Penner was a little late getting into the office the next morning. After working until almost midnight, much later than she had planned, she had decided to have a bit of a sleep-in for a change. She stopped by Joe’s for a quick breakfast on her way in and was ready to attack the day. She just needed another coffee to really be ready. Penner climbed the stairs to the little kitchenette on the second floor—the patrol officers usually had better coffee than the detectives. For some reason, most of the detectives didn’t like strong coffee. It’s like they got soft once they started wearing a suit every day, something Penner didn’t understand. If the coffee wasn’t good and strong, what was the point? Just drink dirty water. As she was pouring herself a cup, she felt someone walk in behind her.
‘Good morning, Detective.’ It was Constable Grant. ‘Wasn’t expecting to see you up here.’
‘Oh, morning, Constable. Sorry, I seem to have taken the last of it,’ Penner said, shaking the empty coffee pot.
‘No problem, I’ll put some more on.’ Grant opened a cupboard, grabbed a bag of coffee and a new filter. ‘I ran a check on Mr. Wong this morning, ma-am. Came up clean, not even a speeding ticket.’ He filled the coffee maker with water and turned it on.
‘Huh. Okay, thanks for doing that. Detective Millar said they had a daughter, anything interesting with her?’ Penner asked, sipping her coffee.
‘Nothing that I could find, but I guess there’s a chance she has a juvie record. I don’t have clearance to see those. I’m still waiting to get full access to everything in the system. Not sure what the hold-up is, but my Sergeant’s working on it,’ Grant said grabbing a mug in anticipation of a fresh cup of coffee. ‘I was thinking of stopping by her school later to talk with the principal to see if he can give me anything.’
‘I would hold off on that for now. We don’t need to make things worse for the girl, if it’s not necessary,’ Penner said. Nothing was pointing to the daughter right now. If something changed, they could always pay her a visit later. ‘What’s your assignment today?’ Penner tilted her head back and drank the last of her coffee.
‘Foot patrol in the Market, ma-am. That’s my typical beat,’ Grant said, surprised that Penner’s mug was empty already. He grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup. ‘Ma-am?’
‘Please.’ Penner held out her mug so he could fill it, too. ‘If you’re interested, I can talk to your Sergeant, see if you can join me to interview the friends that Mrs. Wong was out with. Detective Millar’s out of town. Sometimes it’s good to have two people doing interviews. An extra set of ears and eyes can come in handy.’
‘That would be fantastic. Thank you, ma-am.’ Grant almost spilled his coffee in excitement.
‘Alright. Meet me in the lobby in, say, half an hour?’ Penner said, looking at her watch. ‘I’ll go get it cleared with your boss and then I’ll stop by my office and get the list of names Detective Millar gave me last night.’
‘Got them right here, ma-am,’ Grant said, tapping his pocket where he kept his notebook.
‘Nobody likes a show-off, Constable,’ said Penner, walking out of the kitchenette. ‘Half an hour!’ Grant heard her call out. He smiled to himself.
When Penner came down to the lobby, Grant was already waiting for her, sitting in one of the chairs beside the elevator and reading his notes. He stood up when he saw her.
‘So, your boss is okay with you joining up with me for the day. He thinks it will be a good learning experience for you,’ Penner said as they walked together towards the parking garage. ‘Wants you to report to him at the end of the day, just to fill him in on what we were doing, what you learned, if anything. Hopefully it’s a good experience for you.’ They got to Penner’s car, a newer model sedan. Black with tinted windows. Grant looked around as he sat down, noting how much cleaner it was than Detective Millar’s car. Smelled better, too.
‘Thanks, ma-am. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot. I’ve never worked a murder before—this is all new to me,’ he said as Penner pulled out of the garage. ‘So, any ideas about who we may be looking for? Are you a profiler, too?’
‘Me? No, I leave that to Detective Millar. I don’t really understand it,’ Penner said. ‘I mean, we were working a case a couple of years ago. All we had was our vic, where he was killed and we knew the type of weapon used. Within a week, Millar came in saying we were looking for a middle-aged, overweight, Jamaican lady. Single.’ Penner had a bit of awe in her voice. ‘He said the suspect would probably be a day labourer, either as a cook or landscaper. Then, get this, he said she would drive a late nineties Ford four-door sedan. Red. Like, how on earth would he know that! Well, sure enough, after a bunch of leads and investigating, we get a suspect. Marigold Clarke. Fifty-two. Recently moved from Kingston, Jamaica. Worked for a local company cutting lawns. And guess what she drove. A 1998 Ford. Candy apple red. Blew my mind! I mean, if I didn’t know better, I would have said Millar did it himself and set up this poor woman somehow. No, I don’t get it at all, but I can tell you it works. How? Don’t know, but it does.’
‘That’s nuts, right down to the car?’ Grant said, surprised and impressed. ‘I’ve been reading Detective Millar’s books. A lot of what he talks about seems to make sense. It’s all using past experiences to narrow down your perp list, but to the car? And how would he have known she was overweight? I don’t get that at all!’
‘Makes two of us. So, you’re interested in profiling? Thinking of becoming a detective?’ Penner asked, pulling up to a stop light.
‘That’s the goal,’ Grant said. ‘Being a beat cop is okay, but petty crime can get a little dull after a while. I’d like to work the bigger crimes, where you feel like you’re making more of a difference. Getting a common thief off the streets is good and all, but getting a murderer or arsonist off the streets, now that really makes a difference to the community. That’s the type of thing I want to do for sure.’
‘At least, when you’re working the beat, you have somewhat normal hours. Sure, you split between days and nights, but Detectives are on call 24/7. You never know when you’re going to be called in. It could be right after you get home after being on duty for thirty hours,’ Penner said. She knew this part of the job all too well. ‘Gets pretty hard on your system. And really hard if you have a family. Loved ones get pretty mad when you’re constantly missing birthdays and other important events.’
‘I know, ma-am. I still think I would feel more worth doing something more meaningful,’ Grant said.
‘Well then, all I can say is work your ass off and get noticed by as many higher-ups as you can. But make sure you get noticed for the right things. Screw up, and that gets noticed way quicker then when you do something good, so you’ve got to be good way more often than not,’ Penner offered her sage advice as she pulled into a parking spot. ‘And don’t forget, what you do is meaningful to the people affected by those petty crimes. Right, let’s go talk to some people.’