Chapter 1
After I got off from the academy, I walked to my car. It was parked on the slightly sloped lawn just a few cars away from the small security booth. I had more things in my arms than usual so I thought of putting them down in the passenger seat before hitting the wheels.
Only then I realized that the radio in the car was still on, so I gave myself a few minutes to sit in the passenger seat so that I can fix that old dysfunctional radio again. It was trickier than it used to be. I laid back on the seat after awhile. Radio off, door open and feeling the skies getting dark.
From the tip of my eye I can see the rear view mirror, a man was creeping from the back of my car, grim-looking with a knife in his hand. The door behind me was open, and almost within his reach. I was sure he did not know I noticed him. I swung it close and locked it manually. The sound of the door startled him and I took that instant to pull my door shut and clicked it locked.
This time, I know for sure he saw me doing it. I quickly slipped into the drivers' seat and start the ignition, trying to drive off as if I had not known his presence. He clearly wants more than stealing money, he did not leave. Still with the knife in his hand he just stood there and watch me reversed my car and drove away. The coldness that the grim man brought hung in the air. I could have been dead and disfigured just moments ago.
I turned into the closest police station nearby, it was a small neighborhood station, it looked out of place and under-equipped. The lady in the front desk was friendly, very much un-city-like. When I told her about the guy with the knife, her expression became serious, her partner walked in just then. "He's a chain murderer," throwing the paper file in his hands to counter, right in front of my eyes. Some photos slipped out. "So what's he gonna do next?"
"He traces back all his targets."
"What? He would mean I'm one of them, right?"
"Are you a cop, miss?", he asked before the lady at the desk could answer my question.
"Yes I am."
"There you go, lassie. His name is Bill Ransom, only targets ladies cop. He was found creeping around these two ladies last year and they were dead soon after, murdered and cut off into pieces. Nothing sexual, nothing personal. So you are the second batch, along with Sarah Sanders, R.I.P., just two weeks ago, Rachel Lee Russell, Tammie Thompson, one of our own officers, and you're the latest target."
"So, what do I do next?"
"Don't worry about it, there're still two to go before you. He follows the sequence, Tammie's up in a planned operation to eliminate him off. We can't do it in the public, too dangerous."
"Officer, who's leading the operation?"
"I am, Sergeant Chad Leroy. Nice to meet you, didn't get your name."
"Detective Samantha Lewis, currently teaching in the academy."
"You ain't the daughter of the Deputy in the Federal, are you? You're the other Lewis, eh?"
"I'm afraid I am."
"Look, no worries with Billy's case, just leave your report here and we'll let you know about the progress of the case." Leroy let out a careless chuckle.
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No worries became such unsuitable word to describe the case in just few hours. It came out in the news. Officer Rachel Lee Russell, 30, disappeared after her patrol shift found dead in five different places. Now I am second in queue.
"Sir, I want to go back into the field. I need your approval to join in Dauphin County Troop H, under Sergeant Chad Leroy."
"To do what? Receptionist? Hardly anything happens there, Lewis.", said Fat Daniels. He's in
charge of my transfer. And clearly, he had not been reading the papers.
"Look, I need to join Leroy’s team. They clearly have no idea what they are doing to this Ransom guy. I'm on his list, okay? And Troop H is sending some small town policewoman to bait him, I don't think a mass murderer is that stupid."
"Chill, lady. All I can do is to file your application just like anybody else. Maybe put in a word or two in your recommendation field. The rest are up to the big guys up there."
"Thanks, Daniels,", I finally manage to calm myself down.
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Sometimes Daniels can work magic, I was in Leroy’s after a week. Ransom had been hibernating after his last murder. Tammie turned out to be a slightly plump, short hair, blonde officer in her early thirties. No offence but she looked clumsy. Leroy, as usual, chuckled at most of the important details and there were some random Smiths and Jones around.
It took me two days to gauge down all the details of the case. The location of the dumping and the stalking. Pennsylvania is not a small state and Ransom had no problem setting his footprints all over. The bodies had been all scattered around the state, no specific pattern at all. The operation was due on the 18th, a Sunday and I had nothing, so far, that could help capture Ransom. I was on the verge of breaking down.
The almost antique phone suddenly rang.
"Hello?"
"Detective Lewis,"
"Dad?"
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