Chapter 6

There was no ring or watch on the hand but there were tattoos on it. That was not the strangest part. It was a heavy hand which meant that it would take considerable amount of skill and strength in order to slice the hand in this way.

“So it was just lying here in this way?” asked Susan as she looked at the hand still not convinced that this was all the part of one incident which had no head or tail whatsoever.

“Yeah, fresh and warm meat like that with the scent of blood that would mean that rats would have been pretty quick to make a nice clean work of it,” replied the cop whose name Susan did not even bother to remember.

“No nibbles here, as I can see,” said Susan and she turned towards Bill who had crouched down beside her as well and he said,” This means that it has not been here for that long.”

“And I also spotted something else here,” said the cop as he directed the spotlight in a different direction and Bill went and walked towards it.

“This is a Browning .32. It has got a suppressor in it. This is a really nice piece,” said Bill as he pulled it up and dropped it in the evidence bag.

“There is a severed hand here and also a gun with a suppressor. So who would guess that this would go together?” asked Susan as she chewed her bottom lip. She still could not shake the feeling that they should not be here wasting time and there was something bigger waiting for them.

“None of the tourists who came here tonight on the Chinatown Ghost tour had a gun, did they?” asked Bill as he tried to figure out what possibility there might be.

“But why would a man use such a small weapon in the first place? I mean, a Browning is essentially considered to be a woman’s weapon and that means that there was a female here. Some way or the other this is not adding up and I am not really feeling it. Did you find the rest of the body?” asked Susan as she looked at the cop who had been guarding the hand.

“No Ma’am. I have not left the spot. And I figured that a severed hand would mean that it was more than enough to call you guys to check this out. Did not want to contaminate anything at all before you guys had made your investigation,” said the cop and Susan slightly nodded at him.

“Alright, let’s go and find rest of the body,” said Susan as she started walking towards the direction of the closest door that she could find and found that there was  black heap lying on the curb.

“Palmer!!!” she shouted and Bill was immediately at her side. They both looked down and Bill dropped down and turned the body and saw that the man was dead. And he had been dead for quite a few hours.

“He is dead. Neck has been snapped. Caught unawares,” said Bill as he checked the pulse on the neck and found that it was lolling.

“There is a dead body which has been lying here from God knows when and you are still not aware about this? You did not know that there was another man lying dead here?” shouted Susan at the cop who had been making quite the fun of the entire severed hand scenario until now.

“No Ma’am….I thought…I just thought that it was a drunkard passed out here and I was at attention standing here so I did not…” said the cop but Susan was so furious that’s he did not even bother to hear his complete explanation.

“THIS IS THE SCENE OF AN ACTIVE CRIME SCENE WITH YOU ALL KNOWING THAT THERE IS A SEVERED HAND IN HERE AND STILL YOU DID NOT BOTHER TO CHECK THE PERIMETER? WHAT ELSE ARE WE GOING TO FIND HERE? GANGLAND MURDERS?” shouted Susan as she did not even know how right she was in saying that. Bill knew that Susan had a furious streak of temper and almost everyone in the department was aware of that and even worse she could not tolerate negligence and that was exactly what had happened here.

“I am not going to listen to your shit any longer. I am going to talk to boss about getting you on punishment for a week. Come on Bill, let’s see what more has happened inside,” said Susan as she stepped on the curb.

“But Rollo!! This place has been locked for I don’t know what two decades…there should be nothing inside,” said Bill and Susan scoffed at him.

“There is a hand there lying on the street which has been cut off and there is another dead body lying on the curb with his neck snapped and you are telling me that this place has been locked down for two decades and no one has used it. No one might have used it the way we know it. But who knows what you are going to find in there?” asked Susan as she kicked the door and with her raised gun went inside and immediately she slipped on a puddle.

“Bill!!! Gimme the flash light,” said Susan as she regained her balance.

Immediately a light was thrust in her hands and there was a muttered curse as Bill himself slipped over something as well. The light shown that they were standing on a dark pool of blood which had been collected over the corner in a puddle.

“Holy fucking shit Rollo!! Is this a massacre?” asked Bill as they could see corpses strewn everywhere.

They went in further and Susan sucked in a breath and said,” Yeah certainly looks like it.”

“Could the perpetrator still be here?” asked Bill in a whisper as Susan said,” I don’t think so. This certainly does look like a gangland killing and there are all Italian or Spanish mafia. And as far as this neighborhood goes, who knows that this might be something of a war between a Chinese gang and the other Mafia gang. Because only the Chinese use the katana or the sword to slice it off and I can see that body parts are strewn everywhere.”

They hit the light switch at the entry way of the larger room in which they were standing and suddenly Susan recalled that she had been here in this place before.

“Holy freaking shit Rollo!!” said Bill as he could not believe his eyes to what he was saying. If this had been a locked sight for the massacre that had happened here before earlier then how on earth did it again become at active crime scene?

There were corpses lying pools of blood in every single inch and at least there were ten to twelve dead men lying here.

“I never thought that I was going to say this but I am feeling sick,” said Bill as he took in the scene before him.

“Giddy up. We are homicide detectives. If anyone comes to hear that we are feeling queasy at the sight of a little blood then it will not take a lot of time to become the joke of the department,” muttered Susan as she looked at Bill who was looking absolutely green.

“Why don’t we go and check the other places that are supposed to be empty but are not going to be?” Asked Susan and she moved away from the room filled with blood. The blood had not dried up and had slightly congealed with meant that this had not happened more than a couple of hours earlier.

“I think we should call in re-inforcements. We both are not going to be enough to handle this entire thing alone,” said Bill and Susan nodded.

Susan did not say anything else and then watched where she stepped and she cursed herself for contaminating the scene with the steps of her boots but in a case like this and when she was the first person to even possibly identify the crime scene it was inevitable. She waited to hear any kind of sound but there was none. There was a flight of stairs to take to the terrace and Susan slowly started walking in the direction of the terrace.

She could help but feel an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

As soon as she opened the door of the terrace she could not open the door and it was stuck with something.

“Bill once you are done come up here. I need some help,” said Susan as she suddenly missed Hugh to have her back. When they worked they did not have to say things like this to each other and Hugh himself took the initiative, not like Bill who had to be pushed and instructed at every single step.

And she did not bother waiting for Bill anymore and put the gun back in the holster and then pushed with all her might.

But despite all her attempts Susan could not open the roof. And neither could Bill. So they decided that there was something wrong with the door.

“But there is only one severed hand and a gun which is found in the back alley. The rest of the body has got to be here somewhere,” muttered Susan as she called up Hugh. She really needed another pair of eyes on this at the moment. This was a huge dealing and she did not want to botch it up under any circumstances.

“We really need to check the roof,” said Bill as he looked up.

Susan turned her gaze around and then she found an escape ladder that snaked up the four storey building facing the alley. The bottom rung of the ladder was rusted which meant that it was not used and they could not pull it down despite much tugging. That meant that they had to reach it up in the conventional way, through a stairwell.

“Man I cannot seem to catch a break tonight,” said Susan as she put back her phone back in her pocket.

They left the back alley and then returned to the main street from where they could access the front of the buildings. Businesses occupied the first levels, a Chinese restaurant, bakery, a grocery store--- all closed at that hour. And above the businesses were the apartments. Peering up Susan saw that the upper floors were all dark.

“We are going to have to wake someone in order to let us inside,” said Bill as he glanced in the same direction as her.

Susan approached a group of Chinese men who were standing on the side walk gathered to watch the excitement unfold.” Do you know any of the tenants in the building?” she asked. ”We need to get inside.”

They stared at her blankly.

“This building,” she stared again this time pointing and trying it with actions,” We need to go upstairs.”

“You know Rollo, talking louder, really does not help,” said Bill as he hid a smile hoping that it did not catch her eye and then said in a serious voice,” I don’t think that they do understand English.”

“It is going to take too long to wait for him,” said Bill as he looked at Susan and she nodded. She climbed up to the front entrance and scanned the tenant names and then pressed one button at random. Despite the repeated buzzes, no one answered. She tried a button, and this time a voice finally answered.

The voice crackled over the intercom.

“Wei?” a woman said.

“It is the police. Can you let us in the building please?” asked Susan hoping that she did not sound rude or obnoxious.

“Wei?” asked the voice again.

“Please open the door,” said Susan this time louder.

Then a child’s voice spoke,” My grandma wants to know who you are.”

“Detective Susan Rollo, Scotland Yard,” said Susan as she finally sagged in relief that there was someone who knew English.” We need to go up to the roof. Can you let us in the building?”

At last the lock buzzed open.