Chapter 3: Sam
When I arrived on the scene the usual police tape was in place, uniforms everywhere, but everyone was outside, even techies who would usually be inside photographing, tagging and doing their thing. The house lights were out, but I could see the front porch bathed in the spotlights, flashing lights and a cloth over a body by the glass French doors. There were two ambulances, and at least forty people strewn around outside in various stages of shock and processing, paramedics attending to them in turn. Because of the mayhem I had to park further away than I liked. Maybe I had become spoilt over the last three years since I moved up to Detective.
I searched for James' figure and finally found it. Heading towards him, I made my way through mud to gravel, following the driveway. This was the third scene like this one in the last four months. I knew what I expected to see tonight. I hadn't expected all the victims to still be standing though.
James had beaten me to the call out as usual. I swear that man would just sit in his car waiting in his freshly ironed clothes for a call. Working with James had been one hell of an experience, it had taught me so much. He leaned against the doorway, his crisply starched suit barely giving way.
James spoke to me without even turning around to confirm my presence. "The power is still out. One of the techies is working on the system. Looks like some kind of power surge, so it should only be another couple of minutes. Once the alarm was tripped, the boys were notified by security when they turned up to find a veritable bloodbath. Once the place was swept first time around, we got the people out."
So what happened to them? I asked assuming he already knew. It had been long enough to let the ambulances arrive and start screening guests, so it was long enough for us to start taking statements.
“Well shaggy....” I made a face at the comment, in spite of the fact he couldn’t see me. He had started calling me that last week on account that I had let my hair grow enough to fall in my face. Even as I frowned, I unconsciously pushed my hair back and out of my eyes. "....it seems getting a statement was easy enough. Everyone saw the same thing. Our friends busted in, "James pointed to three of the bodies on the floor. "They forced everyone in to the back, but, this time..."
"They lived through it." I ended his sentence for him. “So it is the same crew.”
James began listing their names. "Ray Cress, Paul Vickers, Daniel Schubert, Frank Penn.... and two yet to be identified."
"What happened this time?" I asked to bring me up to speed.
"Same as the others, up until the point one of the guests goes ape and takes out the lot of them. Two guests and one guard killed, one person missing and six chronic offenders slashed, guttered, and gored."
"One guest did this! What was he, a Special Ops member?" I was knocked over by the idea of one person taking down this crew. They were animals.
"No, she isn’t." Came the amused reply.
"She! You're kidding." I bumbled.
"No indeed I am not. Guess who it is, which makes the situation all the more interesting."
"I’m in suspense…." and losing my patience.
"The Jane Doe that turned up in the middle of nowhere, crashing that car into the station." James smiled as though satisfied immensely by the surprise on my face – not that I didn’t try and hide it well.
"Front Page Jane Doe. No memory, no leads to who she was, where she came from?" I refined.
"The one and the same." I looked around the milling people trying to set sights on her, and James regarded my reaction with amusement.
"You think she’s a bit of a celebrity don’t you?” My head snapped back to give him a sharp look, almost embarrassed at my childish reaction. “Don’t waste your time. She’s the one missing, but I’m not game to send anyone in to start tearing up the place to find her without some decent light to help the situation. Her kid is sitting over in one of the ambulances though."
"What was the feedback from the witnesses?"
"When they burst in, they rounded everyone up as per usual, killed a couple of guests including the host’s sister. The head honcho Penn picks out some poor girl to abuse, and before he does, our Jane Doe steps forward to take her place. No one moves to help, because they were all too traumatized” he remarked snidely before moving on. “Then she re-appears after the lights blow and starts picking off our guys. She hits the emergency button, closing the safety door, triggering the alarm, and here we all stand now. Three have been taken to hospital for shock already, the rest will all probably spend the next month in a Xanax haze – Lord knows, to be honest, I would if I were them."
"Shit. So this one woman kills the bad guys, saves the day. No joke." I half laughed.
"Lights on!” Came a yell from the side of the house.
James gave a frustrated sigh. "Thank God. Took long enough. Now we might be able to start cataloguing things properly, and finding this girl."
The lights threw everything in to sight, and what a sight it was. We were standing on the front porch, next to a security guard who had been shot. Blood was everywhere, and if I thought it was messy there, I had another thing coming. Walking through the open entertainment/dining room, the polished light wood floor glistened under the down lights, though as we moved towards the room where the guests had been kept the floor glistened in blood instead.
The devastation was phenomenal. Several of them must have had arteries hit. Blood stains and streaks covered the walls. The bodies in here had not been covered yet, and as I picked over them I noted one impaled with glass looked like he had been dragged out, a couple of random fingers lying in his wake, and another man had his head nearly severed. We came to the site of the safe room and I stepped over another body lying in the doorway leading to the hall. Forensics followed us, taking photos, and tagging items for evidentiary purposes.
"Following the trail, I came to the study and saw Penn, the self appointed leader of the crew laying across the desk split from throat to groin. Blood still dripped, slowly from the pool of it on the table, on to the floor. James joined me at the doorway."
"Jesus." James exclaimed.
"Brutal." I concurred.
"Then some. What a mess." James said as he and I circled the room. There was a smashed wall mirror, everything from the desk and half the bookshelf lay on the floor and wood paneling had been ripped out.
Something caught my eye just then. A sign on a piece of dislodged wood paneling wedged between the desk Penn’s body lay on and the wall. "What’s that?" I pointed at what looked like a sign or symbol. There was the shape of an arrow and what looked like a sharp edged infinity sign.
We took a few steps closer, and James sunk to his knees to examine the mark. “It looks like rune marks.”
"Rune marks." I mused curiously.
"My wife is in to some of that new age stuff. I’m sure I’ve seen something similar." He noted.
"What would they be used for? Ritual? Symbolism? There hasn't been anything like this at the other sites." I noted.
Just then I saw it. "James" I called as calmly as I could. "James. Come back a bit." He knew the tone in my voice, and immediately moved to stand, but it was too late. I had only just seen a glimmer of light strike her hair which had moved. It was almost unperceivable, her black hair against the black shadows. As James took a step back she rushed us, using the paneling as a shield to push us back and protect herself at the same time. James was pushed onto his back, and she stood raising the board to strike him when I shot her with the taser. She instantly fell to the floor, eyes rolling back and trembling. I helped James to his feet and he spent a moment regaining his wits while I called for an ambulance officer.
When I turned back he was looking at her, hovering over her and pulling out the prongs.
"James. Step back, she might come to." In spite of my caution, he simply looked back at her calmly.
"She was just in shock.” He dismissed. “Didn’t know who we were that’s all. She’s fine Sam. I’m fine."
/> The ambulance officer checked her vitals and his partner followed behind. Almost at the touch of his hand, she reached up and grabbed his hand, even with the current still running through her. She started to push the first officer off, but the second jabbed her with a syringe and she lulled into unconsciousness.
"We’ll have to take her in straight away,” the paramedic directed towards me. “And I don’t want her waking up here again." Said the first officer. James acknowledged them and we walked out to give them some room to work on getting her on a stretcher.
"I’m taking the evidence back to the office, can you go interview the girl at the hospital?" James asked of me.
"You don’t want to come?" James looked like he was struggling a bit. He wasn’t the healthiest of guys I knew, but he also wasn’t the worst. Today though, he just didn’t seem engaged, seemed distant and as though he was pushing his limits.
James raised an eyebrow. "Do you still need me to hold your hand?"
I baulked. We almost always did these things as a team. It wasn’t that I couldn’t. "No –it’s just usually there are two of us."
James started to walk out of the room. "Get one of the blues to sit in." He directed.
I followed him out the door. "Sure. Are you feeling alright?"
"Fine as I can. Just tired, that’s all. It is late unless you haven’t noticed."
I smirked and headed away from the house and back towards my car.
I arrived at the hospital, knowing she would have been knocked out from the sedatives and unable to speak for a while. I expected she would possibly still be asleep now, so I was surprised when I arrived to find her awake, sitting up and resting her head on her knees stating out the window at the rising sun.
She looked so passive, so quiet and reserved compared to the short time ago I had seen her, full of rage, soaked in blood. Rachael had been cleaned up, the drugs worn off and was now in hospital issue gown, handcuffed to the rail of her bed. I watched her for a moment from through the door.
“How has she been?” I asked one of the boys posted at her door.
“Quiet. Hasn’t said anything, hasn’t been any trouble.”
"Hmmm". I was wondering what she would say. She was so pretty, so quiet and just panicked looking enough to tell me that she was worried, but not because of what she’d done, more what was going to happen. I had seen that face before, a dozen times or more. She spied me looking at her through the door and I saw her chest rise higher as she breathed deeper. For the longest moment we stared at each other, and I found it hard to believe someone so petite, so delicate looking could have amassed so much carnage on her own.
I had heard of stranger things though. Adrenaline spikes, surges in reaction, physical strength, working on survival mode. Crisis situations brought out all kinds of interesting features in people.
“Come inside.” I directed the man to my left and he obliged. Sucking in my breath, I pushed the door open and walked in with authority.
I took up the chair that was on offer and stayed out of arms reach, as I had been taught and told time and time again. In case they decide to take a swipe at you, which happened expected or not.
“My name is Detective Samuel Knott.” I started. “I am here today to ask you some questions surrounding the events of yesterday evening. I need to remind you…”
“…that I can have legal representation… that I don’t have to say anything…..I know. I remember from last time.” She paused to give me a pensive look. “I don’t remember anything to tell you anyway. I can talk to you. I’m not worried. I just want to know where my boy is. If he’s safe.”
“He’s fine. He’s with Social Services until you are released.” I hesitated. It wasn’t in my usual repertoire to try and comfort persons I was interviewing. She looked so…normal though. I had to remind myself she had only just been responsible for taking the lives of six grown men. No matter how despicable they were. “You must remember something.” I pressed.
“I remember arriving at the party, meeting up with Amber and Sabian.” She recalled.
“Sabian Pict – the owner of the premises.” I clarified.
“Yes. I mainly stayed with Amber, but then I got upset.” Rachael looked far away and hugged her knees.
“Why?” I enquired. She looked uncomfortable, and stretched out her legs out, I tried to look as if I wasn’t noticing her movements, her bare thigh revealed by the blanched white sheet. Rachael re-arranged her posture as well, placing one of her arms behind her to carry her weight.
“Sabian’s wife.” Rachael offered. “She was saying how I must have been struggling with losing my memories.” Rachael looked away. “I can’t believe they killed Amber. There was no reason. Why - She just stood up for her brother. They could have warned her, she wouldn’t have hurt them. Couldn’t.”
I nodded to indicate I understood, but otherwise bit my tongue trying not to console her. Tell her I sympathised. That I had seen the handiwork of these men before, and that anyone had walked away had been a damned miracle. She suddenly looked uncomfortable, her body stiffening.
I realised I had been staring I desperately sought to fill the blank space, looking down at my notepad to scribble details, then hurridly I asked another question of her.
“What do you recall between getting upset by Mrs Pict’s comments and Ms Pict being shot.”
As she replied, her voice became increasingly agitated. “Sabian showed me this room I could go. The safe room. He told me I could stay there if I wanted. Jonah was playing with the other kids.” Rachael reached up and placed a hand on her forehead as if staving off a headache. She closed her eyes for a moment. “Sabian and I were talking, then Jonah ran in and almost straight away there was a bang.”
Rachael opened her eyes again and removed her hand from her face. “I could hear people screaming and yelling. Sabian ran out to see what was happening….” I could see her eyes flitting from side to side as she visualised what had happened. What had brought her here. “But he came back almost straight away with everyone. Everyone was herded into the room I was in. We sat on the floor. They wanted to get into the safe, were going to take Sabian’s finger because they needed it to access, then Amber told them to stop. Then bang. The man with the shotgun killed her….just like that. That’s all I remember. Maybe it is better.”
“What do you mean?” I asked her, waiting for the answer. She was such an enigma. How could she forget everything like that. Just gone.
“Something Amber said to me once.” She looked at me again and I saw her eyes glassy from the tears she was trying to fight back. “That maybe the things I really don’t need to remember can stay locked away. Maybe I’m not missing anything at all. This way I get to remember the better things.”
I didn’t disagree, but I had a job to do. Still I wasn’t going to treat her like a perpetrator unless I had to. “How do you think you killed all those people?”
Rachael shook her head, then met my eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t even think its possible is it? I couldn’t have done what they say I did. There were so many of them – armed with knives, guns.”
I shot a blaming look at the office at the door. No one should have been discussing any of the details, but continued on pressing her with questions. “If you can’t remember how do you know they were all armed?”
“Well they all walked in at some point to talk to the leader. The head of their group…I can’t remember what they called him.” She replied.
“Penn.” I replied involuntarily.
“They all had some weapon. The one with the shotgun. The one with the rifle, the one with the regular gun – I don’t know what to call it - the one with the knife on his leg, The other one with a big machete looking thing…..The other man, the one at the door. I don’t know what you call it….”
“It doesn’t matter.” I dismissed.
“Do you remember leaving with any of them. Leaving the group?” I asked. Anything would be helpful, but she
shook her head. “You left with one of them, and went into the other room.” I prompted. “He was found gutted from his throat to his groin.” She gulped in reaction to the visual, then shrugged lightly.
“I sighed out loud and leaned back in the chair. I regarded her with curiosity. I didn’t get the sense she was pretending. That she was holding anything back.
“We might be able to get you in to someone who can help you remember. It might be useful to us to have that information.” I had decided we needed another report. The shrink James was seeing was good.
“I’m already booked in to see someone. There was a wait but Amber booked me in.” At least I knew she was willing.
“Amber the social worker.” I questioned. She nodded.
“I’ll get you in sooner. Maybe the next couple of days. Homicide has more pull than missing persons or Welfare.” I declared this and stood as though I actually knew this was the answer to her issues and my questions, but she just smiled at me.
“So you’re the reason my appointment has taken so long.” What a contradiction she was. At least she could find a sense of humour in all this.
Before I left I asked her one more question. “What was the outcome of the investigation in to your circumstances?” I had already requested her file but wanted to see what she could tell me.
“Nothing. No missing person reports for either of us. Not even from school attendances. No identifying anything. No name-brand clothes, even my ring…” She spun it around her finger. “There’s nothing special about any of it. I think they sent the inscription around to jewelers or something. I haven’t heard anything.”
Nothing. That wasn’t completely unheard of unfortunately. I redirected the conversation. “So Social Services was linking you up with a place to live, helping with the kid?”
“Amber was talking with Housing. Then as soon as a place came up, we were enrolling Jonah into school, but they had paperwork and other things they have to prepare before he can start, and before they could move us somewhere. Turns out, if you don’t have ID, you don’t have much of a life.” She took a breath before asking me what was on her mind. “Will you check he is alright….please.”
I tried to stand firm but relented. This woman was nothing more than a victim striking back. God knows what she had been through before. She was right, maybe it was better she didn’t remember. The fact she could switch off was a good thing. Surely. Still. Cross all the t’s, dot all the i’s.
“I’ll check.” I agreed, and turned to leave, but she reached out and just caught my sleeve.
“Wait. What happens to me now?”
“Once they release you medically, we’ll take you back to the station to answer a few questions.” Probably not I reasoned. Not until she had a psych exam.
“I don’t have money for bail.” She replied and I felt sorrier for her in that moment, more than any other until now. Nothing left, and she was going to end up in jail.
“You aren’t under arrest Rachael. Do you want a lawyer? Do you have one?” She shook her head. “If you want someone, we can organize that. There was no more than that I could do for her. With that I moved away determined I had to put some distance and some sense between myself and her. She let her fingers slip from my sleeve and I felt a sudden loss.
“Thank you.” She called after me. I simply gave a curt nod and left.
As I walked through the door, a doctor was busy waiting on the other side. “Ah, good. You’re in charge yes?” He rushed at me. “Great. You can take her, she’s fine.”
“Fine – really?” I found that hard to believe.
“Well physically she has some bruising, a few scratches and a torn fingernail, but otherwise there was only a gash in the back of her leg. Looked like a piece of glass caught her, but she was lucky, minimal damage to the muscle, we sutured her skin while she was out. She can go.” He handed me a discharge note. “For your records. And there’s some clothes from the donation bin on their way with a nurse.”
“You seem keen to get rid of her.” I said it as though I was accusing him of something and it caught him off guard to begin.
“Are you kidding me? We need every bed we can get. The sooner she’s gone the better. When she woke up so early from the sedative I was cheering.”
I stopped to get a sandwich from the café outside the hospital, and decided to sit and eat, reviewing the notes I had taken. As I sat there, I saw them escort Rachael, limping from the hospital to the car, I watched her manner, and she quietly looked over at me.
Back at the office, I joined James in the resource room. He was going through footage from a camera on his own when I entered.
“How did you go with the interview?” He asked, turning to greet me.
“She can’t remember anything.” I replied easing into the chair next to him.
“Nothing?” James repeated.
“Nothing after the Social Worker being killed - until she woke up in the hospital.”
James eyed me quizzically. “Do you believe her?”
“Yes. I really do.” I admitted. “But it’s strange. She can’t remember what happened to her last time. Can’t remember what happened this time…”
“We’ve seen that before” He reminded me.
“Yeah, just odd, that’s all.”
“That’s not all that’s odd. You need to see the tape to believe it.” James swung around back towards the monitor and I waited to see what he thought was so strange.
“Tape?” I mocked. “We living in the 1980’s again?
“Fine digital print, footage, whatever you want to call it. I took it straight from the system and on to this thing….” He pointed offensively at the USB stick before returning his attention to the screen. I had taught him to use the program last year and he had resisted all the way until the last case we investigated peaked his interest in the software and it’s applications. James cued up the footage but paused it to speak. “There’s nothing we don’t already know from this time, or the last incidents before this point.” Dramatically, he pressed the play button on the computer program and the footage started up as Rachael was being escorted out by Penn. “It’s a loop camera. Only covers 8 hours at a time, and only from the one place in the house, just outside the safe-door, but it caught pretty much the whole event.” I watched as she dispatched each of them, moving ethereally. She could have had top end training to move like that, kill like that. Just as the tape reached the point where the door closed one of the armed men stood strangely, head shaking from side to side as he looked up. It might have been having a fit, but the tape grained and struggled. Soon after all the flashlights went out and there was little that could be seen anyhow.
“What happened to that guy?” I voiced.
“Weird – hey!” James exclaimed.
James sighed, then looked at his tapping fingers thoughtfully before speaking to me again. “They killed over 200 people in raids like this…. 200 people Sam. It’s such a shame she’s going to be done for this. Saves a young girl from being brutalized, saves everyone left standing in that place and saves the legal system a bucket load of cash trying to put these bastards behind bars for a couple of years if we manage to sift through all the court bullshit.” He breathed heavily as though straining for a minute with his emotions.
“You alright James?” He didn’t answer me. “Jim – You alright?”
“Sam.” I could always tell when James had something more important to say. He used a tone I had become accustomed to in my training, and swung his chair around to face me before he continued talking. “I think I’ve had enough now.” I shook my head not understanding exactly what he was saying, or not wanting to. “I’m going to let the job go after this case. Going to retire, head to where my kids are, warmer weather will do me good. I don’t want to die on the job. Don’t want to spend the last few years slowing down, surrounded by scum, and horror and pain until they force me out, or stick me on desk permanently.”
“I can’
t imagine them getting rid of you in a hurry…” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Maybe not, but I’ve been seeing the shrink.” I hadn’t expected that. My uncomfortable pause made him shake a hand dismissively and turn away from me. “Don’t make a big deal out of it. Just thought I might get some perspective on what I want.”
I could baulk or support him. But I knew for him to make this decision was a big deal. “Well, at least you don’t have to wait until we catch the guys.”
His face didn’t lighten as I expected. Instead he looked directly back at me, locking me in to my place. “She did it for us, and now she’s going to be raked over the coals. For doing everyone a favour. But you know what…..” He reached for a delete button on the player application.
“What are you doing?” I jumped to my feet.
“Balancing justice.” He said pressing the button. “The images were lost.” He murmured on, stunning me further.
“I never thought you would do something like that.” I tried not to shout.
“I’ve taught you a lot – I hope.” Was his come back.
“Everything I know.”
“Then let me teach you this lesson as well. Sometimes, the system doesn’t work. Don’t go vigilante – that’s not what I’m saying.. That’s not healthy, but sometimes when you know something is right, you’ll have the choice to follow the book, or make it work. As long as you accept the consequences, even if you make a mistake…..then you can sleep at night. Sometimes the right thing isn’t the right thing Sam.”
“The tape was all they really had on her.” I said out loud. “No one really saw more than her strike the first guy with the gun, then hit, but not kill the others.”
“Self defense- killing the first, then they draw assumptions about the others being killed, she wasn’t in her right mind, and no one really saw what happened. Should be enough with her mental health history for them to want to bury it. She’ll be monitored, for a little while, and at least that will let her move on with things.” He said it so matter of fact. James rose from his seat, turning off the monitor.
“I don’t disagree, it just worries me.” I said, voicing my concern.
“She has an inbuilt protection mechanism. She forgets, which protects her mind. We should all be so lucky.”
“What happens when she remembers?” I asked grimly.
“So if you feel so on the fence about what’s happening, why don’t you shadow her, let her know you’ll be following her up, so she stays in check, and you keep an eye on her.” James pulled on his jacket.
“Good idea”. I agreed. “For the meantime I’ll finish off the paperwork then head home. How I’m going to write this report up is going to be interesting. Creative writing.”
“I’ll do the report.” I gave him a surprised look. “My farewell gift.” He appeased. “Save you the paperwork. Go home.” He walked towards the entrance and headed out to his desk.
“I’m going to miss you.” I was glad I said it, mushy as it sounded, even coming from me.
“I’m not dead you know, just taking a vacation.” Was James’ response as he left the room. I just couldn’t believe he erased evidence…..
Maybe I was over thinking things. I left for home, grateful, but still couldn’t quite shake this feeling I had over the whole situation. I was sure she wasn’t lying, but that brutality, that disengagement needed to kill so many people like that…..survival mechanism or not, it didn’t sit with me, or with the image of who she was. Quiet, non descript, soft, petite, and so calm looking. I would find her in the morning, take some time to let her know I was keeping an eye on her, and try and get a clearer read on the situation. Maybe even try interviewing the kids or the kids parents myself rather than rely on second hand testimonials. The whole picture troubled me, but I still managed to let sleep find me.