Detective Angel: The Case of the Fragmented Lives

By Rye Harrison

People tend to present the image of a perfect life to others. The perfect life, perfect family, and perfect job do not exist. In order for a rose to grow, it needs dirt. How we adjust to the dirt, the imperfections in our lives, show our true character. Some people falter when exposed, others rise. Maneuvering through difficulties may also cause others to be sacrificed. The question then arises… what sacrifices are justified? This journey touches upon the true character of a person and the acceptable right, the unacceptable wrong, and the sacrificed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Oct 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645367390

Rye Harrison

Rye Harrison is an avid lover of deep mystery and things that cause one to think outside of the realm of normalcy. She sincerely believes that things are never as they appear and everything deserves to be thoroughly investigated. As a child, she found herself disinterested in playing house as other young girls tended to. Instead, she would attempt to create scenes with her brother's G.I. Joes and her dolls to re-enact "who done-its."

Book preview

Two

About The Author

Rye Harrison is an avid lover of deep mystery and things that cause one to think outside of the realm of normalcy. She sincerely believes that things are never as they appear and everything deserves to be thoroughly investigated. As a child, she found herself disinterested in playing house as other young girls tended to. Instead, she would attempt to create scenes with her brother’s G.I. Joes and her dolls to re-enact who done-its.

About The Book

People tend to present the image of a perfect life to others. The perfect life, perfect family, and perfect job do not exist. In order for a rose to grow, it needs dirt. How we adjust to the dirt, the imperfections in our lives, show our true character. Some people falter when exposed, others rise. Maneuvering through difficulties may also cause others to be sacrificed. The question then arises… what sacrifices are justified? This journey touches upon the true character of a person and the acceptable right, the unacceptable wrong, and the sacrificed.

Dedication

To my children who inspire me to trust myself no matter what because life is way too precious to live with regrets.

Copyright Information ©

Rye Harrison (2019)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Harrison, Rye

Detective Angel: The Case of the Fragmented Lives

ISBN 9781645367390 (ePub e-book)

The main category of the book — FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019913451

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 28th Floor

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Chapter 1

Left Out in the Cold

I

t was a cold day on this February 2nd in New York City. The wind seemed to cut like a doubled-edged knife through every stitch of clothing. People in the street found themselves almost running off to their destinations. It was too cold to notice the most obvious of out-of-sorts occurrences. No one cared. They put their heads down and rushed on.

Gale Portal, a 6’2" slender, blond-haired woman, sat slumped on the corner, propped up against the light post at the intersection of First Avenue and St. Mark’s Place. Her tattered fur coat was buttoned up to her chin, her fur brimmed hat pulled firmly onto her head, almost covering her eyes. She had one shoe, a winter snow boot, on her left foot. Her right foot was bare aside from her black sock. The right boot was nowhere in sight.

Hordes of city dwellers, on their way to work, passed Gale. None stopped to see if she was okay. In New York City, seeing a homeless person on the corner passed out from a previous night of frivolity and drug use was normal. However, there was nothing normal about Gale Portal being on that corner.

Just around 7 am, the short and husky shop manager, John, from the diner that sits at the corner of First Avenue and St. Marks’s Place, came out to move Gale along. He had been getting complaints from customers that there was a homeless woman outside their door and she was beginning to make the patrons feel uncomfortable.

John walked over to Gale with his broom in hand. He took the handle and nudged Gale.

Move along, lady. I have paying customers, and they don’t need to see you like this before they try to eat. Get up and get out of here.

He then nudged again with the broom handle, this time a little harder than the last. Gale slid off the light post that had been propping her up and she fell over into the street. When she fell, John became agitated. In his mind, he thought he was going to have to drag her out of the way now. He walked around to where her head lay in the street. Gale’s hat had fallen off. John crouched down.

Hey, lady, c’mon. I really do not want to have to call the cops to drag you off. Get up.

He nudged her again with the broom. Gale was now facing up. John looked at her face. Something was not right. By this time, a nosey New York City crowd had formed with their camera phones at the ready.

One on-looker noted, Is she dead? Look at her hair; is that blood? John jumped up and yelled for one of them to call 911.

One woman in the crowed called 911. The dispatcher answered, 911, what is your emergency?

The female caller said, There’s a dead, homeless, white broad on the corner of First Avenue and St. Mark’s Place. Y’all need to send some cops now.

Within minutes, New York City police surrounded the area. One captain arrived: Kevin Kneele who was a presence at 5’11" and 310 lbs. He was a 25-year veteran on the force and ordered that the cross street be blocked off. He wanted everyone within a 3-block radius in each direction questioned as to whether or not they heard or saw anything.

Another high-ranking officer, Major Deputy Inspector Peter Jacobs, began to look around the scene for anything that might help in the investigation. It is not a common occurrence for such a high-ranking officer to come to a crime scene. However, Major Jacobs lived across the street from the diner and was on his way into work when he heard the sirens outside his window. Major Jacobs then got on his phone and called the best detective he knew, Jason Angel. Although Jason worked out of the 23rd Precinct on the Upper East Side and the East Village was out of his zone, Major Jacobs felt this needed the best set of eyes on the case. He asked Jason to come to the corner of First Avenue and St. Mark’s place as soon as he could. You see, for some odd reason, Major Jacobs recognized the victim and felt compelled to have this crime solved quickly.

When Jason arrived, he was taken aback by how many people had swarmed the scene. He went over to his friend, Peter. Jason knew Peter since he was a little kid. Jason’s father and Peter were in the academy together. Jason’s father decided later in his adult life, at the age of around 31 years old, to become an officer. He was paired with the 19-year-old Peter in the Academy. Peter looked at Jason like a little brother and kept in close contact since Jason’s father passed away from a heart attack 10 years ago.

So, Peter, why did you call me in on this one? Today was supposed to be my day off. I do not really know this area and I’m not really interested in piecing together what happened to the homeless junky lady.

Peter looked at Jason and then at the victim. Look at her. Doesn’t she look familiar? I feel like I’ve seen her before somewhere. And homeless? Really? Her coat costs more than either of us make in a month. She is not homeless. Someone just wants us to think she is.

Jason looked at her face trying to figure out what Peter could be talking about. He looked at her clothes. Although they were very dirty and tattered, he did notice that the coat she was wearing was a very expensive fur coat. He noticed her hands were newly manicured and that just one of her nails, the right index, was broken. As he investigated further, he saw that although she was not bleeding profusely, there was a large wound to her head. However, there was barely any blood at the scene. This could only mean one of two things. It was either so damn cold that the capillaries in her head were barely letting out blood, or she was not killed there. The light post where Gale had been propped up against also had no large traces of blood on it.

More and more people gathered, and Jason began to get very frustrated. It didn’t take much to upset Jason. He was a small framed man, only 5’5" tall. He weighed about 145 lbs. and was easily intimidated in large crowds. He ordered the patrol officers on hand to have everyone not being questioned removed from the scene. Slowly but surely, the crowd began to dwindle, and Jason felt himself able to focus. He wondered why this woman was killed. Was it intentional or an accident? Why was she left on THIS corner? Moreover, WHO was she?

Jason looked at the diner and noticed that at the very top of the awning, out of sight unless you are looking for it, was a closed-circuit security camera. Maybe this camera footage would shed some light on this perplexing situation. He went inside the diner and asked for the manager. John came out from the back office.

Jason told John he noticed there was a security camera on the outside of the building. He wanted to see what, if anything, had the camera captured. John went into the office and got the tape for Jason. The detective told the diner manager that he would return the tape as soon as he was able to watch it and he left. As he exited the diner, Jason saw Peter standing outside. He looked concerned.

Hey Peter, you okay? Jason asked him. Peter nodded his head yes and looked down at the victim.

The coroners soon arrived and took Gale to the county morgue. They brought her into the cold gray room. As they processed her, removing her clothing and jewelry, one of the coroners found her wallet. She looked through it in the hopes of identifying this Jane Doe of St. Mark’s Place as she had been dubbed by the coroner’s office. In the wallet, the coroner found $1,500 in cash, six credit cards, as well as several store membership cards. However, there was no photo identification. That could not be an accident. If it were a robbery, the robbers missed the wad of cash and platinum credit cards. She went over to the phone and called Detective Jason Angel who asked to be contacted once they found anything. In this case, nothing.

Detective Angel, this is Coroner Melky. I have some information on your Jane Doe of St. Mark’s Place. I think you should come down here so we can talk and you can get her belongings, Coroner Melky explained.

Jason was still at the crime scene and told Coroner Melky he would be right there. Jason hopped into his unmarked car and headed down to the county morgue. When he got there, he had hoped that Coroner Melky would have news on who his victim was. She came out