Chapter One- Nightmares

" And what is your verdict?" the pompous-looking judge asked the members of the jury.

" We find the defendant 'not guilty' of the rape and murder of Amanda Smythe."

Inspector Jean Hampton cursed under her breath. The proof was right under their bloody noses, and the jury was still going to let the monster off.

"However, we do find the defendant 'guilty' of the assault and attempted rape of Inspector Jean Hampton."

Well ,there was no way he would've been able to worm his way out of that one. Three other officers had arrived just in time to pull the bastard off of a trembling Jean. Still, the fact that the man had all but confessed to Amanda Smythe's murder while attempting to violate Jean should have counted for something.

The judge announced that the final sentencing would take place at a hearing later that week. Two armed police officers escorted the prisoner out of the courtroom. As the man passed Jean, his eyes bored into hers, his face taking on an entirely predatory expression: half -loathing and half-lustful. Jean shivered despite the sweltering heat of the crowded courtroom.

Jean Innocent neè Hampton woke up drenched in sweat and with her heart throbbing. The chief superintendent had been in her share of dangerous situations before; she'd been shot five times in the line- of- duty, been forced to administer CPR to a suspect who'd collapsed, and witnessed the arrest of a girlhood friend for murder. Yet of all the frightening cases that she had worked on any capacity, this was the case and the man that always came back to haunt her. Jean sat straight up and took several deep breaths. She felt a stirring beside her.

" What's going on?" a half-asleep John Innocent asked his wife.

" Nothing... er... just a bad dream is all."

" Do you want to talk about it?"

" No. I think I'll just go and work on some paper work for a bit. You go back to sleep. You'll need your rest if you're to meet with the painters later today."

John lightly kissed the side of her nose. " All work and no play makes Jean a dull girl."

" Well, this dull girl certainly does work hard, and she loves every minute of it."

He kissed her again , this time passionately on the lips.

" That's my Jean."

She got out of bed, pulled her dressing gown on over her lacy nightgown, and walked downstairs to look over the towers of paper work that one accumulates when one is chief superintendent of the Oxford police.