To Serve and Protect

By: BJ Williams
(© 2013 by the author)
Edited by: Gerry Young

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 5

Ten minutes later, Judy came running back into the building and found Andy right where she had last seen him.

“Well, are you just going to stand there or what?” she snapped.

“You told me to stay put, and that is what I am doing — staying put until further instructions,” Andy quietly said and he knew that he had pissed her off. 

“Oh, so that is how it’s going to be, rookie,” she retorted. “Well, Simon says move your ass and get in the car,” she told him and as he walked by, she had to restrain herself from swatting him as he passed.

Andy had a wide smile on his face, but was sure to keep it hidden from Judy. He knew that he had irritated her, and he so wanted to pump his fist in the air.

“Excuse me, sir, permission to talk,” Andy irritatingly asked of Judy, who cringed as she looked over the car’s roof at him.

She nodded her head instead of talking, because she knew that what would come out could get her in serious trouble.

“My name is Andrew or Andy, not rookie, so can you please use my name instead of rookie?” he asked.

“Fine, and you can call me Judy; now get the fuck in the car before I shoot you, dammit,” she cursed and got into the car.

Again, Andy smiled briefly before he opened his door and got in. Judy drove off silently and occasionally, gave him a side glance. The silence in the car was deafening, and Judy had all she could do not to scream at him. She wasn’t going to spend the entire shift like this, so she pulled into a convenience store parking lot and pulled around to the back of the building before she put the car into park. Andy gave her a questioning look, but remained quiet.

“Ok, let’s get this over with and move on,” Judy demanded as she turned to face Andy. “I know that you have been through the academy, and that you finished tops in your class, so what was it earlier with your damn driving?”

Andy knew that how he chose to answer her would make the difference between becoming partners and friends, or her simply pulling out her side arm and shooting him. He chose the former.

“I know my mind was not where it should have been, Judy, and I apologize for calling you a fucking bitch,” he said apologetically.

“So that is what you mouthed to me, I wasn’t sure,” Andy wished at the moment that he had left that part out. “So tell me why you were so absentmindedly driving, because I need to know that when it counts, that my partner has my back,” she added.

“I had some personal problems that I was trying to work out and it made me clueless to my driving,” he told her.

“I see, and did you work out those problems?”

“Not really, I just shoved them to the back of my mind for now.”

“Hmmmm,” she groaned and turned to look out her window before she turned back to Andy. “Have you heard anything about me_ you know, gossip,” she asked, because she needed to know what she was up against with him.

“Only that you are a man hater, is all,” Andy told her.

“I see, but nothing else?” she inquired.

“Like what for instance?”

“I know you guys talk, so was there talk about my sexuality? If so, will that be a problem for you? I only ask because my last two partners assumed that because we were partners and I was a female that it came with certain benefits between us.”

“I never heard anything like that about you, so are you telling me that you are a lesbian?” Andy dared to ask.

“Yes I am, so like I said, is that going to be a problem for you? You know, will you still have my back and not be offering me up to some kind of heterosexual sex god?”

Andy laughed and he felt all the tension that had been in the car, drain away. But he also saw how Judy’s face reflected her anger at being laughed at.

“Wait,” he said as he put his hands up, as if surrendering to her. “I only laughed because I, too, am gay,” he told her and almost instantly, he saw her anger drain from her face.

“Really … really Andy, you aren’t just saying that to throw me off, are you?” she asked as if she did not believe him, but only hoped.

“Yes, Judy, I’m as gay as the day is long,” he confided. “That was the problem I was trying to work out earlier, not being gay, but this guy I met just once and he ended up bamboozling me into bed with him.”

They both laughed so hard that tears were beginning to roll down Judy’s cheeks. She put the car in drive and as they drove off, Andy talked about Michael and Thom, without giving her Thom’s name, and Judy, she talked about her late mate.

“So the question was then and still is now, what do I do about Michael? I already pretty much discarded the idea of the other guy as a boyfriend.”

“Why, why did you write him off so easily,” she asked.

“He’s a lot older than I am, and has this hang up about age. I don’t and I kind of hoped that he didn’t either, but he does, big time. And besides all that, he treats me at times like a kid, as if he were my father.”

“I know you said that age didn’t matter to you, but in time, it will. I say this because my partner was fifteen years older than me, and at times, she acted more like a parent with me than a lover.”

“Exactly, because the cop that I mentioned, chewed me out about my erratic driving when I finally pulled into the lot tonight and never asked what had been bothering me,” he told her.

Judy instantly knew who Andy had been referring to, because she had been in her car and saw it all between Andy and Thom.

“No way … Detective Sullivan is gay … he’s the one that you had sex with today?” she asked and it was then that Andy realized what he had done to Thom.

“Oh, God, Judy, please don’t ever let on that you know he’s gay,” Andy begged. “He has never come out and it might destroy him and his career,” he painfully said.

“Don’t sweat it, sugar; I hate gossip and I would never mention to him that I know. Now, about this Michael Brady, I know him and he’s trouble, Andy. Other than his cocky, arrogant attitude, he’s a hustler, which, in case you are not aware of, hustling is against the law.”

“I know that, Judy, but Jonas said that we don’t arrest the hustlers unless we catch them in the act with a john. Other than that, we leave arrests up to the vice squad.”

“Exactly, and I’m sure he told you why, because they tend to watch out for us as well as feed us useful information.” Andy agreed. “And speaking of hustling…” she began to say and when she saw who it was getting into the van with a man, she wished that she had kept quiet.

It was too late to change her mind, because Andy had already seen the boy also as he got into the van. They slowed and watched as the van turned into a dimly lit alley. She pulled their cruiser to the curb.

“Come on, we’ll give him a minute or two to get the monetary transaction out of the way and then catch them with their pants down … literally,” she said as they got out of the car.

As they walked towards the alley, Andy noticed that Judy was a beautiful woman. Her hair was not typical to that of most black women; hers had long soft curls and flowed down to her shoulders. Even though she wore the standard police uniform, it showed that she had quite the figure beneath it as well.

“Ah … Judy … I know that this is none of my business, but…”

“But what,” she asked.

“You referred to your partner as ‘late’ and I was wondering if that was, as in dead?”

“Yes, she passed away last month from breast cancer. She had been fighting it for almost three years, with it flaring back up here and there until it finally settled in her brain, which was what eventually killed her.”

Andy could tell that it still affected her to talk about it, because her eyes glossed over.

“Not to change the subject, but … yeah, to change the subject … I’m sorry about your dad, Andy,” she told him as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “He was a great man and I had a lot of respect for him, as I do for Thom,” she added and noticed how Andy had gotten quiet.

“Thanks, Judy, and that is why all these killings have been so personal to me, because my dad was the killer’s first victim,” he confided and Judy stopped walking, turned and faced Andy.

“Oh, sugar, don’t; don’t go and make it personal or it’ll destroy you from the inside out, just like cancer,” she said.

“I know that, and that is what Jonas told me. But the thing is, I can’t help it, Judy; he was my dad and I feel like I let him and all the others down because the killer is still out there.”

“It’s not your fault that this monster is killing, just like it’s not your father’s fault that he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whoever is committing these killings is a psychopathic bastard and from what I’ve heard, he could be a cop as well. Although that hasn’t been officially declared yet,” she warned and continued. “But think about it, Andy, how come whenever the task force puts together a sting operation to lure this killer out, nothing happens? That tells me the guy is a cop and knows when and where there is going to be a trap for him.”

“I told Jonas the same thing, but he didn’t agree. He said that the guy is probably listening to the police talk over the radio and that is how he knows when a trap is being set.”

“I disagree, because it is never mentioned over the air or otherwise when a decoy is being planted, that only comes from headquarters. My gut tells me that he’s a cop, and it also tells me that I know who he is.”

“I agree there, and I have found myself looking at other cops and wondering if he was the one that’s been doing the killings.”

“Well, whoever he is, he’ll eventually get caught. Now, let’s go see what my … I mean what this couple is doing,” she stammered and resumed their walk towards the alley.

When they got close to the alley, Judy held out her hand to stop Andy and looked cautiously around the edge of a building and down the alley. At the far end of the alley, a white van was parked. It had no side windows, other than those on the driver and passenger’s doors.

“We’ll creep down and I want you to go to the right of the van while I take the left. Once we are both beside the van, I’ll rap on the door and I want you to be ready if they try to run.”

Andy nodded and they moved slowly, cautiously down the alley. It was dimly lit and the only light came from a light over a door, which was twenty feet away from the van’s back bumper.

Andy waited for Judy to rap on the van with her night stick before he tried the side door. Surprisingly, it opened and Andy found a man inside fucking the kid.

“What the fuck man, close the damn door,” the hustler yelled as his john drove his cock hard and fast into his ass.

“Come out with your hands up,” he demanded and the hustler gave him a hard, angry look as the man pulled his cock free from him.

The boy exited the van naked, and the man inside, he hurried to pull on his jeans.

“Out … I didn’t tell you to dress,” Andy demanded with his gun aimed at man.

“For crying out loud, give him a break,” the hustler demanded as Judy came around the van.

“What’ your name, kid,” Andy asked.

“Leroy and he’s my nephew,” Judy angrily said as her nephew looked at her and smiled, as if that should make him immune from prosecution. 

“Your nephew?” Andy asked, not sure that what he heard was correct.

“Yes, and I’m ashamed to say it, but he’s my brother’s son,” Judy exclaimed when she saw her nephew was the one with the man. “You are nothing but a cheap whore, Leroy,” she yelled at him.

“I’m not a whore; I’m an escort,” Leroy corrected.

“Whatever, and a rose is still a rose regardless of what you call it,” Judy told him.

Leroy stood there quietly staring at Judy, as the man exited the van, his hands busied themselves doing up his jeans. He gave a worried look at his aunt before he glanced at Andy.

“Hey, Auntie, fancy meeting you here,” Leroy said as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, nervously.

“Never mind that Auntie shit; what’s going on here?” she asked and before he could answer, she pulled Andy to her. “Take this guy down the alley and question him while I talk to my nephew,” she told Andy.

“Mister, you’re coming with me,” Andy told him as he placed the handcuffs on him and read him his rights.

“So what is this, revenge?” Leroy asked of Judy after Andy and the man moved down the alley.

“No, it was my partner who spotted you when you got into the car and eventually turned down this alley,” she smiled as she answered him and wondered how embarrassed Leroy would be when they marched his naked ass into the precinct.

“You could let me put on my clothes before cuffing me,” Leroy said and then turned, his face now showed his fear. “You do know, Dad is going to be furious at you for arresting me, and hate you even more than he does,” he threatened and Judy froze.

She knew that her nephew was right; Malcolm would hate her more than he already did. He had been the first one that she had told about her sexuality, and he was livid. They had gotten into a huge argument and he had told her that he hated her and that she was no longer his sister.

“And you do think he’ll just accept that you are gay and whoring on the streets,” she asked, which caused his face to reflect the fear that he felt.

“Please, Aunt Judy, please don’t turn us in,” he begged, not only for himself but for the guy also. 

“My better judgment tells me to haul your skinny black ass in and let the chips fall where they will. But I won’t, and not because you are my nephew, but because I know what my brother would do,” she said, because she knew his temper and he’d beat his son to within an inch of his life.

“Please?” he cried out as his tears began to fall.

“Bring the dude over here,” she called out to Andy, who walked the man back to where Judy and her nephew stood. “We’re letting them go,” she told him and Andy’s mouth dropped.

“What? But we caught them in the act,” Andy argued and Judy nodded her head as she removed the handcuffs from her nephew.

“Now get dressed and get your skinny ass home,” she yelled at Leroy before she turned her wrath on the man.

“His name is Henry Fairmont and he lives in Chicopee,” Andy told her, and he was sure that what she was doing was wrong. “On top of all that, he’s married with four kids and he’s the personal assistant to the mayor,” Andy firmly stated.

“Oh really,” she exclaimed as she moved to an inch of his face with hers. “Do you think that Francis will like reading about his aid having been arrested for soliciting sex? And on top of that, that the one you were caught having sex with was a minor? I don’t think so.”

She had the man shaking as she gave him a vivid picture in his mind of what could possibly be like for him once it hit the papers.

“I had no idea that he was a minor … I swear it,” Henry swore as he trembled where he stood.

“Well just be thankful that I'm in a generous mood. Now get dressed and I don’t ever want to see you soliciting again on my beat. Am I clear about this?” she asked and he nodded.

“Yes ma’am … thank you, ma’am,” he stammered and dashed into the van to retrieve the rest of his clothes.

Within five minutes, Henry had driven off and Judy had marched her nephew back to the cruiser, where she shoved him into the back seat, slammed the door and without a word being said, drove away. She drove him home, making sure that she parked the car a few houses away from her brother's, so that he would not see her.

“I swear to God, Leroy, if I ever catch you whoring again, I’ll personally turn your ass over to the Riverfront Strangler myself,” she had scared him and his only reply was to shake his head in agreement. “Now go, and remember what I said,” she said and watched him until he walked in the front door of his house.

“Judy…”

“Don’t … not yet, please,” she said to Andy and he nodded.

“All I was going to ask was, do you want me to drive?”

“No, I’m…” she was interrupted by Blue, when she called out for their cruiser over the radio.

“Check out a disturbance at Riverfront Park,” she told him. “We just got a call saying that someone was screaming bloody murder. I have backup coming, also.”

“Ten-four, Blue,” Judy answered.

“I hope that it's not another victim of the Riverfront Strangler,” Andy quietly said.

Once they had made a u-turn, Andy hit the lights and was about to do the same with the siren, but Judy stopped him.

“No lights or siren, we don’t want to alert whoever is causing the disturbance that we're coming,” she warned.

“Do you think it’s the killer?” Andy asked as adrenaline coursed through his body.

“Maybe, and if it is, and he’s a cop, then he’s more than likely armed and dangerous,” she said as they raced toward the park.

Within minutes, they arrived at the park, hurried out of the cruiser and cautiously moved into the dark park.

“What with all the murders here, you would think that the city would light it up better in here,” Andy whispered to Judy, who only shrugged her shoulders.

“Just be careful, Andy. I don’t need you getting killed,” she warned him.

‘I don’t need it either,’ he thought.

They hadn’t gone twenty feet when Judy stepped in a deep hole and went down on the ground.

“Oh fuck … I think I broke my ankle,” she cursed as she tried to get up.

But once she tried to put pressure on it, she went down again, crying out in pain.

“I can’t put any pressure on it, Andy. I think I either fractured it or broke it, but either way, I am not moving.”

“Stay here and call for an ambulance and I’ll go investigate,” he said and she grabbed him by the leg of his pants.

“Are you insane? You wait right here until backup arrives,” she demanded.

Andy stood there but not happily. He knelt beside her and called for an ambulance and explained what had happened to Judy.

“HELP!” someone screamed, which caused both Andy and Judy to look down the path.

They saw the shape of a small person as he ran from the bushes, quickly followed by another, taller person.

“Police … stop!” Andy instinctively called out, stood and took off on a dead run towards the two.

“Andy don’t … he could be armed and dangerous,” Judy called out, but Andy didn’t hear her, and when she tried to stand, she blacked out from the pain.

Andy had his gun out as he ran down the bicycle path. He guessed that the two figures were maybe five hundred feet or so ahead of him. He paused when he saw the second figure grab the first and wrestle him off the path and out of Andy’s sight.

Andy slowed momentarily, as he decided to wait or continue on. He chose the second and moved fast, but cautiously, towards where he last saw the two.

“Police, come out with your hands up,” he demanded, he had his gun aimed at where a sound came from. “Come out now with your hands where I can see them,” he said a second time and flinched when he heard what sounded like someone choking.

“Help me … I can’t move, and I think I killed my attacker,” a muffled man’s voice cried out.

“Come out of there and let me see your hands,” Andy demanded, wondering where his backup was.

“I can’t move, officer, he’s laying on me,” the voice said, still muffled.

Andy scratched his head, he knew better than to go in alone but the voice sounded like he was hurt. Where he stood was dark, no lights reached where the voice had come from.

“I think I’m bleeding to death … I’ve been stabbed. Please help me,” he called out again, which caused Andy to instinctively step from the path and into the darkness of the thick bushes.

He had his flashlight, as well as his weapon, aimed before him as he moved cautiously further into the bushes. When he broke through the last of the bushes and into a small clearing, his light caught the two figures. One man appeared to be lying atop another, with his body covering the face of the one on the bottom. He saw that the one on the bottom, that his arms were pinned beneath the man and that he was naked.

It was then, that Andy made a crucial mistake; he holstered his gun, set his flashlight down, as he went to roll the man off the kid. Just as he had the man rolled onto his back, a hand with a gun in it came up and clocked Andy on the head. Andy fell back, at first, his world had started spinning and then he went out.

“Surprise, Butler,” the man whispered as he hurriedly began to cut away Andy’s clothes with a knife. “Just like that whore, you thought yourself too good for me,” he whispered vehemently.

It didn’t take him but seconds to get Andy naked. He moved and straddled Andy’s hips as he took Andy’s tie and wrapped it around Andy’s neck and began to strangle him.

“Andy, where are you,” Thom yelled out from down the path, which caused Andy’s attacker to panic.

He quickly stood and wove his way through the back of the bushes, as he sought to escape capture. Thom, who had several officers behind him, heard the sounds and rushed onward, “Police, you are surrounded so come out with your hands up,” he yelled.

Suddenly there was a loud splash, as the assailant dove into the river.

“Get some men down there and search along the river, because whoever was here just jumped into the water to escape,” Thom instructed and several officers hurried trough the bushes and made their way to the river bank. With the aid of their flashlights, they searched not only the riverbank, but also the water. They found no one.

“Officer down_ I have an officer down,” Thom yelled into his radio.

“Ten four, I have help on the way as we speak,” Blue assured him.

“Come on Andy, don’t you dare die on me, too,” Thom demanded as he felt for a pulse, while another officer checked the boy that lay naked beside Andy.

“This one is still alive, detective, I have a weak pulse,” the officer said as he worked to keep the boy breathing.

“Same here, it’s their windpipes, that bastard crushed them when he strangled them,” Thom said and wondered impatiently where the medical help was.

Although it felt like forever for Thom until they arrived, the medics that had been attending Judy, grabbed their gear and hurried down the path to where Thom waited, having left her with an officer to wait for the next ambulance.

“I have a weak pulse on them both, but they aren’t breathing,” Thom told the two medics as they each knelt beside a patient. “I think the strangler crushed their airways,” he added and the one beside him nodded.

“Tim, we’ve got to do a tracheotomy or we’ll lose them,” the one that attended to Andy said. “Have you ever done one?” he asked.

“Yes, Chris; I’ve just done one last month to a dude who was stringing a rope for a swing and ended up hanging himself,” he said as both men worked feverishly gathering the needed instruments as they talked.

Thom and the other officer stepped back and watched as Tim and Chris cut into their patients' throats and inserted a tube. Both Andy and the boy gasped in a deep breath but remained unconscious.

“We need to get them to the hospital stat, detective,” Tim told Thom from where he knelt. “I need two stretchers, stat,” he shouted into his radio.

A long moment later, Thom heard the sound of stretchers being wheeled down the paved path and held aside the bushes, along with the officer, to allow access to Andy and the boy. He watched as they quickly set Andy first, and then the boy onto stretchers and wheel them away.

Tim was the last to leave, after he picked up his supplies, and Thom placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, stopping him.

“What are their chances,” he asked and wished that he could clearly see his face.

“Are you a praying man, detective,” Tim asked and Thom nodded. “I would pray; pray like you never have before,” he said and hurried past him.

“He’ll make it, Thom; you just got to believe,” the other officer said, his hand resting on Thom’s shoulder.

“I hope you’re right, Ethan, because I don’t want to have to tell his mother that she’s got to bury another man.”

“That’s right, that was Travis’ son,” Ethan said.

*        *        *

How had he escaped, he had no idea, but he was gasping when he finally walked out of the water. His uniform was muddy and dripping water as he made his way up the river bank, a good mile from where he had jumped in. He had heard the sound of police as they approached the shore and even saw their lights as they searched. He had taken a deep breath, dove deep down and allowed the river’s fast moving current to take him downstream.

“Fuck,” he shouted in anger. “Not only did I ruin a good uniform, but my damn cruiser is downtown,” he cursed as he sat on the bank, trying to regain normal breathing.

He knew that it would go unnoticed, but what worried him was how he would get from where he was and to his cruiser without being noticed. It was not your usual thing to see a cop that was muddied and drenched head to toe walking along the street.

“Hey mister … you got a smoke,” some bum asked, which startled him.

He felt a rock beside his right hand, grabbed it, and then brought it up and slammed the man in the head, sending him falling unconscious and backwards to the ground.

“Here’s your fucking smoke,” he cursed and tossed the rock in the water. “Don’t you know that smoking is bad for your health,” he said as he gave the man a closer look.

They were about the same size, he surmised and began to strip him. Once he had the bum naked, he quickly stripped out of his uniform and put on the bum’s dry ones. They reeked of urine and sweat, but at least he wouldn’t stick out when he walked back to his cruiser, he thought. Besides, he had a clean uniform in his trunk, set aside for emergencies such as this. He rubbed some mud on his face to give him the appearance of a homeless man and once he felt convinced that he was unrecognizable, he stuffed his wet uniform into a plastic bag that he found amongst the bum’s belongings. He gave one last look at the unconscious man and walked away, convinced that the man was either dead or dying.

*        *        *

Thom impatiently paced the waiting room as he waited for word on how Andy was. He had gone over to Claire’s house and told her about Andy and that he was alive but in surgery to correct the damage done to his throat.

Claire sat quietly as she prayed for Andy, her eyes red from having cried.

“Will you sit down before you wear a hole in the carpet?” Craig urged. “You won’t make the doctors work any faster by pacing,” he added.

“I can’t, Craig; all I keep thinking of is Travis, and how I found him that night,” Thom quietly said, and hoped that Claire did not hear him.

“Well, this time it’s different; Andy is alive and he’ll pull through this; my gut tells me so,” he said and silently prayed that his words would be true.

“Is there someone here for the boy who was brought in?” a doctor asked from the doorway and when everyone in the room turned to him, his facial expression told them what words did not, that the boy did not make it.

“Just us, Doctor, I’m Captain Craig Thompson of the Springfield police,” Craig told him.

“He came through the operation well, but,” he paused as he gathered his thoughts. “He was without oxygen the longest from what I understand and only time will tell to what extent the damage from lack of oxygen did to his brain,” he told them.

“What about my son, he’s the officer that’s in surgery,” Claire asked as she looked up with hope in her eyes at the Doctor.

“He’s still in surgery; Doctor Smyth is operating on him. I’m sure that he’ll be in as soon as he’s done.”

He shook hands with Craig and then left the room, leaving Thom and the others to worry longer about Andy.

To be continued...

Posted: 12/20/13