Who's in the Can?

Detective Search sauntered into the FIFTEENTH PRECINCT. It was busy as usual. As he passed the booking desk, several police stood beside men, some not completely dressed, and women in lingerie, their boobs hanging out the top. All were in hand cuffs. Search chuckled. Must have raided a place of prostitution, he thought to himself. He remembered those days. Now he was in homicide. He had earned a Gold Badge and was proud of it.


"Detective Search!" Barbara from the desk shouted at him. "I have something for you."He turned and went to the desk
and retrived the envelope Barbara handed him. He opened it at his desk.

Dear Detective Search,

My name is Sandra Hill. We met at the Policeman's Ball, but talked for a minute. My husband was an undercover police officer with Narcotics. He was killed in the line of duty. You might remember him, Michael, or Mike Hill.

Search thought, Yeah, the bastards found out he was a police officer and tortured him with an electric wire. There wasn't any skin left on his body.

My daughter, Sue has been missing for three months. Her neighbor Jeff said he hadn't seen her since Halloween. He assumed she took off for the holidays.

Please call me. My phone number is 609 - 782-3382 and my address is 2562 Avenue E, Fresno, MI. 66472

Thank you,

Sandra Hill

Search picked up the phone and dialed Mrs. Hill.

"Hello"

"Mrs. Hill"

"Yes."

"This is Detective Search. I received your letter today. Can I come by your house tomorrow around one?"

"Yes, Detective. I will see you then. Thank you." Sandra said.

"Bye." Search said.

Search pulled his car into the driveway and parked. He used the door knocker to knock loudly. Sandra opened the door.

"Detective, come in." Sandra said, "Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you," Search said as he sat down.

"When was the last time you talked with your daughter?"

"It was Halloween. She bought a lot of candy to hand it out. She likes to dress up and answer the door in a costume.

"Did your daughter say whether she was going out of town?"

"No. She always tells me what she is doing. She calls me twice a week, but I haven't heard from her since that night."

'"l'll need the name of her company where she works and the name of her boss. Also, I need the name of her neighbor, the one you talked with."

"You mean Jeff. Poor man. His mother left in the middle of the night with a lot of his money. She said he's cleaning out his mothers stuff she left in her room. The house on the other side is a rental. No one lives there now.

"Okay Mrs. Hill. I'm sure she's alright, but it's better if we both knew that." Search said.

Sandra showed the Detective to the front door. As Search was walking to his car, Sandra called out,

"Detective."

"Yes?"

"Her name is Sue, and her birthday is in the next two weeks. Please find her. I have never missed one of her birthdays."

"Yes, mam."

The next day Search visited Sues' boss. He said she hadn't bothered to call. If Search found her, tell her she's fired.

Back at the precinct, Search pulled out the cross reference directory and looked up Sue's house number. Then he looked up the house next to hers and found the name he was looking for. Jeff White. He did a back ground check on him, but he came up squeaky clean.

The following day he drove to Mr. White's house. He knocked and Jeff opened the door.

"Yes, can I help you?" The young man asked.

"Are you Jeff White?"

"Yes. Who are you? "

Search showed him his badge. "Detective Search, mind if I have a word with you?"

"What's this about detective?" Jeff asked.

"May I come in?" Search asked.

"Sure. Have a seat."

"Have you seen Miss Hill lately?"

"No, if you mean Sue, the last time I saw her was during the first part of October. Why, has something happened to her?"

"Not that I know of. But her mother hasn't talked with her in a while and asked if I could find out where she was."

"Oh, Mrs. Hill is such a sweet lady. She came by here and asked me if I had seen her. I told her I thought she had gone for the holidays. I'm surprised Sue hasn't called her mom because they were very close."

Search thought about what Jeff had just said. Search's' nose twitched.

"Yeah, Mrs. Hill said your mother left and took some of your money. Have you heard from her?"

"No, and I don't care where she is. She left in the middle of the night. No note, nothing as to why."

Search replied. "Well if you think of anything, here's my card, just give me a call, okay?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help detective."

"Me too. Have a good day."

Search drove back to the office. He kept thought about what the young man said, They were very close. Not, they are very close? Search decided he would nose around Jeff's place after he left for work.

Early the next morning, using his own car, Search parked down the street from Jeff's' house. He watched as Jeff backed out and drove away. He walked to Jeff's house. He didn't see any cars at the house on the other side and figured they worked too.

Using his pick he unlocked the back door and walked in. He found himself in the kitchen. After snooping around he went through the door into the hall and into the first bedroom. There was nothing in the room, not even a curtain for the window. He opened the closet, but it was empty, except for the four or five hangers on the wooden rod. The bedroom smelled of Pine Sol.

He went into the next one. This was definitely lived in. Mr. White was very meticulous. His bed had been made and a blanket was folded and placed on the end of it. He looked in his closet.The pants hung together, as was the shirts. The ties
and belts hung down separately on a rack. Search felt around on the top shelf. His hand touched something and he pushed it towards the edge and took it down. It was a shoe box, and it was heavy. He opened the box and found a hammer. Not just any hammer, this one had blood on it. Search closed the
box and took it with him. He left through the back door and relocked it. He wanted to look in the garage, but he wanted to get the hammer downtown and have a DNA ran on the blood. He would be back tomorrow.

Search arrived at the Lab. "Hey Jack."

"Hi Search, haven't seen you in a while. Aren't you retired?"

"Not yet. Listen, I have something I want you to do for me."

"Sure, anything."

Search opened the box and using a rubber glove from the box on the table, he lifted out the hammer.

"What have you got there?" Jack asked.

"Could be a murder weapon. I need a DNA ran on it."

"Where's the sample of the one you want to match?"

"Don't have one yet. Can you put a rush on it?"

"I guess, I owe you one anyway."

"Thanks, give me a call when it is ready, okay?"

Dawn broke to find Search sitting in his Jeep waiting for Jeff to leave. He was going to check out the garage. He noticed Jeff didn't use it. He parked his car in the driveway.

He saw Jeff leave and walked back to the house. This time he opened the garage. The first thing he noticed was two used garbage cans. He looked over at the backyard. There were two garbage cans at the back door. Jeff must have bought two new ones, he thought.

Searches curiosity came into play and he opened one. The smell of Lye and something else assaulted his nose. He looked around and found a small hand broom. Using it, he swept away the Lye and found bones. Taking the lid off of the other one, he found the same thing. Search thought to himself, Well, it looks like I found Sue and Jeff's mother.

Using his phone, he called in forensic and back up. By the time Jeff White got home, the police had completely searched his house, taken the evidence downtown and proceeded to handcuff him, put him in a police car and take him down for booking.

Search had to tell Sue's mother. He guess she wouldn't be celebrating Sues birthday with her this time. This was his least favorite part of his job.


1478 Words