Hit & Run

This is a fictional murder mystery tale about a Hit & Run incident.

New York 2024, three young men were out drinking together one night, walking from nightclub to nightclub, stumbling in and out of the road. Many cars had beeped at them, Sam, Dan and Ben were their names. These three belonged to a gang known as The Snakes, a group of drug dealing scumbags that had hurt a lot of innocent people. The three friends had been involved in a number of shootouts in the past, often getting away with the crimes without any penalty. They were rowdy men, always shouting and demanding drinks at the bar. People were afraid and although they had many enemies, nobody dared mess with them. Ben was the leader of this small group, he called the shots and always carried heat with him, revealing the pistol in the holster around his belt; whenever anybody dared confront them. However the untouchable three soon met an unexpected end, as a speeding truck raced down the street the moment they crossed the road at approximately 3am in central Manhattan, running them over and killing the three men instantly. They were nothing but blood and gore after the impact, everyone screamed and when local police tried to write down the licence plate of the vehicle, the number came up unregistered, it was a fake plate. Somehow, the truck evaded the pursuing cops and CCTV found no footage of its whereabouts after the "accident", it was clearly an intentional vehicular homicide, the question was; by who?

That morning at 5am, Detective Jim Morgan arrived on the scene, police had secured the crime scene with police tape and hundreds of people were gathered around, as policemen tried to push them away saying; "move along, nothing to see here!" Over and over again. Paparazzi were the worst, flashing cameras at the crime scene, they were always a pain to get rid of. Somehow eventually they'd scatter like rats and give NYPD enough peace to piece this all together. Unfortunately, they were still there when Detective Morgan exited his black car and was greeted by Lieutenant Samson, who was waiting impatiently, smoking a cigarette.
"What took you?!" He sneered in that New Jersey accent Detective Morgan hated.
"Traffic."
"Yeah, right..." The lieutenant coughed, "follow me."
The murder was brutal, the men's shoes had come off during the crash, scattered haphazardly across the road. Blood streaks were long and meaty, rinsing away with the heavy rain, sinking down the drain. Ben's clothes were ripped to shreds, as his legs and arms had gotten tangled under the truck's tires. It was obvious even to the regular police that he was targeted the most out of the three, for Sam and Dan weren't so badly mangled by the hit and run.
"The driver braked sharply, five metres before slamming down the accelerator and running the vehicle straight into Ben's back." The forensic examiner named Michael Harrison explained, pointing at the tire burn marks on the road, "Sam was walking to Ben's right and Dan was walking to his left..." he beckoned his hands, showing Detective Morgan why the bodies were propelled in different directions, "my guess... The truck was large enough to take out all three men in one succession."
"So this was definitely planned." Detective Morgan nodded.
"Looks it!" Michael agreed, "we got ourselves a classic hit and run incident."
"Great..." The lieutenant sneered, "can't get enough of those."
"I'll identify the bodies." Detective Morgan announced, as he searched the bodies' wallets, finding proof of their names and so on. There were other interesting pieces of information he found too, all three men had flip phones alongside modern touchscreen mobiles. This implied they were drug dealers, marking deals on unregistered phones, not to mention the insane amount of paper dollars they all carried around, this was clearly drug money, no sane man (especially in their early twenties) would carry around such weight. That's when Detective Morgan realised this was likely a drug related killing. He suspected the killer was a victim or associate of these gangsters. It could've been over a missed payment, because they were dealing on the wrong turf, or it could've been a victim out for revenge. That was always the case with gang related deaths, there were always a million enemies, making it sometimes much harder to nail down who exactly was behind it. In some cases this fact narrows it down, at least he knew it was likely over drugs and not some random murder. He was getting closer, the more he investigated the crime scene. Multiple witnesses were knocking around outside the yellow police tape, under his own initiative, he approached several of them asking questions.
"Did you see the truck that did this?" Detective Morgan asked a shy, young blonde woman.
"Yes, it was a large blue pickup truck, but it had no lumber in the back. I think they might've come out here just to kill those poor men!" She cried.
"That's what we suspected." Detective Morgan nodded, he was relieved his theory was making sense.
"Did you get a good look at the driver?" He asked an old moustached man.
"Son, I'm sorry. My eyes ain't what they used to be..."
"I understand, what can you tell me about the truck?"
"Blue pickup truck, no timber in the back of it."
That confirmed the woman's story. He asked another witness if they saw the driver, but the lead was bad news.
"The driver was wearing a black balaclava over his face, I couldn't make out a damn thing!" A young man explained.
"What about his eyes, did you see his skin colour?"
"Yeah, he was white as snow under that mask."
"You say it was a he, what makes you so sure?"
"Guy was built like a brick wall!"
"Ok, thank you!" Detective Morgan grinned, patting the young man on the back. The killer was a light skinned, male body builder, likely between the ages of 20-35, not much to go on, but a good start. He was likely a gangster himself, taking out the competition. Detective Morgan sighed deeply, he knew he had a lot of digging to do back at the office.

Looking up the crime records of all three men was a daunting task, it revealed a long history of drug busts and possession charges. They were involved in a lot of gang wars throughout the years too, most recently it was suspected that they had been involved in a recent drug deal that went wrong in a housing estate within the Bronx. CCTV shows multiple criminals fitting their description, fleeing from the scene with small machine guns firing at the other gangsters. It is unclear who began the attack, but theories claim it was The Snakes who started it. The footage is grainy and unfocused, it is near impossible to actually tell who is who exactly, but Detective Morgan had a good hunch that at least Ben was at the shootout. So he planned to go down there by himself the next day and ask around the neighbourhood. He also discovered that an innocent Japanese boy had been shot and killed in the crossfire, alongside an African/American mother of three children and several other innocent victims, who were out walking their dogs, jogging or simply out for a walk late at night when the drug deal turned into a gunfight.

Detective Morgan and his partner Detective Wright, drove to the neighbourhood where the recent drug deal had taken place on a Monday morning. Even at this time of day, the area felt dangerous, most of the citizens here didn't work, at least not officially like the detectives were.
"Dangerous place..." Detective Wright commented.
"We're just going to ask around a bit." Morgan reassured him, "don't get worked up, kid..."
"Whatever." Wright groaned.
Detective Morgan had already tracked down the address of the boy victim's house, he knocked on the door and was greeted by a grieving Japanese woman.
"Why are you here?" She sighed, "I already told the police everything last week!"
"This isn't about that... Well, not directly." Detective Morgan announced.
"Then why are you here?!"
"There's been a recent possible murder, a hit and run happened two days ago outside Manhatta-"
"What does that have to do with my son?!"
"His killers are dead!" Wright interjected. Morgan pulled a frustrated look upon his face.
"What? No, that's..." She stammered.
"May we come in?" Morgan asked politely.
"I- I- I guess..." She mumbled, opening the door and allowing the detectives inside. There were family photos of the three of them, her, the husband and their son. The father was a huge man, he was a karate instructor, this became evident as Detective Wright spotted pictures of him smiling in the uniform with his son. Then the most glaring piece of evidence stuck out to them, it was of a family camping trip. There in the background was the family car, a blue pickup truck.
"Do I have the best hunches, or what?" Morgan whispered into Wright's ear, the moment the mother turned away from them.
"Can you tell us where your husband was this Saturday night?" Detective Morgan asked.
"Oh, he's been grieving really hard lately. Drinking again."
"Again?" Wright asked.
"He has a problem, ever since Jackie died last week, he's not been the same man..."
"I see..." Wright wrote that down in his notebook.
"What is this about, Detectives?"
"We're just going around the neighbourhood, asking questions. Trying to see if anybody was involved in the recent murder of three young gangsters."
"My husband wouldn't..." She shook her head, "I don't like this, I think you should leave!"
"Sorry to trouble you, Ma'am..." Morgan apologised, before exiting with Wright behind him.
"You think her husband did it?" Wright asked Morgan, as they returned to their undercover police car.
"Grieving father... Out for revenge. You saw how big he looked on those photos. Light skin... Built like a brick wall. Could be our guy..."
"We just need proof." Wright grinned, "that camping trip photograph, the truck looked exactly like the one that escaped the crime scene."
"A common vehicle, Detective Wright... It's not enough to go on. Not yet. If we could only find it..."
"Maybe it was demolished?"
"Could be. That's why it isn't here in his driveway. It's gone!"
"That's going to be hard to find. Maybe it was dumped at the bottom of the ocean?"
"Good point, Gordon Wright." Morgan nodded, "maybe we tail him, see where he takes us."
"A classic stakeout, like the movies." Wright laughed, "we waiting here?"
"A little further up, his wife will be suspicious of us." Morgan nodded, driving a few houses up the road. Then they waited.

The husband had walked home, it was late and he was drunk, yelling in Japanese, angering his neighbours. Morgan and Wright watched, as he knocked on his house door, only to see the scared housewife they had recently interviewed, only she looked twice as terrified, as he threw her to the ground.
"Oh shit!" Wright gasped, equipping his pistol and storming out the car.
"Wait!" Morgan yelled, racing behind his partner.
"FBI!" Wright yelled at the man.
"Fucking pigs!" He roared, slamming the door. Morgan could hear the Japanese man running from behind closed doors.
"Don't just run after them like that!" Morgan warned his partner.
"Sorry."
"Doesn't matter, our culprit's on the run!" Morgan yelled, running around the house. The runner pulled out his pistol and commandeered a nearby car, pulling the driver out onto the road.
"We've got a grand theft auto on 44 Francis Street, The Bronx!" Morgan yelled into his handheld radio and ran back to his car.
"Look out!" Wright yelled, as the stolen car made a U turn and almost ran over Detective Morgan, who managed to dive out of the way, just in time. Wright got in their undercover cruiser and drove it around, so that the passenger door faced Morgan. He got in immediately and soon the pursuit began.
"Think that's our guy?!" Wright laughed.
"No shit!" Morgan growled, before switching on the police sirens. The drunk driver was swerving violently, the alcohol making him reckless.
"If we don't stop him, there will be another homicide on our hands!" Morgan exclaimed.
"Then shoot out his bloody tires!" Wright ordered. Morgan began firing, as the stolen car almost ran over a dozen citizens on the sidewalk. Fortunately Morgan shot the car's back tire, slowing the stolen car down to a halt. The driver got out the car and began shooting at the Detectives. They had no choice, Morgan had to shoot him. There were several bangs and then the drunkard fell to the ground, dropping his pistol, fainting due to blood loss. Wright checked the man's pulse, he was still alive, but bleeding out. They called an ambulance that raced to the scene almost immediately, taking away the dying killer before he bled out and died himself.

Lieutenant Samson met the two Detectives, when the rest of the police came to secure the crime scene. For the first time in years, Samson actually looked pleased.
"Well done you two." He grinned, "you stopped the hit and run killer from striking again."
"You believe he's our guy?"
"Yes, I do, Morgan." He grinned, "at least for now, all the evidence suggests he was behind the Manhattan hit and run. If not, you still caught a drunk driver who beat up his wife, another bad man is behind bars because of your hard work, Detectives. The city owes you its gratitude."