Bobby sat silently in the passenger seat of the rental, as Alex followed
the LA detectives to the spot where Cheryl's beat up red Dodge had been
found. Crime scene techs swarmed over the vehicle, already dusting for
prints. They stepped aside when the detectives approached.
Bobby paused a moment, standing at the open drivers side door, his eyes traveled up and down the car as he snapped on the second latex glove. Folding himself almost in half, Bobby sat down in the drivers seat at an angle, keeping his legs outside the car. Just like he had prodded the photo in the dead girls hands, Bobby now used a gloved finger to poke through the contents in the passenger seat. On top of an unfolded map of LA city streets lay a white piece of paper. Bobby picked it up and read it. Printed directions to Grauman's Chinese Theatre from a website. Climbing out from behind the steering wheel, Bobby stood in the open space between the car and the open drivers side door. Scanning the chaos around him, he finally made eye contact with Detective Stevens. "How far is Grauman's from here?"
Both Stevens and Smith considered the question, turning around, facing the street to get their bearings. Stevens turned back around to face Goren "Just a few blocks."
Bobby held the printed directions up, and shook the paper slightly "That's where she met him."
~~
The 450 miles of highway from Utah to Nevada are long and tedious. As Gabrielle Underwood drove, she let herself be lightly hypnotized by the broken yellow lines that sped toward her. She thought not about the life she was leaving, the run down apartment miles from the outskirts of Salt Lake City, the boring clerks job at the real estate company, not even her family. Her thoughts were only of Mark Price, MOVIE STAR, and the life she was going to have from that point on. She thought of the house they would live in together, in California, deciding against a mansion thinking a more intimate home would be better. She'd throw small dinner parties, the Hollywood elite gathered around her table, raving about her cooking. By the time she crossed the Utah/Nevada border she had named their children and was considering changing her own name.
You can see the halo of Vegas before you can see the actual city. Gabrielle pulled over, stopping her car on the side of the road. She climbed out of the drivers seat, leaned against the open door and stared at the neon aura before her. Giving herself a mental hug, she scrambled back in behind the wheel and headed off to the new phase of her life.
~~
"We haven't walked this much since we left home" Alex quipped as she and Bobby rounded the corner and started stepping on stars imbedded in the sidewalk.
In response, Bobby squinted his eyes against the strong LA sun. Fishing his sunglasses out of his pocket, he slipped them on, his gaze never leaving the object of his quest, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, half a block up the street.
They approached the theater, not knowing what they were looking for. As Bobby looked around, soaking up the atmosphere, glancing at tourists who stood out among the LA natives, he heard Detective Stevens giving instructions for the uniformed officers. "I want one officer to go down each side of the street, both directions. Six blocks. Look for ATM's, store's with surveillance camera's pointed toward the door, anything and everything that might have gotten a picture of this freak." Joel's voice was restrained, but still commanding. A moment later a uniformed officer began his trek down the sidewalk, squeezing between Bobby and Alex, who stood on the sidewalk of stars, not looking down as everyone else was, but turning themselves in a small circle, each trying desperately to see something, anything. A sudden realization came to Bobby and he stopped, spinning back toward Alex. "That's why he had her meet him here." Alex, confused, glanced around, trying to figure out what Bobby meant with out him having to tell her. Bobby waited, knowing Alex would get it in a minute, and assuming Smith and Stevens would as well.
"Everyone's looking down." Alex said with sudden confidence in her voice. "No one is looking up toward faces. He knew they wouldn't be seen." Bobby nodded his head slowly.
~~
Gabrielle sat sideways at the hotel bar, her right elbow propped on the polished marble. She nursed her rum and Coke, and every few minutes would glance around the room. Absent mindedly she'd pull on the hem of her skirt, readjust her bra straps, twirl an inch of hair around her finger, and after doing all that she'd scan the room again, her eyes stopping at the entrance, peering out into the lobby.
"Are you waiting for someone?" A deep voice from behind her asked.
Without turning toward the voice, Gabrielle said: "Yes. I am" with the practiced air of a woman who'd turned down many a man in many a bar. She flung her head toward the unseen man, her hair bounced across her back, the international signal for 'go away'
The man behind her chuckled slightly when she did this, and she felt him moving closer in, putting himself on the bar stool next to her. She closed her eyes and took in a sharp breath when she felt his head right next to hers. Reaching for her purse that she'd let sit on top of the bar, her hand stopped in mid air as his words brushed her ear. "Gabrielle.I new you'd be feisty."
~~
Back at the LAPD office Stevens and Smith worked out of, Bobby sat at an unoccupied desk. Alex stood behind him peering over his shoulder as he logged on to the Internet and checked his fan group email. "Damn" Bobby muttered softly when he saw "No Messages"
"Detectives." A voice called out from the other side of the room. Bobby and Alex turned toward the sound. Jim, an AV tech was standing in an office doorway, holding on to the doorframe with one hand as he stretched himself out into the room. He glanced toward the NYPD detectives, but when he spoke, it was directly to the LAPD ones. "I think we've got something."
The office was full of computers, televisions, sound regulators, specialized VCR's and DVD players. So crowded was the room with the equipment, the four detectives had to cram themselves in to the limited space. The three male detectives, each being at least a little larger framed than the average man, felt especially squeezed in. Alex on the other hand was quite comfortable in her allotted small space. All the ATM and security tapes that had been found with in six blocks had been brought into this room to be scrutinized. One of those tapes was on the television, the frozen frame showing only the toes of one foot in the bottom left hand part of the screen.
Sitting in front of the television, Jim waited for the detectives to file in then he turned toward the television screen. "I thought you might like to see this" he said slightly smugly. He flipped a switch and the foot on the screen began to move. Seconds later the whole leg was in few. The detectives watched as a woman with curly dark hair walked on to the screen.
"Cheryl." Alex said, recognizing the dead girl they'd seen that morning.
All four men nodded in agreement, eyes transfixed on the screen, waiting to see the face of the killer. Milliseconds after Cheryl came into view appeared a man. He walked on Cheryl's left, and was mostly blocked from the camera by Cheryl's body. When the couple, the killer and the victim, were about half way across the screen, the man's right arm slowly snaked out behind Cheryl's back, as if he was about to put his arm around her shoulders. Instead, his hand made a few motions from side to side, and then the killer returned his arm to his side.
"What the hell was that?" Fearless asked.
"Run it again Jim." Stevens said.
Jim flipped a switch, and punched a button, the screen filled up with white lines as the tape rewound, after a momentary pause the action was going forward again. They all stared at the same event, the arm coming up, the hand movement.
"Is he..?" Fearless' question drifted off in mid air, he was so confounded, he couldn't finish.
"Yeah" Bobby said, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead with one hand. "He's waving at us."
Bobby paused a moment, standing at the open drivers side door, his eyes traveled up and down the car as he snapped on the second latex glove. Folding himself almost in half, Bobby sat down in the drivers seat at an angle, keeping his legs outside the car. Just like he had prodded the photo in the dead girls hands, Bobby now used a gloved finger to poke through the contents in the passenger seat. On top of an unfolded map of LA city streets lay a white piece of paper. Bobby picked it up and read it. Printed directions to Grauman's Chinese Theatre from a website. Climbing out from behind the steering wheel, Bobby stood in the open space between the car and the open drivers side door. Scanning the chaos around him, he finally made eye contact with Detective Stevens. "How far is Grauman's from here?"
Both Stevens and Smith considered the question, turning around, facing the street to get their bearings. Stevens turned back around to face Goren "Just a few blocks."
Bobby held the printed directions up, and shook the paper slightly "That's where she met him."
~~
The 450 miles of highway from Utah to Nevada are long and tedious. As Gabrielle Underwood drove, she let herself be lightly hypnotized by the broken yellow lines that sped toward her. She thought not about the life she was leaving, the run down apartment miles from the outskirts of Salt Lake City, the boring clerks job at the real estate company, not even her family. Her thoughts were only of Mark Price, MOVIE STAR, and the life she was going to have from that point on. She thought of the house they would live in together, in California, deciding against a mansion thinking a more intimate home would be better. She'd throw small dinner parties, the Hollywood elite gathered around her table, raving about her cooking. By the time she crossed the Utah/Nevada border she had named their children and was considering changing her own name.
You can see the halo of Vegas before you can see the actual city. Gabrielle pulled over, stopping her car on the side of the road. She climbed out of the drivers seat, leaned against the open door and stared at the neon aura before her. Giving herself a mental hug, she scrambled back in behind the wheel and headed off to the new phase of her life.
~~
"We haven't walked this much since we left home" Alex quipped as she and Bobby rounded the corner and started stepping on stars imbedded in the sidewalk.
In response, Bobby squinted his eyes against the strong LA sun. Fishing his sunglasses out of his pocket, he slipped them on, his gaze never leaving the object of his quest, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, half a block up the street.
They approached the theater, not knowing what they were looking for. As Bobby looked around, soaking up the atmosphere, glancing at tourists who stood out among the LA natives, he heard Detective Stevens giving instructions for the uniformed officers. "I want one officer to go down each side of the street, both directions. Six blocks. Look for ATM's, store's with surveillance camera's pointed toward the door, anything and everything that might have gotten a picture of this freak." Joel's voice was restrained, but still commanding. A moment later a uniformed officer began his trek down the sidewalk, squeezing between Bobby and Alex, who stood on the sidewalk of stars, not looking down as everyone else was, but turning themselves in a small circle, each trying desperately to see something, anything. A sudden realization came to Bobby and he stopped, spinning back toward Alex. "That's why he had her meet him here." Alex, confused, glanced around, trying to figure out what Bobby meant with out him having to tell her. Bobby waited, knowing Alex would get it in a minute, and assuming Smith and Stevens would as well.
"Everyone's looking down." Alex said with sudden confidence in her voice. "No one is looking up toward faces. He knew they wouldn't be seen." Bobby nodded his head slowly.
~~
Gabrielle sat sideways at the hotel bar, her right elbow propped on the polished marble. She nursed her rum and Coke, and every few minutes would glance around the room. Absent mindedly she'd pull on the hem of her skirt, readjust her bra straps, twirl an inch of hair around her finger, and after doing all that she'd scan the room again, her eyes stopping at the entrance, peering out into the lobby.
"Are you waiting for someone?" A deep voice from behind her asked.
Without turning toward the voice, Gabrielle said: "Yes. I am" with the practiced air of a woman who'd turned down many a man in many a bar. She flung her head toward the unseen man, her hair bounced across her back, the international signal for 'go away'
The man behind her chuckled slightly when she did this, and she felt him moving closer in, putting himself on the bar stool next to her. She closed her eyes and took in a sharp breath when she felt his head right next to hers. Reaching for her purse that she'd let sit on top of the bar, her hand stopped in mid air as his words brushed her ear. "Gabrielle.I new you'd be feisty."
~~
Back at the LAPD office Stevens and Smith worked out of, Bobby sat at an unoccupied desk. Alex stood behind him peering over his shoulder as he logged on to the Internet and checked his fan group email. "Damn" Bobby muttered softly when he saw "No Messages"
"Detectives." A voice called out from the other side of the room. Bobby and Alex turned toward the sound. Jim, an AV tech was standing in an office doorway, holding on to the doorframe with one hand as he stretched himself out into the room. He glanced toward the NYPD detectives, but when he spoke, it was directly to the LAPD ones. "I think we've got something."
The office was full of computers, televisions, sound regulators, specialized VCR's and DVD players. So crowded was the room with the equipment, the four detectives had to cram themselves in to the limited space. The three male detectives, each being at least a little larger framed than the average man, felt especially squeezed in. Alex on the other hand was quite comfortable in her allotted small space. All the ATM and security tapes that had been found with in six blocks had been brought into this room to be scrutinized. One of those tapes was on the television, the frozen frame showing only the toes of one foot in the bottom left hand part of the screen.
Sitting in front of the television, Jim waited for the detectives to file in then he turned toward the television screen. "I thought you might like to see this" he said slightly smugly. He flipped a switch and the foot on the screen began to move. Seconds later the whole leg was in few. The detectives watched as a woman with curly dark hair walked on to the screen.
"Cheryl." Alex said, recognizing the dead girl they'd seen that morning.
All four men nodded in agreement, eyes transfixed on the screen, waiting to see the face of the killer. Milliseconds after Cheryl came into view appeared a man. He walked on Cheryl's left, and was mostly blocked from the camera by Cheryl's body. When the couple, the killer and the victim, were about half way across the screen, the man's right arm slowly snaked out behind Cheryl's back, as if he was about to put his arm around her shoulders. Instead, his hand made a few motions from side to side, and then the killer returned his arm to his side.
"What the hell was that?" Fearless asked.
"Run it again Jim." Stevens said.
Jim flipped a switch, and punched a button, the screen filled up with white lines as the tape rewound, after a momentary pause the action was going forward again. They all stared at the same event, the arm coming up, the hand movement.
"Is he..?" Fearless' question drifted off in mid air, he was so confounded, he couldn't finish.
"Yeah" Bobby said, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead with one hand. "He's waving at us."
