Untitled(1) "Through here detective" said the officer, as i was lead in to a small room in a seedy hotel by the river. My name is Jack Caesar, detective in the NYPD for 8 years, i started most nights like this, dark hotels by the river, rooms lit up only by the neon lights on the street cutting through the blinds like lasers. I had been on cases in the lower east side since i got my badge, they were your normal homicides; murder for love, prostitution, money, drugs and your occasional housewife murder. i started the night off thinking this would be the same old case. "holy shit" i exclaimed as i walked into a room were blood and guts covered the walls, the smell of rotten flesh and a pool of sick, most likely that of the beat cop that found her. Yes her, a young woman by the looks of it to, not too pretty and guessing by her clothes one of vice. There she laid tied to the bed with her abdomen sliced open and its contents spilled out onto the once white sheets. This was a scene unlike any i had seen before, thus the reason i froze with amazement, staring into the void as the doctor from the City Coroners Office gave me the low down. "Okay Jack, murder, victim was sliced open with a sharp cutting tool, we'll have to take some measurements back at the office as we cant find a suitable murder weapon. We'll take some further tests and a toxicology report to see what killed her, although judging by the position of the victim she was squirming as the blade entered her abdomen. Victim was a Violet Pemberton. we recoverd her bag from beneith the bed, must have been kicked under during the ordeal." he explained. "We've done a thorough search of the scene Jack, theres no sign of the victims heart" he continued with a chilling edge of realism. After examining the scene and taking notes, i hatlstly moved into the hallway and began my routine check for suspects. Unfortunatly it was mid week and all the rooms where empty, only a guy working the door on the bottom floor. As i got to the bottom of the staires i found a small window of a closet sised room where he sat, watching a small portable tv goormlessly. "Have you been here all night sir?" i asked. "huh, what..." he turns to look at me asif i had woke him up. "...yeah, yeah. I been on since 10 last night" he said, turning back to the screen, fiddling with the antener. "did you see who booked the room sir?" i asked. "Yeah, she was a usual, Violet ithink her bame was" confirming the victim and the person in question were the same. "she rented rooms out most nights, if you know what i mean" he continued, winking and smirking at me. "I see and does she always book the same room?" i asked. BANG! He hit the small TV with a long sweep, almost knocking it off the table. "No, usually she books the room at the end of the hall, but it was unavailable due to a leak. She booked that one because it's the cheapest and the one upstaires is the cheapest one besides, so i guess she booked it for the same reason." He said glancing at the TV. I decided to leave him to his shows, walking down the hallway to the room he spoke of i could still hear him banging the TV set. I arrived at a door with a patchyness on the door that read out Private as if the lettering had been removed. I opend the door to find a small room with a water tank in the corner that looked asif it serverd the whole building, a horrid stench of damp lingured in the air. A small bed beside it with a chest of drawers and a dim light hanging from the ceiling is all that the small room consisted of. As i looked around the room i could see nothing of any relivence until i turned to see a sports jacket on a hook behind the door. I found a small labelinside that had the name of an expensive suit makers, corna & sons on 5th avenue, too expensive for me. The whole fact it was there made me suspicios of why an expensive jacket like this would have been left in a place like this. As i shuffeled around in the pockets i found a stirling silver box, a cigarette case. It had the enitials T.S inscribed. i took them both and made my exit, closing the door behind me with the jacket and cigarette case in hand i took a gasp of the air that surronded me, it may have been the stench of decades of sin but it was better than the damp of the room. I made my way to my car parked outside, past the nightman, still bashing at the TV. As i walked through the hotel doors the sunlight made me squint as i looked at my watch, 6:35am. It was early and i decided to seize the oppertunity to check out the suit makers lead, as it would be open by the time i had crossed the bridge.