Unresolved

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is 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 14 - Out of the Shadows (continued)

"Tanya," I said, "go tell Walters and Paulina to hold off, that we may have new witnesses." Tanya drove out of the room at a high rate of speed.

"Rodriguez, Davis, you're with me." I said. "These women are nervous, so Julia, you'll take the lead talking to them, and Davis will videotape their testimony..."

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

10:00am, Saturday, April 20th. Once again we headed to Laura's office. My wife was not there, but I had a key and her permission to use it. Cindy had come with us.

A few moments later, Alison McFarland brought in two women in their twenties. "This is Carrie Lucas and Marla Hanson." Alison said. Carrie was slender, almost nerdish, with thin brown hair. Marla Hanson had black hair, a very lovely face and a shapely body. Her legs looked especially good in the high heels she was wearing. Her dark eyes were penetrating, and perceptive.

"This is Commander Cindy Ross and Detective Julia Rodriguez." I said. "They'll be talking with you. Detective Jerome Davis here will videotape the interview for your protection and ours, as well as for evidence. I'm Commander Troy, and I'll be at the desk, just listening in."

"Your wife's desk." Marla said insightfully. Seeing my glance, she said "Yes sir, I know her."

"Wow... the Iron Crowbar?" Carrie asked. "You can protect us?"

"Yes." I said. "Okay, Julia, go ahead."

"Let's have a seat." Julia said. She took the sofa with her back to the windows, putting the women's faces in the light. I did not fail to notice that smart move... and neither did Marla.

"You are members of Pi Omega?" Julia asked.

"Yes." said Carrie.

"I was." said Marla. "I graduated, last year."

"Where do you work now?" Julia asked.

"I work for the Federal Government." said Marla.

"In what capacity?" Julia asked. Marla looked a bit pained. Cindy peered at her.

"Don't worry about that right now." I interjected. "Carry on." Julia looked surprised, but moved on. Cindy showed no reaction at all.

"And you both went through the hazing ritual?" Julia asked.

"Yes." said Marla. "Two years ago."

"I went through it a year ago." said Carrie. "Last Spring."

I knew I needed to interrupt, and I did so. "I'm going to ask you, Marla," I said, "to step into the other room and talk to me, while the Detectives talk to Carrie. That's so you tell your own stories without influencing each other. Commander Ross, if you'll take the video for me?"

"Certainly." said Cindy.

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

"Let's go through it from the beginning." Julia said. "When were you told of this event, and how did they tell you?"

"Uh," said Carrie, "I think one of the sisters called me and told me to keep Wednesday night clear for our final initiation ritual, and named the time."

"It wasn't publicly announced to all of the Sorority?" Julia asked.

"It could have been, at a sisters-only meeting." said Carrie.

"So take me through that night from the beginning." said Julia. "How many pledges besides you?"

"There were three other pledges." said Carrie.

"Do you remember their names?" Julia asked.

"I remember one of them was named Jennifer, and one was named Gretchen." said Carrie. "And that's a funny thing about all of it. I never met the other pledges except one or two times. I mostly met full members, sisters, when I was at the House."

"So what happened when you arrived that night?"

"We had dinner, which was something of a strange ritual, only candles in the room, which kept things pretty dark." said Carrie. "There was not much food at the dinner, but some very strong wine, and they kept making us drink toasts and giving us more wine. I later wondered if the wine wasn't spiked, as I didn't feel sleepy but just... weirded out. I couldn't concentrate on anything."

"How long did that go on?" Julia asked.

"Over an hour, but it was getting hard to tell time once the alcohol hit." said Carrie.

"What happened next?" asked Julia.

"We sat around for a while. I remember that it seemed really boring. The sisters kept telling us that the ritual was a secret, and we couldn't tell anyone about it, and we'd be full sisters after it was over."

"When did you leave the House?" asked Julia.

"I think it was after midnight when we were taken to cars." said Carrie. "Each car had one pledge and two or three sisters. We were driven around, and we finally stopped in a field somewhere. It was really dark; only the headlights of the cars gave any light."

"No idea where you were driven to?" Julia asked. "No landmarks along the way?"

"No." said Carrie. "The windows seemed to be fogged up, and I was weirded out from the wine. I do remember that it felt like we were being driven in circles for a while."

"So what happened when you got to the field?" asked Julia. "You didn't see or hear anything that was a clue to where you were?"

"No, it was really quiet." said Carrie. "I could see by the stars that the field ran north and south; I saw the Big Dipper and the North Star."

"That's excellent." said Julia. "Anything else?"

"Just a treeline to the south." said Carrie.

"So what happened?" Julia asked.

"We got out of the cars. Some of them drove back up the road, which was to the north." said Carrie. "We were told we had to make it to the road, and that there were guys chasing us. If we were caught, we would have to have sex with them."

"Did anyone complain?" asked Julia.

"Jennifer did, and maybe that's why I remember her." said Carrie. "She said she didn't want to do it, and she didn't want to have sex with anyone. One of the sisters told her she wouldn't be a member if she quit now, and Jennifer said she wanted to quit, that she wasn't going through with it."

"And they told her she had to do it?" Julia asked.

"I think one of the sisters said that she would have to find her own way back to Campus, no matter what. And then the sisters got in the cars and left."

"And then?" Julia asked.

"I thought I might have my best shot going straight up the road." said Carrie. "A couple of the girls tried to go parallel to the road but stay in the field. I think Jennifer went to the right."

"East?" asked Julia.

"Yeah." said Carrie.

"And then what?" Julia asked.

"We were all caught." said Carrie. "The sisters that came with us, actually helped the guys find and catch us. And they found Jennifer really fast. This may sound weird, but I wondered if they didn't have some kind of tracking devices on us, or night vision binoculars or something."

"That could be, and it could be an important clue." said Julia. "I know it's going to be tough, but what happened next?"

Carrie said "When the guys caught us, they brought us back to where we'd been let out, then they forced us out of our clothes, put us on the ground, and they took turns fucking us. I didn't like it, but I let them have their way and finish. I think one of the girls enjoyed it, but a couple of the girls were screaming for the guys to stop it, and Jennifer fought them hard and was screaming 'rape!'."

"No one tried to help her?" Julia asked. "None of the sisters tried to stop it?"

"Nooooo." said Carrie. "The guys started hitting her, and the sisters held her down and screamed at her to shut up and take it. They finally covered her mouth while the guys really beat her up and raped her as hard as they could. They may have sodomized her, too. I couldn't see much, but I could hear her screams. It was... pretty brutal."

"Were you a virgin when this happened?" Julia asked.

Carrie responded "I wasn't, but they thought I was."

Julia said "What do you mean?"

Carrie said "I didn't go through Sorority Rush. The Pi Omegas recruited me to pledge during Spring Semester. When I went to the House, they interviewed me, and they asked a lot of questions about my moral virtues, if I was sill a virgin, stuff like that. They said they were looking for girls of high honor and moral values to be Pi Omegas. I told them I was a virgin, but in truth I'd had a couple of boyfriends and had sex with them a couple of times each."

"Why did you tell them that?" Julia queried.

"I... I was flattered that they wanted me in their Sorority." said Carrie. "I knew that Pi Omega girls got great jobs when they graduated, and became great women leaders. State Senator Marsha Collins was a Pi O, and I thought it might help get a job with her or have her as a contact. So I told them what they wanted to hear."

"What happened after that?"

"We were taken back to the Sorority House." said Carrie. "They had us clean up... they got in the showers with us and douched us... and we were told we'd be full sisters that weekend. And that Saturday night we were initiated normally, and I met a lot of other pledges I'd never seen before."

"What happened to Jennifer, and the others?" Julia asked. "How did they react after the hazing incident?

"They were initiated with me, except Jennifer." said Carrie. "She just disappeared. I never saw her again, at the House or on Campus."

"And you don't remember her last name?" Julia asked. Carrie said she never knew it...

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

"I can't say I was raped," said Marla Hanson, "because I consented to the sex. I didn't try to fight it. I even enjoyed it with one guy; he had a big cock. And some of the member girls, the sisters, were having sex with the guys. They were really into it, and seeing them have sex got me into it."

"Was that how it was for the other pledges?" I asked.

"No." said Marla. "A couple of the pledges were virgins, or said they were. They said didn't want to go through with it, but were ignored and left behind with us. And one of them fought the guys hard, the guys that hunted us down. The guys that got her really beat the crap out of her as well as raped her. The other one was held down by the Sorority girls, but she didn't fight as hard. "

"Do you remember their names?" I asked. "What happened to them?"

"No, I don't remember them." said Marla. "And that's one of the strange things that was going on. I went through Sorority Rush the summer before, and hit it off with the Pi O women. They were outgoing like me, aggressive like me, very sexually open and active like me. And all the other Pledges I met over the Fall, Winter, and Spring were like that. But on that night, that was the first time I'd met those two girls that didn't want to go through with it. I didn't understand at the time why they even were pledges; they weren't like the rest of us at all. They were meek, so-called 'good girls'."

"So you didn't meet them before that night," I said, "and you never knew their names?"

"Exactly." said Marla.

"Did you recognize any of the guys?" I asked.

"Not at the time." said Marla. "But I met some of them at parties the next year, my Senior year. They were all Taus. The guy I liked, the one with the big cock, he went to California and got a role on that soap opera 'Days of Promise'. His stage name is Benny Black. He wasn't a Tau here, but at a School in California, and had just come for a visit."

"Is that so?" I said nonchalantly, hiding my surprise at hearing that name. "And he was here last Spring, when 'Days of Promise' came here?" (

Author's note: 'Soap Opera'.

)

"Yes, and he took me out on a date." said Marla, who then added dreamily: "It was... very nice..."

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

Marla turned down my offer of protection, but Callie accepted it. After arrangements were made, the women got up to leave with Alison. Marla turned to me and said "Say hello to your wife for me."

"I'll do that." I said. "Good luck to you in your career..."

Part 15 - Forgiveness And Permission

"I still don't understand why Commander Troy stopped me from asking more about Marla Hanson's job." said Julia Rodriguez in MCD as she and Jerome Davis put their notes and the video into the evidence servers. "And when I tried to look her up myself, nothing came up in the databases, at all."

"Well," said Jerome, "think about it. Marla all but told us. She knew Laura Fredricson, she knew Commander Troy was her husband. She's very sexually active, she had no problem with that hazing ritual."

"And Dr. Fredricson is the sex professor on Campus." said Julia. "I still don't get why Commander Troy stopped that line of questioning. He may know the answer, but I can't figure it out."

Jerome said "You do know that Dr. Fredricson was once a Deputy Director for Science and Technology in the CIA, don't you?"

"Oh... that's right." said Julia, remembering. And then she connected the dots: "So you think Marla's in the CIA now?"

"That's my guess." said Jerome. "And it might be a good idea if we just say no more about it."

"No problem there." Julia said agreeably.

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

"So Benny Black was here a year before the Soap Opera came to Town." Cindy said as she drove back with me. "And then here last year, as well."

"Looks like it." I said. "But he was here last year with the cast in May, a bit later than everyone is saying this ritual is happening. So we can't assume he was part of last year's hazing, nor this year's."

"Still," said Cindy, "I'll see if I can get Callie to talk to Benny, and see if he was part of any rituals. It'd be a godsend if he was, and could help us."

"And a disaster for him if he knows anything about the rapes that occurred while the others were having their orgies." I replied. "No, don't ask Callie to talk to Benny, at least not yet."

"So you'll let Alison help you, but not me?" Cindy asked with no small amount of asperity.

"Cindy, I'm trying to protect Benny, at least until I can determine what's going on with him." I said. "He may well not be material to this case, but injecting his name into it might bring him unwanted attention... and harm. I appreciate your wanting to help----"

"Then tell me what's going on!" Cindy replied harshly. "You obviously know more than you're telling.

"Okay...

here's what we know...

" I said, as if starting a podcast. I told Cindy my trains of thought that were boarding at the station about this case...

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

When we got back, we worked with Myron to put our videotaped interviews and their affidavits into the evidence servers. Miriam Walters and Paulina Patterson were in the office next to the Main Conference Room, Jenna Stiles's old office, talking with the Sheriff and Police Chief.

As I came into my office, Teresa came up behind me. "We're about to have a visitor." she said. "You remember Tom Usagi, who almost beat Todd in the Triathlon last year?" (

Author's note: 'Media Matters', Ch. 01-02.

)

"Oh yeah, he's going to Wildcat School next fall. ROTC scholarship, too." I replied.

Teresa said "Yep, that's him. He called and said he needed to talk to you about something related to the Wednesday night murder cases."

"Good." I said. "We could use every break we can get."

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

As we were waiting for Tom Usagi, Lt. Mary Milton came to my office. "Sir," she said, "Miltie asked me to tell you that we may have a lead on that Impala."

"That would be

huge!

" I said. "Don't keep me in suspense... tell me!"

Mary smiled and said "There's an auto body shop in northwest Midtown. It's a front for a chop shop and other sundry stuff going on, and it's run by an Asian known as 'Cochise', though he has no Native American heritage that anyone is aware of."

Mary continued: "I talked to Detective Nell Bell in Midtown P.D. She said that a red Impala appeared in the back parking lot this morning, which is where they put cars they've finished painting. Interesting item is that it has no car tags on it."

"Very interesting." I said. I thought about it for a moment, then said "Tell ya what... call Detective Bell and her team, and see if they'd be willing to do something... extracurricular... for me..."

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

Just as Mary left my office, my Police iPhone rang. It was Jack Muscone, calling from the Federal Building on the north side of Courthouse Square.

"You are not going to believe this." said Jack Muscone. "Rovers's BAU team is telling us, and telling the Brass in Washington, that these rapes and murders are the actions of a serial killer, and that it's not related to any Fraternity or Sorority."

"Trying to justify their presence here?" I asked.

"That's some of it." said Muscone. "They're still grumbling about the TCPD's refusal to accept their help and work with them. So they worked up a 'psychological profile' of what they say is a George-Aurus-style serial rapist and killer. They're even suggesting Aurus was behind the 12-year-old Susan Dawn Phillips case."

"And he magically got out of Federal Prison to commit the crimes Wednesday night?" I asked sarcastically. "Not to mention that there was no mention of a scrap of black velvet cloth found with Susan Phillips's body, which was a surefire George Aurus trait?"

Muscone chuckled... well, what was a chuckle for him... and said "As you like to say, 'it is possible' that I mentioned those things myself, and Rovers said something about his team being the 'experts', and me being an unqualified, inexperienced field agent."

"Harrumph." I said. "Experts, my ass. And please don't tell me Washington is buying their crap." I said.

"It's like the accusations against Governor Jared,

or any politician making a phone call they don't like

." said Muscone. "Those who want to believe them, are believing them. Those who don't, say they're full of shit."

"Well, they've certainly been quiet to this point." I said. "Or is the Supervisory Agent of the local Resident Agency putting the fear of God into them?"

"I haven't seen your ex-wife in a couple of days." said Muscone. "I think she's sitting back while the rest of us wrestle with the pigs... letting us get muddy while she takes the high road and stays clean."

"Smart lady." I said. After further talk, we disconnected the call. I sat back in my comfortable Command Chair, wondering what my ex-wife really was up to... besides up to no good...

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

A few moments later, the Duty Desk Sergeant brought Tom Usagi to my office. Teresa greeted him with a warm hug. "My race nemesis." she said.

"I'll try to be this summer, anyway." said Tom, with a winning smile.

"Ready for Wildcat School next Fall?" I asked as I returned his polite bow and shook hands with him.

"Yes sir! Hear us roar!" said Usagi. I had him sit down next to Teresa. I began videotaping the interview.

"I heard about those murders yesterday." said Tom. "I wanted to tell you that I was with my girlfriend out there Wednesday night, at the place we call 'the Fucking Field', when a number of cars drove into the area."

"On a Wednesday night?" I asked. "Consider me 'Old School', but why weren't you at home, since it was a school night?"

"Patty graduated in December." said Tom. "She's going to start at the Community College in the Fall. And I'm taking just one class, and I'm only doing that to stay in the JROTC program."

"Okay." I said. "Did you see any of the cars?"

"No sir." said Tom. "I got Patty out of there as fast as I could. We were on the northeast road, and they came in by the main north-south road."