Frequent Flyer

Chapter 2

When Detective Steve Aragon woke up that morning by the sound of his mobile going off like a trumpet blaring in his ear, he knew it wasn't good news. A call this early in the morning on his work phone meant only one thing. A dead body had been found and he would lead the investigation. He had just wrapped up a previous homicide and was celebrating the night before; so with only a couple hours sleep, a dry mouth and a pounding headache, he knew that the hangover was going to be a real bitch today. An excuse he would not be able to use to get out of whatever was on the other side of the line.

    "What!?" He barked on the phone sounding like an injured walrus.

    "Detective Aragon? It's Captain Ivan here."

    "Shit" he mumbled . The Captain never called him for a case before. It was always the captain's annoying secretary Marg that would call-in a case for the captain. When she called, Steve and all the other detectives knew that they would have to be in his office within the hour. She was the one who would constantly nag him about his reports and call him with that high pitch voice that made him want to bash the phone against the wall, when the captain needed him or she needed something.

    "Sorry Cap, I didn't get much sleep last night and didn't realize it was you".    

    "We have a body in Old Montreal. Woman was discovered an hour ago by a neighbour who noticed that her door was ajar. Walked in and saw the bloody mess. She's in shock right now and being treated at the hospital. Listen Steve. This isn't a usual one. It's brutal. I need you to come straight to the scene and get on it. My gut feeling tells me that this isn't the killers first kill. And if it is, then it won't be the last. You'll understand when you get a good look at the scene.".

    Steve got out of bed and knew that it was going to be a long day. So he got the coffee pot going and jumped into the shower. No time today for a shave but he had to get the stink out from the night before or the forensics team on sight would confuse him with the dead body. He would make sure to go see the neighbour at the hospital later on in the day or the next. Although she probably didn't hear or witness the murder, she may know who Lisa was hanging out with these past few days. It's always the nosey neighbours that have mounds of information and they are always ready and willing to share. But he knew that after what she witnessed, she would need some time. That way, the event wouldn't cloud her head and he could get to the information he needed. Plus he knew that by the time they finished processing the scene, it would be too late in the day. He would let the officers take charge of the preliminary interviews with the neighbours and take it from there.

    He got dressed, poured enough coffee for an army in his mega mug to go, and downed some acetaminophen hoping that by the time he got to the scene he would be at least fifty percent better than he was feeling now. And for added assurance, he downed a shot of whiskey to help it along.

    Steve forgot all about the blizzard that hit the night before, so when he opened the door to go out, he stopped so suddenly from the shear surprise of the waist high snow on the ground, that he almost spilled his coffee all over himself. Luckily it was just a drop but there was no way he was going to be able to get his car out from under the snow today, so he grabbed his phone and called his buddy Marcus who patrolled his neighbourhood to get a lift.

    "Steve-o! Don't tell me. Snowed in, hungover, no food or drink in the fridge and you need a lift!".

    "You are a barrel of laughs Marcus but it's too early for your shit. Yes. I need a lift. To a crime scene. My car is buried under a pile snow and there is no way I'll get a cab in this.".

    "Alright" Marcus chuckled. "I'll be there in a minute. I'm just around the corner but there are more dumbasses on the road than on Mardi Gras in New Orleans." 

    Steve chuckled, "By the way, ya, no food or drink in the fridge and I'm hungover so don't piss me off today!".

    Marcus hung up and burst out laughing. He was with Steve the night before and was the one who gave him a lift home since he couldn't drink with his late night shift starting around the time the party ended. Marcus turned onto Steve's narrow street where half the cars had been dug out of the snow and the other half were buried beneath the white powder. Soon the no parking signs would go up and snow clearing would begin. Cars that were still there before the trucks arrived would be towed to make way and Steve was no stranger to this. But since his car was a police issued vehicle he would let them tow it and pick it up at the impound lot later in the day. This way he would avoid having to clear off the snow on the car and shovel his way out. By the time he would get to the impound lot, he could just get in the car, start it up and drive away. He laughed to himself every time he thought of it and knew the guy at the lot would give him shit once again. But hey, what was he going to do? Ticket him?

    Marcus pulled up to the front of Steve's apartment where Steve was already out waiting for him. He flashed his lights and blared his siren at him just to piss him off a little more and turn the screws on his hangover.

    "I'm gonna make you eat that siren you little shit. What a disaster out here! It's gonna take them weeks to clear the whole damn city this time. I take it it was a quiet night with all this snow coming down?".

    Marcus nodded "Was for me. But the highway patrol had to call in everyone who was on call and then some. Still can't understand why people risk it and go out in this weather. Like they don't know that the potential to get into an accident is almost certain. So where to?".

    "Old Montreal. Captain called me with one out of left field. From what they can tell it happened last night and was discovered this morning by one of the victim's neighbours. She had to be sedated and is in the hospital recuperating from the shock so she'll probably be one of my last interviews by the sound of it. I'm just hoping she's able to talk by the time I get there because there doesn't seem like there is much to go on right now."

    What would have taken 15 minutes to get to the old part of Montreal from Steve's apartment took well over an hour because of the road conditions, after what they were now calling the blizzard of the year. And that was with Marcus using his lights and sirens liberally to get through the mess. Cars were crawling through the city because of the amount of snow on the ground slowing them down. And if that wasn't enough, every once in a while a car would get stuck in the snow bringing traffic to a complete stop. Steve wasn't a calm man and this slow moving traffic was just about to blow his top off when he finally saw a clearing up ahead. From there he was just concentrating on nursing his headache since he knew it would be non-stop from the time he entered the condo in Old Montreal.

    As Steve stepped into the building on his way up the elevator, to the condo that housed Lisa's dead body, the killer was getting ready for the next destination and the next victim