For The Greater Good

For The Greater Good

04/20/2022

It’s 10 a.m. on a Tuesday when Mateo gets the call. He takes his phone out to glance at the name and proceeds to answer with, “Yeah?”
“Mateo? We have a homicide and need you on-site I’ll send you the address. This one seems odd to me so hurry it up.”
“What do you mean by it seems odd?” and right before hanging up the voice on the other end said, “Just get here.” And hung up. Mateo exhaled deeply and stood up from his chair grunting as he did so. He wasn’t excited to work that day as the flooding had gotten worse in recent days leading to investigations and traveling to be harder than they already are, but he went anyway and grabbed his knee-high water boots and water-resistant coat before leaving his house. He got onto his police-grade airboat with an onboard computer and extra storage and left to go to the address sent to him.
Upon arrival, he noticed the assortment of cops and CSI around the area, even cordoning off parts of the road. The road that passed above the canal was luckily elevated enough to avoid the water and Mateo got as close as possible and got the front of his airboat onto land before stopping and hopping out resulting in the boat slightly rocking and splashing. It would be a lie to say that his heart didn’t beat a little faster before entering the crime scene. He made his way to the Lieutenant to get the base evidence and then he would proceed to examine the scene himself. While walking up, his boss, Lieutenant Halle House, waved him over and pointed to the body below once he arrived closer. The first thing Mateo noticed was that the body was practically in plain sight. Apart from shrubbery that blocked the view of the body, it was out in the open laying eerily still in the water. “This does feel odd.” He thought to himself. “Anything useful yet?” He asked in a tired monotonous voice. Lt. Halle replied, “not much yet. She doesn’t appear to have any personal belongings on her, but she was identified pretty quickly. A woman by the name of Regina Miles, a single mother of two. She wasn’t reported missing or anything prior to this which is weird considering her kids are young. The body was determined to have died within the last 12 hours, meaning she was likely killed last night and then moved here.” Mateo took mental notes of all of it but knew he would have to write it down later. His memory was getting worse recently. “She was found naked. Was there evidence of assault?”
“None.” Replied the Lt. “She could’ve been robbed which would explain her missing items, but it doesn’t explain the other problem.”
“What other problem?” Mateo asked finally taking his eyes off the body. “You can’t see right now but she is riddled with puncture wounds.”
“How is that a problem. It makes it for sure a homicide and narrows down possibilities.” Mateo was wondering where she was going. “Yes, but I think it eliminated the possibility of a robbery as well. No robber stabs their victim twelve times when they’ve already robbed them and when 3 stabs would’ve been enough to kill or even one if done properly. To me, this is a clear-cut murder that could likely be emotionally motivated.” Mateo’s heart was racing hearing her description and opinion on the events. The way her brain worked was phenomenal, it's no wonder everyone in the department respected her. While putting together everything said he looked back over at the body. The slightly bloated and naked body of the woman Regina was horrific enough to make him gag but he held himself and continued his thinking. Mateo turned to the Lt. and asked why are you here sir? You don’t typically come out for fieldwork?”
“We have sunny skies predicted today so I wanted to go outside. Plus, we’re a little short on investigators right now. Crime isn’t getting any better here, so our forces are a little thin right now.” This reply seemed odd. Mateo was sure that the crime rate had been dropping recently. Could he have read the stats wrong? He quickly pushed this out of his mind and walked towards the floating corpse that was bombarded with the flashing of the waterproof camera used to document how the scene looked. After making sure everything was done properly, he asked to see her front so he could properly examine her punctures. Two gloved officers flipped her over to reveal thin marks all over her chest and stomach. There were so close together that they almost seemed like one wound. Violence like this had to be personal, or we're dealing with some new deranged psychopath but even the appearance of those is very few and between. And this to Mateo seemed out of place.
He waved his hand indicating it was enough and walked back over to the Lt. “You’re right it is a brutal killing. I’ve already seen enough so I’m going to start with gathering more information. I’ll go talk to her neighbor.”
“All right. I suppose that’ll do for now.” Weird response, Mateo thought. She’s been acting off since I got here. While boarding his airboat he called a fellow officer over and asked to let him know of the medical examiner's results, with the other officer replying with an understood nod.

After getting all of Regina’s info from the police database Mateo made it to the next-door neighbor of Regina. Soaked from the walk up the flooded driveway he knocked on the door and stood waiting for a response. After none came, he banged slightly harder and exclaimed, “This is the police, I just have a few questions for you. Mateo tried avoiding this line as it usually deterred people from answering but to his surprise the door was opened to reveal a middle-aged man with bald and greying hair. “Hi Mr. La Rosa, I’m Detective Mateo Castanado and I am here to ask some questions about your neighbor Ms. Regina Miles.” With an apprehensive tone, he replied, “Ok, what would you like to know?”
“Were you aware that she was found dead?” Mateo asked this question not for the answer but for the reaction. “Wait, what? She’s dead?” The look of shock and grief on the man's face told Mateo the majority of what he needed to know. This man didn’t know anything. “Yes, she is,” Mateo replied flatly. “I came here mainly to ask about your last interaction with her and the last time she was seen or heard of?” Understandably shook Mr. La Rosa was still. “Last time I saw her was on Sunday. She had mentioned something about a job opportunity or something that would require her to be away for a few days and asked me if I could watch her kids while she was away. I’ve babysat them plenty of times before, but I wasn’t able to this time, so I declined. I think she sent her kids to their grandma's after that further towards Naples but I’m not quite sure. I’m sorry I don’t have more.” Mateo writing this all down speaks without looking up. “Don’t worry any and all information you give helps.” A blatant lie but that doesn’t matter. This job opportunity. Mateo was able to figure out that Regina was tight with money, so this seemed to make sense. Could something have happened on the way there? “Ok, and do you know anyone who could possibly have had a grudge, or some type of reason to hurt Regina?” La Rosa’s face looked almost disgusted with the question. “No way. She was incredibly nice and an amazing mother, I can’t see anyone trying to hurt her.”
“And about the job opportunity she mentioned, was there anything in particular about the opportunity that she said to you? Anything at all?” The man stood there hand to his head thinking. “I can’t fully recall the conversation, but I think she mentioned something about that technology company that’s been cooking up something new. It was Waterworks or maybe Wayworks?”
“Waterways?” Mateo said finally looking up from his notepad. “Yes, that’s it Waterworks. That’s all she said about it though not much else.” Mateo finished writing and put his notepad away. “I appreciate all the information you’ve given me. If anything, more comes up please feel free to call and let me know.” Mateo then pulls out a paper card with his name and number at the station. “No problem sir,” said La Rosa as Mateo walked towards his boat. “also can you please check on her kids? They’re still fairly young and this is going to be a tragic blow for them.” Mateo turned on his air boat and before leaving looked over at him and said, “Don’t worry sir someone will.” And then proceeded to leave with a wave. Next stop, Waterways, he thought as he used his onboard computer to look up everything there is to know about this company. He typed the name into the search engine and looked through the multitude of results that arose. Something that caught his eye was the name of someone that was leading the research of their newest device, Alex Jones.
“I’ve seen his face before.” Mateo thought, and he remembered a few months ago meeting this Alex at a science museum. This was a good chance, I’ll go to Waterways and talk to Alex about this job opportunity their offering and see if that sheds any more light on what happened to her between Sunday afternoon and Monday night. Mateo went on and passed through the water-ridden streets and felt almost at peace with the nice cold breeze blowing against his skin. He then left to be on his way to the main research lab of Waterways.

As Mateo pulled up to the Waterways laboratory, he took in the whole shiny silver building. The windows reflect the bright sun and stand on the stilts that kept it above water. He parked his boat next to the many others lined up parallel to the floating dock and got out. Clothes still sodden he walked up the stairs leading to the first story lobby, complete with a receptionist desk. Mateo walked up to the young girl typing away at the desk and asked her if she could speak to Dr. Alex Jones. “Let me call him and see if he is available.”
“Oh. Please tell him it’s Detective Mateo, I met him a few months ago so he might remember me.” She nodded and picked up her phone to call. With the phone held to her ear by the shoulder, she spoke to the other end. “Dr. Jones? Yes, there is a Detective Mateo here to see you, says he met you before…mhm…Ok, sir.” She put the phone back down and looked and Mateo blankly. “You can go up and see him. Take the elevator to the 45th floor and take a left. You’ll walk past a file room which is blatantly marked and hard to miss and across from that is Dr. Jones’ office.” Mateo nodded his head slightly and said Thank you before proceeding to the elevator. The ride was very short and fast, done within a few seconds even, and the doors opened up to an almost blindingly white hallway.
Mateo followed the receptionist's instructions and came upon the file room and Dr. Jones's office right across. Before knocking he breathed deeply to compose himself and then knocked on the door twice. From the other side, he heard a “come in” and opened the door to reveal Alex Jones, looking all tired and aged. He looked at Mateo with a look of confusion before finally recognizing him. He leaned back in his chair, “Oh, detective. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?”
“Nothing much I just came to ask a few questions about this company you work for.” Mateo was trying to think of a way to word it without saying too much. “You see we have a case of this mom going missing and she was supposedly going to this lab for some job opportunity that was offered to her. We’re thinking she was kidnapped on the way here, but I just wanted to ask more about this job opportunity so I could get a better feel for where she was going. I called you specifically since I was hoping as head of one of the projects and one of its senior members, I figured you might be willing to help an acquaintance.” Dr. Jones looked blankly at Mateo. He then sat forward and said, “I’m sorry but I’m not aware of what job opportunity you’re talking about. Frankly, I’m not aware of all the happenings in this building only on this floor mainly, but I haven’t heard anything about any new job opportunities here.” His eyes were saying something but Mateo wouldn’t tell what. “Weird, her neighbor had mentioned it and even this company by name. I wonder why he would do that?” I doubt Mr. La Rosa would lie, he seemed like a most honest man. Still doesn’t mean anything. “Well, I’ll be on my way. please let me know if any information about this Regina Miles happens to come through.” At the mere mention of Regina Dr. Jones seemed to twitch. Mateo took note but kept walking out and said “I’ll be seeing you doc.” With a wave of his hand. The doctor waved back reluctantly before the door was closed. Weird, Mateo thought. Which one is lying? While pondering the door to the filing room opened and a nurse with a patient's information walked out. Mateo took this quick opportunity and after making sure no one was looking he made his way inside. He didn’t really know what he was looking for but if they were involved, he might be able to find something.
Mateo assorted through many different cabinets. “why do they still use paper? Looking through everything manually is so inefficient.” While browsing the names on the cabinets one said, LADS. Where had he heard this before? He looked through the files of this LADS and came to realize it was a new device being worked on by Waterways, and the head scientist was Alex Jones. He kept browsing some more and came across a piece of paper with very flashy writing that stated, “4-DIGIT REWARD FOR ANY VOLUNTEER WILLING TO TRY OUT OUR NEW PRODUCT. TO SIGN UP PLEASE CALL THE NUMBER BELOW OR VISIT THE ADDRESS STATED.” This was it, Mateo thought. The job opportunity that La Rosa mentioned. Why had Dr. Did Jones kept it hidden? He had to have known about volunteers for his own project, hell he probably greenlighted the whole thing. Suddenly the door to the file room opened. In a panic, Mateo crouched down and hid after quickly closing the cabinet. He hid behind some shelves and waited as the figure of Dr. Jones appeared in his eyes. Shit, he thought. Jones started rummaging through the same filing cabinet Mateo had just gone through, and after failing to find what he was looking for he slammed the cabinet shut and started pacing. It was time to leave. Mateo quickly folded the paper with the volunteer information on it and quietly walked out of the room. He made his way to the elevator and back to the boat in record time. Mateo unfolded the paper to inspect it again before receiving a call. “Hello?”
“Hi, this is officer Lahey. I was calling to say that the medical examiner has finished up his examination. The report isn’t written yet but should be done by tomorrow she said.” Mateo replied, “Ok, thank you, officer.” Before hanging up. “They got it done really quickly. Works for me I need that info asap.” Mateo then started his boat and headed for his department building. The pieces were slowly forming now.

The door practically slammed open to the M.E.’s office when Mateo entered. The medical examiner, Caroline Freud looked shocked at the sudden loud entrance. With a bit of a swirl in his eye, Mateo asked, “How’d she die?”
“I’m working on the report now, just wait till I’m done.” She replied and was about to continue before Mateo interrupted again. “Please just tell me now. I think I’m close to putting things together but I want to make sure of the cause of death first.” She did a loud, annoyed exhale and flipped back a couple of pages. “The c.o.d was drowning.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yes, drowning.” She replied not batting an eye. “What about her stab wounds then?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. They were definitely done post-mortem though, and judging by the puncture size it was most likely a knife. A relatively small one though.” Mateo's imagination was running wild. He had an idea of what could’ve happened and it seemed plausible but he needed proof. Without even a word of thanks he left the room and left Caroline to her own devices.
He was walking through the station thinking about what to do next. I wish I could’ve explored their files a bit more. If they are involved in her death and are trying to cover it up it seems to be a real shit job. That was the only reason for doubt in his mind. He didn’t want it to be true.
A few more hours after going to the m.e. Mateo received word about a student i.d that was found not far from the crime scene and received a job to question him and that’s exactly what he did. The student in question, David Venera, was a sophomore and Miami Dade College studying biotechnology. They brought him in for questioning due to his i.d being near the body and proceed to ask him a few questions. Nothing of interest was said until he mentioned being an intern at Waterways. Instantly, Mateo had a good idea of what it was. The kid upon entering the grey empty room was obviously nervous as his hands were constantly shaking. This wouldn’t be seen as anything suspicious normally as kids tend to get nervous in these situations. But something about the way David’s eyes scanned everything made his guilt almost opaque enough to see. After the internship revelation, nothing more happened and Mateo left the room to search Davids’ belongings. He had received a paper from one of the officers searching David’s bag, that had Waterways .co printed at the top. He looked thoroughly at the paper and understood that was he was reading was a file on Regina Miles. We got ‘em. It stated that she was a volunteer for the LADS project as someone meant to try out a trial version of the device. On the bottom though where it said results, it said in plain handwritten text, Failed. Almost immediately he burst into Lt. Halle’s offices with all the papers and information he has along with his theory on what happened and after seeing everything she allowed a more thorough investigation of this company. She went to go and get a search warrant signed while Mateo went to talk to Alex one last time.

Mateo sat in his office this time not bothering to call first. He had been sitting for what felt like hours before Dr. Jones walked in. With a surprised and almost scared face, he said, “Oh, hello detective. I didn’t know you would be coming again so soon.” His voice was audibly shaking. “Well some new information came up and I just wanted to run it by you.” Hesitantly he walked to behind his desk opposite Mateo and sat down. “Well, I’m willing to help in your investigation, but I’ve already told you all I…”
“Then what about this?” Mateo said interrupting him as he pulled out a copy of the volunteer sheet. Dr. Jones sat there frozen looking at the creased paper on his desk. He looked up at Mateo and said, “I’m sorry but I’ve never seen such a thing before. Must be a scam that someone is trying out. I hope no one falls for such a cheap trick.” Mateo might’ve been convinced if he didn’t have the second piece of paper that he was waiting to unleash. “Well it has this budlings address and number on it does it not?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that…” Before evening finishing the sentence Dr. Jones is stopped in his tracks by the slip of paper with Regina Miles's face and name on it. The one with the Waterways logo on top. “Then why does this paper exist? Why was it found in the bag of a student who is also an intern here? And why did you lie about this project? You obviously had to have known about so don’t lie to me.” Dr. Jones sat there mouth agape. He was about to speak when the phone on his desk rang. Still a landline, this entire building seems to be using retro forms of everything. All info was kept on paper and all calls were still on the landline. For such an advanced and new exterior for a building, the interior seemed old and behind. Dr. Jones picked it up with a shaking hand and said to the receptionist, “Mary, I’m sorry but I’m a little busy right now please…” and suddenly Jones stared daggers at Mateo and stood up almost making his rolling chair tip over. “What have you done?”
“Simply my job,” Mateo replied as he stood up and waited for the other officers to arrive. “and don’t worry. We have David in questioning and he’s given us all we need.” A bluff but one that would payout. There were sudden knocks on the door behind Mateo and he opened it to let the officers with warrants in hand come in and ransack Dr. Jones’ office. Feeling utterly defeated Dr. Jones tried one last desperate attempt. “Ok, I know I did wrong but it was for the greater good of humanity. Don’t you understand that this device can save many lives? Once all the fine-tuning is done the LADS will save countless from drowning and it will be sold in every store. If one person had to die to achieve that goal then so what?” Hearing this disgusting reasoning irked Mateo. Never had he ever felt so saddened and disgusted by a scientist.

Months have passed and with Dr. Jones and David in pre-trial custody, Mateo is left to look over everything. After Jones was brought in David was told and confessed immediately. It was surprisingly close to what Mateo had predicted. After Regina saw this ad for the LADS project volunteering, she signed up and went to the Waterways .co warehouse that was further up north. There Regina had tested out a trial version of LADS by having her hands bound and thrown in a pool with this LADS device on. Jones stated it was for untainted results on its effectiveness. Mateo never felt happier putting someone in jail. Afterward, they had decided to dispose of the body and cease all testing on humans, but the people responsible for it got lazy and handed it off to David the intern, leading to the many mistakes that lead to their downfall. Waterways are now under deeper investigation while the LADS project continues, so far successfully, with another company. Having solved this case rather quickly Mateo got tons of praise and was even offered a raise. He had denied it though claiming he didn’t deserve it, unbeknownst to everyone else he had obtained evidence illegally and didn’t feel right about it but as it allowed a case and Regina to be put to rest he looked passed it. David is being charged with accessory after the fact and Jones is being charged with 2nd-degree murder and association before and after the fact. Mateo hopes the justice system will do right and put these two away. In the meantime, he has another case to attend to.