street, a method the working girls used to attract repeat customers.
Theodore glanced at his partner, then asked Gary about the autopsy report. Gary told him it would have to wait until tomorrow.
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