I let the rest walk by and get in the building before I moved. Just as I was about to go up to apartment 213 to hear what the man had to say, an officer rushed up to us. “Excuse me, detectives, but we found another body,” he said excitedly.
“Where?” Sanchez asked.
“In a vacant apartment on the third floor.”
“Call the techs back and tell them we got another one, Gene.” Sanchez pulled out his radio and got them to turn around, as we followed the officer to the third floor.
“Who found the body?” I asked along the way, then up the stairs.
“I did,” the officer said. “We were going door-to-door and that one wasn’t completely shut. I gave it a little shove and shined my light in there. Body is in the living room.”
“Anybody go in there?” Sanchez asked.
“No, sir. I left my partner to watch the door and I came to find you.”
“Good man,” Sanchez said and I shook my head. He might as well have patted the kid on the head and gave him a treat.
“See if you can get an ETA on the evidence techs,” I said as we got closer to the apartment. I borrowed the kid’s flashlight and shined it in the apartment. “Another woman, Gene,” I said and Sanchez looked in.
“You think this one is connected with the others?” he asked.
“Hard to say.”
“Lieutenant Reyes says he’s on his way up now,” the officer said, and we waited outside the apartment so the crime scene wouldn’t be distributed.
I waited until Reyes’s team got finished doing their job, before Sanchez and I went in. “What you got, Reyes?”
“Black female; shot once in the head at point blank range. Judging from the angle of the entry wound, either the shooter was very tall, or the victim was on her knees,” Reyes said.
“Executed,” Sanchez said. “I guess that answers our question about whether they’re related,” he said.
“Maybe,” I said.
“Maybe, but not necessarily, lieutenant,” Reyes said. “And I’m going purely on the state of rigor in the body. I’d say this one was shot a good seven hours before the ones outside. But give me some time and I’ll have a timeline for you; though she was definitely shot first.”
“Thanks, Reyes,” I said and left the apartment to let them bag and tag her.
I went downstairs and knocked on the door of apartment 213. When the door opened, the man hurried us in and scanned the hall to see if anybody had seen us come in. He quickly closed the door and locked it. I looked around the room and noticed the chair sitting next to the window. I motioned for Sanchez and he walked over to the window and looked out. “I’m Detective Kirkland,” I began.