Passion in James County XV: Ben and Nancy
"Mr. Barrett, could you tell me again exactly what the young woman said before she passed out?" a handsome, well-built young man wearing a dark blue sweatshirt with SHERIFF in white letters across the front asked the Jamestown High School janitor. He was Lt. Tim Jackman, head of the James County Sheriff's Department's detective division. He was heading up the investigation into the assault on Trish Wilkins because the school was located just outside Jamestown's city limits, in an area protected by the Sheriff's department.
"I asked her who did this to her, like I told you," the janitor, who was still pale and quaking, replied. "She...she said, "'Morris...Mr. Morris, he...' Them were her exact words. I...I ain't never, ever gonna forget them." He shook his head.
Trish had been treated by paramedics and was on her way to the Jamestown Trauma Center. Before they left the medics told Tim chances of the girl recovering didn't look good. They also indicated that, from the way her clothes were torn and her legs were bruised, she had probably been raped.
"And Mr. Morris is?" Tim asked the janitor.
"He...he's one of the teachers, a young one," the man replied. "He...he went to school here. He just came back this year after he graduated from teacher's college upstate. He...he's a really nice man. The kids like him. I...I can't believe he did something like this."
An older, bulkier man, wearing a tan sweatshirt and faded jeans, walked down the hall. "What have we got, Tim?" Sheriff Alex Martin asked. Unlike the previous sheriff of James County, Alex wasn't office-bound. He tried to get out in the field as often as he could, even though he had total faith in his deputies, and especially Tim Jackman who, despite his relative youth, was one of the best investigators he'd ever worked with.
"Looks like rape and attempted murder," Tim told his boss. "Victim's name is Trish Wilkins. She's in the eighth grade. Guy who did it beat her bad, really bad. I've never seen anything like it. Mike Loomis was the first officer here and he still looked sick after I got here."
Alex knew the beating had to be horrible if Sergeant Mike Loomis, a twenty-year veteran of the department, who had seen just about every bad thing one human could do to another, was upset. "How's the victim doing?" he asked.
Tim frowned and shook his head. "Paramedics said it didn't look good," he replied. "She was still alive when they left with her, but she had severe head injuries and probably internal injuries, too. Lost a lot of blood, too, judging from the mess in there." He jerked his head in the direction of the door into the school newspaper office.
"You have any idea who might be the doer?" Alex asked.
Tim nodded. "Maybe we got lucky," he said. "The janitor, that pale guy down the hall there, he found the victim. He said she was still conscious when he did. He claims he asked her who did it and she told him it was Mr. Morris."
"Any idea who this Mr. Morris is?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, I do," Tim replied. "He's a teacher here in school. New guy, just got out of college."
"There any physical evidence to tie this Morris guy to the victim?" Alex asked.
