Officer Shaw spotted a beautiful read head dressed in black skinny jeans and a low cut black lacey shirt from across the office. She looked familiar to him. He was trying to figure out where he'd seen her face when he noticed the bruise on her face. Domestic abuse cases were the absolute worse to deal with for him. He always wanted to beat the abusers ass rather than take a report and wait for an arrest which hardly ever happened. He felt bad for the woman and he knew he shouldn't personalize the case, but he couldn't help remembering his rather unpleasant childhood watching random guys come in and out of his mother's life and each one seemed worse than the last. She was an addict. She'd recently got help and cleaned up her act. She even tried to get in contact with him and start a new relationship. He decided he was an adult and now it was time to forgive her for being young and stupid back then. The beautiful red head approached his desk as he attempted to clear off some of the millions of file folders that had accumulated during his leave. He still wasn't sure if he earned the other officers respect back. He did help take down a rather nasty ring of dirty cops who were helping a drug lord move drugs for money. The nervous red head knocked on the divider wall like it was an office door.
Detective Shaw: "Come on in and have a seat. I'm Detective John Shaw."
Scared Red Head: "It's nice to meet you, Detective Shaw. My name is Jolene."
Detective Shaw: "It's nice to meet you. What happened to your face?"
Jolene looked at her hands like a nervous school girl. She was shaking and scared to death to tell him anything other than her name and even that was only the first name. No last name. She kept looking around like the guy was going to pop out of nowhere and hurt her again. Detective Shaw put a reassuring hand on her knee and she seemed to calm a little.
Detective Shaw: "You're safe here, Jolene. Nobody is going to hurt you. I promise. You can tell me everything and I will make sure he is taken care of."
Suddenly, an unwelcomed memory came rushing back to Detective Shaw's mind.
He is 13 years old and sitting in his mother's kitchen back in Cincinnati. He can hear a commotion going on in the other room, but he tries not to get involved. He hears the inevitable crack of someone's hand slapping the other one across the face and a huge thud against the floor.
"Stop, Stop it right now. I will call the police and have you arrested."
Male Voice: "You aren't going to do to do shit. You're a worthless fucking bag whore cunt. Nobody is going to ever believe you."
"I have your physical marks on my body. There is no denying the physical marks of your hands on my body."
Male Voice: "I'll give you my hands on your body."
John can hear his mother screaming and begging for mercy under this raging drunk and high dealer. He goes across the kitchen to the butcher block and removed the largest sharpest knife from the block and he stares at it for a good 5 minutes with a feeling of security. The screams and pleas of his bleeding mother gave him all the more motivation to want to drive that knife as far as it could possibly go into that raging dealer's body until he could fight and breathe no more. He slowly walked out of the kitchen knife in hand and stood in the dining room where the fight was taking place. The knife concealed behind his back perfectly.
John: "Hey asshole. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Dealer: "Do you want to die, kid? I suggest you get the fuck out of here before I kill you and this cunt."
John: "That's my mother and you're not going to do a mother fucking thing. You're nothing but a fucking pussy that beats up on women and kids. You wouldn't know how to take on a fair fight if it sat in your lap and asked you to be its dad."
Dealer: "You shut your fucken mouth."
John: "You're not my father, pussy. You can't tell me what to do."
The man turns his raging fury on John and he plunges the knife into the man's chest as his mother screams in horror. The blank look on her face was relief and sheer terror of what was going to happen next.
"What the fuck did you just do, John? Call 9-1-1 now and get some towels. We have to get rid of this mess."
John: "Fuck that asshole. He doesn't deserve for me to call 9-1-1 for him."
He goes into the kitchen and comes back with a bucket and some rags to clean up the blood.
Back in the present,
That was the moment John decided he was going to be a cop and put away scumbags like that guy. He didn't remember if the guy died or not, but he sure hurt him and he never came back to the house ever again. He saw that same look of terror on Jolene's face as she contemplated how much information she was really safe to give to the police. Let alone to another man. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she was nervous because it was a male officer taking the report. Then again, she wouldn't have come to his cubicle if she was uncomfortable with a male officer taking her report. There was a reason she chose him and his cubicle in particular. She wanted someone to get the job done right.
She looked up from her hands when she realized that John wasn't going to hurt her and took a deep breath.
Jolene: "I was beaten by my husband and he raped me. I want to press charges against him. This isn't the first time and I want it to be the absolute last."
The look in her eyes said she was totally serious about prosecuting his ass and she looked relieved that she finally told someone else about being raped and abused.
Jolene: "I want that evil son of a bitch to suffer for all the pain he caused me. He deserves to rot in hell."
Detective Shaw: "Its ok, Jolene. He will suffer greatly for what he's done to you and your beautiful face. I will take him down."
Jolene smiled a beautiful genuine smile from ear to ear. She knew she came to the right cubicle. She'd heard about what he had done in the Lockdown with the dirty cops and how he came out the hero in the end of it all. He just felt genuine to her.
Jolene: "I asked for you specifically because I knew you wouldn't blow me off as some stupid wife who stays with her asshole husband and just takes his shit. You have a reputation as a good cop and you always get the job done. I know you'll do the right thing."
Detective Shaw: "I won't let you down. Now, what's your husband's name?"
Jolene: "Dean Moxley and he's living at 1532 Robertson Lane in Chicago."
Detective Shaw: "And your full name?"
Jolene: "Jolene Peterson. I live at the same address and he works at this police station in your department."
Detective Shaw: "You don't use Dean's last name anymore."
Jolene: "I never did. He doesn't act like my husband so I treat him like a random boyfriend and he doesn't appreciate me at all. I believe he hates me and wants me to suffer. That's why I want him to fry for what he did."
Detective Shaw: "So Dean is an officer in this department."
Jolene: "Yes. He works in Narcotics like you."
He racked his brain for that name Detective Dean Moxley in the narcotics division. He wasn't getting any mental picture, but that explained why he recognized Jolene. She had been at some of the police gatherings with her husband. He finally broke down and typed his name into the computer data base where they kept the employee's information and his face came up. John felt his jaw figuratively fall open with the biggest look of mental surprise ever. He tried not to let Jolene see his face, but he knew it was obvious.
Detective Shaw: "Oh shit."
It finally registered why Detective Moxley was a familiar name other than just a fellow detective at the same department. He worked undercover with Dean on the bust involving the dirty cops. He remembered that case distinctively because it happened on his first day back from his leave. He had been on leave due to an officer related death and most of the department blamed him for the death of his partner. He couldn't believe he was staring into those green eyes again.
Jolene: "Did you find him?"
He tried to shake off the shock and concentrate on the task at hand. He couldn't let Jolene see his surprise and he couldn't lead on what was going through his mind.
Detective Shaw: "Yeah. I found him. I know the man that you're talking about. We've worked together on a couple of cases."
