Chapter 11: A Killer's Trophy's
Taking down the folder labeled 'Jennifer, 12/09/1999', he opened it to a page at the very end and took out a zip lock bag with some of Jennifer's hair in it, opening the bag he took it out and held it up to his nose.
He grinned wickedly as he remembered how Jennifer begged and pleaded for her life before he finally slit her throat.
Placing the hair down he placed a large yellow envelope down in front of him and carefully wrote: 'Detective Jennifer Mapplethorpe, Homicide Squad' on the front of it, then took out his latest victim's ring finger, still attached to it was her engagement ring, slipping it into the envelope as well as some photos and a letter addressed to Jennifer.
A sadistic grin formed on his face as he sealed the envelopes contents inside for its intended recipient.
"I do hope that you will like your gift, Jennifer." He said to himself, laughing, as he left the room, envelope in hand.
--- ---
They sat in the layout room going over the notes of the latest 'Slasher' victim.
Jennifer sat there looking at the photos of the woman. 'God this is weird,' she thought, she could almost swear that she was looking at herself in the mirror. She didn't hear what the others were saying as her thoughts engulfed her.
"Detective Mapplethorpe?" A young uniformed officer asked. "A letter has arrived for you."
Taking the offered letter, she didn't take a second guess at what the contents might hold as she opened it and upended the contents onto the desk in front of her.
She gasped as a bloody finger rolled out onto the desk along with some photos of her and Matt having sex in her kitchen the night before and a letter that had been addressed to her.
Reading the words on the page, Jennifer's whole body started to shake out of fear, anger and something else.
"Jennifer?" Stanley questioned upon seeing the terrified look on her face.
"We need to speak to you in private, sir." Jennifer said as Duncan rang the forensics team to come up.
Stepping into Stanley's office, Matt shut the door behind him and came and stood protectively beside Jennifer as she handed over the photos and the letter.
Stanley quickly glanced at the photos, being discrete, as to not embarrass his detectives, then read the letter out loud, "I know where you live, Jennifer... and I know that you fucked your partner the night before last... And I hope that you enjoyed it..." "You know that this is evidence, right?" Stanley stated, looking up at the pair.
Jennifer held her head high, trying not to let her embarrassment show, but she could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes, and Matt just adverted his eyes from their boss.
Sensing their slight embarrassment, Stanley then added, "I'll make sure that these are kept confidential," he said, holding up the photos which he had just put into an envelope.
"Thank you for that sir," Jennifer said, not looking Stanley in the eye.
"But I do trust that you will both be professional at work and keep your personal lives at home?" He said looking at the pair, they both looked as guilty and embarrassed as the other.
"Yes Sir." Matt and Jennifer said in unison.
"Good, now I suggest that you get back out there and continue on with what you were doing," Stanley said, dismissing them.
"Jennifer," Stanley said before she walked out. "A minute please, and close the door behind you."
Jennifer looked at Matt as she closed the door behind her.
"Sir?" she questioned.
"Take a seat Jennifer." Stanley said in a soft friendly tone.
Sitting in the seat in front of Stanley's desk, Jennifer looked at Stanley, confusion written on her face.
"I need to know how long this person has been watching you for, Jennifer, you know that I have to report this to IAB in case something more happens, as it's starting to look like someone maybe stalking you, and if IAB gets a whiff of this before it has been reported especially the photos of yourself and Matt in a compromising situation, then you could both possibly be reassigned to different units, and I honestly don't want that to happen, because you both work extremely well together."
As Stanley was saying this to her, she could feel the tears forming in her eyes, 'damn hormones!' she thought as she blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks 'hold yourself together woman! You can't go crying in front of your boss for Christs sake!'.
"Jennifer?" Stanley asked concerned when he saw a few tears fall down her cheeks.
Frantically she wiped the tears away, but more seemed to fall as a sob escaped her throat.
Walking around to where Jennifer was seated, Stanley knelt down in front of her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, switching into father mode. He had never seen Jennifer this emotional before and he had to wonder what he had said to upset her.
"Jennifer, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
The words tumbled from her lips, "We'vebeenseeingeachotherforaboutfourmonthsandnowi'mpregnant."
"Whoa! Slow it down there," Stanley said only picking up a few words of what she had said.
Taking a deep breath, she started again. "Matt and I have been seeing each other for about four months," she hesitated momentary, before getting to her feet to pace the room so she could momentarily distract herself.
Putting a hand to her head as everything started to spin, she felt herself falling before finally encountering the darkness.
Stanley quickly caught her, then carefully laid her on the floor and opened the door, calling out, "SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
Matt bolted from his seat when he heard Stanley yell out for someone to call an ambulance.
"What happened?" He asked frantically entering Stanley's office, shedding his jacket and placing it under Jennifer's head.
"She was crying just before she stood up then she just collapsed, I don't know why." Stanley replied, not knowing exactly what had just transpired.
"Jen, sweetie, wake up," Matt cooed, brushing strands of hair off her face. "Come on Jen," Matt tried again.
Slowly her eyes fluttered open, focusing on Matt's face. "Matt? What happened?" Jennifer asked groggily.
"You passed out sweetie," Matt said, holding her in his arms.
What felt like an eternity later, which was only ten minutes Matt would find out later, two ambulance officers walked into the office, stretcher in tow, and started treating Jennifer.
"Hi, I'm Shawna and this is my partner Angelo." The female ambulance officer introduced herself and her partner as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Jennifer's upper arm then a little gadget, she wasn't exactly sure what it was, on her finger.
Matt helped Jennifer to her feet and onto the stretcher. "I'm Matt and this is my partner Jennifer." Matt said, keeping a hold of Jennifer's hand as they began their journey down to the waiting ambulance.
"Hi Jennifer, how are you feeling today?" Shawna asked, taking Jennifer's obs.
Rolling her eyes, Jennifer replied angrily, "How do you think I feel?" She felt bad for snapping, but she couldn't seem to get off this emotional roller-coaster that she was on.
Shawna looked over to Matt, "Hormones." Matt replied, thinking to himself 'scary... she's crying one minute and the next she want's to bite your head off... note to self, never get Jen angry...'
"Oh," Realization dawned on Shawna's face. "Pregnant?"
Matt nodded, never letting go of Jennifer's hand.
Shawna smiled looking at the pair as they loaded Jennifer into the ambulance a few minutes later, Matt following closely behind.
Matt could hear the words that Shawna was saying as they started their journey to the hospital, but they didn't seem to register in his mind until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You OK there Matt?" Shawna asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little worried." He responded, stroking Jennifer's forehead.
"She's going to fine." Shawna reassured Matt, settling the fluttering in his stomach.
Going back to asking Jennifer all these questions and Jennifer answered them with no's or yes's.
Matt felt the ambulance slow to a stop an then the younger guy, he could remember Shawna saying his name was Angelo or something like that, opening the back.
Matt jumped out as they pulled the stretcher out and wheeled Jennifer in through the ER doors.
A young female doctor came up to them, "Hi, I'm doctor Amee Cutter." She had brunette hair tied back, Matt could remember Jennifer saying something about them being a horses tail or something to that effect, she was tall and Matt guessed that she was about 25.
"This is Jennifer and her partner Matt, one of her colleagues called because she had passed out at work and found out en rout that Jennifer's pregnant." Shawna relayed to the doctor.
"OK, Jennifer do you know how far along you are?" Amee asked Jennifer.
"No, I only found out a few days ago."
"OK, we'll get a fetal ultrasound done to find out how far along you are." Amee replied, closing the curtain around them after the ambulance left.
--- ---
At two months, the foetus doesn't clearly resemble a baby, while you can't feel a foetus move between the eighth and ninth week of pregnancy, movement has begun and the foetus can grasp things in its hands. That sort of detail was usually too small to see at this stage, however, especially using a trans-abdominal sonogram.
The stenographer ran the cold tool over her as of yet still flat stomach and pronounced, "everything looks fine, Jennifer, which is good news. Would you like to see the screen?"
Both Matt and Jennifer nodded 'yes', and the stenographer turned the monitor so that they could see. They looked at the monitor in awe, there on the screen was their child. It wasn't much more than a visible heartbeat in a kidney shaped being, only a little over an inch long from head to bottom, with the head being about half the total length, but for the first time she knew there really was something there, and Jennifer began to feel tears of happiness gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"Amazing isn't it?" the doctor mused.
Jennifer nodded as Matt grasped her hand, brushing a hand over her forehead whispering, "Yes, yes it is."
--- ---
Jennifer lay in her hospital bed, her hand resting on her abdomen where her unborn child resided, she couldn't stop thinking of that severed finger that she got in the mail that morning, it scared her to know that this person knew where she lived, what she did and knew who she was.
Sleep was a long time coming, and even then it was restless as dreams plagued her.
The Shadow Man's entire demeanor shifted from cool to pure rage in the blink of an eye. He grabbed Matt by the wrist in a vice-like grip, wrenching his arm around hard and fast, and she could hear the snap of Matt's wrist breaking even from where she stood.
Matt cried out in pain as his wrist broke under the violent pressure, and his shoulder was brutally dislocated. The Shadow Man snatched the detective's gun from his holster before Matt had a chance to try and stop him, and then he fired once, twice, three and four times into Matt's chest and stomach.
She ripped her gun from its holster, milliseconds too late. Even as Matt was still collapsing to the floor, blood rapidly blossoming out across his white shirt, The Shadow Man swung the weapon around and opened fire on her as well.
She didn't feel anything at the bullets struck her in the chest and stomach. She fired her own gun even as she fell, and was gratified to see at least one hit The Shadow Man in the forearm, he howled in pain and rage, and stumbled over to her, kicking her gun out of her hands and out of reach while he clutched his bloodied arm to his chest.
"You fucking bitch," he spat. "I'm gonna fucking kill you for that."
Jennifer could only look up at The Shadow Man, into the barrel of Matt's gun that was now pointed at her head, helplessly, her own gun now out of reach.
'I'm so sorry baby girl,' she said to herself as she watched him squeeze the trigger.
Tbc...
