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...
Author's Note: This is a rewrite of a previous story my dad wrote years ago, which had great reviews from its many readers. I have updated it, rewritten a good portion of it and, I hope you enjoy it as much as those who may have read the original. Bryan.
* * *
Prologue
Part 1
Springfield, Massachusetts…
"I'd like to welcome Travis Butler and Thomas Sullivan to the force as detectives," Captain Craig Thompson said, and the room erupted with applause as the two new detectives were formally announced.
Both men had been best friends ever since their days at the Police Academy. Travis was married and had a son, Andrew, who was currently in the academy. Thom on the other hand, was single.
Captain Thompson continued on with the shift's news, after the room quieted down. When he had finished his announcements, he dismissed the room to go about their nightly duties, holding back Thom.
As the men filed out, a man stood tall, gazing at Thomas Sullivan with admiration and love, and yet, with pain in his heart. He was in love with Thom, and as he and his new partner, Travis Butler left the room with Travis' arm across Thom's shoulder, jealousy filled his heart.
"I want you to know, Thom, that you and I are meant to be together, and no one is going to keep us apart," he whispered.
"So here we are, detectives and partners," Travis said as he and Thom walked out to their unmarked car.
"Yeah, we're finally detectives, although I will miss that uniform," he said, looking across the car at Travis, who, like him, was wearing jeans and button down oxford shirt with a tie.
They both broke into a roar of laughter and then got into the car. They patrolled the city and took in the usual 'hot spots' where trouble was known to happen. They pulled into a parking lot, parked and sat back talking as they watched the nightlife of the city.
"So tell me, Travis, did Claire get a date yet for her operation?" Thom asked after awhile.
"February tenth she goes into the hospital in the evening and has the procedure the next morning," Travis told him. "She's been very quiet about it, and if I try to talk to her about it, she refuses."
"Well Travis, a hysterectomy is a very serious as well as an emotional trauma for a woman. It would be the equivalent to you and I having our prostates removed, thus ending our breeding days."
"I realize that, and I've even told her that she'll be the same, loving woman that I married, but she still refuses to talk. I even suggested she get counseling before or after, concerning her thoughts about it."
"What did she say?" Thom asked.
"You might have thought that I said she was crazy and ready to commit her; she flew off the handle at me."
"Well, she is only thirty-eight, so to her, she's still in her prime." Thom added, clearly annoying Travis.
"Can we talk about something else? This is really pissing me off," Travis snapped.
"Sure," Thom agreed, but he could tell that his friend's attitude was as bad as Claire's.
* * *
Five months later…
"I hope it's a fucking quiet night tonight; I'm in no mood for fools, fucking assholes, or whatever other trash crosses my path," Travis spouted off.
"Damn, but you are in rare form, Travis," Thom exclaimed.
"I don't want to talk about it, so drive," Travis snapped and a few moments later, he apologized. "Sorry, Thom, but I've got a ton of shit on my mind."
"Well, I'm here if you want to talk."
Travis just nodded and turned to stare out of the window.
* * *
Earlier that day…
A man, wearing a baseball cap and dark glasses, nervously walked down the sidewalk. Thankfully, it had been a rainy day so the park was deserted. He was careful, very careful, to stay in the shadows, as to hide his identity. A brisk wind blew off the river and he pulled his collar tighter around his neck. Another reason he was thankful for the rain was because it afforded him to wear his long trench coat, hiding his uniform, which would have looked out of place otherwise.
He had been called, which was something forbidden with his boy, especially, because the boy was one of them, a man-whore. He saw him ahead, young and beautiful, just waiting in the shadows at their usual spot, a thick grove of eucalyptus bushes that kept them well hidden from anyone walking by. The boy saw his lover approaching and moved into the bushes. The man gave a nervous glance around and then joined him.
"I haven't got much time, so what the fuck is so important that you couldn't wait until our usual time together," the man asked Jeremy Brown, a local street hustler.
"You see, Bud, that's the problem with you; you are always in a hurry and never have time to be romantic," Jeremy stated, stepping over to him and wrapping his arms around the man's neck, attempting to kiss him.
The man turned his head and Jeremy planted the kiss on his cheek. He was frustrated and angry, but the man didn't care.
"Like I said, I have to get to work, so what do you want?"
"OK, I'll get right to the point, I am past due on the rent and the landlord says that if I don't give him his money, my ass is out on the street, so I need money. You and I have been fucking for almost two months now, Bud, and I have never charged you."
"Yeah, like you would dare charge me," the man sarcastically replied, pushing Jeremy back from him. "So how much are you talking, ten or twenty bucks?"
"I want three hundred, for now," Jeremy said. "Call it 'keeping-my-mouth-shut money'," Jeremy said.
"What the fuck do you mean, keeping-your-mouth-shut money … why you little blackmailing prick. My dick isn't good enough for you, now you are blackmailing money from me?" he angrily asked of the boy.
"You know, Bud, any other dude would have charged you or worse, they could make some real trouble for you, considering your position in the community and all," Jeremy suggested.
"Yeah, and they would find themselves with as much trouble, if not more."
"Whatever. But I want the money to keep quiet," Jeremy snapped at him, staring him in the eyes with adamant determination.
"And just what will you do if I refuse?"
"Well, I just might be persuaded to drop a name, in the right ear of the right person," he taunted him with his words.
"You know, Jeremy, pirates had a saying, and you would do wise to heed them."
"Yeah, and what saying is that? Yo ho, ho and a bottle of rum?" he asked, but the man shook his head.
"No; it's, 'Dead men tell no tales,' he said with a smirk on his face.
A sudden chill coursed down Jeremy's back, but he shrugged it off as he pulled out his ace-in-the-hole card.
"Well, I do have this cop that I see now and then…" he began and paused to allow his words to set in. "I can imagine how much he would love to hear your name," he suggested with a coy look in his eyes. "Not that I would ever do that, you see, but a guy needs to live, and…"
"What cop are you seeing and have you told him about us?" he anxiously asked, grabbing the boy by his shirt, the material bunched up in his hands.
"Travis Butler, if you must know; his wife has been kinda cold lately in the bedroom, so I kinda take the edge off for him. But to answer your other question, not all of it, I've told him how I've been seeing this man who's high up in the police department and…" He left it hanging for dramatic affect.
Jeremy was fearful, his heart was racing, and his breath was short, gasping for air.
"And what else? Did you give him my name?" he asked angrily.
"Not yet; I wanted to give you a chance first. But — and this all depends on you today — I could forget that we ever knew one another and tell him your name," he threatened, deciding to turn it around, to get him to release him.
The man knew that Jeremy could be trouble; he knew all street hustlers talked amongst themselves and some were even well connected with prominent men in the community. That fact alone could do some real damage to his life. Jeremy was no exception; he knew exactly who the man was. Jeremy was correct, he had a position in Springfield's community to protect, and the cop could jeopardize it if he knew about him.
He looked at Jeremy, knowing that he would carry through on his threats and that would make his life, hell, if he ever opened his mouth to the detective, he thought. But another thing bothered him — how to quiet the kid. He knew that if he paid him, Jeremy would forever keep blackmailing him for money, which he knew he couldn't allow. 'So how do I end this?' he wondered, and then it hit him — Jeremy must die.
"Sure kid, I can come up with three hundred bucks for you," he said, his attitude changing to throw Jeremy off as he relinquished his hold on the boy. "I'll give you the money. In fact, I can even spare a little time, so let's fuck as a sign of good faith, and if you'll oblige me, I'll toss in an extra hundred."
"Really babe, you'll give me the money? Sure, honey, I'd love to fuck with you," Jeremy agreed happily and quickly removed his shirt and jeans, leaving him naked before his lover. "No hard feelings right?"
"The only thing hard feeling is my cock; now turn around and assume the position," he said softly, Jeremy turned, grabbed the tree before him, and braced himself for his lover's sexual assault.
The man covered his cock with a rubber and thrust it deep into the boy. While he slowly rode his ass, he pulled off his necktie, and quickly wrapped it around the unsuspecting boy's neck, pulling it tight. Jeremy, shocked by the sudden assault, struggled but the man was taller and stronger, and with his cock embedded in his ass, Jeremy found it near impossible to straighten up. He dug with his nails at the tie, to get beneath it, to break the man's hold, but the man only tightened it. Jeremy's body shook and kicked as he fought the good fight to save his life.
"I warned you; 'Dead men tell no tales'," he said, feeling the kid's ass tightening around his cock as he struggled to breathe against the tie's hold.
He felt his cock swelling, felt his seed rising as Jeremy's struggle weakened, and just as his cock exploded into the rubber, Jeremy gave up the fight, and his arms fell limp towards the rain-drenched ground.
Giving one final thrust into Jeremy, his body gave a violent shake and he looked at the boy, shrugged his shoulders, and let his limp body fall to the ground. He peeled off the rubber, stuffed a small rock into it that he found on the ground, and tossed it out into the cold water of the Connecticut River.
"I'm surely going to miss your ass," he said as he walked away, but then paused, turned to look at the boy and said, "NOT!" he stated and then left the bushes.
* * *
Hours later…
Travis and Thom drove through the city, keeping to their appointed district. It had been a quiet evening and both men talked about the Red Sox and what their chances were of taking the pennant. Then, Travis finally turned the conversation to a more personal note, to one that was bothering him.
"Hey, Thom, have you heard much about your old partner, Maria? You know, what's the lockerroom gossip?" he asked.
"Well, the word around the lockerroom is that she's pretty much slept with everyone on the squad with a cock," Thom commented and glanced over at Travis. "Why do you ask?"
"I was discreetly asking about who was and wasn't giving it up, you know, sexually, from a few of the guys, and her name came up," he said, surprising Thom.
"Please tell me that you aren't contemplating cheating on Claire?" Travis was quiet for a moment, much too quiet for him, causing Thom to give him a serious glance. "You are, aren't you?" he asked again.
"I wouldn't say cheating as much as looking for a one night stand," he confessed. "You know, to ease my nuts," he added.
What he hadn't told Thom, was how he had recently paid a hustler that Thom had spoken to him about. Jeremy … something or other, he forgot the kid's name, but he was happy to oblige him. He had even told him how he serviced a few other cops and had one man that was high up in the police, but the kid never gave out names. The thing with Travis was, it bothered him having sex with a boy, especially one that was younger than his son, Andy.
"But why, Travis, you and Claire have been married for over twenty years? Think of what this would do to her … to Andy."
"I have, Thom, believe me, but ever since she had her hysterectomy, she's been as receptive … err … as sexually enthused … as a cadaver."
"It can't be that bad, Travis; when was the last time that you got it?" Thom asked, again glancing over at Travis.
"Well, put it this way, buddy," he began, "she had her operation in early February, and here it is late July and we have yet to do anything."
"Well, her insides need time to heal," Thom reasoned, but Travis shook his head.
"She already got her doctor's blessing, back in late-May, that we could resume sex. It's like she had all her female parts out and now feels like she's no longer a woman."
"Have you…" Travis interrupted him.
"Yes, of course I have, I constantly tell her that I fell in love with her and not her body, but she keeps coming up with excuses as to why we can't do it."
"So you think having an affair with the likes of Maria Sanchez will satisfy your needs?" Travis reluctantly nodded. "Let me tell you this about my old partner … she's a gossip as well. Your dick would still be wet from her pussy and she'd've already told half the force that you fucked her. If you don't believe me ask Carl Wilson; she pretty near destroyed his marriage, what with hounding him at home on the phone as well as at work."
"Is that why he transferred to Holyoke?" he asked. Thom nodded. "Then give me a name … a trustable name, because my nuts are about to explode and I need a good fuck or at the least, a good blowjob."
Thom was about to offer up his own name when a call came over the radio. "Echo seven, we have a report of a body in the Riverfront Park," the dispatcher, Blue, as she was called, said.
"Ten-four, Blue, Echo Seven responding," Travis answered back.
* * *
The City is broken into three Districts: North, Central, and South. Those Districts are broken into nine Sectors. Each Sector is given a Letter Designation A thru I, or Alpha thru India.
The Sector is then broken into Subsectors that are given a number. For example, Foxtrot-1 would be covering part of the F Sector. Occasionally, there are multiple cars assigned to a subsector. These cars are designated with a trailing letter. For example: Foxtrot-1-Alpha.
Echo was their call-name, which referred to their sectors for patrolling.
* * *
When they pulled into the park, several cruisers were already at the site. Travis and Thom walked over to a patrolman and inquired as to where the body was.
"He's just down the sidewalk and off to the right in the bushes," the patrolman said. "My partner, Dan, he recognized him as a local hustler."
"Did he say the kid's name," Thom asked.
"Not to me, but I'm sure he'll tell you," the officer said. "He seemed to recognize the kid," he added.
Thom nodded and along with Travis, walked several yards down the dimly lit sidewalk to where Dan was standing.
"Dan?" Travis asked and the officer nodded.
"Detectives," Dan said, acknowledging them, "he's just over there in the bushes," he added while pointing. "His name is Jeremy Brown, sixteen and one of many hustlers that plague our city," he told them.
Travis gave out a slight gasp when he heard who the boy was. Thom noticed his partner's reaction, but didn't say a word. Travis had been with him that afternoon, Travis remembered.
"Damn, sixteen and already his young life is over," Thom said, thinking about Travis' son, Andrew, and how he and Travis would feel if he'd been killed.
Dan had already taped off the crime scene before they had arrived.
"I'd better call in the coroner's office," Thom said, looking down at Jeremy's body.
"I took it upon myself to alert Blue, sir," Dan informed him. "You know, in case you got busy."
"Thanks, Dan," Thom said and turned his attention back to the body.
They pulled on disposable gloves and knelt beside the boy, as they carefully examined his neck.
"He put up quite a fight, Thom; look how he dug at this neck as whoever strangled him pulled the ligature tighter," Travis pointed out, using his pen to point to the dried blood marks on Jeremy's neck.
"Will you bag his hands? You know Doc … he'll want to scrape his nails for evidence," he asked, placing his hand to the boy's face. "His body is cool, so he's been dead awhile," Thom observed, feeling with the back of his hand to the boy's face.
"Other than the killer's signature tie, I don't see anything else that would point to his killer," Travis said, shining his flashlight around the area.
While Travis bagged the boy's hands, Thom made another observation, treating the boy as if breakable or … someone that he had cared about.
"I'd say that whoever did this has to be quite tall. Look here," Thom said, pointing with his pen at the tie bruises on the boy's neck. "His killer pulled upward, so that tends to tell me that he was over six feet, because Jeremy had to be around what, five-ten or so?" Travis nodded and Thom noticed how different, Travis, was behaving.
"Ah … detectives! The coroner is here," Dan called into the bushes.
"Thom, Travis … so much for a quiet evening," Doctor Samuel Stone said. "So what have you got for me," he asked, squatting down beside the body. "Ah shit, another strangling victim," he said, noticing the tie around Jeremy's neck.
"Well, his name is Jeremy Brown, according to the patrolman that you encountered when you arrived. He's sixteen and a local street hustler," Travis explained softly.
"What a shame, sixteen and already dead," Samuel softly said, looking up at Travis, who was sniffling.
"Allergies," Travis said, noticing that Thom and Samuel were both looking at him, questioningly.
Samuel went to work determining his body core temperature as well as looking over the body for signs of torture, as well as any sexual activity.
"He's had sex recently, and I would say just before he died; his anal area is still swollen from the act. But I doubt that I'll find any semen, killers that rape these days, use rubbers. Other than the bruising around his neck, I can't see any signs of abuse elsewhere. I'll have more for you once I do the autopsy."
"When will that be, Doc?" Thom asked and Samuel looked at his watch.
"Not tonight because it's already after one. I'll get to him first thing in the morning. I'll give you my preliminary report and have the full report in a week or sooner. But that all depends on the lab and how quickly they can get back to me."
"Well, let us know as soon as you know something, Doc."
Travis and Thom left the bushes and found Dan; he was already talking to another hustler who was struggling to get into the bushes.
"Detectives, this is Ricky Johnson, he says that knew Jeremy," Dan told them.
Travis looked at the boy; he,too, couldn't be any more than sixteen, if he was a day. It was evident that he was emotionally disturbed by what had happened.
"Can you tell us anything about Jeremy, like … who he had been with?" Travis asked, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him.
"Not really, sir; he was always so secretive about his clients. But he did tell me that he was going to come into some money tonight."
"Did he give you any idea as to how or from whom?" Thom asked.
"No, no name, if that's what you mean. All he said was that it — the money — was going to come from some dude that he's been seeing for the last couple of months, and that this guy was a cop."
'He did mention to me about some cop who had been seeing him, but would this cop kill him?' Travis wondered.
Thom noticed how Ricky and Travis had been looking at each other, as if the two had met under better circumstances. For the moment, Thom chose to ignore it as he turned to Travis and asked, "What do you think?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah; it sounds like he may have been blackmailing this guy and the guy determined that killing him was the only way to end it," Travis offered, being distracted from his thoughts.
'If I find the bastard, Jeremy, he'll fry,"' he thought.
Thom pulled Travis away from the others once they had finished questioning Ricky. "I know that it's none of my business, Travis, but why did you gasp earlier when you heard the boy's name?"
"You're right, it is none of your business," he sarcastically said, knowing that if he revealed why, it would mean that he'd have to explain a lot more to Thom, and that was something he wasn't prepared to do.
Besides, there was the fact that he and Jeremy had had sex that afternoon before he left for work. Jeremy and he had spent a while talking, with Travis pulling certain things from him, that he was not ready to reveal.
"Travis?" Thom said questioningly, upset by his tone.
"Alright, I knew the boy; he's been an acquaintance of mine."
"Acquaintance as in how?" he asked. "My God, Travis, the boy sells his body for sex, so what could you, other than for sex, want with him?"
"I was trying to rehabilitate him, if you must know," Thom lied angrily and Thom backed off, knowing that to ask further would only alienate him. "You know, helping him get his GED," he added, which was not a lie, because he had mentioned to Jeremy about getting his GED.
"Too bad it didn't work," Thom said and walked away, leaving Travis standing alone, suddenly wondering if he had or not, used a rubber.
It was a fact that all police officers had their fingerprints on record, but he couldn't help wondering if they could associate his sperm in the boy's ass with him, so Travis worried again, still wondering if the murderer had used a rubber. He walked to rejoin Thom who was standing and watching as Samuel's attendants rolled the body into the customary dark green body bag and lifted it onto a waiting stretcher.
"Like I said, detectives, I'll know more once I've done the autopsy. Just for the record, I'm estimating his time of death somewhere between five and six this afternoon. But don't quote me; once I have him back at the morgue and run some tests, I can give you a better time of when and how. Although it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the cause of death was due to him being strangled."
"Can I ask you this, Sam?" Travis questioned. "If there was sperm in the boy's ass, could you tell who deposited it?"
"I wish, but that science is not yet possible," he said, and Thom, who had suspiciously watched Travis while he talked to Samuel, wondered.
"Damn that felt good, killing that little prick," the man said aloud to himself as he drove around the city. "But I will miss his sweet ass," he added.
* * *
An hour or so later…
"What say we eat our lunch at Five Mile Pond, tonight?" Thom suggested, because, one, he needed to talk to Travis, and also because he knew that Jeremy's death had bothered him.
Travis agreed. "Sounds good to me," he told him.
"We can maybe take a dip before resuming our shift," he also suggested and Travis smiled. "The humidity tonight is stifling."
'He'll do anything to see me naked,' Travis thought to himself, having noticed how Thom would glance at his naked body whenever he thought Travis wasn't looking.
Travis had often wondered about his partner and friend. He had never seen Thom with a girlfriend in all their years together, and during the drive, suggesting a naked, moonlight swim? Thom called in an order to go from Murphy's Diner, while Travis called in so see if they were needed further.
"Grab your lunch and take some extra time," Blue told him, knowing how a kid's death affected the officers and detectives.
With their lunch picked up, Thom drove over to Boston Road where Five Mile Pond was located. The parking lot was empty when they entered. They parked their car in a secure, out of sight spot and exited it.
"Wait up; I'll grab a blanket or something from the trunk so we'll have something to sit on," Thom said, moving to the trunk, opening it and retrieving a large, folded blanket.
Travis followed Thom as he led him down a path and into the woods.
"You look like you know where you are going, Thom," Travis commented.
"Not really, but it's the path and it's clearly marked," he lied, having been to this area before.
Once they got to the other side of the woods, they found a grassy area and spread out the blanket under a tall oak tree. Both men hungrily ate their burgers and fries in silence.
"Ok, partner, out with it," Thom said, as his suspicions about his partner and the dead boy, got to him.
"What do you mean, out with it? Out with what, Thom?" Travis asked, while wiping some mustard from his mouth.
"What's your connection with Jeremy, for one, and don't give me that bullshit about you trying to turn his life around. I saw how his friend looked at you while talking with us."
Travis placed his burger's wrapping in the bag along with his napkin. He kept his eyes from Thom's as he thought about what to say.
"Travis? You know that you and I have been friends like forever, so you can tell me anything," Thom softly said. "Were you fooling around with him?"
"Oh, fuck, I might as well tell you, before someone else does. Yes, I used the boy's services a couple of times when my nuts were ready to explode," he finally confessed. "With the last time being this afternoon," he further added.
"Wow, I never saw that coming," Thom said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "It's no big deal, Travis, we've all picked up a whore from time to time; after all, without them, a lot of marriages would fail," he mused and looked over at Travis, and he could tell that there was something more. "What else buddy, because you look like your life is about to end?" he asked.
"One time after we had done it, you know, him sucking me off, he confided in me that he had done another cop and had a long term thing going with him. But what got me is how he said that he was doing this one guy who is quite high with the city."
"Did he ever say who?" Thom asked and Travis shook his head.
"No, but I had the feeling that whoever it is, might be the one that killed him."
"Well, if he's a cop, we'll need to be very careful to do this investigation by the book, because the DA will demand it of us when he brings whoever before the Grand Jury. Damn! I wish I knew who this cop was," Thom said.
Thom noticed that Travis looked tired, emotionally, so he looked out at the water and made a suggestion to him. "Travis, what say we take a dip to cool off," Thom suggested.
"You just love seeing me naked, don't you?" Travis asked.
"Riiiiight, like I live for the moment," he said, but inwardly in his mind, he agreed. "So, what do you say? A dip or not?"
"What about towels, or do you have them in the trunk, too, just in case?" he asked a bit smugly.
"As a matter of fact I do, because, like the Boy Scouts, I'm always prepared."
Thom got up and left Travis sitting there, while he hurried back to the car for the towels.
To be continued...
Posted: 11/15/13