The Broken City

Chapter Three

Frank sighed as he turned. "I knew before she started working for the Bulletin. She worked for the lawyers who represented me at my trial." Carla nervously drummed her fingers on her thigh, "But how the hell did she know I was with you on the roof?" "The way you were screaming I'm shocked that more people didn't." Carla glared at him. "I'll handle it." Frank said ignoring Carla. "How?" Carla inquired softly. Frank shook his head and headed for the door. "That's not an answer." Frank gave a short laugh and left the apartment. Carla sighed and turned to the pool of blood on the floor. She groaned while she cleaned up, again. "I should invest in a tarp if this continues. Ugh." Carla said to herself mid clean up. After another twenty minutes she finished the clean up. Carla tried relaxed before realizing that she would be questioned again in the morning. "Fuck!" She said aloud. She spent most of the night pacing the floor; trying to come up with the most convincing story she could. Exhaustion took over when she finally sat down and she woke to the buzzing of her cell phone. Carla frantically searched for her phone, finding it in between the couch cushions. "Hello?" "Carla, it's Alice. Are you alright?" "Yes, I'm fine." Alice let out a breath of relief, "I was so worried." Putting on her best performance yet Carla replied, "What are you talking about? What's happened?" "There were a couple of murders behind the diner last night." Feigning shock Carla continued her act, "Oh no! That's- damn that's scary. Was it a mugging?" "I'm not sure to be honest with you. The police aren't exactly being forthwith." Alice replied with slight disdain. "Do you want me to come down there?" Alice began to reply but a man started speaking with her. Carla guessed that the man speaking to Alice was likely a police officer judging from the authority in his voice. "Ma'am- ma'am- ma'am who are you on the phone with?" The man insisted. "My other employee." "Was she working last night?" Alice hesitated before answering, "Yes." "Tell her to get down here. Now." Alice huffed at his demand. There was a pause in the conversation between Alice and the man. Carla could only imagine the look the man was receiving from Alice. As sweet as Alice could be she could make the toughest man shrink under her gaze if the mood took her. "Please have her come down here." The man spoke in a much softer tone. There was another moment of silence before Alice spoke, "The lead detective would like you to come down to the diner." Carla stifled a laugh and informed Alice she'd be down as soon as she was dressed.

Carla arrived at the diner twenty-five minutes later to see that half the block was closed down. She saw Alice standing just inside the crime scene tape. Her expression was one half fear and the other half irritation. There was a police officer speaking to Johnny, who was equally befuddled and angry. Carla waved to Alice as she got closer to the crime scene. "Carla! Oh I'm glad to see you." Alice said giving Carla's arm a good squeeze. The police officer that was speaking to Johnny turned his attention to Carla. "Who are you?" He barked. "I'm Carla Reid. I waitress here." Carla replied clenching her jaw. The officer yelled, "Detective, that girl is here." A man rounded the corner of the building. He was on the tall side of average, slimmer build, with dark skin. "I'm Detective Mahoney. You were working last night?" "Yes, with Johnny but he left before I did." Carla replied. "Did you hear anything last night while you were closing up? Or even while you were leaving?" The detective sounded desperate. "No I didn't. I'm sorry. It was actually a pretty slow night except just before closing." "What do you mean?" Carla took a deep breath before speaking, "We had three people in the diner at that time, which is unusual. I mean I've only worked here for a week but it seems to have a routine that it doesn't really break until last night. But-" Detective Mahoney cut her off, "Who were these three men? Did you know any of them?" Carla furrowed her brow in thought before speaking, "No. I can't say that I've seen any of them before last night." "Were they all together?" "Two of them were. One had been there for awhile. He left a pretty big tip for just a coffee. The other two were together. They came in with each other and left with each other. Those two creeped me out, if I'm honest." "Would you recognize any of them if you saw them again?" "The two creepy guys maybe but the other guy wore a baseball cap and kept to himself. If he hadn't been drinking coffee like it was going out of style I would have thought he was dead." Carla laughed. Detective Mahoney thought for a moment, "Would you be willing to look at the bodies to see if you recognize either of the victims?" Carla hesitated. She had seen dead bodies at funerals but the thought of seeing one up close, without the niceties that funeral homes did, put her on edge. "I understand if this makes you uncomfortable Ms. Reid but it would help the investigation." The detective gave Carla a reassuring smile. Carla nodded thinking that she'd seen and touched the dead body of the man that attacked her on the roof, so how hard would it be to identify the bodies out back? Detective Mahoney led Carla past crime scene technicians and other officers to the coroner's van. There were two gurneys with body bags and a man by the van. The detective nodded to the man beside the van and he unzipped the bags. Detective Mahoney pulled back the flap on the first bag. It was one of the men from the diner the night before. His skin was grey and ugly. A bullet size hole was in his forehead. The blood around it was an awful brown color. Carla turned away and nodded. The next bag was opened to reveal the other man from the previous night. His skin was also grey with deep purple bruising all around his cheeks and temples. Carla retched hard when she saw that part of his head was missing. But she maintained her composure and nodded to confirm his identity as well. Detective Mahoney closed the flap and led her back to Alice and Johnny. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Did they give you their names?" Carla shook her head, "No. They paid cash too." The detective nodded again, "Alright, go home. We'll do our best to get this cleaned up so you can re-open the diner tomorrow Mrs. Loaf-green...?" Alice rolled her eyes, "It's Löfgren. It sounds like loft without the t and grin." The detective nodded, "Sorry I've never seen that name before." Alice rolled her eyes again and pushed Carla forward. "Löfgren?" Carla asked confused. "It's Swedish. My husband was Swedish." Alice answered with each word oozing irritation. Carla just nodded and kept walking. Johnny let out a hearty laugh, apparently having heard this conversation many times. The three kept walking silently through the streets before reaching Carla's apartment. Alice hugged Carla, taking her by surprise. "Oh I'm so glad that you're alright." Carla shot Johnny a confused look and in return he gave her a shrug. "I'm glad I'm okay too." Carla replied. Alice released her from the hug and began digging in her purse. "What are you doing?" Carla asked. Alice ignored her and kept digging in her purse. After a few more minutes Alice removed two items and handed them to Carla. One was a can of mace. "I was told it was as strong as the stuff the police carry." Alice said while nodding towards the mace. The other item was a pen. "Uh..." Carla let slip. "It's a knife." Alice replied. Johnny stared at Alice, stunned. "What?" he asked rhetorically. Carla nodded, "Thanks Alice, you didn't have to get these for me." "If you're working nights in this city you need to be able to protect yourself. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you." Alice's voice cracked. Johnny looked solemnly at her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Carla smiled gently at her and gave her another hug. Carla released the hug and entered her apartment building. She wondered why Alice got so choked up. Her thoughts wandered as she entered her apartment. Carla took a better look at the items she was given. The mace was a pretty standard keychain hung mace. It had a lock on it to keep it from accidentally going off in a purse or pocket, a large press button with an arrow pointing to the spray nozzle. Carla giggled knowing that someone in the world had sprayed themselves in the face unintentionally. She hung the mace on her key ring before turning her attention to the pen knife. She twisted the pen end but nothing came out. She tried the other way and still, nothing. Carla pulled the back of the pen off to reveal a three inch long blade. It was a double edged knife without serration. Carla replaced the cap and set it down on her table. She wanted to research the laws on knifes before she started carrying it on her person. The last thing she wanted was to go to jail, despite her recent activities with the police. Carla grabbed her laptop and began her research.