Had Mack shared his story in court, he might have found himself abruptly taken into custody and seated right next to Jake. He could have found himself wearing a matching shock collar and leg irons.
If the government was so eager to throw the book at an outstanding Marine war hero with nothing but commendations in his file like Jake, they surely would not hesitate to do similar or worse to Mack.
The rookie Dallas officer now became more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this outrageous display of government corruption and conspiracy. He had to clear the name of his best friend.
Chapter Sixteen - Abracadaver
The Hail Mary, North Dallas (Present Day) Officer Kelvin McElroy was off duty and had just made some astonishing discoveries relevant to his investigation into his best friend’s murder trial. Needing some time to relax and collect his thoughts, he made his way to his favorite drinking hole, a sports bar named “the Hail Mary.” The pub was owned by his and Jake’s good friend, Dave Talucci.
This was an establishment that many off-duty Dallas Police Officers and Dallas Firefighters frequented. They were welcomed by the ownership and employees who recognized and were thankful for these heroes’ service, dedication, and professionalism.
Mack and Jake went to this establishment on many occasions after work or on their nights off. It was a great place to unwind, shoot some billiards, throw darts, tell tales and drink beers – whatever method one preferred in order to relieve some work-related stress.
Mack sat alone at a corner booth drinking one Shiner beer after another. He looked up from his beer nuts to see a familiar face had emerged. Dressed in a red plaid half shirt, Daisy Duke blue jean cut-off shorts, and a pair a black leather cowboy boots, Megan Anderson strutted forward.
“Hey, Mack! Long time no see!”
“Megan! Hey girl! How’s Northwest Station treating you?” Mack stood to give his former
rookie school classmate a hug.
“You know, it’s okay. Same old stuff as you see down here in Central, just different faces.
How have you been, Mack?”
Hesitating slightly before responding, Mack inhis Shiner haze answered, “I’m doing okay,
I guess, consideringall that’s happened. What about you? You still married?”
“Unfortunately, I am. He’s such a dickhead. I should have listened to my mom when she
told me I was too young to get married.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Really sucks. Hey, you know about Jake, right?” Mack invited a
response from his cute former colleague.
“Yes, I do, and I still can’t believe it. Wanna hear something I never told anyone before?” “Of course,”
Megan paused, her eyes filling with tears.
“Okay, well, please don’t share this with anyone. You know, there was that time during field training when my regular FTO was out sick for the whole week and Jake filled in as my trainer? You were gone doing observation days in Investigations and Crime Scene, Property Room, etcetera.
“Anyways, Jake and I hit it off right from the start. He was several years older than me, but it didn’t seem like it. We talked a lot, really got to know each other. We remarkably had a lot in common, with similar interests in fitness and weight training, tattoos, and music.
“I could tell he was the kind of guy who doesn’t show emotion or talk much about himself or his life. But for some reason, Jake really seemed to open up around me. He talked about his girlfriend, how they met, how good their relationship used to be. But he also talked about her jealousy, her failure to trust him and her constant accusations of him being unfaithful. I think maybe I caught Jake at a very vulnerable juncture in his life.
“And it was obvious we were each completely and utterly physically attracted to the other. We never said a word to each other in that regard, but the feeling was powerful, some might describe it as an animal-like magnetism.
“It was difficult, but we kept the training days professional. We were both in a relationship at the time, and it was as if we each knew that it might jeopardize what we had with our significant others if we got to know each other better. So, we kept the contact very minimal, and we never again spoke at great length, only saying hello occasionally in passing and brief small talk in the hallways about calls for service we were on together.
“Soon afterwards, I completed my field training phase and was transferred to the Northwest Division out near Bachman Lake.
“I often think about our one week together and pondered what might have been if we had let nature run its course. If we had gone along with our initial feelings and attraction.
“Mack, I fell in love with Jake in that short time we had together. Since then at times I thought about contacting him somehow and expressing my feelings for him. But I was too intimidated by him and afraid to tell him how I felt. I also didn’t want to jeopardize his relationship because he seemed to be very much in love with Amanda, despite her inadequacies.
“So, as you can tell, I am devastated by the news of his passing. I will always love him.”
“Wow,” Mack said.
“What?”
“Jake told me similar things about you after y’alls’ time together. He told me you were the first person he met since Amanda that he really felt drawn to. It was like there was a real connection. He truly was afraid of spending much more time with you because he feared he would only end up wanting you more. I don’t think he had any clue you felt the way you do, though.”
“Oh, I think he figured it out,” she added while her frown flipped up into a devilish grin.
Mack did not tell Megan he was investigating Jake’s supposed death, because he did not want to get her hopes up that he may be still alive.
The two caught each other up on the latest news involving other classmates they had in the same academy class, all of whom were subsequently spread throughout the seven Patrol Divisions in the city.
Megan said, “I should rejoin my friends at their table, but it was so good to see you again, Mack.Let’s keep in touch!”
She gave him her cell phone number and retreated to the opposite end of the restaurant.
Dave made his way over to the booth, sat down across from Mack, and said, “Who’s the hot chick?”
“She’s with DPD, went to the academy with me, but now she works out of Northwest. Her name’s Megan -really a sweet girl.”
Dave nodded in the affirmative, then became still and silent. He acted as if he had something to say but couldn’t find the words.
After a lengthy period of silence, Dave eventually looked down at the table and spurted out, “I can’t believe Jake’s dead. It’s all over the news…you know I went down to Lew Sterrett and saw him just a few nights before it all happened?”
“No, I didn’t know that…”
“Yeah, he was down, rightfully so. He really wanted me to talk to you and tell you something that bothered him to the point he could not sleep. He wanted me to stress to you that when he went to Carson’s birthday party, Holly was not her normal self. There was something terribly wrong with her and Rich. I told him by the time you got to the scene the feds had covered the bodies up so you could not see for yourself how they appeared.”
“I believe him now,” Mack said. “I came across some evidence that I had not been privy to before.”
“What kind of evidence?” Dave asked.
“Dave, I think it would be in your best interest and for your own safety that I do not say everything I know. But I have reason to believe that the feds, FBI, military branches, and who knows who else, are all involved in experiments that were turning people into…basically, zombies. As crazy as that sounds.
“And they are all working together to keep all of this covered up. I don’t even know who I can and cannot trust in my own department, because some of them may be connected as well. But I still don’t understand what anyone could possibly gain from such experiments. I plan on figuring that part out so
on enough.”
A bugeyed Dave was caught off guard by Mack’s remark. “Wait- back up. Did you just say zombies?!”
Duy Tran, Jake’s young legal adviser, had just entered the bar. He saw Mack and Dave and instantly made a beeline towards them.
“Guys - tell me what I heard about Jake is not true. Hold up - did you just say something about there being zombies?”
Mack and Dave recapped their conversation for the “Dew -man,” as his closest friends called him, to get him caught up to speed. Since the trial, Duy had found himself to be despondent and guilt-ridden. He accepted full blame and responsibility for the outcome.
Although he was new to the criminal defense circuit, he felt it was a case he should have won. Hearing now that the trial and evidence against Jake seemed to have been fixed and based upon lies, deception, and a government coverup, Tran’s emotions switched to anger.
One of the things Tran had always loved and admired about America was the Constitution the United States had in place. He admired the written Preamble calling for the establishment of a “more perfect union” by “ensuring domestic tranquility,” “promoting the general welfare,” and, above all else in Duy’s mind, “establishing justice.”
The United States legal system should ultimately operate as the means and system through which it guaranteed that the protection of every citizen’s rights and freedoms would be sustained.
Tran could not say the same for the legal system utilized in his native country of Vietnam. However, at this point, Tran was not so sure about this American system either. Duy Dong Tran was born in Da Nang, Vietnam just twenty-five years earlier. When he was three years old, his father and mother moved with Duy and his sister Tien from Vietnam to the United States. They were in pursuit of the American Dream; the opportunity to obtain stable, wellpaying jobs, with health care benefits, and the ability to provide a better life for them all.
They first landed in Alaska. There, Duy’s father spent a couple of years employed as a fisherman. He made a living catching King Crab off the Alaskan coast. After that, his parents were eager to relocate the family to Texas. Once there, they appreciated the warmer climate and reasonable cost of living. They decided to establish roots there, so they settled down and had a family.
Duy ’s mother and father both acquired their cosmetology licenses, and soon afterward they realized their American dream; by opening their own nail salon in Arlington, a city just west of Dallas.
At the age of ten, Duy and his younger sister were in the salon with their parents one Saturday afternoon. Two armed masked men made their way into the store. They never fired a shot, but they did plenty of damage. The fear they placed in the Tran family that day would never be forgotten. That incident would always act as a psychological scar on their sense of safety and freedom.
Duy then vowed he would dedicate his life to justice. His original intention was to become a police officer. But when he learned his poor eyesight would prevent him from achieving this goal, he altered his plan. Instead, he earned himself a law degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Now, armed with that certificate, Duy was striving to become one of the best attorneys in the Metroplex. He was hopeful he could make a difference in the lives of those who had no one else to turn to.
So, the more Duy heard Mack speak of the lies and falsities by the prosecutor and witnesses against Jake, the Dew-man became that much more furious. For example, Mack revealed that the prosecution and witness Gladys had lied about Roscoe going inside Rich and Holly’s house and they claimed that Roscoe had attacked Holly.
Mack’s investigation revealed that on the day of The Birthday Incident, Roscoe was equipped with a GPS tag on his collar, and every move he made could be tracked in a live computer feed and recorded to review later. Mack reviewed this footage for the day and time of The Birthday Incident and discovered that Roscoe never made it inside that residence.
And speaking of witness Gladys Torrence, Officer McElroy learned some very interesting information about her when he attempted to track her down following the trial.
Chapter Seventeen - Thin Mints and Maggots
M Streets, Dallas TX (Two weeks earlier) Witness Gladys Torrence was a widower who lived alone with her eight small indoor dogs of varying species. After her testimony, Torrence was driven home by an unknown government official in a plain white Chevy Impala with U.S. Government plates.
A month later, little Stacey Hall, a twelve-year-old Girl Scout from troop #695, made a gruesome discovery. One Tuesday evening after school, Stacey was dressed in her freshly ironed mint green vest, white shirt, and matching green skirt. She left her house with the good intentions of selling some cookies to benefit her troop. Stacey towed behind her a red metal Radio Flyer wagon loaded down with cases of the various popular flavors she had to offer.
Stacey approached Torrence’s house with the high hopes of selling some of her thin mints. But she quickly noticed all of the windows were wide open.
Some had screens still intact while others had been removed or possibly just dropped out. Jet black flies poured in and out through the open windows. From the front sidewalk, the scout was overwhelmed with a horrible scent. Stacey was a senior scout; curious, kind-hearted, and always eager to do whatever it took to acquire another merit patch. She sensed something was not right here, yet the young scout knocked on Gladys’ door anyways. But she did so with slight trepidation.
Stacy waited patiently for someone to respond. She began to make observations of the scene, as a good Scout should. She noticed what appeared to be ants and other insects crawling out of the mail slot on the front door. Stacy used her green and white pencil to lift the mail slot cover upwards so she could get a better peek inside.
She soon wished her curiosity and desire to do good had not gotten the best of her. For lying within a foot of the front door was the half-eaten remains of a carcass of what was once possibly a poodle. The head was intact as well as its tail and vertebrae, but the meatier parts of the body appeared dissected and its little torso was gutted.
An infestation of maggots wriggled in and out or their minute masticated holes throughout the gutted poodle pup. Scout Stacy promptly disgorged her chicken taco lunch all over the front door. She quickly wiped her mouth clean with a Fiesta Mart sales flier that was lying on Torrence’s welcome mat before using her cell phone to call 911.
Police officers and firemen responded to the location and, after donning full haz-mat suits, went inside. The overwhelming scent of ammonia, animal feces, urine, and death filled the air. The emergency responders, although they were all wearing breathing apparatus, could still detect the odors floating around them like clouds. Animal feces from the small dogs and from unseen critters such as rats or raccoons was piled up and smeared all over the brown shag carpet found throughout the residence.
Gladys’ surviving canines were standoffish, hiding under masses of filth or huddled together in corners. They barked and howled steadily with their shrill, scared little dog voices, indicating to the humans that they were traumatized, frightened, and hungry.
Upon closer look at the mutts, it was apparent their matted facial and body fur was soaked in blood and covered with what appeared to be human flesh. The response team made their way into the back bedroom of the ranch house and discovered a wall of stacked white plastic Walmart shopping bags that were filled with human excrement.
Gladys had to resort to relieving herself this way when her water and electricity were shut off months ago. It was at that time that she opted to discontinue paying the bills in favor of spending the money on thrift store treasures and dog food.
Behind the wall of plastic bag poop was what appeared to be Gladys’ mutilated body curled up into a fetal position on the floor. Her tongue was missing from the body, and it became apparent that her eyes had been plucked from their sockets. The item possibly used to remove her eyes, a blue and white ball point pen inscribed with the words “Bingo Palace, Tyler Texas,”
was lying on the floor near the body.
The first emergency medical technician to see Gladys realized through his extensive training alone that there was no sense in trying to revive the elderly woman. She appeared to have been at one time bound and gagged with duct tape and was clearly way past reviving.
Closer examination revealed the tape that had restrained her wrists and ankles had been chewed off. The gag from her mouth had been clawed away from her face.
With all these dogs around in the house, it seemed as if one or two of them had removed Gladys’ restraints, trying to rescue their master. Just as someone was about to throw a sheet over the elder’s remains, the cadaver snarled loudly.
“GRRRRRRR!!”
ITs snout pointed skyward up into the air as if sniffing something tasty.
In ITs cadaverous condition, and having no eyes, IT began to wave its arms around, feeling around for something. IT was apparently trying to reach the nearby morsel that it was smelling. The startled EMT yelled “FUCK!!!” and ran out of the house without looking back.
One of the first responding police officers inside the house saw this unthinkable incident occur. He unloaded at least four rounds of 9 mm bullets into what was once Gladys’ head, causing the abhorred to finally come to rest.
After the corpse was removed from the residence, animal control officers responded to the scene to take custody of the abandoned animals. They were now feasting on Stacey’s chicken taco regurgitation.
An autopsy report would later conclude that after she was bound and gagged, approximately 20 percent of Torrence’s body was eaten by her small dogs. A smaller percent was devoured by a small collection of unidentified rodents.
Most likely the eating/chewing of the cadaver occurred postmortem. But it was possible that some occurred prior to her death. As for the eyes and tongue being removed from the victim, it could not be positively determined whether this had also been done by the dogs. This would have been extremely rare, nearly unheard of.
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