Part 389: Another Clue

January 16th, 2009


Kellye felt like she could pass out at a moment’s notice. The police precinct was filled with the night shift personnel so it was quieter at night. It was a peace that she thought this place couldn’t have. Jenny was over by her desk, resting her head on her curled up arm. She stared at the far wall of the photos of the victims. Each one had a special face in her eyes; as she had bee studying all of them for the past week, trying to find some connection to link them together besides their hair color. She and her friend had gone through all angles that they could; same hair dresser, same brand of hair coloring, anything they could think of. Sadly, they all came up empty. “I can’t stand this waiting,” Jenny muttered.

“This is the job,” Kellye rubbing her eyes, “We work our cases, try and connect the dots and hopefully leads to some clue.”

“We’ve tried that. They lead nowhere.”

“Then we wait for the bastard to drop us another clue.”

“What you mean, is for him to kill again?” Jenny raised her head.

“I don’t want to mean that but ultimately, that is what I mean.”

Jenny lowered her head back down and sighed. “I know that, Kell.” She whispered, “But it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“I know that too, Jenny.”

The blonde cop then looked across to the table that had two pizza boxes. She then noticed a small black shape begin to work its way from one box to the other. “How old is that pizza?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I think we bought it yesterday.” Kellye answered her.

“I think I have watched the same damn cockroach go from one box to the other. This is like a buffet to him.”

“Why don’t you name him then, if you aren’t going to kill him?”

“Okay. His name is Ned.” Jenny giggled.

The tiredness had finally set in on Kellye and she started to laugh uncontrollably. Jenny smiled at her, finally glad they were able to break the boredom of the waiting. The brunette calmly wiped her eyes and grinned. “Thanks, Jen. I needed that laugh.” She smiled.

“Hey, we are cops but we don’t have to be serious all the time.” Jenny smirked.

Kellye propped up her feet against the desk, looking at the clock on the wall. They had thirty minutes before their shift was up. The past week had been nothing but paper work. She was looking forward to getting back on the street but hopefully not too soon. She meant what she said; she hoped the killer would not kill again but they had no choice but to track him by his motives. Then the phone rang. Jenny looked up with concern at Kellye. They were always worried about phone calls this late at night. The brunette quickly answered the phone. “Schroeder, Homicide,” she answered.

Jenny watched her as she then took a pen and paper, writing down something. She continuously replied “yes” over the phone and then hung up. “Get your keys, Jenny,” she said, standing up and taking her coat, “The Killer has struck again.”

“Damn it,” she said, getting her key and coat as well. As she started to follow Kellye out of the office, she looked toward the pizza boxes. “Hold down the fort, Ned,” she replied to the cockroach.

As they left, the cockroach; of course, said nothing.


Within minutes, Kellye and Jenny had arrived at the scene. The cops had cornered it off with crime scene tape. A few people were standing around, trying to get a peak of the death before them. For most, it was better than Television. Jenny and Kellye flashed their badges as they arrived; forcing the cops to allow them onto the scene. The duo walked down the alley way and as they did, they noticed something strange. The body was nowhere to be found. Forensics were already taking pictures and collecting evidence. However, the lack of the body was unusual. “Hey, Donner!” Kellye called.

The short, fat and bald forensic man then stood up and looked at her. “Where is the body?” she asked.

“In the ambulance, “ he pointed toward his right.

Jenny looked over and saw the vehicle with the body in a gurney and a blanket covered up. The blonde then wiped her neck and looked back to Donner. “Are you guys supposed to go over it first before they take it away to the morgue?” she asked.

“Normally, yes but the body WASN’T a body when they got here.” He admitted.

“Wait . .the victim was still alive?” Kellye gasped.

“Apparently. Officers on the scene called for 911 emergency ambulance but by the time they got here, she had suffocated. Cops tried to resesitate but they never would have saved her anyway.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jenny.

“The poor woman’s lairnex was crushed. The only way they could have saved her was to make an incision in the throat to allow a tube to go through and breathe through that. But how many beat cops are that skilled?”

“Good point,” Jenny whispered, “Anything else we need to know?”

“Only that God is finally on your side,” the fat man smiled, “You got an eyewitness.”


Jenny and Kellye worked their way to a side alley, following the cop that brought them over. Inside one of the squad cars was this old black woman. Judging by her clothing and her unfortunate smell, she was homeless. The woman was sipping on coffee and she looked like she was relishing it. “It’s her third cup,” the cop mentioned.

“If she can id the killer, she can have as much coffee as she wants.” Jenny pointed out.

“Oh, thank you,” the woman smiled, overhearing them, “ It’s cool out tonight.”

“Yes, it is, ma’am,” Kellye said, pulling out her notepad, “ Can you tell me what you saw tonight?”

“Why should I? You won’t believe me.” She grunted.

“It doesn’t matter what we believe, ma’am,” Jenny pointed out, “ All we care about is what you saw.”

The black woman looked at both of them and then sigh, taking another sip of the coffee. “I saw him.” She whispered, “The Italian.”

“The Italian?” Kellye quickly wrote it down.

“Well, I guess he was Italian. Most of the Italian’s I’ve seen had jet black hair and that’s what he had. What woke me up from my sleep was the poor girl. She was struggling and coughing. He was dragging her by her arm toward the corner of the building where the metal stairway was. He then pulled out from his overcoat an orange extension cord and started to wrap it around her neck. I was scared. I couldn’t move.”

“Please, go on,” Jenny said, getting a fourth cup of coffee ready.

“Then he started to hoist her up. Unforunately that was when I whimpered. I couldn’t help it. And then the Italian looked over at me. I was so scared he was going to kill me because I seen his face. But all he did was smile. And then kept hoisting the girl. It was like he was scared of nothing.”

“Go on. Then what happened?”

“The moment he was done, he left. I finally got brave enough to run for the streets and yell for help. That’s when I saw the other man.”

“Other man?” Kellye gasped.

“Yeah, I saw Batman! He came swooping down from the other building. He leaped off, landed on the ground, then leaped up again to rip the extension cord off and get the woman to the ground. He checked on her for about two seconds, then ran off into the distance of the Italian. I think he was upset that he didn’t stop the bastard in time.”

“What . . .makes you think this guy was Batman?” Jenny asked, getting more and more confused.

“Just by the way he moved. Sleek and full of control by himself. But somebody must have hurt him really bad in the face.”

“Did you see his face, ma’am?” Kellye asked.

“That’s just it, honey. He didn’t have no face. It was bandaged up. Plus he was wearing dark safety goggles and a fedora. I think he was that man from the papers.”

“What man?” the blonde cop raised an eyebrow.

“The one they called Jack of All Shades.”


Kellye continued to observe the crime scene. She stared up at the metal stairway, wondering how the man was able to hook the cord up there so easily. The woman said the killer pulled it out of his overcoat. It must have been rigged appropriately, otherwise, how could he have just thrown it up there? And why use extension cord? Kellye walked over to the foldable table where Donner was collecting all the evidence. She looked through the bags and found the extension cord. She examined it and checked it out. The extension cord was ripped at the tip of it. She then tapped her co-worker on the shoulder. “The cord is ripped,” she pointed out.

“I got eyes, Schroeder.” He whispered.

“Donner, this is an extension cord. How . . how does an extension cord get ripped?”

“The cord was faulty. It caved in under the weight of the woman.”

“How much did she weigh?”

“One hundred and sixteen pounds, according to her drivers license.”

“This cord would snap under 116 pounds of weight?”

“I don’t know, Schroeder. But I can check on it, if you really think it’s relevant.”

“I have to check all angles, Donnie.” She said, putting it back.

“You really don’t by that bag lady’s story, do you? About Darkman coming down from the sky and ripping that cord off to save that victim?”

“Hey, guys!” Jenny called down to them.

Kellye and Donner turned and looked upward. Jenny was on the opposite building on it’s roof; a liquor store. She was holding a flashlight and looking down at them. “Could you two come up there, please?” she asked.


Kellye opened the door to the rooftop as they came over from the liquor store. Donner was right behind her as they looked around and found Jenny. She was standing over by the edge of the building overlooking the crime scene. Her brunette friend and the forensic man started to walk toward her; taking notice that the rooftop had the micro black gravel; most building use for cheap insulation. As they got closer, Jenny then motioned for them to stop. “What’s going on?” asked Donner.

Jenny then slapped her hand on his chest. “I said, stop, Donnie.” She commanded.

“Jenny, wha-“ Kellye tried to ask but then noticed what the blonde’s flashlight was pointing too.

At least three boot prints within the gravel.

“No one else was up here?” asked Kellye.

“Nope, I was the first to check it out because no one bought the bag lady’s story.”

“Oh . .my . .God . .” Donner said, staring at the boot print.

“Stop being religious for two seconds, Donner and go get your kit in your truck,” Jenny told him, “I want a resin cast of that boot print.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the fat forensic man turned and ran toward the entrance to the roof to do what she said.

Kellye stared at the boot print and then walked over to the edge looking down. She started to look around and looked for any electrical wires or cords connecting the building to the other across the alley way. There wasn’t any. She looked at the ground and at all the police cars in the alley way. “Jenny?” she whispered, “Didn’t the bag lady say that Batman leaped down from the roof?”

“Yes, she did.” The blonde joined her on the edge.

“But . . from up there to down there, looks like a good thirty . . .maybe 50 feet.” The brunette sighed, “Anybody who jumped from this distance would break their leg; not be strong enough to make even another leap.”

“There you think he had some repelling cord?” Jenny said, crossing her arms, “Where is the link up to that? Plus, the bag lady made no mention of a repelling cord.”

“Jenny, this . . .this isn’t possible,” Kellye said, tucking her notes under her arm, “All the wonders we saw on the Island STAYED on the Island.”

Jenny stared down at the street and then back to her friend. “Did they?” she whispered, as she started to walk back toward the entrance to the roof.

Kellye stared at her for a minute then started to follow her, passing Donner on the way toward the entrance to the roof. The brunette cop made her way quickly down the stairs and through the store as Jenny continued her walk toward the alley way. Jenny looked up again and then down to the streets. She repeated that gesture at least twice before she came to an area of the street. She looked up and looked down. In front of her was a caved in portion of the street, filled in with rain water or drain off water; typical of most streets in Los Angeles. Jenny believed it was hiding something else. “Greg?” she called to the forensic person, “You still got the shop vac?”

“Yeah.” He answered.

“I need you to drain this puddle.” She pointed.

“Why? The woman was killed over there.”

“Just do it, please.” Jenny whispered.

Greg knew that even though she was younger than him, her title still made her ranking officer on the scene. He pulled out his shop vac from the big forensic van and proceeded over to the puddle. By the time he started to suck it all up, Kellye had joined her over at the area. She didn’t ask her any thing; just continued to watch. Within three more minutes, Greg had sucked it all up and when he was done; he started to cough.

He wasn’t expecting foot print shaped cracks in the asphalt.

“Simple physics,” Jenny whispered, “If anything falls from that sort of distance, it would make cracks in the street as it gave way to kinetics.”

“That’s . . .that’s not . . .possible,” the forensic man stuttered.

“Tell you what, Greg, you leave the possible and impossible to me to figure out,” Jenny sniffed, “You take a picture of this and get resin boots casts. Donner has the kit on the roof.”

“Jenny, come with me.” Kellye said, taking her by the arm.

The two friends began to walk down the alley way toward Jenny’s truck. As they got to it, Kellye got in the passenger side and closed the door. The blonde looked at her friend and understood, the whole reason why she wanted to get in the truck was to discuss something “privately”. Jenny stepped up, opened the drivers side door and closed it. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Are you SERIOUSLY . . .entertaining the notion that someone, like Texas, killed the woman and now someone LIKE TEXAS . . .tried to stop it?”

“Why not?” the cop asked.

“Because there is no way that anybody from that Island could have made it to Los Angeles. We killed them all, HELL, YOU killed Texas!”

“Yes, I am aware of that, Kellye. But we don’t know how many members of the Liberation made if off the Island BEFORE we arrived. Texas, Brooklyn, the Colonel, Belmont, they might not have been the only ones who receive mutations.”

“But what I am getting at is how the hell are we going to explain that to the Captain? Let alone Edwin, Meg and Max who weren’t with us on that Island?”

“There is only one way we can convince them of that theory . . ..we catch the scumbag.”

“But what about the second man? Who is that guy?”

“The woman said the paper called him the Jack of All Shades. Why is he called that?”

“Because he’s been murdering people and placing cheap sunglasses on their faces. It’s his serial MO.” Kellye pointed out.

“Who has that case?” Jenny asked.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to go back to the station and find out.,” the brunette then checked her watch, “Ana-Lucia should be coming on by now.”

Jenny started up the truck. They had done all the investigation they needed and the forensic team would collect the rest. They needed to look further into the Jack of All Shades case. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that big a deal.


After they arrived at the station, the skeleton crew of the late shift was in full swing. Martha from the front desk was already passing out doughnuts and coffee. Jenny and Kellye greeted her as they walked past. They slowly made their way through all the desks and arrived at their individual room. Ana-Lucia was already at her desk, sipping on a large Mountain Dew she picked up from a nearby gas station. “Evening, girls,” she smirked, “Or should I say Morning.”

“Yeah, laugh it up,” Jenny said, stepping in.

“We got another case, Ana,” Kellye said, putting her notebooks to her desk, “It’s another victim from the Amber Angel Killer.”

“Then you better fill me in and request Martha not forget us on the doughnut rotation.” The Latina pointed.


Kellye then took a swallow of her coffee while she finished briefing Ana-Lucia on the case of the evening. Jenny was making notes about distance and relevance from the roof to the ground. Ana-Lucia took another swig of her Mountain Dew, digesting all the clues. Martha slowly sipped on her coffee and ate her chocolate doughnut. She was thankful the women allowed her to stay but then again, they had another reason. “This case is so fascinating!” she gasped, “I can’t wait to take the 420 to Homicide.”

“It’s not an easy test,” Jenny muttered, “We got lucky.”

“Don’t let the boys get you down, Jen,” the older woman smiled at her, “You all are doing a lot of good.”

“Thanks, Martha.”

“So, the Jack of All Shades . . . .is he a murderer or a vigilante?”

“I thought those two things were one in the same, Martha,” Ana-Lucia commented.

“But . . if he is a murderer, why try to help the girl?”

“She’s got a point, Ana-Lucia.” Kellye mentioned.

“True, true but our first step is to connect this guy to the killer of the Amber Angels,” the Latina stood up, “With any luck, it’ll possibly lead us to the bastard. Martha, you are the desk clerk on duty, right?”

“Of course,” she answered.

“Can you get me the notes on the Jack of All Shades case and see who is handling it?”

“Yes, ma’am!” she said proudly; happy to be helping with a case instead of just filing paper work.

“And you two,” she smiled, turning to her fellow officers, “You got home and get some rest. The division is not going to care what your shift is so I want you here bright and early at 9 am and fully rested to tackle this thing. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kellye smiled, putting her notes away.

“You won’t get any argument out of me.” Jenny agreed, picking up her purse.

The two friends bid good night to their friend and proceeded out of the police station. Tomorrow would be a fresher day and they were both excited as they finally got a decent lead on the Amber Angel Killer.

Hopefully, they would actually get some sleep but they weren’t sure, due to the excitement.