Dead Men Tell No Tales [Bullock]

[Evangelina Bradley]

It's been a relatively slow day for Evangelina when the police radio suddenly reports that they've gotten an anonymous call about shots being heard in an east Gotham neighborhood. But though she appreciates having something to do besides cite people for traffic violations, going somewhere where she may be shot at isn't exactly what she had in mind as a way of breaking up the tedium. Still, she's not far away from the area, so though she's reluctant she's also quick to respond to the scene.

It's a neighborhood that she knows quite well. It's a rough area in spite of the police's efforts to clean up the area, its criminal element too deeply entrenched to make much progress. In fact, if she wasn't already on good terms with the gangs of the area then she'd be more hesitant to set foot there in uniform. But as she approaches the indicated area, a quick read of the gathered people tells her that whatever happened is over and that she doesn't have to worry about her own safety too much - if shots were still being fired, people would still be ducking into buildings. Instead she sees a small crowd of people starting to gather near an alleyway - this is what people do when they know it's over and they want to see what happened.

Though she knows that there's other officers on the way, she decides not to wait for backup before she parks her patrol car and heads over to see for herself. Being the first one on the scene is often helpful for the opportunistic, after all. What she sees when she gets there, however, is a surprise. No, it's not surprising to her to see two dead men in an alleyway - she's seen that before. What's surprising to her is that they're white and probably at least in their 30s, when she knows that most of the shootings in this area occur between the street gangs - a different demographic since those are usually a minority and a solid ten years younger or more.

But, laying all that aside, her focus shifts to taking mental notes of how everything was the moment she arrived, reporting the situation to dispatch so that they can send the appropriate people, and securing the crime scene. The latter is mostly a matter of shooing the gawkers out of the alleyway so that they don't disturb whatever evidence may be around, but as she does so she asks, "Did anyone see what happened?" Might as well start looking for witnesses. But her question only triggers a few headshakes, and that causes her to frown.

She's highly skeptical that there are no witnesses, but apparently nobody wants to talk - probably out of fear that whoever is at fault will hear of it and punish them for doing so. The frustrating thing is that she can't be sure that the witnesses would be among the gathered crowd - perhaps they left before she arrived. Spotting a faces people she recognizes, she asks, "Leroy? Tina?" But either they don't know anything or they're pretending as much.

While she's having no luck in the witness department, a couple other officers arrive and finish securing the scene so that a proper investigation can get started. Finally giving up, Evangelina says something about how they know who to call if they hear anything or remember anything, then encourages everyone to leave. Which is only halfway successful, in that only about half of them leave, but since the curious are keeping out of the way and behind the freshly erected line of police tape, she doesn't push the issue. Instead she turns and heads back into the alleyway to see if the initial investigation is producing results. Because, hey, she's curious too - given who the victims are, there's a good chance that this isn't simply another street gang shooting. And she may actually be useful, depending.

[Deleted]

"Gunshots in East Gotham, you say? What's the occasion?" Sarcasm. One of Harvey Bullock's go-to tones... especially as he neared the end of his shift. Reports of gunshots in East Gotham were a daily occurrence. Usually some thug marking his territory. "Last time I investigated gunshots on the east side, it turned out to be some deadbeat firing shots into an apartment building trying to intimidate his baby momma into not takin' his ass back to court for more child support," Bullock recalled, still ticked off about being told check out the crime scene. "You're really gonna waste Major Crimes Unit resources on this one? Doesn't sound too major to me."

The detective could've bellyached all night, but it was clear he wasn't going to be able to complain his way out of this one.  If the Captain wanted him to go, he was going.  It was that simple.  On his way out the door Bullock was told that two dead bodies had been located in the vicinity.  "Great... Sounds like it could be an all-nighter."   

Fifteen minutes later, Bullock was parking his Crown Victoria next to a fire hydrant close to the crime scene.  A flash of his badge was all that was needed to turn away any sideways stares he got for his blatantly illegal parking job. 

At least a couple dozen people still congregated in the immediate area.  Most were curious busybodies.  Rubberneckers could be found at just about any crime scene in Gotham City.  Bullock learned long ago not to ignore these folks.  Most of the time they were useless, possessing no information of any value.  But every once in a while, it was those onlookers that held the key to solving the case.  So Bullock took a moment to scan the crowd and made a mental note of who and what he saw.  Then he turned around and found the GCPD officers on the scene.

Officers Jones and Rodriguez had only arrived a couple minutes before Bullock.  They told the detective that he needed to talk to Bradley.  This caused the detective's demeanor to change from exhausted sourpuss to momentarily giddy.  Recognizing the name, he sought confirmation.  "Blonde with a nice rack?"  When Jones and Rodriguez nodded simultaneously, Bullock found himself a lot less irritated about being sent out to investigate this double homicide. 

Harvey turned the corner into the alley where the corpses were located.  Fighting away the temptation to gawk at Officer Bradley, the detective's gaze went directly to the two stiffs on the ground.  White males.  Well dressed (one was in a suit).  Out of place in this neighborhood.  "Whatta ya got here?" he asked.  Then he went on to throw out a couple of obvious guesses.  "A couple of suits get mugged after gettin' lost in the wrong neighborhood?  Or maybe they were white collar corporate types by day, white stuff sniffin' junkies by night... drug deal gone bad?" 

They were both reasonable hypotheses.  Except for the fact that a quick study made it obvious that the deceased hadn't been killed in the alley.  Their bodies had been moved.  Bullock knew it right away.  He wondered if Bradley was just another pretty face or if she had the makings of a future detective.  Would she pick up on it? 

[Evangelina Bradley]

When Bullock arrives, Evangelina is one of a few that are looking at the bodies. But while the others are painstakingly documenting the scene, she's standing back and watching them with a pensive look, arms folded across her chest. She doesn't move until she's spoken to, and even then she only spares him the briefest of glances before she replies, "No, whoever these guys are, they expected trouble and found some. Galloway, show the detective the holster." One of the officers obligingly shifts the coat of the man in the suit, revealing a large shoulder holster. "Of course you can't tell what he had in there, but whatever heat he was packin', it wasn't a pocket pistol. And this is not how your standard law-abiding citizen concealed-carries a firearm, it's how you carry an intimidation piece - easy to 'accidentally' flash, too easy to actually flash on accident," she says, unfolding her arms to do the air quotes with her fingers then letting them drop to her hips.

Does she know that they were moved? Absolutely not. Though the signs of that are plain for anyone to see, they're not something she picks up on. But at least she knows better than to make assumptions - she's not assuming that they weren't moved since she knows that's not something she can tell very easily. She does have her talents, though, which she's demonstrating by making what observations and conclusions that she's sure of - what's obvious about this situation to her is a different set of things.

Now shifting her attention more toward the man that she's speaking to, she adds, "Whatever is going on here, I doubt it's your basic street crime. The people who usually talk to me ain't talkin', which means that whoever's behind this is scarier than usual." She frowns, her eyes shifting over to the gathered crowd momentarily before they shift back and she continues, "No I.D. on either of them, of course - probably stolen. But if it was the gawkers and not the shooters, I know who to ask for the wallets if I say that I don't care to investigate who took the money out of 'em - might be faster than running fingerprints." Either way, she's going to assume that they'll never find the gun except by some extreme stroke of luck - nobody who didn't intend to hang onto it or trade it for something they wanted more would have taken it in the first place.

Having said all that, she goes quiet and looks to Bullock - clearly waiting for him to agree or disagree with anything she just said and perhaps tell her what he thinks she should do. Though she's normally very quick to assert herself more unless someone is literally the boss of her, and given their respective ranks Bullock isn't, she's sensing that this is a case that she doesn't want to be in charge of. Mostly because if it is as big as her gut is telling her, she doesn't want to take the blame if it goes wrong. Instead she simply wants to end up being noted as being extremely helpful to the investigation - that looks good to the people she's trying to impress whether the case goes smoothly or not.

[Deleted]

Bullock nodded his head as he heard the breathtaking young cop summarize what she had observed. The guy in the fancy suit had been packing, but his piece-- like the wallets, jewelry and watches of both "victims"-- were gone. Not bad as observations go, but there were more details to be discovered by those who chose to take a step back and view the scene from a different perspective.

Glancing around, Bullock decided there were too many sets of ears in the immediate area. In Gotham, you could never be too sure who was on the take and who was on the level. So an experienced detective like Bullock knew that he had to be careful exactly how he disseminated information... or else the whole damn investigation could be compromised. "Care to take a walk with me? Back to my car? I need a smoke and I don't want to contaminate the scene." (As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he grimaced. He hoped that she wouldn't think he was wanting to come onto her.)

As they made their way away from the two dead bodies, Harvey was careful to point out a bloody footprint that seemed out of place. As they made it out of the alley, he subtly directed her attention to a few drops of blood on the sidewalk. When they made it to his Crown Vic, the detective didn't bother digging into his coat to get his cigarettes. Instead, he leaned against the car, then asked a couple of questions while weaving in a few of his own observations:

"Our two bodies...? Dead Guy #1 and Dead Guy #2? They weren't killed in that alley. They were moved here. Moved to make it look like they'd been mugged or killed in some drug deal gone wrong..." He paused as he applied the few clues he'd spotted to years of experience in the field, using that combination to come up with an appropriate theory on what may have transpired. "The guy in the suit? His pantlegs are shredded at the knee, like he'd been dragged. How? He got one bullet right between the eyes. I guarantee that shot killed him lickety split. No time for him to do anything but drop dead. So where's all the blood? ...Answer? Other than a few random drops nowhere close to Dead Guy #1 and Dead Guy #2, it ain't here. It ain't here because they weren't killed here.

"Dead Guy #2? He was shot in both knees, then killed execution style. He's probably the one that had information the killer wanted. Once they made him suffer for a little bit, he either sang like a canary or told 'em to shove it. Either way, he met his maker with a bullet to the back of the head...
These guys were killed by a professional, then dumped in this alley by a rank amateur."

At this point Bullock stopped and smiled. He couldn't help it. He was proud of himself for being such a quick study. Nice to know the old pro still had it. But the old pro would need a little help if he was going to close this case. Figuring out the how was considerably easier than figuring out the who. For that he'd need someone with connections and intel on the ground. That's where (he hoped) Bradley would come into the equation. "How well do you know the locals?  ...I've got friends in low places, but this ain't exactly my neck of the woods.  I ask because I'm wondering if the crowd is filled with the regulars, gawkers who show up at every crime scene on the East Side, or if there are some unfamiliar mugs in the group. Those might be the ones worthy of a little extra attention..."

[Evangelina Bradley]

The way that Bullock asks her to come with him causes Evangelina to raise an eyebrow, but she's quick enough to guess at why he wants to continue their chat elsewhere. And if she's wrong, she's confident enough in her ability to respond appropriately to any unwanted advances to take that chance - a woman who can't handle herself has no place in the GCPD. So she shrugs and nods, showing both her unconcern and agreement, "Sure."

As she follows him, her expression betrays curiosity and just a hint of surprise when he points out the footprint. It's not something she noticed before - or at least she's pretty sure she didn't, though it may be that she was so quick to dismiss it as something unlikely to be connected to their crime scene that she never really became consciously aware of it. Though now that it is, she can easily see that it's important. Shoe prints are hard evidence, after all, as are the drops of blood.

When they reach his car, Evangelina's arms are once again folded across her chest as she listens to him list off more things that she missed. Were she in a different mood this would be irritating, but right now her mind is too busy adding what he saw to what she already knows and figuring out what it all means. Her eyebrows lift in surprise again as he mentions that they were moved, but she's quickly nodding - she's seen enough corpses to know what it looks like when someone bleeds out and it's certainly missing from their crime scene.

"Seems like Guy #1 was supposed to have been protecting Guy #2 and didn't do a very good job," she speculates, her expression turning pensive as she mulls it all over. There are other explanations that would also fit the evidence, but that one seems the most likely since the others start to get more complicated. And while the complicated answer seems to be more often correct in Gotham than it is in most places, it's still better to try to keep it simple until you get other evidence that proves otherwise.

The question about the locals causes her to glance roughly in the direction of the crowd before she answers, "I know a lot of them well enough. Not all of them, but the ones I recognize are regulars and the ones I don't don't seem out of place. But I don't remember seeing white jersey, leather jacket, bandanna head, ripped jeans, or frontwards baseball cap before - could just be people I've yet to run into, though." She quickly lists them off based upon their most distinguishing clothing choice, as that's a quite efficient way of picking them out of the crowd. Like she said, though, they look like they belong and don't seem to be together. "Of course, the 'rank amateur' who dumped the bodies could easily be a local - wouldn't put it past quite a few in this neighborhood if they were paid. Whoever's actually behind it wouldn't be, unless they just moved in. They may be up to their armpits in street crime here, but I wouldn't call any of the area's usual suspects 'professionals' unless you have a pretty high opinion of common street gangs - there's not much around here for someone like that to care about," she adds.

She pauses for a thoughtful moment before she thinks out loud, "I wonder if Tina would have anything to say if she was pulled aside..." Refocusing her attention on Bullock, she explains, "Momma bear type - keeps herself aware of the goings-on, willing to tell you anything she thinks will make the place safer for her kids. Very useful, that. She wouldn't be happy about anyone bringing in more problems than there already are." Like the corpses of men who clearly don't belong around here, perhaps?

[Deleted]

Bullock nodded in agreement as he listened to Bradley arrive at her conclusion that Dead Guy #1 was supposed to have been protecting Dead Guy #2.  Made sense.  But it still left several unanswered questions.  First and foremost was the most obvious: who were the stiffs?  The next two were just as obvious and every bit as important: who killed them?  And, who moved them?  Of course they also would want to know: why were the bodies moved? And, why were the bodies dumped in a semi-public place with the alley staged to look like a fresh crime scene? 

Lots of questions.  Time to divide and conquer.  "Why don't you talk to 'Momma Bear' and the others that you know?  I'll take White Jersey, Bandanna Head and..." Bullock struggled to remember the other unfamiliar rubberneckers that the blonde had described, "...and Baseball Cap.  Sound like a plan?"  Bullock may have been with the GCPD for almost two decades, but he didn't really have the authority to assign such a task to Officer Bradley.  Still, he hoped that she would be eager to "play detective" and take on collecting a few statements for him.  As he said, "That sure would make my job a helluva lot easier." 


  

[Evangelina Bradley]

Is Evangelina eager to play detective? Yes she is! Especially if it's by doing a task she's particularly good at, and talking people into talking is one of them. So she gives his plan a single nod. "Divide and conquer, right?" she replies, "Meet back here in an hour - hour and a half?" She figures that ought to give her enough time to talk not just to Tina but the others already coming to mind, and if it doesn't take him that long to question the unfamiliar faces then she's sure that he'll have other things to look into as well.

While she can't recall having worked on a case that looks this important before, she's not exactly new to investigations. It's just that what she investigates as a patrol officer tends to be on a much smaller scale than what proper detective handles, especially one from the major crimes unit. It takes a certain amount of detective work to figure out what to do when you have a domestic dispute and the two parties involved each have their own story, for example, or to figure out which cars you pull over are suspicious and could benefit from a more detailed search. To be asked to apply the skills she developed doing those things to something more important only seems justified - she should have been asked to do something more like this a long time ago. They never did appreciate her talents in Blüdhaven, and the year she's spent in Gotham getting her career reestablished and trying to gain the respect and confidence of a new set of people has been painfully slow.

So, if anything, rather than feeling inconvenienced by being asked to do something outside of her normal duties, she's pleased by it. And that shows quite clearly in her expression as her eyes go once more to scan the onlookers at the crime scene. Hmm, looks like Tina has already left, but she knows exactly where the woman is likely to be, so that's not a problem at all. Better, actually, because that means that she can question her without the whole neighborhood seeing that she did so, and that might encourage her to say more.

Giving Bullock another nod, she turns to go do exactly that and see if she can stir up anything else.

[Deleted]

The one Officer Bradley had called "White Jersey" was the first person Bullock pulled out of the gaggle of onlookers.  After a bit of sports-related chit chat about the witness's beloved Philadelphia Phillies, the questioning quickly moved to the topic of the murders.  Several things quickly became clear to the detective: 1) This guy's name was Jenkins. 2) He was new to Gotham. 3) He didn't know squat about the murders. 4) He didn't see nothin', he didn't hear nothin', and he didn't know nothin'.  Most importantly, 5) spending any more time talking to Jenkins (aka "White Jersey") would be an utter waste of time.  As he always did at the end of a fruitless interview, Bullock handed Jenkins his GCPD-issue business card and said, "Thanks a lot, pal.  Gimme a call if you think of anything else." 

Bullock glanced around the crowd, taking a moment to reassess the situation.  He knew this was an important step in this disorganized type of mass-questioning of witnesses.  In the past he had been able to pick out those who looked like they actually had some information of value.  ("Just a look he had in his eye," he'd explained to a former partner.)  Equally as important was figuring out who was getting ancy.  

Falling into that second category was the one Bradley had referred to as "Ripped Jeans."  R.J. appeared to be creeping ever so slowly towards the back of the crowd of curious onlookers.  Was he trying to slip away?  It certainly appeared that way to Bullock.

The detective looked away only for a moment.  He hoped to get Bradley's attention long enough to flash her some sort of signal to keep an eye on him while he spoke to "Ripped Jeans."  R.J. had other ideas, apparently.  He took the opportunity to tap "Baseball Cap" on the shoulder.  The two of them then pushed their way through the group and broke into a sprint away from the scene.

With no time to spare, Bullock yelled, "Bradley!  We got a couple runners!  ...Damn these guys for makin' my fat ass run!"  Then Bullock pushed his way through the group of onlookers, doing his best to maintain visual contact on the suspicious duo as they raced down the street.  Now in a full sprint, he called to them, "Stop!!!  GCPD!"       

[Evangelina Bradley]

As she passes by a few of the gathered crowd on her way to track down Tina, Evangelina comes across another person on her short list of people to talk to so she puts the Tina idea on hold for the moment. Known as "The Duke" in this neighborhood, Cody Duke would swear on his father's grave that he has no ties at all to anything even remotely illegal, but in his case that's like someone swearing that they never have to use the restroom - just because you've never caught them in the act doesn't mean that you don't know damn well that they're lying.

Yet in spite of his constant denials, he's actually one of the more forthcoming members of the local gang members - at least among those high enough in the ranks to actually know the big picture of what's going on - he's actually smart enough to realize that sometimes it's actually beneficial to let a cop know what's going on. It's just tediously slow because he refuses to say anything that could be used against him, in spite of his rapport with Evangelina. As a result, her goal in talking to him is to simply determine whether or not he knows anything about what's going on - because that would mean a lot of things either way. After an entirely too-long conversation she's finally able to determine by reading through the lines that he really means it when he says that he doesn't know anything about it, which eliminates a rather large number of potential suspects in the neighborhood and vastly increases the odds that whatever happened was an entirely outside affair - and perhaps that means that Bullock will have more luck finding something by questioning the strangers.

Almost on cue with that thought, she hears his yell and quickly turns to spot the two he indicated. She'd been too absorbed in her conversation with The Duke to have caught Bullock's attempts to get her attention earlier, but the man has a certain talent for yelling so she can hardly miss that. She's instantly after the two, her adrenaline kicking into high gear - only the guilty run like that and, while there's always the chance that they have another reason to avoid the police, she's determined to figure out exactly what they did and how it connects to this double homicide.

Evangelina works out. Everyday. And she doesn't merely go jogging or take an aerobics class and call it good like so many women - she's in there whipping herself into shape for situations exactly like this. Not that she's called on to chase down a criminal everyday, but she takes more than a little bit of pride in being able to do the more physical aspects of her job very well in spite (and possibly because of) the perceived limitations of her gender. Your average criminal, on the other hand, may work out but isn't nearly so dedicated. And the males especially tend to skip out on the cardio - that's not nearly as 'manly' as something like lifting weights, but neglecting that makes it difficult to run for very long.

So while the two runners certainly have an advantage on someone like Bullock simply because they're younger and had a decent head start, that head start doesn't really mean that much to Evangelina. Unable to catch both of them, she simply sets her sights on the one that proves to be the slower runner, "Baseball Cap", and chases him down - ending it half a block into the run by executing a tackle that any football coach would approve of. When you have three older brothers who never cut you any slack because you're a girl, you learn things like that. Except that instead of causing the guy to fall into the relative softness of a grassy field, he falls into concrete. She fairs far better, having used him to break most of her own fall, though her knees will probably be a different color by tomorrow.

But ignoring those pains for now, she's quickly pulling out her cuffs and making sure she has her full weight on his back to try to keep him down - she has no idea how hurt he was by her tackle, but odds are that it's not enough to take all the fight out of him so it's important for her to get him secured before he recovers enough to give her too much trouble. "Bastard, thought you could run from me?" she says between panting breaths, "Who's your momma, you son of a bitch?" Even as she says that, though, there's no hint of anger in her tone - while she's not happy about the pain in her knees, other than that she's actually enjoying this.

With her full concentration on the man beneath her, she has no idea what's become of either his companion or Bullock, but until she has him cuffed and her feeling of absolute triumph ebbs a little, she'll have a hard time caring too much about either.

[Deleted]

The runners had a bit of a head start.  More importantly, they were both 20 (maybe 25) years younger and each about 50 pounds lighter than Bullock.  Unless they got hit by a bus or something, the veteran detective wasn't catching up to them.

But then they did get hit... at least one of them did, anyway.  The suspect known as "Baseball Cap" got clobbered by the sexiest cop Bullock had ever laid eyes on.  From Bullock's vantage point, it looked like Officer Bradley had flown through the air like "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka from the hay day of WWF Wrestling.  And when he heard her taunting the apprehended suspect with words like "Who's your momma"!?!  That sent Bullock over the top.  It was a thing of absolute beauty.  Dammit if he wasn't even a bit aroused by the thought of playing good cop-bad cop with Officer Bradley assuming the latter role!

Stopping to rest with his hands on his knees, the detective sucked in a few deep breaths.  He momentarily considered continuing the chase in an effort to track down the other runner.  With "Ripped Jeans" at least a half a football field ahead, Bullock knew it would take a bullet to the back to close that gap.  Given the fact that he was still on a probationary period with the GCPD:MCU, he knew better than to do something like that. 

"Read this son of a bitch his rights," Bullock instructed Bradley even though he really didn't give a shit if Mr. Baseball Cap was properly Mirandized or not.  "I'll get my car and you and I can take him back to the station for a little question and answer session.  Sound like a plan?"  

[Evangelina Bradley]

Stunned by Evangelina's tackle, the suspect's attempts to resist arrest are feeble at best and stop altogether when Bullock comes close - perhaps he figures that his odds of fending off two cops are just that much worse than they are against one lady cop. Once he's securely in cuffs, she glances up to see about the other runner. The idea of trying to get him too is so tempting - she knows that even with his current lead she's fast enough to chase him down, if not as quickly as his companion. But being fast enough is only a part of the equation, and she knows that anyone with any brains at all wouldn't continue to run straight down the road but attempt to lose her in the urban jungle that is Gotham's alleyways and backstreets. And the head start he has is plenty for that, so she recognizes the futility of trying.

So instead her attention turns to the suspect she has in custody. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she's more than a little bit aroused by this situation. Not that she has any interest in the man she chased down - she's too good for such a pathetic little worm, but after such a demonstration of her absolute superiority over him there's a huge part of her that feels that she ought to now be rewarded for her excellence by someone more deserving of her attention. A feeling that she doesn't think is kinky at all - not when compared to what some of the clients of her side-job get off on, anyway. Unfortunately, she's been single for a year now so the odds of her doing anything with that feeling besides taking a cold shower after her shift are quite low. It's times like these when she starts to miss her ex, though the fact that she transferred to Gotham to get away from said ex is an indication of how she feels the rest of the time.

Fortunately, Bullock's reminder of what she should be doing now helps her forget any such thoughts and get down to business. "Your skinny-ass has the right to remain silent," she tells him, "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If your broke-ass cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Does your dumb-ass understand your rights?" Not exactly according to the book, but then again that tends to be a trend with her. The only reason she gives a damn about Mirandizing anyone is because it means that she doesn't have to lie in court about having done so. And the only reason why she cares about lying in court is because of what would happen if someone proves that she did.

When the suspect mutters something that sounds like an acknowledgment, her attention goes to Bullock. "Yeah, I can baby-sit him that long. I'll want to get my own car back to the station, but I'll meet you there," she replies with a nod, quite eager to find out what this guy knows.

Her attention going back to the suspect, she now tells him, "I'm gonna get up now, and you can sit but you're gonna to stay put and keep your skinny-ass on the ground or I'm gonna make you wish you had." Having said that, she gets back on her feet and smirks to herself when she sees that he's responding to her vague threat by rolling into a sitting position but doing exactly what she said. A wise move on his part, because it's unlikely that he'd be able to get up very quickly at all with his wrists restrained, and even if he did she already proved which of them is the better runner. Yep, she's definitely going to need a cold shower after her shift today.

[Deleted]

"Back so soon, Bullock?"

"We hardly had time to miss ya!"

Bullock's comrades at the MCU were ruthless when it came to razzing their fellow detectives.  This was especially the case tonight given how cranky Bullock had been when told he was being assigned this case so close to the end of his shift.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." he said, breezing past the smart asses while simultaneously greeting them with an extended middle finger.  He announced, "Need to use Interview Room #4..."

Though the folks in the MCU didn't typically beat the tar out of suspects (or witnesses) like often happened in other divisions of the GCPD, most everyone there understood that sometimes a heavy hand was needed to be used to extract important information in a timely manner.  So Interview Room #4 was selected because it was located towards the back of the building, away from anyone who might cast judgmental glances towards the questionable interrogation tactics which might have to be implemented. 

He went onto explain, "...Me and a uniformed officer-- Bradley-- are gonna be interviewin' a suspect in tonight's East Side shootings.  Double homicide."

Using a uniformed officer in an interrogation on what might turn out to be a high profile case?  This caused Bullock's fellow detectives to give him a couple of sideways glances.  Then one of his colleagues-- Detective Gomez-- realized exactly who Bullock was talking about.  "Bradley?  Evangelina Bradley?  Smokin' hot blond with a super sweet set of tatas?" 

"Yeah, that's the one," Bullock shot back in a tone that made it clear that he did not think it was appropriate that Gomez had judged a book by its covered and seemed to have reduced the officer to little more than a sex object.  Knowing that his message had been received loud and clear, Bullock continued his trek to Interview Room #4.  Before stepping inside, however, his own hypocrisy dawned on him.  After all, he had referred to Officer Bradley as the "blond with a nice rack" just an hour or so ago.  "Don't I feel like a horse's ass?" he mumbled to himself.   

Once inside Room #4, the detective took a moment to assess the layout of the room.  Not very big.  Spacious enough for a table, one metal folding chair on each side of that table, two cameras mounted in the southwest and northeast corners of the room, and that was about it.  He hit a button on each camera, then stepped into the next room to verify that the closed circuit feed and recording devices were working properly.  Satisfied that they were, Bullock glanced down at his wristwatch.  "Come on, Bradley... Hurry up and get our suspect here," he whispered to himself.  Of course he didn't want to spend all night at the station.  His primary concern, though, was that he didn't want any extra time to talk himself out of giving Bradely-- admittedly someone rather low on the totem pole-- a chance to participate in the interview.

[Evangelina Bradley]

Evangelina is hardly oblivious to the sort of attention that she attracts among many of her mostly male colleagues - some of them aren't very good at making sure that she's not within earshot when they talk about her, after all. And she can't say that she especially likes it. Not that she has a problem with being viewed as sexy, but when they form that opinion based solely upon her physical appearance it proves that they're all shallow pigs. If they thought she was sexy because she's strong, smart, bold, or anything else, that would be a different matter. But no, apparently she's sexy because she has breasts. Pigs.

Fortunately, those that actually get to know her tend to stop thinking about her that way so the workplace isn't entirely intolerable. And though she's very quick to chew out anyone she actually catches making such comments about her, she figures that the best way to shut them all up is to find some way to show them all that she's not just a pretty face. Which would hopefully include a promotion - she certainly deserves one. In fact, she's sure that she's been overdue for more responsibility for quite some time, but she knows that you don't rise up in the ranks by begging for it. No, you have to get the attention of your superiors somehow.

Which means that for all she knows the guy she's escorting to Interview Room #4 could be her ticket to bigger and better things. Or it could not - they've overlooked her talents so far, so she must be realistic in assuming there's a good chance that it'll happen again, but she can be hopeful. But really she just needs to focus on doing a good job with this interview and then see where the chips fall.

And focused she is - she doesn't even notice whether or not anyone is paying particular notice of her or where she's taking their suspect. Instead she's too busy mulling over possible strategies. He'll likely be a tough one - he didn't attempt to avoid being interrogated by singing like a canary the moment she pulled out the cuffs, so he must feel like he has good reason to keep what he knows to himself. And even though they brought him straight here, he's likely had enough time to realize that they went after him because he ran and not because they know why - which puts them somewhat at a disadvantage.

Still, she's quite hopeful that they'll get him to crack - this isn't the first time she's interrogated someone, after all, and sometimes it was while she was doing actual police work. She just needs to remember that this is being filmed and that those who may later view the interview have a certain boundaries that they wouldn't like to see crossed and everything should go smoothly.

When they reach the room, Evangelina gives the suspect a not-very-gentle push toward one of the folding chairs and instructs him to, "Sit." Closing the door behind him, she shifts her attention over to Bullock, idly stretching her neck from side to side as she asks, "Is there a particular way that you want to do this? Or should we play it more by ear?" Based on the amount of confidence in her voice, she's sure that the latter would be fine. Still, he probably has a lot more experience conducting interviews 'properly' than she does, so she's open to the idea that he knows some tactics that she doesn't. Then again, 'open' doesn't mean that she expects him to - an interrogation is an interrogation no matter the surrounding circumstances and she's pretty sure that she knows her options.

[Deleted]

"Play it by ear?" Bullock asked, repeating Officer Bradley's question as he silently debated the pros and cons of walking into the interrogation unscripted. "Nah... Winging it may sound tempting when dealing with half-wits like this guy, but we better dot our T's and cross our I's..." (At this point the detective paused for a split second to see if his counterpart would chuckle at his deliberately botched use of a common figure of speech.)  "We could good cop, bad cop it.  Sure it's cliche, but dammit if it don't work...  Of course, I don't really look good in a white hat.  And you've already asked him 'whose your momma', so you can't be the good guy...  Screw it, let's go bad cop, bad cop for shits and giggles." 

Bad cop, bad cop.  It was a GCPD specialty.  A strange variation on one of the most commonly used interrogation techniques.  In a nutshell, the first questioner walks in and instantly begins berating the suspect.  A physical pummeling is optional.  Then the second questioner bursts into the room and insists that the first "take a break"/"cool off".  The suspect momentarily experiences a sense of relief, only to find out the the second questioner is every bit as ruthless as the first.  By the time the second questioner is done with his (or her) own berating of the suspect-- and mandatory pummeling-- that suspect will be begging for a chance to tell all he knows.

Carrying only the suspect's wallet and a manilla folder containing documents completely unrelated to tonight's double homicide, Bullock slung open the door to Interview Room #4.  Given the tiny size of the room, it took the detective no time at all to close the gap between the door and the man he was about to question.  Flipping open the guy's wallet, Bullock spiked at least a half dozen fake IDs (one-by-one) onto the table.  "Jose Luis Gutierrez...  Evander Parsons..." he said, reading the names off of those phony driver's licenses, "Jacob Crimini... What? Are you a friggin' mushroom?  Who are you kiddin'?  We know exactly who you are..."  Holding up the man's State ID (a document typically issued for those whose driving privileges had been suspended or revoked) that featured a photo that had been snapped with his eyes halfway closed, Bullock guessed that it was the only real McCoy in the bunch.  "Mitchell Sigwerth: Second class screw-up whose about to find himself doin' forty-ta-sixty years for murder... unless you start spillin' the beans right away."

At this point Bullock opened up the manilla folder and raised his index finger.  This gesture was intended to convey to Sigwerth that he didn't want him to say a word until the detective had finished reading through whatever was in the file.  Laughing aloud in an effort to sound as if he'd reached a point that he'd now seen it all, Bullock muttered, "You really are a piece of human filth.  I take back everything I just said.  I don't want you to start spillin' any beans.  I'm just gonna beat the shit out of ya!" 

After slamming down the prop file, Bullock sprang over the table and, in a movement he had perfected long ago, swept his foot under Sigwerth's chair until the whole thing was pulled out from under him.  This sent the suspect sprawling onto the floor.  The interrogator dropped his knee into the Siggy's ribs, and immediately followed this up with a couple of right fists to the man's forehead.  Not surprisingly, Sigwerth's baseball cap went flying to the other side of the Interview Room.  "It's times like this I love my friggin' job!!!" he yelled, quite convincingly portraying a cop who was every bit as evil as the scumbags he busted for a living.  "I'm gonna enjoy beatin' the holy hell outta you!!!"

[Evangelina Bradley]

The joke simply causes Evangelina to give an amused exhale, as she recognizes the humor but doesn't think that it's funny enough to actually laugh at. What causes more of a reaction is the reminder of what she said to the guy after she caught him - she smirks at the memory. "I'm good at bad cop," she comments idly, which is a bit of an understatement, really, since 'bad cop' to her isn't really behaving much differently than is her usual. It's simply a matter of exercising less restraint since she knows that she can get away with more when she can justify it as simply doing what she had to in order to get the job done.

Watching the feed from the cameras as Bullock goes in first, she finds herself being somewhat impatient as she waits for her cue. She actually does prefer to be the second person in this particular routine, but the waiting is bothersome anyway. Finally she sees Bullock jump over the table - which actually surprises her somewhat since she figured that the big man wouldn't be quite agile enough for that - and she figures now would be her moment to interrupt.

Bursting through the door, she scowls at him and puts a restraining hand on his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?!?" she asks him, pretending to be appalled by his actions, "You'd better settle down, detective - he's no good to anyone if you put him in the hospital." Waiting for him to back off in accordance to how this routine usually goes, she has to suppress a smile as she turns her attention to Mr. Sigwerth. She's not sure whether Bullock meant it or not when he said that it's stuff like this that makes him love his job, but that's definitely the case for her.

Her method of being 'bad cop' is somewhat different than his - just as ruthless but a more subtle flavor of it. "You'll have to excuse my friend here - he's a bit too passionate about his work. I mean, he's only involved in this because he was assigned the case," she explains, crouching next to their suspect and giving him a compassionate look. Which suddenly becomes hard as she angrily adds, "Not like me. That was one of my neighborhoods you were in." Straightening back up to her full height - which at only five foot four isn't that tall, though she still towers over the man on the ground.

Sensing that all is not well, Sigwerth now attempts to get up but is roughly shoved back down by a foot placed on his shoulder. "I know the people who live there. It's not a good place, Mr. Sigwerth, but you managed to make it even worse. Wanna guess how I feel about that?" she asks him, quickly answering her own question by bending over and whispering, "I don't like it..."

With nothing more than that for a preamble, she abruptly jumps on him, straddling him across his chest - which is no doubt still hurting after Bullock's attention and therefore probably doesn't appreciate her weight being placed there. Then, rather than punching the daylights out of him, she instead places her fingers on a few particular points where his neck meets the rest of his body. In a demonstration of how her side job can sometimes help with her main job, she happens to be very well educated about many of the body's pressure points - it's an excellent method for dealing with the problem of clients who want an intense session but have a romantic partner that they don't want to know about their masochistic side. When properly used, it leaves no or minimal marks but is very, very painful - which their suspect is obviously discovering now, based on the way he reacts to her digging in her fingers by sucking in his breath and obviously tearing up. She'll stop if he starts talking - if not, he'll likely start to scream and/or cry like a baby.

Evangelina, on the other hand, is smiling as she cruelly adds, "My shift ended five minutes ago - I'm getting paid overtime for this." Having said that, she now pauses just to observe his reaction. She can do much, much worse but the only part of her that wants to do so is her sadistic streak. The more sensible parts of her suspect that she might have done enough already and suggest that she ought to quit now, if so. The department may be more tolerant than most, but she doesn't want to be accused of overkill.