A murder story - part eleven

Welcome back to the continuing saga that is poorly titled (for now) "A Murder Story" although an earlier suggestion is growing on me. This is the final part of the first day of this winding and twisting crime saga. The second day gets very interesting...

If this is your first visit here, please feel free to go back and read the story from the beginning.

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Miranda was becoming somewhat giddy at the prospect of having some hard evidence that could lead to the murderer.

“Or they could be the prints of half the guys in Kennebrook,” Danny said as he slid into the driver’s seat of the victim’s car, “Remember what the ex-husband said, our victim liked to ride the old meat rocket quite a bit.”

Danny smiled at Miranda, obviously quite happy with his latest sex joke.

Miranda replied back with one of her many “I’ve never heard that one before” looks that she was known around the department for.

Both Miranda and Danny continued to examine their respective parts of Emily Jenkins’ car and were nearly done when one of the officers who had been working inside the home stepped in to the garage.

“We found the victim’s cell phone and some, uh, DNA as well.”

Danny craned his head out of the victim’s car, “Alright! Don’t spoil it for me. I’ll be in to see what’s been collected. Come on Officer Grove, join me if you will.”

Officer Grove, obviously frustrated by having to be pulled away from her work, put down her tools, removed her latex gloves and followed her partner back in to the home.

“Well?”

Kline anxiously tapped his foot waiting to hear what had been found inside the home.

“We found Ms. Jenkins’ cell phone in the garbage disposal. It’s mangled but we should be able to pull off at least some of the contacts, maybe the call history and text messages too. If not, we can surely track down her carrier and get the records there. At least we’ll have phone numbers to go on.”

“What about the DNA?” Kline blurted out, obviously more interested in the more human side of the murder than technology.

“You’re gonna like this,” the tall, thin officer chuckled, “We found plenty of DNA in the trash can in the bedroom upstairs. Six used condoms, two of which were fairly fresh.”

“What about the wrappers?” Kline smiled coyly.

“What about ‘em?”

“The brand. Were they all the same or were they different?”

“Every last one the same, all eight wrappers.”

“But you said you found six condoms in the trash,” Kline stated, “That leaves a couple rubbers unaccounted for.”

“Yeah, we kinda realized that. I’m thinking those two were flushed.”

“Huh,” Officer Grove finally interjected, “two different means of disposal, two different guys?”

“Or more.” Kline turned and stared at the victim. “How close are we to getting Ms. Jenkins off the wall and to the Medical Examiner’s office? We’re going to need a rape kit done on the body. Obviously check for any sign of sexual assault -- bruising, semen -- anything that gets us more DNA. And check each potential area of entry too.”

After dispensing directions for the officers bustling around the suburban Kennebrook residence, Danny Kline and Miranda Grove stepped out the rear patio door on to the home’s deck.

“Fuck, I guess we’ve got a couple options.” Miranda nodded her head as lead investigator Danny Kline pondered the team’s options aloud. “We can stick around here for a few more hours and keep working the scene and collecting evidence or we can turn things over to another officer, let the others finish up here and check in at the station, log our evidence and call it a week.”

“I’m all for plan B but you’re the boss, Danny,” Miranda leaned against the deck’s railing, pushing her hair off of her face in the light late afternoon breeze, “But it’s almost 7 PM and I have a feeling your mind is already made up.”

“Yeah,” Danny said as he began heading towards the garage where the team had been previously working, “I’m ready to turn this one over, clock out and get the fuck on with the weekend.”

“Then it’s settled,” Miranda said as she almost playfully skipped across the yard towards the garage behind her partner, “We can check in at the station, head back to your place to get ready for dinner and we should be at the restaurant around 8!”

“Hot damn,” Kline said as he flung the garage door open, “A quick shower -- maybe together to speed things up,” Kline turned back and smiled at Miranda, “Some drinks, some food and we can just see where the night goes.”

The duo each grabbed their crime scene kits, evidence bags and cameras and made their way to the police issue black Dodge Durango waiting in the driveway.

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Be sure to check back tomorrow for the second chapter of this intriguing murder mystery!