The Jury’s Verdict

by Morris Callegari

Detectives Devin Myles and Calvin Rios grew up in the city of Oakland. Everyone knew who they were, and they knew everyone along with every part of the city. They had been on the force for almost two years and outside of their first, they have never failed to solve a case. Currently they have been working on the same case for the last three weeks, trying to solve who had stolen the donated funds from the higher learning student organization located in Downtown Oakland on 14^th street and Broadway. They also killed the employee that was working there over time.

The crime scene was impossible to navigate through. There were wooden tables with metal edges sawed in half leaving the blue carpet with a light brown tint from the layer of saw dust, shards of plastic and pieces of electrical wires from the computers being thrown across room, and random blood spatter throughout the scene from the woman who had been hidden beneath one of the desks. With all of the evidence, no DNA was found outside of the woman’s and children's fingerprints from the keyboards. Who ever did this knew what they were doing. They cleaned up after themselves; there were no stray hairs, recorded video footage, or even footprints. It seemed like the Detectives were at a dead end. The only lead they had was a female employee who had caught a glimpse of the criminal before the incident. She was interviewed the week after.

“So at about what time did you see him walk in the building,” Detective Myles asked.

“It was about nine-thirty at night,” the woman said.

“What did he look like?”

“Well he wasn't very tall, about five foot five, heavily muscled, and I couldn't tell what race he was. He was wearing a mask but I could tell that he was a bit fair skinned.”

“Alright, if theres anything else you need to tell me, tell me now.” Detective Myles said.

“Well, umm... I don't think so...”

“Alright, thank you.”

While Detective Myles was trying to find more people and evidence after the interview. Detective Rios re-examined the scene to see if he missed anything that would help them through this case that seemed to be leading nowhere.

“Hey! Devin! I think I found something!” Detective Rios exclaimed.

“What?! Really?”

“Yeah, get over here!”

Under another one of the tables that held the majority of the computers. The edges were badly manufactured making the edges as sharp as razors, Detective Rios found a trace of blood on one the edges. Then had the forensics department take pictures and samples of the blood. Looks like this case was finally coming to an end.

Forensics took over a week to come up with a match, they came up with the name Allan Brill. Both Detectives Rios and Myles were hesitant to make the arrest but they both agreed to do the questioning.

They waited around two hours for the suspect come in for questioning. The other workers in the department could sense the essence of how nervous the Detectives were. They never told anyone why, but they both had the same reasoning so there was no need. Detective Myles looked away as the suspect walked in to the department. He looked confused. He was put into a small soundproof room with three chairs, a table, along with a large mirror on the opposite side of him. He was then told to wait for the Detectives.

They both took a deep breath before entering the room. Allan had a surprised look on his face when they walked in and said, “Calvin! Devin! What’s going on?”

Detective Rios couldn't get himself to look at Allan, he just looked down at the concrete floor in disgust. The Detective Myles had a blank expression as he started questioning.

“Mr. Brill, where were you around nine-thirty at night last week Thursday?” Detective Myles asked.

“What? What are you talking about? Did I do something?”

“Just answer the question...” Detective Myles said.

“I was... Umm... Oh right, I was drivin downtown.”

“What were you doing there at that time of night?” Detective Myles asked.

“What everyone else does at that time, doin business... Devin what is this? You both know what I do and it's never been a problem before.”

“It is when you steal from a well known organization and murder one of their employees!” Detective Rios exclaimed, staring at Allan straight in the eye.

“What are you talking about? Both of you have known me since we were little kids! You know I wouldn't do anything like that!”

The Detectives continued to question Brill for the next hour. They couldn't get him confess to committing the crime. But the sample from the crime scene matched Brill's DNA. Found within the organization he claimed to have never been to. Since there was no explanation for why Allan Brill's blood being at the scene, so he was tried guilty two weeks after being accused. Allan Brill was given 20 years for theft and murder in the third degree, he still claimed that he was innocent.

The month after Allan Brill's conviction, there were barely any cases, and when there was there wasn't a need for a Detective. Meaning that all of them were sitting around doing paper work. One of the departments new Detectives, Detective Greene, decided to examine old case files out of curiosity. He gathered up a couple of files with weird look on his face as if something were wrong. He walked across the room carrying a large stack of files and dropped them on Detective Myles' desk.

“What's this?” Detective Myles asked.

“This is a stack of every case you've ever solved outside of your first.” Detective Greene responded.

“Mhmm... and you're bring them back to me because?”

“Well I just need some clarification, it just seems like the people convicted for the crimes don't seem to be the types that would do the crime.”

“Huh... Really?” Detective Myles responded.

“Yeah, you have a eighteen year old straight A student living in the Oakland hills holding up a store in Downtown Oakland. That I thought was a possibility, but then I started searching for more. As I kept searching, I kept finding solved cases that were more unlikely. I do you know anything about this?”

“Well, all I can say is that I solve the cases with the evidence the crime scene gives me. Whether they're tried guilty or not is determined by the judge and the jury.”

“Oh... Alright, that’s understandable I guess, I'm pretty new to this so I'm just trying to figure out how everything works down here.” Detective Greene chuckled.

“It's alright, I was the same way...”

Detective Greene spit out a piece of gum in to the trash bin next to Detective Myles' desk and walked back to the cabinet containing all of the departments case files. Seconds later Detective Myles received a phone call on his cell phone, it was Detective Rios.

“Hey, I think I got something for us,” Detective Rios said.

“Alright, I'm on my way.”

Detective Myles drove to a large building in Downtown Oakland that is leased to numerous types of businesses, and was told by Detective Rios to go to the fifth floor. As he entered the building there was a large golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling and white marble tiles with golden lining. The guards waved as Myles walked by and he saw that the security manager was in his office doing paperwork. Not heavily secure for a structure of this stature. He walked down the hall to the elevator alone and pressed the number five. It felt as if it was taking forever, but once the doors opened Detective Myles found random materials on the floor and broken tables and pieces of equipment. Detective Myles quickly pulled out his gun and proceeded through the building. He followed the one way hall until he found a heavily muscled man wearing a mask looking through a container of money. You could also tell that he is fair skinned from the sides. Detective Myles quickly ran up to him and pushed him over while pointing the barrel of his gun between the masked mans eyes.

“Freeze ass hole!”

“Damn, you got me this time,” he chuckled.

“Haha, finally...”

Detective Myles helped the man up and he took off his mask, It was Detective Rios.

“So who is it going to be this time?” Detective Rios asked.

Detective Myles pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket containing a piece of gum.

“Greene,” Detective Myles said.

“What? The newbie? Why?” Detective Rios asked.

“Yeah, the newbie, today he started questioning me about our previous cases. I don't think he will be good for us in the long run.”

“What ever, I don't know him...”

Both of the Detectives set up the scene and walked out of the building without anyone questioning why they were there.

Hours later they returned to the scene, the police force was already there gathering evidence. Detective Myles and Detective Rios walked to the agents checking for DNA samples.

“So what happened here?” Detective Myles asked.