Extreme Malice

by R E Swirsky

  Chapter 16

  Friday, October 14th 7:12 am

  Jack awoke at the sound of his alarm but did not really feel refreshed at all. He had not slept well. He knew he had a bad dream that caused him to have to get up and walk around the house multiple times, but he could remember none of it. Suddenly what occurred the night before in the garage popped into his mind, and he sat up in the bed as an adrenalin rush dashed through his veins. Somebody photographed him as he lifted the latex gloves out of the tote from his trunk, and it disturbed him greatly.

  If someone had really photographed him, then last night was probably not the first time. He wondered who was behind this surveillance. Dean's team was the obvious first choice, but Dean said publicly that there was no evidence linking Jack to the crime. Could Dean justify issuing the watch when he publicly cleared Jack’s name? Jack doubted Dean could do it.

  But if not Dean, then who?

  It certainly was not Donna's parents, and he doubted Fred would have anyone track him. Then again, Barry was known to go beyond the norm to get his client off. Maybe Barry hired someone to follow Jack without Fred knowing.

  He pondered the options as he stared out the back window of his bedroom towards the river. He needed to go for a run to clear his mind. Work would have to wait. Maybe he would go in later, but right now, he just wanted to get his blood moving so he could think through what was really going on.

  Ten minutes later, Jack was heading down his usual route to Head Park. He thought about who could possibly be following him, and he concluded it was either Dean or Barry. He was upset at himself for not realizing that there may have been surveillance on him since he got back in his house, but a part of him knew there was nothing to be worried about. There was nothing to find.

  Jack entered the parking lot at Head Park. He was half-expecting to see Sherri's car waiting for him, but the park was empty. He ran through the parking lot and turned back to the river path towards his house.

  Jack was nearly home when he spotted a young man out on the rocks in the river with a camera. The sun was just coming up, casting a beautiful yellow glow on the valley, trees, and distant mountains. The few clouds on the horizon above the mountains were tinged with a deep purple, creating the perfect backdrop to the colors in the valley. Jack saw this view many times on his early morning runs and knew the photographic moment would be lost in another ten minutes as the sun continued its slow crawl up into the morning sky.

  Jack slowed down to a fast walk and watched the young man as he toyed with his camera on a small tripod. His back was turned towards Jack as he looked up the valley. Was this photographer's presence a mere coincidence? Jack had to find out and broke off from the trail to the rocks along the river.

  The water level of the river was low at this time in the morning in October. The cold nights that had now set in reduced the water flow and slowed the melt from the watershed above. Many large rocks now lay exposed on both sides of the river. The water bubbled its way down, traversing the rocky path the best it could, creating mini waterfalls and fast flowing narrow chutes that were normally hidden underneath the high flow levels of summer.

  Jack forged his way out on the rocks, careful to keep his balance as he jumped from one large boulder to the other until he was within easy speaking distance of the young man.

  "Morning!" Jack said to the young man.

  The young man turned quickly towards Jack. His bright teeth shone in the morning sun.

  "Hi," he said quickly and gave Jack a short wave.

  The lean wiry young man was Asian and had straight, shiny black hair.

  "Beautiful morning for photos," Jack said as he finally made his way to the young man. The young man turned his attention back to his camera.

  "Sure is. Must get up early to get shots like this," he said.

  Jack watched the young man as he stayed squatting hunched behind his camera taking more photos.

  "You from around here?" Jack asked.

  "Uh huh. Go to University," he replied.

  "I live just over there," Jack said and pointed over to the left bank.

  The young man looked where Jack was pointing, looked back at Jack, and smiled. He returned to taking pictures.

  "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Do you come down here often?" Jack asked.

  "No. First time," he said.

  "My name's Jack."

  "Hi Jack," the young man said and grinned once again. "My name's David. David Chow. Nice to meet you, Jack," he said politely and then set his attention to changes lenses.

  "You too," Jack said. He watched David as he fidgeted with his lenses and filters and continued to take more photos. To Jack, it looked like the kid really knew what he was doing. He worked quickly as the sun continued its slow rise.

  Jack had seen enough.

  "Well, I'll let you carry on. Hope you get some great shots."

  "Thank you," David replied.

  Jack turned and worked his way from rock to rock towards the shore. He continued to hear David's camera clicking away as he finally made it to shore. For just a moment, David seemed somehow familiar to Jack. He thought maybe he had met David or seen him somewhere before. He turned back to steal one more glance at David. He expected to see David standing up with the camera clicking away at Jack, but as he turned, he saw David Chow still fixated on the last of the beautiful colors of the morning's sunrise. Jack studied the young man but was unable to find him anywhere in his memory. He let it go.

  Jack ran the last section along the river path back to his property. He had just walked in the back door when he heard the front doorbell. He looked at the clock; it was barely eight in the morning. Who would come by this early? he thought. He opened the door to see Dean with another officer at his side. Dean was not smiling.

  "Dean," Jack said, sounding more surprised than he wanted to.

  "May we come in?" Dean asked.

  "Sure," Jack replied and opened the door wide enough for them to enter. Dean entered the house and walked deliberately towards the kitchen with the officer following behind him.

  "This is Officer Kent."

  Jack eyed Officer Kent. The officer's gun holstered at his side made Jack uncomfortable.

  "What brings you around today? I was just going to take a quick shower and head off to work."

  Dean laughed. "Work, Jack? I don't think so. At least not yet. We have a lot to talk about."

  "Like what?"

  "Actually Jack, we are moving fairly quickly on this case, and I think it's about time we had another chat," Dean said and motioned for Jack to have a seat. "I'm not sure how much you've heard about the evidence we've collected from your house."

  "I've heard some."

  Dean hovered over Jack as Officer Kent left the kitchen and began to move about in the other room. Jack suddenly tensed up.

  Dean nodded. "I thought you might have. From who? Fred?"

  Jack nodded.

  "Okay, that makes it easier. So let me guess: He told you what we have on Josh. Most of that you've heard already…the guitar strings, the footprints, and the phone call."

  "Uh huh."

  Officer Kent continued to make noise as he moved around in the other room.

  "Pretty solid against the kid, the prosecutor says. But Jack, and there's no easy way to say it…we found DNA from a few other men in your house. We found cigarette butts in the tin outback—the one you said you emptied just two days before. We found a coffee cup and a takeout food box in the kitchen garbage. We also found hairs, a used tissue, and a used condom in your bedroom. We found a total of three different sets of male DNA."

  Jack nodded. "Fred told me this, yes."

  "What do you think of it? You don't seem upset."

  "For Christ sake's, Dean. I've been hearing this shit for weeks now. Nothing surprises me anymore."

  "The used condom doesn't upset you?" Dean asked and frowned.

&
nbsp; "Damn it, of course it does. What the hell am I supposed to do about it now?"

  Dean chuckled. "You're good. You know that? I was expecting you to put on a show for me, but here you are. You're solid." He chuckled again.

  "What are you here for really? You came all the way out here today to tell me something you knew I already knew?"

  "You surprise me, Jack,” Dean said sarcastically. “I'm not done investigating this, believe me. I need names of all your male contacts and friends. We've gone through a number of them already, and they have all been cleared so far."

  Jack gave Dean all the names he could remember. He offered up everyone he could think of who knew him and Donna to any extent.

  "A lot of people go up and down that path along the river. Maybe it was a random thing," Jack said.

  "The condom in your bedroom was not random, Jack. It was found in the bottom of the trash in your bedroom, and it was weeks old. That is not random. We also took samples from all of Josh's male friends with black hair, and they're all negative."

  Jack shrugged. "Just trying to give you more options."

  "Jesus, Jack. You know exactly what I am talking about here. You know where I stand on this investigation, and nothing's changed! More options, my ass! The investigation may be going by the book, but I've got my eyes pointed another way. You hear me?"

  Now Jack laughed. "Yeah, I hear you. I guess that was one of your guys outside last night?"

  Dean frowned again. "What do you mean last night?"

  "The photographer. How long have you had someone watching me?"

  "Watching you? No one's watching you." Dean stood up and called for Officer Kent. "No one from our office is watching you, Jack. Is there someone watching you?"

  "Come off it, Dean. Who's playing stupid now? I was photographed last night when I went out to my garage. You're saying that wasn't you? Bull."

  Dean shook his head and looked at Officer Kent. Dean really did look like he had no idea what Jack was talking about.

  "And what's he here for anyway?" Jack said pointing his thumb at Officer Kent. Officer Kent stood in the kitchen and said nothing, but he was intimidating to Jack.

  "He's here just in case you wanted to tell me something...something I've wanted to hear from you for a few weeks."

  Jack got up from his chair. "I've got nothing to say to you, Dean. I think you should leave now."

  Dean raised his hands in the air and motioned for Officer Kent to lead the way out the front door. Dean was only a few paces down the front walk when he stopped and turned back to Jack.

  "I'm not watching you. Why would anybody be watching you?"

  They stood staring at each other for a moment. Each man was trying to read something from the other’s expression. Jack turned back into the house and closed the door. He wondered when this was going to end.