Garabina Vasquez's page

Having received the sketch of Dahlia, she makes sure that an APB is put out on her, mentioning that she's rather dangerous and should mainly be observed and only arrested if possible. She then makes sure she gets a copy of the file, before heading out to join the rest of the group for their stakeout.

"Not as if I had a date tonight or anything.."

While it looks like she's paying attention to Adrian, the historical aspects do rather go over her head. "Of course, where Ferrano lives is a matter of public record. We sent some guys round to his house earlier to pick up the security tapes. Either way, I'm more interested in this Dahlia character. Anu, you'd have to come round later and give us a proper sketch, maybe look at some photos, so we can stick an APB on her."

"Picking the file up at the station. My boss shouldn't get suspicious, just as long as this doesn't interfere with the day job.. which it won't."

"We'll know more about that when I get her file. I'm having it pulled up as we speak."

Her ex army boots don't exactly give much away as to her shoe size.

"I see no reason why we can't all stakeout his house. Just as long as we don't get caught.. and I wouldn't really be able to pull rank to save us if we do. As for Dahlia, it's possible he's just surrogating for his ex-wife. Find someone who looks a bit like her, dress her up like her. You know, stuff like that."

"Her name was Mrs. Allison Ferrano, and she's been dead a year, as I said. Died in a car crash. I'm getting the files on it as we speak. Either way, it was her shoes this 'Dahlia' woman was wearing. One of a kind, custom made and very expensive Prada shoes.. and a two sizes too small." She looks a little upset at that.

Adrian wanders in a little after two in loose cargo shorts and a wrinkled button up shirt. "Hey, lemme grab a coffee and I'll be over."

A few minutes later he slouches into a chair next to Garabina, "So how's your bosses taking the sourceless explosion and excessively rich vampiress on the loose? I bet that went over well."

"Well, the CSI guys are going mad over that explosion.. and Dahlia is still be looked for. We figured out that whoever she was, she wore a pair of Mrs Ferrano's custom made Prada shoes. Which is odd, given that she's been dead for a year."

Garabina sits and relaxes in the Starbucks, ordering a damn Black Coffee, no thrills or cream or chocolate or any other stuff, before relaxing in a rather visible part of the shop, looking around for anyone from last night.

"Yeah yeah.." She mutters heading out of the Police HQ, walking over to the Starbucks opposite to meet the others.

Garabina Vasquez wrote:

'I'm sure I can wait. Don't exactly have anything planned..' She says a little sheepishly. 'Have any cops gone round to Ferrano's house yet?'

"Yeah, we had a squad car drop by this morning to get access to the security tapes from the museum. Evidently Ferrano has the video feeds piped directly to a security station in his own house instead of having a security room on the premises. A little paranoid, I think, but I guess that makes it difficult to commit a crime and then make off with the tapes." The junior detective shrugs. "I'm sure someone will be reviewing those tapes tonight. Maybe we can find out what caused the explosion."

"Looks like I've got some home video to watch tonight. I'll bring some popcorn and we can all watch how I got knocked out." Grinning slightly as she speaks. "Was Mr Ferrano at his house? He'll need to make a statement."

Garabina Vasquez wrote:

'Hmm. Could you pull up Mrs Ferrano's file, along with the file on that crash.. if you're free that is. I just find it odd that her shoes would show up there, you know? Maybe she had a friend or someone who'd have got them... there's a thought. Was her will public?'

"I don't think there's a public record of the will on file. I can certainly get you the accident file, though, if you don't mind waiting? I can have it on your desk by this evening. I'll make sure I do it before I leave at six."

'I'm sure I can wait. Don't exactly have anything planned..' She says a little sheepishly. 'Have any cops gone round to Ferrano's house yet?'

'It's only a day off. Nothing important! Besides, this case is bugging me.' She then spends a moment thinking over the information while sipping her fancy coffee from the shop across the road.

'Hmm. Could you pull up Mrs Ferrano's file, along with the file on that crash.. if you're free that is. I just find it odd that her shoes would show up there, you know? Maybe she had a friend or someone who'd have got them... there's a thought. Was her will public?'

After getting everyone's numbers, Garabina would go tell the officer in charge that she's heading back to the district headquarters (unless otherwise stopped by the rest of the crew), get back in her car with the not totally forgotten domestic assailant, drive off a short distance then scream in a mixture of languages, deploying some rather interesting and choice curses, battering her driving wheel as she does so, taking out her anger at her ineffectiveness during the night.

Then, after recovering and glaring evilly at the assailant in the back, she'd drive off to H.Q, and book the guy for Assault of a Police Officer with a Deadly Weapon.

"Given how messed up this whole situation is, I've no objection to that.. just as long as you keep it quiet and between us. The chief would have my badge if he learned I was recruiting civvies for help."

Garabina sighs a little, then runs her hand through her short, cropped hair before continuing to speak.

"Now, if we can just sort out some way to contact each other when we have more information, that'd be great. I'm sure the CSI's can get some info from this mess, at the very least."

"Ah, excellent." Garabina leans down to pick them up with her gloved hands, talking to Anu. "As for your question, well.. we know quite a few things now. Firstly, she's a size 8, so that helps with the physical description. Secondly, she can afford to throw away shoes that are really nice and expensive.. hmm." She quickly puts them next to her police boots, checking that they'd fit.

"Thirdly, given how unique Prada shoes are, I'm sure we can go to one of the local shops for Prada and ask to see who these shoes were sold to. Long shot, but we might gain something from it. That's all without any physical evidence either, which hopefully we'll get from them. Fingerprints, skin fragments.. heck, maybe even a bit of toenail."

She rises, carrying the shoes by the heel, and heads down to the street. Once there she sticks the shoes in an evidence bag, then heads over to Sergeant Matthews. "Sarge, we need to put out an APB for Julio Ferrano.. if you've not already done that. Also, we need to stick this guy.." Motioning to Anu. "..Down with a sketch artist. Seems he chased the woman, called Dahlia, who organised this whole thing."

She looks slightly amused at Hank's reply. "If a Natural Gas line had ignited here, none of us would be standing here chatting, so let's be thankful it wasn't that, eh?"

At Anu's remarks, she pulls him up. "Come on, it should have been cordoned off, but best you show us. Wouldn't want your fingerprints on evidence, after all. As for your question, there's lots we can potentially learn.." They walk together to the shoes as Anu gives his statement, jotting down the information.

Speaking to Hank "Well, the best way you can be of assistance is having your friend give us a statement. Unless, that is, you know what fuel flash burns at three thousand degrees..."

Hearing that the trio from before have arrived, Garabina heads outside, telling Gabriel and Aido to come along with her. She approaches Hank at the wire.

"Back so soon. What can I do for you? Has your bleeding friend recovered enough to make a statement, perhaps?"

"So, let me get this right? A flame, three thousand degrees hot, flashed through this building, quick enough to evaporate all the fluids in the victims and melting everything, save the two people I saw in here fighting, and the knife and the amulet outside.. and did all that so quick that nothing actually caught fire. Just what on earth can do that, outside of bloody Star Trek?"

She scratches the back of her neck, highly puzzled by the whole thing. "Good luck sorting this out guys. Let me know if I can help you with anything else." She turns and heads back to Gabriel and Aido.

"So, as far as I can tell, this was an auction for these antiques and the like. Anything special about this knife, other then.. you know, it not being melted?"

"Shouldn't this whole building be burning down right now if there was a flame of three thousand degrees here? I mean, I saw the flames come out the building too." She stops a moment, looking rather quizzical about the whole thing.

"For that matter, if there was a fire at three thousand degrees, I should have felt something going into the room, right? I only got into the place like ten, twenty seconds after."

"Right.." She squats down next to them before continuing. "Well, when I was running towards the place, the burst of flame that came out seemed just normal, you know? Yellow flame coloured. Looked hard to put out, or at least, the crispy guy outside found it pretty hard. He was dropping and rolling, but it didn't seem to have any effect."

She pauses a moment before continuing. "What's even odder though is the fact I didn't hear an explosion. I thought one of the thugs had a flamethrower or something.. but well, obviously one of them hasn't turned up."

"Hmm, you guys want to check that out?" Garabina indicates the rather peculiar knife to Gabriel and Aido, before heading over to the explosive experts.

"You guys needing a hand? I could tell you what I saw and heard if you need it."

Garabina escorts Gabriel and Aido inside the museum, ensuring that they look, and don't touch anything. Not that contaminating this crime scene would be that big a problem, but still..

"So, how do you guys know about all this? You archaeologists, or historians or something? Is that why you were all here, for this.. whatever was happening in here before this whole mess?"

Garabina checks with Sergeant Matthews that it'd be alright to invite Aido and Gabriel into the museum, given their apparent knowledge of the stuff inside. Assuming it's given, she'd wait for them to get back and invite them inside.

"Just don't touch anything.. and I hope you guys haven't ate much recently."

"If you two think you can be of some help in all this, by all means go get books or whatever you need."

Garabina then makes sure to wave over a police photographer, to take some snaps of the amulet and the rune that's been burnt into the man's hand.

Garabina heads over to the rather crispy body, gagging a little as her mind is finally allowed to concentrate on what happened in the museum but just about able to keep her composure. Once there, she looks down at what Aido's pointing out.

"That's interesting.."

She moves to very gently lift the amulet from the hand with her pen, just enough to check if the skin beneath it has been burnt or in anyway damaged.

After the check up on Anu, Garabina turns to the three of them to speak. "Well you guys, best you stay in town next few days, incase we need to contact you. And if there's anything you remember that you didn't mention tonight, just ring me or the Miami Dade Police. I'm Officer Vasquez, by the way."

She then gives them the number by which they can reach her at work, along with the MDPD's number for good measure.

"If there's nothing else, I'll let you guys get on your way. Thanks for the assistance, citizens."

"I've no problem with that, no." Directed towards Hank as she grabs some gloves and plastic bags to put both the SMG and the knife in. "Though, if you wanted to leave it, I'll make sure an officer sticks around to watch it."

"I'm certain you can hop into one of the ambulances and take him there, sure. Just hand over the SMG and Anu's knife before you go. We'll need them for forensics"

Taking down all the details as they speak, nodding as Jon produces the ID but making sure to note down to check that he's employed with them later. She holds her finger up when Jon tells Anu that a statement isn't needed.

"Actually, when he's ready, I would need a statement from him as well.. though I can wait till he feels up to it. Just dotting the I's, crossing the T's you know. Oh, I'll need contact details from you all too, and I'd suggest not leaving the city in the next couple of days, just so we can contact you again if needed."

Taking a deep breath to recover a little, she pulls out her notebook and pencil and turns to John, Hank, Adrian and Gabriel, ready to take statements.

"You know what Sarge? I have honestly no idea. I was responding to a domestic just down the road.. oh, the idiot who tried attacking me is still locked in there... anyway, I was just sorting that out when an unknown number of perps shot up the museum with what sounded like SMG fire. This van also drove in, seems like the getaway van, though the driver's down." Pointing to the body with the multiple stab wounds lying next to the van as she catches her breath.

"You'll have to ask these two how that happened" Indicating Hank and Jon. "I don't think they had anything to do with the crime itself, they just seemed to respond to it and shot up the van. Though when I got to the scene they took off after that guy" Pointing to Anu. "I figured it best to head into the museum rather then pursue.. there's around twenty bodies in there, some shot up, others burnt to a crisp like that guy. I also saw Julio Ferrano in there, who was just..."

She pauses a moment, trying to think what to say about what she saw in there, deciding that perhaps telling the other officers that the thug was being held in midair is not the best course of action.

"..Wrestling with one of the thugs, though when I tried to stop them, I guess one of the other perps got behind me and knocked me out. When I came through, they were gone. Next thing I knew you guys were here."

"I said that you're not going anywhere. Comprende? I've got ambulances coming to help everyone, so we don't need to worry.."

She looks more then a little angry, and pretty annoyed with the whole situation, not to mention more then a bit scared about something.

Seeing Hank and Jon reappear, with another bloody body along for the ride, Garabina, while not pointing her gun at them, makes it clear it's out before talking to them.

"You two will stick around so we can sort this out. So don't move an inch."

Thinking to herself that while she may not.. or maybe doesn't want to understand what just happened in the museum, but she does know one thing, and that's to do her job. She radios in once more while still keeping her eyes on the pair, calling for multiple ambulances and extra police to arrive asap.

'What the...'

She shakes her head to clear the fogginess from her mind, pushing herself back up to her feat. Quickly looking around to establish that yes, the pair have disappeared, she heads back outside the auditorium to the main hallway in order to see if anything's happening there, listening carefully for any more gunfire.

Garabina takes a deep breath then quickly turns into the doorway, gun held out infront of her.

"Miami-Dade Police! Freeze!"

Coughing in response to the smoke and lowering her head a little in a vain attempt to keep her head out of it, Garabina headed to the doors of the auditorium, putting her ear up against it to see what she could hear while keeping an eye on what's going on around her.

Knowing that backup is arriving shortly, she feels confident that even if the perps run, they'll be picked up in short order. As such, Garabina doesn't worry too much as Jon and Hank do run off, choosing to give them the benefit of the doubt and not gun them down there and then, especially as they didn't shoot at her.

Instead, Garabina radios in that two men are running from the scene heavily armed and dangerous, giving the incoming squads the best description she can. After that she heads up to the front of the museum in order to discover just what happened there.

Seeing two men next to the van, standing with weapons out, one of which is a smoking SMG, along with a bloody corpse at their feet, Garabina instinctively points her pistol straight at them, shouting out rather loudly and clearly.

"Miami-Dade Police, Freeze Motherf***ers!"

Garabina acknowledges receipt on the message, and is just telling them that she'll stay put till backup arrives when the flame erupts from the front of the museum. She's already running before the fire subsides, part of her mind raging against her as she runs towards it, kneeling behind the car Jon was at just a few minutes ago, pistol out and looking towards the museum.

After seeing the map, she's not going to sprint into the line of fire. ;)

Garabina presses herself up against the nearby wall, pistol out and held in both hands, taking a peak round the side of the wall in order to see what's going on in the road.

"Jesus wept.. Everyone stay inside!". Garabina shouts out as she hears multiple shots being fired, calling it in quickly on her walkie talkie. She then draws her pistol, holding it rather limply in her right hand as she runs towards the gunfire, naturally slowing down once she actually gets there to take some cover, surveying the scene.

"Thank you. Could you hold here?" Garabina points to her right wrist and gives Gabriel a few instructions on how to relocate shoulders, before moving her arm into a position where the shoulder can be popped back in. Finally, she shoves the towel into her mouth to prevent any bites on her tongue and starts working her shoulder in.

After ensuring that the perp does answer either yes or no to the Miranda rights question (She wouldn't want the guy who assaulted her getting off on a technicality thanks to some smart ass lawyer, after all) and locking him in the back of the squad car, she turns to Gabriel.

'Need some details of yours, citizen. So I can contact you later to take a statement, all that sort of thing.. and, yeah, thanks for helping. Don't suppose you've anything I can bite down on?'

Taking the handcuffs out of her belt, Garabina turns the man around and slams him up against the car, grimacing as the jolt goes through her right arm, but she grits her teeth and manages to get his hands low on his back, cuffing him rather harshly.

"I am arresting you for assault of a police officer with a deadly weapon. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?"

She then repeats it in Spanish, waiting for him to respond verbally.

Garabina lets out a cry of pain as her right arm gets tugged slightly out the socket, scrambling free once the grip he has on her is released.

"Hijo de puta!"

She swivels 180 on her left leg and applies her size 6 standard issue police boot to the mans face.

Garabina continues to struggle in his grasp, now concentrating on knocking the gun out of his hand, with escaping a secondary concern for the moment.

"Bastardo!"

With that proper curse, Garabina leans her head forward a little, then rams it back into his face, aiming to crack his nose.

Garabina curses (surprisingly mildly, given her lack of knowledge of the rather more imaginative curses) in Spanish, before pushing back hard into the squad car, in an attempt to loosen his grip on her wrist.

Giving a reassuring smile to the Hispanic man, she motions him over to the squad car, still keeping half an eye on the woman behind them both.

'Bueno. Le llevaré a uno.'

Assuming no reaction (beyond a few insults) from the woman, she'd drive him over to a local motel and make sure he books him in for the night, before radioing in that the domestic is sorted for the moment, but they should check in tomorrow to assist.