The Mind’s Eye

by Perry Prete

  There were heads nodding in agreement and a few "yeah's" from the crowd. As everyone went back to what they were doing, Dan pulled Paul aside, "You're going to show the pics to the girl aren't you?"

  Paul nodded softly, "You got a better idea or any leads?"

  Dan thought for a moment, said nothing and turned his attention back to the suitcase.

  The tiny pang of anger that started earlier in his belly grew and spread across his shoulders and back, and he knew that if he stayed with the girl in the suitcase any longer, he would lose control. That was something he didn't want to do and something he didn't want anyone to see. He turned on his heels and headed for the man sitting on the curb clutching his tiny dog. Paul slowed his pace allowing himself to calm down. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and sat down next to the man with the dog.

  The man still sat on the curb; blankets draped over his shoulders, his tiny dog squirming to get free. As Paul sat next to the man, the dog began to bark. The two men sat quietly, no one spoke for several minutes. Paul waited for the man to say the first word.

  "It's a cold night isn't it," he said.

  "Damn cold." Paul kept it simple.

  "Cop?"

  "Yup." Paul stared forward.

  The little dog continued to bark. "You want my statement?"

  "You up for it?"

  The man chuckled, "No."

  "You ever seen anything like this before?"

  The man took in a deep breath, he was shaking his head side to side, but Paul failed to see this. The man started to cry and was barely able to get the word "No" out.

  "That's OK. We don't need your statement right now."

  The man spoke softly, "K".

  Paul waved to one of the uniformed officers who walked over. "Is there someone at this guy's house right now?"

  The man shook his head side to side. Paul stood to and spoke to the officer then sat back down. "This officer is going to take you to a hotel that will allow you to keep your dog with you. I'll see if we can have a doctor stop by and visit you and give you a little something to help you sleep. Don't worry about anything. This is on the department. Is your house locked?"

  The man shook his head up and down, "It is."

  "When you're ready, go with the officer, and we can chat later, OK?" The man stood, carefully let his dog down, shook Paul's hand and even in the eerie shadows cast by the scene lights, it was evident the man was crying and would need some type of sedative to help him sleep. The officer guided him to his SUV and placed the man and his dog in the back seat.

  Paul walked back to the scene as the man and his dog were driven away. His little pang of anger was gone now, replaced with extreme hunger. He pulled his cell phone and called Nicole. The phone rang only once on the other end. "Hey, did I wake you?"

  "No, I've been awake since you left. I thought it was the best time to go through your closet and dresser drawers."

  Paul laughed, "Did you find my stash of porn yet?"

  "Must have missed it. If I would've found it, I'd probably still be looking at it," she laughed.

  "You wouldn't make a good cop."

  Nicole changed the subject, "What's up? You sound, well, not good."

  "You hungry?" he asked.

  "Famished."

  "Get dressed. I'll be there shortly to pick you up, and we'll go to Denny's or something." Nicole agreed and hung up. Paul held the phone for a few moments lost in what had happened so quickly since last evening.

  "...at the station. Do you want to talk to him first?" Dan caught Paul off guard. He spun around and noticed the sun was coming up over his partners' shoulder.

  "Sorry. What?" Paul asked.

  "I said the man who found the body is being taken to the hotel and if

  you wanted to talk to him before he falls asleep. That's it." Dan was surprised that Paul was looking so preoccupied. "You OK?"

  Paul nodded his head, "Yeah. Lots going on right now. No. Why don't you talk to the witness, see what you can get then I'll go in? Make sure he gets some rest before we get his statement. The old man didn't look good. Just make sure a uniform stays with him in the room. No calls in or out."

  "Well, we've been here almost two hours now. I'm getting tired myself. You know the chief will freak that you put the guy up in a hotel. We're supposed to talk to them first. He could be the one responsible."

  Paul laughed, "Really? Do you think he's our guy?"

  Dan chuckled, "I'll cover your back. Besides, we got the old man's permission to search his home before we took him away. I honestly don't think he knew what he agreed to."

  Paul thanked Dan for covering him and walked to his car. He opened the door, slipped behind the wheel and let his head fall back against the rest. He closed his eyes and tried to put the image of the girl out of his mind, but regardless of what he tried to think about, the headless and limbless torso crammed into the antique suitcase filled his mind's eye. He signed deeply and thought about the picture he kept with him and wondered if now would be a good time to call her back.

  Paul turned the key, and the engine roared to life, the police radio squawked with the sound of the dispatcher assigning calls. He turned the volume all the way down even though he knew it was against policy. Instead, he took out his police cell phone and placed it on the seat beside him. He grabbed the shift lever and felt his hand begin to shake. He gripped the lever tighter, but the shaking became so intense, Paul let go and held his hand in mid-air. Paul thought he had become hypoglycemic and that was what was causing his hand to shake, but he knew better. He balled his hand into a fist and swung his arm out violently landing into the passenger seat. He pulled his hand back and repeatedly punched the passenger seat over and over again until he was out of breath. His chest heaved, he felt moisture bead up on his forehead, and his heart raced. He took in a deep breath, collected his thoughts and put the image of the girl in the suitcase out of his mind.

  Half an hour later, Nicole and Paul sat in a booth with crack vinyl seat cushions and two plates of super-sized breakfasts before them. Nicole dug in; Paul watched her eat in silence.

  Nicole looked up from her plate, with a full mouth she asked, "You not going to eat? On the drive over here, you said you were starving. What's up?"

  "I am. I was. Lost my appetite again."

  "You gonna tell me what happened or make me wait?" Nicole took another bite then followed it with a sip of coffee. She then reached across the table and forked a strawberry from the side of Paul's plate.

  Paul laughed, "You know I love strawberries, right?"

  "Well, you're not eating and after what I did last night, you should be buying me a freaking truckload of fresh strawberries." Nicole began to laugh almost causing what she had in her mouth to spill out. She covered her face with the paper napkin and finished her mouthful. "Besides, I'm wearing the same clothes as last night except I'm going commando because I couldn't find my panties." She jabbed her fork into another strawberry.

  "On my dresser." Paul was very matter of fact.

  "A girl wearing a revealing black dress and tells you she's going commando and you sit there stone-faced. What's up?" Nicole placed her fork on the table, held her hand out palm up and curled her fingers, "Give 'em up."

  "Not here. Not now. Besides, you're eating," Paul argued.

  Nicole's hand remained open on the table waiting for Paul to give her the photos. He retrieved the stack of Polaroids, placing them face down in her palm. "Don't do this if you aren't ready. Why don't we wait until after breakfast?"

  Nicole turned the stack over, and the first image, a close-up of the victim's abdomen in the suitcase struck her hard. She recoiled in her seat, dropping the photos from her hand, causing them to slide across the glossy laminate table top. Paul quickly gathered them up then looked up at Nicole. She had her eyes closed for a few moments then opened them.

  Nicole looked directly ahead but didn't see Paul sitting before her. Instead, she saw the back of a man's head, he looked young
, driving his car on a dark street. It was as if she was lying in the back seat, looking up at the back of the driver's head. The street lights offered no help in identifying the man behind the wheel. Nicole felt the car moving slowly; the concrete light standards passed casually across the passenger side windows. She couldn't see any houses on either side of the car. The angle was too steep to permit seeing directly out the windows.

  The car slowed, she felt the car lurch slightly as he put the vehicle in park. The driver opened the door and ran around the back and opened the hatch. Nicole realized she wasn't in the back seat or the trunk, but the seats had been lowered, and she was looking up from the floor of the hatch. Nicole was tossed about as the driver dragged the suitcase to the edge and lifted her up. He had trouble hoisting the suitcase with the weight of the contents inside. He struggled to hold it steady and stepped back from the car and dropped in on the curb. She was jostled inside as the suitcase landed hard on the lawn by the roadside.

  Nicole looked up through the lid of the suitcase and saw the chin of the man who had just left her there. A white man, thin chin, dark hair protruded from the ball cap he was wearing. Dark hair, it was the middle of the night in dim light, most hair colors would be dark. The man who left her there looked around and disappeared. She heard the car drive away.

  Nicole rubbed her eyes and forced the images from her mind. She looked up at the man sitting across from her. Paul reached across the table and grabbed her hand. No one spoke. Paul wanted to let Nicole recover in her own time. The color had drained from Nicole's face; her pulse raced, her breathing quickened. With her free hand, she fumbled for the glass of water and drank almost half then set the glass back down.

  "What the Hell did I just see?" Nicole asked. "How long was I gone for?" She spoke in hushed tones.

  "You just closed your eyes for a second then opened them again. Did it feel like a long time? Tell me what you saw."

  Nicole took in a deep breath, "It felt like ten or fifteen minutes." She went on to recount the vision in detail including the description of the male driver, paused then finished the last of the water. She released her grip on Paul's hand and slumped back into her seat. Nicole was physically exhausted and felt as if she could fall asleep in the booth. She sat upright, squared her shoulders and began to pick at the food on her plate. "This was the first time I've seen the events from the victim's perspective. It wasn't great. But what I don't get is the image was blurred somehow, like you had bad reception on the TV during a storm, fuzzy, you know?"

  "What do you mean?" Paul looked at Nicole with a furrowed brow.

  "I usually see things like I'm watching something happen from across the room like I was the one with the camera. This time I saw it like I was the victim." Nicole picked up a piece of toast, tore off a small piece and ate it. "It was weird. I could feel, well, I felt sore, my arms and legs hurt."

  Paul had the photos he took of the crime scene face down on the table,"What's the first picture you saw?"

  "It looked like a woman's bare stomach with some old weird material on the right side. That's all I saw before the vision hit me." Nicole rubbed her right shoulder, "It hurts for some reason, and there was that color again."

  "Color?"

  "It looks like some of the colors get washed out around the victims. I'm not sure why but it only happens on the dead girls."

  Paul picked up the stack of photos flipped through the pictures, he paused then showed Nicole the one he thought she might have seen, "This one?"

  Nicole nodded.

  "Tell me more about how you feel?" Paul retrieved his cell phone, opened the app he uses to tape conversations and hit the record button. He covered the photos with his hand to make sure Nicole couldn't see the other pictures.

  "Feel? Well, I feel, I don't know, exhausted, sore. Really painful." Nicole rubbed her shoulder then reached under the table and rubbed her hips, "And here."

  Anyone else would have been surprised by Nicole's ability, but Paul sat across the table, expressionless, "Is that it?" he added.

  Nicole rolled her neck across her shoulders, "It feels like I slept wrong. My neck is stiff. I think you need new pillows."

  Paul remained silent as he searched through the pictures, finding the one he was looking for, he slid it face down across the table to Nicole but kept his hand over it, "Can you handle this?"

  "I'll know after I see it." Nicole pulled the picture out from Paul's grasp and slowly moved it up her chest then held it before her. Her eyes widened, and she slammed the photo down on the table. Several people from other tables turned to see what caused the commotion then went back to their own lives.

  "This is why you left this morning?"

  "Yeah. Fun job huh?"

  "Same guy responsible for all the other girls?"

  "I think so. This is the only reason why I had to put you through this.

  I'm so sorry."

  Nicole thought about it for a moment, "Gimme. Give them all to me." "No. The one viewing was enough. You gave me information that we didn't have before: male, thin, white. We can work from that. You don't need to put yourself through any more of this."

  Nicole stared directly across the table at Paul. Her gaze never leaving his. "I'm not sure if I'll see anything more but if I can see another detail, won't that help?"

  Paul thought for a moment and stopped recording the conversation, "OK. Fine. But, would you rather do this at my place? You know, in case things don't go well."

  Nicole agreed, and they had the rest of their meals put in take-out containers, left the restaurant and drove back to Paul's house. The two of them remained silent throughout the trip. Paul fought the urge to fall asleep as his stomach made vicious growling sounds at him for failing to feed it. He placed his hand on his belly, felt it move under his jacket as the sound of his cell phone ringing in his pocket shook the cobwebs from his mind. He tapped the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel, and Dan's voice played over the car's speakers.

  "The old man and his dog got to the hotel and didn't need any help falling asleep. I've got two uniforms watching him, one in the bedroom and the other outside the door. The chief called me and chewed my ass when he found out. I told him that the witness was too tired to make a statement and gave us permission to search his house. It was a trade-off. He bought it. So back me up. What time are you coming down?"

  Paul looked across at Nicole, "I'm just pulling into the driveway. Nicole said she would review the photos I took. I'll head out as soon as we're done here. Can you hold down the fort until I get back?"

  "Take your time. I'm grabbing a little sleep at my desk then heading to the hotel."

  Paul heard the line disconnect and thought that food and sleep was what he needed but felt having Nicole review the photos was more important. He pulled into his driveway, put the car in park and killed the engine.

  Paul tossed his jacket over a kitchen chair as Nicole was placing the food containers on the kitchen counter, Paul was already pulling plates from the cabinets, "You want any?"

  Nicole shook her head; she didn't want any more food in her stomach in case she saw too much when it came time to look at the pictures. She removed her jacket, draped it over the kitchen chair and readied herself for what was about to come.

  Paul sat down with a plate of cold bacon, toast and hard scrambled eggs. He briefly thought about putting the plate in the microwave but decided against it. He placed the stack of photos face down on the table and slid them across the table until it was before Nicole. She took in a deep breath and was about to flip the first one over when Paul stopped her.

  "Hang on." Paul placed his cell phone on the table, opened the app and hit the record button to record anything Nicole said. He slid his phone to the centre of the table.

  Nicole smirked, took hold of the top photo, closed her eyes, flipped it over then opened her eyes. Nicole felt a wave pulsate through her and this time, she was a third-party viewer again. She was looking at the arms of a white male, lowering th
e limbless torso in the suitcase. The torso was heavier than the man thought for a young girl. She could see he was having problems holding it up. Nicole turned her attention to the man's arms. There wasn't a lot of hair on his arms, and they were thin as if he was younger or not very fit. He wasn't wearing gloves. How could he touch a body like that and not wear gloves? The torso almost slipped from his grasp, but he hoisted the body up and grabbed hold around the waist. He lowered it into the antique suitcase, but it didn't fit properly. He twisted the body to the right, forced the left part of the torso against the wall of the suitcase and then stood back. It was the first time Nicole saw the complete torso. It was the body of a very young woman. The body was that of a girl in her late teens or early twenties. The skin was pure, no blemishes, small breasts, Nicole could see the ribs on the left side. A sparkle caught her eye. She looked down to see a navel ring, a tiny gold loop with a purple stone, an amethyst perhaps, a birthstone. The man reached down and unlocked the loop, gently pulling it out from the girl's navel. The arms disappeared, and the image went blank.

  Nicole opened her eyes, sighed deeply and wanted to cry. The sight of the limbless torso was a horrifying sight, but she was upset with herself that she had become almost immune to these things now. She had seen so much in such a short time. Nicole reached across the table, took a piece of cold bacon from Paul's plate and ate it. The bacon crunched, and a few fractured pieces fell to the table. She looked down to wipe them from the table and saw the image on the photograph that forced the vision into her mind. A wave of nausea overtook her, and she ran to the kitchen sink and vomited.