Two-way Mirrors - Part 4

Did you know that on the same street that the police headquarters is located and just one block down is where all of the stripper shows/bars and other X rated goodies are located? It's called "The Block" and is famous in Baltimore. Det. Lewis couldn't help but point out the irony of it all as we drove by all of the lit up signs advertising girls, girls, girls. Crazy, huh? Believe it or not, all parties concerned peacefully coexist.

We walked into the HQ's main entrance. It was a very small area with a large cop wearing a protective vest underneath his shirt sitting behind a big wraparound desk. There was room for one small table and a bench. There may have been a chair on each end of the table. Det. Lewis made small talk w/the cop while I signed my name in a notebook similar to a loose leaf binder. Once that was completed we walked through a pair of double doors and I was in.

It was a labyrinth of hallways and elevators. We made it to Homicide and it was just like as it was depicted in "The Wire". It was an open room with cubicles making up the center and on one wall was a large wipe-off board. There weren't a lot of personnel milling about. We did pass a guy sitting in his cube. Det. Lewis said hello to him. When he looked up he seemed surprised to see a civilian looking back at him.

I was shown to a weird kind of room that was the waiting area. There were magazines and a TV tuned into some kind of moronic programming. It kind of felt dirty in there like I should expect bugs to start showing up. I didn't want to touch anything so I just sat there amusing myself with my own thoughts like why was I put in this room? Am I secretly being watched? How long will I have to wait for Det. Lewis to come back? Speaking of Det. Lewis...what the hell was he doing now?

As my imagination pushed and pulled me in and out of different compositions, Det. Lewis showed back up. I really don't think I was sitting there even ten minutes but when one is in the Homicide Dept. waiting to give a taped statement, it is a little unnerving.

As we were walking to one of the interrogation rooms, he explained that he was going to tape this and another detective would sit in with us as a witness. He was going to ask me questions about that morning and all I had to do was answer honestly and to the best of my ability. It was probably right about then that my mouth went dry and I had an idea of what desert dwellers felt.

We walked down a long hall with rows of doors on the right until we came to the one especially made for us. I really am no good with estimating measurements, but the room was probably 7 x 6. The white table and chairs took up almost all of the area and the chairs were secured to the floor. I was sitting in the one that forced me to have my back to the mirror. To my right at one end of the table was the detective who I am sure was glad he had nothing better to do and across from me was Det. Lewis. The left side of the table was against the wall. The room was colorless. Was this so that it could be easily cleaned up.....if you know what I mean?

Det. Lewis introduced me to Det. I'd Rather Be Anywhere Else But Am A Polite Nice Guy And Now You Owe Me One and then turned on the tape recorder. My heart rate doubled.

It ended up not being bad at all. We went through what we had already discussed and the other Det. asked some questions of his own that made no sense to me as to what bearing they had on anything but who am I to say? Do I wear a badge? Did I promise to serve and protect?

It was over and I had to use the ladies room. So what else is new, right? After I powdered my nose I met back up with Det. Lewis and he drove me back home. He would keep in touch. He promised.

Just the Facts, Ma'am - Part 3

So here I was in a car with a Baltimore City detective because I witnessed the aftermath of a murder. I was nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time. Detective Lewis, AKA detective 2, turned out to be a very nice person that knew how to put me at ease. He was also quite the Chatty Cathy. Since I tend to clam up when in awkward situations, that was a good thing.

He explained to me where the interview would take place and what kind of questions would be asked. Nothing to be nervous about. We are just going over what happened that morning. It is just a chat between the two of us that happens to be taped in a room with a mirror with another detective as a witness.

I brought up the condition of the car. How could The City send out detectives in such crappy looking vehicles? Detective Lewis whole heartily agreed. I said it is embarrassing. Detective Lewis agreed again. I guess this is a sore spot with some of the personnel. He said if I felt that strongly about it maybe I should write the Mayor. That suggestion went straight to the bottom of my list of things to do. I was sure a deaf man would more easily hear me than the Mayor.

I brought up "The Wire". How close was it to reality? He said it was very close, actually. The comradery, the crimes, the politics all were pretty true to life. He brought up the show "CSI" as an example of the opposite. He said there is no way that a crime is solved by a finger print from a car's dashboard. He then demostrated this by putting his fingers on the dashboard. He hates these shows because they oversimplify the process and cause citizens to become frustrated when the crime fighting process doesn't happen like that in real life.

Detective Lewis brought up the murder. He said that because of what I heard, they knew that the woman knew the killer. She finally confessed to that after much prodding on their part. The murderer had fled the state but they were in hot pursuit and not to worry. They have law enforcement contacts that are helping. They will find him and bring him back. He will not get away with this.

He also explained the situation. The murderer was the former boyfriend of the woman. The victim was the current boyfriend of the woman. Let's give them all names. These aren't their real ones. The thought of using their real names makes me hinky. The murderer is Travis. The woman is Shanel. The victim is Bob.

Travis waited in the car for Bob to show up. Travis confronted Bob on the front lawn and it moved up to the front porch. While this was happening, Shanel heard the arguing on the porch and went downstairs to break the two up. Before Shanel got out the front door, Travis had taken out a knife and stabbed Bob in the lung. The lung puncture caused Bob to not be able to take a breath and scream and that is why I didn't hear the actual murder. Travis then stabbed Bob 6 more times. Detective Lewis didn't go into any further detail except to say that Shanel is the one that called 911.

We made it to HQ and parked. I will get to see where the detectives work and a real interrogation room!