SACRIFICES (3 page)

              “Why do you feel this way Boss, I mean you’ve been around for a lot of years and you’ve seen it all, why does this one make you feel uneasy?” Darrin turns toward Brad.

              “Thanks for noticing that I’m old,” Brad smiles.

“My feeling is, whoever did this liked it. They seemed to have an agenda, they followed it, they did what they wanted, they left, and that’s it that’s all.” Brad sighs and continues. “I think and feel that this person that did this had it planned out for a long, long time. For this guy to know the husband was out of town and she would be all alone, that was not an accident. That’s a scary thought.”

              “So what do we do now?” Darrin asks as he moves the vent toward his face and dabs the balls of sweat from his hairline.

              “We wait for the doctor’s exams, the reports from Avery, and Dorothy, we try to find prints, we check her past, see if anyone had a problem with her, you know, follow the textbook.” Brad runs down the list.

              “What then?”

              “Unfortunately we wait for the next victim.” Brad replies as he looks away.

              “You think he’s going to do it again?” Ask the rookie.

              Brad takes a deep breath. “I’d bet my life on it.

CHAPTER 2

DETECTIVE BRADLEY JOSTLER'S OFFICE 7:12 A.M.

              Brad walks into the hallway and can see that the office is already jumping this morning. On his way to the coffee pot that's located about two doors from his office he notices Todd Avery making his way down the hall. Brad sighs and says to himself. "Thank god."

              "Good Morning." Brad smiles as Todd meets him in the waiting area that also doubles as a break room. "What do you got?" He asks knowing that if there’s anything at all to find, Todd
will
find it.

              Todd Avery's a good cop and an even better investigator; he's relentless and smart, exceptionally smart. Joining the force at the same time as Brad they've known each other for over 22 years and each one loves the other one like a brother.

              Todd's the same age as Brad but time hasn't been as kind to his appearance. He's beginning to go bald, and he carries around an extra 30 to 40 pounds in his mid-section. He’s a lovable teddy bear that often greets people with a hug instead of a handshake. He talks with a deep raspy voice brought on from 3 packs a day of Camel non-filters for many years.

              He’s been happily married for the past twenty years to his loving wife Jessica. He has one child a son that’s thirteen.

              The one thing the force is sure of about their Investigator Avery; he is relentless when it comes to finding out information. He was once on suspension for a six-month period without pay. He found evidence that proved a low life scumbag was 100% guilty of molesting a young boy at a local video arcade.

              On a technicality, the D.A. got him cleared of all charges. He claimed when Avery found the evidence he didn’t have probable cause and the search warrant wasn’t authorized before he searched the premises. The actual authorization time was listed as three minutes
after
Todd entered the residence and placed him under arrest. Because of this time discrepancy the judge didn’t allow the evidence to be used in court.

              It was a big story when it came out and raised a lot of constitutional concerns and questions about law enforcement and the rights of
possible
criminals. This child molester was totally exonerated of all charges and set free. After this, he had the nerve to call Avery at home to tell him he was going to do it again and rub it in his face.

              Todd secretly followed the guy when he was off duty and met up with him one night at a local bar. He almost beat him to death and it took six patrons of the establishment to pull Todd away, the pedophile spent three weeks in the intensive care unit at Chicago Memorial. The suspension and the media attention really took a toll on his career. Politically the blemish hurt, because when Todd was interviewed about the incident and the man he almost killed, the press ask if he had any regrets about what he did. Todd was quoted in the papers and on the news saying, “
Yes
I have one regret, I didn’t kill the piece of shit.” It was a political nightmare but with the residents of Chicago he’s revered as a hero.

              During his suspension without pay Todd and his family would receive a yellow envelope, anonymously, every Friday in their newspaper that
more
than exceeded his normal paycheck. Needless to say his fellow boys in blue had something to do with that. Todd wasn't the only one in town that was proud of how he almost killed the child molester.

              Todd hands him the manila folder and says as he follows him back to his office. "Not a whole lot."

              "Any witnesses?" Brad wonders as he walks with the folder and a fresh cup of coffee back to his office.

              "No one heard a thing. We did the usual. We talked to the neighbors around the house and no one heard a thing." Explains Todd as he comes to rest in the chair that faces the lead detective’s desk.

              "What about prints? Any prints besides the couple that lived there?" Brad looks up and starts to open the folder.

              "Nothing, we lifted some prints from Mr. Caruthers possessions upstairs and crossed them. No prints found besides the couples. No tools left behind that could have been used to break in. No shoe prints left in the yard. We didn’t expect to find those with the heat and no rain but we checked anyway. It's like they weren't even there. But that's not that out of the ordinary,” Todd crosses his legs and takes a sip of his coffee. “If the creep wore gloves and only gloves
we
wouldn't have got anything on this particular case, unless the lab finds something." Todd explains rocking back and forth. Brad glances over the report from Todd shaking his head as he sees pretty much what he thought he‘d see.

              Brad shakes his head reaching for anything and asks. “Bye chance did you check for shoe prints in the kitchen, I remember the floor was sticky from her dropping her glass of tea…it‘s just a thought but could we find a print off of that?”

              “I was the first to arrive and I seen the empty glass on the floor. So I brought in the ultraviolet light to examine the area,” Todd shakes his head and smirks. “This guy thought of everything. I could only find streaks and smears. This guy retraced his steps by using Mrs. Caruthers own dishtowel to wipe away his footprints. They also wiped up the floor to the living room.” Todd shrugs.

              Brad looks toward the ceiling. “This guy seems to have thought of everything…this one’s no dummy. I guess we’ll have to wait for forensics to find out more." Says Todd as Brad shakes his head in frustration mixed with agreement knowing he‘s right.

              "Yeah, hopefully we get something." Todd leans back.

              Brad quickly perks up. "I want you to do me a favor. I want you to take and check her out. I mean, where does she work, where does she go. Does she have any enemies; anyone made any threats to her. Maybe she has an old boyfriend that's jealous. I want to know everything we can about the girl. Because to be honest with you I don't think we’re going to get anything from the low life that did it." Brad stands up and walks over to the window.

              "Why's that?" Todd crosses his leg and lights up a cigarette, a Camel non-filter.

              "Whomever it was that did this didn't plan on leaving any clues or getting caught. This guy is smart and he probably planned it a long time ago." Explains Brad as he paces in front of his window that over looks the parking lot on the corner of Laurel Street and Vine.

              "Yeah, you might be right." Todd nods in agreement feeling the same way as Brad does about this incident.

              "It was no
accident
the husband was out of town. The son of a bitch probably had her down cold. I mean to the minute. He probably knew her complete schedule and her husbands.”

              "I hope your wrong bud, because if you're right...this could just be the start." Todd flicks his ashes into an ashtray on Brad’s desk.

              "That’s what I’m afraid of." Brad nods.

CHAPTER 3

ONE WEEK LATER AT THE FIFTH PRECINCT

             
The past week has been tough on Brad and Todd. These are two men that don’t rest until the job is complete and criminals are behind bars. Not having any witnesses or clues it makes for long days and even longer nights.

              In this case, Brad feels that for some reason by the way that it
appears
to have gone down that this rapist had an agenda. He’s not sure why he feels this way but whoever did this to the victim appears to have planned it for a long time. If his gut is correct the only thing they can do is waiting-until the next time he strikes.

A scary thought to the veteran officers knowing that there is some helpless target out there right now that will be next. There doesn’t appear to be anyway that they can help.

              Darrin walks in to the office of Brad Jostler and says. "Cheer up boss; something's gonna to turn up." The rookie smiles’ knowing this has been tough on his boss with nothing to go off of.

              Brad nods with an exhausted look on his seasoned face. “I know it’s just that we need to dig a little deeper or uncover something, anything. The lab got nothing but a small trace of lubricant, no blood no semen; we have nothing to go off. That frustrates the hell out of me I want to find this son of a bitch.” Brad sighs and rolls his head in a circle trying to work out the stress this case has caused.

              "Maybe with this being all over the papers and the news someone will come forward and give us some help. Who knows?" Explains the rookie as he picks up the Sports Illustrated magazine on the corner of Brad's desk and starts to slowly look through the pages of the swimsuit edition.

              "Well let's get some lunch my treat." Darrin says as he points to the Inspector and sits the magazine back on the desk.

              "Sounds good; let's go." He stands up and puts his cell phone into his pocket and grabs his keys on the way out to the hallway.

              "
Hey Brad
." Tammy yells as he passes by her office door.

              "
Yes
." Brad stops and looks into her office and smiles.              

              Tammy's petite with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. She's 5'2" and voluptuous with fair skin and she sports a set of adorable dimples when she smiles. Tammy has a personality to go with her beauty. At 26 years old she has the intuition and savvy of a seasoned veteran, and the sweet disposition of a young schoolgirl. She’s a living doll that Brad thinks of like a daughter.

              Tammy walks into the office with a notebook in her hand and a smile or her face. A room is sure to light up every time with her entrance.

              "I just came across something I think you should know, I don't know if it's anything, or it could be something big." Tammy explains as Darrin gives her the once over as she bends over to retrieve a file from her cabinet behind her desk, Brad elbows him in the ribs softly and Darrin grins.

              "What is it?" Brad quickly asks not sure what she‘s referring too.

              "Last week, like you asked, I put the word out about any info on any recent rapes or attacks. And nothing came back; well that is until just now. I just got this fax from the Springfield Police Department from a Special Investigator Marrow. It appears that they just had a rape that matches the one we had, the one they had was just two days ago, same circumstances and about the same story from the girl. He left his office number and his cell phone numbers right here for you to call him when you get the chance." Tammy grins and hands him the fax.

              Brad takes the piece of paper from Tammy and says to Darrin. "Look at this, the attacker broke in and assaulted this young lady dressed in all black." He runs his finger down the fax as Tammy and Darrin intently watch him read. "She was wrestled with and had a rag with something on it that he held over her face until she was unconscious. Then she was raped in basically the same fashion, bound and gagged, a rope was ran from her hands to her ankle ropes. Then she had her underwear put back on, and came to with the phone close to her still in the same position she was raped. No one saw or heard anything. No one else was home. No prints, no semen, no blood."

              Brad looks toward the ceiling and tells Tammy as he kisses her forehead with his feelings being mixed at this moment. He feels guilty for feeling some exhilaration hoping that this new information may help find this creep mixed with sorrow because another woman has been violated. With his job and profession you need to be able to look past the pain of the victims to get to the justice. Feeling too much can cloud your judgment and influence your reactions. It’s a fine line that‘s hard to walk.

              "Keep sending it out across the wire to fax us with any kind of attack on women,
any kind at all
." Brad exhales and looks down toward his shoes.