QR Code Murders: That Route

“I bet you’ve never seen any explosion that up close before,” Kim said while driving her sedan through Wilmington.

“You have?” Yawquisha asked in the passenger seat.

“When I was in Iraq. I got blown up twice. Didn’t leave a scratch on me. Both times all my guys got out relatively okay. Some shattered eardrums, some first and second degree burns. No deaths, though,” Kim imparted.

“What about PTSD?”

“I don’t have it. Some of the guys did go to the VA for head treatment. I’m fine. You prayed to Jesus when you saw that van go up, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“No!?” Kim asked incredulously.

“I’m an Objectivist. I don’t believe in mysticism.”

“Ooh. You’re a Libertarian.”

“No…I said I’m an Objectivist from the school of Ayn Rand.”

“I see. So, you want a smaller government?”

“Of course, but not just the size needs to change, its scope as well.”

“Do you want the legalization of weed?”

“Yes, but only if producers are not taxed.”

“How are you not a Libertarian?”

“I’m for free markets. Libertarians yearn for an anything goes sort of economy. You can be an anarchist and a Libertarian. I hold the conviction that government is a necessary good and it ought to be preserved through checks and balances.”

“You’re a really smart kid.”

“Thank you.”

Kim tapped the screen for the dispatch.

“Detective Jergensen here, just making sure we’re responding to a homicide, over.”

“It is a homicide.”

“Copy.”

“We’re headed to tenth street on the east side. It looks another code murder. Make sure your camera’s fired up. When did you see an explosion like that?”

“I saw someone hurl a Molotov cocktail at a car while it was gassing up. The two pumps lit up and the car did, too.”

“Jesus…I mean….”

“It’s okay. I recognize people’s faiths, I just don’t approve of them.”

“That’s something I can respect. I actually lost my faith on my second tour in Afghanistan. My patrolman was hit by an IED and he was killed right there. After that, I chose to not believe in a God or Allah or any other faith, but I’m spiritual.”

“I’d say I’ve integrated the spiritual with the material.”

“Oh.”

The car pulled up to the crime scene. A uniformed officer approached the vehicle.

“We’ve got a twenty-year-old vic. Black, five feet nine inches, multiple gunshot wounds. No ‘witnesses,” Officer Truex Nimoy said with a hand to inversely cup his mouth.

“Thank you corporal,” Kim said.

“So, you’ve got a ride along, eh?”

“Yes. She’s cool, she’s a real asset.”

Yawquisha surveyed the entire scene from the yellow tape to the sheet covering the body.

Kim journeyed over to the victim.

“His name was Tobias Jenkins. TJ Cashflow One on the streets and records. He was ready to get signed to a major label after several mixtapes flooded these streets.”

Kim looked around at the faces. A multitude of people, someone, somewhere must know something.

“Have you told them that there’s a ten thousand dollar reward for bringing people to justice?” she asked.

“You could tell these people that they’re going to get a million dollars and they’ll still zip their lips,” Nimoy said. “Again, if you look at the upper arm—-”

“QR code. I figured.” She ventured up the deceased young man’s bicep and snapped a shot of the code. It displayed one of his meet and greet events with his supporters.

He looked genuine and happy and calm while posing with those who helped to advance his career. Kim wondered what they would make of all of this death.

Yawquisha started editing the footage she captured, adding chirons and graphics to her story.

Kim returned to the vehicle. “You okay?” she asked.

Are you okay?” Yawquisha asked with sincerity.

“Look, you’re not going to psychoanalyze me with your Randian powers.”

“I never said I’d do that.”

“Okay. We’re still good, right?”

“Absolutely.”

The pair traveled through Wilmington in the afternoon now.

“You’re a dropout?” Kim asked.

“That’s right.”

“I earned my degree in the Corps. I enlisted and became a mustang. That’s when—”

“You start off among the e-ranks and transition to being an officer in the military.”

“You should be in school. You’ve got the smarts, you could certainly pay for it. Why no schooling?”

“I’ve grown out of that way of learning. I’m mostly an autodidact.”

“Just because you learn stuff on your own doesn’t mean you have to just go that route.”

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