Dark Reasons Ch. 07

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A body at a warehouse.
3.2k words
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Part 5 of the 11 part series

Updated 10/01/2022
Created 09/07/2008
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Jenna flipped out her badge at the uniform that was standing at the barricades in front of an old warehouse in the factory district down town. He quickly moved the bright yellow over sized saw horse aside and let Ethan drive his Grand Prix through, putting it back behind them.

They had already driven through a warren of police and news vehicles, parked haphazardly down the street, some over the curbs, some in tow away zones, and some were even double parked. She made a mental note to send a couple of uniforms down there to start writing tickets as soon as some of this mess was cleaned up.

She had Ethan park behind a cruiser, and got out, motioning him to stay in his car. He got out too, walking around the car towards her and to where they could see the crime scene tape being strung. Bright portable lights were being set up by the crime scene unit that was already there. There was a crowd of people milling around just outside that tape, photographers snapping pictures, setting up video cameras while reporters shouted out questions to the people already on scene on the other side of the tape.

"Ethan, thanks for the ride. I can catch a black and white home." She was itching to get over there and find out what was going on and to start yelling at the cops who were just standing there not doing anything to control the throng of people trying to push through the barricades.

"I'll wait for you. Unless something comes up at the hospital, I'll be in the car."

"It could be awhile. Really, if Justin's here, he can give me a ride home."

Ethan felt a small pang of jealousy which shocked him. "And it's not a problem. I was hoping to con you into buying coffee later," he grinned down at her.

"Okay," she gave up. If he was so determined to wait, she'd let him. "Just remember, I warned you." She turned on one classy heel and started towards the crowd of reporters.

He watched her walk away, admiring the sway of her hips under the short skirt, the long firm line of her thighs as her stride changed, becoming less the siren and more the hard nosed detective.

She pushed her way through reporters, barely hearing them as they shoved microphones and cameras in her face. She'd been hot news since Kevin Elliot's arrest and had been the object of many articles and news bulletins. Her face was now well known which wasn't always the best thing for a homicide detective.

"No comment," she growled for the fifteenth time since she started walking towards the yellow tape across the long parking lot. "Which part of those two words don't you people understand?" She stormed through the reporters, not stopping, 'accidentally' knocking a camera out of her face. She didn't even flinch when she heard it hit the ground with a crash of broken parts. Nor did she stop when she heard the cameraman cursing at her, a small smile flickering across her lips the only acknowledgement of the deed.

She spotted Justin, resplendent in jeans so faded that the stress points were white and thin and a tee shirt, his shoulder rig and badge prominent against the white material, arguing with a man she'd never seen before. She knew her partner, she knew all the signs of his temper and he was ready to blow.

Her heels clipped loudly on the blacktop surface, alerting Justin to her presence. His head came up, his nostrils flared and she smiled, knowing he was smelling the perfume she'd put on earlier. She never wore perfume on the job, there were too many clues the scent could interfere with, too many ways that it could hinder a case besides being a distraction for the poor males of the species who were controlled by the pull of their hormones.

Without turning, he spoke to her. "Jenna, tell this asshole what happens to city councilmen who stand in the way of me doing my job."

Jenna stopped, snapped to attention as if this were a requirement before she answered. "Said city councilmember will spend the next two to three hours in the emergency room getting his head removed from his ass." She stepped between the two men, pushing Justin back slightly with a hand on his chest. "What's his problem?" She thumbed her hand towards the little man, talking over him as if he weren't there.

"Hemorrhoids. Come on, I'll show you what we got."

Justin turned away, ignoring the furious snarling and threats of the politician, and headed towards a small covered courtyard between the buildings. There were some picnic tables set up, a couple of small coffee cans for use as ashtrays, a couple of larger metal garbage cans, one tipped over on its side. Laying in the middle of it all was a body under a white sheet that was quickly turning red with blood. Blood was also splattered across the tables and the garbage cans, looking black despite the bright lights that were being set up around the crime scene.

"How's the date going?"

Jenna looked up, a pissed off expression crossing her face quickly before she shuttered it. "I didn't even get fed, and you damn well know it." She stepped quickly in front of him, throwing off his stride and managed to shove an elbow into his stomach, smiling with pleasure as she heard his loud woof. "Next time, I think you could manage without me long enough for me to have a decent meal. Don't you?" Her voice was saccharine sweet, oozing with sarcasm.

Justin rubbed his stomach, a chuckle escaping him. Despite the tiny, ultra feminine exterior she was showing tonight, she was all grit and determination. You just had to admire that in a woman, especially one that could put that kind of muscle into an elbow punch.

"So?" Jenna carefully pulled the sheet aside, crouching at the edge of a pool of blood. The girl had been a brunette, a tiny chunk of hair had escaped being matted and covered in blood. Her face was piquant, big eyes staring unseeingly up at the ceiling covering the courtyard. Her expression was one of horror in a face that was untouched except for a huge gash just in front of her left ear that seemed too small to be accountable for all the blood. She lifted the sheet a little further and suddenly she was glad she hadn't eaten.

Her breath blew out in a rush, her stomach rebelling for just a second before she got it under control. She'd seen bad, hell she'd seen almost as bad with the Elliott case, but this had to be one of the worst. Her body was foully marked, streaks of bloody slashes crisscrossing her naked skin. Some of the cuts looked merely superficial while others were deep, gaping wounds exposing muscle and body organs. Her breasts were marked with bruises, her thighs also and there were indications of rape, very violent rape if the blood pooling between her legs was any indication. She'd been used, tortured and killed, and if Jenna knew her bodies, and she did, used again.

"Ahh, dammit. She felt most of that didn't she?" She let the sheet fall back over the body and stood up grimacing at the smell of death and the body waste that comes with it that wafted to her nose.

"Yeah, I'd say she felt about seventy-five percent of it." Justin shook his head sadly. "Poor girl."

"Do we know who she is, yet?"

"No. No ID, no purse, no nothing found near the body. I've got a team of uniforms out searching dumpsters and alleys around the neighborhood. Hopefully we'll find something."

"Yeah, before the news hounds start flashing her picture all over the TV." She glared at one particularly aggressive cameraman who tried to sneak under the rope, catching the eye of a uniform who hurried over and stopped him.

"No witnesses? No one heard screams? She had to have screamed. Who you got doing the knock on doors?" Jenna was staring sightlessly down at the sheet covered body, her mind busily putting things together. "She was killed out here. Had to have been with all the blood spatter, no drag marks present. Even if our guy was strong, there's too much blood..." Jenna looked over towards the road, noting the street lights, the fast food restaurants that she knew were just a block away and heavily trafficked at this time of night. "Damn, all this traffic, people so close. Pretty gutsy."

"Or pretty stupid. We've got some more spatter over there. I think he grabbed her there, played with her for awhile until he got sick of the torture games and then let her run. She'd lost enough blood by then to knock her off balance so she wouldn't go far. Then he grabbed her, raped her and finished the job here." Justin walked around the outside of the scene, his eyes scanning the ground. "Is Doc Hot to Trot waiting for you at the restaurant?" He glanced up at her.

"No, actually. He's not."

"Ah, tired of him already?" Justin stooped down over a foot print, carefully staying back so that he wouldn't disturb the fragile dust. He studied her as he signaled for someone from the CSI unit to grab some pictures of the print.

"Why are you so nosey tonight? Do I horn in on your dates?" She moved back to the body, taking the pair of thin latex gloves he threw to her and sliding them on with a resounding snap. She set to work, ruthlessly ignoring her gag reflex and pulling the sheet to the side. The smell of intestines and vicious death was fierce, crowding into her nostrils with a force that told her she'd be smelling this for a while even after they left the body.

"No, no horning. But you could if you want to." He grinned at her. "I've always thought you'd be a great third, Jen." He laughed at the slightly bloody middle finger she raised at him. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You, me and, hmm, Marcie, maybe?"

Jenna picked up the girl's hand, taking the fingerprint kit from the CSI. Technically it was their deal, but she liked to get the prints and get the information herself without waiting for reports from the scientists. Inking and printing dead bodies is an art form that she'd gotten to practice a lot recently with Elliott's victims. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Justin. I know you live there most of the time, but try to show a professional attitude in front of the crime scene people, okay?"

She finished the prints and tucked the card into her purse to take to the station. So much for her date. She'd have to send someone over to tell Ethan. She got up and walked over to where Justin was still crouched down.

"Marcie?" she asked suddenly, as if she'd just heard the name he'd given her. "Give me a break. You aren't still seeing that blonde bimbo are you?"

"What do you see?" He pointed towards one of the benches of the table where a few stray white threads were idly flipping in the light wind.

"White threads, cotton maybe? Come on, Justin. You know white cotton is like one of the hardest things to trace." She moved back as he got up, towering over her even in her heels. They both stepped to the edge of the scene, watching the CSI unit come in and start gathering evidence, the coroner's people standing just at the edge with their gurney waiting to transport the body to the morgue.

"Yeah but not impossible." He watched as an investigator carefully plucked up the threads with a pair of tweezers after meticulously taking pictures of them. They were put into a small brown envelope and tagged, then slipped into the evidence bag. "Yeah, I still see Marcie every once in a while. She's great for what ails you."

Jenna shook her head sadly as the CSI's motioned for the body to be removed so they could really start working. "Justin," she sighed. "You really need to start meeting a better class of lady."

"Like who?" Justin stared down at his diminutive partner. "Name one."

"What about Lewiston over in traffic? She's pretty and she's got an education above the fifth grade level unlike Marcie."

Justin stared at her as if she'd lost her mind. "That woman would make three of you, Jenna. And she smells funny." The image of the round cushion of a woman popped in his mind. "And what's with that laugh, she sounds like she's got a chicken bone stuck in her throat. I can't go to bed with a woman who is going to make me puke if I make her laugh."

"Okay, okay." She held up her hand in a down boy motion. "Yeah, you're right, with you in bed, it's almost a sure bet that she'd start laughing," she added impishly and took a quick step sideways. Jenna couldn't hold back her own amusement even though laughing on a crime scene was frowned upon by the brass. She made sure her back was to the cameras. "What about Warner from Vice? She's cute."

"Married. And I will get even for that crack."

Jenna looked at him in consternation. "When did that happen?"

"Two months ago. You were a little caught up in a case," he let sarcasm drip into his tone. "We ended up staking out the Blue Moon Bar that night instead of eating free food and getting trashed on the free beer."

The Blue Moon Bar was where they had finally found the working girl that had lead up to finding and catching Kevin Elliott.

"Okay, so we've been busy. But there's still better women out there than Marcie."

He let Texas drip from his voice, making it smooth and low like honeyed whisky. "Yeah, but darlin', you're the only filly I want in my barn."

She almost snorted at him but managed to contain herself with a simple scoff. "Justin, you really need to ..." the rest of what she'd been about to say was lost as a uniform skidded up to them.

"We've got a car behind the warehouse. No one in it. Could be the vic's. My partner's back there with it now."

"Did you run the plates?" Jenna asked as the man tried to stare down the front of her dress.

Justin nudged him, hard, while Jenna stared daggers at the now blushing cop.

"Uh...my partner's doing it now."

Justin nodded and then urged Jenna forward following behind the uniform quickly. He heard a scamper of feet and knew the hounds from the press were watching. "We need to get it strung quick, Jen. Those fucking vultures are circling enough." Justin hated the press, hated what they did to the victims, to their families, even to other cops. And it was all done in the appellation of the public's right to know.

He yelled to a couple of uniforms to control the crowd and get some yellow tape and follow them back.

The car was a piece of shit, rusted and old. There was gray bondo on the doors and the hood, a crack in the windshield that would surely net every patrol cops attention in five miles, and the radio antenna was a coat hanger duck taped to the car.

"Damn, if that's hers, it's amazing that she even made it here." Justin snapped fresh gloves into place and went to the driver's side door. He took the handle in two fingers, lifting delicately to save on losing any prints that might be collectible. For a moment, he thought it was locked but then it gave with a screech of rusted hinges.

Inside the car smelled like a fast food restaurant. Greasy hamburgers and onions were the scent of the day. Justin sat down delicately in the front seat, his long frame almost bent in half as he tried to get around the steering wheel. "She's as small as you are, Jen," he grunted, reaching over to pop open the glove box. He pulled an envelope out and reached in for the papers.

"Michigan registration. And look, it's still valid. Car's RO is Stephanie Lawrence." He glanced around the interior of the car as he held out the papers to Jenna. "And we have a purse." He scooped it up off the passenger side floor. The wallet was on top. "I'd say Stephanie is our victim. God, Jenna. She just turned 18 two weeks ago. She's just a baby."

The picture on the ID made Jenna's heart hurt. Pretty features under short shaggy dark hair and a smile that lit up her entire face stared up at her. Her address was listed for right here in Lapeer, an apartment complex on the less reputable side of town. She flipped through the wallet that Justin handed her. Twenty-three dollars and some change, a condom, a couple of business cards for photography studios, and a piece of paper with the address to the warehouse on it. And that was it. No family pictures, no job receipts, not even a lousy bus token.

Justin was contemplating the back seat of the car which looked like Stephanie used it as an impromptu dressing room. "Are all teens this bad? Check out the shit, makeup, clothes, magazines, and..." He closed his eyes for a second and gulped heavily. "Now this is disgusting." He waved her to look in the back seat and stepped out.

Jenna climbed in, checking out the backseat, prepared for the worse. It took a lot for Justin to turn green like he did. What would she see? Fingers? A severed head?

She almost laughed when she did finally find it. Her poor partner, squeamish over something like this? She took a pen off the dash and carefully fished the object off the floor, holding it out a little as she stepped back.

"This is getting to you?" The object, a used condom, hung limply from around the pen's barrel. "Wow, I can understand why. It looks like it's an extra large." She laid it back down where she found it. "But I don't think our killer left that. Looking at that crime scene, he's too bold to hide behind a raincoat."

"Yeah, well, we need to have this towed in." He motioned for one of the uniforms to do that and took another step back from the car.

"I guess we should get these prints run and then see if Stephanie lived with her parents. She's just 18, she should have someone, a guardian, someone." She handed the wallet back to Justin and started to turn.

"Jenna?"

She looked back, seeing him standing there, a flashlight in his hand pointed down at the driver's license. "Yeah?"

"Does she look familiar to you?"

She took another look at the smiling face that she knew would haunt her dreams for the next couple of nights. "Maybe..." she hesitated, knowing he saw something that was just beyond her grasp. "She sure don't look like Marcie," she said, trying to joke the all too serious expression off his face.

"No, not Marcie." His face was pale in the glow of the flashlight, and a little creepy, like a ten year old shining the light up under his chin to be scary. His words, when they came, were sharp and eerie sounding. "You, Jen. She could be you."

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tsurttsurtabout 8 years ago
great!

i am now wondering if the good doctor has his hand in this somehow.....

kittiekimmeekittiekimmeeover 15 years ago
PLEASE.

Please tell me there is more to this story. I am always sad when i get to the end of one of your stories. I love them...i never want them to end!!

AnonymousAnonymousover 15 years ago
Wow

i really really enjoyed this, but it can't end at chapter 7. I need more information than that. What happens with Jenna and Ethan?! Why is the last victim a replica of jenna? Write more!!!

riverrockriverrockover 15 years ago
Good

cant wait for more. All your stories are great.

cantfightfatecantfightfateover 15 years ago
Ditto

I'm enjoying it.

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