Over to Karen and Jerry

Chapter 4

Karen cursed the early morning calls. Not because she wasn't up but because she had so much to do in the mornings. All the animals needed to be fed and turned out and she had a sick horse to tend to. She hated to leave the barn before everything was fed but that was the only way to hear on the phone before everything was eating peacefully.

"Wesson."

"Wesson, it's Sackett. There's been a shooting and it looks like the ones that're after the Gorens. I need you and Wilkes to get out there now."

"Have you already called him?"

"I did, but he didn't answer. He never does first thing in the morning. How do you do it?"

"I'll give him a call. Can you fax me the information, please?"

"It's already been done. Get on this. I'm getting tired of hearing about it from upstairs."

"Your wish, captain."

"Too many Disney movies, Wesson." Sackett sounded like she was smiling.

"I'm a product of my environment. Good bye, Captain."

In spite of her flip attitude, Karen was as concerned about the cases as her captain.

She hit speed dial on her phone, let it ring once, hung up and hit it again. It went straight to voice mail. "Pick up the damned phone, Jerry." Karen yelled.

Jerry's sleepy voice picked up almost immediately. "I'm here. Wassup?" he asked groggily.

"Murder, mayhem and madness, Jerry. Time to rise and shine."

"You are annoying first thing in the morning." He grumbled.

"I know but at least Sackett calls me first."

Jerry groaned. "What's the national emergency?"

"Another shooting."

"Nobody respects a persons right to sleep in." he growled sounding sleepier.

"Nobody sleeps in like you, Jerry. Jerry. Jerry?!" there was no answer on the other end. "Alright, but you forced me to sing to you. 'Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad…"

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Jerry's voice boomed back at her. "You just love to torture me."

"Who me? Get up, slugabed."

"I'm up. Do you want to come get me?"

"You come out here. I'll put the coffee on and have some breakfast here for you. I still have to finish feeding the creatures.

Jerry mumbled something like 'glutton for punishment' and hung up. Karen laughed and hung up the phone. She went to finish feeding the animals. Jerry is a terrible morning person and she'd have time to finish her morning chores and take a shower before he showed up. Even if she weren't quite done he'd make himself a cup of coffee and eat some of the doughnuts she was going to throw into the oven before she climbed into the shower. They'd be done for them to eat.

Jerry was standing in the kitchen, freshly showered, shaved, and drinking a cup of coffee when Karen emerged from her shower. He glared at her. "Singing was a dirty trick, but the coffee is good so I'll forgive you."

Karen laughed. "The captain was complaining about you not answering her call again. Why do you do that? It drives her nuts."

Jerry shrugged a small smile touching his mouth. "If she could wake me up, she might think anyone but you can. I hear her, I just choose not to respond."

"If she ever hears you, you'll be in so much trouble."

"Unless you tell she'll never find out." Jerry pointed out. "I made your tea."

"Thanks. Do you want some? It's better for you than coffee."

"I'll stick to my coffee. You'd get a better boost out of coffee."

"Save your speech. You know I can't stand the stuff."

"And yet you do such a beautiful job of making it." Jerry teased. "I got the fax from the Captain."

"Good, let's go see what the world did to this poor man."

"Right behind you."

The corpse was dressed like Bobby would dress. He was a large man, but his hair was the wrong color and he had once had a hat on. Bobby didn't wear any hats except the occasional stocking hat. The man was also quite a bit older than Bobby and carried a briefcase. Bobby carried his portfolio. These were small but significant differences.

He had been walking to a large car similar in size and color to Gorens, but again the differences were slight. From far away you wouldn't be able to tell that this car was a Cadillac not an Oldsmobile. The color was equally dark and it would be in the shade of a full moon.

"The similarities are eerie." Jerry said. "I guess whoever did this didn't realize he wasn't even in the same neighborhood."

"Unless he's trying to get our attention by shooting people all over the city that look like them." Karen suggested soberly.

"So we have to put out a warning to all people of the same body style as either Bobby or Alex?"

Karen stared at her partner. "Not like that. Who else in the department looks like them? So far it's all been people who bear a passing resemblance to them. Who else looks like them?"

"We do." Jerry told her. "In the right light, we could be mistaken for their twins. Are we next?"

Jerry hastily stood up and faced his partner. "We need to get back to the squad room. I think we need to talk to Sackett about this."

Samantha Sackett stared at her two youngest detectives and mulled over what they had suggested. "Do we have anything in the way of motive here? These can't be random shootings. There's too much pattern here."

"The only link we have are the likenesses to Bobby and Alex and the fact that they all work for NYPD in some capacity." Jerry commented thoughtfully.

"That we know of. It's starting to spread out this way. Is there some reason it is just now getting out here? Some event that triggers these attacks?"

"I haven't seen anything about them in the papers. Is there something in a magazine or newsletter that is spread throughout the upper echelon of the force that Karen and I wouldn't know about?"

"No. I want you two to start wearing vests. If you look so much like them physically, I want you to be as protected as possible."

Karen made a face. "This guy got shot in the head, Captain. Then they shot him in the body. Vests aren't going to protect much."

"We're not taking any chances. Vests, that's an order."

"Yes, Captain."

"Go get them now. I don't want to see you leave without them on. Go!"

Karen and Jerry left the captains office. Karen looked thunderous. Jerry bumped her shoulder lightly. "Look at it this way. We have a good excuse to go see Bobby and Alex. You know you've been talking about visiting with them for a while."

"Under different circumstances."

"What is one of your favorite sayings? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?"

Karen swatted him on the shoulder, but she was smiling.

TBC