Patrol Desk IV
Buyer Beware

Patrol Desk IV -- Buyer Beware

The case begins with a shooting.  You are on foot patrol and you hear the shots, and run to the scene of the crime, outside of a shoe store.  A few seconds after you arrive a prowl car arrives -- with Officer Leroy Tate and your old partner, Ralph Dunn -- the officers in it secure the scene, suggesting that you begin the preliminary investigation before the dicks from Homicide show up -- that is a great idea!

A body in the street!

We start out by searching the scene, looking for evidence and clues.  We know about the shooting automatically because that is what drew us to the scene, so clue number one is already in the book.  A careful search of the immediate area reveals a shell casing -- and closer inspection shows it to be .32 caliber.

An examination of the body reveals a Layaway Receipt in the victims inside pocket, which you note in the book.  In the nearby trash can you find the murder weapon, and log that in the book.

An eye witness steps forward to tell you what he saw, including a woman running into the shoe store!  Head in and find her -- you learn that she is Clovis Galletta, and the victim outside was her boss, Everett Gage.

Your Notebook now opens and you get instructions on how to use it when you are interviewing a suspect or witness -- you are scored on how well you do in the interview process, for instance accusing a witness or suspect of telling a lie when you cannot prove it counts against you -- deciding that you are being told the truth when it is a lie counts against you. 

The best way to handle this is to pay very close attention not just to what the person says, but their body language and facial expressions -- most of the time when a person is lying you can see that because they make what the professional detectives call "a tell" -- an unconscious motion, often the eyes glancing away to the left -- that is a warning that they are lying to you.

An Eyewitness Interview

To being this interview take it by steps:

(1) Select Eyewitness Account to get her statement -- you know she is lying because the witness saw her running inside -- so tell her she is and then ask about the Layaway Ticket.

(2) Select possible murder suspect next to get more out of her -- and in the process you learn that she saw the Jewelry Store owner shoot her boss -- or that is what she says anyway.  You doubt what she says so you select Doubt and get more of an answer than you expected!

(3) Ask again about the Eyewitness statement -- which you can accept -- so pick Truth.

You now receive your first Intuition Point and your first Rank Upgrade -- to sum things up you have identified the suspect and you have collected all of the clues for the crime scene.  You now know who the prime suspect is, and you have learned that there are possible religious motives for this murder -- you listened to the details of the shooting from the witness --  Clovis Galletta -- and you now have all that you need here to proceed with the investigation further.

As you exit the store you get a brief CS that moves the story along -- but rather than heading directly to the Jewelry Store as it implies, you want to make a side-trip to the Gun Shop to look into the murder weapon first!

-- Eagelson's Sporting Goods --

After you talk to your partner you both decide that this deserves your personal intervention, because hey, the Homicide dicks already have their Detective Badges and you do not...  So get into the car and drive to the Eagelson's Gun Shop now.

At the Gun Store you learn that the weapon in question is of European manufacture and not at all common in the USA.  your suspect owned the murder weapon.  Score!

Now it is time to head for Hartfield's to chat up the suspect.

Taking the Suspect into custody

-- Hartfield's Jewelry Store --

When you arrive you find a clerk behind the counter who, when you ask for Kalou tells you that he is laying down in the back, and then heads to get him for you.  After he breaks out into a mad dash for the back door you understand the deception and give chase, eventually reaching the point where you are forced to fire a warning shot, which results in his giving himself up.

To fire a warning shot, aim at nothing and hold the trigger down until the circle fills completely before making the shot, aiming at nothing.  Kalou then surrenders, triggering a CS that has you entering the Police Station the following day, where one of your superior officers greets you and suggests that it is time to prove yourself, telling you that he wants you to interrogate the prisoner.

Understand something -- this game takes place in the era before Miranda -- the suspect has some rights, true, but not being interrogated without their attorney present is not one of them.  You are free to do pretty much anything short of physical assault to get him talking -- and you can lie, there really is no rule that says you can only tell the truth.

Interrogating the Murder Suspect

-- Interrogate Edgar Kalou --

The challenge here is to obtain a murder conviction against the suspect, Edgar Kalou.  You have a lot of good evidence, but a confession would be best here, because it saves a lot of time.

Remember that you are scored on your successes here -- failing is not what you want -- so pay attention to what he says and how he acts when he is talking -- or just follow the steps below!

(1) Argument with Gage -- he tells you his version and you call him for the Lie it is.  When he doubts you explain that you have him positively identified by an eye witness.

(2) Possible Religious Motives -- though this has been mentioned, you really do not think that it has all that much bearing here -- you choose to Doubt...

In spite of his religious protests earlier it soon becomes obvious that it was not religion but business that was at the heart of the dispute -- Gage was blocking his admission to the Chamber of Commerce and that was why he killed him!

Your success at interrogating the suspect and drawing out a confession scores you 10 more points and another Rank upgrade, and unlocks the Achievement "Police Academy" (15 GP) for completing all of the cases on the Patrol Desk. 

As you leave the Captain stops you and tells you how happy and proud he is of you -- he warns you that you will soon be needed to own two well-pressed suits, the implication being you are going to be promoted to Detective!  Well, that cannot come soon enough, can it?  For now though, since we have completed all of the cases in the Patrol Division, we get a boost up to Traffic...  That is a boost up, right?