28. Family Protection

"Hannibal, I really think you're wasting your time with this," Amy said.

"Oh be quiet and humor an old man, would you?" he humorously remarked.

Amy folded her arms and huffed, "I'm sorry I said anything to you."

"Whatever for?" Hannibal asked innocently.

"What for? I've been here for two days while you've had Face and Murdock staked out at my house, this is getting ridiculous."

"That's what we specialize in," he told her.

"Hannibal!" Amy snapped.

"Amy!" he returned mockingly, "Now you told us that some guy was following you once you leave work in the evening, maybe even found out where you lived, if he didn't already know that. If there's any truth to it we're going to find this guy and make sure he gets the hint to leave and don't come back."

"You really think that I could be in danger?" Amy asked.

"Do rattlesnakes kiss carefully?" Hannibal remarked, "Amy, this could either be because you know us, and somebody else knows it, or this could be for any of the controversial stories you've done for the newspaper. Or there's a third option and it's just a typical nut stalking the first attractive woman he sees who's not attached, either way you could very well be an easy target, especially alone in your house."

"Well what if this guy doesn't show up? How long are they going to be there?" Amy wanted to know, "I have to get back and get a change of clothes eventually, you know."

"Somehow I don't get the feeling that whoever this guy is, that he'll wait for long," Hannibal told her, "You only noticed someone following you a few days ago, for all you know he could've been stalking you longer than that."

"And you don't think he's not going to notice that I haven't been there lately?" Amy asked.

"No, I don't, we've had a decoy going in and out of that house over the last two days, always good never to show her face," Hannibal explained.

"What decoy?" Amy asked, and then her jaw dropped when the possibility hit her, "Not Murdock?"

"Well, he's done in a pinch," Hannibal answered, "I was surprised to hear how well he can fit some of your clothes."

Amy looked mortified, "Hannibal!"

Hannibal shrugged helplessly and said, "We had to do something, and Jean couldn't pass as you, she's too short, also she's not built anywhere close enough to look convincing."

"I don't believe this," Amy groaned as she paced around in a circle before throwing herself on the couch.

There was a knock at the door and Hannibal went to answer it.

"Speak of the devil," he said as he let Jean in.

"B.A.'s still parked on the corner watching everybody coming in and out of the block, so far nothing," she said.

"I told you, this guy's not going to show up," Amy told Hannibal.

"Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Jean said, "I noticed one guy in the middle of the block when I was leaving, he's got his eye on the place pretty hard, I think he's waiting."

"Doesn't mean he's waiting for me," Amy replied.

Jean looked at her and remarked, "Doesn't mean he's not either, look Amy, a guy who follows you home from work every day, finds out where you live, it's not harmless. People think if a guy busts in and steals your TV, that's bad, if he steals your underwear then the cops don't think it's anything to worry about, but when they're after personal effects, then it's worse because then they're after you."

"But nothing of mine has been taken," Amy told her.

"I know, I'm just saying, this guy isn't casing the place to steal something to fence, or he would've done it and been gone by now," Jean said.

"So did you find anything, Jean?" Hannibal asked.

"Well it wasn't easy, but after checking with the newspaper records and the cops, I found out that there are no outstanding cases of breaking and entering in the private residences of single women that would warrant the possibility that this is a serial case. Makes sense to me, my guess is this guy's got a one track mind, but I think it runs so slow he can only acknowledge one woman, period, not just at a time."

"But why would anybody be after me?" Amy asked.

Jean looked at her and laughed, "You're kidding, right? You're what…" she looked Amy up and down, "About 110 pounds? You're young, you're pretty, you live alone, everything about you says easy target to a lot of guys, fortunately it's a far smaller amount that's actually going to try doing anything about it."

"As you can see," Hannibal cynically said, "She's had a lot of time to think about this, it's all she can do since nobody would ever be interested in her enough to try the same thing."

Jean stood straight with her chest puffed out and smiled proudly, "That's right, short, ugly and prone to biting is the new form of repellent around here. Though it works pretty well in New York too."

"It does?" Amy asked.

"Sure, didn't you ever see 'Hill Street Blues'? Remember that cop that was always biting people and eating onions? You'd have to be pretty dumb to mess with him, cop or no cop."

"Jean," Hannibal rolled his eyes, "Why don't you go see if lunch is ready yet?"

"Alright, alright, I can take a hint," she told him, "I know when I'm not wanted."

"Oh wait a minute, Jean," Hannibal told her, "Just out of curiosity, if it was you this guy was after…what would you do to him?"

Jean looked back at them with a bored look on her face and nonchalantly asked him, "Before or after I bash his head in?" And with that she disappeared into the kitchen.

Hannibal pointed back towards her and told Amy, "And you know she can do it…can you?"

"Hannibal, don't start."

"Amy," he pressed on, "This is a dangerous city, full of dangerous people, and you walk around practically wearing a target on your back. I'm not saying you're not capable of protecting yourself but I do think you could use a little help in that department."

"Like what?" Amy asked, skeptically.

"Well for starters, maybe it would help if we taught you some basic combat moves, that would definitely be the last thing anybody looking to attack you would expect," he said.

Jean stuck her head back out the kitchen doorway and said to him, "Hey Hannibal," when he turned to her she added, "We were watching this show on TV last night, and the guy says women can use a lot of stuff in their purse to stab someone in the throat. How about it, Amy? You got anything like that you can use?"

Amy was dumbstruck, "Like what?"

"Oh…anything," Jean said as she came back into the living room, "Pencils, keys, a hairbrush…the guy even used a sucker, jab them with the stick and that's definitely gonna hurt."

"That's assuming you can get to it in time," Amy replied.

Jean nodded, "That's true but you face those same odds when you carry mace or a gun in your purse, or…anywhere for that matter."

The phone rang, Jean answered it while Hannibal talked to Amy.

"I like to think that you've already learned a lot from us, Amy, but if you're going to stay alive unfortunately you're going to have to learn a lot more probably," he told her.

Jean spoke up, "It's Face, they caught the guy."

They both turned to her.

"What?" Amy asked.

"Guy kicked in the door to your house and they grabbed him, they're bringing him over here now."

Hannibal turned to Amy and saw the color drain out of her face.


"I don't want to go through the trouble of bringing this guy up the stairs just to kick him down them again," Hannibal told the others, "So just bring him into the ground floor hall when you get here, alright, bye bye," and hung up the phone in the hallway.

Amy sighed as she pressed her hands over her face, "I can't believe this."

"I can't believe that you can't believe it," Jean told her.

Amy lowered her hands and looked at Hannibal in despair, "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"You were lucky," Hannibal said, "Now it's not to say that it will happen again, but you need to be more alert about it, Amy."

"I know, I know," she groaned in response.

They heard the van pull up outside and a minute later saw Murdock, Face and B.A. come in, escorting a young man in his 20s who looked slightly better than a common street hood. Everybody was sure to notice that B.A. was escorting the man in by an iron grip on the collar of the man's jacket.

"So you're the one causing all this trouble," Hannibal addressed the man, "Well let me make something clear to you, and you may relay this message to anybody else who may be interested. You see this woman here?" Hannibal pointed to Amy, "This, is my daughter. And if anything ever happens to her, you are going to have to answer to me," he moved over to Jean and added, "Her sister", moved over to Face, "Her brother", then over to Murdock, "Her brother", and over to B.A. and concluded, "And her little brother."

B.A. growled through the side of his mouth at Hannibal but kept his eyes focused on the intruder, who looked ready to pass out.

"Now, Jean," Hannibal turned to her, "I think that this gentleman might be convinced of us…but I think maybe you need to give him an example of what you're capable of doing."

"Alright," Jean said, "Get me a steak knife, a barbecue fork and a bottle of ketchup."

The man's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out and hit the floor.

"Gee," Jean commented, "He took it better than I thought he would."

"Get any I.D. on him?" Hannibal asked.

"Yeah, right here," Face produced a driver's license out of his sleeve, "Ran a check on it, no arrest record so we can't determine if he makes a habit out of this stuff."

Hannibal took it and skimmed it over, "Alright…give Mr. Simone a little drink and escort him down to the police station and let the boys at the drunk tank have him. They won't hold him for long but at least we know Amy won't have this little headache around for the next few days."

"What's going to happen then?" Amy asked, wide eyed in confusion.

"Well, he'll either stay away or he'll try it again, we'll run surveillance on your house for a few days after he's released, but after our little meeting I doubt he'll be that stupid."

Amy nodded uncertainly.

"It'll be alright, Amy, you'll see," Hannibal told her.


"I think Amy needs to get a boyfriend," Face yawned as he and Murdock sat down at the table in Hannibal's kitchen, "Get somebody who can stay with her and the rest of us can go back home."

"I know that's right," Murdock said as he took a sandwich out of his jacket, "Jean's been staying with her for the last two days, I talked to her on the phone and she's about to go through the roof. Only break she got was when she managed to sneak away for a couple hours last night when Hannibal stopped by, and made sandwiches some to keep on hand incase she was gone for a few days."

"What is it?" Face was almost sorry he asked.

"Uh…" Murdock peeled back the bread, "I think it's meatloaf," and he did a double take when he saw how thin it was cut, "I guess we're about out." He looked around the table and found a package of saltine crackers and stuffed a few of them into the sandwich to give it a little more substance and tried eating it, it didn't taste better but it had a lot more crunch to it.

Face watched him trying to eat the sandwich in a cross between amusement and disgust and he asked, "I'm guessing the fridge is about empty again."

"I'm not sure but I think we may have a job again soon," Murdock told Face, "Apparently the store where Jean usually gets the groceries has been having trouble, they're not getting their trucks in on time, and the last few times by the time they come, all the meat and the milk and stuff like that's been spoiled, sounds like somebody's sabotaging the reefers."

"The what?" Face asked.

"Come on, Face, you know the CB lingo, refrigerated trucks," Murdock said, "It's not a chain brand company, it's all generic food so only a few stores get the merchandise. Could be trouble between dispatching and delivery, I've gone in with her, the last few weeks the shelves look a lot like Mother Hubbard's cupboard."

Face looked at him even odder now and inquired, "Just how much of the food you guys get is generic?"

"Oh it's nothing like that, it's just as good as the rest, just cheaper and in less colorful packaging," Murdock explained. He couldn't resist getting a kick out of watching the Lieutenant's obvious disgust; a man who likes fine custom made suits and expensive wines and fancy cars, is not going to take kindly to finding out he'd been eating the second cheapest bread sold and reduced meat.

The front door opened up and Jean stepped in, looking like she just made a jailbreak, "That's it, I'm done, I wash my hands of this woman, I can't take it anymore."

"What happened?" Face asked as they got up.

"I can't stand Amy's place, I don't know how she can live there, it's so small and it's so sickening how…how…"

Feminine?" Face asked, taking a stab in the dark.

"It's definitely something," Jean said as she sat down, "I've never seen so many pantyhose hanging around outside of a ladies underwear store." She looked up at Murdock and smirked as she added, "Got all her bras hanging on a line in the bathroom, fraternity boys would have a good time in there. Woman must have 30 pairs of shoes, just about all of them high heels, went through her closet when I got there to make sure nobody was hiding in it, for her own peace of mind of course, never realized how little normal clothing she's got."

"What do you expect, Jean?" Face asked, "She's a journalistic reporter who travels the world to get stories, she's not Dear Abby. A woman in her position has to have a certain upkeep to her."

"She's got about as much upkeep as you," Jean told him.

"So did Hannibal come over and relieve your post?" Murdock asked.

"Nope," Jean shook her head, "B.A. came by, put some new locks on the new door, also reinforced the back door and checked the locks on her windows, says the place is as secure now as…well, as Fort Bragg, so unless she gets a Green Beret interested in her she ought to be alright."

"You sure of that?" Face asked, "I mean we shouldn't be expecting any phone calls in the middle of the night now?"

"It beats me, but if she does then we'll go over," Jean told him, "But somebody else can get my shift. If there's somebody actually there then I want to beat the hell out of him, but until then somebody can go in my place."

"You know, Jean, I'm surprised at you," Face said half mockingly, "I'd think you'd be very sympathetic to Amy's problems after what happened to you."

"Hey, the only reason those Cong soldiers busted into my house was because of you," she reminded him, "And I went back to my house right after it happened, I never had any problem with it."

"Yeah well you're a different type of breed than Amy is," Face replied.

Jean nodded, "That's right, I learned a long time ago that security is only what you make of it, it doesn't matter if you're indoors, outdoors, at home, in public," she looked at them and added, "It's a lesson we've all had to learn the hard way…security's more…in the company you keep, who you can rely on. And if that's the case, what Amy's got on her hands ought to be Fort Knox."