Officer Vega rubbed his eyes as he took a long sip of his coffee – prepared by his lovely wife that morning, handed to him as he left the house. He didn't even make it to his desk before he had been waved into the captains' office, along with his partner Richardson, both slipping in and letting the door close behind them. In the office was the captain, of course, alongside Diaz and Fowler. It made David's stomach clench a little, because it was obvious what the case in question was; Jade West. After getting home yesterday, he couldn't even discuss the case with his wife, simply because the risk of the information getting out was too high – Holly wouldn't do it on purpose, or tell anyone as gossip, but one slip up or mistake could blow up everything.
"Captain. Fowler, Diaz." He nodded at each in turn, before taking a seat when he was wordlessly offered it by the captain.
"OK. Now everyone is here, we can start with yesterday's findings. Diaz, Fowler?" The captain spoke, with his usual no-nonsense tone.
"We spoke to a fair few people who knew Jade and Ryder. Firstly, the school Principal, Helen DuBois and the guidance Counseller, Lane Alexander. According to them, Ryder had graduated last year but kept appearing at the school to speak to Jade, who wasn't happy about it. They seemed shocked at the idea of him becoming violent – didn't seem like the type, apparently. He got in minor trouble as a student, mostly due to skipping classes, smoking on school grounds and getting into fights – with Andre Harris and Beck Oliver primarily. Lane said something about her upbringing too, so we pulled files. Turns out there's a reason why she reacted so quickly and with such deep seated anger..." Fowler trailed off a little.
"She stabbed him in the neck. Hard enough to almost go straight through from one side to the other. Most victims of rape would go for the crotch or stomach. But..." Diaz shook her head. "Jade West was physically and sexually abused as a child. There's a police report." Diaz placed a worryingly thick folder on the captains desk – worryingly thick because, if it was about an abuse case, then the size indicated the magnitude of the abuse. And David Vega had to stop himself from throwing up, just seeing the size of the file.
"Turns out, when Mr West left his wife, Renee and Jade, Renee got a new boyfriend. Jared Greer. Evidence and testimony's confirm that Jade was raped for five years by Jared from age 7 to 12, and beaten by her mother because of it. The mother snapped, almost beat Jade to death. Jared arrived and smashed the mothers head against a wall until she died. Turns out, the sicko was actually in love with Jade, not just using her." Diaz's face had taken on a serious look, and David knew his own was probably the one that showed most emotion; Diaz and Fowler looked serious as did the captain. He knew Richardson was probably looking disgusted and angry. But he also knew his own face would be painted with disgust, anger, pity and utter horror. This was a girl he knew, had known for a few years...but he'd never been aware of such a thing happening to her. No wonder she was a little bit different, and a little bit awkward around him and Holly when she used to come over – her parental figures growing up were monsters.
"Shit. So this must have hit her hard." Richardson shook his head. "How's she holding up?"
"Not good. Still in hospital. She's been given the all clear for her injuries but...she's needing to be sedated or else she's completely hysterical and inconsolable. We're hoping to speak with her today at some point-" Diaz held her hand up to the captain as he was about to speak. "Don't worry Sir, we understand it may not happen. We're going to be as delicate as possible and not push until she's ready. I was also hoping Officer Vega might be there..." Diaz glanced at him. "Not to do any questioning, but just as a comforting presence. From the reports on the night of the attack, it seemed she felt most comfortable with him."
"If she'd like me in the room, I have no objections. Although I assume her father will be there too." He nodded; it would be hard to listen to, but if it helped the poor girl, then he'd do it with no problem.
"We then spoke to her friends, Caterina Valentine and Robbie Shapiro at the school, along with their teacher, Erwin Sikowitz. Valentine told us about an incident where Daniels turned up at a mall when her and Jade were there. Shapiro was there the night she found out someone had broken into her house and ransacked her room, but there's a separate report on that from when it happened. Then Sikowitz caught an actual confrontation between West and Daniels. Apparently, he was following her on her walk home after a party and they got in a fight about it outside Sikowitz's house. He came out and ran Daniels off. Then we spoke to Andre Harris, at the hospital. He had nude pictures of Jade in the shower put in his bedroom – so whoever it was, broke into his house too. But they burned the pictures and the envelope." Diaz looked frustrated about that still. "Jade didn't want nudes being locked up in evidence. She didn't trust that an 'underpaid and undervalued' cop wouldn't sell them to the media if she gets famous." It made sense, it really did. Almost every police force had one or two crooked cops who sold tidbits of information or evidence to reporters.
"Our first stop today is going to be the Daniels estate – crime scene guys are still there, due to the sheer size of it. But they've finished up in Ryder's room, which should be where most evidence would be found – I don't imagine Ryder advertising his obsession with his dads best friends daughter by leaving stolen bras and naked pictures of her around the house." Fowler added, sweeping his hair back.
"Our next stop will be to speak with a few other people who knew the pair. Beck Oliver, Jade's boyfriend, for starters." Diaz added on to her partners outline of their plans for the day. "And then, if possible, a boy called Shawn Becker – apparently friends with Ryder and according to Shapiro, he overheard Becker and Daniels talking about Jade not too long ago. Could give us some more information. If all goes to plan, we can maybe speak with Mr West and get a look at Jade's room and maybe Olivers place – he stays in an RV in his parents drive way. Apparently, Jade used to spend most of her time there. Few months back, after her house was broken into and her room was trashed, they stayed at her house due to her dad increasing security."
"The press has caught wind that something is up. Someone within the department has told them that there's a big murder case going down, but there's no details yet thank god." The captain admitted, rubbing his temples. "I know we can't keep it quiet forever, but I'd like for the press to be in the dark for as long as possible, until we can figure out how to play this thing; this is high society in LA. The second it gets out, it'll be everywhere. I know I said this yesterday, but we need to play this safe and close to the chest. No excess manpower – not just to keep it as quiet as possible, but we don't need people accusing us of putting more effort into solving a case only involving rich kids than we do for kids on the lower income ladder."
The detectives and officers nodded in agreement of the statement – they had to be careful with this one. Enough investigation to make sure that it was a full proof, air tight case but not pouring resources into it that would appear to take away from other, less high profile cases. If they tipped the balance either way on this one, the press would be out for blood.
"We'll go by the Daniels house first. Maybe get a chance to speak with his parents, but mostly I just want to see what turns up in his room." Fowler pushed off from the wall he was standing against. "If we can find Jade's things in his bedroom, then it'll make it even more airtight that he'd been stalking Jade. A few things we know have gone missing; bras, necklaces, scissors, hair extensions. And we have a warrant to seize his electronics too."
"That reminds me..." The captain pulled out an evidence bag from behind his desk. "These are the items Daniels had on him. Notice anything odd?"
"Two phones?" Richardson blinked a little and leant forwards. "Why would a freshman at University have two phones?"
"Drug dealing?" Diaz suggested, tilting her head a little.
"Or stalking." David suggested, furrowing his brow. "West, Oliver and Harris would probably recognise Daniels' number. It'd make sense that he'd get a burner or something..."
"Exactly. The second phone is a pre-paid burner phone. Untraceable, pretty much. But all phone calls and texts have been to Jade Wests number, along with a few to Andre Harris and Beck Oliver. Photos of Jade on it too, candid photos, taken from a distance mostly."
"Well that proves it, doesn't it? It's almost definitely him who was the stalker – and there's no way to refute the nights events." Richardson nodded to himself.
"That may be so but we still need to finish up this investigation, and as quickly as possible. So Diaz, Fowler, go ahead with your plan today. Vega, Richardson, keep on your usual work but you may be pulled in to help with the reports for this one at the end of the day."
To say that the Daniels house, or really, the Daniels manor was big would be an understatement. It was a monolith of glass and white brick, almost blinding in the sunlight and Fowler wouldn't be surprised if they paid to have both to glass and brick washed on a weekly basis. And the grounds themselves looked like they came straight from a 1800s English novel about the countryside – fountains and neatly trimmed hedge mazes, with bright bursts of colour from the perfectly maintained flower borders. Mr and Mrs Daniels had moved out of the property, just until the investigation was done, so they were greeted by a uniformed police officer watching the door, who directed them up the stairs and along the west landing, where they'd find the head of the forensic team in Ryder Daniels' bedroom.
Mei Wong was a tiny little woman, who didn't look anywhere near her 45 years of age and had a no-nonsense 'Don't Fuck With Me' attitude. She was also the head of forensics for the West Division. It wasn't rare to see her out on the field though, as she definitely took a more hands on approach – although to be fair, with the size of this property, even if she did spend most of her time in the labs like the other division heads, she'd have been called out to this one due to it being so high profile – and it being kept under wraps, meaning that the forensic team was small and as senior as possible. Which was another reason it was taking such a long time to do a sweep of the full house.
"What we got Mei?" Fowler asked as they slipped into the bedroom, glancing around. It looked like a typical teenage boys room, to be honest; laptop set up on a desk, a double bed with solid blue bedding, posters of bands and cars on the walls. But then again, what did he expect? The walls to be plastered with photos of Jade along with an 'I'm a Rapist!' banner hung up?
There was one picture though, on the bedstand next to his lamp – a framed photo of what appeared to be a much younger Ryder, around 13, standing next to a tiny little thing, with huge blue eyes and light brown hair cut to her shoulders with blunt bangs. The pair were dressed in matching school uniforms, with green blazers, a white circle on their breast pockets that was no doubt a school coat of arms or logo, white shirts and white and green ties. The difference in the uniforms was on their lower half – Ryder wore grey slacks and black leather shoes and the girl wore a pleated green skirt along with black over the knee socks. She also had a bright purple cast peeking out from the blazer sleeve, and her face was practically made of stone, a contrast to Ryder's bright smile. Diaz leaned in closer, inspecting the photo and raising her eyebrows when she recognised the eyes and shape of the nose and mouth of the girl; Jade West. Well, it had been mentioned that they went to middle school together a few times, after all. But still, it was a little out of place for a 19 year old boy to have a framed photo of him and the neighbour girl from at least 6 years previous.
"Didn't turn up much at first – just the usual stuff; cigarettes hidden in the back of a drawer; a few bottles of vodka hidden in his closet. But then...we checked the vents." Mei shook her head, motioning up to the vent above the bed, then picked up a box from at her feet, the movement making the plastic evidence bags inside rustle. "Teenagers always use the vents to hide stuff – they don't seem to realise we've caught onto it." Mei shook her head and motioned for one of her team to lay out a plastic sheet on the bed covers, before she tipped the contents of the box on top of it. "I'm guessing that most of this stuff isn't his."
And it was most likely a correct guess; within individual evidence bags were multiple thing that Ryder Daniels didn't really seem like the type to have – a dark purple lace bra with a diamonte-dangling in the middle in the shape of a 'J'. Multiple chunky black necklaces and rings. Pale pink hair extensions that seemed to have been braided neatly. A black and red lacey thong, multiple pairs of scissors, a crumpled packet of cigarettes, bottles of perfume, body wash and shampoo. And finally, a leather bound photo album.
"You're going to want to check that album out. I had a look. It's..." Mei shook her head, planting her hands on her hips. "It's pretty invasive to the poor girl in there. I'm guessing she's the vic?" As Mei spoke, Fowler pulled on latex gloves and carefully removed the album from the evidence bag, flipping it open to the first picture – Jade West, front and center, dressed in a black corseted dress with a pop of a blue undershirt, on stage holding a mic and singing her heart out.
"Yeah. That's the vic alright." Diaz nodded, looking over Fowlers shoulder as he flipped through the pages. Some were similar shots to the first one – a little bit weird, but normally in them she was on stage or at least performing. Then they started to get creepy. Photos of West and Valentine, taken through a salon window, as Valentine sat in the chair getting her hair dyed and West sat across from her, flipping through a magazine, obviously just waiting for her friend. West, Shapiro and Harris sitting at Skybucks, Shapiro and West seeming to be in a heated discussion about something as Harris sat on his phone. Then, the really creepy ones started showing up – the much mentioned photo of Beck and Jade, in what Diaz assumed was the boys RV, both naked with Jade riding on top of the handsome boy, her hands on his chest, head tilted back, mouth open. Well, from the skin tone and location, she assumed it was Beck – his face had been scratched out in this photo, along with the one that had been sent to the couple. More of Jade in the RV, in various states of dress, ranging from fully clothed to topless to totally naked and pulling out clothes from a drawer. A few that seemed to be taken in what Diaz assumed was Jade's bedroom, of her sitting curled up in bed, reading a script of some sort, dressed only in a plaid shirt, her hair in a loose braid over one shoulder. The next one was obviously the same 'photo session' as she was dressed the exact same, with the same braid in her hair, but instead now laying on her stomach, legs in the air as she read the script, teeth biting into her lower lip as she held a highlighter poised and ready to go. "I think we can safely say that Ryder Daniels was stalking Jade West." Diaz stated bluntly, shaking her head.
"Looks like." Fowler pursed his lips. It was awful, seeing the evidence that obviously led up to a brutal attack. "Anything else suspicious found?"
"Funny you should ask." Mei reached into another box, pulling out one more evidence bag – this time, it had another much smaller baggie inside it, filled with white powder. "Not cocaine or speed, from the field tests. Chances are, from the colouration and consistency, rohypnol. Found under a loose floorboard in the walk in closet."
"Well that's even more worrying. Think he originally planned to use it on Jade? Could be the attack in that theatre wasn't premeditated? Maybe he just lost it and went ahead earlier than planned, without the drugs?" Fowler asked curiously, peering at the baggie.
"I'd agree if it wasn't for the lubricant he applied beforehand." Diaz frowned a little, tilting her head. "It doesn't add up though. Why would he have them in two different hiding places?"
"Might not be rohypnol, although it's doubtful." Mei suggested. "But some kids use it as a recreational drug, in controlled amounts, so might be for that. Although kid with this type of upbringing, you'd think he'd be into coke more than anything."
"Well, we've got a tox screen being done, so that'll hopefully clear up the little mystery." Diaz shrugged. "Could be he just forgot about the baggie being under the floorboard and had no desire to drug West."
"Or maybe Jade West wasn't the first girl he raped." Mei commented darkly, a frown on her brow. "I mean, you don't just develop this type of behaviour out of the blue. Do we know for sure Jade's the first girl he's stalked?"
"According to her friends and the school, Ryder has always been into Jade. It's just recently taken a creepy turn. Although who knows. Maybe it's not that recent or sudden." Diaz furrowed her brow as she picked up one of the evidence bags that had come from the 'Vent Box'. In it was a white and green tie – the same tie that both were wearing in the photograph on the bedside table. From middle school. And while it could have been his own at first glance, that didn't explain why it was with all of his other stalking 'trophies' of Jade, along with the neat printed tag that read 'Jade F. West' on the underside of the tie. She followed it up by picking up a plain black t-shirt bra that wasn't the smallest, but certainly didn't look like it'd fit the Jade West seen in those pictures – a B-Cup at least. And Diaz could tell just from a glance at not even the more raunchy photos, Jade wasn't anywhere near a B-Cup anymore. "And this wouldn't fit her as she is now. This looks to have been going on for a lot longer than just since he graduated last year."
"Jesus Christ." Fowler shook his head. "This case just weirds me out more and more with every piece of evidence we get." There was something off still. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something unsettled him about this case. He couldn't help but think he was missing something, something vital. But what? It had been niggling at him since yesterday. He shook his head a little – most likely just getting to involved in the goings on with these kids; Diaz didn't help much with her betting about Harris's unrequited love for West. It was rare that he had to deal with anyone this young, thank God, but when he did, he swore it was like watching some overly dramatic teen high school drama. "You got into his laptop yet?"
"Kid didn't even have a password on it." Mei shook her head lightly. "Had a quick browse, but best wait till the computer forensic guys get their hands on it back at the lab. But from what I saw, it seems pretty typical; some social media, I think? Along with YouSplash and SplashFace. A lot of porn sites in his browser though. All with names like 'GothSluts' or 'RoughGothBondage' and the like."
"What are the bets all of the stars in his favourites are pale with dark hair, blue eyes and a generous bust?" Diaz raised her eyebrows. Sure, porn was normal for teenage boys – and just because he was apparently into rough bondage didn't mean anything about his sexual appetite; a lot of people who never hurt someone in their life was into that stuff when in the bedroom, so it wasn't really an indicator. But still, for Mei to comment that it was 'a lot', then that said something about the volume; Mei had to deal with porn on victim and suspects computers a lot, as head of all the forensics in the West Division, including Computer Forensics.
"I'd say pretty high." Fowler responded, leafing carefully through the album, trying to avoid the obvious focal point and instead look at the surroundings for any more details or clues. "Hmm...weird."
"What?" Diaz asked, from where she was looking through his desk contents.
"The photos...well, the ones that aren't her on stage or undressed...the candid ones of her out and about with her friends? There's barely any of her and her boyfriend. Mostly just her and her friends. You'd think she'd spend time with just him, right?"
"Maybe Daniels didn't like to keep those photos? The girl he's obsessing over going on dates and holding hands with another boy? Too much effort to scratch him out of photos." Diaz suggested and Fowler shrugged in agreement, knowing that it made sense. "Anything else big we should know about before we head off for todays interviews?"
"Not that I can think of right now. We're still cataloguing everything in the rest of the house – not likely to turn anything up, but I'll call if it happens."
A bit of a filler chapter, but I felt it was needed before hopping back into the interviews. The next chapter will be Shawn Becker, along with possibly Papa West or Julia West, maybe. Or maybe Beck. Who knows! (Not me, which is kind of worrying).
Sorry about the delay, but as I said in my last chapter, I'm dealing with a death in the family, along with having to train a new girl at work so my heads a bit all over the place and making sure I have lots of time free for my mother and step sisters. So updates may be a little slower now, but I'm sure you all understand that.
