“A very good morning, gentlemen,” she stated, with a sarcastic smile, holding her hand out to be shaken.
“Took your fucking time getting here, lady,” the taller one replied, looking away.
Surin smiled. “It’s Detective Elliott actually, and this is my partner, Detective Rhodes,” she said, motioning to Parker who was standing beside her. “And you would be?” she asked, the forced smile never leaving her face.
“My name is Len, and this is my partner, Bruce. Now, this is our county. I don’t even know why youse were called here, to be honest.” He snorted and adjusted his groin.
Nice, Surin thought, right, I’m not going to play this game today.
“OK, Len, here’s the thing — I’m not in the mood for this jurisdictional crap.” She patted his back and continued. “Take it up with your boss because I don’t give a shit.”
The two men stared at her with their mouths open.
“Now, you guys stay down here doing what you do best, which, of course, is standing around whinging, and we’ll go check out the scene.” She shot them a final grin over her shoulder and walked to the lobby before they could reply.
“Well, that was definitely in the spirit of interdepartmental cooperation,” Parker stated sarcastically.
Surin waved him off and sat down on the sofa beside the maid. The woman was clearly aching to leave. Her face was stained with tears, and she was continuously pulling at her fingers, cracking the knuckles.
“My name is Detective Surin Elliott,” she began gently. “I’m with the Baltimore PD, and this is my partner, Parker.” Surin continued, her voice low and calm. “Now, I know you have told this story to what must feel like hundreds of people already this morning, but if you’re up to it,” she reached out and patted her hand tenderly, “can you tell me, from the very beginning, what happened.” She smiled at her reassuringly. The maid looked at her and nodded her head slightly.
“I always go to Miss Vespa’s room early, to, you know, clean up the mess from the night before. She likes to entertain a lot but doesn’t like to wake up to a messy home. I am hired to work from three a.m. to eight a.m. every morning.”
Surin smiled, encouraging her to continue as Parker took notes.
“I went in — I have my own swipe key.” She gestured to her pocket. “The place was a total mess as usual, but I noticed a lamp smashed on the floor. Now, Miss Vespa has wild nights, I will not deny that, but she never breaks anything, she cares too much about her possessions, so straight away I was worried. Then…” She paused, placing her hand over her heart. “Then I saw her on the floor. Her eyes were open and glassy. She was looking straight at me! I screamed and ran out the door.” The maid began to weep quietly.
“It’s OK,” Surin said gently, “that’s all we need for now. Thank you so much for your help.” She patted the lady’s hand again, motioned to a uniform to take over and stood up walking towards the elevator.
“What kind of person has a permanent party clean up lady?” Surin asked Parker.
“Someone with money and a lot of high-rolling friends, I would think,” he replied.
Just as they reached the elevator doors, Surin heard a wickedly familiar husky voice and spun around in time to see a tall, attractive blonde leaning towards Len and Bruce. The woman smiled as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and patted Len playfully on the arm.
“Fuck me!” Surin said through gritted teeth. She disregarded the elevator just as the doors opened, and instead marched back over to the lobby, and towards the mystery blonde. Parker followed, instantly intrigued. The woman saw her coming, and without missing a beat, turned to look straight at her with a grin on her face.
“Madison, how are you?” Surin asked sarcastically as she took her hand in a firm shake.
“Oh, Detective Elliott,” she feigned surprise, “any comments for me tonight?” she asked innocently, holding out a Dictaphone.
Surin smiled and tried to resist the urge to rip the recorder out of her hand and smack her over the head with it. “No comments, I’m afraid,” she replied.
“Oh Surin, you, without something to say? I doubt that!” Madison continued, “I seem to recall that you’re very good with words.”
“Here’s a word for you, Madison: obstruction.” Surin plastered a smile on her face and motioned to the two officers. “Len, Bruce, please escort our friendly media whore outside. Someone from the department will contact you at a more appropriate time,” she added.
Len dropped his head, held out his arm and showed Madison the way out. “Nothing like watching a good old-fashioned catfight,” he mumbled to Bruce, and both men exploded with laughter.
Surin and Parker walked back to the elevator.
“That seemed a bit rough,” Parker commented as they entered and the doors closed. “Am I missing something?” Surin turned to face him, hands securely on her hips. Her eyes were wild with anger.
“Well, Parker, if you must know,” she began, her voice increasing slightly in volume, “generally, I really do dislike the media. They usually bungle information and send our cases hurtling in the wrong direction, not to mention the fact that they hang around crime scenes like flies, exploiting the death of someone for their own gain. But in this particular case,” she continued, raising her hand to point back towards the lobby, “I happened to have found Little Miss Media Buff down there, in bed with my fiancé while I was out all night working a case. So, rough? Yeh, but under those circumstances, I would say I took it easy on
