Hours later, Maggie stopped by the office, knowing Frank would be up working. She was right. Frank was at his desk going over his list of possible suspects, hoping there was something he missed.
“Hey, I thought you could use this.” Maggie handed him a dinner bag.
“Thanks.” She stood behind him and massaged his shoulders. Frank groaned with delight.
“Judging by your tense shoulders I guess I shouldn’t ask how it’s going.”
“Chris hasn’t called in yet and I am fed up with it. I told Carl that I was working on my own from now on, in not so many words. If he doesn’t like it, I don’t give a shit. Slomin called again and demanded a suspect. As if I can pull one out of my fucking pocket.”
“How are you feeling otherwise?”
“Okay.”
“Alright, well I’m going. Call me later if you want, I’ll be up.”
“Thanks.” They kissed each other goodbye and as soon as Maggie left, Chris walked in. Frank got all of his energy back when he saw Chris walking to his desk. “Well, well, you missed all the action. Slomin is getting impatient.”
“I’ll call him tomorrow.” Chris was acting as if nothing was wrong. “Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
“I am assuming nothing happened, but I’ll venture a guess. You followed that asshole around all day and you still have no leads.”
“Very good.”
“Not really, I told you that Alan was going to be a waste of time.”
“I had to check him out.”
“Whatever, I’m too tired to argue.”
“I’m not arguing. Jesus, what is your problem?”
“I want to catch this bastard!”
“So, what do you want to do Frank? Do you want to ignore every lead we have?”
“Alan Landser was not a lead, he was a dead- end.”
“So what should we do, just sit here?”
“I suggest we investigate every woman reported missing every day the list comes in.”
“Do you realize the amount of work that will take?”
“We have no choice. If you don’t want to help me, than work on your own.” Frank and Chris were sitting in silence until Frank’s phone rang.” Detective Riser.”
“Mr. Riser, this is Sylvia Wilder, Dina Weston’s boss.”
Frank’s stomach started acting up. “Yes Ms. Wilder I remember. How are you?”
“Fine thank you. I apologize for calling you so late, but I just found something out, although I don’t know if it will be of any help.”
“I’ll give it a shot. What do you have for me?”
“One of the secretaries remembered that Dina had a fiancé a few years ago. Apparently, they had a huge argument and she left him at thealtar.”
Frank fumbled for a pen. “What was his name?”
“Aaron Reese.”
“Do you know where he lives?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Thank you very much for calling Ms. Wilder.”
“I wish you luck.”
“Thank you.” Chris didn’t seem interested in Frank’s enthusiasm. “Dina Weston had a fiancé, Aaron Reese. I’ll find out where he lives and see him.”
Chris stood up. “I’ll check the computer to see if he has a record.”
Frank was shocked. “Thanks.” Maybe Chris would finally start to trust Frank, but he didn’t care. He wanted this case over.
“Chris was looking to see if Aaron Reese had a record, but he didn’t. However, there was a David Reese listed. Chris pulled up the file. ‘Holy shit.’ He thought to himself as he made a printout of the screen. He ripped the printout from his fifteen year old, noisy printer and ran to Frank’s desk. “Hey, I think we should go talk to Mueller and get Slomin over here.”
Frank was holding his stomach. “He has a record?”
“No, his brother does.”
“For what?”
Chris shook his head. “Sadistic rape. He was released recently. Actually, he was released right about the time the first victim was found.”
“Frank took the printout, read it, and shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Chris couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you blind?”
“This guy was released the day Kylie Sanders was found. Kylie was kidnapped three weeks to a month before her death.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t exclude his brother. For Christ’s sake he was her fiancé!”
Frank wasn’t sure. It didn’t feel like the break he was waiting for. Whenever Frank knew he had the right suspect, he always had that feeling of excitement, like a child on the last day of school. This time, he didn’t have that feeling. “Alright, right now it’s the best we have.” Chapter 61
Tony and Andrea sat in silence after he called John. The phone ringing made them both jump.
“Hello?” Andrea paced the floor while Tony spoke. “You’re kidding? We will be there as soon as Andrea’s boss gets here.”
“Who was that?”
“The cop I called. They picked up the guy who left the note. He fucking admitted to it! As soon as John gets here, we’ll go to the police station.”
“Thank God!” She clutched her chest in relief. As she fumbled for her keys and her coat John banged on the door. Tony let him in.
“Hey, I just got a call. The guy is at the police station.”
“They got him? Who is he?”
“I don’t know, let’s just get down there.”
“Andrea, are you okay?”
“Now that they got him, I’m fine.”
John followed them to the police station, anxious to find out who he was. He could feel his chest pounding with anger. In the other car, Andrea was the first to start talking during the ride.
“Tony, even though this is hopefully over, I don’t want Frank to know anything about this. He has enough to worry about right now.”
“Don’t worry, he’s doing better. Besides, they caught him. After tonight this will all be over.” He smiled at Andrea and kissed her hand.
I hope it’s over, he thought to himself.
Tony and John were in a sweat trying to keep up with Andrea. She ran past the crowd of people in the waiting area and took out her identification.
“Excuse me, I’m Andrea Stephenson with the Parole Department.”
Tony jumped in. “Sam Little called me about a man who was picked up just about twenty minutes ago.”
“Tony?”
Tony turned to see Sam standing there. He was very short compared to Tony and his blond hair was sticking to his face. The air conditioning obviously wasn’t working.
“Hey Sam, I can’t thank you enough. This is Andrea andher boss, John Healy.”
“Hi.” They shook hands. Andrea never felt so relieved. “Thank you for your help.”
John stepped in front of Andrea. “So, who is he?”
“Follow me.”
They all followed Sam down the hallway, hearing the screaming and cursing of people being brought in. Sam was looking through his notes. “Okay, Gary Nickels, a twenty eight year old black male. He doesn’t have a record.”
Andrea looked confused. “I have no idea who that is.”
“Well, he claims that a guy paid him three hundred dollars to deliver the notes.”
“Bullshit.” Tony was ready for a fight.
“I don’t know, he’s scared shitless.”
“He should be.”
Andrea tried to calm Tony down. “Tony, please. Let’s not make things worse by you being arrested for murder.”
He took in a deep breath and put his arm around her. “Okay.”
Officer Little took them to a room with only a small table and no windows. They sat down and Sam switched on a light. “This is a one-way mirror. We can see in but they can’t see out.”
Andrea looked and saw the man sitting at a table, his hand was shaking trying to hold a cup of coffee. She didn’t recognize him. She shook her head at Tony. “I’ve never seen him.”
“I know. Trust me, I have never laid eyes on him.”
Tony was becoming frustrated. “Are you absolutely positive that this guy doesn’t have a record?”
“Yes.” Officer Little replied flatly. They all sat in silence for a moment.
“Well,” Andrea stood up and walked to the mirror. “What now?”
“I’ll talk to him some more. So far, he refuses to give me a name who he was supposedly working for.”
“Look Sam,” Tony took out his card, “we will be at my house, so call us when you can.”
“I will.”
“Thank you again.” Andrea took one last look at Gary. She was positive that she didn’t know him. David sat at his counseling session again, but this time he didn’t deny anything. Instead, he listened to the other men in the group. One of them was convicted of raping his own wife. David felt sick to his stomach listening to the details. This guy came home from a drinking binge and forced himself on his wife. When he woke up, she was already gone. Little did he know that she was in the hospital with broken bones and he was arrested that morning. Andrew, the counselor, noticed that David was uncomfortable and confronted him after the session.
“David, can I speak to you for a moment?”
“Yeah, sure.” David reluctantly sat back down.
Andrew smacked the side of his desk to close the drawer that was always jammed. “I noticed that you were shifting in your seat.” Andrew stared at David, waiting for a response.
“And?” David asked, trying, inconvincibly to act as if nothing was wrong.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” David took in a breath. “How could somebody rape their own wife?”
“Are you making a moral judgment?” David remained silent at looked at the floor. “David?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you forgetting that you are also a rapist?”
David was in shock. Andrew’s words echoed in his head. After all these years, Andrew was the first person to actually call him a rapist, at least to his face. “I’m not…I’m not…” David couldn’t bring himself to say the word. For someone who is always very arrogant, David became speechless.
“Go ahead David. Convince me that you are not a rapist.”
David shook his head. “All I can tell you is that I did not rape her.”
Andrew was not giving in. “Why would she say you did?”
“She was on drugs.” “And you?”
“I had some drinks.”
“David, do you remember anything about that night?”
He did, but David was hesitant. “Yes, I do.”
“Do you admit having sex with her?”
“Yes.”
“What was consensual?”
David felt his face turning red. This was it. He had not uttered a word about what happened that night to anyone since the trial.
“David, it would really help you to talk about it.”
“No, that’s alright.” David stood up to leave.
“If you want to speak with me, feel free to call.”
“Thanks.” David tried to clear his head by walking home, but he couldn’t. He awoke that night with a new nightmare. It wasn’t about his father, it was about himself. He saw himself, raping Barbara Atkins. He saw himself smiling at her while she cried. David was in a sweat. He got up to rinse his face off and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. For the first time, he didn't recognize himself. David didn't know what type of man he was. Dina had come out of the sedative shot Angel gave her earlier than usual. She tried to get loose but it was useless. Her hands were sore from the cuffs, her shoulders ached and her stomach was nauseous from being forced to eat, and the constant drugging. Dina couldn’t imagine what he wanted with her. They didn’t rape her; not yet anyway. Dina desperately needed to get up and walk. She tried to stay calm. She thought if she could talk to one of them, maybe she would be able to get him to trust her. That was all she could do.
Nicole was still in a state of shock from his last visit with her. She wasn’t even trying to escape, or scream. The last thing she remembered before she was taken to the dungeon was being on her way to a hotel. When he spoke to her, his voice just echoed in her mind and it was difficult to understand him. Nicole didn't know how much more suffering she could take, but she had no choice.
They heard Buddy come down the stairs. Dina immediately stopped moving around. He went to her first. She was hoping he would take the blindfold off, but he didn’t. She heard the bedpan being picked up from the floor. She hated this more than being beaten.
“Did you miss me?”
Dina moaned.
” Let’s have something to eat. I want you to keep your strengthup.” He sat her up and removed the gag. He took pleasure in pulling the duct tape off slowly. Dina kept calm and didn’t scream. “No yelling today?”
“Please,” she said softly, “please don’t hurt me.” Immediately after she spoke the food was shoved in her mouth. She tried to speak again, but as soon as she opened her mouth, the food was shoved in. He gave her a drink and then she heard the duct tape.
“No, please. I won’t scream.”
“I’m sorry.” He put the tape over her mouth, but took the blindfold off. It frightened her to look at his eyes through the mask he was wearing. She looked away from him. He moved closer to her and touched her breast. She inched away.
“What did I tell you about that?” He picked her up and put her on the floor. She watched him while he put the sheet with the straps back on the bed. He moved quickly. Dina tried to strike at him when he took the handcuffs off, but he was too strong for her. He strapped her down face up.
“That wasn’t very smart.” He lit a cigarette after he strapped her ankles, and walked around her, caressing her thighs.
“Maybe you need to be taught a lesson.” He took his cigarette and put it out on the inside of her thigh. She screamed. He wasn’t finished. He went over to his briefcase to get an ice cube from the thermos. Dina was pleading with him through her eyes.
“I’ll bet you want this, don’t you?” He held the ice cube over her wound, but refused to put it on to relieve the pain. “That will teach you a lesson.” He threw the ice cube on the floor and watched her crying from the pain, then blindfolded her. He then walked over to Nicole. “What about my blond haired beauty? Are you going to be good?”
The sociopath fed Nicole in between her crying then put her gag back on and began touching her from head to toe. The sedative made Nicole sick. Every noise she heard was fuzzy. She didn’t understand a word he said to her, but she whimpered when he touched her. He started at her a moment and left.
Brandon was dealing with his own problems with Diane. He went to her apartment, while her sister was there. Diane’s sister. Helen was fuming when she opened the door just a crack.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Her face was beet red and she was gripping the door with a clenched fist.
“Excuse me?”
“I said get the fuck out of here! Before I call the cops!”
Brandon laughed. “The cops?”
“My sister told me what you did to her, you bastard!”
“Now, wait just a minute Helen…”
“No! I don’t want to hear anything from you.”
“Well, aren’t you even going to tell me what I did wrong?”
“Don’t insult me! And don’t stand there with that innocent look and tell me that you didn’t practically attack her!”
“Attack her? You’re sister was high on dope when I came here Helen. God knows what she thinks happened. I was trying to be nice and give her a second chance. But, maybe I’ll just come in and arrest her now.” Brandon took a step forward.
“GET OUT!”
Brandon broke the chain off the door and pushed his way past Helen, who was very thin, and short. He
started yelling Diane’s name and she was crying in the bedroom. He walked in with Helen running after him, her useless strikes at him doing nothing but hurting herself. Diane was on the floor and right besides her was a small bag of marijuana. He immediately handcuffed her and Helen took a vase and swung at Brandon. She just missed him, and Brandon quickly took out his second pair of handcuffs and wrestled Helen to the ground. He didn’t speak until he got his second wind back.
“Well, well. Two arrests from one family, how nice. Let’s see, one for drug use and one for assault. Maybe you can get a cell together.” He reached out and touched Helen’s cheek. She lost her balance and fell to the floor with her hands cuffed behind her back. Helen was screaming at the top of her lungs, but Diane was crying.
“YOU FUCKING PRICK!”
Brandon laughed as he knelt down next to her, and touched her chest. A voice from behind him made him turn.
“What the hell is going on here?”
An older man was standing there and Brandon was speechless. He took out his ID. “Everything’s fine.”
“I don’t think so.” Brandon went for his gun as the man toppled over him. strength of this man. throughout the fight and everything fell silent when the gun went off. Neither of them were moving. Brandon lay still while the other man slowly got up. There was blood on his shirt from Brandon. He went through Brandon’s pockets and got the keys. He then released the two of them and called the police. Brandon’s breathing was very shallow. The wound was in his side, but they had no idea how deep. However, Diane and Helen didn’t care what was going to happen to him. They would have been content to just let him lay there.
Brandon was not prepared for the Helen and Diane were screaming
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John felt more relaxed knowing that an acquaintance of Tony’s was going to be interrogating Gary Nickels. Instead of going home, he went back to the office to look through the computer files. If there ever was a Gary Nickels on parole, or incarcerated it would be in the system. He searched through it over and over again, but there was no Gary. John thought that Gary could be a friend of one of Andrea’s parolees. Just as he was about to call it a night, the phone started ringing. Unfortunately, he answered it.
Unlawful Imprisonment Page 17