As they approached the building, Dan was thinking that 3153 Seventh looked out of place amidst the run down warehouses surrounding it. Someone had been refurbishing it, the bricks had been repointed, fresh mortar filled the cracks. Even the windows were spotless. Once inside he was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was light. Good lighting system, new tracks with ample fixtures to illuminate everything. It was a furniture warehouse, mattresses stacked neatly along one very clean cream colored wall. The floor was sheet vinyl, new, a combination of sand and copper color, designed to look like marble. The large expanse was broken up by furniture groupings similar to those you might find in a showroom. "Do we know who owns the building?" Dan asked. Patrolman Graveline answered with a negative shake of his head, he was concentrating on the area ahead of them to the left of the dining room set that Dan thought looked like one his ex-wife owned.

Dressed in a terry cloth robe, as if she'd just stepped out of the shower, the woman lay in a fetal position. Her matted hair was rusty brown from dried blood. Her head had a depression in it through which shards of bone could be seen. There was a lot of blood, too much for her to have been killed elsewhere and the body brought here. She died here, and from the looks of her, it wasn't an easy death. Something in the eyes told him that she suffered more than just the physical pain of dying. This wreck was all that was left of a beautiful woman, this was Annie Belmont.

Dan started to pull on his exam gloves, he needed to touch the body and he didn't want to compromise the scene before Forensics arrived. As he turned to ask a question of the patrolman there was a commotion at the door. The team from Forensics had arrived and were arguing with someone outside the door. "This is my building, you have no right to enter without my permission and I won't allow it." Dan heard as he went to the door and opened it to find that Annie's son Jamie and Alan Claremont were trying to stop the team from entering the building. When Alan turned to see Dan standing there, he looked as if someone had just punched him in the gut, his face drained of color and he started to sag. Jamie grabbed him and eased him to the ground.

Once sure that Alan was all right, he turned to Dan and started to speak. "I did it, I killed her. Alan just helped me bring the body here."



The morning was half over before he had the whole story, and both Jamie and Alan had been taken off to the cells. Alan's financial difficulties were a lot worse than any one knew. He had been asking Annie for the money to bail himself out, she was refusing. She also was considering changing the guardianship of Jamie in her will, when Jamie found out, he got mad. Alan was the closest thing to a father he ever had. You never know about these things. Annie had done the very best she could to raise the boy, but he didn't know his father, so Alan, in his mind was the Father he needed. He couldn't understand why she was being so mean to his Father. They had more than enough money. Jamie didn't understand that Alan had a gambling problem and no amount of money would ever be enough.

Jamie had heard the conversation between Annie and her lawyer during which she stated it might be necessary to make changes in her will. When Jamie tried to talk to her she just ignored him. told him she knew what to do. She went to take her shower, and when she came out, Jamie was waiting with a baseball bat he hit her in the head and thought he had killed her. He called Alan who told him to leave the door unlocked and he'd take care of everything. That he was to go to school, act as if everything was normal and call to report her missing when he got home. Alan came and found she was still alive. He removed her from the office, and took her to his warehouse to finish the job. Once she was dead he had no idea how to get rid of the body and he just left her there on the floor. The DA will be filing Murder in the 2nd degree charges against Alan, and probably conspiracy and assault charges against Jamie. He'll be spending his time in a juvenile facility. Hopefully he'll figure out that for a Father figure, Alan just wasn't good enough.