Parish arrived at his desk eight o’clock the next morning to find Pettiway already in. He glanced at the paperwork on Pettiway’s desk, which sit connected to Parish’s desk, and knew instantly he was already on the job.
“What you go there?” Parish asked as he got settled.
“Our victim’s personal effects,” Pettiway answered flatly as he went through an address book and a few other things.
“Anything interesting?”
“He had a Metro Card in his pocket. I had MTA run a check on the last time it was used. According to their computers, it was last swiped at the Canarsie Train Station in Brooklyn at five p.m.”
A puzzled look covered Parish’s face before it hit him. “Five o’clock? Our victim was found a little after eleven that night.”
“Exactly.”
“Did the M.E. establish a time of death yet?” Parish asked confused.
“The M.E. hasn’t established an exact time of death but he places it somewhere between six and nine,” Pettiway told him.
“Six and nine? So you mean to tell me our vic rode the subway all that time and no one noticed?!” Parish asked appalled. “Jeez, talk about New Yorkers minding their own business.”
“Makes you want to abandon ship and relocate in a small town somewhere in the Midwest where everybody knows your business,” Pettiway said sarcastically.
“Where there any reports of gunfire by any MTA workers?”
“One step ahead of you. I already requested from MTA any reports of shots being fired in any station between Canarsie and Pelham Bay. Hopefully we’ll get a hit soon.”
“Canarsie. You think he could have gotten shot as far back as Canarsie?” Parish asked.
“Can’t be too sure. But I rather have it ruled out than never had check it,” Pettiway rationalized.
“Makes sense,” Parish said absently as his wheels turned. “Makes a lot of sense.”
“I got the go ahead from the Captain to have a car placed on Kisha. Where ever she goes, whoever she goes with, we’ll know about it.”
“I was thinking.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Pettiway joked.
Parish cracked a smile. “The guy our vic sent to the E.R. Maybe we should go have a little talk with him. See what he has to say. Worse case scenario he’s cleared and we go with the original motive. Love triangle.”
“You got a name?”
Parish smiled. “I got a name and an address. All we have to do is take a ride downtown.”
Pettiway glanced at his wrist watch. “If we go now we can catch him while he still in bed. Throw him off a little. Maybe get him to make a mistake.”
“Nothing messes up the day by having a couple of Homicide detectives bang on your door first thing in the morning,” Parish said with an evil grin.
As they got up to leave the Captain called them from the his office doorway. When the detectives turned to see what he wanted he waved them over.
In Parish’s experience, whenever he was called into a captain’s office it was never a good thing for him. “In trouble already and our day didn’t even start yet,” he told Pettiway in a hushed voice as they neared the Captain’s office.
“We’re not in trouble.”
“How do you know?”
“No scowl. Whenever the captain is ready to rip into somebody he has a scowl. No scowl. No trouble,” Pettiway explained.
“The man rarely smile so I don’t see how you can tell the difference,” Parish replied.
“Give me an update on the subway shooting,” Captain Vance demanded in a stoic voice as he sat behind his desk with his hands on folded over his stomach.
Pettiway spoke up since he was the senior detective. “The victim was found shot once in the back of the head with what looks like a small caliber handgun. We informed the next of kin, which was the victim’s father, who in turn pointed us toward a girlfriend. They had a volatile relationship but from my opinion were still in love. We also found out that the victim is a known high ranking, gang member who recently was involved in an altercation with another gang member. The gang member initially fingered our victim but recanted. We were just on our way over to his address now to question him. See what he can tell us or at least clear him as a suspect.”
“Any idea what station the shooting occurred?” Captain Vance asked.
“Not yet. But I threw the question out there to all station personnel. Hopefully someone heard a shot fired or was told about a shot being fired. But as of right now all we have his the victim entering the subway station at Canarsie in Brooklyn around five p.m.”
“Five p.m.? That means the victim was riding around for a few hours unnoticed,” Captain Vance said with a distasteful look.
“I know,” Pettiway replied.
Captain Vance let out a breath and said, “The mayor is already asking questions. He want the people of New York to know they’re safe to ride the subway.”
“Got you Captain,” Pettiway replied.
“Good. Go get the bad guy,” Captain Vance said dismissing them.