Flashback Part 11: Shadows of Doubt
By Shadow Runner
Shadow_runner4u@hotmail.com
Part eleven in the series
Anything related to the Gargoyles is not mine and just to keep things honest and not get sued… Disney owns them.
One or two are mine… but in the big scheme of things… that's not saying much unless you want to use them… Why, I have no idea but hey it could happen… so please ask…
For Wyvern and Feathers… now tell the chicken to back off…
This version was updated on Feb 6, 2000 in order to fix a continuity problem… nothing major but it need a bit of tweaking..
Hope you like and happy reading! J
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Three days later the total of deaths had risen to four and they were no closer to an answer than before and Elisa was beginning to get discouraged. The situation was getting worse by the second and word was out on the streets; someone was on a killing spree and Commissioner Stanton, Mayor Anderson, and the public in general were breathing down their necks for an arrest.
Captain Chavez was doing her best to keep everyone at bay, but if Elisa knew if she didn't get a break soon things were going to get ugly. She was afraid it was only a matter of time before the Mayor won the argument and case would have to be given to the Gargoyle Task Force.
Elisa had made several attempts to contact the Quarrymen and had been completely unsuccessful. The group had been secretive before all this started and it had only gotten worse since the story broke that they were the killer's intended targets. Besides she didn't really expect to be at the top of Jon Canmore's welcome list anyway.
Jon Canmore, A.K.A John Castaway, had once again taken his merry group of gargoyle basher's underground in light of the situation and while it didn't surprise Elisa, it bothered her. Despite trying to remain hidden someone was still finding the Quarrymen followers and killing them.
If this was an effort to force the Hunter into the light, it wasn't working and his followers were paying the price. Which was bad for more reasons than just people dying and it put everyone in an awkward situation.
If Canmore came out publicly the worst case scenario would be that Demona would find him and kill him out of spite. If Elisa found him first, it might keep him alive but it would mean eventually having to expose him as a Hunter and then Jon would more than likely try to expose the Clan.
In either scenario it would become common knowledge that not only did the Gargoyles exist but if Demona killed Jon, the public would most likely believe the rest of the Clan might be responsible for the other killings as well.
On top of everything else, she had been having other problems to deal with which were more of a personal nature but she was beginning to suspect they might be linked to the case.
Now that she was aware of the Bond she'd gotten better about controlling her temper and usually when the gargoyle traits showed they were associated with an emotion and specifically something she herself was experiencing.
But at the crime scene for the most recent murder, she had nearly passed out from a nerve blasting 'feeling' and would have hit the pavement had Matt not been hovering over her like a vulture.
The 'feelings' always came without warning, had no clear focus, and were physically painful. She argued that it had to be a reaction to nerves that had been worn thin over the past few months. Besides, Goliath had been no where near and Elisa could think of nothing that might have brought it on.
She knew Goliath could 'feel' nearly anything that happened to her.
But he had no idea about the previous night.
She was pulled from her reprieve as Matt walked over with the latest lab reports, "Well, nothing new on the most recent victims…"
"That is not what I wanted to hear Matt…"
"What do you want to hear then?"
"What I want to hear is something other than the fact that all the victims are males, between 20-25, dressed alike and possibly Quarrymen…"
"Then I guess you wont be talking to me tonight…" Matt sat down at his desk and tossed the reports to her, "Miller found wood splinters in both of the new ones…"
"Well that might be something…" Elisa mulled over the report, "Victim two had wood splinters… That might indicate the same weapon, or at the very least the same type weapon, is being used."
Matt leaned over the desk, "Miller is figuring a bat, he found some bruises that fit the pattern."
"Maybe the killer will quit when it breaks." She mumbled.
"We should be so lucky… Anyway he said you can come down and sign for the evidence he got back from the Forensics Lab." Matt gave her a sidelong look, "Any word on the other leads?"
"Naw… No sign of Demona and Canmore hasn't so much as poked his nose out… Lex hasn't seen any sign of them on the net either…"
Elisa looked over the files a bit longer before rising and picked up her jacket from the back of her chair, "Let's go check in with the guys. Maybe they're having more luck."
They walked out into the hall and were so preoccupied with their own conversation, they failed to notice the young man walking towards them with a stack of papers in his arms. Elisa ran right into him causing the files to go everywhere.
"Hey… whoa, sorry… didn't even see you there…" she replied hastily.
The young man bent over and hurriedly picked up the fallen papers, "No it was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going..."
Elisa knelt down to help him collect the papers, "What are you doing back here?"
The man quickly began pulling papers out of her hands, startling her by his abrupt actions, "I was on my way to the file room…"
Matt bent over to help him collect the mess, "Well it's on the other side of the building and you gotta be more careful about where you go around here. This area is restricted to detectives and police officers only."
"Sorry… I must have gotten lost." The young man grinned sheepishly at Matt and pulled the pages from him as well, "I'll get them…" He replied briefly and glanced over at Elisa, "You're Detective Maza right?"
She gave him the once over before responding. He was probably in his early twenties, with dark hair and not entirely bad looking, but something about him didn't quite click. "Yeah… Haven't seen you in here before…"
"Ah… yeah… I'm a temp…" He quickly gathered the rest of the papers and moved out of their way allowing them to room to pass by.
Elisa paused for a moment and continued to stare at the young man, "Well, sorry about the mess. Hope I didn't screw up those files…"
The young man looked away, "No harm, I can fix them later."
It was obvious Elisa and Matt weren't moving until he did. The young man quickly arranged the papers so he could carry them and clumsily moved down the corridor towards the other side of the building. He glanced back at them for a moment and then continued on down the hall without stopping.
Elisa waited until the young man was out of earshot before speaking to her partner in a hushed tone, "Have you seen him in here before?"
Matt followed the man's movement, "Nope… but with all the reconstruction going on, I'm not surprised. The Department hired about 30 temps to help out until things get settled in here."
Elisa nodded absently, "Remind me to ask Morgan about him."
Matt gave her a teasing look, "Isn't he a bit young for you?"
"Please, I have enough on my hands already…"
Her tone was mild but Matt immediately recognized the look in her eye as he had seen it too many times before. Something about the temp was bothering her, "You want to run a check on him now? We got the time…"
"No… just a gut feeling. It didn't seem like he was lost…" She gave one last look down the hall before walking in the opposite direction, "and I got the feeling he was looking for me..."
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Forty minutes later, they all stood in the Great Hall. Elisa looked over Lexington's shoulder as he tapped away, "Anything on Castaway or any of the Quarrymen."
"No, but there's a hole bunch of new gargoyle pages up. A lot of people thinking we're the ones going this."
Elisa turned to Goliath, "We have to do something soon. Chavez is getting a lot of pressure to turn this over to the GTF."
Matt bristled slight at the comment, "You ain't kidding. I'm getting calls from all over from people wanting to know why I'm not doing my job and getting you guys off the streets."
Angela wrapped her arms around her body as if to hug herself, "Aren't we innocent until proven guilty?"
"In most cases yes…" Matt answered, "but this is a little different…"
Broadway put down the sandwich he was working on and moved closer to Angela, "Well it shouldn't be…" he replied sullenly.
Matt was about to respond when his cell phone shrieked for his attention. He pulled it out and walked outside so as not to have anyone over hear the conversation going on in the room over the open phone line.
Brooklyn took a deep breath, "I just don't get it… I mean who in this city has a reason to see the Quarrymen dead?"
Angela looked at her father, her eyes full of pain, "My mother does…"
"Angela," Elisa paused for a moment before walking over to her, "I don't think Demona had anything to do with this…"
Goliath nearly fell over in surprise, "How can you be sure?"
"For one thing, autopsy results indicated all these guys were killed anywhere from 2-5 hours before we were notified. That suggests a daytime killing, which would mean Dominique Destine. As sexist as it might sound, I don't think she could inflict this kind of damage and then move the body without someone seeing her do it, human or otherwise. Besides, the last thing she would want to do is something that might draw attention to her nocturnal habits… And second… It doesn't 'feel' like her…"
"Somebody is doing this, someone with an interest in making it look like we are the ones responsible for all this." Goliath proposed.
Brooklyn hopped off the chair he was perched on, "What I don't get is why is the Hunter staying low. I mean, you'd think with all the anti-gargoyle propaganda going on, he'd be ecstatic about all the publicity and denouncing us for knocking off his followers."
Elisa had to agree since she was counting on Jon Canmore coming forward at some point, but was rapidly loosing faith it would happen. It was almost as if he didn't care his followers were being picked off one by one. With the exception of the pendant, Elisa still had no ID on the victims and no one had reported a missing son, boyfriend, or spouse recently.
Lexington sat in front of the computer screen with his mouth hanging open, "Unless…"
Angela walked up behind him, "Unless what?"
"What if these guys who are being killed aren't really Quarrymen…"
Elisa moved over to where he sat, "Lex, what makes you say that?"
He was about to answer when Matt began snapping his fingers at them to get their attention, "OK… I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and started for the elevator, "That was Chavez, we need to get over to Central Park, ASAP."
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It was beginning to rain. Elisa pulled her jacket tightly around herself and flipped the collar up to ward off the dampness. Originally she had assumed it was going to be another homicide, but once they arrived on the scene it became clear that wasn't the case.
It was a gargoyle sighting.
Matt was finishing up a statement for the press with Captain Chavez, Commissioner Stanton, and Mayor Anderson. The GTF had been on the scene and in the park for nearly two hours and no one, including the press had seen anything even remotely resembling a winged creature.
Elisa, wanting nothing to do with that mess and unwilling to let the Mayor see her at the scene, moved to far side of the search area. She wore the newly repaired transmitter safely concealed within her red bomber jacket and spoke softly into the microphone, "I don't get it…"
Goliath's voice came through the small receiver, "They have found nothing?"
She glanced over the scene a few minutes longer before answering him, "Not a damn thing…" she looked over at Matt who had just returned from his press conference, "Why are we even out here?"
"I don't know… Maybe the Mayor thinks the GTF needs more face time..." He scratched his head disgustedly and shifted around so that Elisa could stand under the umbrella he was holding, "A rookie from the 52nd Precinct got an anonymous call about a female gargoyle in the park. He said the voice was being distorted or something but with all the killings going on, he figured it might be something to link the gargoyles to them… Idiot called it out over an open frequency, without letting the GTF Command Post know first…"
Elisa shook her head in disbelief at the actions of the rookie. News crews often monitored unsecured police frequencies, and it would explain how the press had picked up the information so fast. She looked over at him, "Do you think it was a prank?"
"Looks like it…" Matt replied.
Elisa paused, "Then why call it specifically as a female gargoyle?"
"Attention maybe? I dunno, but believe me I'm glad the rest of the clan stayed back… I doubt they would have reacted well to the possibility of Demona being around right now." He glanced at his partner, "Where's the Big Guy?"
Elisa smiled. To her knowledge, she was the only one to call Goliath that and she wondered how he would react to someone other than herself using the nickname. "On the far side of the park, well outside the search area. He'll be OK as long as no one gets to gung-ho about searching outside the perimeter you established."
Matt scanned the area, the GTF was in full force tonight with he and Elisa arriving at roughly the same time as the team. The search area was well lit by the shear number of news crews and police vehicles, but it wasn't helping any. He looked down at the ground, which was quickly becoming saturated with rain. The mud was going to make things much harder to find anything… provided there was something to find.
Yet in the back of his mind something told him there had to have been something to the call. The task force had received hundreds of prank calls and false alarms in the past few weeks, yet this was the first time the entire GTF had responded since the battle with the Hunters at St. Damein's Cathedral.
Elisa pulled a pair of Night Vision Goggles from her pocket and scanned the area. The NVGs had been provided by one of the sniper teams who were deployed in various areas around the park. The darkness was transformed into differing shades of greens, but the only images she picked up were those of the other officers or members of the media.
She handed them back over to Matt and then spoke loud enough so Goliath could hear her through the transmitter receiver, "Well I think it's safe to say what or whoever it was, isn't here now…"
Elisa could hear as well as feel Goliath's apprehension through the receiver as he spoke, "If she ever was…"
Matt apparently overheard him or knew what Goliath was going to say, "Well right now, we got nothing and it doesn't look like that's gonna change…" he reached over and pulled a radio from his jacket, "Command One to all teams…"
He paused and waited for teams to report in before speaking again, "OK People, listen up…. Make one last sweep of the area and then wrap it up…"
As soon as he made the announcement they both saw the Mayor change his stride form leaving the scene to storming over towards their direction. Elisa managed to slip unnoticed into the shadows just as Mayor Anderson went on the offensive about stopping the search. Captain Chavez had also seen what was about to happen and had moved in to intercept the conversation.
Elisa breathed a sigh of relief, at least Matt wouldn't be alone on this one since she had serious doubts her presence at the scene would help things.
She moved carefully through the park until she came to Goliath's location on the lower side near the south entrance, "Well once again, we come up with zip, zero, zilch, nada."
Goliath looked at his beloved and felt a pang deep within his chest. Elisa was tired, frustrated, and near collapse, yet she still insisted on keeping the increased pace she had set for herself. He was trying to be more understanding by not insisting she slow down, but it still weighted heavy on his thoughts. He took a deep breath and looked down at her, "So will you remain for the search?"
"No… Matt's pulling everyone in and I have some paperwork to fill out with Jack Miller over at the M.E.'s office. I'll tell Matt to meet me at the Castle before dawn and we can all compare notes then." She pulled the police radio from her pocket and waited for some of the other traffic to die off before trying to call over to Matt, "Command One, this is Six…"
It took a few minutes for him to respond and when he finally did, he sounded tired, "Six this is Command One, go."
"Yeah, I've completed the sweep on this side. I'm going to get with Miller and will meet you later for debrief."
"Copy that Six… Be careful… and you might want to take an alternate route. Road here is… blocked…"
Elisa cringed and took his reply to mean the Mayor was still over on that side of the park causing problems, "Thanks Command… will take under advisement… Six out."
Matt's voice came back over before she could turn off the radio, "Six, are you taking back-up with you?"
For the past year, back up was their private code for any member of the Clan who might accompany them to a scene. It was the only one they could come up with that didn't come right out and say 'gargoyle' or using names that might indicate a specific person. Without thinking she responded, "Negative Command, Six out."
Elisa shut off the radio without waiting for his response and looked out over the park. The rain had yet to stop and if anything it seemed to have increased in the few minutes she and Goliath had been standing there. "Damn, my ride is on that side… guess that means I'm gonna be strollin' in the rain…" She started out across the park, looking over her shoulder at Goliath, "I'll see ya later, Big Guy…"
While he didn't say it, Elisa could read the look on his face, the disappointment about her leaving was more than evident and it didn't take a brain surgeon to tell he didn't like the fact that she was planning to go alone, "Listen… you feel like coming along? I doubt it will take that long, and I could use the company…"
Goliath knew she neither needed nor desired the company, rather she was trying to ally his discomfort, but since she offered, he wasn't about to turn down the opportunity to watch over her. He nodded gravely and gave her a soft smile, "Well, if you insist…"
She glanced around, "Guess there isn't a place to take off without someone seeing us…"
"No, we will have to stay on the ground for now. There is an area near the entrance that should be safe enough."
They moved in the shadows, careful to avoid any of the few remaining search teams and when the feeling hit, once again it came from nowhere. She staggered slightly and fell to the ground, rolling the rest of the way down the small hill they were walking across.
What the hell…?
For some reason her arms and legs were no longer responding to her mental commands, her vision was coming in and out of focus and breathing was becoming difficult. She tried to force herself up but to no avail, it was as if she were lying in quicksand.
Goliath was quickly by her side trying to help her to her feet, "Elisa…"
The voice came at him from behind, "Don't move…"
Goliath lifted his head and immediately felt his temper flare. He started to rise but halted when he saw the weapon pointed at Elisa.
"One more step and I will kill her…"
Elisa's breathing was coming out in ragged gasps. She felt as if she were being held under water, but in a bizarre way, the whole situation made sense. In fact a lot of things were beginning to make sense to her now. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the weapon pointed at her but more alarming she could see dark shapes moving in on them from the shadows. She fought to raise her hand in warning, "No…"
The butt of the weapon came down hard on the back of her skull and she dropped like a stone.
Goliath leaped for the attacker, but before he could complete the movement, a flash of light and a nearly deafening explosion pierced the darkness.
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Matt rode up alone in the elevator shaking the last of the rain off his coat. He'd received his 'Golden Key' a few days ago and this was the first time he'd had the occasion to us it. Xanatos had been vague concerning the rational for giving him one but he imagined it had something to do with Elisa. He supposed it didn't really matter why Xanatos found it necessary to give him one, it was enough that he had one.
He stretched and yawned. At the Mayor's insistence they'd spent another hour looking for nothing and he was exhausted but relieved to not only be out of the park but the rain as well. When the doors finally opened he saw Lexington diligently tapping away at the keyboard of the computer.
The young gargoyle spoke to him without looking up from whatever hacking he was working on, "Hi Matt."
"Hey Lex… Where's everyone at?"
Lexington continued to tap away at the keyboard, "Outside waiting on you guys I guess."
"Hmm, the rain must have just stopped…" Matt paused for a moment as his cell phone began to ring. He pulled it from his pocket and punched a button, "Bluestone…"
"Matt, it's Jack Miller… Do me a favor, when you see Elisa let her know I might have something. Looks like the pendants were put on after the victim's were strangled."
Matt cocked his head slightly, "Are you sure?"
"Positive. I just got conformation from the Lab. If they were worn at the time, there would have been some mark from it. These guys were clean. I've already added to my report and it's ready for pick up when ever she gets around to stopping by."
"Thanks Miller, I let her know…" Matt paused before terminating the call, "Hold up a sec… You mean Elisa hasn't picked up the reports yet?"
"No…" Miller paused before responding, "I just assumed she was going to come by in the morning…"
Matt hung up without waiting to hear the rest of what he had to say and punched in the number for the 23rd thinking maybe she'd gone there first. When Officer Morgan told him she hadn't checked back in, he hung up without another word. He slowly began walking across the Great Hall picking up his pace as he moved so by the time he got outside he was running.
He nearly collided with Brooklyn and Hudson and then gasp out, "You haven't seen Elisa have you?"
Brooklyn shook his head slowly, "I thought she was with you…"
Matt shook his head sternly, "No, she took off early to go by the Medical Examiner's office but Miller just called me a second ago wanting to know where she was. I thought she might have gone to the station but they haven't seen her either."
"Shouldn't be to hard to find her…" Brooklyn looked over at Lexington who had followed Matt outside, "Check the tracker..."
"Oh man," The young gargoyle cringed, "She quit wearing it like a week ago… She didn't think she needed to anymore…"
Broadway had just walked out with Angela and Bronx. He cocked his head, "Hey guys, what's going on?"
Brooklyn looked past Matt, "You two haven't seen Elisa have you?"
Angela spoke quickly, "No… not since earlier tonight. Why?"
Hudson chuckled softly, "I'm sure she be fine, wherever the lass has gone, Goliath is with her…"
Matt spun to face the Elder, "Wait a sec… You mean he's not here either?"
Brooklyn's eyes went to narrow slits, "No… should he be?"
Matt nodded, "Yeah… Elisa said she was going alone…"
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The men stood speaking softly amongst themselves, waiting for the ceremony to begin.
When he entered the room the voices grew quiet and all attention was directed to him as he walked to the front of the room.
The newest candidate moved to the center of the circle and took his place, "I am ready…"
The man walked over and rested a hand on the young man's shoulders, "And you are worthy… but there will be no ceremony…"
He turned to address the others "I have just been informed the Stage is ready and very soon our prayers will be answered…"
The man looked down at the young candidate, "You have another destiny to fulfill…"
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