Return of the Black Widow Ch. 03

"We're running through all the other employees of the store, as well." said Myron. "Nothing on any of them so far, and no correlations to the first two victims."

"Like he was chosen at random." said Cindy, more to herself than any of us.

"Yes." I said. "I agree... and I wonder if maybe all of these killings are random."

"You mean these victims were not chosen for any particular reason, sir, ma'am?" asked Krueger.

"Well," I said, "they're not connected to each other, so we have to consider that this copycat Black Widow is doing this for other reasons. Okay, guys, you did great getting this information this quickly. I need you to do two things: first, get with the FBI and all Police Departments in the region, including over the State Line, and ask if any unidentified bodies have been found. Contact the Campus Police and ask if there are any missing persons reports. You can ask the FBI that, as well. Okay, y'all can go." With that dismissal, the Mouseketeers left. I went into a reverie. Cindy waited me out.

"Captain, let's go see the Chief." I finally said, pushing myself up out of my chair.

"Your back is not right, is it?" she asked, seeing me struggle to stand up.

"It lets me know if I move it in the wrong way." I said, not discussing the true extent of the pain. Concerned, Cindy followed me to the Chief's office, into which we were admitted.

"Sooooo..." said the Chief after he had us sit down, "... what do you think of this last killing?"

"It seems to be random, or at least this victim is random in relation to the other killings." said Cindy. "I have to admit that I'm at a loss to see any connections."

"There is one connection." I said. "The same person did all three killings. Before this last killing, I considered that it might be more than one person, but I now believe it to be the same person."

"What else can you tell us?" asked the Chief.

"This person had or has a limited amount of the grease paints and lipstick." I said. "This person may have had an accomplice for the first killing, but not the last two, so we're dealing with a Lone Wolf. I don't believe the victims are connected to each other. As to the motives of this Bad Actor, I feel like we're the flies being invited into the spider's parlor."

"So Chief," I continued, "I'd like to ask you to tell the Sheriff that I won't be visiting any more of these Black Widow crime scenes, that I'm assigning Captain Ross and Lt. Masters these cases, and that I will not be personally involved with them any further. And you can tell him to feel free to disseminate that information as far and wide as he cares to."

"Are you serious?" Cindy asked.

"Heh heh heh heh." chuckled the Chief in his unique way. "I think I see what you are doing, Mr. Crowbar. And yes, I will tell our Sheriff exactly those things."

"How about telling your 'Kato' what you are doing." Cindy 'suggested'...

Part 13 - Flytrap

Thursday evening, August 11th. It was about 10:30pm, and the sun had long since made its way past the western horizon, leaving the Town in Summertime darkness. I was sitting in my office, wearing a civilian black shirt, khaki pants, and black Army boots.

I was deep in a reverie, putting together the pieces of the puzzle. I was sure who the New Black Widow was. The trouble... was proving it. Even just getting probable cause to execute a search warrant and then an arrest warrant. And doing something... before someone else was killed. I looked up at the ceiling, making patterns in my head of the indentations in the tile. Then I looked over at the framed shields of Pete and Tanya. My eyes closed...

"Oh, Commmannnnndderrrrrr.." said that husky voice.

I opened my eyes. It was dark, only the moonlight filtering into the room. I was seeing in black and white. Angela Harlan was sitting on my desk, naked but for her black pumps, her shapely legs crossed in front of her, yoga-style.

"Soooo close, my darling Commander... but soooo far away..." Angela said. I couldn't tell in my head if it was a commiseration or if she was taunting me.

"What did Westboro do to you?" I heard myself ask.

"Ohhhh, I seeee..." said Angela. "You're beginning to figure it out." She looked over towards Feeley's badge. "Way too late, though. Waayyyyy too late."

"What do you want, Angela?" I heard myself ask.

"Mmmm... sex with you was... out of this world, for lack of a better term." Angela said, grinning. "Of course, Callie was the perfect medium, wasn't she? And don't tell me you didn't like it..."

"Okay, I won't tell you." I said. "So why do you insist on being in my head right now?"

Angela stretched out her legs, then stood up on the floor. "Just to tell you," she said, "that your problems are solved..." Then I was blinded by a light and closed my eyes...

When I opened them, my office light was on, I was seeing in color... and I was seeing Captain Cindy Ross standing on the other side of the desk.

"Sorry I woke you up, Commander." Cindy said. "You okay?"

"Yeah." I said, feeling disoriented. "What brings you here?"

"You." Cindy replied simply. "You're obviously expecting something to happen. How can I help?"

"You and your 'vibes'." I said, very sure that's what it was. "Well, I---"

Just then my Police cellphone chimed. There was a text message for me. When I opened it, I gasped in shock as I saw the picture. I showed it to Cindy.

A woman was tied up, and her mouth was gagged. She was looking at the camera that had taken the picture of her face from up close. But more chilling was the message. It said to come to the warehouse where Pete Feeley had been murdered... and to come alone.

It was signed 'The Black Widow'.

To be continued.

So, dear readers, who is the New Black Widow? And who is her latest, tied-up victim? And what is the reason behind these killings? Solution next chapter... and a whole lot more.