Log:An Attempt on the Assistant DA

A List of Questions 2019/10/04 	 Night Marshal|Carpenter Tamara Garcia

7

Night Marshal leaves the meeting and climbs back down away from the building. He heads over several streets, keeping to the shadows for the most part. After a bit, he checks his personal phone, turning it on to check messages...and getting one from the assistant DA. "Damn it." He hurries to where his regular clothing is stashed and changes...stuffing his vigilante stuff in a bag before heading to Miss Garcia's home.

Tamara Garcia's condo isn't far from her job as Assistant District Attorney. More on the outskirts of City Center, and a 10 minute drive or maglev trip away from her offices at the DA's office. before Carpenter gets off the third floor elevator of her building and heads to her unit. He notices even before he gets there that the door is not completely closed, ever so slightly off by a centimeter.

Carpenter draws his weapon and sneaks toward the door. He then nudges it open to look around.

The door creeks a little when it first starts moving, but is quiet past the next two inches. The interior lights are still on, but one of the lamps is knocked over, as is a dining table chair. There's a cop drama playing on the holo-tv at regular volume. One of Tamara's favorite shows: "Capes, Law, and Order."

Carpenter winces as he hears the door creak. He moves further into the room, praying that he doesn't find Tamara has been killed while his phone was off. He continues moving around the condo, making sure it's cleared...and trying to find out Tamara's status.

The kitchen and living room seem clear, but Carpenter notices patches of blood on the floor. When he turns the corner to the kitchen, he notices a thin line of blood spray along the pantry door, and more blood on the floor. There's still the hallway from the living room that leads to the bedroom and half bath.

Carpenter takes care to not step in any blood. He makes his way quietly toward the bedroom and bath.

The half bath door is open, and Carpenter's able to quickly clear it. The bedroom door is open, but the lights are out and it's dark. But he's already familiar with the layout of Tamara's bedroom. The left side is open, and the master bathrom door is in that direction. The bed is straight ahead. There's a few spots of blood this way, too.

Carpenter clears the bedroom proper, checking the closets and under the bed, before heading toward the master bathroom. If she's here, she might have locked herself inside.

There's ragged, panicked breathing inside, trying to keep quiet.

Carpenter nods to himself. "Tamara? Is that you? It's Jack. I got your message."

Carpenter moves near the bathroom door, but to the side, in case she fires a gun through the door on impulse.

"J-Jack?" Tamara's voice cracks. The door unlocks and Tamara opens it. She's trembling, holding a kitchen knife close to her chest. She's clutching it for dear life. Not seeing Jack when she opens the door, she nervously takes a step out.

Carpenter steps back a step in case she swings on reflex. "It's me. I'm here." He looks her over to see if she has any obvious wounds.

Carpenter is suddenly glad he took the time to change. She wouldn't have come out to speak with Night Marshal. He relaxes a bit, though he still has his pistol in hand for the time being.

Tamara does in fact let out a shrill little scream and jumps, swinging the knife on reflex, but it's a far miss for Jack. She quickly drops the knife when she realizes he's alone. "S***, I thought he was still here," she explains shakily. She has some reddish marks in a line around her neck, and looks like she's been in a fight. There's blood on her hands, but it doesn't seem to be her.

Carpenter holsters his pistol and goes to give her a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was afraid I was too late." There's a bit of a wobble to his voice, but he gets his composure back, "What happened, exactly?"

Tamara shakes a little bit before surrendering into the hug and the realization that she's safe now. "A man came. Forced himself in when I answered the door," she tries to get her thoughts straight to calm down, but she's still feeling the adrenaline and fear of the evening. "I managed to text you secretly before he took my phone and tossed it. He said he was here to make an offer." Her voice is strained and scratchy. She coughs a little to clear her throat.

Carpenter nods slowly. That seems a bit more strong-armed than he initially expected for the 'offer', but the pattern holds. "What happened after that? What was the 'offer'?""

Tamara sniffs. There's a few wet trails on her face. "He said that his employer would pay me for information on certain cases. Witness locations, details on cases, evidence. I knew about the list and said yes. But he grew suspicious. Damn. I....I really screwed up, Jack. I think I agreed too fast..."

Carpenter hugs her close again, "I'm sorry." He says quietly, "I'm guessing he took off. But the blood is his, I'm guessing. He tried to strangle you. You managed to reach a knife and slashed him."

Tamara nods slowly and lets out a brief, nervous laugh. "You really are a good detective," she comments quietly as he hugs her. "He started approaching me after he grew suspicious. I panicked and ran for the kitchen when he grabbed me with something and started choking me. I reached for the knife and started swinging it."

Carpenter nods. "You got him good. There's a lot of blood in the kitchen."

Tamara lets out a breath of relief. "He chased me back into the bedroom. Tried bashing the bathroom door down. But eventually it got quiet. I...I was too scared to come out."

Carpenter nods. "Do you know who he is? Or at least give a good enough description that if I show you some photos, you can pick him out?"

Tamara shakes her head slowly. "He wore a mask. But I think I could recognize his voice. He was about your height."

Carpenter thinks about it. "Asian? You might have gotten that from his eyes."

Tamara nods and wipes at her ceek with the back of her hand. "Definitely. He was strong. But lean. His accent was light."

Carpenter nods again. "Let's call in the beat cops to help out. Get a report taken down."

Tamara nods and lets out a shaky sigh, calmer now. Trying to collect her thoughts. "Sounds good, Jack," she murmurs, rubbing her throat along the marks there.

Carpenter makes a quick call to the police, letting them know what the situation is. He then says, "You're welcome to crash at my place, if you like. Once the reports and the like are dealt with."

"Thanks. I'd feel safer not being alone. At least for tonight," Tamara says gratefully after he gets off the call. Then she remembers. "Weren't you a potential target, too?"

Carpenter thinks about it. "There...is that. Maybe not my place." He grins.

Tamara manages a faint smile. "Maybe a hotel room..."

Carpenter nods, "Yeah. That sounds good. And I suspect the city can assign you a protection detail starting tomorrow."

Tamara sighs with relief at the idea of a protection detail. "How will this affect my cases?" she wonders. Of course she's thinking about the job.

Carpenter smiles. "In my opinion...think about that tomorrow. After you've had some time to process this."

Tamara nods a few times, still rattled from the experience. "Thanks for coming for me, Jack," she says softly to him, now that she's managed to collect herself more.

Outside the condo, the sounds of several footsteps approach as the beatcops arrive at the front door.

Carpenter smiles. "You're welcome, Tam." It's the first time he's said her nickname in a long time. "Whatever you need. Call me. I'll do what I can." He gives her another quick hug and then goes to greet the arriving officers.

Tamara hugs back, then turns on the lights in her bedroom before sitting on the edge of her bed to relax.

One of the beat cops calls out into the open condo, hand on his holstered pistol, "CBPD!"

Carpenter calls back, "Detective Carpenter, CBPD." He holds up his badge with his left hand, making sure his right is free just in case. These cops could in theory be on the take.

The lead cop steps in after seeing the badge, hand coming off his gun. "Detective. Were you the one who made the call?" Another steps in. He looks a bit younger, possibly a rookie.

Carpenter nods. "I was. Assistant DA Garcia hadn't been able to call 911 while she was being attacked, but got a quick text off to me. I got here as fast as I could. She managed to fight off her attacker, but...well, there's a lot of evidence to collect. And a crime scene to check out."

The officer nods and tells the rookie to go grab the evidence bags. "We'll start searching the place, Detective," he states, looking about at the state of the condo as he pulls out some protective nitril gloves from his belt, tugging them on.

Carpenter nods, "Thanks. I already got a statement from Miss Garcia. I can add it to the report."

The officer (Patterson, based on the name tag) notices the blood. "Sure. We'll get samples and evidence to the lab ASAP. Any ID on the perp for an APB?"

Carpenter shakes his head, "Just a partial description. Asian. Light accent. About five nine. Wore a mask. Muscular, but wiry."

Carpenter points toward hte kitchen, "We might find some DNA there we can use to try to get a match."

The rookie comes up with the evidence kit and gets some swaps vials ready for Officer Patterson to take. "I'll have a look and see what we can collect." He and the rookie move to the kitchen, careful to avoid stepping in any of the blood trails. "Does Miss Garcia need medical attention?" he calls back from the kitchen.

Carpenter nods. "She should have an EMT check her. The attacker tried to strangle her. But all that blood is the perp's."

"Damn. She must've nicked him good," Patterson states as he swabs some of the blood and caps it. The rookie calls in the EMTs and a short while after, a man and a woman EMT arrive with some medical bags.

The officers are marking off all the blood splatters for the scene photographer's arrival. Tamara's finally stepped out of her bedroom. She's cleaned off her tears since.

Carpenter mutters to Patterson, "If the guy bleeds out due to this, I wont' cry over it." He then says to the cop, "Do me a favor. Call the hospitals, checking for people with nasty blade wounds, matching the description I gave. They'd be in the E.R.

Carpenter says, "That's as close as we'll get to an APB."

Patterson nods and steps aside, radioing in to dispatch with the details and to have the hospitals checked. While he waits for details to come back, the EMTs go over to Tamara and inspect her.

"Looks like you have some lacerations and bruising. Are you having any trouble breathing?" the female EMT asks as she starts inspecting Tamara. She does basic checks first. Pulse, responsiveness, etc.

"It hurts a bit to swallow," Tamara says. Her voice is a little hoarse. The EMT looks along the bruising at her neck. A thin line. There's a bit where it cut into the skin, but it's just an abrasion.

By the time the EMTs finish dressing Tamara's neck injuries and a few scrapes, the officer says, "Detective! We got a potential match. Just got admitted to the ER at the CBSU Hospital. Neck wound. Chinese. 5'8"..."

Carpenter is still really concerned. But he tries to not show it as much, as there are people in the room other than just Tamara. He turns to the officer. "Be sure he's detained by the officers or guards on duty there."

Carpenter says, "Don't let them release him without questioning."

Carpenter says to the rookie collecting evidence. "Be sure to bag the knife as well. We'll need it to match to the wound the guy took."

The officer nods, radioing back and forth a bit with dispatch. "They're sending a unit now to detain him."

The rookie nods and heads for the bedroom to look around and bag the knife.

The EMTs finish with Tamara, who refuses to go to the hospital with them. "I'll be alright. I'll see my doctor," she says. The EMTs pack up and finish filling out their own forms before getting ready to leave.