A/N - There was a passage in the last chapter that drew some notice. It had not occured to me to put any kind of disclaimer or warning on the chapter so I will do that now.
There is a description of an impression that Charlie had concerning the ritual of the Catholic Mass that some folks found to be offensive. This description is something that I drew from my own past and was not an attempt to discredit anyone's faith. As a matter of fact I am Irish Catholic.Actually I am so darned Irish that my full maiden name is Alice Irene O'Donnell. I was raised in the Catholic culture and have attended mass since early childhood.
When I was younger I would look at the faces of the people going up for communion and I saw either boredom or just blank stares as if there was no one home. I was actually going to liken those people to zombies but I thought that it might be offensive so I switched it to sheep. I have always had an issue with the systematic, ritualized, formulaic ways of my own faith. Because of this observation for a number of years I would only take communion at certain times of the year to give it more meaning.
My intention was not to offend anyone, and I am not commenting on some culture that I amonly peripherally aware of. As I said I was raised in this culture and these are the impressions that it left on me. Many of the elements in my stories are drawn from my own personal experiences.
So all of that said if anyone was offended by what I wrote, I am sincerely sorry that you feel that way. My intention was not to offend, only to put into writing the perceptions that I have garnered over the years through varied experience, and of course to try and give you all an engaging tale.
Chapter Twenty
As Don started up his SUV he was thinking hard. There was that crazy librarian at Quantico. He remembered her clearly now. Daryl had been a close friend when they were at the academy together and he had gone out on a rather disastrous date with this woman. Don remembered when Daryl told him about it. He said that she was whacked and a little bit scary.
'What was her name? It was Shelly. Shelly Are… something. Are… buckle, no, Are… berry… betty… bury! That's it'
"Shelly Arbury." Don said aloud. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Megan's number.
"Hey Megan, listen when you get back to the office pull the folder on a Shelly Arbury from the Quantico files." Don maneuvered his vehicle onto the highway skirting some construction cones placed on the side of the on-ramp.
"She was the librarian when I was at the academy. I remembered her because she was kind of off. She dated several of the trainees including Daryl Bliss. Daryl told me that she sort of spooked him and he refused to go out with her again."
"Ok, Don, but what makes you think that she could be our killer?"
"You remember I told you that the handwriting on that note looked familiar? One day she left a message written in one of my notebooks when I had left the table to get some reference materials. I think that if we compare the two we might find a match."
"Do you still have that notebook, Don?"
"Yes, I kept all of my things from Quantico. I'm on my way to my apartment. They should all be down in a box in my storage unit. Megan, this woman was fired after an investigation for inappropriate conduct. If she dated Daryl, maybe she dated the others as well."
"OK, so you're thinking that she is feeling jilted and wants revenge against the men who hurt her. That would fit with the removal of the victim's hearts but why now, why so long after the fact?"
"I don't know, but I have a feeling about this, Megan. We need to know where Shelly Arbury went after she left Quantico, and what she's up to now. Call me when you have the file, alright?"
"Don, I'll call you and let you know what we find out but remember that you are not on this case anymore."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but if the handwriting samples match then you guys can take it from there. I'm not really working the case, I'm just supplying evidence. Consider me a witness. "
"If Merrick finds out he'll have a cow. I'll send David to you to pick up the samples, alright. You are on a temporary leave and I don't want you showing up at the office."
"Fair enough, give me some time to find my old notebooks then I'll go back to Charlie's place. That's where the note is anyway. Have David go there to pick the samples up."
As Don hung up the phone and took the exit off the highway to his neighborhood he didn't notice the freshly painted white step van that switched lanes and took the same off ramp.
Megan arrived back at the office shortly after speaking with Don. David and Colby had also arrived after the morning funeral. She told them to pull the file that Don indicated and was more than a little surprised that they couldn't find it.
"How can it not be here? Didn't they check against the computer files to make sure that they didn't miss anything?"
Colby, who had made the initial call to Quantico, stepped forward. "Virginia was hit with several powerful electrical storms last weekend and their server got hit. These files were all pulled by hand."
Megan swore softly under her breath. "Well, get back on the line with them now. I'm sure that they have their server problems sorted out by now. We need that file A.S.A.P."
"I'm on it."
Colby turned and walked to the far side of the bull pen where his desk was while Megan pulled out her phone and called Don.
Don had parked in the lot next to his apartment building and headed straight for the basement where the storage units were located. After a moment or two the white step van pulled up outside the building along the street only fifty feet from where Don's vehicle was parked.
As Don rummaged through the boxes in his storage unit his cell phone rang loudly.
"Eppes."
"Don, its Megan; the file on Shelly Arbury isn't here. Colby said that the files were pulled by hand last weekend because an electrical storm took out their server, but the file should still be here. I have him contacting Quantico to get it faxed over."
Don sat down thinking about that. "Of all of the files that could have been missed, I don't buy that it just happened to be the one we need. This is no accident, Megan."
"I agree. I have David tracking her movements from the time she left Quantico. Did you find the notebook yet?"
Don got up again and pulled down a box that was on top of a tall stack of other boxes. "I'm still looking for it. Hang on…"
Don set the phone down for a moment so that he could use two hands to grab a hold of the box he was after. Being that it was full of books and notes it was quite heavy. He set it down on the floor and began to rummage through it. It didn't take him long to find the note book he was looking for. Don always kept his things very organized whether it was the CD's in his stereo rack or the items in his storage area.
He picked up the phone again and sat back down on the short bench on the back wall. "I've got it, hang on let me see if I can find the page."
Don cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder as he flipped through the notebook. Finally he came to the page in question. Scrawled across the margin of his note book in black marker the note read…
You're the star in the classroom and out on the course, but
I'm betting that your skills range into other areas as well.
Give me a call; let's see what kind of grade you can earn outside of the lecture hall.
Shelly,
457-8789
"That's pretty forward. Did you call her?"
Don put the top back on the box and lifted it back up to the top of the stack. "No, actually I said something to her right then."
Don took the notebook and stepped out of the storage unit and locked it back up.
"Really, what did you say to her?"
"I told her that I wasn't interested and that I was seeing someone else. She kept trying to get me to call her and it became a bit of a pain so I stopped studying the library. When she was investigated the CO asked me about her since he knew that I spent a lot of time in the library. I told him that she had asked me out, I showed him the note in my book andthat I declined the invitation."
"That's it?"
"Pretty much; I know that several other trainees were being interviewed as well as a couple of graduates. I never really thought about it after that. Look I'm going to get some things together to take over to Charlie's. Why don't you send David along after he finishes up with the background check on Shelly?"
"Ok, Don, but be careful. This woman is a psychopath and she showed an interest in you back at the academy. Just because you didn't actually go out with her, that doesn't preclude you as a possible target."
Don went up to his apartment and decided to pack enough for a long stay at Charlie's house. He was determined to see Charlie through this episode and planned on staying at the family home until his brother showed some real signs of improvement. His small smile and attempt at teasing Don about being the 'King of Detention' earlier was a step in the right direction, but Don didn't kid himself. This was far from over for Charlie. He knew that his brother would suffer the repercussions of this experience for a very long time to come.
After he had packed a large duffel bag he went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He knew that he wouldn't be back for a while and didn't really want to come home to rotting food that would make the place stink. There wasn't a whole lot in there but he decided to throw out everything that was canned or jarred. He moved the small bowl of apples and oranges from the counter onto the bottom shelf, figuring that they would stay fresh for a long time in the cold and then turned to tie up the garbage bag to take out to the dumpster.
He checked his messages and found that he didn't have any then after one more, quick look around he picked up his duffel and threw it over his shoulder then the garbage and left the apartment, locking the door behind him.
Instead of leaving the building by the front door he headed down the hallway to the stairs that led out to the back of the building where the dumpster sat. After depositing his garbage in the receptacle he headed for his SUV parked out near the street side of the parking lot.
As he approached his vehicle he heard the sound of a baby crying which took a moment to register on his thoughts. He threw his duffel into the back of the SUV along with the notebook that he had taken from his storage unit and closed the door. The cries from the baby hadn't stopped and he looked toward the sound.
Out on the street there sat a large bright white step van and it sounded like the cries were coming from inside of it. He looked around then back toward his apartment building to see if there was a parent around who was just getting something quickly, but there was no one in sight. It was one thirty in the afternoon and most people would be at work right now and Don didn't think that there was anyone in his building with an infant.
The cries continued and they sounded like the baby was very distressed. He locked the door to his vehicle and made his way around the end of the chain link fence that separated the parking lot from the street. As he stepped around the corner his hand instinctively went to his holster and he unsnapped his gun but didn't draw the weapon yet.
He walked slowly and carefully up to the cab of the van and looked inside, but there was no one there and no keys in the ignition. Something about this felt wrong and he pulled out his gun keeping it in front of him as he crept down the length of the van to the back which stood open.
He glanced around the street again for any sign of someone but there wasn't anyone there. He carefully rounded the corner and looked into the dark interior of the van checking the corners for an ambush, but again saw no one.
There were quite a few things crammed into the back of this vehicle. It looked like some sort of discount medical supply storage in there. He could see a couple of beat up looking wheelchairs folded and tied up against the far wall with long cam straps. There was what looked to be some kind of lift device sitting on a large handled dolly. It had a name running down the side of the long hydraulic shaft. Sarah.
There were some small boxes scattered around that bore medical symbols on them that could have contained any number of items. He saw several waist belts that weightlifters used to support their backs hanging from pegs along the wall to the right which was covered with several thick hanging pads. They reminded Don of the kind of wall pads that you might find in a psych ward. They were thick quilted drapes that would protect either the wall, or any object that ran into them.
The cries were coming from a very large crate shoved all the way to the back of the van just behind the passenger side of the cab. Don's eyes had a moment to adjust to the dim interior of the van and he carefully climbed up into the back still holding his pistol out in front of him. He made his way carefully back toward the crate and looked in. The thing seemed to be nearly filled with garbage. There were empty cardboard boxes and crumpled up papers and the sound of the baby no longer crying but practically screaming emanated from underneath all of that.
Don looked back out into the street behind him and still there was no one in sight so he held his gun with one hand and started pulling the trash out of the crate with his other. Once he had taken several empty boxes out and crumpled up papers he saw a black plastic trash bag in the bottom of the crate that was moving sporadically.
'Oh my God!'
Don holstered his gun and reached in grabbing the bag with both hands and tore it open. As he did this a woman slipped out from behind the hanging wall pads and leveled a dart gun at her quarry. What Don saw in that plastic bag sent a chill down his spine. It was an electronic doll whose arms and legs were moving back and forth with a tape recorder strapped to its chest. The baby's cries were coming from the recorder.
Don stood up quickly and spun around reaching for his gun but as his eyes fell upon the face of Shelly Arbury she had already pulled the trigger. A sharp pain hit Don in the neck and he reached his hand up as the darkness began to envelope him. The last thing he saw was Shelly stepping forward and pushing him backward into the crate with an evil smile spread across her face.
