Unremarkable (Part Two)

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Sean Sandulak

Sam

“I just can’t believe it. Let me see that again.”

Detective Sam Dregg leaned in closer to the screen to get a better look. The events were unmistakeable. Just after the last customer left the store, a young kid pulled a gun on the owner. Startled by the customer suddenly returning, the teen turned and fired the pistol. But nothing happened. The hammer fell a second time. And a third. Realizing that the boy was unarmed, the owner pulled a bat from under the counter and proceeded to attack the robber, eventually knocking him unconscious.

Sam turned to the forensics technician. He had some Polish name that he couldn’t be bothered to remember. Everyone usually just called him Red, for the ridiculous shock of strawberry hair he wore. “Well it’s obvious what happened,” said Sam. “The dumb kid doesn’t know how to use a gun and he’s left the safety on.”

“No,” answered Red. “When the gun was recovered from the scene the safety was off. And it wasn’t jammed. Ballistics checked out the gun. There was nothing wrong with it or the ammo. It just didn’t go off. That guy is one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”

“Nevertheless, he’s still a witness. The kid I need to at least get a statement from him. Can you give me a close-up on that guy?”

“Yeah, just give me a minute.” Red replayed the recording once more, shuttling back and forth between frames, looking for the best shot of the man’s face. A few more keystrokes and he was done. “I emailed you a copy. Happy hunting.”

Sam just grunted and walked away. He went to his desk and opened up his email. He always printed off one hard copy of any photos for the files and another to carry around with him. He didn’t like people pawing at his phone. Especially the kind of people he had to deal with in his work.

It had been one of those days when nothing was going right. He had woken up with a stiff neck, discovered he was out of coffee, and his last clean shirt had a tear in the armpit. Now he was on a wild goose chase, trying to track down a witness who probably didn’t see anything. This wasn’t going to get him the promotion that he wanted. This was just another small time robbery. The bad guy was already caught and practically in a coma. He needed something big, something that would get him noticed.