Thank you as ever to Hollie! Enjoy!
Five months had flown by since Jess and Callum had been married, and it was now the balmy month of May. They had shared their first Christmas as husband and wife alone, spending the day in bed watching old movies and eating their way through the massive Christmas lunch that Jess had made. New Year was spent in Cornwall with Michelle, Robert and Andy. The family had gone to the beach to watch the fireworks with some of Michelle and Robert's friends, and although it was freezing on the beach, it had been the best fun. Andy and Callum had gone all Neanderthal on them and made a campfire from scratch, just to prove they could, and Michelle had brought with her some champagne and a few nibbles. Jess and Callum had snuggled into each other as they saw in the New Year; they both had a feeling that this year would be one of the best of their lives, and they weren't wrong.
Shortly after New Year, they had finally managed to both book a week off at the same time, and Jess had excitedly booked a honeymoon for them in New York. It wasn't a typical honeymoon destination, but it suited them perfectly. The bright lights, the fast pace of life, it was amazing. They went skating in Central Park, went to the Natural History museum, spent a whole day shopping, went to the Empire State building, visited Central Park Zoo, and on the Friday before they went home, they saw a show on Broadway. Neither could deny that their honeymoon had been amazing. They took so many pictures, collected so many memories, and just had a brilliant time. They were sad to leave this magnificent city, so they promised each other that for their first wedding anniversary, they would come back.
Since February, Sun Hill had been plagued by a violent rapist. Over the four months that he had been active, he had raped seven girls, and had put one of them in a coma. The media, once they had caught hold of the story, had absolutely torn into Sun Hill, slating the cops, saying they were incapable of doing their jobs and keeping Canley safe. There was nothing more infuriating than for the team to see the media slating them when they were trying so hard to catch this guy and lock him up.
They only had a partial print for him, and a vague description from some of his victims had informed them that the man was in his mid 50's, greying brown hair, brown eyes, overweight and about 5'8 in height. There was no connection between any of the women; the age range of the women attacked was between 17 and 54. There was no pattern to his attacks, except for the fact that all the women had been driving at the time, pulled over by a supposed unmarked police car. When they stopped for the fake policeman, they were then knocked out and raped. This still didn't help them though, as none of the women knew what car he was driving or anything else that could have given them a lead.
At the minute, the only thing they could do was sit and wait for him to resurface, but it was so infuriating knowing he was out there and he was taunting them, knowing that they had no clue who he was.
When the first rape had happened, a team had been put together to deal with it, led by DI Manson, and slowly, as the other rapes happened, the team had grown bigger. But, now that they were still no closer to finding him, the team had been reduced back to its core team, comprising of DI Manson, DS Moss, DC Webb, Sergeant Smith, PC Taylor and PC Stone. This team had been with the case since the beginning, Jess and Leon being the ones to attend the first rape. While everyone else had returned to their normal duties, their time was solely focused on capturing the sick bastard who had ruined seven women's lives.
The day was warm, only a light breeze in the air. Jess pulled on a flowery pink and purple skirt, teaming it with a white top and her trusty black birkenstocks. Callum lumbered into the bathroom to shave, and when he reappeared, still bleary eyed, he shrugged on his blue polo shirt and dark blue jeans, stuffing his feet into his white trainers. They walked out of the house hand in hand, enjoying the quietness of the morning and the warmth from the sun.
"Any new leads?" Callum asked, referring to the rapist case.
"No, and I don't think there will be for a while. If we knew a pattern to the rapes, then we could lure him out somehow, but apart from the whole thing of him pretending to be a cop, we have nothing...still." Jess said sadly. She wanted justice for these women, they deserved justice.
"Let's hope something comes up soon. How long has it been since the last attack?" Callum questioned as they crossed the road.
Jess quickly thought back, "Just over a month. We're thinking that he's either moved to a different patch, or he's about to attack again real soon. We've sent all the information we know to the surrounding boroughs just in case he has moved to their patch, but I honestly think he's just biding his time, waiting for the media storm to die down before attacking again."
"Either way, it's not good." Callum said.
"No, it's not. I better get up to the briefing room, see if anything new has come in. I'll see you later." Jess said with a smile, reaching up on tip toe to give Callum a kiss.
"See you later Mrs Stone. Let's hope today is the day you get a lead!" Callum shouted as Jess walked into the building, waving over her shoulder.
No new leads. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Jess wasn't disappointed anymore though; she knew that it was unlikely they would get any new leads until there was another attack. She sat at the table with Smithy and Leon, once again going through what little information they had to see if there was anything they missed.
"All the attacks happened in the early hours of the morning." Leon muttered, more to himself than the other two as he scribbled notes down. "And they all happened in a nearish vicinity of each other." Leon suddenly jumped up and started going through the drawers.
"What are you looking for?" Smithy asked curiously.
"A map." Leon replied, pulling papers out the drawers.
"Like this one?" Jess said, handing one over.
"Cheers." Leon said quickly, opening the map up and pulling the details of each of the rapes out his pile of papers.
"What are you thinking?" Smithy asked, sensing that Leon was onto something.
"I don't know why we didn't see it before!" Leon said excitedly, plotting on the map where each rape had taken place.
"Seen what before?" Jess asked, leaning forward to watch what he was doing.
"Look, he's moving in a pattern." Leon pointed out as he plotted the last rape, "Here's the motorway right. And these roads around it, the dots are where he raped the women. It's the alphabet! So our first woman was raped here, on Albany Lane, then the next one over here on Burchfield Common, then here on Canterbury Street, then Dargets Hill, then Ellis Road, Farmers Lane and finally Grange Road."
"You're right, Leon you clever man!" Jess said excitedly.
"Of course I'm right." Leon said with a smile.
"Don't get cocky now, this could be pure coincidence." Smithy said, not wanting to put a downer on this, but because if they were wrong, it could have tragic consequences.
"But Sarge, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Leon said.
"He does have a point." Jess added.
Smithy thought about it for a minute and asked, "What roads have we got in the area beginning with H?"
"Highborough Lane, Harriet Road and Harmen Close. That's the ones in the vicinity where the other rapes have taken place." Leon said, marking the roads in a blue pen.
"I'd put my money on Harmen close." Smithy said.
"Why?" Jess asked.
"It's secluded and out of the way of everything else." Smithy explained.
"I disagree. My bets would be on Harriet road. That's the A road which joins up with the motorway, so the woman would have less places to run or escape to without getting herself killed by a car. It's also virtually empty at the time that the rapist seems to attack at." Jess explained.
Smithy nodded slowly, then more vigorously, "Brilliant work you two. Let's go put this forward to DI Manson, see what he thinks."
Leon and Jess smiled at each other, praying that this lead would prove true.
The DI was shocked to see that Leon had indeed cracked the pattern, and Jess' theory of where the next attack would take place highly impressed him. He called in his team to the briefing room, placing a picture of Leon's map on the board.
"PC Taylor has cracked the pattern of the rapes." DI Manson said. This was met with shocked silence.
"What is it?" Stevie asked.
"Leon? Seeing as you worked it out, you explain it." Neil said with a nod to Leon, who quickly got up to address his colleagues.
"It's the alphabet." he said with a smile.
"Wow Leon, some discovery that is." Mickey said with a chuckle.
"No Mickey, the first rape happened on a road beginning with A, the next happened on a road beginning with B, then C, then D, E, F and G. I've gone over it twice and twice more to make sure I got the locations right, and I have. Now, in the vicinity of the other rapes, there are three roads beginning with H. Highborough Lane, Harriet Road and Harmen Close. Jess has a theory where the next attack is going to take place." Leon said, handing over to Jess.
"Ok, my theory is that he's going to attack next on Harriet Road." Jess said, pointing it out on the map.
"But that's an A road right? Surely there would be no chance of it working? Someone would notice?" Stevie asked.
"At the times that he normally attacks, between 10 at night and 3 in the morning, there's barely anyone on the roads. Those who are on the roads aren't paying attention to what happens at the side of the road. Think about it, an unmarked police car pulls you over. You have no reason to believe that he's not legit, so you stop and get out of the car. Once you realise he's not a copper, you can't run anywhere for fear of being killed by a car, you can't scream for help because no-one will hear you, you can't get a signal on your mobile, you are trapped." Jess said, and she slowly saw the other officers comprehending what she had said.
"Have the dream team come up with when the next attack is going to be?" Mickey said with a wink.
"We thought we better leave some work for CID." Leon said with a smile.
"Oh ha ha. Well now that we know this, can we put some kind of operation together?" Stevie asked in the direction of the DI.
"How can we when we don't even know when his next planned attack is?" the DI asked.
"We're 99% sure where he's going to attack next, his last attack was over a month ago so he must be itching to prove he can still do it, and now that the media storm has died down, it would be the perfect time." Stevie explained.
"What's your idea?" the DI asked, perching on the corner of the desk.
"We get together a team of female officers, and basically we drive up and down Harriet Road between 10 pm and 3 am to try and lure him to one of us rather than an innocent woman." Stevie said to silence from her colleagues. "We'd have support nearby ready to jump in when we identify our guy."
"That's really risky, uses a lot of resources and unlikely to work." Mickey said.
"Cheers for the support Webb!" Stevie said with a glare.
"Mickey's right." the DI said.
"I think it could work, if we had a better idea of when the next attack was planned." Jess put forward.
"Thanks Jess." Stevie said with a smile.
At that point they were interrupted by Callum, "Gov, we've just had a call from a woman saying she's being flashed from an unmarked police car on Harriet Road."
"That must be him surely? Although he's not following his normal pattern?" Jess queried.
"Is she still on the phone?" Neil asked hurriedly.
"Yes sir." Callum answered.
"Right, I want you to pair up, get into cars, head to Harriet Road. I'll get her location triangulated and I want you to box him in and stop him. Understood?" Neil ordered. The officers nodded and ran out to catch the rapist.
"Hello there, my name is DI Manson. What's yours?" Neil asked the woman as soon as he put the headset on.
"Polly Dwyers. What's happening? Isn't he a policeman?" she asked in a frightened voice.
"We don't think so. None of our police officers are on Harriet Road, but that doesn't mean he's not from another station. Now Polly, can you still see him in your rear view mirror?" Neil asked gently.
"Yeah, I can. Shall I pull over or not?" Polly asked in a quiet voice.
"No, do not pull over. I've sent officers to your location, and they're going to stop him, you just keep driving carefully. Can you see what this man looks like at all?" Neil asked slowly.
"Erm, he's got greying hair, that's all I can tell you." Polly said uncertainly.
"That's brilliant, well done Polly. Now I just want you to keep talking to me, and tell me when you can see my officers. They're in marked police cars. If the man panics and tries to over take you to get away from my officers, let him, don't try to stop him yourself. Understand?" Neil asked.
"Sure. Who is he?" Polly asked, not quite sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"We're not sure. But don't worry, you'll be fine. My officers should be with you in a minute." Neil said as he watched the progress of the cars on the map.
"I've just gone past the service station." Polly informed him.
"Great. Callum, can you find out how far they are from the service station please." Neil asked.
"Sierra Oscar 30 to 55." Callum said into his radio.
"Go ahead Callum." Smithy replied.
"How far away are you from the service station just before junction 10, over?" Callum asked.
Smithy checked the next sign as Will whizzed past it, "Erm, about 3 miles, over." Smithy replied.
"Ok, Polly Dwyers has just driven past it, so you should be catching up to her soon, over." Callum informed him.
"What car is she driving? What car is the suspect driving, over?" Smithy asked.
"Gov, Smithy wants to know what car's they're driving." Callum asked.
"Polly, can you tell me what colour car you're driving and what make it is?" Neil asked Polly.
"I'm driving a dark blue Ford KA." Polly answered.
"Good, and what about the unmarked police car?" Neil answered as Callum relayed the information to Smithy.
"Um, he's driving a silver Ford focus." she replied.
"Brilliant." Neil replied.
"Callum, we've got them in sight. Stevie and Mickey have gone up ahead, Ben and Nate are closing in on the left, Jess and Will are on the right, me and Leon have got the back, over." Smithy said.
"Callum, tell them to hold their position, make sure that Polly is far enough away." Neil asked.
"Smithy, the Gov has just said to make sure that Polly is far enough away before you go in, over." Callum informed him.
"Copy that, over." Smithy confirmed.
"Polly, you should be able to see my officers behind you, there should be four police cars. Can you see them?" Neil asked.
"Yeah, I can hear them as well. What should I do?" she asked, and once again that fearful note had returned to her voice.
"You keep going. Is there enough room behind you for one of the cars to move in front of him?" Neil asked.
"Just about, but I'm not going the full speed limit. If I did, they could move in quickly before he catches up with me." Polly said.
"It's ok, you just keep the pace you're at." Neil said.
"Callum, he's swerved over onto the hard shoulder and has accelerated ahead, over." Smithy said urgently as Leon swerved over to follow the car.
"Polly, has the car with the man in just undertaken you on the hard shoulder?" Neil asked quickly.
"Yeah he has. What do I do now?" Polly asked, relief in her voice.
"What I want you to do is come to Sun Hill police station so we can take your statement. Is that ok?" Neil asked.
"Sure. I'll make my way there as soon as possible. Thank you." she said gratefully as she hung up.
The four police cars tore after the unmarked fake police car. Stevie and Mickey were right behind the car, followed closely by the other three cars. Without warning, the car halted to a stop, swerving so it was pointing to the field next to the A road. The man jumped out of the car, making for the field. He struggled to climb over the fence but eventually tumbled over just as the eight other officers had pulled over and were following him.
He hid in the bushes, watching them run across the field looking for him. The officers searched the trees and immediately ordered aerial help. The man was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath before running again. He heard a noise to his left, and as he looked around, Stevie threw herself at him, trying to pin him to get handcuffs on. He knocked her over easily, covering her mouth with his big, sweaty hand. She wriggled, trying to get free. Her radio had been knocked to the side as she had fallen on the floor, and she desperately tried to reach it.
The man was rearing above her, pinning her to the floor with his weight. As he was about to lean down, Jess jumped on his back, knocking him off balance and allowing Stevie to get free. She moved back and grabbed her radio, getting to her feet. The man roared in anger, thrusting Jess against a tree, his hand tight around her neck. Stevie radioed for the others to help her; she couldn't pull the man off Jess. He bent forward, his lips accosting hers. She couldn't turn her head, so she did the next best thing; she bit his tongue as hard as she could when it forced itself into her mouth. She gagged as warm blood trickled from the cut on his tongue into her mouth. She pushed him away and he stumbled and fell to his knees. She spat out the salty blood, trying desperately to keep the contents of her stomach down.
He screamed in pain, his hand covering his mouth as the other officers finally crashed into the bushes, Smithy and Will securing him with handcuffs. Jess leaned against a tree trunk and heaved up her breakfast. She grabbed a tissue out her pocket, wiping her mouth, clutching her stomach.
"Jess, you ok?" Stevie asked, hurrying over, where Jess was being sick again.
"I bit his tongue; I had his blood in my mouth." Jess said weakly. Her face was pale and clammy as she tried to keep her stomach from expelling its contents again.
"Come on, let's get you back to nick." Stevie said kindly, offering Jess some water. She took it gratefully, swigging some down and spitting it out, before drinking some.
"Are you ok? It looked like he knocked you to the ground pretty hard." Jess asked as soon as she had recovered somewhat.
Stevie felt the lump at the back of her head gingerly, "Yeah, I've got a lump on my head which I guess the FME should check over, but yeah, I'm good, thanks to you."
"I think we both saved each other to be honest." Jess said with a small laugh.
"I'll say." Stevie replied, smiling at Jess.
Once Jess and Stevie had been cleared by FME, and Bruce Mitchell had been put safely in the cells, DI Manson gave a debriefing.
"Thanks to the efforts of this whole station, we have finally caught the serial rapist who has raped seven women in the last four months. Even though we faced a horrific battering from the media, we made it through, and we got a result. Special thanks, however, must go to PC Leon Taylor for figuring out the pattern. And PC Jessica Stone for her correct theory on where the next attack would take place. Thanks to you all, we prevented another rape and locked away a very dangerous man. You should all be proud of yourself, and I'm buying the first round. That's all." Neil smiled as his officers cheered when he said he was buying the first round. He made his way up to Jess and Stevie who were chatting with Leon. "Are you two ok?"
"Yes thanks Gov, I've just got a lump on the back of my head and some bruising to my back and stomach, but yeah, I'm good. I'll go and get us some tables at the pub, see you all there soon." Stevie said, waving as she picked her coat up off her desk and left CID.
"And you PC Stone?" Neil asked.
"Just light bruising to my neck and cheek, but I'm fine thanks Gov." she said with a smile.
"Good. Well done you two, extraordinarily good work today. You should both be proud. I'll be letting the Inspector know about how impressed I am with your work." Neil said with what passed as a smile.
"Cheers Gov." they said as they followed Stevie out to the pub.
When they got to the pub, it wasn't hard to find their colleagues. By far the most boisterous group in there, they had taken up at least half the pub and were getting stared at and glared at by the other half of the pub. Jess immediately found Callum and walked over, sitting next to him.
"Hey you." she said happily.
"Jess! Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Callum asked, frantically checking her over, noting the marks on her neck and face.
"I'm fine honey, relax. He didn't hurt me, just some bruising, but that will go in a few days. Stevie got hurt more than me." Jess said as she leaned her head on his shoulder. He slipped an arm round her, kissing the top of her head.
"I wouldn't worry about her if I were you, apparently the FME said that our rapist nearly had his tongue severed." Will said with a cocky grin. Jess' eyes widened, and then she laughed.
"What's so funny?" Callum asked, confused.
"When he had her pinned against the tree and was trying to kiss her, she bit his tongue. Nearly right off from what FME said." Will said with a grin.
"Seriously?" Callum asked in shock. Jess nodded.
"Yep, he bled all into my mouth; it was the most revolting taste ever." Jess said with a shiver. "FME had to take bloods and gave me some boosters just in case he had any nasties."
"She puked for England as well." Leon added as he placed a drink in front of Jess.
"Thanks Leon." she said gratefully.
"That's my girl." Callum said proudly, "Are you sure you're ok though?"
"Yes honey, I'm good. I feel fine. Now let's drink, and get home and go to bed." Jess suggested, kissing Callum on the cheek.
"Please, get a room!" Will said in disgust.
Jess shot him a look before kissing her husband, deeper this time, "We will, don't you worry."
Their laughter filled the pub.