Little Chicago: New Experiences
Experience is a good teacher, but she send in terrific bills.
Minna Thomas Antrim
Leaning back in her desk chair, Murphy drummed her fingers on her desk. She reached over to the file now resting in her inbox and she pulled it over. Flipping it open, she looked down at the DMV picture staring back at her. Doctor Andrew Billings, Douglas’s apparent accomplice. The bartender she spoke with the last time had pointed him out. She recognized the doctor’s face from the hours and hours of surveillance tapes she had watched, trying to connect her victims and Douglas. He’d never left with the two women, but Billings had left with the first one.
Her gut, her cop senses, told her this doctor was the man behind everything. Just what she had in this file told her she was dealing with someone smart, smarter than Douglas. What the bartender had said about Douglas being the wingman made sense now. Still drumming her fingers, she started to put it together in her head. Billings was the predator, the real killer. He singled out Douglas, who had some characteristics but not the guts to go through with actually killing. Until he met Billings. The two of them together made a perfect pair.
She had one nagging problem though. She couldn’t figure out how they killed. That, that was in Harry’s hands and that was a problem for her. She had to write something in her reports, present something to the prosecutor’s office. She had nothing. She couldn’t even come up with a reasonable way to explain what had happened to cause the victims to burst into flames. This was possibly the worst part of her job and the hardest. She had to lie to arrest Billings and convict him.
Maybe she should leave this one to Harry. She started drumming faster, annoyed by her own thoughts. She’d never walked away from a case before. Even back when she had first started working with Harry and his spooky things had come up, she had stayed with the case until the end. Even if that end was an open case still on her desk that she never closed. Now, things had changed. She knew about magic, she believed in it. Would that, could that, change what had driven her all these years? Could she let go and walk away from this case? From the victims?
She got up from her desk, closing the file on Billings and putting it back in the tray. “I’m taking a walk.” She called to Kirmani and walked out of the office. Outside the precinct she leaned against the wall and studied the line of police cars in front of her. She’d never thought about it until now just what believing could cost her. At first it had been scary. What lurked in the shadows was real and she had no magic of her own to fight against it. But, Harry had shown her it didn’t have to be all bad. She still didn’t understand all the ins and outs of his world, but she was learning. She’d been so intent on figuring that out she’d forgotten about her world. No one believed in magic in her world and saying that these victims had died from a spell, curse or whatever and she’d get locked up. If she walked away and let Harry handle it, she had to go to the victims’ families and explain that she couldn’t close the case. All that would cost her was a few sleepless nights and a sense of failure.
If she wanted to close this case, arrest Billings herself, she had to lie in her reports. She’d done it before, to protect Harry and that still made her uncomfortable. She was walking a fine line, going down a slippery slope, whatever cliché worked best. A lie to protect her friend was one thing. A lie to catch the murderer that was another thing all together. That… that was an abuse of her police powers. She was supposed to convict people on the evidence, the real evidence and not lies she made up because she couldn’t convict them otherwise. If she did that… she would be dirty.
She turned and pounded a fist against the wall behind her. If she crossed that line, she’d be everything Munzer had become, just on a different level. So now she had to learn how to live with feeling like a failure and leaving the case open. Only if she had to. She pounded the wall again, only if she had to. She would just got back to how things were before she believed. She’d work this case until the bitter end, then she’d deal with the failure. No matter how tempted she was to cross that line again. She was not going down that road. Not now. She cloud only hope it was not ever.
Minna Thomas Antrim
Leaning back in her desk chair, Murphy drummed her fingers on her desk. She reached over to the file now resting in her inbox and she pulled it over. Flipping it open, she looked down at the DMV picture staring back at her. Doctor Andrew Billings, Douglas’s apparent accomplice. The bartender she spoke with the last time had pointed him out. She recognized the doctor’s face from the hours and hours of surveillance tapes she had watched, trying to connect her victims and Douglas. He’d never left with the two women, but Billings had left with the first one.
Her gut, her cop senses, told her this doctor was the man behind everything. Just what she had in this file told her she was dealing with someone smart, smarter than Douglas. What the bartender had said about Douglas being the wingman made sense now. Still drumming her fingers, she started to put it together in her head. Billings was the predator, the real killer. He singled out Douglas, who had some characteristics but not the guts to go through with actually killing. Until he met Billings. The two of them together made a perfect pair.
She had one nagging problem though. She couldn’t figure out how they killed. That, that was in Harry’s hands and that was a problem for her. She had to write something in her reports, present something to the prosecutor’s office. She had nothing. She couldn’t even come up with a reasonable way to explain what had happened to cause the victims to burst into flames. This was possibly the worst part of her job and the hardest. She had to lie to arrest Billings and convict him.
Maybe she should leave this one to Harry. She started drumming faster, annoyed by her own thoughts. She’d never walked away from a case before. Even back when she had first started working with Harry and his spooky things had come up, she had stayed with the case until the end. Even if that end was an open case still on her desk that she never closed. Now, things had changed. She knew about magic, she believed in it. Would that, could that, change what had driven her all these years? Could she let go and walk away from this case? From the victims?
She got up from her desk, closing the file on Billings and putting it back in the tray. “I’m taking a walk.” She called to Kirmani and walked out of the office. Outside the precinct she leaned against the wall and studied the line of police cars in front of her. She’d never thought about it until now just what believing could cost her. At first it had been scary. What lurked in the shadows was real and she had no magic of her own to fight against it. But, Harry had shown her it didn’t have to be all bad. She still didn’t understand all the ins and outs of his world, but she was learning. She’d been so intent on figuring that out she’d forgotten about her world. No one believed in magic in her world and saying that these victims had died from a spell, curse or whatever and she’d get locked up. If she walked away and let Harry handle it, she had to go to the victims’ families and explain that she couldn’t close the case. All that would cost her was a few sleepless nights and a sense of failure.
If she wanted to close this case, arrest Billings herself, she had to lie in her reports. She’d done it before, to protect Harry and that still made her uncomfortable. She was walking a fine line, going down a slippery slope, whatever cliché worked best. A lie to protect her friend was one thing. A lie to catch the murderer that was another thing all together. That… that was an abuse of her police powers. She was supposed to convict people on the evidence, the real evidence and not lies she made up because she couldn’t convict them otherwise. If she did that… she would be dirty.
She turned and pounded a fist against the wall behind her. If she crossed that line, she’d be everything Munzer had become, just on a different level. So now she had to learn how to live with feeling like a failure and leaving the case open. Only if she had to. She pounded the wall again, only if she had to. She would just got back to how things were before she believed. She’d work this case until the bitter end, then she’d deal with the failure. No matter how tempted she was to cross that line again. She was not going down that road. Not now. She cloud only hope it was not ever.