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Pandora's Children - Part 2

After several hours checking sewer exits with a bunch of rookies, I was tired and grouchy. I knew the lieutenant wasn't going to be happy, but I did what he wouldn't.

"What did you do?" He asked when he caught up to me.

"I #spoke to the ME. She has something for us."

***

The medical examiner was dressed in scrubs and her usually coiffed hair stuck straight up like she was a #troll from the movie. She scowled when she saw us.

"It's never easy with your bodies."

"Meaning?"

"Your victim was shot to death and decapitated postmortem."

***

"Can you determine time of death without the head?" I asked as the Lt. looked on, silent.

"You're in luck," the medical examiner answered. "His watch recorded his heartbeat. It stopped beating two days ago, on #March 3rd."

"He was killed before Tyrrell Marcus," I said.

***

"Thanks, Doc," I said as we left the ME and headed for the bullpen upstairs. "My partner has a theory about how this went down."

"Your partner is a #crank. No one else was willing to work with him. His conspiracy theories are legend."

"I think he's right on this one."

***

"He's always spouting conspiracy theories. None of them make sense."

"I think he does it to #wind you up. He thinks Marcus was killed because he refused to throw the game."

"That's absurd."

"People bet big on the Superbowl. Why wouldn't someone try to actively win?"

***

"I think the coach did it," the Lt. said. "According to the player interviews we did, he was a hardass and coached them the way a #drill sergeant does new recruits."

"Didn't he have an alibi?"

"We haven't checked it out yet," the Lt. answered with a gleam in his eye.

***

"Lieutenant, we checked out the coach's alibi," a rookie detective called out as we reached the bullpen.

"And?"

"Over a dozen witnesses can vouch for him being at the bar. He's in the clear."

"Guess you'll have to get your #pound of flesh elsewhere, right Lt.?" I said.

***

"Sir, the tip line is going crazy. We have hundreds of leads from people calling to give us suspects or confess."

"Do the best you can," the Lt. said.

"I'll call the police academy and #draft in recruits to help," I told him. "They'll learn what real police work is."

***

The Lt. looked pensive. "You do that. I need to make a call."

I had to #pluck up the courage to ask the next question. "You're not going to call in the Feds are you? It's only been three days."

"The chief and mayor have been calling. This needs to be solved, quickly."

***

I sat down at my desk for the first time in two days and picked up Tyrrell Marcus' autopsy report. Now that we knew his manager died first, the whole timeline we had didn't #jive with the facts.

"Lieutenant, I think Marcus' wife lied to us. I need to talk to her again.

***

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