Squalor

Crime happens everywhere. Bludgeoning seem to happen mostly in conditions and in houses I would not let my dog stay in.

I was chatting with a detective about some recent cases, the “remember the one...” conversation that often comes up. His first reaction was right. They all blend together. I have noticed that a scene where someone is beaten to death is often in the worst of neighborhoods in a house or apartment that might as well be the street. Actually a lot of streets are cleaner than the ones I am talking about.

I used to think it was a joke about bugs coming up out of everywhere until I went to a place where small roaches swarmed up the walls as we walked through the filth that only profound neglect creates. That scene was a mother beaten by her crack addled daughter. I just can not imagine the rage someone has to build up to do that.

I don't like having dishes waiting in the sink over night, it does happen. There was one scene at a million dollar home where the mother was so neglected by her family that the black water that filled one side had something moving in it. Human fecal splotches were evident over the expansive and once very expensive white carpet. The officer in charge of the scene managed to get one of the children on the phone, I overheard him saying “I would not let my dog live in here.” The smell has to be the worst. If you ever have to go through a house where people do drugs you will know what I mean. It's like rotting smoke. A burnt tire, old food, bad hygiene, out-house combination that sears the mind. You know the smell forever and recall it just looking at an unkempt front yard.

When I got home the other night my clothes went straight to the laundry, it was a cold walk from the garage back to the house. I finished the dishes the next morning, grateful to have dishes to do.