Race Against Time

I walked into the precinct, rifling through my notes. Isabella and Adam came off the elevator, all smiles and laughter.
"Well, isn't this case just getting weirder and weirder? I mean, what are the odds that our victims knew each other and were at the same party last night?" Isabella was saying. Wait, what? They'd found a connection and no one told me?
"I know, it's crazy! Same MO too, we got us a double homicide", Adam replied, giving her a high-five. In what world is that good news? They walked by me, still chattering over the case. Lindsay came off the elevator and walked over to me.
"Hey, we have a possible suspect", she said, handing me a piece of paper. I studied it.
"Yeah, I know that goon. I've picked him up more times than I've tied my shoe", I said.
"C'mon", Lindsay said, waving me off. I followed her out. Danny had the day off, his back was hurting today. We pulled up to a gym where Jesse Khan was a trainer.
"Jesse Khan", I said, holding up my badge. He turned and bolted. Lindsay took off after him, with me on her heels. She slammed him up against the wall.

"Nicely done, Montana", I approved. I held up the autopsied picture of Samuel Boscoe.
"Dude, that's Boscoe. He's dead?" Jesse said. I nodded. Lindsay let go of him.
"Several little birdies told me you were at the party the night before", I said.
"Yeah, but I left, man. Not my scene, all those costumes and stuff", Jesse replied.
"Where were you around nine thirty and a quarter to eleven last night?" I asked.
"I left the party around nine thirty and I took a little souvenir with me, if you know what I mean", Jess replied, winking. Oh Lord...
"We're gonna need her name", Lindsay said.
"Nah, I didn't get it. She was dressed up like Jasmine though, like from Aladdin", Jesse replied.
"Okay, don't leave town, we'll be in touch", I said. Jesse gave Lindsay a one-over glance.
"Lemme know if you want a souvenir of your own, little lady", he said with a wink.
"No thanks, I don't think my husband would like it", Lindsay retorted icily. Ouch.
"If you change your mind, you know where to find me", Jesse said.

We walked outside and a car pulled up, rap music blaring. Lindsay clapped her hands over her ears and hid her head. I recognized the song from the audio in the ring. Finally the car shut off, but Lindsay was still shaking.
"It's okay, the music's gone", I soothed her. She stood up, her eyes wide.
"See? It's gone", I said. She stopped shaking finally and we walked back to the precinct. Isabella came up to Lindsay.
"Hey, we got people from the party in interrogation", she said. Lindsay nodded quickly.
"You okay? You look absolutely terrified", she commented, resting her hand on Lindsay's arm.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get into interrogation", Lindsay replied and walked off quickly. Isabella looked up at me.
"What happened?" she asked.
"A car pulled up playing one of the songs from...", I started to say. She clapped her hand over my mouth.
"I get it. Don't say the group name", she replied. I chuckled and kissed her palm.
"She also was just hit on by a suspect, so she's probably feeling kind of flattered", I said. Isabella laughed.
"I got something to go over with Adam, but I'll catch up with you later", she said. That soured my mood.
"No problem. When do you get off?" I asked. She looked at her watch.
"Uh, I think at seven or eight? I'll let you know", she replied. She kissed my cheek before walking off. Today must be a good day. Some days, she could walk normally, others weren't so good.

"Hey, Flack, can I get your help with something in the lab?" Adam asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, sure, Adam. I'm not a scientist or anything, so I might not be much help", I replied.
"It's just help with reconstruction", Adam assured me.
"Oh, okay, I can do that", I said, following him up. We walked into reconstruction, Isabella was leaning against the counter.
"Alright, so Isabella is playing our female vic in this, and I'm afraid she'll wind up hurting me, so that's why you're here", Adam said. Isabella rolled her eyes.
"He couldn't even lift that pig up earlier", she said.
"Alright, so I'm the attacker and I'm going to attempt to hurt you", I said, getting into position.
"The defensive wounds were pretty deep, so the vic fought like hell", she replied.

"So how am I going to attack?" I asked. Isabella studied a photo.
"The oldest-looking defensive wound is on her knee, so go for my side", Isabella replied. I went to go for her ribs, and Isabella's leg shot up to block me.
"Then?" I said.
"Um, there was bruising on her knee, so grab her knee and twist her around and grab her wrist", Adam instructed. I grabbed her knee and twisted her around so her back was to my chest. My other arm caught her wrist.
"Go for the ribs", Adam said to Isabella. She went for my ribs with her arm.
"Okay, now, the rest of it is consistent with our vic having her back pressed to something, like a wall or something", Isabella said, looking at the photos. I looked at the photos.
"But she was found on her back on the ground, so maybe our killer knocked her down?" Adam suggested. Isabella nodded.
"Be gentle", Isabella teased me. I looked at the bruising on the vic's legs and landed a gentle kick to Isabella's good knee and she dramatically tumbled to the ground.
A lab tech ran in, trying to help her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, glaring up at me.

"It's okay, it's part of reconstruction", Isabella assured him. I leaned over her like I was going for a push-up. She moved my dog-tags out of her face, fanning her face.
"This looks kind of suggestive", I commented.
"You know, usually I don't let guys get on top of me unless they buy me dinner first", Isabella giggled.
"There had to have been dozens of people at that party, possibly a hundred. Someone had to have seen something. Danielle Wolfe died because it didn't look like someone was hurting her. It looked like her and our killer were fooling around", Adam said.
"So we need to ask them this: Who was she 'fooling around' with?" I said. I grabbed Isabella's hands and helped her up. She smoothed out her dress and hung up her lab-coat.

"I'll have Lindsay and Jo keep the suspects in custody till I get the answers", I said, walking out.
"Oh, Isabella! What did you think of that movie I recommended to you?" Adam asked. I felt a sour ball in the pit of my stomach as I left.