Jeremy feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He takes it out and quickly reads the text before putting his phone away. "It seems like the other two are done, as am I. Do you guys have any other ideas before we head out?"
Vincent pulled out his own phone and thumbed through the messages. "Yah, I got nothing else. I think I'm gonna swing in here for a workout or two when old Skip is on the scene though. Lou, you mind texting me when he comes in. I wouldn't mind getting a feel for him under scrutiny, just don't let him know where I'm from yah?"" he said as he pulled out his card and left it on the desk. It never hurt to go at this from a couple of angles.
"I could use a drink after seeing that knife job in there, reminds me too much of the morgue." he said with a shudder as he stepped out.
As she leaves Hutkin's office:
By the way Mr. Hutkins, do you have a mutant power? If so, what it is it?
Hutkins says, "Heh, I wish. No, I don't have any powers."
-Posted with Wayfinder
DeAndre pulls into a space towards the back of the lot. "the guys should be here any minute. Let's get that back booth if we can. Better privacy there." he says a almost absently to Detective Deveraux.
"Sounds good. I've got to go drain the main vain. I believe the first pitcher is on you if I remember right". Buford heads for the bathroom, stopping first to ask an employee where the men's room is.
DeAndre orders a pitcher of mediocre beer and 5 glasses and heads to the darkest, quietest booth he can find, then lights up another smoke.
::in booth, in 'The Cop Shop' bar::
As we head to the car:
I had enough of 'limit testing' in the military, people actually pay to do that on their spare time?
Vincent laughs a bit "Aye, they tend to do so when they get cocky. Nah, me...I prefer to spend a nice relaxing time trying to a lady to take me home or drinking away the pain of a good slap" he said laughing a bit.
Does Hofstadter have relations in the city? Doesn't it fall on us to do the notification?
DeAndre starts to sip his first beer without waiting on the rest to show up.
He quietly thinks to himself "So let's see... Lou, that guy is dirty as a bag of horse-sh*t, but I don't think this is him. Skip... He knows more than he knows, but I don't think he'd actually hurt someone. Duke... Wasn't he the guy over at Skip's? he beat a pretty hasty exit when we got there, but that doesn't always mean anything, I used to hate cops too."
He takes huge swig, "Who else was there to check out? Alan, Duke's son was it? And... Eric Rowan, the Gym doctor? I wonder if the other guys got any more information... What a pain in the *ss"
Jeremy strolls into the bar before the other two officers looking for the booth he was told. He sees Deandre and talks a seat on the opposite side of the booth. "Did you guys get what you needed out of Skip's place?"
"Schematics, and a couple of potential suspects. You guys get anything else over there?"
On the way over Lorena is going to do a search for Hofstadter online, via her smart-phone, to see what kind of social media presence, if any, he had.
At the bar, Lorena goes to the counter, and gets a bowl of pop-corn, before heading to the back table where her compatriots wait.
Your search brings up nothing on Hofstadter. He didn't use any social media at all.
"Gunney..." DeAndre raises his glass to the arrival of his fellow marine. "Hound Dog is in the can. You leave Vinny to park the car or did you come separate?"
He takes a swig after she responds, "Anyways, that scene's pretty f*cked up, huh? How's your stomach after that Marsten?" he waits for a response before continuing.
"So, here's what I got... Lou is a lying son-of-a-b*tch and we need to dig his financials to see if there is any risky off the books funding. I could see one of the money gangs around here extorting a place like that, and f*cking with the equipment to set an example... I don't think that's our most likely angle though, given that whoever killed the machine would've had to have fairly extensive knowledge of it. That leads me to Skip, Duke, Duke's kid Alan, and Doctor Rowan.
Skip is too helpful, and I didn't get any negative vibes from him, but I could be wrong... People never were my strength. I saw Duke for half a second before he ducked out of Skip's place. I haven't met Rowan or Duke's kid, so I've got nothing to go on there." he finishes his listing by finishing his beer and refilling from the pitcher.
"you guys got any juicy tidbits for me to add to the growing list of potentials?"
Vinny should be here in just a second .
She takes her seat at the table.
Yeah, the money angle is something to look at, the question is, do we have anything we can take to a judge to get a warrant for the books? .
Vincent walked in shortly after, he had been reviewing his notes on his notepad and was still doing so as he walked in.
He took a seat at the bar and ordered a double shot of whiskey. Probably one of the best things of having a heavy regeneration factor was he could drink as much as he wanted and not have to worry about it.
He turned in the stool and looked at the others. "So, from what I gather. Skip was pretty pissed at our cocky deceased, bit of bad blood there and he would have the know how to break the thing. From the info you guys sent, Duke ran off pretty quick once he know who we were...but we got nothing really on the other two as far as info yeah?" he said trying to sum it up before popping back the whiskey.
"How do you guys wanna handle it, personally I think we got too many chickens in the same pot. Fan out a bit, someone check with ol Duke and his kid. Someone check the finances on Lou, see where the backing is coming from. Someone try and piss off Skip on the downlow and see just how he really reacts when under pressure. And maybe someone who speaks the Doc's language handle him yeah?" he asked trying to figure out a gameplan based on everything that has been provided recently.
Jeremy looks towards DeAndre and takes a moment to respond. "It wasn't what I thought out first case would look like. It could have been a lot better, and it could have been worse." Jeremy sighs and pours himself some beer and takes a decent pull. As he puts the drink down Vincent shows up and throws out some ideas. "I could look into the books for the gym. I don't mind scanning through old paperwork and finances. It might be off the record though, so it might take a bit more digging."
"I'm not really sure where I'd begin digging, personally." He starts as he begins to more think out loud then to address the actual group.
"You're right, Vinny, we just got too much sh*t on our plates right now with this, so let's start weeding it out, Yea? The financials are the only thing that won't lie to our faces, so maybe that's the lead we kill first. Gunney, you're good with accounting, right? maybe you're on that.
Pissing Skip off... Vinny, you're our man, but I think it'd be better to follow up with Duke using that tactic. Marsten would be a good partner on that task with appealing to the kid. We can hit skip again later, and either myself or Buford can come with you on that, as we've already established a positive relationship." Another swig down.
"And yes, the Doctor. I don't have a damn clue what those guys even say when I have to go in, any of you think you'll fair better?"
"I didn't really get a chance to get all chummy with Duke last time. How about I go along, on that one, but stay outside in case he bolts again. Maybe tail him this time".
So, where to?
Putting down her beer mug: Well boys, those crime scene reports aren't going to write themselves!
Yea... Might as well head back to the office and dig up those financial reports. Maybe Judge Haskins will spot me a quicky-warrant DeAndre Slams his last beer, and stands up, putting a cigarette into his mouth.
Even at first glance, Hofstadter's apartment building is a grand affair. Expensive down to the cloth towels in the bathrooms and the pressed suit of the attendant out front and the wood paneled interior of the elevators inside. The apartment lay on the eighth floor. Hardwood flooring stretches out from the elevator in a straight line, and you find the door to 807 easy enough.
A knock, and a voice comes back through the wood.
"Coming!
The door opens a crack, still held by the chain. A young woman with nothing on but a bathrobe peers out at you.
"Yes?"
DeAndre puts out his latest smoke, "Who wants the lead on this? If it's an active crime scene, I'll take rear... I'm not one for violence, and I'd really like to leave this investigation with only one traumatizing memory."
Detective Lorena Jeffers maam. Show ID. Do you want to take a moment to get dressed, I'm afraid that we have to talk to you about a serious matter.
The young woman says, "Where's Randall? It's not my place. I don't think he'd want me opening the door. But you're cops right? All right. Let me get something on."
She leaves and comes back a minute later and slides the chain loose and lets the door swing open. She's young, in her early twenties, with deep tanned skin and no makeup on, which only serves to highlight her beauty.
The apartment is equally as expensive as the exterior. All new appliances. Everything clean and crisp. The bed is unmade, and it's clear Krista was sleeping in it before you arrived.
"Krista," she says, her eyes flicking down to her toes, "My name. What is it you wanted to talk about?"
"How do you know Mr. Hofstadter?" he says once they're all in the apartment.
Again, his gaze goes on scanning the room, trying to catch any detail he can about the place, any pictures or awkwardly placed items.
"Mind if we come in"? Buford quips not really waiting before barging past her, and looking around the room.
DeAndre gives buford a nudge when he notices the man's gaze lingers a bit too long on the girl and whispers "assesment?", referring to the area.
Buford: as you eye the room, the smell of the woman's perfume almost overrides everything else. But under that, there is the lingering scent of Hofstadter, almost cleaned away by chemicals the housekeepers used the day before. The apartment's bedroom is standard fair, but in the bathroom you notice a large bag of prescription pills on the sink. The trash has a few crumpled items in it, and the microwave seems to have heavy use, but the other appliances aren't used very much.
Krista says to detective Holmes while eying detective Deveraux, "I guess about a year. He's been a regular for awhile now. He told me to be waiting here when he got back last night. Also said to bring some friends of mine for tonight. He does that every once in a while to celebrate."
Krista says, biting her lip, "Okay, look, a friend of mine introduced me to Randall. He's hooked up with the bratva here, the Russians, the mob or something. So if Randall's in with them, he's a pretty bad guy..." she lets the statement linger.
Celebrate? Celebrate what exactly?
Krista shrugs, "He never really said; I never asked. I don't know much about him besides what he likes." She gestures to the bed. "Gets me to stab him with that knife collection of his, real kinky."
In the bathroom, the prescription forms are stuck to the bottles. It seems all these drugs were prescribed by a Doctor Eric Rowan.
Lorena notes that Krista has not yet asked whether Hofstadter is all right, or where he is, it appears that theirs was a 'casual' relationship.
Detective Jeffers looks around, looking for photographs, athletic trophies, clippings from newspapers; trying to get a sense of who Hofstadter was, and what he did when he was not having razor-sharp blades thrust into him.