HHHHEEEELLLLLOOOO!!

I promise that I haven't forgotten about this! The last couple weeks, I have either been on vacation or just plain lazy, so this past Sunday, I turned off my TV and temporarily hid my internet adaptor from myself and went to work. After going through and deleting chunks of what I had written, I finally finished this round of editing and I think it looks a lot better than I thought it would. I will say this though, deleting almost 20 pages in the last two months was almost painful since I had put so much time into writing it down in the first place. Anyway, here are a couple more chapters. Let me know what you think! :o)


Chapter 6

Devyn went back to her desk to gather her belongings and head home. Terry and Brian Miller watched her walk out to her car and drive away as they sat in the lobby talking.

“So, is that the new recruit?” Brian asked his friend.

“They say that she's the pick of the litter, but I still think she’s different,” Terry said taking a sip of his Coke, wishing it were a beer.

“What makes her any different than the rest?”

“I don’t know, she just seems a little smarter, stronger even, than the others we‘ve dealt with. Its like she sees something that other people don’t,” Terry tried to explain.

“If you’re getting emotional, Terry, I swear I will cut you off and finish what we started by myself!” Brian threatened.

“I just said that there was something different about her that we didn’t see in the others.” Terry shook his head and said, “I can’t believe that you would say something like that. We’re talking about two point five million dollars, Brian. Do you really think I would give that up?”

“I hope not, but sometimes, I have to reassure myself that you wouldn’t bail out on me. Don’t forget that we have to meet our man in front of the museum at seven tonight and don’t be late,” Brian told him.

“I wish you would quit saying that. I’ve only been late once.”

“Oh yeah, and for the time being, clean up your act until we find another woman for him, okay?”

“A’right. I need get out of here, but I will see you later,” Terry said as he got up and left the building.

As Brian watched him leave, he said, “We are in trouble. I can just feel it,” before going back to work for a while longer. At seven forty five, he called it quits and went home himself.

Chapter 7

Pierce walked into Trey Hemmington’s office and sat down. “Nelson, what’s the occasion?”


“Nothing, I just wanted to see how everything was going down here. This morning, Marks came to my office and complained to me about Williams. Did everything go okay today or do I have to sign those termination papers for Terry? You already know I wouldn’t have a problem doing that.”

“I didn’t hear anything, so I take it that everything went okay. The medical examiner sent a few things to the lab this morning and had only good things to say about Detective Williams,” Trey told his boss.

“Did Terry and Devyn find anything new this morning when they went to see the body?”

“John said that Devyn is the only one who came to see the body and yes, they did find something. I was just about to the lab and see what it was. Why don’t you come with me, you know, for old time’s sakes?”

Nelson shrugged his shoulders and said, “Why not? I haven’t been down there in a while.” The two men went downstairs to the lab to see what Devyn and the medical examiner had found. Bent over the table, a young Hispanic woman was looking at something that she had received only hours before.

“Hey, Renee, what's new?” Trey asked, getting the woman’s attention.

Removing her safety glasses, Renee looked up to see who her new visitors were. Trey was a regular guest in the lab, but Nelson Pierce, well, he was another story. The only time anyone saw him down there was if someone was in trouble. Other than that, if anyone wanted to see him, they had to go to him. “Pierce, sir, what a surprise to see you. Down here you have turned into somewhat of a myth.”

“Well, I guess it has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yes sir, it has.”

“Renee, John said he and the new detective sent over a few things here. Can we see them?” Trey asked her.

“Yeah and put these on,” she replied handing them a box of latex gloves and grabbed the bag that contained the staples and note that was found. “The staples were a lot closer together this time, which means that he is either nearing the end of his spree or just taunting us,” she explained to them.

“What about the note?” Nelson asked her.

“Well, that’s what confused me because it’s like he knew who was going to look at the body and knew, or maybe knows, them personally.”

“Its funny that you say that because when the new detective told me about the note, I asked her if it meant anything. Like you said, Renee, it’s like he’s talking to someone on the force. Maybe they know something that we don’t, something that might have overlooked before. Maybe it’s something about his past that--”

“That maybe she would know about, but has probably forgotten?” Nelson suggested.

“It doesn’t even have to be her, but yes, that’s what I was thinking,” Trey said.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. You’re saying that someone in the department might have knowledge about this case and may have forgotten what it is?” she asked.

They shook their heads yes.

“Come on, you guys, that sounds crazy to me.”

“What did she say when you asked her if the note meant anything to her?” Nelson asked Trey.

“She didn’t know, but it seem like Carson is talking to her considering he never left anything like this until now. That’s what puzzles me,” Trey answered.

“But if today is her first day, how would he have known who she was?” Renee asked the two men.

“How’d you know that today was her first day?” Nelson asked her.

“Because she is the only thing that people have been talking about today,” another voice in the room said. Standing behind Trey and Nelson was a tall, light skinned black man.

“Detective Jackson, we haven’t seen much of you lately. How’s it going?” Trey asked him.

“Good. I guess I’ve been keeping myself busy during the last couple weeks. Hey Renee,” Jackson said. Miles Jackson was a Chicago native and had joined the force the day after he graduated from the Academy seven years ago. Starting as a traffic cop, he worked his way up the chain, hoping that all of the work he was doing was somehow making a difference in the city that he knew and loved.

“Hey Miles,” Renee replied.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just come back in the morning,” Miles said, turning to leave.

“No, please stay and chat with us. We need another opinion. You’ve worked on the Carson case, haven’t you?” Trey asked.

“Yes sir, I have,” Miles answered, leaning in the doorway.

“Well, the tenth body was found last night and when M.E. took the staples off of the woman’s lips this morning, he and the new detective found this stuck in her throat,” Renee said, handing him a pair of gloves before giving him the note.

“What’s weird about that is that it’s like he’s talking to someone,” Trey continued.

“Someone like Devyn Williams?” he guessed.

“That’s what they think,” Renee said.

“Does she know about this?” Miles asked reading the note again.

“Of course she does. She is the one who pulled it out of Ms. Wheats’ throat,” Trey said.

“Who?”

“The woman Carson murdered last night.”

“Oh okay. What I meant was does she know that you think that she might know something about this? I mean, there’s a good chance that Carson might know her from somewhere and she doesn’t remember or know that he was even there,” Miles suggested.

“Or maybe he went by a different name,” Renee added.

“That could be a possibility and no, she doesn't,” Nelson said. “Jackson, thanks for your input on this. Everyone, it has been great, but I think its time for me to head home before the missus sends out a search party.” Nelson got up and left the others wondering if it was time for them to start heading home as well. The clock on the wall said it was almost eight thirty.

“I better head home too, before Marie starts trying to hunt me down,” Trey said before leaving.

“Have a good night.”

“That was anything but ordinary. Wouldn’t you agree?” Renee asked, leaning back in her chair.

“Oh yeah. What's even crazier is that they paired this Detective Williams up with Terry, knowing that he hates working with women.”

“That’s what I was thought when I heard that this morning. I guess it’s better than her working with Brian.”

Miles rolled his eyes when she mentioned Brian’s name because he and Brian worked on a case together and after two days they started arguing, which ended up as a fist fight. Brian walked away with a broken nose, a few bruise knuckles on one hand and two sprained fingers on the other. Miles, on the other hand, had a bruise on his arm and a few bruised knuckles. Pierce lectured him about fighting, but suspended Brian for two and half weeks without pay. This was before he met and became friends with Terry, who didn’t seem to care that Miles had fought and gotten his friend suspended.

With a hand on his arm, Renee asked if he was okay.

“Yeah. Just a flashback, I guess. Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said getting up from his chair and walking out of the room to the elevator. Ten minutes later, he was on his way home to the west side of town.

Chapter 8

Instead of going home as she had planned after work, Devyn went to her dad’s house, which she had kept up after he was murdered over six years ago. She sat on the porch steps for awhile before going inside, where nothing had changed because she didn’t want things to change.

Everything was left the way it had been the night he was murdered. This included the bloodstain by the television set in the living room. She could still see him lying there in a pool of his own blood with the TV still on. She could even remember that he was watching the reruns of the Dead Zone, which had been one of his favorite shows. She sat down on the leather couch where they had often spent hours together talking about everything whenever she was home from the Academy. This is where he was sitting with her godfather, Clayton Ford, when she left that night to go to the movies with her friends. She sat there for about thirty more minutes before leaving.

On her way home, she drove past the house where her godfather used to live and a smile found its way onto her lips, since she had spent a great deal of her childhood at that house. When she wasn’t at home with her parents, she was at Clayton’s house. When she reached her apartment complex, Devyn parked her car in the garage and went inside. Stopping only to grab her mail, she took the stairs to her third floor apartment and threw her bag and purse in the recliner and the mail on the coffee table, while kicking off her shoes. She was starving, but the fridge and cabinets were empty, which meant that she was going to have to eat out for dinner.

After changing her clothes, she grabbed her keys and headed to the nearest Quiznos. After eating, she went to the supermarket to get some groceries, something she didn’t mind doing. When she got home and put away the groceries, she turned on the TV to see the newest episode of The Real World on MTV. Around eleven thirty, she went to bed knowing that tomorrow was going to be a long day.

That night, she had the strangest dream ever. She dreamed that she fell into a hole and never hit the bottom. She just kept falling and no matter what she did, she could not wake up. Devyn finally woke up when the alarm went off at five thirty and her clothes and bed were soaked with sweat. Shaking it off, she turned off the alarm clock and got up to take a shower.


On the other side of town, William Carson was shaking off the exact same dream. He tried to go back to sleep, but found that to be near impossible, so he got up and took a shower. On his nightstand, there was a picture of the child that he never had. Everyday since that night, he wanted so badly to see her, but if she ever knew the truth, she would never forgive him. He didn’t think she would ever come back until three days before Thelma’s death. Nor did he think that she would be working on his case. When Terry told him who they had paired him up with, William didn’t know what to say.

Sighing loudly, he went to the kitchen and made himself some cheesy scrambled eggs and pancakes with bacon. Last night, before he met the two men, he thought he had seen a familiar face drive by, but something in the back of his mind told him that it was too good to be true, so he quickly dismissed the idea. His thoughts turned to his latest challenge, which was his next victim. Brian had insisted that he change his method of killing his victims, but William refused.

“It’s my way or no way,” he had told the men last night.

“But they're starting to catch up with you,” Brian had said.

“And? Look, I hired you to find me a new person each month and nothing more, nothing less. So unless you don’t want the money that I give you every month, I would shut up if I were you. Are we clear, boys?” William saw the look that the two men, who were thirty years his junior, exchanged.

“Very clear,” Brian replied and Terry, the follower, nodded in agreement.

William cleaned up after himself and got ready for the day ahead of him.