Unlawful Imprisonment

by Tracey Higgins

  John had been in the hospital more than enough, checking on previous parolees who were hurt. Most of them were injured from trying to take off from their officer when they were caught committing another crime. This was the first time in his career when he was there to see an officer who was going to prison. He couldn’t imagine what kind of story Brandon was going to give him. Before John went to the room, he went to see the surgeon who operated. He was a young doctor with wavy blond hair who could have passed for a student.

  “May I help you?”

  “Yes I’m John Healy with the Department of Parole.”

  “Oh yes. I take it you’re here about your officer.”

  “Yes.” John mumbled.

  “Well, the wound was clean. I removed the bullet with no problems. He was very lucky, considering he was shot at close range. No organs were affected.”

  “I don’t know how this could have happened. I know I should thank you, but if I were the one holding that scalpel…”

  “Mr. Healy, you don’t have to say it, I can understand your position.”

  “Thank you.”

  “He is pretty alert, you can see him.”

  “Okay.” John walked through the halls to Brandon’s room. He came across a hallway with an officer sitting outside one of the rooms. Brandon was to be guarded because he was now a criminal. The officer recognized John and simply nodded his head. John felt like he was hated just as much as Brandon.

  He walked in and saw Brandon in the bed with an IV in his arm and a thick bandage covering his wound. His eyes opened when he heard John’s footsteps. John looked at him and shook his head.

  “The doctor says you will be fine.” He grabbed the rails and stared at Brandon.

  “I know.” Brandon said with pain.

  “You know what Brandon, I was going to ask you for your side of the story, but I know it will just be bullshit.” Brandon shook his head. “No? What then, a woman attacked you? A woman who knew you had a gun?”

  “She was on drugs.” Brandon sounded groggy, but he knew exactly what was going on.

  “The first time, or the second time you attacked her?” Brandon’s face went completely white. “Oh yeah, I know all about it. When you are healed, you will get a chance to think of a really good story.” John leaned in. “Then you can tell it to a jury, at your trial.” John took a moment to look at the fear on Brandon’s face, then left. “That son of a bitch is hiding something!” Chris yelled as he stormed over to Frank’s desk.

  “Jesus! What the hell happened?” Frank almost choked on his pills.

  “He was really pissed. He went on about how the parole department is treating his brother and then he looked uncomfortable when I told him about Dina leaving him.”

  “Well, you now he will stand up for his brother and you know that he was going to be irritated when you questioned him.”

  “Frank, this guy was incredible defensive.”

  “That doesn’t make him a prime suspect.”

  “Excuse me detectives.” Mueller walked over to Frank’s desk. Just by looking at his face Frank could tell something was wrong. “This was mailed to the station for homicide. There is no return address.” He handed Frank the packed. Frank sat up and started opening it slowly. The writing was the same as the other notes they had gotten from the young women’s murderer.

  “What the hell?” It was a tape. His heart was pounding while he read the label that read simply, ‘Guess Who?’. “Jesus! Let’s go to the conference room.”

  All eyes were on the three men as they walked in formation down the hall. Each of them were silent. Chris and Carl sat at the oval table and watched the screen. Frank’s fingers shook as he sat down and pressed the remote. They were speechless.

  “Whoever he was, he had nerve. The camera pointed down at his waist and he waved at the lens. There was one woman on the bed. Frank and Chris looked at each other. It was Dina Weston. She had a birthmark on her stomach, which was listed in her file. The camera turned to another woman. The sociopath must have been enjoying himself behind the camera. The camera pointed down again and he waved goodbye.

  “That sick deranged bastard.” Chris said with clenched teeth.

  “I can’t believe this.” Carl put his hand to his mouth.

  Frank was infuriated. “Chris, have someone make a clear photograph of the other woman and make copies. Have everybody in the department watch it. Maybe somebody will recognize something about that room.”

  Chris looked very pale as he left.

  “Like what?” Carl was nauseous.

  “Who knows? I’ll take anything.”

  “What else?”

  “I’m going to check something out.”

  “What?”

  “Shops, sex shops. That was pretty fancy equipment. He had to get it from somewhere. There’s no way he would do any shopping online with a credit card.”

  “But we have no idea what he looks like.”

  “So we write down what we saw and see if anybody remembers them. Maybe he brought everything at once.”

  “Okay, go ahead.”

  Frank took the phone book for all the shops. He felt like he was going to throw up. Nobody has ever done what this guy did. Serial killers like attention and now he’s got it. This crime would be remembered forever. Andrea would be going stir-crazy waiting for Sam Little to call if it wasn’t for all the paperwork she had. It didn’t help her nerves knowing of all the problems John was dealing with. At this point, it was amazing that John didn’t have an ulcer. Andrea hoped Tony would stick to their decision not to tell Frank about any of her problems. Just as she was going to get a cup of coffee she heard Michael’s door slam. She walked to his office and knocked.

  “Michael?”

  “What?”

  She could tell he was angry. Andrea went into his office and closedthe door. “Are you alright?”

  “No.” Michael, who was usually all eyes for Andrea, didn’t take one glance at her. He was staring at his picture of Nicole on his desk. “I’m sorry.”

  “What is it?”

  “I went to see Nikki’s parents.”

  Andrea knew he was seriously worried when he called his wife Nikki. “And?” She took a seat at his desk.

  “And…” he was choking on his words, “they insisted they didn’t know where she was.”

  “Did she call them at all?”

  “Yes. Her mother said Nicole called her and said that shewas…she was leaving me.”

  “They have no idea where she went?”

  “If they do, they’re not telling me.”

  “Look, Michael…”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I should be asking how you’re doing.”

  “I have enough to keep me busy.”

  “So will I. John’s going to be re-assigning all of Brandon’s cases.”

  “True.”

  “There’s no need for you to worry. Since you can’t leave the office you can’t get into trouble.”

  “I would rather be back to complaining about my case load than worrying about this shit.”

  “I know you would.”

  “Why does everything go wrong at once? First all my notes and pictures, then Nicole leaves you and Brandon is going to be arrested.”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t help but enjoy the possibility of Brandon being in a cell with someone he used to supervise.” Michael managed a smile.

  “That seems like a fair punishment.”

  “Tomorrow is going to be the worst for John when he has to make the visit with David.”

  “Why? What happened now?”

  “Nothing, he’s been at the new job. It’s his brother. They questionedhim, remember?”

  “That’s right. I don’t know what would be better to see, Aaron being questioned or Brandon in prison.”

  “I would have to go with Brandon.”

  “Me too.” They both laughed.

  “Look, I want to get this done so I can go to Nicole’s friends ton
ight.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

  “I just want to make sure she’s alright. If they will tell me anything, that is.”

  “Okay, see ya later.”

  “Bye.”

  Andrea had never seen Michael that worried about anything before. She never thought that Nicole would leave and not call. From what she heard of Nicole, it wasn’t like her.

  David came home from work in a bad mood, which was normal. He had gone from management, to prison, to clerk. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. Six years ago he came home to his own apartment wearing a suit, and with his freedom to come and go as he pleased. David felt nauseous thinking of those years in prison, especially the first night. The sound of the cell door closing behind him made it final. He was laughed at when he proclaimed his innocence. He always thought about what his father would have to say if he were alive. Since André was such a sexist he may have taken David’s side. On the other hand, he may have been disowned after casing the family embarrassment.

  As soon as he walked in the door he noticed Aaron sitting on the sofa. The sound of the thunder made David shutter. Ever since he was young he was afraid of storms. Andre used to lock him in his room because David would want to go to his parent’s room when there was a big storm. That was André’s way of teaching David to be a man.

  “Hey Aaron.”

  “You are not going to believe what happened.” Aaron was looking straight ahead and did not glance at his brother.

  “What?” David thought someone was hurt.

  “The police were here today.”

  David leaned against the wall. “Why?”

  “I was being questioned about a kidnapping- possible murder case.”

  David’s eyes widened. “WHAT?”

  “Remember Dina?” He looked up at David.

  “Yeah,” he replied slowly.

  “She’s missing.”

  “So why the hell are they questioning you?”

  “Because she left me at the altar in case you don’t remember. I don’t know how they found out about that little detail but they did.”

  “You didn’t have to talk to them!” David’s anger was building up.

  “He didn’t want much. I could tell the guy was trying to piss me off, and it worked.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Between today and all that bullshit with your parole, I am fuming right now.”

  “I hope Dina’s alright.”

  “Yeah.” Aaron didn’t seem the least bit interested in Dina’s welfare. He walked over to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need some air.” He closed the door behind him and walked into the pouring rain with no jacket.

  David had been in prison when Dina left Aaron. He was infuriated that he could not be with his brother. Dina had the abortion months before the wedding. Aaron was convinced that she just wanted to embarrass him by leaving him standing alone at the altar. He always felt that she could have cancelled the wedding sooner, as did David and Louise.

  David went to check on his mother. She had fallen asleep with the television on. He had been turning it off ever since the first night he got home. It was always strange seeing her in bed with the empty spot next to her with the sheets and comforter on Andre’s side left untouched. Ever since Andre died, Louise fell asleep to the television. She hated silence. David, however, needed silence. That was what he had missed most in prison. During the entire five years there was never a silent night. Doors banged closed all night between guards coming and going and inmate being transferred to solitary for fighting. David felt his life was like a double-edged sword because when he did sleep he had nightmares and when he was awake, he hated the thought of his life. Sometimes he just wanted it to end.

  Dina had been missing for almost two weeks, but it felt like months. The more she tried to escape, the more pain she was in, so she just gave up. . Dina began to lose hope of ever being found. She lay there, listening to Nicole’s whimpering. Nicole couldn’t move at all. Even if she wasn’t drugged, she probably wouldn’t be able to think straight. The only time she was partly clear was when he was with her and even then she was not lucid. The rope was rough against her skin and she was finding it difficult to breath.

  Their captors were watching the tape, but not for enjoyment. They knew who the next victim would be, but they just needed a place to put her. Buddy thought about what his next lady was doing at that moment, having no idea about what was going to happen to her. Before he went to bed, he packed up some food for them. He loved it when Dina tried to talk to him in between her feedings. He couldn’t sleep just thinking about it.

  Frank was completely out of his element. He started off with the nearest sex shop, which was twenty miles away. He expected to be stared at while looking around, but he wasn’t. There were quite a few men dressed in suits looking also. They were normal guys, but just needed to spice things up in the bedroom. What was so wrong with that? Frank went to a salesman and showed his badge.

  “Excuse me sir.”

  “Hey look, I don’t want any trouble in here.” The man was very tall with a strong build and his blond hair was in a ponytail. Frank counted eight tattoos that he could notice and a tongue piercing.

  “Neither do I. I have a list of items here and I was wondering if you would have any recognition of who bought them.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s regarding a kidnapping case.”

  “Wow.” The guy turned pale. “Look, am I in trouble?”

  “No, not at all, Mr..?”

  “Mavis. Tom Mavis.”

  “We know this is the equipment that was used. With any luck, I was thinking he got them at the same time.”

  “Let’s see the list.” Tom read through the list and nodded his head. “Yeah I remember this mattress cover being bought awhile ago, but so have a lot of people. I couldn’t tell you who. We don’t ask for names here.”

  “Any credit card receipts?”

  “No way. People pay cash for this stuff. This is their private sexual lifestyle.”

  “I know.”

  “How many of these mattress covers do you sell?”

  “About ninety a month.”

  Frank’s eyes widened. “Ninety?”

  “Yeah. You sound surprised.”

  “I am.”

  Tom smiled; knowing that Frank was getting uncomfortable. “Spend one day here and you’ll see how popular all this is. Of course as long as it is consensual, there should be no need for embarrassment.”

  “I’m not embarrassed..”

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to admit it.” Tom saw right through him. “As far as the handcuffs go, I can’t tell you if they belong to us. Those are the easiest to get.”

  “What about the candles?”

  “Yeah, we sell those.”

  “Same size, same color?”

  “Yes, over there.”

  Frank looked on the shelves and saw them. They were the same candles from the tape, which were yellow with a black ring around the middle. “Hey, do you have a surveillance camera?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you save the tapes?”

  “Only for a couple of weeks.”

  “Mind if I take them off your hands?”

  “Sure.”

  “I need to see your boss also.”

  “I am the boss.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

  “That’s alright. I get it a lot.”

  Frank followed Tom to the office and looked at his desk while he was getting the tapes together. He noticed a wedding photo and a few children. “Is this your family?”

  “Yes.” Tom smiled proudly. “You look surprised.”

  “I was just wondering how your wife feels about your business.”

  “She loves it, we get a discount.”

  Frank stated laughing. “One of your perks, huh?”

  “Our marriage has its problems
, but it’s never boring in the bedroom.”

  “Good point.” Tom handed him the tapes. “Thank you.”

  “You know, I only put this in because I got robbed four times. I feel like I’m invading people’s privacy by giving them to you.”

  “Don’t worry they are in good hands. I will return them.”

  “Thanks.”

  Frank left and continued to check out the remaining stores, which took hours. Fortunately, none of them sold or ever carried the items he saw. Hopefully there would be something on those tapes. He was considering the internet. That would be the quickest way to get something these days, butthis guy wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that. Even if it were cash on delivery, they would need his address.

  After an exhausting day of waiting for the call from Sam Little, Tony called Andrea but with no news.

  “Hi baby. I talked to Sam and so far, this guy is sticking to his story.”

  “Wonderful.” She sighed.

  “I’m almost through here so I’ll see you soon.”

  “Okay.” Andrea sat back in her chair. Tony would be awhile considering the thunderstorm was not letting up. She had the day to catch up on paperwork since the office was so quiet. That was until John came in and everyone began buzzing around him to ask about Brandon. He was drenched from the rain and tried to ignore all the questions.

  “Guys!” He hollered. “Brandon is still recovering. Once he is well, he will be arrested.”

  “Piece of shit.” Jesse Daniels mumbled.

  “Yes I agree. Now, we all have to take on extra work. More important, nobody talks to the press. I’m sure it will be covered tonight. I went to see the women he assaulted and I was not welcomed in. Therefore, they are probably talking to the media. We don’t need to make this situation any worse than it is.” He went directly into this office and slammed the door. John was in there for one hour without a sound. Tony finally arrived and Andrea stopped him from talking to John.

  “He’s not in a good mood.”

  “What happened now?”

  “He has a feeling that the news is going to cover the Brandon Hughes incident tonight.”

  “The Brandon Hughes incident?” Tony laughed.

  “Tony it’s not funny.”

  “I’m sorry, I know. Come on, let’s go.”

  Although he felt bad for John, Tony was only concerned with Andrea’s safety. He spent an hour trying to get through to the prison to confirm that Vincent Cryer had not escaped. The last thing he wanted to do was remind Andrea of the man who murdered her mother, which is why he kept it to himself. He was told that Vincent doesn’t send out any mail or make phone calls so there would be no way for him to contact her.