Neither Candlestick nor Phaser, Part I

Posted on Thu 30th Nov, 2017 @ 7:26am by Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark
Edited on on Sun 3rd Dec, 2017 @ 7:41pm

1,682 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Alley Near Pale Moon Books
Timeline: MD 3, 0800
Tags: Mr. Oto

Why, Kellian Michaels wondered, did they always seem to get the murders when there wasn't a Chief of Security around? Chief Jekkar had had to leave the station for family reasons a couple of weeks previously. So now, instead of being able to devote his full attention to the investigation, he had to deal with everything else in Security, too. Ah, well; that was the job. And at least there wasn't a diplomatic function going on, this time.

Kellian secured the scene with a biometrically filtered force field. It would allow only certain authorized people, identified by their combadges and biometrics, to pass through it. The vertical sections of it could also be made opaque, if needed.

This case did not look good, Kellian thought. First off, the body appeared to have been staged. Any victim who had fought at all or tried to wrestle with their attacker would not have been positioned so neatly on the bench or left so little blood. The legs were even crossed at the ankles. This did not look like a crime of passion or domestic abuse; those usually had a lot more wounds, offensive and defensive, and the body would more likely have been completely hidden. That the death appeared to have been caused by a single, small wound indicated someone who knew exactly where to strike.

So probably a professional, unless someone just got lucky, Kellian thought. On the other hand, I can't see under the clothing. Might be more wounds than I think.

Kellian eyed the dumpster behind the bookstore. Why not just leave the body there for the shop owner to find? Then he saw the recycling symbol on it. No. Any books put in there would be sent to burn as paper waste, which was not hot enough to burn a body. And perhaps the dumpster walls were too high for the killer to comfortably lift the body over them. He made a note to measure the dumpster's height and to photograph that and to also include for consideration the idea that the killer may have had help.

Kellian glanced about, looking for security cameras. "Computer, identify the two closest security cameras that are pointed at my position. Send their current images to my PADD."

The computer did so, and Kellian tapped the one image in which he saw himself. "Computer, transmit the security footage from camera 1554-D23 for the preceding twelve hours to Lt. Summerby's department workstation." He waited for the computer to signal that the task was completed before tapping the second image. "Do the same for the security footage from camera 1554-E24."

He tapped his combadge while he took out a camera and tape measure from his forensics kit. "Michaels to Dr. Addams," he said. A moment later, the CMO responded.

"Addams," the Doctor said through the com system, sounding both sleepy and grumpy.

"Dr. Addams, this is Kellian Michaels, with Security. I need for you to come down to Deck 1554, please, to the alley, spinward side of Pale Moon Books. I have a gift for you."

"I don't have to come down," Addams said. "I live here. Give me five minutes to put on clothes, and I'll be right over."

Well, THAT's an interesting mental image! Kellian thought with a grin but carefully did not say. He set up his camera and began taking a 360-degree scan of the entire area, followed by images of the body at various distances, with and without measurements.

It was shortly less than five minutes later that Addams arrived on foot, from the main street. She was wearing a medical duty uniform, but her hair was loose, and her face still bore the markings of a sugar skull. She paused at the edge of the field and held up a hand toward Michaels, forestalling any comment as her ebon eyes surveyed the scene, and the staging.

"Well," she said at last. "You do know how to celebrate the Day of the Dead, Mr. Michaels. Such a thoughtful present!"

"Since I wasn't able to attend the party last night, I had to do something," Kellian said with a faint chuckle. "You didn't have to come if you're off duty. I could have called Dr. Anjohl."

"Doctor Anjohl, while in most respects a perfectly competent physician, is an epidemiologist." Addams said the word as if it might bite her. "And I would be quite disappointed if you had something this interesting and did not share it with me." Her eyes ran over the scene again, and flicked across the group of civilians gathered at the park end of the alley, watching. "Did you know," the Doctor said in a conversational tone as she pulled a pair of membrane gloves from the thigh pocket of her uniform trousers and began fitting them to her hands, "that the word 'gift' is German for 'poison'? Always be suspicious of Germans bearing gift."

"Since the Greeks I know usually come bearing baklava, I'm with you on that," Kellian replied.

Andrew usually wasn't one to take a morning walk prior to or during his shift, but one of his staff mentioned something both intriguing and disturbing to him, causing a deviation from his normal routine. As he made his way to the park area, he already saw signs that the Ensign's story was actually true. Cursing under his breath, he made his way through the ever growing crowd toward the alley and saw the CMO and the acting Chief of Security already on site.

Standard procedure dictated that Security had the authority to handle these matters first, but Andrew wasn't prepared to sit on the sidelines for this one. Sidestepping the people who were in front of the crowd, he finally got a decent view of the drama and shook his head with a sigh. Stopping his walk a few meters away from the scene, Andrew spoke in a serious tone directed at the two officers, "Mind if I come a little closer?"

Kellian blinked at the Tactical Chief and nodded after a moment. His fingers danced over his PADD, keying in Eberstark to be allowed within the crime scene perimeter. "Nice morning for a crime scene, isn't?" he said. "You think this might be one of yours, sir? I haven't even ID'd him yet; still imaging the scene in situ." He handed Eberstark a pair of plastic footies and a pair of gloves to wear while inside the perimeter and gave a pair of footies to Dr. Addams, as well.

Andrew shook his head, "Can't rule anything out at this point can we, Lieutenant?" taking the gloves and footies from the man, he stepped closer to the scene, "This doesn't look too promising."

"Thank you," Addams said, glancing at her glove membranes and sighing. She peeled them off again and accepted the footies and shoving them in her thigh pocket. "Mr. Eberstark. Good morning." she nodded, and looked around, raising her voice to call to the civilians on the far side of the crime scene. "Where is the closest replicator? I'm going to need some kit."

Kenichi, the owner of the bookstore that bordered the alley, as well as the father of the girl who'd found the body, raised his hand. "There's one in my shop," he said. "Go around to the front; I'll come through and open the door."

"Thank you," Addams said, turning to look at Eberstark and Kellian again. "Even when you finish your imaging studies, please do not step into the scene. I'd like to examine it as freshly as possible."

Caroline Post had been working her way through the crowd, stopping to talk to people here and there. She'd just reached the bookstore owner, MacBeth, when he volunteered to help Dr. Addams. She ducked back behind another couple of people, not yet ready to come to the attention of the authorities standing near the body.

From her position, she could see something of the scene. It hadn't been opaqued yet, but she wasn't as close as she'd like. Her ever-present cameraman was not so ever-present yet, and she didn't want the scene blanked before he arrived and got at least a few pictures. She turned to look at who was around her, and whether she knew any of them.

"Oh, Mr. Oto," she said, with genuine pleasure, even knowing she was about to pump him for anything he knew. "Did you hear from my new friend, Lieutenant Baro? She's looking for a place in the Gardens, and I gave her your name."

"Oh," said Oto, running a hand over his balding forehead. "No," he said absently, his eyes drawn back to the murdered man. "This is terrible... horrible! And they called that..." he trailed off, watching the Doctor's backside disappear around the corner at the other end of the alley. "Witch doctor," he said at last.

Stepping alongside Michaels, Andrew inspected the body further, "The cleanliness of this whole thing obviously suggests somebody knew what they were doing. That also would seem to suggest that someone or someones came aboard this Starbase for this purpose."

"Certainly, stabbing this precise is unusual," Kellian said. "Must have been a very thin-bladed instrument."

The more Andrew thought about his theory, the more he didn't like it, as he began to think of forces outside the Starbase as the potential catalyst. Whoever came to carry this out specifically chose the Starbase to do it. Normally, Starfleet-occupied areas would be less than ideal to commit a murder, yet here was one right in front of their faces. Was the individual a permanent resident on the Station and this was simply the only opportunity? Was there a specific timing involved that forced the perpetrator's hand to act? These were two of a multitude of questions racing through Andrew's mind before he took another sigh and regained his focus. There simply wasn't enough information to base anything off of so no use letting his imagination run wild. First thing first was to identify the individual and go from there.

 

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