Be Mine by Rick Mofina Page A

didn’t fight back, it fits with the possibility of it being
someone he knew. Maybe he tried to talk his way out of it.”
    “So it’s personal.”
    “And it could be something else entirely.”
    “Like what?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Sydowski said the fact that OCC and Management Control were quick to
pounce on Hooper’s case troubled him. What did they know about Hooper? Maybe
everything. Maybe nothing. If it was an execution, then Hooper had been a
threat to someone. Hoop had been a cop long enough to make a lot of people
unhappy. But who would be stupid enough to kill him and think they’d get away
with it?
    Molly had given them the names of old boyfriends, guys she’d dated
for a significant time. None of them held any grudges or were the jealous type,
she said. Sydowski and Turgeon had confirmed their whereabouts and quickly
cleared them.
    They retreated into their own thoughts, listening to Chopin, until
they arrived in Upper Market. The rain had stopped. Blankets of thick silvery
clouds cast a pall over the neighborhood.
    The criminalists had called them to the scene.
    They headed along the wet sidewalk to Hooper’s building and Sydowski
pulled together what he knew to walk himself through Hooper’s final moments.
Hooper had gone home after his day at the detail. He was to meet Molly Wilson
later. Neighbors saw his car out front, indicating he was home. They also saw a
male, or males, visit. A white man was seen leaving. Fairly linear, so far,
Sydowski thought as they passed through the gate and made their way to the rear
and up the stairs.
    He was waiting for him.
    Sydowski climbed the stairs thinking the killer knew Hooper and was
waiting for him at the top of the landing. If he didn’t know him, would he
still go up? Maybe he wasn’t threatening? Maybe he pulled a gun and demanded
Hooper unlock the door?
    No forced entry. No struggle. Hooper let him in, and once inside,
the killer disarmed him, then fired a round. It was a warning round, judging
from the angle and height, fired at chest-level into the wall, to compel Hooper
to do as he was told. Hoop would obey, but he would be cool, thinking, I can
talk my way out of this, or get to my off-duty gun.
    “Hey, Walt.” Phibbs with Crime Scene met Sydowski and Turgeon in the
kitchen. “The place is clear. We’re done with it.”
    “You’ve got something?”
    “Yes, Finn’s got it in the bedroom.”
    Maybe Hooper was ordered into his bedroom, then onto his bed. The
killer was enraged, he could barely wait. Talk was useless. It was quick, he
smashed his fist into Hooper’s head, or he did it to subdue or confuse him.
Then he drew his gun close and fired, causing the star-patterned contact wound
on Hooper’s temple. Then he set Hooper’s weapon and ID on his back.
    Mission accomplished.
    “Walt?” Turgeon repeated. “You with me?”
    “In here,” Finn called.
    “Sorry.” Sydowski followed Turgeon to Finn, who was in a white
jumpsuit, into the darkened bedroom where Hooper died.
    “All right,” Finn began. “I’ll bring you up to speed. We’re done
here, but we followed up on the wall here where you thought there was an
attempt to clean up some blood.”
    “Yeah,” Sydowski said.
    “There was. We got samples of Hooper’s blood, his type is
A-positive. Then once everything else in the room was processed, and you were
done, we went to work on the wall.” Finn had prepared a jug of water, sodium
perborate, sodium carbonate, and Luminol. He’d attached a small sprayer, then
applied the solution to the bedroom’s ceiling, floor, and wall, including the
wall that had drawn Sydowski’s attention after he’d spotted blood droplets. The
process, known as chemical luminescence, would detect any blood a suspect may
have wiped clean, or made invisible, to the naked eye. Once the solution
contacted blood, it reacted to ultraviolet light.
    Finn asked Turgeon to close the door and Sydowski to draw the
curtains. It was still overcast outside.