The Pact

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.

Note: All characters engaged in sex acts are 18 years or older.

Part 20 - The Crime Scene

Tiffany Clarkston was lying on her bed, wearing jeans and a pink blouse. Sven Radcliffe was lying next to her, holding her in his strong, young arms. Their tongues were twining in a hot French kiss, then she felt him slide his tongue over hers and deep into her mouth. She returned the kiss, their tongues battling as their mouths pressed together as the kissed deepened in passion and intensity.

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

"Sven! Are you in there?" a voice said through the door.

"God

damn

it, Dave!" Tiffany pouted as her brother opened the door.

"Sven!" said Dave, his face pale and looking shocked. "It's your mom..."

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

I crossed the bridge over the State Line River and took the first road to the left about a quarter mile on down the road. Driving along the hard-packed dirt farm road, I came upon the Police vehicles already there.

"Hello, Commander." said Hammondsville Police Chief Pascal Floyd. With him were his Detectives, Josh Segers and Chris Williams, a Deputy Sheriff, and two crime lab techs. "Glad you could come over."

Following me had been other vehicles, one of which carried a State Crime Lab team, and the other was Tanya Perlman's specialized van. Everyone watched in fascination as a Tank was lowered onto the dirt road, carrying my Captain of Detectives.

"I hope you won't mind if my Crime Lab Team assists yours." I said. "And this is Captain Tanya Perlman, my Captain of Detectives."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." said Chief Floyd, showing courtesy though he 'outranked' her. "And yes, Commander, I would welcome the help. Just make two evidence bags of everything."

"We'll make two rape kits, too." said Tanya. With that, J.R. Barnes and a couple of his techs began working with the local techs... more like teaching them as they went along.

"You think she was raped?" asked the Chief.

"Before we get into that," I said, "who found the body, and how?" We were looking at the body of Helga Radcliffe, lying on the left side of the road as we'd come up.

"I found it." said the Deputy. "I routinely come down this farm road past the 'Santa Claus' house... we call it that because we found the body of that guy that looked like Santa Claus there... and I check to make sure no drug dealers are crawling around the place. I saw the body and pulled over to check it out."

I remembered that the evil Keeler had been found dead in that house just up the road, just before Takaki Taichi-sama's great

kamikaze

mission that wiped out the rest of the perps. (

Author's note: 'Seriously Inconvenienced', Ch. 05.

)

"We think she was dumped here, and not too long ago." said Detective Segers. "Her body's still warm."

"How was she killed?" asked Tanya.

"Strangulation, from the looks of her neck." said Segers.

"Yes, sir." said J.R. Barnes, gently feeling Helga's neck. "Totally crushed her windpipe. Either someone powerful, or someone applying a lot of hatred to her neck. Maybe both."

"Commander," said Chief Floyd, "I would love to give you

habeas corpus

, if you can show the merest sign that she was brought over the State Line, and dumped here."

"Tanya" I said, "call TCPD Headquarters. Get the tapes from the Visitor's Center and the Impound Yard. Look for cars belonging to Tom Kane, and maybe Dave Clarkston, and their families. Might as well see if one of the Radcliffe cars is on the tapes, as well."

"Yes sir." Tanya said, fishing out her Police iPhone. When one crossed the State Line into our County, there was a small Visitors Welcome Center on the right, with vending machines, restrooms, and maps, built on a mound to hopefully prevent flooding (and it had worked, so far). Not far past that was the entrance to the TCPD Impound Yard, where I'd gotten that old green car to go after Steven Moschel that time. What people didn't know was that both places had concealed cameras that recorded incoming traffic, and the Impound Yard recorded outbound traffic, as well.

"Semen in her vagina, sir, but no fresh abrasions." said J.R. Barnes. "We'll run the samples immediately."

"When you do," I said, "cross-reference it with the DNA samples from all three home Heritage Cloisters home invasions."

"But sir," said J.R., "we only have the victim sons's and fathers's DNA..."

"That's exactly right." I said. J.R. caught on. I looked at Tanya and said "Once again, I have been culpably slow, Captain Perlman."

"Do. Not. Even. Start. With. Me." replied Tanya, looking fire and brimstone at me.

I nodded, then explained to Chief Floyd about the three home invasion cases we'd been working on. "I'll send you a copy of what they find on that cross-match. We're trying to keep some aspects of the case under wraps. The Press has already been putting out the victims's names, and I don't want them knowing a damn thing, if I can help it."

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

An hour later, I was back at TCPD Headquarters. Tanya came to my office. "We have

habeas corpus.

" she said. "I've sent the video of Tom Kane driving his car over the State Line and then coming back about five minutes later. The Hammondsville Police Chief and Sheriff both said they consider that to be enough. Martha the M.E. has sent a hearse to get Helga Radcliffe's body. They'll process the evidence they collected, and send up copies of their reports."

"Good." I said, my voice faint and introspective.

"I also took the liberty of sending a Patrol out to arrest Tom Kane, on suspicion." Tanya said. "If we get to his car in time, we might get evidence of Helga's body having been in the trunk, and we'll get the GPS data, too. And I sent Theo directly to the Court, bypassing the D.A.'s Office, to get a warrant to support us on that."

"Damn, you're good." I said. "I ought to hire you as my Captain of Detectives."

"I'll take the job, too." Tanya replied, her cheeks rosy with perkiness. "And part of the job is to beat you down when you start blaming yourself for things beyond your control. She might've been dead already by the time you'd figured it out."

"Maybe." I said. "But I should've seen the answers after the Radcliffe break-in." I said. "So let's get Dave Clarkson and Sven Radcliffe in here. And I'll break the news to him and his family, as well."

Part 21 - Fugitives

4:30pm, Wednesday, June 6th. I was sitting in my office, collating all the evidence, putting my own notes into the evidence servers in a cohesive way. And I was realizing my problem.

"Yeah, it's not my business any longer." Cindy Ross said, coming in and sitting down on the sofa. "But if I have to stare at that budget ledger for one more moment without a break, I'm going to scream. So what's going on with this case."

"Glad you're here, Watson. I could use you as a sounding board." I quipped. "Here's the problem.

I am convinced that there are not two fugitives, but three: Tom Kane, Dave Clarkston, and Sven Radcliffe. They made some kind of pact to break into each other's homes, force the one that was the son to have sex with his mother, then they helped themselves to the mothers.

"

"What was your first clue? And I'm not being facetious asking that." Cindy said.

"The clue that was staring me in the face was the handcuffs and chains, and the bedrooms." I said. "In the Clarkston and Radcliffe cases, the

exact length of chains needed were what was brought.

Enough for the mothers to be rolled over if need be, but for the fathers to be tightly secured.

"In the Clarkston home, they had a brass bed with bars, or rails, and a footboard as well as a headboard.." I said. "In the Radcliffe case, there was a headboard and footboard, but they required more chain and more tape. In the In the Kane home invasion, no handcuffs and chains were brought... because the bed had no footboard, and the headboard was solid all the way to the floor."

"Wow." said Cindy as it hit her.

"So I realized that earlier today, though not in time to help Helga Radcliffe." I said.

"Stoppit." Cindy said. "Or I will bring Tanya in here to beat you down solid. She does not want to hear that shit, and neither do I. So... keep going."

"So." I said. "In order to know what restraints to use, the perps had to know what kinds of beds were in the bedrooms. And that's more than casing a joint. That was insider knowledge." Cindy nodded.

"So, it gets easier to see." I said. "We never could find the perps walking around, because

the home boy brought the other two boys into his home, hiding in his car

. That's why the guards didn't see the perps; they saw a familiar face and didn't think there were two guys hiding in the backseats."

"So the boy goes in, the perps right behind him." I continued. "And after a few minutes, the family suddenly finds the perps right there in the house, somehow having overcome any security."

"I think Tom Kane was the perp leader." I said. "He is a mean-spirited young man, and he was enjoying abusing the father while 'forcing' the son to rape the mother. Then he took his turn, then the other boy. And so it always looked like there were two perps, because the son was the third and was playing the victim."

"It also explains the use of condoms and shaving their bodies." I said. "Dave's auburn-ish hair, and Sven's blonde hair would've been recognized for sure, and Tom's black hair might've been more common, but he didn't want to risk leaving a hair behind that would give away DNA. Ditto that for the semen: they wore condoms to prevent leaving a mess, and they forced the son to have sex with the mother and come in her at the end to make sure any traces they might've left were overwhelmed."

"Amazing." said Cindy. "And your wife said that forcing a son to rape his mother wasn't all that common outside of gang activity. But it makes sense with this group of sick bastards."

"And 'bastard' might be literal." I said. "I wondered why Tad Radcliffe was so badly beaten. I'm betting he's not the blood father of Sven. He didn't stand a chance to subdue those young men, and they really let him have it. And to that point, they didn't invade the Kane home until Mr. Kane was out of Town. He's very capable of beating down his son, and has done so in the past; they wanted no part of him at the scene. Unfortunately for Nikki Kane, she

was

there, and the wolves of this little pack really abused her, including Tom, though he played victim."

"So you think Tom killed Helga?" Cindy asked. I nodded. "Why?" she asked.

"I think we'll find out when her rape kit evidence comes in." I said. "If one of the boys was banging her, even consetually, and she recognized him as one of the rapists, he might've killed her."

There was a knock on the door, and Tanya drove in. "Bad news." she said. "We sent a Patrol to Tom Kane's home. His mother said he was washing his car, including thoroughly washing out the trunk, when he got a phone call on his cell. He jumped into the car and left."

"Another patrol went to the Clarkston home." said Tanya. "No one was at home. We called Marcia Clarkston, who tried to call her daughter Tiffany, and called us back saying she was getting no answer."

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "Where's Croyle?"

"In her office." said Cindy. I was running out the door to Teresa's office, hearing the

whirrrrr

of Tanya's wheelchair behind me.

"Croyle!" I said, bursting into her office. "Put out APBs for Tom Kane. Consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Also put out APBs for Sven Radcliffe and Dave and Tiffany Clarkston. Their lives might be in danger."

I came back out of the office and said to Cindy "Get with Myron. Get all their cellphone numbers and trace them. This is an emergency, we'll worry about warrants later. I need cell pings, I need car GPS and 'Theft' light pings. We need to find these people, and fast..."

The TCPD went to work. They were well-trained, they were efficient at their jobs, and they'd learned over the past six years to move with a purpose when lives were at stake. All of my efforts in training and teaching were paying off. I just prayed that we'd find them before more murders took place. I had been culpably slow, I thought to myself. Culpably slow...

"Stop it." said Tanya. I looked up. She'd come into my office, taken one look at me, and was now saying "I can tell what you're thinking. We'll find them. And stop blaming yourself for Mrs. Radcliffe's murder."

"And I thought Cindy was the mind reader..." I said. "Okay, now where can they possibly go and hide..."

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

6:00pm, Wednesday, June 6th. "Why can't we just go home?" asked Tiffany. Dave and Sven had made her leave her cellphone in her room, and they'd all gotten into Sven's old Ford Mustang, which he'd reconditioned... and which pre-dated the 'theft' light detection system. It also had no GPS, and they'd all left their cellphones at home.

"Because Tom may have murdered Sven's mother." Dave said. "And he may be coming after us, too."

They were at the County Public Swimming and Diving Pool, which the County had built as a public park, with baseball and softball facilities outside. Sven had a key, as he had been on the County High Swim & Dive Team, and County High used these facilities when they had meets with other schools. The three young people were at the far end of the diving pool, sitting at the scorers' table.

"This is why you had me stay away from the house on the night of the break-in." Tiffany said, figuring it out. "Tom was one of them, wasn't he?" Neither boy answered. "Were you the other one, Sven?"

"Shut up, Tiffany." Dave said in a quiet voice. "If Tom killed Sven's mom, he'll be looking for us. And if he finds us, we're dead... he has the guns."

"Then let's go to the Police." said Tiffany. "They can protect us."

"And they'll prosecute us." said Sven. "No, we need to get to my dad's lawyer. Get him to negotiate us turning ourselves in, and getting us immunity from prosecution to turn on Tom."

"That's not going to happen!"

They all jumped at the voice. Tom Kane was walking along the side of the diving pool, the pushed-in bleachers on the other side. A revolver was in one hand, a tire iron in the other.

"I thought I'd find you here." snarled Kane. "Why did you bring your little bitch sister?"

"Did you kill my mother?" Sven asked angrily.

"No, of course not." said Tom. "I thought Dave here did it."

"Bullshit, you bastard!" Tiffany screeched. "You're an animal!"

"Shut your fucking mouth, bitch." said Tom. "Your mouth is only good for one thing. Sucking my dick. Which I'm going to make you do after I kill these rapists bastards you're hanging out with."

"Put the gun down, Tom." said Dave. "You kill us, and there'll be no hope left for you when the Police catch you."

"I'll take my chances." said Tom.

"THIS IS THE POLICE! PUT THE GUN DOWN AND PUT YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD!" As Tom whirled around, well-armed TCPD Officers were pouring into the room on the other side of the pool. They were too far to help the other three people, should Tom try to shoot them.

"Stay back, or I'll shoot them all!" Tom yelled, pointing the gun at Tiffany. He began walking towards her when his body was suddenly illuminated by many red laser dots.

"Give it up, Kane!" yelled Lt. Irwin, who was leading the Response Team. "You don't have a chance. Just put the gun down, and nobody gets hurt!"

"Why don't you come take it from me!" yelled Tom. He saw that Tiffany and Bart were about to make a run for the door behind them. "Don't move, bitch, or I'll shoot you in the back! I've got nothing to lose!" Tiffany stopped, and Bart moved to get between his sister and Tom's gun.

"We can't shoot at him." Irwin said to Teresa Croyle, who was behind him, just outside the door. "The other kids might get hit by our gunfire, or a ricochet."

"Look!" Teresa whispered. "And get ready to blow that bastard's ass away." At the end of the pool, on Tom's side of it, the Iron Crowbar had appeared, his trenchcoat over his armor, over his black shirt. I had caught Sven's eye as I came in, and was pointing at the pool then making a diving motion with my hand. Sven nodded; he understood that I wanted them to dive into the pool.

"KANE!" I yelled out. Tom looked over at me, the back of his head now turned to Sven. Sven motioned to Dave and Tiffany at the pool, to dive in. Dave whispered to Tiffany, to make sure she understood. She looked scared.

"Stay away!" Tom yelled, pointing the gun back at the others, occasionally looking over his shoulder, but not seeing that they'd inched toward the pool.

"Put the gun down, Kane." I called out, tapping my crowbar in the palm of my hand as I slowly approached, halfway expected Kane to fire the gun at me. "It's over. You're not getting away from me."

"Harumph." said Kane. "That crowbar doesn't shoot bullets. This gun does. Now I walk out of here with these three, or I'll kill them before your stormtroopers can kill me. What's it going to be, Commander?"

"No, this crowbar does not shoot bullets." I said. "I'm going to use it to give you a spanking like even your daddy never gave you. And then you're going to jail... for murder."

"Come get me, then." said Kane. I began walking down the side of the pool towards him. He looked back at the other three and I acted like I was about to charge him. He swung the gun towards me...

*SPLASH!* *SPLASH!*

Sven had gone for the water and dived in, followed by Dave, pulling Tiffany along. Tom swung the gun back towards them and fired, but the shot was high.

"DROP IT!" yelled Irwin, the red dots lighting up Tom Kane again. Now, he had no hostages.

"Okay." said Kane. He dropped the gun in the water. "Come get me, Iron Crowbar."

I knew what he was going to try. As I came towards him, he rushed me with the tire iron, realizing that proximity to me was his only chance to not get blown away. Teresa realized it too.

"Hold your fire!" she yelled. The Response Team held their fire.

"YAAAAAGGGGH!!" yelled Tom, hurling himself into the attack.

*CLANG!*

Tire iron met crowbar, and the crowbar won. I parried the blow and moved in on Tom. He knew some kind of martial arts and tried to give me a blow that would send me into the pool. Instead, he found himself whirled to the ground, and handcuffs affixed behind him with lightning speed.

"Shit, that was good." he conceded. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Buddy, I beat the Slender Man." I said. "And you ain't shit compared to him." Officers converged, some helping the other young people out of the pool, the rest carrying the perp to Police Headquarters as our prisoner.

"Take them all to Headquarters." I said. "Sven and Dave, you're under arrest, too. Suspicion of many crimes, including home invasion and rape. Captain Croyle, process these suspects, full booking. Call all their parents, except Tiffany's father; he's under a restraining order. When their lawyers arrive, or an hour and a half from now, whichever is later, call me and I'll come to the Station for the interrogations."

"Where are you going to be, sir?" Teresa asked.