June 20, 2016

St. Louis, MO

 

I WOKE UP early Monday morning for my first day in St. Louis County Police Department’s Homicide Unit. After working for seven years in Vice and the Drug Unit, I finally got to move up when Detective Robert Haas retired.

My face hurt from smiling as I walked down the crowded corridors, trying to make a good first impression. I knocked on Lieutenant Daniel Madden’s door and stepped inside when he waved to me through the glass pane.

“Good morning, Lieutenant Madden,” I greeted him.

“Good morning, Sasha. Let’s go introduce you to the rest of the unit.”

He led the way into the bullpen where desks were jammed up against each other in the cramped space. I saw one empty desk and assumed it was now mine.

“All, I want you to meet Detective Sasha Delossa. I snagged her from the Drug Unit to fill our vacancy. I’m sure you will catch her up on open cases and make her feel welcome.”

A tall bald man stepped forward and thrust his hand toward me. “I’m Sergeant Detective Liam Davis. Welcome to the team.”

“Thank you, Sir,” I replied, but he scowled.

“No need for formality in this unit. You can just call me Liam.”

I nodded and shook hands with the others as they introduced themselves. I met Eric Riley and the only other female in the unit—Marisol Kendall. My desk was butted against Marisol’s, and when I sat down in the office chair, I smelled the heavy stench of cologne.

Marisol obviously recognized the look of distaste because she told me, “I know. He liked to splash it on in the morning.”

I pulled out a container of Lysol wipes from my box of belongings and wiped the desk and chair down. It helped some. Once I got my drawers unstuck from the duct tape they’d jokingly put on them, I was ready to dive in.

“What do I need to look at first?” I asked Liam, and he handed me a short stack of file folders.

“These can use a fresh pair of eyes, so give them a scan first. We’ll go from there.”

I nodded in understanding and cracked open the first folder. It was a case on a drive-by shooting of a seventeen-year-old female on Biddle Street in Carr Square. According to her grandmother, she’d been on her way to the Lorretta Hall Park to meet friends in the early afternoon of May 7th. Her friends called the house when she never showed up, claiming they’d heard gunshots. The young woman, Latoya Lamarre, was an honor student with a promising future, but she had the misfortune of living in a bad neighborhood ran by the Crips.

That got me to thinking about my confidential informant from my days in the Drug Unit. My CI, Maria Gomez, was known to associate with the various Crips and Bloods, but the rival gangs didn’t know about it, or she’d already be dead. I put in a call to her.

After telling her I was now a part of the Homicide Unit, I asked about the shooting. “Have you heard anything about it from your friends?”

“Nah, I ain’t heard nothing about it. I’ll keep my ears open for you though, chica. Say…um…does being your CI for homicides and shit pay more? I mean, that’s harder work on my end with all these boys up in here and their turf wars.”

I smiled to myself. She sure tried hard to wheedle every dime I had. “I’m sure we can work something out, Maria. You call me if you find anything out. It was May 7th near Lorretta Hall Park,” I reiterated.

“I’ll get back to ya if I hear something,” she replied and then screamed at someone talking loudly near her. “I’m on the damn phone!”

“It’s okay, Maria. I’ve got to go, but you call me if anything comes up.” I hung up and stuck my finger inside my ringing ear.

“CI, huh?” Marisol asked. “I could hear her from over here.”

I laughed. “Yep, she’s a loud one. She runs around with the Crips and Bloods, kind of alternating between them. She’s helped me on drug busts, so she’s valuable to SLCPD.”

Marisol shrugged. “We take whatever help we can get in this department. The more eyes and ears we have out there, the better.”

I nodded and thumbed through the file again, reading the interviews conducted in the case. I didn’t get very far, though, when Liam addressed us all.

“There’s been a body found in Forest Park, outside by the Boathouse’s dumpster. The woman is too mangled for a positive ID, so we’ll have to wait for dental records, but Tamara Boyd was reported missing last night by her fiancée. He claims she was headed to the zoo yesterday to meet her sister, Dominique Boyd, but she never arrived. Search dogs found the body.”

Marisol raised her brows at me. “Welcome to Homicide. There’s no time like the present to break you in.” She rose from her desk and strapped on her Glock. “You can ride with me.”

I followed them to the elevators, feeling woozy from the sudden excitement. It was like going on a drug bust, but it was worse since someone had died. More than ever, it made me want to uphold my badge.