Roses for my Man
I'm the sanest person around; others just don't want to admit that they are abnormal! – me
--
Chapter 4
--
"What happened?" Tom asked as he rushed into the office later that evening. He was out of breath and was partially dressed; he still wore his pajama pants. Doug snorted at him but Fuller put the humor down before it could start with a glare.
Jimmy Thornton was murdered this afternoon," Fuller said.
"Jimmy? As in MY Jimmy? The kid I was hanging out with?" Tom asked.
"Yes, that Jimmy; his Mother came to see me, she asked if there was anything we could do for her son – I told her that I would get to the bottom of this," Fuller said.
"Shit," Tom muttered.
"Was there something you wanted to say?" Judy asked.
"No…I just wish I had him wait for me or something…I could have walked him home…" Tom sighed.
"Look," Fuller put in, he patted Tom on the shoulder briefly.
"No one knew he would go home on his own, it wasn't your fault," he said.
"I know," Tom nodded.
"Okay, this means that we now have murderers on the lose, you two need to get them as fast as possible," he informed both Tom and Doug.
"Okay," they nodded.
"Judy, I want you to look into any faculty or student that may already have a record, we can at least try and exempt people," Fuller ordered.
"Sure thing, boss," Judy replied.
"Okay then, let's go to it,"
--
Tom wasn't feeling good at all; he was sure that he wasn't sick but when he got back to the apartment to find the door slightly open. He stood there for a few moments, not exactly sure if he wanted to go into the apartment or not. He was sure he had closed and locked the door before he left. But…it was open…and that was when he noticed the card. He stooped and gently picked it up. Attached to it was a gold chain with two hearts intertwined, to Tom, it looked like the handcuffs he carried with him as part of the job.
To my love,
It is almost time. I shall see you soon.
There was no name; Tom didn't know what was worse, or what would have been worse; to still be unknowledgeable as to who was stalking him, or actually have a name to go with the voice. Tom entered the apartment to find roses laying everywhere. Black ribbons were tied with messages like "I love you", "You're my light", "Don't run". He shook his head as he put the gift into a bag of which he then sealed it and dated it. He would bring it into the office the next day and hopefully get something off of it.
Next he gathered up the roses; there were one hundred and fifty in all, and that was just in the living room. That wasn't counting the forty-five and an additional one-hundred-and-fifty in his bedroom. He bagged them each into separate bags and noted which room they came from.
Sitting down on the couch, Tom hung his head in his hands. He had to keep himself together. He had to show this ass hole that he wasn't going to run. He wasn't going to let this man run his life. No matter what.
Tom got his guns; he cleaned them well into the night.
--
When Tom finally got to school, yawning and rubbing his eyes, he was surprised as he was unceremoniously accosted. He was pulled into an unused closet, the door locked behind him and little light from the light bulb that hung from the ceiling.
"What the hell do you want?" was spat before Tom recognized Ace and Duce.
"Man, did you hear 'bout Jimmy?" Ace asked.
"Yeah, it was on the news last night," Tom replied.
"We have to do something," Duce said.
"Do? Do what?" Tom asked.
"We have to take more precautions or something, our parents are wanting to pull us out and start home schooling," Ace said.
"That might be safest," Tom shrugged.
"Sure, but who's gonna look after you?" Duce asked.
I'm an undercover police officer….why do I need to be protected? Tom just blinked. At them.
"Look, I'll be fine, they don't know for sure that I'm gay," Tom replied.
"But that's not what we hear," Ace said.
"What did you hear?" Tom asked.
"We heard that you're next," Duce informed him. Tom blinked at them again. This just wasn't happening.
"Who told you that and why?"
"That's right, you don't know. One of the guys on the football team is gay; we think he might be the one targeting the students or taking part some how to escape the wrath of the other team members," Ace said.
"Okay….and who might that be?" Tom asked.
"Doug Hall…" Duce replied.
--
Tom waited behind the bleachers as the football team broke for home. He tried to catch Doug as he went to take a shower, but Brent Johnson took up most of the other officer's attention. So, Tom had to wait till everyone but Doug was out of the shower room. Tom knew for a fact that if Doug could get away with it he would take long showers and groom.
Tom found him putting stuff in his hair.
"Is it safe to be here?" Doug asked.
"I don't know, you tell me," Tom glared.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" Doug turned.
"Someone said that you're pickin' the kids to get targeted next," Tom said.
"Who told you that?"
"Ace and Duce Greggings," Tom replied.
"Those two wanna-be rockers?"
"They aren't rockers, only one is, now – what do you know? I'm sure you're not the dude targeting these kids for a beating," Tom pointed out.
"No, I'm not and I don't know who is. They're all so closed lipped," Doug sighed.
"Okay, then we're missing something….something big…." Tom sighed.
"Are you all right? You look like you haven't been sleeping," Doug said.
"I'm fine,"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, more than sure, positive!"
"Okay, okay, don't get you undies in a twist,"
"Pervert," Tom spouted.
"Yeah, so?"
"Okay, okay – er – is there anything we can work with?"
"I'll see what I can do with Brent – he's having a pool party on Saturday," Doug said.
"Okay, that aught to help, loads of kids have a way of talking at parties," Tom sighed.
"Yeah, especially when there's alcohol involved," Doug said. He shrugged on his shirt and boots.
"Yeah,"
"Come on, let's get to the chapel and report in so we can go home," Doug said.
--
"Hey, Ioki, have you found anything yet?" Tom asked. He had just gotten through with Fuller and Doug and had decided to stay at work to get some paper work done. Ioki had graciously taken on the job of finding out who could be Tom's "Stalker".
"Nothing much, the roses could be from anywhere – but, Judy said she saw the necklace at a sleazy pawn shop this weekend. She was sure it came from that place,"
"What is this place?" Tom asked.
"The Pirates Cove Pawn Shop – whoever came up with that name should be shot," Ioki muttered.
"Yeah, pirates are rather unimaginative when it comes to names, my Dad new this guy with one leg, one arm and one eye," Tom replied.
"What'd you call him?" Ioki asked.
"…" Tom took a moment to think, "Larry," he replied before he thanked Ioki and took down the address to the Pawn Shop.
--
Tom parked the mustang in front of the pawn shop. It was in a rather seedy part of town but Tom didn't see anything that was a threat to his person, yet. It was still light outside and so he wasn't too worried about someone hiding in the darkness.
The bell rang as he walked in; he spotted the cashier and walked up to the young man; flashing his badge Tom opened up communication. "Have you sold a necklace like this recently?" Tom handed the bag to the young man.
"I know this, yeah, it was bought yesterday afternoon," he said.
"Was it the only one you had?" Tom asked.
"Yeah,"
"Who bought it?" Tom asked.
"Some dude, he was kinda young though, twenty-five-ish,"
"What did he look like?" Tom asked.
"Tall, blond hair and…I can't remember his eyes but he had a nice smile and he went on and on about his lover and how he'd love the chain and…it was sickening," the man made a face.
"How so?"
"I don't know, it was like…he was stalking this guy or something, it was…weird,"
"Did he give you his name?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, I have to record it for all jewelry purposes….ah, his name is…" the young man brought out a thick black book, turning to the last page he ran his finger down the list till he found the piece that Tom had shown him.
"There it is, Wynter Forrester,"
--
Tom looked about the street as he got out of the mustang. He saw more than just a couple of black and whites on the drive through the last five blocks. There were some on the street too. They seemed to be hitting the pimps and floozies that worked the street at night. Tom had to admit, he did live in a part of time with more crime was committed. But, it never really bothered him.
When he got up to his apartment, he found things exactly as he had left them. Nothing was waiting for him inside, but he did have a couple of messages. He hit the play button on the machine.
"Hey Tom, its Judy. Sorry to miss you at work, I hope Ioki gave you my message, by," Tom smiled; Judy was always pleasant to talk too. The second message made him freeze as he went to the kitchen.
"Tommy! What is up with all the police on your street and the other blocks? Did you tell someone about us? I had wanted to see you this evening….now I can't. I hope to see you soon, honey…"
The voice, it was the stalker, it was Wynter Forrester. Tom's knees buckled on him and he fell to the floor hard. He got dizzy all of a sudden and felt like up chucking. Was he so afraid of this man as to become sick? Was it really fear he was feeling or was it something else? Tom didn't feel fear, well, not the usual sort; the sort that happens when you're in the middle of a shoot-out or a dangerous drug bust.
It just didn't make sense. But, at least he knew that Forrester wouldn't be spying on him that night. The third message played.
"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy….I miss you….I miss everything about you! I wish I could have stayed this evening. But one of your police buddies stopped me and made me move. Now I can't wait outside your place or give you your gift…it's a nice gift….are you there? Pick up the phone darling…….!"
In a moment, Tom was to his feet. His head felt light and as his body walked towards the machine – it felt as if he was outside his body just watching himself. From this third person perspective, Tom felt himself pick the machine up, yank the cords and throw it at the wall where it smashed into a million little pieces.
--
a/n – I just wanted to get something up. I gave you all A clue…but is it THE clue? Well, you'll just have to put this on you're updates list to find out! lol
