The Blue Bird Apartment Murder

[Mundane Monster]

OOC Thread

Thursday, January 21 2014 at 12:09 AM

Today a woman was murdered in her home during a temporary black out at the Blue Bird Apartment complex. The woman, Ms. Jamie May was found collapsed in chair with a knife in her chest along with thirteen stab wounds.

No one was found at the scene of the crime, but there are many suspects, as all of the tenants of the building were home at the time. Police chief Neil Barker and another officer are at the scene and are now investigating and interrogating all of the tenant and apartment staff.

"Okay, Rhodes. You got all that?" Barker grumbled as he strode into the apartment building, his face set into a frown and his gaze scrutinizing ever nook and cranny as he walked. The female officer who was accompanying him, scurried after him, her wild and curly brown mane slipping out of it's ponytail and falling into her face. She had a notepad and was frantically jotting down every word that fell from the Police Chief's mouth.

Said Chief turned around quickly and snatched the notepad out of the young woman's hand. "Don't take notes, you dolt!" He snapped, then forced his voice to soften. He didn't want to scare her off. He had already done that to too many rookies lately. More than half of their newbies had transferred within two weeks of working under him.
"If the killer sees you writing shit down like your wet behind the ears--which you are-- he'll try and pull one over on you."

The woman, Meghan Rhodes nodded then frowned, "How do you know the killer is a guy? They could be a girl for all you know!" She said, folding her arms across her chest.

Barker groaned, rubbing his temples, "That's--I--I'm just saying that because usually when we cops refer to perps, they're usually guys so it's just a habit," He spluttered.

"Well that's kind of sexist, women are just as strong--

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry Rhodes, Jesus!" Barker snapped and started walking again, heading to the empty storage room that they would be using as the interrogation room.

"Apology accepted!" Rhodes answered cheerfully, and Barker found himself rolling his eyes again.

"Whatever. Now remember, I'm the bad cop, you're the good cop okay?" He said, and she nodded eagerly as he opened the door to their 'interrogation' room.

The storage room was bare, save for few unmarked boxes, a table in the middle and three chairs, one for the suspect, two for the cops. Barker set down his recorder, and went to stand in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall and glowering at the door.

Rhodes stared at him, confused, before going to do the same.

"No, Rhodes you go outside and bring the first suspect in." Barker stated.

"Um...Okay, but why are you standing in the corner like that? It's really creepy." She commented.

"It's not 'creepy' it's an intimidation tactic." Barker grumbled, defending his position.

"Really? Cause you look like you're about too--

"Ugh! Just go, Rhodes!" Barker snapped, thrusting his finger in the direction of the door.

Rhodes huffed, and crossed her arms, stomping towards the door like a scolded five year old. "Fine. No need to be rude. Geez."

Rhodes, paused at the door, composing herself, smoothing down her hair, and then exiting. She went straight to the apartment lobby where the witnesses/suspects were sitting. Glancing down at the piece of paper where she had written down all of the names, she said, "Mimi d'Angelo? If you would follow me to the interrogation room?"

 

[Banana-senpai]

Mimi d'Angelo was hungry. She felt a bit shamed that she could think of lunch at a time like this, but she couldn't deny it. She skipped breakfast to make it in time for her shift, and she happened to have gone overtime. She was seated with about a dozen or so others, mostly tenants. They were all present during that cursed black out that got them all stuck in a mess.

A pretty brunette marched into the lobby. Mimi winced at the sight of the cop, feeling unnecessary nervousness take her. The knee jerking she didn't know she was doing intensified until she was called. She looked up at the woman for a few seconds before she realized she was supposed to follow. Mimi put on her shoes and straightened out her uniform before doing as told.

"How long will this go again?" She said, her voice broke in places.

 

[Mundane Monster]

Meghan Rhodes was so intent on looking tough and unapproachable lest the murderer be in that very room, she had to pause and splutter a bit before she could answer the security guards question. "Uuhh-" Aw man! Barker was going to kill her if he found out that she had said 'Uh' when talking to a potential suspect! "Like maybe an hour?" He was going to double kill her! She had just said two of his most despised words, 'like' and 'maybe' as well as phrased her answer as a question!

Her mother was right, she should have just gone for a desk job instead of opting for the field!
No! This is your first day--err night-- out Meg! Stay strong, you can do this! She thought to herself, squaring her shoulders and leading D'Angelo into the interrogation storage room.

Barker was in his same creeper position, leaning against the wall with his arms cross and his usual glare etched onto his features. Rhodes grinned and gestured to D'Angelo, while mouthing, "Questions now?"
Barker rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair before nodding.

Rhodes cleared her throat and sat down at the table. "Hi Ms. D'Angelo. I'm Meghan Rhodes, and I'll be asking you some question. Back there in the corner is my partner, Neil Barker, don't mind him though. He's just--" Meghan paused and bit her lip.

Crap crap crap! She was only supposed to say 'Don't mind him' and then start asking questions! But she had already started the sentence she couldn't just break it off now!
"Err--He's just there, for official Police...Purposes." She finished, trialing off near the end. She could only imagine the rage that was filling Barker right at that moment. He probably wanted to tell her to go sit in the squad car for the rest of the night.

"Anyway! Ms. D'Angelo, where were you during the black out?"

 

[York]

Ava Hazelton sat in an part of the lobby that's not as crowded, she was already a nervous wreck since there's a killer o the loose... What's more is that she might be next on their list of victims! She picked up a magazine laying around and pretended to read it, hiding her face behind it... Now was not the time to get nervous, she's supposed to be getting interviewed sooner or later... She was shaking, she hoped no-one would notice it, but then she was lost in other thoughts... She worried about where the killer is, he/she could even be in this very room with her right now! She shudders at the thought, still pretending to read her magazine, good thing no-one around can hear her thoughts...

 

[Mundane Monster]

Meghan swiftly exited the interrogation room and headed for the lobby. However after realizing that she was quite parched, (interrogating took a toll on the throat!), she took a detour to the water cooler.
"Crap!" She shrieked as a jet of water spurted out and sprayed her pant leg. "Aw man!" She whined as she tried to dab at the blotch with a tissue, but that only made it worse because the tissue pieces broke off and clung to the fabric of her pants.
After a few minutes of unsuccessful dabbing, groaning and angry grumblings, she gave up and headed to the lobby.
Holding her head up high and trying not to look like she had a huge dark stain with white tissue sprinkles on her right pant leg, she looked at her list and read the second name, "Ava Hazelton? Follow me to the interrogation room, please." She said and began walking down the hall. Turning around abruptly she smiled at the girl and gestured at her pants. "It's not pee or anything by the way. The water cooler? It sprayed on my pants. Haha..." She had no clue why she had even felt the need to clear that up, but she couldn't take it back now.

 

[York]

Eva put down the magazine she was holding when Meghan called her name, standing up and following her a little nervously. She was glad no-one had tried to kill her yet, she felt a little awkward when Meghan pointed out the stain on her pants, but she decided a conversation with her wouldn't hurt "Yeah... Our Water cooler has a history of doing that sort of thing, something about too much hydraulic pressure..." She said quietly laughing a little nervously "I'm guessing tissues didn't help this particular case, did they?" She continued noticing the bits of tissue clinging to her pants, thinking for a moment she pulled out her handkerchief from one of her pockets in her jacket offering it out to Meghan "Here, this should do the job better, I carry this thing around a lot since the tissues don't seem to work as well as they used to.."

 

[Banana-senpai]

Mimi's nervousness melted upon seeing the policewoman stuttering and unsure. She relaxed a bit. "And hour." She repeated. She sighed. Now she thought of lunch even more. She won't be out here for a while. She's not even going to get paid for her hours today. At the very least, she might get home early.

All she probably has to do is answer all the questions correctly. And by correctly, she means as least suspicious as possible.

She caught sight of another cop, leaning on the wall before she followed to where she was supposed to sit. She shyly took another glance. Oh my god, he's hot. Well, she's hot too. What the hell am I thinking? Ugh, I'm hungry.

Her eyebrows met as the policewoman introduced herself and the other cop. She gave an uncomfortable but polite smile and a nod to them both.

Her eyes widened at the question.

"I um, first floor the whole time." She said, her hands clamped together under the table. "It's protocol, see. When there's a power shortage, it's the job of the security personnel to see to it that the problem is being solved."

 

[Mundane Monster]

Interrogation with Ava Hazelton

Meghan smiled wide, gingerly taking the handkerchief from the suspec--Ava.
Oh crap.
Rule 1 of being a cop; Never get friendly with the witness/suspect or perp! And she had just done all of those! If Ava was all of those that is.
Damn it! She wasn't even supposed to be thinking that!
Trying to wave the thoughts out of her mind, Meghan smiled while vigorously wiping her pant leg. Upon reaching the storage/interrogation room, she nearly smacked her head into the door, because she suddenly found that she couldn't look at Ava--Err the perp--suspect--Witness!

"We're here!" Meghan practically screeched, and Barker who was still leaning against the wall jumped in surprise and glowered at her. Meghan chuckled nervously and sat down, and gestured at the chair. Then when she realized that she was still holding the handkerchief, she folded it quickly and handed it to Ava. "Here you go, thanks. It's a nice texture--Err fabric. Haha...Ehm!" She spluttered and then cleared her throat. She could practically feel the holes that Barker was boring into her head with his disappointed and annoyed stare.
"Ms. Hazelton, where were you during the black out?" She asked.

-
-
Interrogation with Mimi D'Angelo

Meghan jotted down D'Angelo's response even though the recorder was recording their every word. Just as Meghan was about to pose the next question, Barker stalked forward and slammed his hands on the table. Meghan let out a squeak of surprise and Barker narrowed his eyes at her. She could almost hear him saying 'Dammit Rhodes!'. But before she could whisper or mouth 'Sorry!', her partner and mentor was already speaking.

"I um?" Barker inquired, cocking his eyebrow at the security guard. "Why 'um'? Are you not sure of where you were? Because if you were sure you would have said 'I um'. So let me ask you again, Ms. D'Angelo, Where. Were. You. During. The. Black. Out?" Barker snarled and even Meghan was a little scared at that point. She didn't understand why Barker had to be so mean all the time! He was like a grumpy old cat 24/7.

 

[Banana-senpai]

Mimi winced when Barker slammed a fist on the table and Rhodes squeaked. She looked up at him in alarm. He was apparently not pleased by that answer. Nothing gets past these cops! She stuttered because she always does in the face of authority. But that was obviously not a valid reason. She felt like the longer she hesitated, the more guilty she seemed.

"I was checking the wirings and whatnot." She said, trying her best to be calmer and mellow but it came out with a hint of indignation. "The electrician hadn't come so I thought I'd check them myself and report it so that there'll be less time to waste."

 

[York]

Ava jumped in surprise almost in perfect synchronization with Barker when Meghan announced they were here. She sat down in the chair Meghan had pointed out, taking the handkerchief when Meghan handed it back to her, she carefully put it in her jacket pocket again... "Thanks.." She said blushing a little at Meghan's compliment. When Meghan asked her first questions, she readily answered it. "I was at my apartment room 204 reading a book when it happened something I do often in my spare time." She answered as calmly as she could. Despite being a little nervous, especially with Barkers seemingly oppressing presence nearby... She hoped Meghan wouldn't take her nervousness wrong...

 

[frazfreyy]

Sonya Beech sat in the hall, waiting for her interrogation. She wanted to get home and study, she had a test coming up. Down the hall she could hear a kid complain to his mother as she tried to explain that her son had his bike stolen. Ugh. Sonya hated children, noisy, restless and annoying. She absentmindedly picked at her nail polish. I hope this ends soon she thought to herself. It's only a couple of hours until my appointment at the hairdressers.

 

[Cahill]

Davie was unable to sit anymore. The seat felt hard and the back of it dug into his back. He wanted to get back to his big, comfortable armchair. Back in his apartment. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be interrogated by detectives that would scream in his ears like those that were usually on crime shows. He stood and started pacing up and down, not thinking about those who had entered and that were still left, his fingers twisting and playing with their counterparts.

There might even be a camera in there, his mind raced and a sickening knot started to form in his stomach. He had read somewhere once that people believed a part of their souls got caught by a camera so an image can be created and he didn't like the idea of being trapped on a square piece of paper. He shivered and glanced at the clock. The ticking of it usually calmed him somewhat. It was getting late.

 

[Mundane Monster]

Interrogation with Mimi D'Angelo
Barker scoffed at D'Angelo's response. He gave her a not at all kind smile, and exaggeratedly threw his hands into the air. "You were checking the wirings and what not." He mimicked. "Well that;s interesting. Really, really interesting." He said, narrowing his eyes and going back to leaning against the wall, though he never took his gaze off of the security guard.

Gosh darn! Why did he always have to be so mean? Meghan Rhodes thought. But it wasn't as though she could say anything. She had to go with the flow. He was the bad cop and she was the good cop, 'not comfort and defend the witness/suspect/perp cop'.
Barker made a 'go on' motion in Meghan's direction and so she did.
"How long have you been working here at The Blue Bird Apartment Complex?" She asked, trying to iron out the tension and air of nervousness. She really didn't approve of the 'get the perp nervous and they'll spill' tactic. She found it terribly rude and underhanded.

Interrogation with Ava Hazelton
Meghan smiled, nodded and jotted down Ava's response. "Okay and how long have you been living in--
"What was the name of the book?" Barker suddenly asked, interrupting Meghan's next question. The rookie huffed and glowered at her notepad. She was supposed to be asking the questions! He was only supposed to butt in when he thought something sounded suspicious or an answer sounded rehearsed! Why in the world did he even care about the title of the book? Was he hoping it would say 'Murder Be Me' by 'Ava Hazelton'?

Interrogation with Sonya Beech
She had only been there for three hours and she was already tired. She suddenly felt the need to call her mom and complain about how rude and annoying Barker was being. But all her mom would say is 'Well I told you to get that desk job honey!' in that annoying nasally voice of hers. And damn it, maybe her mother was right. Police Academy had been challenging and kind of fun, racing through the obstacle course, acing all of her tests! But this--This real life field work was horrible!
Shuffling out of the interrogation room, Meghan entered the lobby and glanced down at her list. Two down, three to go. "Sonya Beech? Follow me to the interrogation room please."
When they reached the room, Meghan got straight down to it. After interrogating two other people, she finally felt like she could introduce herself and Barker then start firing out the questions without screwing up.
"I'm Barker and that's my partner Barker."
...
Damn it.

"I mean, I'm Rhodes and that's my partner Barker!" She yelped, her face turning a lovely shade of red. She cleared her throat, "Anyway, Ms. Beech, where were you during the blackout?"

Interrogation with David Casters
"Don't screw up, don't screw up." Meghan chanted to herself as she walked down the hall and to the lobby. She needed to at least be able to interrogate one person without reversing her words or stuttering or just anything! She was supposed to be a cop for goodness sakes! Barker never stuttered! And even if he did stutter, he would never get flustered or embarrassed because nobody messed with someone who never smiles. Maybe she should give up smiling? Or get a tattoo of a frowny face...

"Uh...David Casters?" Meghan inquired when she saw a man pacing up and down the lobby floor. There was only one other guy, and he didn't really look like a David. More like a Zack or a Greg. Meghan shook away her straying thoughts and kept switching her gaze to the pacing man and the other guy. "David Casters? Follow me to the interrogation room, please."

Upon entering the room, Meghan introduced herself and Barker, only managing to screw up on her own name--she called herself 'Robes'.
"Where were you during the blackout, Mr. Caters?"

 

[crazemazec]

Matt was sitting in the chair trying to not listen to the tick of his wrist watch. He checked his phone every once and a while. All I do is push buttons on a keyboard he thought. When had the nerd ever done anything wrong. What was up with this cop girl he thought she walked as if she second guessed everything she did. Matt shifted constantly shifted for a while until he gave up being comfortable.

 

[York]

Ava was startled jumping a little when Barker interrupted Meghan suddenly. "I guess they don't call him Barker for nothing..." She thought to herself before turning to Barker and speaking in a quiet voice"The name of the book was Inkspell, second in the Inkheart series, if you've read them..." She turned to Meghan. "As for how long I've stayed here, it's been about a little over a month I think... Time sure flies by doesn't it? It still feels like I just moved in yesterday..." She nervously turned back to Barker, half expecting him to yell at her for breaking eye contact for a moment to answer Meghans question which Barker had interupted quite rudely in fact, before Meghan had a chance to finish asking it.... She had to admit he was kind of good looking, but he's got a real temper, a scary one in fact... She could tell he played the "Bad cop" role here....

 

[frazfreyy]

Sonya held back a laugh as the interrogator messed up her introductions. She hid her smile as she explained where she was. "I got back during the blackout. I was at the university for a lecture, and had stayed longer than expected for some extra tutoring." She turned to the Barker standing shadily in the corner. Sonya was a little unsettled by his presence. "Is he going to ask any questions at all or is he standing there to freak out the witnesses" she smirked. She continued with her explanation. "The lights in the lobby and hallways were off, and I suspected a power outage, which was confirmed when I couldn't turn on anything in my apartment. I went off to find a staff member to ask what was going on. I had an assignment I had to write up on my computer." She glanced between the cops. Barker's face wasn't visible, and Rhodes was still looking a little flustered over her earlier mistake. "When I was unable to find a staff member, I went back to my apartment and tried to read the book I had to do a report on with the light on my phone." Sonya laughed. "Don't try it, it works terribly and eats up your battery life!".

 

[Banana-senpai]

Mimi looked from the male cop to the female cop, finally assessing their roles. This somehow eased her thoughts. Had it been too fluid, she might end up talking about things that aren't meant to be said and end up looking even more suspicious. She has a way with talking and it wasn't always good.

"I've been assigned here for six months." It was a fairly new contract, she didn't want to mention. Her hands moved from their fidgety place under the table to its surface, folded neatly in front of her chest. If she appeared calm, would that make her look more innocent? Or more of a practiced psycho?

 

[Cahill]

Davie, having been so enveloped in his thoughts whilst pacing, didn't at first hear the female detective calling him. The brunette was fairly attractive though he preferred straight hair. He followed her into the storage room, giving the male detective a sidelong look as he sat in his designated chair, one that was probably more uncomfortable than the one outside. The room felt cramped to him, with its boxes and the table and chairs and three occupants to boot. Davie shook his head slightly as the woman spoke, naming him "Caters" instead of Casters, but didn't address it. He threw a random glances as he began to speak, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"I was in my room, on my armchair, in my living room," he rambled off quickly, feeling slight relief as he realized the only recording device in the room was a sound one. "I was busy reading a book, you see? About a grandfather clock, because the one I have needs repairing. Anything else detective Robes?" He asked hoping that was all they wanted to know.

 

[Bitterblue]

Lizzie started pacing. She couldn't stay still when she was nervous. She either tapped her feet or her fingers, or paced when space allowed it. Her ADHD showed in this habit. Lizzie needed to get back home so she could finish her thesis statement, it was due next month! Her parents would kill her (bad choice of words...) if she failed to turn it in on time. Lizzie wasn't one who did well in confrontations. She always withdrew into herself. Wonder what they're going to ask me? she thought. Probably her whereabouts, and what she was doing, like they do in the crime shows. That reminded her her favorite crime show, Bones, was airing that night. She was going to miss it! Groaning, she forced herself to sit down, and twiddle her thumbs. Humming absently, she watched as one by one the people in the room got called in for questioning. All that was on her mind right now was her Thesis and Bones....this had better not take a long time.