Callie continued to wait at the airport. Her brother was late but she was used to that. She sensed a ripple in the crowd and turned towards what was causing the commotion. A policeman was striding towards her. She could feel people staring at her, wondering what she possibly could have done to deserve a police escort at the airport. Her brother in his police uniform hugged her fiercely, leaning back and lifting her off the ground, causing her to smile. The few people looking in their direction, sensing a scene was not about to happen, turned away.
"Sorry, I'm late" he apologised. "Duty called"
"I should hope so. I mean, that's what you're here for after all"
Jim began pushing her trolley for her towards the exit. As a cold blast of air hit them on their way out, he smiled mischievously at her. "Welcome to England" he said in his best English accent.
Callie ignored him and fumbled in her backpack for her scarf.
It took them a couple of hours to reach Jim's place but the siblings chatted away. They had a lot to catch up on. The house was right smack bang in the middle of London. It was only a little house but it went up two stories. The second floor had been made into an apartment and that was where Jim had been staying. The owners of the house had thought it was sweet that Jim's sister was visiting him from America. Their own children didn't get on at all and the noise from the arguments would waft up to the apartment. Jim lugged the bags upstairs while Callie trailed behind.
"So this is your room" Jim said as he opened the door. "Normally, it's a study but we put in a foldout bed for you".
The room was indeed on the small side but it was clean and cheaper than a hotel.
Jim then led her to his living room. He sat down with Callie taking the sofa opposite him.
"So seriously, what's it like working over here?" Callie asked.
Jim was part of an exchange programme with the NYPD and the London Metropolitan Police. Every year, both police departments put forward ten new police cadets who swapped countries. It was something to do with learning different cultural values and bridging the gap between the two forces. That was the official line. Basically, it meant that Jim got to be a cop in London for a couple of months.
"It's ok. You don't have to worry about guns as much. But sometimes people don't take me seriously because of my accent. I'm dressed like a regular London bobby but I sound like an American" he replied.
"Well if that's the least of your troubles, then I guess you're doing alright" Callie said.
Jim smiled and nodded. "Do you want dinner before we head out?"
"Wait, where are we going?" Callie asked cautiously. She was tired from travelling and the last thing she wanted was to follow her older brother onto some crazy night out.
"Just a few drinks with some friends of mine from work"
"Famous last words" Callie muttered.
Jim smiled sweetly at her.
The pub was crowded. There was a soccer match on and most of the patrons were watching the game. It was certainly boisterous but it was all good natured. Callie followed Jim over to a table which was populated exclusively with guys. She could tell that these guys were police. Although they were off duty, there was a certain something to the way they held themselves and they still had that watchfulness in their eyes. It was nice to know some things never changed no matter where you went in the world. Jim pulled up a chair for himself and his sister. All eyes were on Callie. She wondered how much Jim had said about her. Hopefully nothing.
"So… you're Jim's little sister" one of them said.
Callie nodded. "I see my reputation precedes me".
Jim went off to get her a drink and there was silence. Callie couldn't think of a single thing to say and from the way they were all staring at her, they were waiting for her to say something. All she could think to talk about was an article she'd been reading on her way to England about sewerage pipes (what? It had been a long flight and there was nothing else to read). Unable to stand the silence anymore, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Sorry we're late. Long story"
Callie turned her head to look at the speaker. It was the American accent that had caught her by surprise.
The speaker was a tall guy with floppy brown hair. He pulled up a chair opposite Callie and sat down.
"Callie, right?" He got half out of his seat and leaned across the table to Callie, holding out his hand. "Hey, I'm Sam"
She took it, amused at his sense of formality.
"Who took all the chairs?" a voice called out from across the room.
From where Callie was sitting, she could see him as he walked towards the table. He was honestly the hottest guy she'd ever seen in her life. He caught her staring and returned the look with a smirk.
"That's Dean, my brother" Sam explained, as Dean went over to an already occupied table to try and sweet talk a chair from them.
"So are you guys on the exchange programme too?" Callie asked.
"No, we're just over here and we met these guys one night and got on really well" Sam replied.
"You're on vacation then?" Callie asked.
Sam opened his mouth to reply but Dean cut in before he could. "Something like that" he said with an easy smile.
Callie could not get over how hot this guy was. Jim sharply put her drink down in front of her. She looked up at him, startled. He raised his eyebrows in a 'not you too?' expression. She rolled her eyes at him.
Although she hadn't wanted to come out that night, she was glad she had. Once the group of guys were used to the newcomer, the conversation got going and Callie had never laughed so much in her life. Just as Callie was about to get another drink, Jim placed a hand on her arm, stopping her.
"We should probably get going" Jim said.
Callie looked at her watch, surprised. The jet lag must have messed her around more than she'd thought, she wasn't tired at all. Her watch read 21:30. "Is my watch right?" she asked, holding it out to the group.
People were too busy gathering up coats and finishing their drinks to answer her query. Callie frowned in thought. 9.30 was way too early to be heading home. Maybe London policing had hit Jim harder than she'd realised.
"We can walk you to your car," Sam said.
Jim nodded. "Thanks". He seemed genuinely grateful of the offer.
"What's going on?" Callie asked, moving around the group to get to Jim. "We parked a block away"
"I'll tell you when we get home" Jim told her quietly. He looked at Callie's stricken face. "It's ok, nothing to worry about her" he reassured her.
As the rest of the group settled up their tab at the bar, Callie made her way over to Sam. Maybe it was the fact that he was also American, but they'd gotten on really well that night. She was hoping he'd be the one to give her a straight answer.
"What's with the mass trek to the car?" she asked.
He looked slightly awkward. "Just part of your friendly neighbourhood service"
"You don't look very comfortable when you lie" she said.
He surprised her by breaking into a wide smile. "I never really get used to it"
"Come on, Sammy, plenty of time for girl talk later" Dean said, moving past them and bumping Sam with his shoulder. Dean kept one hand in his pocket as he moved out into the crisp night air.
"Sam!" Sam corrected under his breath in a frustrated tone.
Callie grinned and followed them outside. It looked funny as Dean led the way with her and Jim in the middle with Sam bringing up the rear. All to walk one block to get their car.
"Is there like a wild cat or something on the loose?" Callie asked playfully.
Jim shook his head. "Nothing so exciting as that"
"Everyone in London has to be home by 9.30 and we broke curfew?" she continued her guessing.
Jim shot her a look. Callie shrugged.
They reached the car uneventfully and got in.
"Maybe we'll see you around?" Callie asked.
"Oh you'll definitely see us around" Dean flirted.
Callie bit back a smile at Dean's overkill at the flirting and waved goodbye to Sam.
As soon as they were safely inside the house, Callie rounded on Jim. "Now you have to tell me what that was all about" she said.
He sighed. "Ok, fine. You know anything about Jack the Ripper?"
"Jack the Ripper as in the Victorian serial killer in London?" Callie asked.
Jim nodded. "Well, for the last few months, girls have been turning up, killed with a similar MO- strangulation resulting in a loss of consciousness. Then the throat is cut and the body mutilated"
Callie frowned slightly. "How come I haven't heard anything about it… this sounds like big stuff"
"It's taken a while to put it all together. A random killing here and there, it's only lately that the guy has been stepping up the murders and we've managed to connect them. And this guy's good. There is absolutely no trace evidence left at the crime scene. The only way we could ever possibly catch him is if we caught him in the act."
"So things aren't exactly looking good for you" Callie said.
"No, our prospects are actually looking up. He's starting to get sloppy, the last few weeks, cops have heard screaming and only got there a minute too late, or it was a spot that they'd just patrolled"
Callie repressed a shiver. "That's really creepy. Are they sure he's not getting over confident instead?"
"That's one of the theories. But you wanna hear the weirdest part?" Jim leaned in and lowered his voice. Callie felt herself unconsciously lean in as well. "The last two girls killed both had their boyfriends with them. And both boyfriends don't remember a single thing yet they were covered in blood spatter"
"Are the guys in custody?" Callie asked.
"The forensics picked up that the blood spatter correlated as if the guys were standing right next to the victim when they were killed. It's virtually impossible to kill someone in that way from a side angle"
"So it's like they just stood there and watched…" Callie trailed off.
"Nothing connects either man to the string of murders or to each other. Both have alibis for the other murders and they maintain their innocence. Based on their statements and the forensic evidence, we had to let them go"
"And that explains the uneasiness, this guy isn't afraid of attacking accompanied women" Callie pointed out.
Jim nodded. "We've managed to keep a lot of this stuff in-house, can you imagine if the papers got a hold of the fact that there was a Jack the Ripper copycat lurking out there"
"And of course, all this young girl slaughtering would coincide with my first ever trip to London"
"You may be a New Yorker but you've definitely got the luck of the Irish"
