Just outside the yellow police tape, multiple officers’ attention was directed at the roar of a perfect engine. An all-black customized 1979 Dodge Charger pulled to a stop.
Detective Dontae’ Wade and his partner, detective Jessi Mason, stepped out. They look more like a social media couple than a pair of detectives. Dontae’s black shirt squeezed his well-maintained chest while highlighting the silver detective’s badge dangling from his neck. A long black trench coat swished into place as he took in the scene pulling off his sunglasses, squinting as the sun-kissed his brown eyes. Dontae always made sure that he looked decent. This was his city and his people.
Jessi walked from the passenger side to meet Dontae’ at the police tape as she takes a bite of a breakfast burrito. Her long hair whipped lightly in the small breeze. Her full lips and light skin hid her nationality very well. There was no way to tell her background with a glance.
Ducking under the yellow tape, they headed towards the body. An illumination catches the corner of Dontae’s eye, causing him to turn and check out the video displaying on the billboard.
“Only 7 Days Left! The new Bonvovia 10X includes unlimited talk text and data, a 3D camera, a terabyte of free cloud storage, face recognition, and voice translation earbuds, all free when you sign up for a $10.99 per month premium account of Quest. This deal won’t last! See your nearest retailer for details.”
The mixed images of bathing suits, apps, and funny videos immediately indicate that this ad targets teens and young adults. Shaking his head, he continues to the damaged Camaro with Jessi following close behind, shoving the last bite of her breakfast burrito into her mouth.
Dontae’ signals at one of the officers who lifts the sheet revealing Rochelle’s body. Dried caked blood drew a line from her lifeless eyes to her ears in what would be her last cry. Blood from a single broken rib protruded from her chest, staining the already red dress. This blurred the lines between what was blood and what was dress. Her arms, broken from the fall, dangled on an extra fall-made-joint between her elbows and her wrists, with the left one splitting the skin and exposing bone.
“Damn,” he whispers, instantly recognizing her. Jessi stops just close enough to look over Dontae’s shoulder. The sound of her chewing annoys him to the point where he gives her a slight glance. “How can you eat and look at this shit?”
Without taking her eyes off the body, “Easy, with my mouth,” she says as she strikes a little smirk. He was clearly not amused. Suddenly, Jessi puts her hand over her mouth, preparing to speak and making sure that burrito crumbs didn’t come spewing out. “Oh, shit that’s, you know, that, that singing chick, what’s her face!” She snaps as she stumbles over her words.
Dontae’ interjects.
“Rochelle.”
Jessi's face turns to one of concern. Looking at a dead body was one thing; looking at a celebrity dead body was another.
“Dude, what the fuck?” She looked up, noticing the broken window. “Damn. That’s high.”
The two walked into the front doors of the Quest building and the modern lobby. A few uniformed officers stood around, some laughing and joking while others stare at their phones. One of the officers moves towards the detectives. Dontae’ notices the strong smell of cigarettes and, soon after, can quickly determine where it originated. The officer’s gapped teeth were not well maintained, and with his weight, you had to wonder what the requirements were to become a police officer.
“Detective Wade?” he asks.
Dontae’ confirms.
“This is why we called you specifically.”
The officer guides them to an iPad sitting at the reception desk.
The iPad reads:
“Dontae’ Wade – Check in: 4:47 A.M. “
Dontae’ looks up at the already shaken receptionist. His slim body, very well-groomed hair, and feminine poster signifies his lifestyle.
“How is this list generated?”
The guy stands. “When people come in, they sign in on that iPad. Once they hit that green sign-in button, it populates right there at the top.” He points.
Dontae’ looks interested. “So, I could sign in as, say, Michelle Obama, and that would be ok?”
The guy smirks, “Baby, Barack would be better suited, since ya’ll both fine.” He quickly realizes that Dontae’ isn’t interested. “I mean, yes. But not if you are going to floors eighteen to twenty-eight. You need an ID to access those, or the person on duty has to buzz you up, but that requires an appointment.”
“Interesting.” Dontae’ thought.
He Takes a look around, noticing all identifying insignia belonged to Quest as well as spotting several security cameras. “What’s on floors eighteen through twenty-eight?”
“The executive floors,” the receptionist responds proudly as if the company belongs to him personally.
“10 executive floors?” Dontae’ ask.
The receptionist proudly quips. “Those are the most important employees.”
Dontae’, not the least bit impressed, pushes on. “Who was at this desk at about 4:30 this morning?”
“No one. The building closes at 6 pm and opens at 7 am. Anyone coming after that has to know the code to the front door.”
“Where’s the open and close log for the front door?”
The guy clicks on the computer. Dontae walks around to check out the screen.
The man points at the screen. “As you can see, there was only one opening at 4:46 am. The next one was me at 5:41 am when I opened the building for the police.”
Dontae’ turns to face one of the cameras. “Burn me a disk of all cameras from the last 48 hours and buzz us up. Thanks.”
“No problem,” He responds with a seductive smile.
Jessi and Dontae’ walk to the elevator.
An officer standing guard speaks arrogantly with a smirk, “I assume you want floor eighteen.”
They walk into the elevator. As the door closes, Dontae’ looks at Jessi. “That is high.”
The elevator rises swiftly and “bings”
