Woman in Love Ch. 03

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 14 - Smoke And Mirrors

"Hold your fire!" I yelled out. "Do not fire! Do not shoot!"

There was no further sound from the bedroom, but an eerie orange-pink light. Teresa went to the edge of the door and peered in as Kalsu and Patrick began coming up the stairs, then she went in the room, followed by Laurer.

"Clear!" Teresa called up. "Commander, you gotta see this." I went upstairs, holstering my service weapon.

When I went into the room, a strange sight greeted me. There were two blowup dolls, but they were clear plastic and not really anatomical. Attached the them were small blowers, pumping heated air through them, and orange and pink lights illuminating them.

"Sir," said Kalsu as he came into the room, "there's two more just like this in the den downstairs."

"What was that gunfire?" Cindy asked.

"This." I said, pointing to the remains of tiny firecrackers that had been attached to a tripwire across the door. "It pops, and they're hoping we'll start shooting."

"What the hell is the purpose of all this?" asked Joan Laurer, mostly to herself.

"Can we get Amber on a parole violation for the firecrackers?" Cindy asked hopefully.

"No ma'am." said the Parole Officer. "Those little things aren't considered to be an offensive weapon, even if they were thrown at Police during a riot."

"As to the purpose, Detective Laurer," I said, "it's obvious it's to fuck with us. Just as a prank to embarrass us, or a more sinister warning, I'm not sure."

"Maybe to distract us, sir?" asked Teresa Croyle.

"Could well be." I said. "But why? And by whom? Don't try to tell me that Amber has the brains to figure out and set up something like this."

"Bettina might." said Cindy. "But my money is on that Rogue Team that we were expecting to meet."

"Okay, call your families." I said. "Tell them to watch out for anything out of the ordinary, and for them to lock their doors, and stay inside with a cellphone near them---"

*BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!*

It was Teresa's Police iPhone, which was on vibrate mode. Meanwhile, I was getting an earful of the 'break' noise on the radio.

"Break break break! Duty Desk to Commander Troy." said the Duty Desk Sergeant.

"Go for Troy." I said into the radio, unplugging the earpiece so that all could hear.

"Sir, we have shots fired at the Quick Stop at Jefferson and Riverside." said the Duty Desk. "Multiple casualties."

"Roger that." I said. "I'm on the way." I turned to everyone and said "Laurer, Monroe, stay with the Parole Officer and Commander Ross. Take photos of these... contraptions... then take them to the Station as evidence. Leave everything else of Amber' untouched, and make it look like we were never here. Don't leave any bugs; they'll find them. Kalsu and Patrick, you come with Commander Croyle and me to the crime scene..."

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

Police were directing traffic along Jefferson and Riverside, not letting rubberneckers stop or even slow down. The Quick Stop parking lot was cordoned off, as was the parking lot to of the defunct skating rink, but of course I was allowed to drive past the barriers. I parked in the skating rink lot with several other Police vehicles, one of them being Tanya's van.

The scene was an eerie landscape of flashing lightbars and LEOs scurrying about. I saw an ambulance and two EMTs in the parking lot, right at the corner of the streets, and other Police vehicles. Yellow crime scene tape was already up around the parking lot, and more blocking off the side of the store near where the bodies were behind the building.

Tanya herself was in her 'Tank', the tracked wheelchair. She was wearing an armored vest and a Police helmet, like everyone else but me (ubiquitous Tilley Hat). Kalsu and Patrick were behind me, and watching warily; they were my bodyguards. Teresa was checking with the Uniformed Officers manning the perimeter.

"Whaddya got, Muscone?" I asked gruffly as I came up to my Captain of Detectives.

"Four dead." Tanya replied. "Three right here near the corner, and a fourth on the other side of that dumpster. Looks like he tried to get behind the dumpster, but may have been shot before he got there, and he died there."

"Who called it in?" I asked.

"We got four 9-1-1 calls." Tanya said. "The guy working the counter inside the Quick Stop, and three people in the area on cellphones. They were here when the first Patrol cruiser arrived, and we've interviewed them. Their stories match in that an old car came up Riverside... going north... and sharply turned into the parking lot. The color of the car was described as everything from gray to tan, and I'm thinking the lighting here may be part of the problem, there."

"I agree." I said. "Keep going."

Tanya: "The car rushed around to the side here, shots were heard, then the car took off onto Jefferson, going east. The employee behind the counter said he didn't really see what happened other than the car coming into the lot. Others said it went on around, and again reports differ on how long it was there. One eyewitness said it stopped for quote 'a few seconds', while another witness said it pulled up, and had hardly stopped when the car screeched off and went onto Jefferson and kept going."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll go look at the bodies. Kalsu, Patrick, stay here with Captain Muscone, make sure she doesn't get shot." They acknowledged the order and stayed with Tanya as I went into the alleyway behind the store. Powerful temporary klieg lights illuminated the area. I observed Detectives Julia Rodriguez and Theo Washington down the alley, in plainclothes but wearing armored vests, which pleased me.

"Hello, Bobby." I said to Bobby Patrick, one of the CSIs. "Are you related to Daniel Patrick?"

"Third cousins, sir." said Bobby. "Our grandfathers were brothers. Sir, this is our newest CSI, Garst Gailey. Started May 1st. Chemistry degree." Gailey was a youngish man, likely not long graduated from School and the Police Academy."

"Chemistry degree? I like you already." I said, shaking Gailey's hand. "Where are you from?"

"Honor to meet you, sir." said Gailey. "I graduated from Missouri, and worked in The City for two years before Captain Muscone snagged me. Glad she did; things are ugly over there right now."

"Yeah they are." I said. "They're ugly here, too. Any idea who these cats are?"

*Whirrrrrrrrrrr*

"Prints just came back." said Tanya as she rolled up to us. "Toddler, Camo, Jesus Freak, and Mr. Handsome."

"Ohhhhh, nooooooo." I said softly. I pulled back the tarp covering one of the bodies to see the lifeless face of 'Jesus Freak'. One bullet had gotten him right over his left ear, and gone through his head.

"Sir," said Technician Gailey, "all four victims were shot two or three times in the upper body, and at least once in the head."

"What do you make of that, Mr. Kalsu?" I asked the SWAT Officer, who was right behind Tanya.

"Sir," said Kalsu, "that sounds like what we were trained to do in the military: double tap to the chest, then one to the head. Looks like the perps fired three or four shots to the chest in these cases."

"I agree." I said. "Very efficient executions. We rarely see this in gang warfare---"

"Commander! Over here!" I heard Detective Julia Rodriguez call out. I went over to the other side of the dumpster. Lying in a sitting position against it, his body but not his face covered with a tarp, was Mr. Handsome.

"I'm trying to understand this, sir." said Julia. "The others pretty much fell where they were standing. But this guy managed to get behind this dumpster. The problem is that he must've been hit before getting here, but there is no blood trail from where the others were, nor from anywhere else."

"You're right." I said. "Excellent observation, Ms. Rodriguez. Mr. Washington, what do you make of that?"

"The only thing that make sense to me, sir," said Theo, "is that this guy was already down here, or close by. We're getting videocamera data from inside the store and around the area to confirm what we were told by witnesses, that one guy was inside, buying a beer and cigarettes. Maybe he came out the back door here, and walked into the ambush."

"You're right that he was already close by, already down here when he was shot." I said.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Theo," said Tanya, looking at her tablet, "but the video is already uploaded to the evidence servers, and this guy here did buy beer and cigarettes... but he went out the front door and went around the corner where the other three were, in the shadows."

I said "Okay, let's get someone to pull his body forward, so I can see the wall behind him."

"Sir?" Julia asked involuntarily.

"The wall behind him, Detective." I said, careful not to make my voice too harsh or condescending. Garst Gailey and a Uniformed Officer that had gloves on and was helping collect evidence came over at Tanya's radioed-in request, and they pulled the body forward as Theo videoed everything.

"Ah" I said as I squatted to the side of Mr. Handsome's body. "Get this on film, Theo. Two bullets went right through the man and slammed into the concrete wall. What does that tell us?"

"He was sitting there when he was shot." said Garst Gailey. Julia, Theo, and Tanya nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I'm trying to understand this, Ms. Rodriguez." I said, playing on her words from a moment before. "Make me understand how this happened?"

"Not enough data yet, sir." Julia said thoughtfully as I glanced over at the vine-covered fence.

I got out my Police iPhone and speed-dialed Mary Mahoney Milton. "Terry Halston is already getting video data, sir." she said. "I'm helping him with it, and Myron is helping from home."

"Outstanding." I said. "Listen, have Myron stop. Call me paranoid about the security of the lines he's using to plug in. And don't have him come in. You work with Halston like you're doing now. I want him and you to get all the video from the parking lot of the old skating rink building. Whatever you can get, from any angle, pointing in any direction. How copy?"

"Loud and clear, sir." Mary said. "We're on it." We disconnected the call.

"Okay," I said to Julia, "let's go back to the parking lot, and I'll present you with more data." We walked back past the other bodies to the side parking lot.

"So the car came up right to about here?" I asked, standing at a point that looked into the back alley.

"Yes sir." said Tanya. "Great line of sight to those three, if they were standing where they fell."

"This is interesting, most very interesting." I said, looking at the concrete of the parking lot, then walking around in wider circles. Finally I stopped and said "Tell me what you guys observe."

"You walking in a circle, Commander." Tanya said. "Other than that, not much."

"In fact, nothing at all, is that not right?" I asked loudly.

"Uh oh." said Julia Rodriguez. "I think we're about to get hit with a 'teachable moment'."

"Just a quick question." I said. "Where are the shell casings?"

You could've heard a pin drop... or a shell casing... as everyone looked around and realized that there were no shell casings on the pavement! Not one...

Part 15 - Stitching It Together

11:15pm, Wednesday, May 20th. Chief Moynahan and I came into Classroom 'E' with Commander Cindy Ross and Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle. Already there were Captain Tanya Muscone, Lt. Mary Milton, Lt. Jerome Davis, Lt. Micah Rudistan, and Detectives Julia Rodriguez, Theo Washington, Lisa Monroe, and Joan Laurer.

"It's your meeting, Commander Troy." said the Chief as we sat down. "I'm just here to hear all this firsthand."

"Sir, Halston is in the Intel Center if you need to talk to him." Mary Milton said.

"Good." I said. "And tell Halston I'm very happy with the work he's done tonight. I need to go to Carole's classroom more often, and get more tips on people to hire. And Garst Gailey impressed me as well, Captain Muscone. Where did you find him?"

"Working as a CSI for the City Police, sir." said Tanya. "It is possible that he was noticed by someone in the State Crime Lab, and recommended him to me."

"Your Maid of Honor, perhaps?" I said with a grin, referencing the State Crime Labs Chief Chemist, Dr. Christina Cho.

"Perhaps." Tanya replied with a twinkle in her eye and her cherubic smile. "And yes, he's doing well for us."

"Okay, so as not to waste any more of the Chief's time," I said, "who wants to start?"

Tanya brought up a presentation on the matrix screens and said. "Here's the timeline we pieced together. As this video montage shows, this faded tan Impala, that looks gray under the bright lights of the service station, came up Riverside Drive and sped up as it neared Jefferson Avenue. It barreled into the parking lot and continued to the left of the store, almost hitting a couple of pedestrians."

Tanya: "It went around left, stopped for a second, and we can see the passenger-side windows are down, and the barrels of semi-auto pistol appear. Then this is where it gets weird: the guns are drawn back into the car, and the car scratches off onto Jefferson. It turned down a side street a few blocks down, and got lost in the Southwestern Ghetto."

"Those guns did not fire, did they?" asked Chief Moynahan.

"No, Chief, they didn't." said Tanya. "Both Halston and Kalsu examined that tape, and they both said they should've seen muzzle flashes. Also, it looked like they were going to extend the guns outside the car, but then pulled them back. If they try to shoot from inside, where shell casings might stay in the car, it'd be less accurate, but also a heck of a lot noisier... as in ear-ringing noisier, possibly affecting the driver, too."

"Maybe they saw the dead bodies, and got the heck out of Dodge?" asked Lisa Monroe.

Tanya replied: "That's a good thought, but the eyewitness statements said they heard gunfire right as that car went around the corner."

I said: "So they may have been about to shoot, then seen that someone else was in the process of shooting the four victims! So they bolted. That's either amazingly coincidental timing... or on purpose."

"So where did the gunfire come from?" asked Tanya.

I said "The clue to that is that Mr. Handsome was shot while hiding behind that dumpster... well, he thought he was, as he was expecting the other three to be gunned down by that car. He had a great hiding place from that, but---"

"The other side of the fence!" exclaimed Julia Rodriguez. "They were shot through the fence!"

"So I read the riddle." I replied. "Commander Croyle, did you have Officers walk that fence line from the other side, the abandoned building side?"

"Yes sir." said Teresa. "The lighting wasn't great, and I had concerns that perps might be in or behind that building, ready to shoot at us, or that there might be tripwired booby traps. So they stopped short of the building. We've secured the parking lot, and will check again in the morning."

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

The door was opened to reveal Terry Halston. "I.. I... I... I'm sorry to disturb you all, but I have some new video you need to see."

"Come on in, Mr. Halston!" I said jovially. "Don't keep us in suspense."

Halston came in and plugged his laptop into the connection port on the table, then brought up a video. "Th...this is from the parking lot of the skating ring, on the light pole furthest away from the Quick Stop." he said, somewhat excitedly but nervously. He played the video, which showed the fence line. On the right edge, the Impala could be seen leaving the parking lot and getting on the road.

"It shows a little of the car, but not much." said Cindy.

"Wait" I said. "Uh, can we get the lights in here dimmed?"

"I can turn off most of them." said Mary Milton, getting up. She turned off all the fluorescent lights and dimmed the one row of pot lights.

"Play it again, Mr. Halston." I said. Halston replayed the video.

"Oh, wowwww, there they are." I said, leaning forward and looking hard.

"I see them, tooooo." said the Chief.

"Where?" asked Cindy. "I'm not seeing it."

"If you were in combat like Colonel Moynahan and Ranger Halston were," I said, "you'd have learned to see it. Halston, can you sharpen that up?"

"S.s.s.sir," said Halston, "I can run this with a slight delay overlap, to enhance movement."

He did so, and everyone was able to see the movement of two well-camouflaged men along the fence line. They stopped and melded into the vine-covered fence just before the Impala left the parking lot.

"Wow, that's amazing." said Julia Rodriguez. "So why weren't any shell casings found along the fence line?

"M.m.ma'am," said Halston, "they might have had rifles that had an attachment to collect fired rounds, so that they'd leave none behind. I heard that some Green Beret teams had those."

"I'll bet Navy SEALs have them, too." I replied. "This is outstanding work, Mr. Halston, really outstanding." Everyone applauded, making Halston blush.

"Okay, Commander Croyle," I said, "I hate to do this to you, but round up a posse of well-armored SWAT. Take in infrared devices and have dogs sniff around first, and check behind and inside that building. Exigent circumstances to enter without a warrant. Consider the two men we are looking for to be exceptionally dangerous..."

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

1:00am, Thursday, May 21st. Cindy and I were in my office.

"Callie and my mom took Betsy to The Cabin, and Paulina and Laura took your kids there. Everyone's still there, and safe and sound." Cindy said. "The drones and IR cams around my condo and Mom's place have shown nothing, and the guards at Mom's gated community have reported nothing unusual."

"Good." I said. "I'd like to think I was wrong, and those two bozos at the Quick Stop are the only ones around."

"But you don't." Cindy said, feeling the vibe.

"But I don't." I said softly. "I think they realized we're onto them, and called off anything they were going to do to you or your family."

"So why the charade with the blow-up dolls at Amber's?" Cindy asked.

Just then Teresa Croyle came in, still armored up over her 'black' uniform. I had her sit down.

"The dogs alerted to a scent." Teresa said. "IR cameras and drones showed nothing, and the dogs traced the scent to behind the building and through a hole in back. That property is someone's home, so we didn't try to follow the trail."

"They were long gone, so don't worry about that." I said. "Intel is getting every piece of video they can from those neighborhoods, so maybe we'll catch a break."

Teresa said: "There's a hole in the fence between the Quick Stop and the abandoned building, too, way down at the end of the Quick Stop property, but the dog didn't try to go there."

"That's good to know.' I said.

"We searched the building, too, but found no one there." Teresa continued. "We'll go see if there's any other evidence when it gets daylight. I just have one question: was all that bullshit at Amber's just a distraction so they could execute Toddler's crew?"

"Maybe." I said. "Big-time overkill to do that, though. We had no idea anyone was going to come after Toddler's crew like that."