The Killing Code Read Free Page B

his head down and not retaliating, he would make himself an uninteresting target and they would eventually move on. He was right; that first event and the obvious initial aggression had metamorphosed into a collective cold shoulder, with which he could live and work in peace.
    Alan brought himself back to the task at hand and started making headway on his latest report until Lieutenant Walker strode into the room with his usual purposeful pace and called out, “Beach! Suspicious death at ‘The Eleanor’ building; apartment 1404. Uniforms are at the scene. Sounds like a suicide but look at the husband anyway.” he said in his usual gruff tone.
    A lan knew that Walker had to speak to him in this manner so that none of the other detectives would feel that he was playing favorites. His manner of speaking to the others wasn’t much different so he never felt slighted and he knew that Walker tended to throw the more complex cases his way so he nodded in acknowledgement, pushed his report into his filing drawer and got up to leave.
    “ Yeah, you go and solve that suicide and leave the real murders to the big boys, Beach.” jibed one of the other detectives.
    “ Shut up and get back to work ladies! It’s like a Goddamn sewing circle in here!” shouted Walker at no one in particular as he strode back into his office.
    Alan chuckled inwardly as he brushed past his estranged colleagues and out the door. He had wanted to be a detective since he was a boy and relished any new job, even if it was labeled only a suicide at this point. He knew that things were often not what they seemed and preferred the challenge of cases that weren’t just, ‘slam-dunks’. As he got into his car, he glanced straight at the, “No Smoking” symbol stuck to the dashboard, as there was in all city vehicles, pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and lit it.
    “ Another advantage of having no partner.” he muttered to himself as he drove out of the car park and turned toward The Eleanor. It was only a couple of miles away and the traffic was fairly thin so it wasn’t long before he pulled into the, ‘No Parking’ zone directly in front of the building, slid his windscreen sign identifying his car as a police vehicle into place and walked toward the front doors. There were three marked squad cars and a Coroner’s van parked at different angles around the front of the building and one of the uniformed officers was stationed at the entrance to vet people coming and going.
    Alan respected the efficiency and professionalism of the uniforms, as they were called , and they seemed to realize this and generally treated him with due deference, despite the rumors they’d heard about his reason for coming to Columbus.
    “ Good evening Officer.” Alan offered as he entered the building.
    “ Detective Beach.” acknowledged the uniform. “It’s straight through to the elevators and up to the fourteenth floor.”
    “ Thank you. Any unusual movements since you’ve been here?”
    “ No, just owners and tenants going to and from.”
    “ Have a good night officer, and do me a favor please?”
    “ What’s that?”
    “ If you do notice anything unusual, please call me on my cell phone rather than waiting to report it later.”
    “ Of course detective, and good luck on the case.”
    “ Thank you.” Alan called back as he made his way to the elevators just past the lobby.
    The Eleanor’s lobby security officer sat at his desk and surveyed Alan walking past, as if he were any other stranger in his territory. There were surveillance cameras positioned throughout the lobby and Alan guessed there would be a security room set up with monitors and digital recorders in such an up-market building.
    “ Security seems pretty professional.” Alan noted, pushing the up button.
    He entered the elevator and immediately spotted the security camera in the upper left rear corner. Upon reaching the fourteenth floor, he looked at the direction sign on the