The Pact Ch. 02

"Okay. Good job." I said. "So the mother's name is..."

"Helga Radcliffe." said Joanne. "She originally from Sweden, met her husband through his State Department work there, married him over 20 years ago. Their only child Sven is eighteen, just graduated from County High."

"You said the son had just gotten home." I said. "Where was he?"

"According to what he told Theo," said Joanne, "he'd been at a party, which was pretty big, over at the River Valley subdivision. He got home right about midnight. His mom told him to set the alarm, but when he went downstairs, he found the perps already in the house, and they pulled guns on him."

Just then Theo came in, followed by a Tank driven by Captain Tanya Perlman. "That Tank must be very helpful in getting around this big house." I said to Tanya.

"Yes, I was able to get upstairs with a minimum of help." said Tanya.

"Theo, what did you get? Any descriptions?"

"Very similar to the last home invasion." said Theo. "Both were fit but not overly muscular, looked tall due to looking slenderish. They wore all black, Spider-Man masks with holes for the mouths. They wore gloves, and what parts of their bodies they exposed were shaved, so no hair colorings visible at all."

"And large penises." said Tanya, very much enjoying regaling me with this information. "Same as last time, too: the guy with the largest cock was the leader, the one giving orders and beating up on the father. He raped the mother after the son had been forced to come inside her, and he wore a condom. In both cases, the second perp was quieter, saying almost nothing at all."

"Both white? One more pale than the other?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Theo. "Well... both were white. I didn't get anything on how pale. Excuse me, I'll be right back." He stalked off to get that information.

"Same perps, sir?" asked Joanne. "We didn't release any info on the first case, so it would be surprising if this was a copycat crime with new perps."

"True, Detective." I said, my eyes slowly getting introspective. "Detective Warner, as part of your computer researches, I'd like you to really dig deep and see if there is a connection between this family, the Radcliffes, and the other family, the Clarkstons. Check on all members of both families."

"Yes sir." said Joanne, making notes.

"Okay, I'm going upstairs." I said. I did so, and went into the master bedroom. The sheets were stripped and the handcuffs were being bagged.

"Before you take those handcuffs away," I said, "tell me how they were arranged."

"Yes sir." said the young man from the State Crime Lab. "These cuffs with the longer chains were used to secure Mrs. Radcliffe's arms above her head and to the headboard." He showed me the six foot chain, with a set of cheap plastic handcuffs on each end. "These two-foot chains secured Mr. Radcliffe to the headboard, and he was also taped to it. They used a lot of tape because of the footboard being a solid piece of wood, and we're hoping they made a mistake and left a fingerprint."

"I hope so." I said. "And they beat the shit out of Mr. Radcliffe?"

"Yes sir." said Theo, coming into the room. "According to Mrs. Radcliffe and confirmed by Sven, Mr. Radcliffe tried to subdue the attackers. He was not successful, and they punched and kicked him a lot throughout the ordeal."

"But they did not physically harm Sven or Mrs. Radcliffe, except for sexually assaulting her?" I said. "Just like last time?"

"Pretty much, sir." said Theo. "And you wanted the information on their skin tones. Mrs. Radcliffe is Swedish, so her skin is very pale. She said the perps were both more like Mr. Radcliffe in skin tone, which she called 'normal white', whatever that is."

"It's probably darker than me, being the pale-skinned redhead that I am." I said, meaning it half-humorously. "No, seriously, that's what I needed to know."

"She also said that the perp that was the leader," said Theo, "the one that beat up on her husband the worst, and then raped her after Sven finished, had three moles on his abdomen, just above the groin line. She saw them when he was getting on top of her."

"That's really good." I said. "Make sure to get that in her statement whenever she gives a formal one."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I went back downstairs. Joanne came up to me. "Sir, there are no signs of forced entry on any door or window in the house, nor the door from the garage into the house or the door from outside into the garage. Sven said he came in that side door, but locked it behind him, and we found it locked, as well."

"Additionally," she said, "the gate guards said there was a lot of traffic in and out tonight, but every car was accounted for as belonging to someone that lives here in the Heritage Cloisters. We've got the tape from about 10:00pm through the time we got the tapes at 2:30am."

"Good." I said. "By the way, did Captain Croyle ever show up like she did last time? Not that she should be here, but since she lives in the neighborhood..."

"I hope not, sir." said Joanne. "It's not like she doesn't have anything to do tomorrow morning... well, this morning." I chuckled; by that, Joanne meant the Finals of the Police Boxing Matches.

"Sir... didn't you hear?" asked Tanya. When I looked at her questioningly, she said "There was a domestic dispute about 10:30 last night. At the Clarkstons. Teresa showed up there, backed up the Officers that were arresting Mr. Clarkston. They ended up taking all three of them to the Station to get their statements, and they're holding Mr. Clarkston overnight."

"Oh." I said. "Wow."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Before going home, I went to Headquarters. On my desk in my office was a sticky-note from Teresa, giving the case number of the Clarkston domestic disturbance. I brought up the Police report and attached notes, and read them thoroughly.

Tiffany had complained that her father had grabbed her hard enough to hurt, Teresa's notes said, but Mrs. Clarkston had said that he was only stopping her from trying to leave, as she was grounded, and that she thought her husband was justified in doing so. Mrs. Clarkston also said that her husband was no more abusive to her than he'd ever been, and she was yelling back at him.

I leaned back in my Command Chair, thinking about the two incidents as well as the earlier home invasion. Something was not right, and was glaring at me like a neon sign, but I just couldn't see it. My eyes fluttered...

"Oh, Commannnderrrrr..."

The room was drained of color when I opened my eyes, only the computer monitor and the moonlight from outside giving any light at all. Sitting on the edge of my desk, gloriously naked except for her black high heel pumps, was Angela Harlan.

"So you didn't disappear with the Slender Man, Angela?" I heard myself say, my own voice reverberating through my head.

"Oh no, my darling Commander." said Angela. "Thankfully for all of us, you took care of that bastard. There was no good in him, none at all."

"And you, Angela?" I asked. "Is there any good left in you?"

"My beloved Commanderrrr..." Angela said, then sighed. "I am your best friend, right now. The story is in the music... in the music... and by the way, are things really as they seem with these home invasions?"

My eyes opened with a violent start. I was in my office, now illuminated by the warm orange-yellow glow of the desk lamp. And I was alone. Angela Harlan was gone just like she had come... on a moonlight shadow...

Are things as they seem... are things as they seem, I thought to myself, trying to read the riddle...

To be continued.

Any ideas on what is going on, here?

And who will face Teresa Croyle in the Boxing Matches finale?