Slender Man

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 15 - Slender In The Neighborhood

"His name is Wesley Smith." said Jerome Davis, meeting us at the side door as Cindy and I came into Headquarters at 7:55pm, Friday, March 10th. "Nine years old. Lived with his mother on Pine Street, in the house Coach Marshall used to live in." I remembered that house from the 'Murdered Football Player' case.

We walked into MCD, which once again was a 'War Room' and very busy. I noticed on the large television screen on the wall that our Police cruisers were in wider concentric circles around where the boy's home was, and I was glad to see that Captain Croyle had wasted

no

time in implementing a better search plan.

"Sir," said Captain Briscoe, coming up to me, "the Press is at it again, demanding to speak to you personally."

"I'll handle the Press." said Chief Moynahan, who had come up behind me from the other side. "Let's go, Brick. Don, I'm just getting out of your way. Carry on."

"Yes, Chief." I said. "Okay, Jermaine, let's go to my office, so you can tell me the whole story, from the beginning..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Chief Moynahan made his way to the Press Room, he found himself beaten to the punch.

"I've got this one, Chief." said Sheriff Allgood. The Sheriff was dressed in his "western" outfit: off-white button-down shirt, a bolo around his neck serving as a tie, a Stetson cowboy hat in his hand, khaki pants and brown western boots, and a brown western-style jacket. His badge was affixed to his belt, and his gun in a shoulder harness.

He strode up to the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, before I give an update on this situation, I will tell you right now that Commander Donald Troy is doing what he is supposed to be doing, and doing what he does best: solving these cases. He does not have time nor any need to speak directly with any of you, and he will not be doing so tonight unless and until this case is solved. So stop asking for him personally, and leave him alone to do his job. If that is a problem, you know where the door is. Make use of it."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jermaine Davis sat in the hot chair and Cindy on the sofa, with me in my chair behind the desk.

Jermaine said "He's a latchkey kid, sir. Well, he has a digital code to get into his house, that's the rage these days. His mother works at Wal-Mart until 6:00pm or later. Mark Walker, the Crime Lab's technician for these things, said the kid came in the house after punching in the code at 3:10pm. Then the mother, whose name is Beverly, came home and came in at 6:45pm. Wesley wasn't in the house. The mother called around and Wesley wasn't with any of his friends at their house. She called her ex-husband, and he had not seen Wesley, either."

"Ex-husband?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Jerome. "His name is Gerald Smith. Their divorce was finalized about six weeks ago. She got custody of Wesley. He works for Stafford Cleaning Services, who do contract cleaning and custodial services. He's living in the basement of a co-worker's house. We sent a Patrol cruiser over there, and the kid's not there. They brought Mr. Smith here at his request. He's in the Pastor's Room now."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"In the Admin breakroom." said Jermaine. "She's already eaten two of the apple pie turnovers from the vending machine."

"Nice observation." I said with a brief grin. "So where did Gerald work at before the cleaning service?" I asked.

Jermaine checked his notes and paper printouts. "Place called Wentworth Tool & Die, sir. They're on this side of the River, just across from Crown Chemicals. They were bought out by BOW Enterprises about six months ago."

"Any idea why he left there?" I asked.

Jerome had a pained look on his face. "No, I'm sorry sir, I don't have that. Just that he worked there."

"That's okay." I said. "You've really done a good job getting the info you have, Jerome. Did the Mouseketeers help you get that?"

"No sir." said Jerome. "Myron and Mary are out of Town this weekend; they went to the City to a concert, and Mary said they'll do some shopping and stuff while they're over there. I tried to call David Krueger, but didn't get hold of him."

"That's okay, I think he may be out of Town, too." I said. "All right, keep on keepin' on. Good job, so far. You can go." Jerome left the office.

"Where's Krueger?" Cindy asked.

"I don't want this getting out until it's official." I said. "But I expect to be getting his resignation any time now. He had an interview with Chief Soltis in Midtown, and our Chief told me that Soltis likes David and offered him a job down there."

"Wow, no more Three Mouseketeers." Cindy said. "That's sad." I held my face, not letting on that it was for the best for all concerned...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Two hours later, things had settled in. The Amber Alerts had gone out. Police cruisers were going through farm fields, and we had drones up. No results, so far.

"Any ideas, Commander?" asked Captain Croyle as I looked at the monitor in MCD.

"I like the search pattern you're doing a lot better." I said. "And you've posted up all the checkpoints leading out of the County again, as well."

"And Judge Watts is handing out warrants like cheap bubble gum wrappers." Teresa said. "But he's pissed. If we catch the perp this time, he'd do well to avoid Judge Watts's courtroom."

I nodded. And then it hit me. "Teresa, there are two places I want you to check. First, the baseball field and the area around County High School. Do that for Town High School and Booker T. Washington High School, as well. The second place is up on the mountainside. Promontory Point, the roads leading to the Cabin and around to the other side, the roads further north leading to the Sheriff's house. Slender Man was sighted at County High, and at my Cabin home. That may be where this child will be found."

Teresa went to send out the orders as I continued to watch the screen. What is your purpose and intent in all this, I silently asked my adversary over space and time...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"We've found him." I heard the call on the radio. "County High School, behind a couple of trailers in the cedar trees. He's not conscious but is breathing fine. We're taking him to University Hospital."

Everyone clapped and cheered, though the response was a bit muted. I congratulated everyone there, then got on the radio and thanked all the Officers that has been out there searching. The Press Relations Officer made the notifications to the Press as Chaplain Calvin let the parents know. It's nice when the Chaplain can give out

good

news, I thought to myself.

"Good job, everyone." said the Chief as he came into MCD.

"Thank the Iron Crowbar, sir." said Teresa. "He said look around County High, and that was that."

"How did you knowwww, Mr. Crowbar?" the Chief asked. The room fell silent.

"There was a Slender Man sighting there earlier." I said. "Just like the previous kidnapping was preceded by a Slender Man sighting. So Captain Croyle had some people check it out..."

Part 16 - Falling Off The Pace

9:00am, Saturday, March 11th. We convened for a post-action conference. In addition to the TCPD Officer, we had Jack Muscone and Martin Nash of the FBI visit us. Martin brought doughnuts, a most very good and recommended way of bribing Your Iron Crowbar and his subordinates.

"Wesley Smith is fine." said Jermaine Davis. "Injected with sedatives, but otherwise unharmed. Pretty well hidden behind cedar trees behind the trailers at County High. Homeless people camp there sometimes, but there were none there last night."

"Do we know more about the parents?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Sonali, speaking good English in her Indian accent. "Mrs. Smith took the job at Wal-Mart after her husband, now ex-husband, lost his job at Wentworth Tool & Die, which occurred after BOW Enterprises bought Wentworth. She also filed for divorce right at that time. It was fairly amicable, he did not really fight for custody of the child. Neither have any arrests from the past nor any issues with the law, really."

"And he lives a distance away?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Sonali. "Southside. His car is very old, and has no GPS, but the people he lives with... he lives in their basement, that is... said he did not go anywhere after coming home from work Friday, until the Police came."

"What about his employment with Wentworth Tool & Die?" I asked. "What happened there?"

"Sir," said Teresa, "I have some off-the-record stuff about that. Barry Oliver of BOW Enterprises was the force behind buying Wentworth for BOW. Todd just wrote the checks. They bought it quietly last Autumn, and they put some money into it, refurbished the place, brought in CNC machines, and upgraded the old tool and die machines."

Teresa continued: "What I understand, again off-the-record, is that Gerald Smith maintained the old machines. He did not do a great job of that, and had a poor record otherwise. He was basically dead weight. When BOW came in, they laid off the unneeded people like the Admin people, but kept most of the skilled workers. Smith was an exception; he didn't have enough specific talent or knowledge to be useful anywhere, so they let him go."

I said "And after that, the Smith's marriage began to crumble. A story we've heard many times. So, anything about Wesley?"

"He's still sleeping it off." said Cindy. "I checked with the Hospital. Rudistan and Morton are there and ready to help Dr. Yates talk to Wesley when he wakes up."

"Sonali," I said, "one thing I want you to try to do is to find a connection, any connection at all, between either of the Jones parents, and the Claymores, Henrietta's parents, and you might as well check and see if Larry or Jen Lance knew either of the Jones parents." Sonali made some notes.

"Okay, so Gerald now works for Stafford Cleaning Services?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Sonali. "He's been assigned mostly to apartment residences when people move out. Cleaning, repainting, putting down carpet, that kind of stuff."

"He's not very tall, either." I said. "He's listed as 5'7" on his drivers license. Okay, there's just... not much here."

"So what's next, sir?" asked Cindy, pretty much on behalf of everyone in the room.

"Well, we do know a couple of things." I said. "Two kidnappings happened after Slender Man sightings were reported by the News Media. Both children were kidnapped from the Northside, in middle class neighborhoods in the County High school district. Both children were found in or near places where Slender Man sightings occurred. So, let's keep grinding, look for any clues, look at video footage of cars near County High in the time Wesley Smith was missing, such as that. And hopefully, we'll catch a break and can make an arrest and stop this crap."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"We came to offer our help." said Jack Muscone. "Clark Webster says if you get another disappearance to let him know, and maybe we can help find something on this perp."

We were sitting in my office after the meeting. Cindy was on the sofa, per usual.

"I appreciate it." I said. "Right now, it's Slender Man's version of 'catch and release'. We've been lucky so far."

"So you don't have any ideas at all about any of this?" asked Muscone.

I shook my head. "There's a couple of threads running through it all. First, BOW Enterprises keeps coming up, and former employees after BOW absorbed Burke Enterprises. Then the whole 'Slender Man' stuff."

"Sir," asked Martin Nash, "is there any thought that these were just pranks? The County High tape looked like it was a prank and not a genuine sighting like some of the others."

"Sure, we've considered that." I said. "Have we not, Captain Ross?"

"We have, sir." said Cindy. "But both kids were injected with sedatives, which are prescription drugs and don't come cheap. And kidnapping two children, with the possibility of getting caught and going to prison on felony charges for years, is going pretty far just to create pranks. And last but not least, taunting the Iron Crowbar with drawings on the window of his home is in itself a very dangerous thing to do just for the sake of a prank."

"By the way," said Muscone, "I'll ask just to say I did: anything on Leonard Lotz?"

"Besides me being a hair from being fired over that?" I asked. "And me being a thinner hair from turning in my badge and walking away from the Sheriff's bullshit? No."

Muscone nodded. "We don't know what Craig's beef with Lotz is, either. It's bordered on the obsessive. Maybe Lotz has pictures of Craig or something."

"Hmmm," I said, thinking about it, "that might not be so far off... Maybe Lotz has some information that's bad for Craig, that Craig wants to suppress."

"Flip side to that, sir," said Cindy, "is that Lotz was in the Asylum for years and was never touched when they could've gotten to him easily."

"True." I said.

"The general consensus around our FBI offices is that Craig wants to capture Lotz to make a big splash and a name for himself. He needs all the feathers in his cap that he can get, if he's in the running for Deputy Director."

"Naah, you're going to get that job." I said.

"No, I'm not." said Muscone. "I've formally notified my boss and the top brass that I am not interested in any job that requires me to move and be headquartered in Washington, DC."

"Really?" I asked. "I mean, I know Washington is a cesspool, but the opportunity..."

"Just like

you

had opportunities to be Police Chief, or to run for Sheriff." said Muscone. "But you stayed where you are because you're in the right spot, and you're happy. Well, same here. I'm happy where I am, with the team I have---"

"And with the girl you're with." said Cindy. "And that's good: you and Tanya are great for each other."

"That lady is smart, Commander." said Muscone. "You should promote her... or we may offer her a job with the FBI."

"Don't even joke." said Cindy. "No disrespect to you guys, but an FBI with Les Craig in it, is an FBI I don't want to fool around with. Besides, I've got the bestest boss ever."

"Chief Griswold really taught you how to kiss up properly, didn't he?" I asked Cindy with a grin.

"The best part is that I don't have to lie when I'm doing it." Cindy replied right back.

"Okay, how about I treat you guys to brunch at the Country Breakfast Diner." I said. "And then I'm going home and getting some sleep...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sunday, March 12th. After spending the morning with my family, I came into the office in the early afternoon. To my surprise, there was a knock on my door. David Krueger came in.

"Hello, sir." he said. "I called your home and they said you'd come down. I wanted to catch up with you."

"And you have. Tag, I'm it." I said, then explained: "Guess what I played with the kids this morning?" Krueger laughed politely.

"I'm just glad to have the chance, sir," said Krueger, "of thanking you in person for the opportunity you've given me to serve with you and the TCPD. It's been awesome, but I'm taking the Midtown job."

"I'm sad for me." I said. "I'm happy for you. It should be a great opportunity. But do keep your eyes peeled; they have some nasty, corrupt people down here."

"Yes sir," said Krueger, handing me his resignation letter. "We're going to clean them up."

I stood up and shook Krueger's hand. "I appreciate all you've done for us here. You were part of some very productive times with us."

"Yes sir," said Krueger. "Thank you again, sir."

"I'll walk you to the desk." I did so. Krueger handed in his badge and his TCPD-issued service weapon at the desk. We shook hands again and he exited to the parking lot.

David Krueger was a good man, a good Detective, and a great data analyst. He would do very well with the Midtown P.D. And I had averted a possible crisis amongst my Mouseketeers. Myron and Mary had become indispensable to me.

Part 16 - Hammering The Crowbars

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" said the lovely redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, March 13th, from in front of the Courthouse complex. "Channel Two News has learned that new lawsuits have been filed by the Citizens For Police Accountability against Police Commander Donald Troy!"

Bettina seemed to be relishing every word as she reported: "The CFPA lawsuit cites 'ongoing misconduct' by Commander Troy, citing illegal searches of Citizens' cars at illegal checkpoints, the violation of a Citizen's home without a warrant which resulted in Child Protective Services removing a child from her parents' custody, illegally obtaining employee records without a warrant, and failure to give proper effort into apprehending dangerous criminals that might be at large in the County!"

Bettina went on: "Jay Swenson and Ken Eidex gave a press conference over the weekend, giving their reasons for filing the lawsuit against Commander Donald Troy of the TCPD, and demanding that the SBI

and

FBI open criminal investigations into Commander Troy's misconduct. Roll tape." The tape showed Swenson and Eidex whining about Your Iron Crowbar.

"And in State news," said Bettina, "the Legislature has once again worked out a compromise, this time with the State Budget. Over the vociferous objections of 1st District State Senator Katherine Woodburn, the Senate Democrats caved in and allowed the Republicans to win key concessions, including more money to track down and deport undocumented workers and their families, less money for the SBI, which makes our children vulnerable to dangerous drug gangs, and a new excise tax on gasoline that replaces the old sales tax, which means you will pay more money to fuel your cars."

"And in further State news, Channel Two News has confirmed that TCPD Detective Krueger resigned from his position to take a similar position with the Midtown Police Department!" Bettina went on. I could not help but groan out loud as she said "Sources tell Channel Two News that Officer Krueger will be getting a promotion and increased duties with the Internal Affairs Department of the Midtown Police. The Midtown P.D. has been in chaos since young Frank Soltis was hired from the SBI as Midtown Police Chief."

As Bettina turned it over to Chuck Pringle for Sports, I felt all eyes on me in the utterly silent MCD room.

"Yes," I said, "Krueger accepted the job offer with Midtown PD, and it's a good opportunity for him. What pisses me off is that Bettina is blasting it all over the airwaves, so the corrupt bastards David and Chief Soltis are trying to fight now are fully aware of him coming down there."

"Yes," said Chief Moynahan, who'd just come in, "that was plain dirty of Bettina. I will be in-

form

-ing KXTC that they are no longer welcome in our Headquarters, our Precinct Headquarters... what's the plural of 'Headquarters'? 'Headquarterses'?... well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to inform Commander Harlow and Captain Briscoe that KXTC is forbidden the Press Room, also."

"Thank you, Chief." I said simply.

"Commander, what's this lawsuit against you about?" said Joanne Warner, who looked worried. "These bozos were just rejected a few days ago!"