“Do you ever quit eating?” I said as Dan unwrapped another cupcake and crammed half of it in his mouth in one bite.
“Mulfffm” he said.
“What? It sounded like you said mulfffm.”
“I said I love them.”
“You love cupcakes? No wonder you aren’t married.”
“Says the woman who can’t decide what she wants in life,” Dan replied.
“Nice.”
“Hey you started it.”
“Just keep an eye on the van,” I said looking at my watch, “I’m going to close my eyes for a second.”
We had been there for three hours already and the sun was coming directly in our windshield as it was setting. It was going on six-thirty. I heard Dan mutter something about the guy needing to go home or do something as I drifted off.
The next thing I heard was Dan getting all excited.
“Come on, move that damn semi,” he said yanking me out of my nap.
“What?”
“That semi. It pulled up and is just sitting there blocking the street. What the hell is that all about?”
I looked and could see the driver talking to someone and then handing him a clip board. The man was pointing down the street and the driver got back in the truck, backed it in and turned around and headed in the direction the other guy had pointed.
“Son of a...” Dan said, pounding his hand on the steering wheel, the van was gone.
“He can’t be far. Go, go, go.”
Dan started the car and tore off down the street. At the end of the block he could have gone right or left which caused a problem.
“Left,” I yelled and Dan slid the car around the corner and raced down to the stoplight at the end of the street.
“If he is headed home he had to go right. Hit it,” I told him.
He rocketed the car out and we shot down the street. I reached over and flicked on the lights and siren. We needed to make up ground even if he knew we were coming. I figured we could always just blow by him like we were on our way someplace else then pull in and wait.
It was a great plan except for one small detail. We never saw his van.
“Now what?” Dan said disgustedly as I turned off the lights and siren.
“Crap. I guess we should go back to his place and see if he is there. One way or the other I’m going to find out if he is home even if he put the van in the garage.”
“And if he isn’t there?”
“We will wait. I want to know what time he does come home. It may help establish a timeline later if we can get enough on him to bring him in for questioning.”
“Do you think that truck driver was in on it? I mean blocking our view just long enough for Baker to get away?”
“I honestly don’t know but I don’t see how. We just started watching him today. How could he have arranged it so quickly?”
“Crap,” was all Dan said.
My sentiments exactly.
We parked across the street from his house for about an hour waiting for him to show up. He never did. I decided I would just go up and knock on the door and see if he was home. I rang the doorbell. Nothing.
I knocked. More nothing. If he was in there he was either deaf or not answering. I walked around to the back of the house and beat on the back door and was met with the same results. Okay, I decided. I would just take a peek in the garage and see if his van was there. I found a side window and peered inside. It was dark but the van was definitely not there.
“So?” Dan said when I got back in the car.”
“He never came home after work. The van is missing,” I told him.
“So we wait?”
“So we wait.”
TWENTY-FOUR
“Wake up darling Heather, I have missed you,” he said.
“Did you bring food? I’m starved,” Heather said, looking up at him.
She could feel his eyes burning into her as she lay there on the bed.
“Of course you are. Here, I brought you a sandwich and a bottle of water. You know water is much better for you than all those cokes kids drink.”
“I don’t drink cokes.”
“Well good for you. That’s very smart of you. After you eat I have a new activity for you. I’m sure you are going to absolutely love it.”
“I don’t have much of a choice do I?”
“Of course you do. You can always refuse.”
“And get the hell beat out of me.”
“It’s still a choice. Maybe not a very good one but you do have choices.”
“Some deal,” she said taking a bite from her sandwich.
She dragged it out as long as she could but she knew he was growing impatient. The last thing she needed was to get beaten again. She finished and thanked him for bringing her food.
“You are quite welcome. You have nice manners. So many kids lack them today.”
“I guess,” she replied.
“Now. I want you to get up here on the bed on all fours. I want your head facing the wall. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“This may hurt a little at first but you will get used to it. You need to just relax.”
“Please don’t do this.”
“Hush. I don’t want any mouth from you or you know what will happen.”
It was all she could do to not say anything. Instead she did as she was told. She felt him get behind her and then the sharp pain.
She let out a scream and he just kept pushing forward. She knew he was just starting so she decided now was the time. She pulled forward quickly, whirled around with her right hand and stabbed him as hard as she could. She had wanted to hit his eye or in the face but she missed. Still it connected.
She shoved as hard as she could and saw the rod sticking out of his throat. He fell back screaming but she was already on her way out the door. She threw it open and raced up the stairs.
Now what? She raced through the place and realized it was a cabin. She found the front door and pulled it open. It was totally dark outside. She had no idea which way to run.
She knew she probably didn’t have much time so she just ran down the long drive. It was surrounded by trees on both sides and was gravel. She had to run alongside it since she had no shoes to protect her feet.
At the end of the drive she found a paved road. Right or left? She ran to the left hoping someone would come along. She ran a good half mile before she saw another cabin. She ran up to the door and started pounding on it.
Come on. Open up, she willed but no one answered. She was just about sit down and start crying when she decided he wasn’t going to win. If he caught her now, he would kill her for sure. She took off running down the road again and came to a second cabin.
Once again she pounded on the door but it was no use. People were just not home. She heard a car coming and decided she would wave it down then thought that it could be the guy in the van. She couldn’t take the chance so she hid in the ditch by the side of the road.
She waited and watched and a car came speeding down the road and went right on past her. She sighed. It wasn’t the van.
She lay in the ditch the rest of the night. Twice she thought she heard her name called out but decided it was either him or she was imagining it.
By morning she was shivering and frozen. It had been the longest night of her life. She was just about ready to start walking down the road when she heard another car. She waited and just had time to realize it was the blue van. She ducked down, hoping he hadn’t seen her. It passed by slowly and she watched it disappear.
She waited a few more minutes in case he had seen her and was doubling back. After twenty minutes she decided that it was safe.
The big question was now what? She had no idea where she was. She had seen just the one car and of course the van. She was dirty and naked. ‘Think girl,’ she told herself.
Maybe one of the cabins had a phone still in service. Out here cell reception would be hard. She walked back to the last cabin a
nd decided she would break in. She found a large stick and swung it as hard as she could at one of the window panes on the back door. It shattered into a hundred pieces and she reached through and unlocked the door. She cut her arm reaching it but that was the least of her concerns.
Inside she rummaged around and found a man’s shirt and pair of jeans. Both were far too big for her but it was better than being naked. She found a phone in the kitchen. Her biggest fear was that it wasn’t working. She picked it up timidly. There was a dial tone.
She dialed 911 and began to tell them her story.
TWENTY-FIVE
“Hey,” I said to Dan as we sat in the car.
The sun was starting to come up. I looked at my watch and it was 6:22 a.m.
“What?” Dan said wiping his mouth with the back of his shirt sleeve.
“You were snoring,” I said.
“You woke me up to tell me that?”
“No, look who’s coming down the street,” I replied.
Baker’s van was slowly moving down the street, weaving from side to side.
“Think he is drunk?” Dan asked.
“Something is wrong,” I said as he went by.
I could see him holding his neck as he passed. He turned to go into the drive but bounced over the curb, partly across his lawn and finally made it around to the back of the house.
“What do you think?”
“I’m not sure. I guess we could say we thought it was DUI and go talk to him.
“That’s a little weak don’t you think? Why were we even watching his place? The first thing the DA will ask is what we were doing there in the first place.”
“I could tell him we stopped there to make out,” I replied.
He looked at me like I had lost my ever lovin’ mind. He could well be right you know? I do that from time to time.
“We could...” he was interrupted by my cell phone.
“Bartoni.”
“Detective. Sergeant Allen at headquarters. I just got word that a 911 call was placed from Southport. The county Sheriff’s office responded. It seems that Heather Armstrong managed to escape. She is in rough shape but alive. They are going to transport her to Methodist Hospital. I thought you would want to know.”
“That’s great news! Thanks Sergeant,” I said and turned to Dan.
“She is alive. She managed to get away somehow. She is going to Methodist.”
I didn’t have to say another thing, the car was already moving. We didn’t turn on the siren or lights until after we were a fair distance from Baker’s house. I didn’t want to have him bolt. Instead I called the captain.
“Captain. Heather Armstrong is alive. She escaped. We are on our way to Methodist. I need patrol cars sent to Baker’s house immediately. I don’t want him to leave.”
“Why?”
“We were sitting on him all night and he didn’t come home until just a few minutes ago. He was all over the road. I think he was hurt. He may try to take off.”
“Alright. I’ll alert the DA’s office and have our people sit on him. He won’t get out. We will make sure he is boxed in.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know more after we get to Methodist,” I told him.
Traffic was crazy. It was Pole Day at the Indy 500 and thousands and thousands of people had poured into the city. Having a siren and lights did little to help us. It was grid locked in many areas. I both love and hate this time of year. It’s great for the city but hell for us that have to protect and serve. We all get pressed into extra duty during this time. It’s even worse during the actual race when 250,000 plus show up and many drink themselves into oblivion.
Mostly it’s minor stuff, however. We deal with fender benders, disputes, and DUIs. Seldom is it ever really serious. Most of the time it’s just the result of too much booze, sun, and adrenalin.
We pulled up to the hospital and raced inside. We had beaten the ambulance in and waited by the front door of the emergency room entrance. We had been there no more than thirty seconds when the first media truck pulled up and the crew started setting up.
“Oh goodie,” I said.
“We need security.”
“You bet. I don’t want one of those bozos getting near her until we have had a chance to talk to her,” I told Dan.
He took off to make arrangements and in a few minutes six security guards were standing outside making sure no one got near where the ambulance would pull in. I had already called for additional officers to assist.
By the time the ambulance rolled in the lot was full of trucks and vans but the officers kept a clear path to the emergency room doors. When she was wheeled out of the back of the emergency vehicle a chorus of shouted out questions started but that didn’t concern me in the least. They did attempt to surge forward but they were kept at bay.
I didn’t have to be a doctor to know she had had a rough time. I could see bite marks on her arms and both eyes were black. She has obviously been struck several times.
They wheeled her in and right into a waiting bay. I didn’t try to interfere. There would be time enough for that after she had been attended to.
**
Two hours later Dan and I were sitting at Heather’s bedside. Her parents had gone down to the cafeteria so we could talk in private.
They were good people, you could tell, but I was worried for the father. Yes the mother was the frail one but Mr. Armstrong was fighting his feelings of guilt. He felt he had let his daughter down. Parents often react that way when something happens to one of their children.
“Do you feel up to talking Heather?”
“Kind of. I think I’m a little light headed.”
“It’s okay. We can quit whenever you need to.?”
“Okay.”
“Do you know who did this to you?”
“Batman”
Dan and I looked at each other.
“Sorry. Did you say Batman?”
“He wore a Batman mask. It was so stupid. What a total looser.”
“So you never actually saw his face?”
“No.”
“Did he ever say his name?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he took you?”
“To a cabin. I mean I don’t know exactly which one but I could find it again. I could get there from where they came and got me.”
“He raped you?”
“Oh yeah. That and a lot more. More than once,” she said but she didn’t look away.
Dan was right there beside me but she didn’t lower her face like most victims do.
“Heather, I need you to think about your answer to this next question. I may embarrass you but I have to ask.”
“Sure. What could be more embarrassing than what he did to me?”
“Could you identify him by any means other than his face.”
I waited holding my breath. This was a critical element of the case.
“Absolutely.”
I let my breath out.
“You could?”
“Right down to the shape of the birthmark on his right thigh. I can describe everything about him. While he was raping me I concentrated on memorizing every disgusting part of his filthy body,” she said with determination.
“And you could describe that?”
“I could.”
“Even under oath?”
“Of course.”
“Anything else you can tell us about him?”
“Well I tried to kill him. I broke off the toilet plunger thingamajig and sharpened it to a point. I bent the back to make a handle as best I could and wrapped it with cloth. When he had me get on the bed so he could rape me again I swung it around. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to stab him in the eye but I missed. It went through his throat. I shoved it in as far and hard as I could and then ran for my life.”
“Do you know where you got him?”
She pointed to a place on her neck.
“Too bad I missed his jugular,” she said, “I’m gett
ing sleepy. I didn’t sleep the whole night. Could we finish this when I wake up?”
“You bet Heather. I have to tell you we deal with other rape victims and you are an amazing person. He picked on the wrong girl this time. You get some rest. We are going to have two policemen outside your door so you won’t have to worry about a single thing except getting better.”
“Thank you,” she said already starting to drift off.
“No, thank you Heather,” I said as Dan and I tip-toed out of the room.
We went down to the cafeteria to talk to the parents after I gave the patrolmen instructions about who could come and go and what would happen if they fell asleep on the job.
TWENTY-SIX
We found them at one of the tables’ just drinking coffee, not really talking. They were still trying to absorb everything that had happened.
“Do you mind if we join you?” I asked.
“No. Certainly not,” Mrs. Armstrong said.
Mr. Armstrong just looked into his cup of coffee.
“We talked to Heather. She is an amazing young woman. You have done a magnificent job raising her. She is smart, tough, and resourceful.”
“Yeah, I did really good didn’t I?” Mr. Armstrong said bitterly.
“Mr. Armstrong...”
“You can call him Monty,” his wife said.
“Alright. Monty, there are thousands of really bad people in this world. As parents we do everything in our power to protect the ones we love but sometimes things out of our control happen. Just like you, we have the same problem. I want to solve every case. It becomes one of my children when it lands on my desk. Of course I am hurt when something happens or someone gets away and I can’t do a damn thing about it. You didn’t fail your daughter. She knows that. I know that. Only you think you failed and you didn’t. What you need to do is help her get over this. Feeling like you failed will only make recovering from this harder for all of you. Monty, you’re a good man and a good father. We are going to get this bastard, pardon my French, and put him away forever.”
“You know who it was?” he said suddenly interested.
ONE TOO MANY - ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILE #9 Page 10