close to retirement, but I am beginning to feel like I’m losing my mind. I saw Johnny, or who I was pretty sure was Johnny, on the train. I knew we had him when he made eye contact with me and took off running. I’m getting old, but man, I ran with everything I had. He was fast and agile. I knew I probably would lose him, but I was determined to keep going. Suddenly, this woman blocked my way. Can you believe it? I was yelling at her to move, that she was letting a criminal get free. The weird thing was, she kept telling me she could help me. Like, what the hell? Do I look that desperate? Okay, maybe I am. Anyway, she put her hand on my shoulder. Very strange. Then I went to brush it off and had a sudden feeling that I couldn’t. At the same time, all of a sudden, I knew where to find Johnny. Does this sound really crazy? Because I can’t get over it. It was so weird.”
“Well, it sounds a little crazy, but you are a great detective, and I believe you would have found Johnny regardless. Maybe this lady thought you were cute?”
“Funny. She was young and athletic. I don’t believe she was hitting on me. Maybe I should visit the office counselors.”
“Man, you are really freaked out about this, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I was close to turning in my badge today, thinking that I have finally lost it.”
“Did you get her name or anything?”
“No. When we went back to the location where I ran into her, she was gone. I was honestly going to give her a ticket for interfering with a police chase,” Jaxon said with a chuckle.
“Well, buddy, I think you need to chalk this one up to a thirty-second date and move on,” Peter said with a smirk on his face. “It might be the last date you get in a while, so play it up really well.”
“Thanks for the support,” he replied as they both had a good laugh, threw their drinks away, and headed back to the office.
Chapter 5
Jaxon grabbed his keys and headed home to the train station to head home for the day. It was a tiresome day, with everyone going out of their way to wander to his desk and congratulate him. He preferred they all just left him alone, which he knew they would have preferred also. He turned on his favorite country station on his iPod and sang (badly) with the music. Jaxon began thinking of the next time he could take off for vacation and stay home alone, working on projects around his house. Jaxon stopped by his mailbox before heading into the house. A few bills and a handwritten note were waiting for him. He read the note as he walked inside. He stopped dead in his tracks, and the blood drained from his face, looking around the lot and up and down the street as he closed the door and locked it. The note had only one sentence on it.
Jaxon, I told you I could help you.
He knew who it was from, but how did she get his home address, or name, for that matter? For the first time in many years, Jaxon locked all the windows and doors. He searched his house, then after finding nothing out of the ordinary, placed his Glock on the table next to his chair and grabbed a beer. He thought of calling Peter but decided it could wait until the next day.
Sleep outwitted him that night. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He went to his home office and turned on his computer. He tried reading his most recently closed case, looking for hints of the woman who had stopped him on the chase. She had to have met him or read about him somewhere, which means that she had to be affiliated with the case somehow. After thirty minutes of searching, Jaxon slammed his fist down on the desk, frustrated that he couldn’t find the connection.
Retirement still on his mind, he knew that he had to find another case and keep going before he began to think he was losing his mind and second guessing everything he was doing. His mind wasn’t ready to quit. Browsing all the optional cases, Jaxon found an outstanding search for Reginald Grey—kidnapped three women, held them captive for weeks, and then murdered them through asphyxiation. He was last seen three years earlier right in their hometown, but with no new/recent victims, he fell off the radar. Perfect case to begin questioning all witnesses again. It was a tough case. Hopefully, Peter would agree, but Jaxon knew that he had pull on Peter, and he would agree.
Chapter 6
Thursday morning was rough due to lack of sleep and a mind not shutting off. Jaxon brewed himself a large pot of coffee and filled his mobile cup before he left for work. This was one time when he wished he kept a box of donuts around because he sure could use some extra carbs to wake him up. He did a double check of all his windows and doors, then got behind the wheel of his car and headed toward the office.
“Wow! Jaxon, you look like crap! Did you have an all-nighter? And if so, why wasn’t I invited?”
“Thanks a lot, Peter. You know I have to work on my beauty sleep. It doesn’t come natural like yours. I had lots of things running through my mind all night, so I pulled up all open cases and started perusing through. I think I found the next case I would like us to work on. It’s a tough one, but it will definitely keep us occupied.”
“You know we’re allowed to have a couple days off before rushing into the next case, right? I’m glad to see you might have put retirement on hold, but take a breather and enjoy our success for a little longer.”
“Honestly, Peter, I can’t get that woman out of my mind. I researched the previous file and found nothing. She knows about me. How is that possible? Look at the note I found in my mailbox. I’m unlisted, and we never exchanged names, so how did she find me? Is my phone tapped, or am I wearing a bug, a sign stating my name and address? I’m really freaked out about this.”
“Hopefully, sarcasm will make you feel more normal. Let me see that. This piece of paper was in your mailbox? No envelope or anything else?” asked Peter with a look of sheer confusion as he held up the note.
“Nothing but that piece of paper! This freaked me out enough that I actually locked my doors and windows. I haven’t worried about that in years. I even checked my gun was loaded and kept it in my nightstand! What is happening here?”
“Do you want me to have this tested for fingerprints? We might find her in the system. I mean, I’ll have to eliminate yours and mine, but maybe we’ll get lucky. How do you know someone else didn’t put it in there?”
“No one else knew what happened, so it had to be her that left it. Fingerprints are a great idea. I’m still so shook up that I didn’t even think of that. Let’s do it, but it has to stay on the lowdown. I’m not ready to start publicizing that I’m possibly losing my mind.”
“Perfect. I’ll take it and do the prints myself. Give me about twenty minutes and then we’ll start running it through the database and hopefully find her. And when I get back, we’ll discuss your sanity and this next case you’re interested in. Sound good?” Peter said with a cordial smile.
“Yeah, thanks, Peter.”
The next twenty minutes went by with Jaxon sitting at his desk, drinking his coffee, and letting his mind wander through the events of the last twenty-four hours. It was a jumble that he had always been able to unscramble until now. He was torn back from his wandering state of mind by Peter with the fingerprints. He pulled his desk chair around to sit next to Jaxon, facing his computer screen. He punched in a bunch of keys, and the screen started scanning matching points on the fingerprint, looking for at least an eight-point match.
“While this works its magic, tell me about this next case, Jaxon.”
“Okay. The guy’s name is Reginald Grey. He’s kidnapped three separate women. He would keep them for about three weeks, then kill them by asphyxiation. Each victim showed signs of sexual assault both pre- and postmortem, meaning they died during the middle of the sexual assault while suffocating to death. He disappeared after his last kill. That was a year and a half ago. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since. There haven’t been any more killings either. So I figured if we started with hospitals and morgues, maybe we could get lucky and find his dead body. How does this one sound?”
“Actually, it sounds