Rise of a Phoenix: Rise of a Phoenix by phill syron-jones Read Free Book Online

brown fabric sofa and flicked on the TV, her finger pressing the remote’s button as she tried to find something decent to watch. Not quite a breakfast feature , she thought, but then her choice was better than nothing: an old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie came on. She watched cross-legged, eating her milky cereal slowly, savouring the quiet of the moment.
    As she sat watching she noticed her cell phone dance across the table in front of her, driven by the vibration alert of an incoming call. McCall leant forward and noticed the caller’s ID: it was the precinct.
    “Yes, what’s up?” she inquired, trying to sound annoyed but feeling somewhat relieved. A day off, who needs one, she thought? There’s too much to do out there.
    “Get your butt back here, Detective, we got another one. The bastard’s back.”
    It was the Captain on the other end of the phone and he did not seem happy. In fact, there was something different about his tone that she could not put her finger on.
    It took but a moment to shower and change, and before she knew it she was at the door of her car. The address she had been given was the Pier 15. She knew that it was going to be a nightmare of a drive but she blue-lighted all the way. Finally reaching a safe parking area she parked up under the viaduct next to a public parking booth. This was a short walking distance from the scene. It was a beautiful sunny morning and she wanted to walk towards the crime scene, it gave her a moment to look at things that may have been missed or try and see the scene through the killers eyes. The police tape confines the scene at hand but a sometimes thing outside the box gets missed.
    McCall sat for a moment, composing herself for what they would find. She got out and began to walk, looking back to see her car’s bodywork being stained by the red of the sunrise, as she headed for Pier 15.
    The scene was chaos, with camera teams, and reporters of all description pushing and shoving to get the best shot, and microphones waved about in the hope of finding someone who would answer their questions. Heading for the tape, McCall was immediately engulfed in a frenzy of press people.
     “No comment,” was all they got from her as she pushed through the masses. Finally, as an officer lifted the tape, she ducked and went through, followed by a couple of shifty-looking photographers who tried to dodge the wire, only to be caught by the large stocky built officer.
    “Get your ass back over the wire, people.” His tone was loud and aggressive, and the two men backed away sheepishly. McCall looked round and smiled at the performance, then carried on to the end of the pier.
    On the way, she saw the crowd that had gathered in the food court peering through the sun-kissed windows, flashes from cell phones and cameras lit up the glass that separated them from the crime scene.
    “Captain, Guys” she greeted them with a nodded.
    “McCall,” the Captain returned the greeting.
    “Okay, so what we got?” McCall asked, putting on her sunglasses.
    The Captain pointed to a group of CSU officers huddled round a railing at the far end of the wooden boardwalk; they seemed to be pulling on something. McCall looked at her Captain with a searching look, but received a shrug and an equally puzzled response.
    The four detectives crept forward until they reached MD Tina Franks, who was waiting with her crew and a dolly ready to transport whatever it was they were all waiting for.
    “Doc,” the Captain spoke softly.
    “Captain,” she replied, and just nodded to the others. “Well, I must say this is a weird one. All we were told was that there was something hanging from the balcony.” She pointed with her head towards the congregation of CSU guys in front of them.
    “So,” said the Captain, puzzled, “maybe it was kids messing around.” His look was slightly annoyed, as if he was afraid that their time was being wasted.
    “Well, that’s what we thought,” Tina agreed,