Kirk was too drunk and too exhausted to be bothered, though. He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, man, it’s too late for this shit. I am too tired and—”
Kirk cut his own words off as he entered the alley and saw what had prompted Tommy’s scream. Despite the warm air, Kirk shivered and an electric chill ran up his spine. He was sober all at once.
Near a dumpster, on the brick surface of the alley, lay a dead man.
He was sprawled out, head hidden by the green metal of the dumpster. Dark splotches stained his white T-shirt and jeans. Blood pooled beneath him. In the dim light, it appeared black.
Kirk would have screamed too, if he could have found his voice. Instead, he gripped the brick wall of an apartmentbuilding to stop himself from falling. His stomach roiled and bile splashed the back of his throat. It took all of his effort to keep the contents of his stomach down.
Tommy, a step or two ahead, was also visibly heaving.Don’t throw up, bud, you’ll leave DNA at the scene. Kirk immediately chastised himself for the thought, but all he could think of was,what can we do? He spoke the question in his head aloud. “Should we call 911?”
Tommy turned to him, his eyes noticeably wide, even in the gloom of the alley. “I don’t know. What if we get blamed?”
“We had nothing to do with this. We just happened to find him.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that and you know that. But what about Chicago cops? They’ll take the easy way out, blame the messenger.” Kirk had read enough true crime and watched enough TV shows on the topic to know law enforcement’s desire to close a case could sometimes supersede a real resolution or sincere justice.
“You got a point. But we can’t just leave him laying here, can we? What if that was one of us? Would you want the person who found us to just walk away, pretend they hadn’t seen us?” Kirk sniffed the air. “It’s gonna rain soon.” There was something protective in Kirk that he knew was illogical. Yet he wanted to spare this man, this victim, the additional indignity of getting rained on. The victim was a brother of sorts and the image of him lying butchered in the rain caused the empathy to rise in him.
“Of course I wouldn’t want someone to leave me, but really, though, man, what good will reporting it do? That dude is dead.” Tommy rubbed his forehead. “Reporting this to the cops won’t bring him back. And I don’t think he’s gonna be upset about getting caught outside without an umbrella.” He chuckled, but the laugh was giddy, bordering on hysteria.
There was no doubt about the guy being dead—no need for the checking of a pulse. The poor man had been savagely stabbed many times, even though neither friend was inclined to count the creepy black wounds.
Kirk pulled his flip phone out of his pocket.
Tommy eyed him. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m calling 911. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Well at least go into settings first and block your number,” Tommy said.
Kirk shook his head. “You really think that’ll stop them from finding out who I am? Seriously, man.”
“I don’t know. It’s better than nothin’.” Tommy sighed and leaned against the wall, a hand shielding his stomach.
Kirk punched at the tiny keyboard with a trembling finger. When a dispatcher answered, he reported the crime and told her they would wait with the body.
“You’re nuts,” Tommy said. “I ain’t waitin’ nowhere.”
“Leave if you want, man. That’s on you, but I’m staying here.” Kirk turned away, not believing his friend would actually go, but the sound of Tommy’s footfalls on the brick pavement, leading away, proved him wrong. “Fuckin’ coward.”
Kirk managed to hold it together until the sirens pierced the early morning, until Chicago police cars blocked the entrance to the alley. He tried to stop shaking as car doors slammed. The squawk of police radios made the whole situation seem surreal, something out of a cop TV show.
This was a life-changing moment for so many reasons.
*
Podcast transcript, “Meat Locker: Cold Cases” Episode No. 42 (2024)
True Crime Audio Presents: The Case of the Unsolved Hate Crime
(Opening Credits and intro music)
Bailey Anderson, Host: On its website, the US Department of Justice defines a hate crime as:
…a crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
That same site hastens to point out:
