AN:Thank you Pole! I know I make mistakes. Please be patience with me.
Enjoy the reading and please use the reviews. I'd like to know what you thought about it.
Chapter 7 – The house of a rapist
Sara was following Brass's car through the traffic of Las Vegas. She was still with her thoughts about Betty Wilson, when Brass stopped his car at the front of an apartment building. Sara stepped out of her Tahoe and looked up at the building. The building was all but fashioned. The façade was filthy, and you could see clotheslines going from one window to another, full of clothes. There were four floors, and Carl's apartment was on the second one.
She still remembered the first time she had been there. There were children playing at the entrance and she thought that it was an irony that none of these children were victims of Carl's.
Brass was heading to the entrance when he looked at her. Her jaw tensed and the look fixed on the second floor. He was studying her, but couldn't see her eyes that where hidden behind her sunglasses. Sara sensed that Brass was inspecting her, and looked at him, bringing him a little smile to let him know that she was fine. He returned her smile and entered in the building followed by Sara
There wasn't any elevator so they took the stairs. There was dirt everywhere. A couple of rubbish bags piled up in the corner of the landing, tins of beer spreaded through the floor, papers, and things that Sara didn't want to know. The smell was sickening, so they were forced to breath through their mouths. In short it wasn't the best place to live, but now didn't care.
When they reached the second floor they could see an officer waiting for them at the door number 7. Brass greeted the man with a nod.
"The owner says that there's no one at the apartment, Captain" Agent Travis said to the detective. He looked then at Sara who was behind Brass and nodded to her. She returned the nod and spoke to both of them.
"Do we have the keys?"
"Yes, ma'am. I was waiting for you to open the apartment." He said none attached.
"Ok, let's go in" said Brass, rearching for his gun. Both men took places in both sides of the door. Brass had a hand on the gun and used the other one to knock on the door. "Las Vegas P.D., open up!" He said. There wasn't any indication of movement or any reply so he made a sign to the officer to open the door with the keys.
Once the door was opened they step into the apartment, leaving Sara outside. About thirty seconds later, Brass head appeared.
"It's clear, you can enter now" he said to Sara who was still waiting kit in hand in the corridor.
She entered the apartment, once again. Three years had passed and everything was still the same. The same awful furniture, the same chaos of papers, and clothes every where. Seemed like the apartment and the building were a package.
She started to inspect the kitchen drawers, searching for any clue that related the killer to the victim, but the only thing she found were trading stamps, kitchen knives and a pair of magazines.
She then, went to the living room or what it seemed. There was a sofa in front of an old TV and a coffee table. At the table there were two bottles of beer. She took a sample of the bottles hoping one was used by the killer, and baggage it marking it with her initials. She looked under the sofa, and found a pair of pants. It was a child's underwear. She looked to Brass, who had his eyes fixed in the piece of cloth that Sara was holding. She shook her head with sadness.
"I think bad habits never die" said Brass to her. She didn't respond. She put the cloth in a bag and stood up, heading to the bedroom. The bed was unmade. She closed the curtains, put on the glasses and turned the ALS on, in search of other evidences. She found remains of semen and vaginal contributions. She took samples of both of them.
The memories of three years ago returned to her mind. She did the same for Betty, now she was doing it but for other reasons, not to catch him, but to catch the killer of a rapist. This made her sick and furious. She knew that it was possible that there was another victim of Carl's appetite, but it had to wait until they solve the murder. That made her sad, the fact that Carl was punished for one crime when it was possible he committed another one and didn't pay for this one.
A sound caugh her attention. It was a 'bip'. It only sound once. So she stay still since another 'bip' reached her ears. It was a phone she was sure of it, and by the sound she guessed that the battery was very low. She heard it again under the bed, so she looked there and found the item. It was a cell phone. She tried to see anything but at this moment the battery died. A sigh of frustration escape from her lips.
"I found a phone under the bed, but the battery is dead" She look at it again "Maybe Archie could examined it"
"Yeah, but please, be nice with him, ok? Brass told to her.
"I'm nice to him" She said defensively. Seeing Brass face, she modified her respond "Ok, maybe I was a little hard with him. Don't worry…I…apologize to him when we'll back to the Lab" She added shyly
"You're done, yet?
"No, I still need to check the bathroom, then I'll be done." she said opening the door that lead to the bathroom. It was dark in there so she turned on the light. A simple shower, a washbasin and a dirty toilet where the only things that she found at simple view. Under the washbasin she found a basket with a pair of used condoms. There was a cabinet, she opened it and saw a bottle on methadone half empty. She took it all and baggage it.
When Sara was exiting of the bathroom another sound reach their ears. It was like a sob. They stood quiet looking at each other. The sob could be heard again, it came from the closet in front of the bed. Sara could saw her reflexion in the mirror of the door of the closet. Carefully, she left her kit on the floor and reached her gun. Brass was aiming his gun and slowly stepping to the closet. He positioned it in the left side of the closed, meanwhile Sara was pointing the front with her gun. She didn't want to shoot anybody, so she had to be sure of what she'll see in order to keep her calm. She took a breath and nodded to Brass who was now opening the sliding door of the closet.
Inside the closet they found a child curled up, trembling to the sight of two guns pointing to his face. He was scared to death. and the sobbings increceased. At this point, Sara was aware of the poor child, sheathed the gun, and run to the kid. She knelt down in front of him and started to talk to him.
"Don't worry; It's ok...shh..." She tried to reach the boy with her hand but the boy refused any contact with her. He was only wearing a diaper and a dirty t-shirt "Ok, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you" She said with a calming voice. "Are you hurt?" She asked to the boy, who shook his head still refusing the contact with the woman. "Could you tell me your name, kiddo?" she said in a sweat voice that surprise Brass who was calling for an ambulance, in case the boy needed it.
"My..."He started to said in a trembling and husky voice..."I'm Junior...Carl Roth, jr" His eyes were full of terror, and his little hands were pressed together like he was praying.
"It's ok, Carl" Sara said in the sweetness tone she could and smiling at the young boy "I'm Sara...and this big man, is Jim Brass. You don't have to be afraid of us, we work for the police" The boy seemed to get down his defenses. Sara extended a hand to help him to get out of the closet. "Come on, sweety, let's get out of this awful closet, ok?"
The boy looked at Brass who was smiling to him. He then looked to the hand that Sara was offering him. With a shaky hand he took it in his and slowly he got out of the closet. Every step was painful to the boy. He was scared, but there was something inside him that was telling him to trust the woman in front of him. He took a few indecisive steps towards Sara, till he reached her arms completely, resting his head in Sara's shoulder. Sara could feel the tears of the boy trespassing her t-shirt. She was sorry for the little boy. He smelled badly, but she didn't care. He was safe for now and she tried to transfer that feeling to the little boy.
She wrapped her arms, enveloping the little boy in her embrace and shouting words of comfort. Brass was watching them with sadness. After what seem like an eternity, the paramedics arrived and tried to take the boy from Sara but Junior didn't break the embrace with her. She tried to explain to him but he refused to listen and started crying out loud.
Sara and Brass shared a look. They now need to deal with a little boy about five years old, scared to death and a possible witness of the man or men who took Carl Roth's and killed him, leaving this little boy fatherless.
TBC