10-16 in progress East 17th Street, any unit can deal?
Unit 12 responding...
The police radio chattered in the background as the two officers walked towards the warehouse. They were on a mission to prove that the Commander was right when she said the informant was a delusional but, as Susan had insisted that they check out her claims, they approached with the usual detached professionalism that marked the LCPD.
All seemed quiet but the side-door had been forced, fairly recently too, and this was enough to make them draw their weapons as they entered the darkness.
"Police Officers, is anyone in there?"
Only the echo replied to question. Their eyes became accustomed to the gloom and revealed the grisly secrets of the interior, two corpses, which had been brutally mutilated. Most importantly for their mission one of them had indeed been burned and then had strips of flesh removed.
"Jesus Jerry... "
"I know... call it in Lou, I am going to look around a bit more"
"Unit 50 to control, I have an urgent message for the Commander. Tell her that woman is right and then get scenes-of-crime down here. We're gonna need some extra hands as well or the media will be all over this place in an hour"
"Roger Unit 50, additional units and SOC will be dispatched. Your message will be relayed to Commander Williams"
Mary Williams returned to her office with a stunned look on her face, so Susan knew that the officers had managed to match her description to the warehouse when Sam had killed Gary. A quiet sense of relief washed over her as she began to believe she may get some police help now.
"They found the bodies, just as you said they would Mrs Summers. I am sorry to have doubted you but your story is, to be blunt, incredible."
"I know and I don't expect you to believe it all right now. I've lived through all the events I have described and even I am having trouble in believing how completely he violated me."
"I'm a believer in physic-powers, Mrs Summers, to an extent at any rate. I've controversially used a physic myself on a few cases in the past, with mixed but overall positive results. Perhaps you had a physic premonition and have confused it with reality... "
The Commander was interrupted by a knock on her door.
"Come in"
A detective entered holding a folder, which he promptly spread on the captain's desk
"Sorry to interrupt but central records have completed their check against the description provided by Mrs Summers. Without physical evidence to cross-check they cannot be certain but they are pretty sure they have a match out of New York"
Another mental blow hit Mary as she realised that a simple premonition could not have provided the description.
"Go on John, what have you got for me?"
"Samuel Rose, born and bred in NYC and a juvenile delinquent since he was 9. Petty offences, mainly violent, until he was 17 and then he disappears from the arrest record for 5 years"
"He reformed?"
"Nope, just looks like he stopped getting arrested because he came back with a vengeance. Multiple warrants were issued against him last year after an investigation into a serial-rapist and murder that had plagued Central Park. Each crime left a very traumatised victim, or so the reports indicate because they all said that the man never approached them despite raping them... "
His voice trailed off as everyone made the mental connection.
"... And no physical evidence was present either on any of the victims or at the scene. For months they were passed off as attention-seekers until a Lieutenant Paul Walker began to investigate them in his spare time, intrigued by the similarities of the accounts, and managed to locate an eye-witness to one of the crimes. The witness saw a man concealed in bushes next to the victim, apparently having sexual intercourse with the grass whilst the woman screamed as if she was being raped.
Walker convinced his captain to put out an APB, based on the witness description, to try to find the man and eliminate him. We skip forward a week to when a patrol car reports that it is approaching a car containing a man who fits the description, then radios it is under automatic gunfire from the man and is fleeing for safety. The car details lead the NYPD to send a SWAT team to the address of the registered keeper and that's the last anyone hears of him or them.
Follow-up units find the apartment riddled with shots and witnesses who report that the SWAT unit entered as normal. They also find the men dead inside, killed by what forensics proves are their own weapons, and no trace of Rose. He's still on their 20 most wanted list"
Susan had listened in morbid disbelief as the record was read whilst Mary, her mind always agile, had planned her response carefully.
"Ok. There is a lot about this case that is way off the scale of normality but that does not mean we need to be reactive. John, if Sam Rose is in Lexington it means he's crossed state-lines and that opens it to the Feds. Contact Agent Massy and tell him we want federal protection for Mrs Summers but, and empathise this, she must stay within the city in order to be available for further questioning. Also tell him that this is a LCPD matter until we say otherwise, he's a good man and he'll not press us unless he feels we are out of our depth.
I want an APB out for Sam Rose and I want the media bringing in to help on this one. They'll dig but for the moment we will brand him as a dangerous fugitive that we need to remove from the streets. Get someone to find Lieutenant Walker at the NYPD and have him brief them on any further developments and, if possible, get his local commander to authorise him to come here and liase with our investigation.
Mrs Summers, if you are willing I want you to stay here until the Feds can arrange transport for you to a safe house. We will need you again once Rose is in custody but until then you must remain our of sight"
Commander Williams saw how frightened Susan looked and her heart melted. She wrapped her arms around her and whispered
"Don't worry, you will be safe with the FBI and we will have Rose under lock and key in a matter of days. Lexington is a tough city to hide in when my officers have the scent"
It was almost a different man entirely that watched the Feds take Susan into their car. Sam was sitting in the gutter outside of the police station, hands in his matted hair as he murmured incoherently. He was the very epitome of the down-and-out and, as such, was completely invisible to the rest of the street.
The federal sedan pulled away as Sam looked on, cursing his luck that the weight of his history had made them believe her, before lapsing into another of his trademark grins. It was always more fun when they struggled.
He stood up and walked to his car, surprising a young boy who wondered how this bum could afford to drive a Porsche. Sensing the reason for the look, Sam smiled at him and said
"It's been a good day for begging"
The car accelerated away but not after the FBI, for Sam was too smart not to realise that they would spot a tail a mile off. Instead he headed to his own safe house and blessed the foresight that had saved him in more than one city before now.
Susan arrived in the safe house after a mere 15-minute drive. She sat down as the two Federal Agents assigned to protect her assessed the outside before one, the cute one with the tight ass she'd noted, came back to talk to her.
"Mrs Summers.."
"Susan please. You are more than welcome to use my first name given that you are taking care of me"
She smiled in the hope of creating a tiny bit of humanity in his face but she received nothing but a professionally created smile in return.
"Ok Susan, my name is David O'Shea and my colleague out there is Simon Carter. These are the rules that we have to insist on whilst you are here...
Number one: we are here to help you not make you feel like a prisoner. You have free run of the house but under no circumstances are you to answer the door. You must not use the phone except to receive in-coming calls and all such calls will be vetted and recorded by one of us.
Number two: this house works because it appears normal. When not in use we take out the garbage and check the mailbox, however the cover story is that it is in use by a gay couple and an attractive lady such as you is not part of the scenario. Try to avoid the windows if you can.
Number three: if you ever feel threatened at any time you are to call for one of us. If you find yourself face to face with Sam somehow, presuming he has breached security, you are to activate this in your pocket"
He handed her a tiny panic button.