Chapter Text
Oliver rubbed his eyes as he and Felicity wrapped up their investigation of the scene. They had arrived at the scene before sunup when they received notification that a young mother had been driving to work early that morning and a gunshot ended her life. Her car had traveled across three lanes of traffic before going down and embankment and crashing into a tree. They were lucky, she was not going at a high rate of speed as traffic was heavy that morning. The other cars were able to avoid the vehicle as it passed, so no one else was hurt.
He looked over at his wife who was kneeling next to the driver's side door examining the bullet trajectory as well as the wounds to the victim. He had been combing the area for some clues, but he was starting to realize that this shooting was done from another vehicle. There were no clues to find.
Felicity looked up as she heard her husband approach and she stood with a sigh as she removed her rubber gloves.
"White female, late twenties. Bullet to the left temple. You can see where the bullet pierced the driver's side window and then hit the victim." She pointed out the information to Oliver a she talked.
"Did you find any identification?"
"Purse and wallet were in the floor board. Name is Sandra Perkins. I was able to get her address from the license."
Oliver hated this part. They had to go and notify her next of kin and then subtly try to question them to see what they knew. Had she fought with anyone recently? Any angry boyfriends or husbands in the picture or was this just a random, senseless killing? He always felt for the families of their victims. The screams and cries were sometimes gut-wrenching, but periodically you got the quiet ones. They usually wore a stoic face as they were informed of their loved one’s death. They would stand rigid, their eyes almost blank as they asked how and where and why?
The thing about the quiet ones that always bothered him was that you could not speak to them without wondering in your mind if they were involved, did they know something?
"You want to come with me to talk to the family?" Oliver offered the chance to Felicity, he always did. However, she usually declined citing that the emotional toil was too much for her to bear. Felicity could handle a dead body with the professionalism and finesse of the finest, but she shied away from the emotion, as it was just easier for her to keep things clinical.
"No. I am going to follow the body to the morgue and see if there is anything else that I can glean." Oliver nodded and kissed her cheek before he walked over to a group of beat cops and detectives standing to the side of the perimeter. He quickly dispatched the men to find any information they could. There were some cars that had stayed nearby when the shots were fired. Maybe one of the driver's saw something.
"Detective Davis, you can come with me. We need to go notify the family."
The older detective nodded grimly and followed Oliver to his car. All detectives hated this part of their job, but it was something that had to be done.
***
Oliver and Detective Davis approached the door of a one-story brick home, in a decent part of town. It seems the woman was from a middle-upper class family and that made things even more mysterious for Oliver. He knocked on the door and grabbed his badge preparing to show it to whomever happened to answer the door. He was surprised and heartbroken when a little girl around 7 years old looked up at him.
“Hi. My name is Agent Queen, and this is Detective Davis. Is there an adult in the house?”
“Dad!!” The little girl yelled over her shoulder and soon a hagard looking middle-aged man with blonde hair and blue eyes walked forward. He was dressed in a pair of causal slacks and a polo shirt and Oliver immediately thought that he looked like a frazzled Dad.
“Yes?” The man gave them a quizzical look.
“Hi Sir. I am Agent Queen, and this is Detective Davis. I was wondering if we could speak to you alone for a moment?”
The man frowned.
“It’s about Sandra Perkins.”
The little girl looked at her Dad as his eyes widened. “Um Carey, why don’t you go check on Jordan for me while I talk to these nice gentlemen.”
The little girl quickly walked off and the man invited them into the living room.
“Sir are you Sandra’s husband?”
The man stammered, “Yes, is everything ok?”
Oliver let his eyes wander around the room before he said. “I am sorry to have to tell you this Mr. Perkins but your wife is dead.”
The man gasped, his eyes widening even more, tears welling up. “Wha…what?”
“She was shot this morning on Hwy 77 near Guston Rd.”
“That is how she travels to work.” The man was trying to hold it together, Oliver could see that. He let his eyes wander around the home taking in anything he could see.
“This might have been just a random act, but we need to get as much information as we can about your wife.” Detective Davis spoke up and the man’s eyes flew to him.
“Ummm yes, of course.”
“What is your name Sir?” Oliver asked needing to get the man’s information.
“Oh…sorry. Tim. Tim Perkins.”
“Thank you, Tim., Can you tell us, did your wife travel the same route to work everyday?”
“Pretty much. She was a creature of habit. She started this job about a year ago and was happy there. She had decided to go back to work after Jordan was born.”
Oliver tried not to let the man’s lost eyes get to him. He couldn’t imagine losing Felicity.
“Was there anyone that was mad at your wife? Maybe a co-worker? A friend?”
“No. Oh my god no. Sandra was amazing. She was nice to everyone.”
Detective Davis took notes as they spoke, and Oliver delved a little deeper. “Mr. Perkins, I hate to ask this, but I need to cover my basis. Could your wife have been seeing someone else?”
The man’s eyes filled with fury and Oliver was prepared. They always got mad when he asked that question.
“How dare you! Of course not. She would never do something like that to me or the kids.”
Oliver nodded but was thinking in his head, “they don’t until they do.” He had seen it too many times.
"Had you guys been fighting recently? How was your relationship?" Oliver watched Tim for any tells.
"Um, we had arguments like all couples do. Mostly about the kids and our schedules." He seemed surprised that Oliver had implied that he might have been involved. "Look, I was here with my kids all morning." Oliver could tell he was sincere.
"Can anyone verify you were here all morning?"
"Only my daughter."
Oliver nodded, not wanting to question the young daughter just yet. She was going to have enough to deal with this morning.
“Tim, can you give us Sandra’s place of work, so we can go talk to her co-workers?” Detective Davis asked delicately and handed a piece of paper and his pen to Tim. The man wrote down the information and Oliver decided the man had endured enough for today. He stood and held out his hand to him.
“Again Tim, we are so very sorry for your loss, but please know that we will not rest until we find your wife’s killer.”
The man could not speak, and he nodded as Oliver and Detective Davis walked to the door. Oliver turned and handed him his card.
“If there is anything you think of or if there is anything you need, please call me.”
The man nodded again, and Oliver and Davis left. As they were driving to the station Oliver thought back over their conversation. There was nothing that had particularly caught his attention about Tim. The man seemed genuinely upset. Maybe their clue was at Sandra’s office.
They would go there tomorrow.
***
Felicity pulled off her gloves and her mask as she had completed the autopsy on the victim. She had died from the gunshot wound and based on where the bullet had entered it had been a clean shot. Felicity was thinking that whomever had shot her was right next to her on the road. The shot was too clean, too perfect.
She made a mental note to tell Oliver that they needed to check the surrounding road cameras. Maybe one of them caught something.
She threw her disposable scrubs into the waste bin and walked toward the station. It was only a few blocks away and she thought the fresh air might do her some good.
Felicity thought back to the young woman that had been just driving to work. Her life had been over in a split second and if she had to guess, based on the fact there had been a car seat in the back seat, she had kids.
That was always so hard for Felicity to reconcile. When someone was torn away so young from their family. It was heart-breaking. She stepped into the nearby coffee shop and grabbed her favorite brew before she made her way back to the station. Oliver was sitting at the computer typing away when she arrived.
“Ahhh, please tell me you are doing the report this time.” She grinned teasing him. The reports were something else that Oliver hated doing and Felicity always teased him about it.
“Me, of course not. My lovely, brilliant wife is such a better word smith than I.” He grinned at her and she kissed his cheek.
“Flirt. So, how did the meeting with the husband or boyfriend go?”
“It was her husband and he was devastated. She had two kids, one only a few months old.” Oliver looked at her with pained eyes and Felicity met his gaze. She had been right.
“We were able to get her place of work from her husband. I am going to go there tomorrow.” He looked at Felicity with interest. “How about you? Anything unusual?”
“Nope. The only thing I wanted to mention was that based on how that bullet entered her brain, I believe the killer was literally right next to her on the road. There was no angle.”
Oliver thought about that. “So, it was someone that knew what she drove and unless this was a random killing, which they rarely are, they knew her route to work.” He turned his chair back to the computer and typed in a few more keystrokes pulling up her place of business.
“Let’s hope someone there can help us because right now we have nothing.”
Felicity sighed and mentally prepared herself.
This case was going to be tough.