Dawn was breaking across the bay and last night’s gale had dropped to a light breeze. A silver police Hummer pulled up and stopped in front of the small crowd that was gathering in the street. Lieutenant Krane stepped out of the car, removed his sunglasses and surveyed the crime scene.
‘Another day at the office.’ said Krane.
‘We got a head Lieutenant. And that’s about all we got’ said Detective Mulligan.
‘So, if we’ve got the head, who’s got the body?’
A loud blast of rock music burst out of the crowd. ‘Get these people back and turn off that goddamn music’ shouted Mulligan. Krane glared at Mulligan. He liked the crime scene the way it was.
‘Mulligan, why don’t you go and ask those people over there if they saw anything?’ said Krane.
‘Okay Lieutenant’ said Mulligan.
‘And find out where that shopping trolley came from’.
Krane turned around and saw officer Cally bending down and taking photographs of the head. Krane watched her as she got to her feet, pouted and flicked her hair out of her eyes all in one slow continuous movement. Krane liked the way she worked.
‘Cause of death?’ asked Krane.
‘Sudden cranial-torso disassociation. But I’ll need to confirm that back at the
lab’.
Krane stared wistfully into the distance. ‘So, he lost his head’.
‘We found this cap across the street’ said Mulligan.
‘Definitely not a beautiful day for baseball’ said Krane.
‘How are you going to find the body?’ asked Mulligan.
‘We follow the evidence. We have a head and a shopping trolley’ said Cally.
‘And the evidence never lies’ said Krane.
‘Perhaps someone ran out of money at the checkout’ said Mulligan. There was an awkward silence. Krane bit his lip at Mulligan’s attempt at humour. This was Krane’s crime scene and so he made the jokes. He would deal with Mulligan later. At the moment there was a body to find.
‘The head must have been blown here by the wind’ said Cally. ‘I think I’ll go back to the lab and run the storm debris locomotion simulation program to locate where the head started out from.’
‘It’s an ill wind that blows no good’ said Krane.
‘Do you always talk in clichés and ridiculous one liners Krane?’ asked Mulligan.
Krane looked contemptuously at Mulligan, but said nothing. Krane's phone rang. A headless body had been found in a car in the southern district. Krane put his sunglasses on and headed for the Hummer. ‘It’s a war out there.’