Chapter 8: The Slasher

Matt and Jennifer sat at their respective desks, filling in paperwork.

Alex St Clair wandered in half an hour after they arrived.

"Where's your late note Detective?" asked Jennifer.

"Yeah... morning to you too," she replied. "Duncan phoned me this morning and…"

"What you weren't at his place for a change?" asked Jennifer.

Alex smiled. "No. And anyway, stop trying to play sister will ya… I'm here, and he's in South Melbourne, no problems. Anyway… do you want to know why he rang?"

"Ah Alex… what you do…" started Matt.

"No. Nah... nothing like that. What is it with you two? One as bad as the other. We were talking about the 'slasher' case over Dinner the other night…"

"Lovely mealtime conversation," Jennifer chipped in.

"Oh shut up…" Alex said in mock annoyance before continuing. "Duncan phoned me this morning. There was another woman found mutilated this morning, but this one was found down at Flagstaff Gardens."

"Where at Flagstaff Gardens?" asked Jennifer.

"Near the basketball courts, I thought you guys might want to go over there." Alex said, as Matt and Jennifer both got up out of their seats. "Duncan'll meet you there."

"Yep, come on Jen," Matt said, grabbing his over coat and scarf off the coat rack as well as Jennifer's, then handed it to her.

"Alex can you please check through the files and see if our latest victim has any connection to the others. Matt, I'll just go and tell Wolfy what we're doing."

"OK meet you down at the car." he replied as Jennifer turned and headed into Wolfy's office.

-- --

Matt pulled into a car park along William Street where four patrol cars were as well as Duncan's. The whole area was cordoned off with Police tape.

Matt stepped out of the car and closed the car door making his way over to where Duncan was talking to a couple of uniformed officers.

Duncan looked over at them and motioned them to come over.

"Mornin'" Duncan greeted the two detectives as they approached him.

"Dunny," Matt greeted as Jennifer took yet another sip of her coffee as he handed one to Duncan.

"Thanks for that, freezing my nuts off out here." Duncan said, taking the offered cup.

"Thanks for the mental picture Duncan." Jennifer stated sarcastically, pulling a face at him.

"My pleasure," Duncan grinned. "Anyway, this one sounds like it fits in with the case you guys are working on," he said, handing Matt his notes and observations. "Woman found mutilated and dumped in a park"

"OK," Matt said reading through Duncan's notes.

"Look I've got to go so I'll get someone….. H E Y W I L L I A M S!" he yelled.

"Oh ta… thanks for helping Dunny," Jennifer replied.

A Senor Constable walked up to them with a young, no more than 19 year old, Probationary Constable by her side. "Yes Detective?" the older one replied.

"Williams this is Detective Matt Ryan and Detective Jennifer Mapplethorpe, guys this is Senor Constable Emily Williams and Probie Jenny Duncan"

"Hi." Matt said, extending out his hand to the two women.

"Morning." Williams said taking the offered hand.

Jennifer offered her hand out as well. "Jenny, Emily."

"Ah… okay… good. Williams, can you take the Detectives through to where the body was found? I've got a shit load of paperwork to finish today on another case, so I'll see you later," Duncan said as he headed off.

"Yep catch ya Duncan," called Matt.

"Follow me," she replied.

Matt and Jennifer followed Emily and Jenny into the park.

"Ah the body was found here," said Emily. stopping at a clump of trees. "Apparently around 6.15 a.m. by a guy on an early morning walk with his dog. We've checked him out, he's a local and regularly walks his dog down here."

"Didn't notice anything unusual did he?" asked Matt.

"No, he says not. But you never know with a bit of gentle questioning," she replied with a grin. "Duncan tells me you're good at that."

Matt smiled. "Nah… not me… you should see Jennifer here have a go at an unco-operative one."

"Give us a break Matt," Jennifer replied, "At least I don't bounce them off walls."

"Oh yeah, but at least they know when I'm having a go at them," Matt retaliated. "Gentle but deadly she is… messes with their minds."

Jennifer glared at him.

Matt was on a roll.

"See that look Jenny. Now if you were a crim, wouldn't that put the fear of God into you?" he grinned.

"I don't know if I'd even need to be a crim," she replied smiling at Jennifer.

"I reckon you are sailing pretty close to the wind yourself there Matt." Emily stated.

Jennifer smiled at Emily and Jenny. This time a real smile.

As Matt started talking to Emily, Jennifer started a conversation with Jenny.

"How long have you been out of the academy?" Jennifer said, looking over at the young rookie.

"I've been out for 3 weeks." She replied looking over at Jennifer.

"I remember when I first got out of the academy, my first call out was to a pub brawl. That one I'll never forget." Jennifer laughed at the memory.

"Why's that?" Jenny asked curious.

"I don't remember ever being hit so hard," Jennifer grinned, looking over at Jenny. "I only remember being hit in the face, then waking up in hospital a few hours later, I found out from my FTO that I had been knocked out cold and they had to drag me out of there." Jennifer laughed, Jenny looked stunned.

"Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it sounds, these things do happen." Jennifer said, calming the poor young rookie down.

-- --

Jennifer stared at the photo's on the white board, slowly she got up and made her way to the board and hung a sketch of their suspect up there. There was something about these murders that was bugging her, something that she was missing but she just couldn't put her finger on it at this current moment and she felt as though she recognised the sketch of the suspect, but she just didn't know how, maybe she'd seen hims when she was getting coffee, maybe someone she had passed on the street, she just didn't know. Sighing she returned to her seat muttering to herself, ' why do I recognise you?

'

-- --

That night they sat in front of the TV, Jennifer was curled up under a fleece rug that hung loosely off one shoulder and a glass of wine in her other hand, her head resting on Matt's shoulder. Matt had one arm wrapped around her waist, his hand resting on her hip. Jerry had made himself comfortable on the over stuffed cushion that was covered by the fleece rug that Jennifer was curled up underneath.

Matt looked over at Jennifer, slowly she started to drift off.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll head to bed." Jennifer said, looking up at Matt.

"Sounds good." Matt replied, taking Jennifer's wine glass from her hand. "You head in, and I'll turn everything off out here.

"Mmmm, thanks," Jennifer said, walking up the hallway to the bathroom.

Walking back into the living room after rinsing out Jennifer's wine glass and putting it into the dishwasher, he looked down at where Jerry was now curled up in a ball amongst the fleece rug where Jennifer was sitting only moments before.

"Didn't take you long, did it?" He said, shaking his head and smiling at Jerry as he switched off the TV followed by the living room light, patting Jerry goodnight.

-- --

Waking up the following morning, Jennifer found herself wrapped up in Matt's warm embrace. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was 6:53am.

Turning onto her side, she looked down at the still slumbering face of Matt, even though he was sound asleep, he still had that sense of safety and protection that she loved about him.

Running a hand over his chest, she propped herself up on an elbow as Matt slowly awoke. She smiled as he slowly opened his eyes, her smile spread further as he ran a hand through her hair and pulled her face close to him for a kiss. "Hey," he mumbles as Jennifer kisses him back. "Hey yourself."

"Do you..." But any further conversation was halted when Jennifer threw back the sheets and made a dash for the bathroom to upend the contents of her stomach.

-- --

Walking into work later that morning, Jennifer plopped down on the seat in front of her desk.

"God, you look like shit," Alex stated, looking at Jennifer, as she placed a cup of hot coffee in front of her before sitting down at her own desk.

Looking up at Alex, Jennifer glared at her, "Thanks heaps, that made me feel a whole lot better."

Jennifer looked down at the coffee cup in front of her, 'Oh god, not again,' Jennifer thought as the smell of the coffee entered her nostrils.

Shooting up from her seat, she bolted for the ladies room.

Tbc...