Blind Seduction (Team Red)

by Hammond, T.

  Lt. Faber paused for a moment before saying, “Detectives Garner and Westfield are with us; they are with the cybercrimes and narcotics divisions, respectively. Detective Garner is the man we have reviewing Officer Blair’s laptop. Detective Westfield was hoping to talk to you regarding applications for his department which also uses K-9s.”

  Red took the opportunity to say, “Blair is very angry, and has aggressive body language.”

  “Excuse me a moment, Lieutenant.” I leaned back in my chair, “David?” He leaned in close so I could speak quietly into his ear. “I don't know how close Blair is, but Red says he's angry. Just a heads up.”

  David moved away. Red surprised me by telling me David and Bas were talking with their hands. Sign language? I wonder if it was ASL or some type of military thing. I'd have to ask later. “One of the new men, Detective Westfield, stepped behind Blair. I think he knows what David and Bas were saying with their hands.”

  Bas leaned forward this time to give me the commentary, “Garner on left, Cyber. Westfield on right, Drugs, knows sign language.”

  “Sorry for the interruption Lt. Faber,” I said, “please continue.”

  “After you called Detective Stephens, he contacted me and we were able to secure the laptop Officer Blair used. It’s department issued so we were able to commandeer it without incident. He had sent the pictures, and video, through his private email account which he didn't log out of, so it was easy to access his mail program.”

  “Pretty sloppy for a technophile to leave his email account logged in,” David interjected. “Were you able to identify the person or people who received the files?”

  “He sent the files to two email addresses. We identified one as his own account, but couldn't trace the second. That second account had been created the day before the email was sent, and deleted the same afternoon Officer Blair sent the file.”

  “Were there picture and video files remaining on his phone?” Bas asked, his voice silky with the warning of violence. I could feel a shift of feet as the policemen in the room processed Bas' threat level.

  “One of the search warrants we secured was against his personal cell phone.” The lieutenant was subtlety letting us know other warrants had been secured, but she couldn't, or wouldn't, discuss them with us at this point. “Detective Garner is in the process of reviewing the phone for clues which might lead to identification of the second email recipient. We will also secure any photos or videos of Ms. March and Red which remain on the phone.”

  “And, Officer Blair?” David prompted, “Did he have anything to say?”

  “Officer Blair refuses to offer an explanation,” she replied blandly.

  “Red?” I asked, “Anything about Office Blair you would care to tell me?”

  “Red is sniffing Blair and circling him.” Bas told me, “I think the new detectives are freaked the dog went straight to Blair.” There was an evil pleasure in Bas’ tone.

  “He's scared now,” Red told me. I relayed the info to Bas who I assumed would sign to David if needed. “He has a gun in his boot.”

  “Red, come.” I ordered, gently. I quickly told Bas about the gun.

  Bas and David shifted to stand in front of me, I could feel the backs of their legs brush my knees. Red's line of sight to Officer Blair remained unimpeded so Red explained what was happening. “The man who understands hand talking is taking the gun away from Officer Blair. Someone said something about a back-up gun from his desk. Ohhh, Lt. Faber is really mad.”

  I could hear some soft scuffling and swearing, but David and Bas finally relaxed their stances as Officer Blair was escorted from the room. David explained, “Blair left with Garner and Jackson.”

  “Damn, I wish could start this day all over,” Lt. Faber said, with a heavy sigh.

  I laughed. “Some days, lieutenant you’re the bug, and some days you’re the windshield.”

  Her chuckle mirrored mine. “We really could use your perspective on the case. I spoke with the task force team, and the Police Chief, regarding access for you and your team to articles in evidence. It is our intention to minimize any risk to you and Red, current events notwithstanding,” she growled. “So, we are in agreement we don’t want you at any crime scenes, or anywhere which risks exposing you to the public.

  “What we are hoping is you and Red can examine the victims’ clothing to learn if we may be looking for more than one perpetrator, or verify the cases are linked. We may possibly get a piece of new information Red could verbalize which a regular K-9 wouldn’t know was important. We didn’t find any DNA evidence, so we’re hoping Red can smell something. Smell wouldn’t be admissible if we go to court, but you may be able to help us find the right path.”

  “Red has a great nose and he has been excited to come and help.” I replied. “I appreciate you keeping us behind the scenes, especially until we know why Officer Blair was so interested in telling someone about us.”

  “Detective Westfield uses K-9s and was a handler before his last promotion to our narcotics division,” the lieutenant explained. “He is very interested in a dog’s perspective of tracking scents. He has asked to observe, and I hoped you would be open to his presence at the evidence review.”

  Considering Westfield’s background, and reviewing the events of the last few minutes, not the least of which was Westfield being the first to move protectively when he interpreted Bas and David’s hand signals, I decided to trust my intuition. “We’d welcome Detective Westfield’s presence and guidance as we all learn how to best leverage, and maybe enhance our abilities. If you have the clothing available, I can have Red take a look at it for you now” I offered.

  “Thank you. I was worried the issues with the photos would cause you to withdraw your offer of help. The fact they were taken and sent at the police department, right under our noses, is another sore spot.”

  Bas interjected, “We take our team’s security very seriously.” That’s my Bas; he latched right on to the team reference Lt. Faber made. “It takes a little pressure off us, as we won’t have to worry about them being out in the public’s eye. We also wanted to let you know we have additional expertise as a unit, we’re happy to offer, if you wish to utilize our full skill set.”

  “When we did a reference check for you and Mr. Declan, they emphasized your security clearances, but the work you did was somewhat unclear. Purposely I think.”

  “Our short resume,” David added, “for Bas would be security, infiltration, and tactical planning. I’m more of a cyber-geek. Your IT people would probably find me helpful if they hit a wall they can’t get through.”

  “You’re no slouch in the infiltration department yourself, David,” Bas chuckled. “You saved my ass more than once, you sneaky bastard.”

  “That’s because Uncle gave me some mini-drones and a laptop to play with. All I did was cut a path.”

  “Path? Crap, David, you could have landed a 747 on your ‘path’ by the time you were finished,” Bas recalled with pride.

  “For now,” I said, trying to get us back on task, “if you want to point us to the clothing, we will see if there’s anything Red can tell you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Clothing from the four women was in four separate bins, lined up on a table in the adjoining room. As a precaution, DNA samples were taken from Bas, Red, David, and myself in case there was ever an accidental contact or stray hair.

  Detective Stephens explained they would open one container at a time and place each set of clothing on a clean tarp. The three objectives were: a) is it the same rapist in each case? b) is there more than one rapists involved? and c) is there any unique scent which would provide a clue as to where to start looking for the rapist?

  Red was not happy when Officer Marks insisted he wear paper booties to cover his feet as he walked near the evidence. After unsuccessful attempts to wrap his hind feet David said, “Give me a second or two with my pal while we negotiate.” Whatever David promised was effective, and with only
a few grumbles, he let Officer Marks do his hind paws.

  Bas told me the first set of clothes were being spread out on the tarp, the woman’s underwear was kept in a baggie to the side and would be brought out for Red’s inspection after he was finished with the outer garments.

  Red worked well with Detectives Stephens and, surprisingly to me, detective Westfield, who I thought would only observe. There were a few accidents when Red trod on a piece of clothing, but it was expected this might happen and the detectives got used to Red’s preferred way to examine the clothing. We had already discussed Red would be looking for male scents.

  While Red was sniffing, he didn’t bother to give me a play-by-play of what he was doing, although I’d get the occasional, “Oh man, that’s neat,” or, “Could Stephens lift this so I can smell the other side?” I would relay instructions as needed, but I kept silent for most of the examination.

  When Red had worked for about fifteen minutes, I addressed Lt. Faber who sat next to me, making sure everyone could hear my voice. “I want to warn you Red has unusually evolved reasoning skills. His assessment may contain some of his conclusions, which I have found to be uncannily accurate. I will try to be clear about what is factual and what is conjectured, and why he reached a certain conclusion.”

  A few minutes later, Red was finished. I repeated what he said and then answered his questions or asked questions of my own.

  “There are two men,” he began.

  “Let’s call them John and Bob,” I told him.

  “John’s scent is all over. Her coat, outer clothes, bra, and panties, but it’s a deep scent, I think he’s a boyfriend.”

  “What about Bob?”

  “Bob’s smell is probably the bad man. He has his scent over the front of the shirt and the front of her jeans. There is a little on the coat and front of the bra, but not too strong. His smell is strong on the panties.”

  “Is there anything about any of the smells you like, or don’t like?”

  “Don’t like the cigarette smell, it’s too strong. There is another smell here, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Does it smell like anything in our house?”

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, are you ready to try the next clothes? If you smell the strange smell again, let me know, okay? Let me know if you smell the cigarettes too.”

  While Detective Stephens boxed and laid out the next set of clothes on a new tarp, Officer Marks rewrapped Red’s paws in new booties. As she worked, she explained to him how important it was to have fresh booties after each box, and praising his intelligence. Needless to say, he was eating it up and didn’t complain once about his feet getting taped up again.

  Detective Westfield approached. “Red, is an amazing dog,” he said.

  “I am, aren’t I?” he concurred, immodestly from across the room.

  “He’s agreeing with you,” I told the detective with an eye roll.

  “If Red smells something, how long does the scent stay in memory?” It seemed like an odd question coming from a former dog handler—wouldn’t he know the answer to that? With a mental shrug, I decided to humor him with what little I had gleaned in living with Red the past few months.

  “He looks large because he weighs over eighty pounds now, but he’s still a puppy. He’ll be a year old in about five or six weeks. Of the things he’s smelled and learned, I haven’t come across one we’ve tested him on which he’s forgotten. We play tracking and trailing games, all the time, to keep him occupied.”

  “If you’re in agreement, Ms. March, before you leave today, could I introduce Red to some of the common drugs we train our dogs to detect? Marijuana is legal in Washington State now, but he can learn that smell, as well as meth ingredients, cocaine, and a few others we may have in the evidence and training lockers.”

  “And, what is your objective for him learning those scents?” Bas asked warily, from behind me.

  “I’d be worried he might be injured if he’s sniffing coke or stuff like that,” I added.

  “Some of the evidence you two examine may contain trace amounts of narcotics. If Red is able to identify what a narcotic is, and even which specific drug he smells, it adds a new weapon to your team arsenal.” He reached past me to scratch Red’s ears (I could tell by the moan of joy), and said, “I’m in agreement with the task force, our priority should be to reduce your risk by limiting the times you and Red could be exposed to the public. Kidnapping seems to be an overly dramatic worry, but you have a very unique and valuable resource in your partnership. There is a huge potential for exploitation.

  “If time allows, and Bas and David agree the drugs look safe for him to learn, it should be fine.”

  Detective Stephens let us know the next set of clothes were ready for inspection. This time he was finished in under fifteen minutes.

  “It’s all Bob’s smell this time. Just like on the other clothes, he has his scent over the front of the shirt and sleeves. The front and sides of her jeans. Only one side of the bra, and on the underwear.”

  “That makes sense,” Detective Stephens said. “In this case, the bra was torn off by grasping and pulling one cup until it broke. The slacks are elastic waist, so there was no reason to have the scent focused at the zipper, like the last pants.

  “Is there anything about any smell you like or don’t like?”

  “I smell the cigarette again. It’s very strong and smells funny.”

  “Marijuana?” Officer Marks guessed.

  “Possibly,” I said. “If it’s a strong odor, it could be a cigar. Red, did you smell the weird scent you didn’t know from the first set of clothes?”

  “No, not this time.”

  The third box was pretty much the same, with Bob being the only scent trace Red was able to pick up on.

  By the time Red was outfitted with new booties, the last tarp was ready. “This last box,” Detective Stephens explained, “is from the fourth victim. It’s less than a week old and a lot more violent than the previous three assaults. She is still in the hospital.”

  David came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “This one is really bad,” he whispered. “Clothes are torn up, and there is a lot of blood. I hope Red can help.”

  Red worked on the clothes for almost forty minutes before he said, “No. No, not the back, I want to smell the inside.”

  I repeated Red’s request. David added, “I think Red means he wants you to turn it inside out, not flip it over.”

  It was maybe five more minutes before Red said, “There is some of Bob’s blood on this.”

  “What?” I said, startled into standing up. “Be careful not to touch it, Red.” I cautioned.

  “Detective, Red says there is some of Bob’s blood on the piece of clothing he is indicating.”

  “Holy shit!” someone said.

  “Watch the language,” I cautioned automatically, “the dog repeats everything.”

  “Sorry,” the voice murmured.

  “Are you able to work something out so Red can show you the exact spot without him touching anything?”

  “Yes,” Detective Westfield replied. “There is so much of the victim’s blood in this area; I’m not surprised a few isolated drops were missed. Inside lining, front of the skirt, at the hem. Skirt, back side of the right hand pocket,” he added. It took me a moment to guess he was probably identifying the blood locations for the person who was typing the transcript of Red’s findings.

  “It’s definitely Bob. There is a light odor on the shoulders of the shirt, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Can you show me where, Red?” Detective Westfield asked after I relayed Red’s observation. “Slight oil-like stains on shoulders near collarbones, between top button and sleeve seams.”

  David told me they were re-bagging each of the items separately for further testing. “They seem pretty excited,” he said.

  “You have no idea,” Lt. Faber sighed from close by. “It’s so frustrat
ing to look at bags of evidence and not be able to see a clue. The skirt is literally soaked through with blood. It’s an amazing find, on Red’s part, to single out a sample of Bob’s DNA from the victim’s. I can’t thank you enough for helping us kick-start this investigation again.”

  “How’s our super dog holding up?” Detective Westfield asked. “Can Team Red hold out for another thirty minutes of crime fighting?"

  Officer Marks must have gotten the last set of booties off, because Red sat in front of me and lifted a paw onto my lap. “I’m thirsty, but I’ll smell more stuff. I like Detective Westfield. He likes dogs and has three at home. He has a cat, too,” he added, with disdain.