. 01

Starting Over VII, Chapter 4.

This is the seventh section of the continuing saga "Starting Over".

In Part I, LTC (Retired) John Jackson had moved to Seattle after being widowed. He ran into some trouble and some decent people (okay, and a few strippers), while working towards getting his private investigator license. That took place between Sep and Dec 2012.

In Part II, he got involved in a ring trafficking in young women. The main perpetrators were captured, but the hired gun/enforcer slipped away. That took place in Apr and May 2013.

In Part III, which took place in 2013 and 2014, John managed to find the enforcer in Key West and was planning to kill him, but changed his mind. He really didn't know if he could kill someone in cold blood, but the man was living with a woman and had decided that he was retiring. John let him go with a promise to do intelligence work for him and returned to Seattle, where Maggie gave indications that she wanted a serious relationship. Then he used that enforcer from Key West to assist in capturing an assassin. The assassin had been hired to kill him and the detective who helped him break up a leg of a human trafficking chain.

In Part IV, it's 2019. John and Maggie couldn't work things out and now John was working on a case that, at first, involved someone who had assaulted Luke's wife Maria. John then had two men try to break into his apartment to attack him. The authorities caught the two men by tracking them to a strip club, but John got beat up by them before the police got there. When he woke, he found that Vanessa, his waitress at the strip club, was an undercover officer. There were several events that were taking place and it was being done by an anarchist group. However, funding for these events was tracked to someone in human trafficking in Singapore by a hacker that John found through Bob in Key West. He returned to Seattle with the information on a thumb drive, and the FBI and others started tracking him. Finally, the master of the human trafficking ring had his son try to soft sell John's daughter into visiting Asia with him, primarily to kidnap her. John found out, he and his buddies stopped it, and then John, feeling the rage, flew to Singapore and, with the backdoor assistance of a government person, was armed and killed both the leader and his son of this trafficking ring.

In Part V, Yvonne, the young hacker came to live with John. She had nowhere else to go and felt so alone during the pandemic that she was craving human interaction. She also admitted that she was attracted to John, even though there was 19 years difference in their ages. A bad guy was hired to hit him due to his involvement in some operations being run by a rogue CIA manager and some disenfranchised CIA members. John and company got them in the end and Yvonne got shot in the leg. She decided to stay with John.

Part VI involved a woman, going by the name Julie, who had been "hidden" by a woman called a "guide". She had been given a new identity and moved to Seattle to get away from a potentially fatal relationship. That was back in Tennessee. This led to the woman's guide, Dani, discovering that the brothers of the husband that Julie had killed, were running meth labs out of the woods of the land that Julie and her husband had owned. They were worried about losing the land and the labs. This ended up with the labs being pointed out to the FBI, and then one of the brothers and one of their dealers coming to Seattle to get revenge on John and the FBI agent in charge of the case back in Tennessee.

Part VII involved John and the others getting involved with a Romanian gang out of Chicago. It turned out to be more than that, including Maggie and others getting shot. A party at the Bradford's was interrupted by gunmen shooting randomly into the gathering. Finally, in the end, law enforcement got the bad guys and the good guys got someone who turned evidence. Maggie was recovering quickly, and as summer arrived, John was hoping for good weather and a calmer life.

Recurring Characters

LTC (Retired) John Jackson, 5'11", 180, 56 years old.

Marie Jackson, John's dead wife, 5'8", 140, 44 years old, died 15 Jan 2012

Angelica Jackson (Angel), John and Marie's daughter, 5'5", 125, 29 years old.

Mary Bradford, bartender, 5'5", 120, 44 years old.

Margaret (Maggie) Bradford, Mary's sister, 5'6", 115, 45 years old.

Madeleine (Maddie) Bradford, Maggie's daughter, 16 years old.

Samantha (Sam) Walker, 5'6", 130 pounds, 49 years old, John's former neighbor.

Joyce Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 120 pounds, 29 years old, and now an exotic dancer using the name Lily

Marion Walker, Sam's daughter, 5'4", 115 pounds, 27 years old.

SFC (Retired) Craig Smithson, 6', 190, 56 years old, NCO from John's Army unit.

Captain Jeff Smithson, 5'11', 185, 54 years old, SFC Smithson's brother and a captain in the Seattle Police Department.

Luke Cole, 5'10", 180, detective in the Seattle Police Department.

Maria Cole, 5'6", 135, Luke's wife.

Jeanne (aka Jasmine) Welch, 5'5", 110, 31 years old, exotic dancer.

Olivia, 5'4", 120 pounds, 31 years old, called Livy, exotic dancer.

Max Meridian (real name Harold Johnson), Mark's lead kidnapper and enforcer. Now changed his name to Bob Thomas and is married to Susan. They own and operate a bar in Key West.

Susan Thomas, Bob's new wife.

George Watson, a new member of the detective agency.

Vanessa Williams, 5'6", 130, detective in the Seattle Police Department.

Yvonne, 5'2", 105, illegal hacker who helped find the human trafficker who had funded the anarchists in Seattle.

Danielle (Dani) Parker, 5'8", 120, known as a "guide". She takes cases where an individual is in mortal danger and "hides" them by giving them new identities and teaching them how to lay low.

Benjamin Smothers, Deputy Director of the FBI.

Allison June, 5'7", FBI agent in Seattle.

---------------------- Saturday, August 20, 2022, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John was relaxing on the couch, watching SportsCenter as it covered the final games of Albert Pujols' career. He was a little shocked when the man left St. Louis. He had established himself so well there and the community loved him. He had been to several World Series and some of his teammates were like brothers. He had also participated in some great charities while there. But he still left and, in John's mind, had hurt his career in the process. Well, he was sure the sports historians would debate it once he retired at the end of the year.

He had been watching for about 35 minutes when Maggie came in. She was wearing just a light t-shirt and, not much else. John noticed. Maggie walked in front of him and bent over the coffee table. She acted like she was looking for something, but to John all she appeared to be doing was expose her thong-covered ass to him. Her t-shirt rode up almost all the way over her ass.

John figured this was purposeful, so he leaned forward and put his hands over her lower ass, running them up and down over the whole thing.

Maggie turned and grinned. "See something you like?"

John gave her ass a quick slap. "Best ass in Seattle."

Maggie turned and John could see her nipples sticking out excitedly. She sat on his lap. "Well, as you probably realized, that wasn't an accident. I got cleared by the doctor yesterday for sex. He said all my interior wounds were healed enough for me to get excited and have an orgasm."

"Wait!" John held up his right hand. "You said sex, you didn't say anything about an orgasm."

Maggie slapped him on the chest. "Ha, ha. Not really funny. Besides, you hate having sex without giving the women orgasms."

John reached forward and tweaked a nipple through her shirt. "How do you know that? You're only one woman, you said women. Have you been interviewing women from my past, you hussy?"

Maggie stopped smiling and leaned forward. She kissed John lightly on the lips. "No more playing around. I haven't had sex in almost 5 months. I really need to have sex with the man I love."

John pulled her down and kissed her hard. "I love you."

John then lifted her and put her down on the couch. "Let's get the first one out of the way quickly." He grinned as he pushed the t-shirt up and reached for the thong. He pulled the thong off and tossed it over his back with a grin. Maggie was not grinning. She was biting her lip in anticipation.

John then did all the things he always did for her. He licked her lips, licked up over her clit as he inserted a finger, then brought her off when he finally rubbed her g-spot and hummed on her clit. It took about 4 minutes. She must have been really primed or had pre-gamed.

When he was done, John sat back and Maggie lay there lewdly, her legs open, panting, with a slight smile on her face. "Wonderful," she finally said.

John grinned and stood up. He was going to open his robe, but then he heard a key in the lock of the front door. He stopped and stared at Maggie. She jumped up and raced into the bedroom while John made sure he was presentable.

When the door opened, Maddie and one of her friends came in. John said good morning.

"Where's mom?" Maddie looked around the room.

"She's in the bedroom, probably getting dressed."

"John, this is my friend Alicia."

Alicia came forward and John put his hand out to shake hers. But Alicia came in and gave him a quick hug and the European two-cheek kiss action. John didn't think anything about it until Alicia suddenly looked up at him. She blushed and grinned.

John looked at her quizzically as she turned and said something to Maddie.

Maddie turned and looked around John and he turned to see what she was looking at. There, perched on the coffee table, was Maggie's thong. John turned back to Maddie and she was also blushing and looking down.

About that time, Maggie came back into the room all cheerful, and said, "How's my favorite daughter?"

She went to hug Maddie, and Maddie allowed her to, but you could see she was a little distracted by the sight of her mother's thong on the coffee table.

"What?" Maddie held Maggie at arms' length. Maddie looked over Maggie's shoulder and Maggie followed it. She saw her thong and actually giggled. She walked over and retrieved it, sticking it into her jeans pocket. "Sorry, ladies. We're married, so we do have sex, despite what you must think of us 'older' folks."

Finally, Maddie and Alicia both started grinning and chuckling. John just stood there and watched, amused at this reaction.

"Okay, okay," John finally said. "What brings you over here early on a Saturday morning?"

"Oh, yeah." Maddie glanced at Alicia. "Alicia's cousin, Sandy Warner, went missing on Wednesday. She went to work at Madewell in University Village just off NE 49th street. She left work just after it closed at 8 pm and was never seen again."

"Does she drive or walk?" John thought he might know the answer.

"She likes to walk. She lives on the north side of Ravenna Ravine and usually walks along Ravenna Ave and then NE 58th to get to the bridge. She walks over the Ravenna Bridge and then to a place she rents on 15th Ave NE with a couple of other women."

"No sign from anyone? You questioned everybody?"

"Yes. Her family can also follow her phone via GPS, but it's been off since about 8:30 that night. They say she seemed to reach the south end of the Ravenna Ravine, but then her phone turned off and it hasn't been back on. And she's 24. She never turns off her phone. Something's definitely wrong, but the police don't seem to be doing much. Please, John, can you help us?"

John tried to allay their feelings about the police. "You have to remember that the police have a lot of things to do with little resources. I'll call my contacts and see what I can find out." John moved over to Alicia and took her by the arms. "I will do everything I can, Alicia."

Alicia nodded. "Thanks."

Maddie and Alicia left and John turned to Maggie. "So, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"Oh, I have other errands to run now." Maggie looked at her watch. "You'll just have to be patient."

John raised his eyebrows and went into a crouch. He started approaching her like he was going to tackle her. "What were you saying?"

Maggie laughed and backed up, her hands out in front of her. "John, don't. I do have some errands to run." John growled. "John, John, John!" Maggie turned and ran laughing into the bedroom. John followed and ravished her, making her late for her errands.

---------------------- Monday, August 22, 2022, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John had gotten in contact with now Lieutenant Luke Cole on Saturday. He had provided the name of Officer Lucy Knowles, who had taken the missing person's case. She had also worked with a couple of detectives assigned to four other women who had been missing for a while, two of whom had turned up dead. Officer Knowles had apparently thought that all five were related. After relaying that information, Officer Knowles had agreed to meet with John for lunch at an Elemental Pizza, which was in the same shopping area as Madewell, where Sandy worked.

She and John sat down and waited until a waitress took their orders.

"Okay, Lucy. Can I call you Lucy?"

"Sure."

"So, I take it you were told you could tell me what's going on?"

"Within reason. Lt. Cole said you were a fine and trustworthy man. I also heard through the grapevine that you are respected because you took a bullet for him."

John chuckled. "Well, I was just trying to push him out of the way. I had no intention of getting shot."

Lucy grinned. "Still, everyone knows and appreciates it."

"Okay, so what's going on with Sandy Warner and, if you can tell me, the other cases that seem to be related."

"Well, Sandy Warner left Madewell at about 8:15 and headed north and west to go along the ravine and then cross the bridge to get to where she lived. She often walked that route and enjoyed the exercise. At about 8:30, her phone disappeared from view and never appeared again. There was no suspicious activity that anyone in the area saw, and she just seemed to vanish.

"The reason I related them to the others, is that a woman has disappeared near the south end of the Ravenna Ravine every couple of months over the last year. 5 women, all of about the same age, all in that area. We are starting a very extensive search of the ravine and the surrounding areas today. But we have no leads on what is really going on."

"I guess you've checked all their phones for location services, right?"

"Yeah, we have done that and all their movements were tracked over the last couple of days before they disappeared. Not much there."

"What about charges on credit cards? Anything of interest there?"

"We grabbed the last couple of weeks of all their credit cards and got nothing of interest."

John thought about it long and hard as their pizzas were delivered and they started in on them. Between bites he asked her, "Anything the group had in common?"

"Not that we have been able to find yet."

"Do you think you could get me a lot of the data from their phones and credit cards? Like the last three months' worth of the first woman and all the data for the other women from then until they disappeared? I'm not doing much of importance right now and I have time to go through all that."

"I'll have to check. That's a lot of data, and these are open investigations. I'll put the question to the Lieutenant and see what he says."

"Okay. Just check if you can. Any other avenues of inquiry you guys have on-going or that might bear fruit?"

"Not really. We've tried to think of everything, but got nothing."

"Okay, well, good luck on the case, and I'll help out any way I can."

"Thanks. Now, I have to finish my pizza before I have to get back to work."

"Me, too."

John and Lucy finished eating and only had small talk for the rest of the meal, then she left and John sat there thinking about things. If what Lucy suspected was true, there had to be some point where the lives of these women crossed with some predator. And they may have all done so at a common hunting ground. He hoped he could get the data and come up with something. Even if these women were dead, the families needed to know for sure and the police needed to find this bastard.

John thought about it the rest of the day, but didn't seem to get anywhere. There had to be some connection and without anywhere to start he was not going to get anywhere. He waited for Lucy to get back to him.

---------------------- Tuesday, August 23, 2022, John's apartment, Seattle, WA -----------

John was sitting at his kitchen table enjoying a late breakfast after spending some time biking and exercising when his cell beeped. He picked it up. It was from Lucy. She had discussed it with her Lieutenant and he got everyone to agree that John could look at the data, but only down at the police station. It could not go anywhere else.

John told Maggie about it and left around lunchtime to head to the police station.

When John got there, he was taken up to an interview room where a lot of the data that was in paper was laid out on the table. Lucy showed him how it was arranged.

"This is all in paper," Lucy explained. "We printed out everything. They won't let you on the computers."

"Okay. Well, that makes it a little more difficult when I can't do data searches, but maybe I'll find something."

"Maybe. And Detective Miller, who is leading the case for the two murders that we know of, will be coming in to discuss this in a moment. He is a little old school, but he really wants to get this guy."

"Okay. I'll get started."

John sat down and looked at the arranged items. There was an accordion folder for each woman and in each one was a file folder that separated the phone history, credit card history, etc. John started with the credit cards. He assumed that they had already checked the phones, but the credit card history might be a little more difficult to sift through.

John had just been through the histories of the first two when Detective Miller came in. John had laid them out side-by-side to see if there was anything in common.

"Good afternoon." Detective Miller came over and put his hand out.

"Hi." John stood and shook the proffered hand. "Good to meet you."

"You can call me Alex."

"I'm John. I hope I'm not stepping on too many toes."

Alex grinned. "I know both the Smithson's and Lieutenant Cole. They all vouch for your abilities, your honesty, and say you are someone who just wants to get the job done. Also, just so you know, I served in the 101st back a few years before you."

I nodded. "That's good. Common ground."

"Right. Common ground." He walked around behind where I had been sitting and looked at what I was doing. "Okay, you've been looking over the credit card statements. Good. Let me tell you what we've done and been looking for."

Alex grabbed the other chair and pulled it around. "We've been through the cell phone records a couple of times. We only have the statements we could get from the phone providers. Their actual cell phones have never been found. We have found that they called each other's numbers every once-in-a-while. But we can't determine why. We have found nothing they have in common that way. The texts were not at all clarifying, and they were all cleaning up their phones regularly. In addition to that, it appears that the assailant started working on each phone cleaning things up, which makes it more difficult for the phone company to retrieve the records. Some cannot be recovered.

"If you can find something in the credit card receipts that we missed, we might be able to tie them together somewhere and see if that's where they were being targeted. They have to have either been meeting somewhere or have some other common ground for them to all disappear the same way in the same area. The hunter had to have some way to target them."