Part I-Chapter 25: SNOW BLIND

 

 

Chapter 25

Snow Blind

(Ó 2007)

It is not officially a winter in Chicago until it comes, that one big snowstorm of the season. You first hear of it about three days in advance when the weather services inform you of the heavy rainstorms mixed with the warm moist air coming up northward from the Gulf of Mexico, which is going to meet a cold mass of air coming down from Canada. If this were late spring or summer you would expect heavy thunderstorms along with a few of inches of rain.

However, it was now February, the middle of winter, and that means snow; many inches of snow. This particular day the weather service had guaranteed the citizens of northern Illinois, especially those of Cook and northern Lake Counties, somewhere in the vicinity of six to nine inches of snow.

Though it would be far less of the inconveniences caused by the great snowstorm of 1967, where over twenty-three inches paralyzed the city with all the outlying suburbs, it was an inconvenience just the same to all the residents of the day. The lessons of that storm and the others that followed were learned to a great degree. The evening before this particular storm was to arrive, all municipal salt spreader trucks had already placed the first application of salt to the main expressways, and all snowplow trucks were on the roads at the ready.

It started to come down around 4:30 that morning, within the first hour the entire scenery in all directions was under a blanket of pure white, at an inch thick and by 9:30 AM, the total accumulation had reached over four inches, with more expected by mid afternoon.

It was at this time when David Todd and Noel Jaworski had stopped at one of the now many local Starbucks that seemed to be on every corner in downtown Chicago accompanied by two other uniformed police officers. All were just involved investigating a minor assault. David, stomping his feet just inside the entryway to get the snow off of his boots said in aggravation, “I tell ya Ski, it’s on these days when I go over all of my retirement plans in my head.”

“Really? Where you got in mind?” Noel answered.

“Arizona.”

“Arizona? Really?”

“Sure, last few times Gina and I have been there, well, she and the kids and I, we love it.”

“Out there in the desert though?”

“You ever been to Arizona?”

“Yeah, I visited a buddy of mine at Arizona State; it’s nice, great party campus.” Noel said.

“We’ve been going there for a few years now, the place grew on us,” David said as he slapped the snow off his Chicago Bears knit cap on the side of his leg, “we just can’t seem to decide between Scottsdale and Tucson though. How ‘bout you? You thinking of a warm place when this is all done?”

“I like Florida.” Noel said seeming to pertain to just himself.

“And where does Mari like?” David asked, hearing the tone in his partners’ voice.

“Mari, well she’s got this thing for California.” Noel said. David suspected that this subject has been discussed a few times in the Jaworski household. Mariola wanted one place and Noel the other. “She’s never even been there, yet. But, she’s dreamed of it since she was a girl back in Poland. Must be from all those movies and TV shows she watched. She believes the whole state is like Hollywood, Malibu, or something. I’m gonna take her and the kids there maybe this summer to Disneyland and L.A., let her see the real thing.”

As the four men stepped into the line to order, David continued, “I like Florida too, but I just don’t think I could take the humidity there during the summer. I mean, I can’t take the humidity here.”

Yeah,” Noel said, “but Florida is beautiful, and by the ocean. I love the ocean.”

“California has an ocean too.” Said one of the uniformed officers.

“That’s what my wife keeps insisting on too.” Noel answered as all the men now stood behind David at the order counter. “How about you guys? You have anywhere in mind after you do your twenty?”

“Ours wives haven’t informed us to their decision yet.” The other officer said. All men let out a short laugh.

David, now at the order counter turned to the young girl standing there and said, “Four venti coffees of the day please.”

“Tactical Five Seven.” The serious sounding female voice said. It came from the police radio that was on Noel’s belt. Tactical fifty-seven was the call name for he and David.

Noel reached for the radio, brought it up to his mouth, pressed down the SEND button and answered, “This is Tactical Fifty-Seven, go ahead.”

“Tactical Fifty-Seven, your supervisor requests that you contact him, A-S-A-P, at his office, please use a secure land line.” The woman said in a monotonous and unemotional tone.

Noel looked to David who returned the look from over his shoulder as he paid for the four cups of coffee. David raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. It seemed a strange request coming from Captain Xiang, but he was the boss, and there has to be a good reason.

Noel brought the radio back to his lips, again pressed the SEND button and responded, “Uh, base, Tactical Fifty Seven, ten four on that, we will be contacting him within the next five minutes. Tactical Fifty Seven out.” He looked to the young woman at the counter and asked her, “Is there a pay phone here?”

She pointed in the direction of the restrooms and answered, “Right over there sir, they’re between the bathroom doors.”

“You guys find a seat,” Noel said to the two uniformed officers, “we’ll be right with you.”

David and Noel stepped to short hallway where the public restrooms were. The phones were right between the men’s and ladies room, just as the young girl said. Noel picked up the receiver, dropped a quarter in the slot and began to dial the direct phone number to Captain Xiang’s office. Noel listened as the phone rang; it was halfway into the first ring when it was answered.”

“This is Xiang.” The Captain said quickly.

“Yeah Boss, it’s Jarworski, what’s up?” Noel said into the phone.

“Is David with you?” 

“Yes sir, he’s standing right next to me.”

“Good, how far are you from the station?”

“Oh, about ten minutes or so. What going on Boss?”

“The both of you get here now as fast as you can, where all going on a little drive.”

“Drive sir? Where?” Noel asked curiously.

“We have to go up north, to Riverwoods in Lake County.” The Captain said, “Apparently your ‘vigilante’ may have showed up there last night. I’ve been on the phone all morning with the Lake County Sheriff.”

“Hold on Boss,” Noel said and he whispered to David, “Boss says our boy may have showed up again, we gotta go up to Lake County, in Riverwoods.”

“Noel!” The Captains voice said, “I’m coming with you both on this one.”

“You’re coming with Boss?” Noel answered somewhat surprised.

“That’s correct,” Xiang said, “we will drive together, my SUV has four wheel drive and we’re going to need that today. Besides, I’m being briefed from the scene, and boys, this time it looks to be very complicated. Get here now, I’ll meet you in the parking area, I’ll fill you both in with what I know then.”

“OK Boss, we’ll see you in ten minutes.” Noel said and then hung up the phone. “We gotta get back fast … sounds serious.”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know yet, he seemed to not to want to discuss it on the phone. He said he’ll fill us in on what he knows when we get there. He says it real complicated.”

“Well then, let‘s get going” 

* * *

 

With the help of their lights and siren, they arrived at the station in seven minutes instead of ten. Waiting for them was their superior, Captain Xiang. He was sitting at the wheel of a large silver gray Ford Explorer with the engine running. He motioned to them to park in the space next to him and they complied.

 

They then opened the doors on the passenger side of the Explorer, Noel in the front; David took a seat in the back.

“Get comfortable gentlemen,” the Captain said, “this may take awhile. Damn snow.”

“Well, this is sort of an emergency,” Noel said, “Let’s use the lights and take the police lane.”

“Yeah, radio the State Troopers.” David added.

Xiang radioed the station to have the Illinois State Troopers informed that he would then indeed be taking the police emergency lane north on the Kennedy Expressway that would merge with the Edens Expressway all the way into Lake County to the suburb of Riverwoods.

The Captain then pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, the falling snow immediately melted as it hit the heated windshield. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the onramp of the Kennedy Expressway. Xiang turned on the police emergency lights and then went into the far right shoulder, which served as a lane for emergency vehicles. The first thing all three men saw once on the expressway was the curving line of headlights of the thousands of vehicles in the southbound lane coming into the city. The cars and trucks were driving at a snails pace, and each were only separated by a distance of a couple of feet. Some, even only inches behind the vehicle in front of them.

On a good day, a person could get to the city from a far suburb like Skokie and be downtown within thirty to forty five minutes. Today though, they would be lucky to reach their destination within two hours.

Once Noel saw the miles of snaking headlights, he asked his two companions, “Do you know what the definition of terror is?”

“No, what?” The Captain asked in response.

“Being in the middle of all that,” Noel said pointing to the traffic jam, “knowing that you’ve just had two cups of coffee and a bran muffin.”

The joke brought out a good laugh from all, and then Noel asked the Captain, “But in all seriousness Boss, fills us in, what’s going on?”

“Well, I just know briefly what’s going on,” The Captain replied, “Lake County Sheriff’s office received a strange 9-1-1 call very early this morning. They said it was from a girl around fourteen, she said she didn’t know where she was and asked them to help them. Lake County traced the call to the house where we are headed to now. House belongs to a guy named Divic, Gregior Divic.”

“What is that? Russian?” David asked.

“Sounds more like Slavic,” Noel said, “you know, like Yugoslavian, or even Czechoslovakian.”

“You should know.” David quipped.

“Anyway,” the Captain continued, “Lake County gets there, along with the locals. They find Divic in his den, spine broken; he’s been transported to Lake Forest Hospital. That’s why they contacted us, but they said there were five kids there also, and that’s where things are getting complicated. They said it would be best to get there and see for ourselves.”

“Picked a great day for this to happen.” Noel said. 

That small statement however began a spark in David’s mind, a small push in his machine of thoughts that he then focused on.

The decision to use the emergency lanes proved a wise one, for the ninety-minute trip that Captain Xiang first anticipated then became only forty-five. Soon they crossed the viaduct of Lake-Cook Road, which separated Cook and Lake Counties. Minutes later, they came to the off ramp of Deerfield Road and turned west until they came to the wooded suburb of Riverwoods.

Here all the large homes are built literally in the middle of the forest on large lots of one or two acres. All homes are secluded from one another. They turned south on a paved road. The snow had covered everything in a thick blanket of white, and it was still coming down. The now bare tree branches held a build up of three and four inches, and would fall in clumps to the ground after becoming to heavy or to thick for the branches to hold.

“The snow has covered the street signs.” Noel said, concerned with the difficulty that might come in finding their destination. However, that would prove to be insignificant. For parked off the third road on the left was a Lake County Sheriffs vehicle with the roof lights on. The Captain turned his Explorer left onto what seemed to be a gravel side road and identified himself. The Deputy in the car told them that the house that they were looking for was all the way at the end of this road and to the left.

“Ha!” David said under his breath, “The last house on the left.”

“What was that David?” The Captain asked.

“Oh nothing,” He answered, “it’s ‘The Last House on the Left’, it was the name of some stupid slasher flick in the seventies.”

The Explorer lumbered along the narrow snow covered road that was only wide enough to deal with one vehicle. The leafless trees on either side were close enough for Noel to reach out of the window and touch… This area was quite remote, if it were not for the fact that the trees and other forest shrubbery were without their leaves, one would never know that there were even occupied homes around.

 

Moments later, they had reached the end of the road. There to the left, just past the tree line and down a drive path was the two story, red brick home of Gregior Divic. The white of the snow along with the gray-brown of the trees was now alive with the red and blue lights from atop all of the emergency vehicles. The bright yellow color of police barricade tape added to the sudden burst of activity that was all around.

David began to study the scene all around him. The house was not as large as all of the others that he had seen along the road. It was set far off the road enough to tell him that this house, when the original owner built it, was designed mainly for privacy. It was completely surrounded by the forest preserve, with just enough room for a yard in the front, back, and along the sides of the home. It was almost completely isolated from all the other homes.

Something seemed strange to David, it was the amount of emergency vehicles. There were cars from the Lake County Sheriff along with trucks from the local Fire Department as well; however, there were also an ambulance, along with a van from Animal Control.

The Captain parked the Explorer behind a Lake County Sheriffs car and shut off the engine. The three men pulled out there necklace badges and exited the large SUV. When they stepped out, not only did the falling snow lightly pelt their faces, but also what was now accumulated on the ground went three inches above their ankles. They made their way towards the entrance of the home with labored steps. There, standing just in the doorway was a uniformed Sheriff speaking with two other deputies. The Sheriff’s officer looked at the three men coming towards him and excused himself from the two other men. He stepped out to greet them.

“Captain Xiang?” The Sheriffs officer asked.

“Yes, I’m Captain Xiang.”

“Captain Stan Harwood, Lake County Sheriff, Criminal Investigation Division. I spoke with you earlier.” He said extending his hand to Xiang. Harwood was a stocky man in his fifties with graying red hair and a handlebar mustache. Once he took Xiang’s hand and shook it, he looked over Xiang’s shoulder and asked, “I take it that these gentlemen are Todd and Jaworski?”

“I’m Todd,” David said extending his hand, “this is Jaworski.”

“Well, glad to meet you all,” Harwood said, he seemed to be in a jovial mood, like they were all there for a Bar-B-Q instead of a criminal investigation, “come on inside, we’ve all been here since real early this morning and have already gone over as much as we can.”

They then stepped up to the porch, cleaned the snow of their shoes as best they could and entered the home. They stood in the foyer for a moment, above them was a large chandelier which could be seen from outside through a large display window. In addition, a walkway above them led from the stairway to the upstairs bedrooms. 

They then shut the door behind them and noticed that on the right was a living room where a female sheriff’s officer was attending to a young teenage girl. The girl looked up at the men; she had long black hair, blue eyes, and a perfect complexion. She had a thick blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The officer not only was watching over her, but interviewing her as well.

On the left there was the stairwell that went up and turned straight back. To the immediate left of the foot of these stairs was a door that apparently led to the basement. There was also a short hallway that led to the kitchen; you would pass a dining area on the left as you stepped towards the kitchen.

“OK gentlemen,” Harwood said, “I’m going to give it to you in a nutshell first. We get a 9-1-1 call early this morning, just past 3:30 AM, from that little girl over there. We get here at around four and she leads us to the den over here.” Harwood lead them to a door just past the living room, they had to pass through another large room with sofas and a television, and they stepped into the den. There was a sliding glass door that led to the back yard, above this door was another large window, shaped in a half circle. “We found Mr. Divic here, lying on the floor.” Harwood said, pointing to the floor of the den, “The second I heard that his back was broken, I got in touch with you.”

“OK sir,” Noel said, “That was too easy; let’s go to the real complicated version that the Boss here said there’s going to be.”

“Yes,” Captain Harwood said, “the ‘complicated’ in this situation has proven to be the easiest way. Let me start at the beginning. Like I said, we got a 9-1-1 at 3:30 this morning, from that girl over there.”

“She looks familiar to me for some reason.” David said.

“Do you follow your missing children’s bulletins Sergeant Todd?” Harwood asked.

“Yes, yes I do. Is that where I’ve seen her?”

“Do you recall that story on the news a couple years ago about Marsha Post? The little girl that went missing from that farm community over in Iowa?”

“My God!” Noel said, “Is that her?”

“That is her.” Harwood answered assuredly.

“How the hell did she end up here?” David asked.

“I’ll be getting to that,” Harwood said, he pulled out his notebook and flipped to a page, “when she called 9-1-1 and the dispatcher answered, her exact words were, ’Please help us, please, we don’t know where we are’.” He closed the notebook, but put a finger there to keep his place, “The dispatcher kept her on the line so that we could trace it. She kept telling the dispatcher who she was and to please call her mother.”

“How old is she now?” Captain Xiang asked, looking sympathetically towards the girl.

“She was three months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she went missing,” Harwood answered, “She’s just over sixteen now. You recall how it was don’t you, I mean on the news reports. Small farming community, everyone knows everyone else. ‘Things like that don’t happen there’ they all kept saying.” Harwood then caught himself looking to the girl, then came back to focus on the situation, “Anyway, we all get here around four AM, she let us in. We were all so focused on her for the first few minutes when one of our deputies called us over to the den here.”

Harwood and the other men stepped inside the den.

“Here is where we found the owner of the home, a Mr. Gregior Divic. Apparently, Mr. Divic hails from Bosnia or Croatia, the former Yugoslavia, something like that. He was lying there; face down on the floor, his back was broken. He was paralyzed, but conscious, in extreme pain, but still conscious just the same. He may have been lying there for two to three hours. And here is where things start to get strange.”

“Strange?” David asked.

“Yes Sergeant Todd, strange. I’ve been following both your exploits when it comes to this vigilante your both looking for, but, if this is your man, he went one step beyond here.”

“Meaning sir?”

“Come with me outside real quick and I’ll show you all.” Harwood said, and he went for the front door. The other men complied and followed. Once outside, Harwood led them to the back of the van from Lake County Animal Control. There was a man seated in the drivers seat of the van, when he saw the sheriffs officer coming he stepped out and met them. “This is Sam Jeter from Animal Control.” Harwood said introducing him to the others.

“Hello.” Sam said.

“Sam here had to be called because when we found Mr. Divic in the den, we found this lying right above him.” Harwood said and pointed to the back doors of the van, “Go ahead Sam, open it up.”

When Sam opened the door, Noel jumped back and yelled out, “Jeezus, son-of-a bitch!”

There lying on a stretcher designed for animals that was bolted into the left sidewall of the van, was the face of the large rottweiller dog named Bodo, staring at them through the metal mesh of the locked cage. He was lying on his side; saliva was foaming and dripping off his long tongue as he labored to breath. It was a never-ending series of labored pants. This dog, whose breed is known and feared, had himself a frightened look in his eyes.

“Holy shit!” David exclaimed, “What the hell happened to him?”

“The preliminary from the vet who was here,” Sam said, “was that with the marks on its neck indicate that it was choked with its own chain collar and the swelling to the face and head, well, the dog may have been beaten about the head, and he may even have a severe concussion. This mutt looks as though he was on the bad end of a huge bar fight.”

“Are you saying that whoever attacked Divic,” David asked in amazement, pointing to Bodo, “did this … to that dog?”

“Could be,” Sam said, “dog has a couple of broken ribs too. He’s going to have to be put down; we’ll be doing an autopsy afterwards.” Sam then shut the doors.

David looked to Stan Harwood, who just said, “Let’s go back inside now, it becomes even more strange.” Harwood noticed the expressions he was getting from the three men. “You’ll have to excuse my behavior gents, it just that this is the damnedest thing that I have ever encountered in my over quarter century in this job. You’ll see as we progress.”

As the four men re-entered the home Noel asked, “Where did they take Divic sir?”

“He was transported over to Highland Park Hospital first; I hear he will be transferred to Lake Forest Hospital later today.”

“If it’s like the others,” David interceded, “we won’t be able to speak with him for a week anyways.”

The men now stood again outside the doorway of the den. Harwood continued to tell of the events of that morning, however with a softer tone in his voice. “Now when we arrived, the girl was in the other room there. Divic was here, the dog was placed right above his head.”

“Placed?” David asked.

“Yes,” continued Harwood, “as I said before, Divic was conscious and in a lot of pain. He was able to briefly tell us what happened while we waited for the ambulances.”

“And that was?” Xiang asked.

Harwood brought up his notebook once again, “Mr. Divic said that he was in his bed asleep. He awoke to what he thought was the sound of the dog letting out a yelp. He said that it was about a quarter past midnight. He stayed in the bed for about ten more minutes; he called out the dogs name thinking that it may have come back in the house through the dog door. He called out about three times the dog did not come upstairs as he usually does when he’s called. So, Mr. Divic got out of bed to see if there was anything wrong.” Harwood then motioned to all of them to follow him; he led them back to the stairway.

When they stood by the room where the female deputy and Marsha Post were, Harwood said to them, “We’re gonna be with you shortly honey, then you’ll join you friends to the hospital.”

“Friends?” Noel asked.

“Patience Sergeant,” Harwood said holding up an index finger, he then pointed to the stairs. “Divic then came down the stairs from his room. It’s at the top to the right. He came down and look right here.” Harwood pointed to a thick mat that was directly across from the basement door. “This is were the dog always sleeps, I’ll get back to that in a second. Divic noticed the dog not where he was supposed to be, then came in this direction to the kitchen.”

Harwood entered the kitchen. The sink was to the left where there was a large window looking out of the side of the house. The stove was free standing in the middle of the room, with the stoves on the right. There was a counter towards the back, past the counter was another large window with a view of the back yard. To the left of the window was the door, which led to the back yard. There was a special dog door built into it just large enough to let Bodo come in and out, as he pleased.

Harwood stopped just before entered the kitchen and pointed to a keypad that was just on the wall, “Mr. Divic, seeing that the dog was nowhere to be found in the house assumed the dog was outside, and since he thought he heard the dog yelp, he also assumed the dog may be hurt. So he decided to look in the back yard. But, before he could check the back yard, he had to turn the alarm off to the house because it makes quite a noise in here. This brings up another strange point.”

“That being?” David asked.

“That being Sergeant is that this alarm does not alert Police, Fire Department, or Security Company when it’s triggered. It’s only designed to alert Mr. Divic or the dog when it goes off in case of an intruder. It’s the only alarm in the whole area that is designed NOT to call for help.”

“You know what sir?” David then asked, “You now have my complete attention, and understanding for your unusual jovial spirit.”

“This is only half of it Sergeant,” Harwood said, motioning them again to follow him. He led them to the back door and opened it. The back yard was blanketed in the deep continuing snowfall. Harwood pointed to an area to the right in the yard, “Divic said he looked around and then saw the dog lying over there, in the same condition that you just saw it in. He said he quickly stepped over to the animal, and that’s the last thing he remembered before he was awakened in the den.”

Harwood shut the back door, looked at the others and then added, “His attacker had woke him up, using one of those ammonia capsules you get with an over the counter first aid kit; he had him face down. He had dragged the dog in before him and had him placed above his head, just so that Divic could see what he was capable of, I believe. Divic said he made him place his arms out to his sides, palms up, he said something to him, and then snapped his backbone, causing possible severe spinal cord damage.”

“Then,” David said, “It’s our guy. What the hell is he doing way out here?”

“I believe Sergeant that your question is soon going to be answered.” Harwood said. “Come back with me.”

The men went back to the den. Harwood pointed to the shelf on the bar, it appeared be shifted forward.

“Divic said that this all happened to him before a little before 1:00 AM.” Harwood told them. “He said that he heard the chime from the clock in the living room right after his back was broken.”

“Well then what took the girl so long to call for help?” Noel asked.

Harwood then again motioned to the men to follow him from the den. He escorted them back to the foyer and to the basement door. “Take a look at this.” He said. He pointed to a thumb latch on the door.

“It’s a dead bolt.” David said.

“True Sergeant,” Harwood answered, “a deadbolt, but why? Some would think it would be in case someone would break into the home through the basement to keep them from coming upstairs. We found this door opened when we arrived. Our first thought was that the attacker came in through here, but if it were locked, he would have had to bust the door open. But, look behind you on the floor, do you see that mat?”

The men turned to see what Harwood was referring too.

“That mat was where the dog always slept, according to Miss Post over there.” Harwood continued. “You see gentlemen; our Mr. Divic was involved in explicit illegal activities to support his rather extravagant lifestyle. That lock, and that dog, were there to keep what he had in that basement not only safe, but undiscovered as well.”

“What is it, drugs?” Noel asked.

 

“Those, and a whole lot more,” Harwood answered, “come with me.” He then motioned them to follow him into the basement.

The stairs went down and turned sharp in a one hundred eighty degree angle, the stairwell was walled all the way down into the basement. At the base of the stairs was a collapsible scissor door that was opened to its flattened position on the right side. To the left was a latch that held the large Master Lock that would secure the collapsible door. Past this door, there were two small rooms on the immediate left. The first was a large walk-in closet that was filled with clothing, both boys and girls. The room next to had a vanity with a lighted mirror, this room appeared to be a dressing room. In front of them were two more doors. The door on the left was open and showed a full bathroom with a shower, the door to the right of the bathroom was metal and it had three deadbolt locks with their keyhole sides facing outward. As the men looked to their right, there was a set of sliding doors on the wall. This wall was a room that housed both the water heater and the heater for the house. This created a small passageway that led to the large finished room of the rest of the basement. Harwood led them inside. There they saw a sofa, two large stuffed chairs, a television, a dining set, and six military style sleeping cots. There were four extra of these cots at the far end of the room without mattresses stored upwards against the wall.

“So, what is all of this?” Captain Xiang asked.

“This Captain,” Harwood answered, “is where Mr. Divic stored all of his, let’s say, ’merchandise’”.

“Merchandise?” David asked.

“Yes, Sergeant,” Harwood answered, “it seems that not only did Mr. Divic dealt in illegal narcotics, but, according to Miss Post upstairs, was heavily involved in white slavery, you know, human trafficking.”

“Holy shit.” Noel said quietly.

“According to Miss Post, Divic would smuggle girls and young boys from Europe, the Baltic States, Mexico, South America, all over, and sell them to pimps and strip joints. He would even take runaways he saw at the bus and train stations, he would bring them all and hold them down here until he found a buyer. But, according to Miss Post, the younger ones, girls and boys, he would pimp out himself to a selected group of clientele, for tens of thousands of dollars. He would, shall we say, ’break them in’ before he sold them out to the highest bidder.”

“He was selling their innocence,” David said, “He was selling their virginity.”

“Yes, yes he was Sergeant.” Harwood added, “And if he could not find them as runaways, then he would travel out of state, and just take them, right off the street. That’s what happened with Miss Post upstairs, we’re going to have her look over pictures from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children when she has a chance, to see if she recognizes any of them from the past couple of years.”

“Is that how long she’s been with Divic?” David asked.

“Well, she was not here on her own free will,” Harwood answered, “she was the lucky one, if what you could call what’s she’s been through lucky. It turns out, Divic had a thing for her himself. He kept her locked down here with all who ever he brought here for over two years. The only time she ever would be out of this room was when she had to be upstairs, in Divic’s bed. She was to watch over all the women, girls and boys he brought here, kind of like a caretaker. She says that whenever Divic had to leave the house for a while, not only was the basement door always dead bolted, but he would lock the scissor gate down here. But, to make sure that no one ever left this basement, he placed that dog upstairs right across from the door. Miss Post tells me that if any one of them would have actually got that door open, that mutt was trained to rip them apart.”

“Unbelievable.” Captain Xiang said.

“That explains the alarm set-up,” Noel said, “if the place were broke into, why would he want the cops around. Twenty bucks says he has some kick ass firearms around in case that would happen.”

“You’d win that bet Sergeant, Harwood said, “there were three others down here with her when we came, all of them are on the missing and exploited list, they’re at Highland Park Hospital now also to be checked over.”

“Wait a second,” Noel asked, “if this is all true, then how did she get out? I mean if Divic kept the room locked how was she able to open the door after he was attacked?”

“That’s another twist to all of this,” Harwood said, “the lock was opened from the outside … after the attack.”

“After?” David asked.

“According to Miss Post,” Harwood continued, “she herself, along with the others, heard the commotion from upstairs. They heard the sounds that came from when Divic and his dog were dragged from the back yard and to the den. They soon heard Divic talking to what we assume was the attacker; they couldn’t make out what was said though. They then heard a thump, followed immediately by a cry of pain from Divic. They said it was a short cry, and then it seemed to get muffled, like a hand placed over his mouth. They said it went very quiet for some minutes. Then they heard footsteps, slow-paced footsteps, go from the den to the hall. It went completely silent for a few seconds, and then they heard the thumb latch turn to unlock the door. The footsteps then went back into the kitchen, and then . . . total silence from upstairs.” 

 

“Can we go back upstairs and speak with the girl for a few minutes?” David asked.

“Sure,” Harwood answered, “this place depresses me anyway.”

The four men made their way up the stairs and to the living room where Marsha Post sat with the female deputy. She sat quietly waiting for her chance to finally leave the house where she had been held prisoner for over two years. The expression on her face was one that would be expected of a girl who had come to the end of the ordeal she had been involved with.

David approached her cautiously, “Miss Post?”

She looked up to him, “Yeah”, she answered.

“I’m Sergeant David Todd, Chicago Police.”

“I know, I recognize you from the paper and T.V.”

“Yeah, I hear that a lot, I just have to ask you one thing. You said you heard the latch on the basement door unlock, why did you wait so long to come out?”

“Because of Bodo.” She answered quickly.

“Bodo?”

“The dog. That’s his name, Bodo.”

“What would Bodo do?”

“Bodo was very loyal to Gregior. Bodo’s job was to protect this house, and to make sure no one came out of the basement.”

“What would he have done?”

“Why, he would of killed us of course,” her answer was so matter of fact, “I’ve heard he’s done it before, at least that’s what Gregior has told me. Bodo would let me come out though, but only if I was with Gregior. He seemed to like, give me a pass, because … because Gregior would take me upstairs.”

The men stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then she continued.

“But, Gregior trained him so that I could never leave the house, I may have been the mistress, but Gregior was the master.”

“Thank you Miss,” David said, “I’m sorry for all you had to go through, everything’s going to be alright now.” David then turned and left the room. He went down the hallway and back into the kitchen, the other men followed. He stepped to the back door of the kitchen and opened to look at the snow-covered ground. It was now almost a mass of white from not only the thick blanket of snow on the ground, but also from the continuing snowfall. If it were not for the gray color of the parts of the bare trees where the snow was not adhering to, then one would not have seen any part of the landscape at all.

David stared out, Noel and the Captain stood behind him. “What’s up Dave?” Noel asked.

“You could go snow blind from this,” he answered, “which, in a way, is exactly what I think he may have done.”

“What do you mean David?” Captain Xiang asked.

“Beautiful,” David said as he stared out into the white, “this is just beautiful.” He turned to the Captain and said, “Sir, I’ve had a theory for awhile.”

“Would you share it with us please?”

“Sir, I think our guy is military. Possibly even paramilitary. You know, Green Beret, Navy SEALS and such. Maybe ex, maybe even current.”

“Continue, I’m listening.” The Captain said.

“I believe, just from what I’ve seen here, that he has been watching this place for quite some time. That he planned every move over the course of this time. Once he had the strategy, he waited for the right opportunity.”

“That being?” Noel asked.

“Listen Ski, do you remember what you said earlier in the truck? About ‘picking a good day to do this‘?”

“Yeah.”

“I believe that’s exactly what he did.”

“You mean, he was waiting for this blizzard?” Noel asked.

“Yeah, or if not last night, he would have waited for something else that would help him.”

“Help him what?” Harwood asked.

“Help him to cover his trail.” David answered. “Look, whatever trail he may have left? Well, it’s now under seven inches of snow, with more to come. It will take weeks for the snow to dissipate, and what’s to guarantee that more is not gonna fall. We would ruin any evidence if we tried to find his trail in this snow. God knows, it could get warmer, but it would rain. Any trace of him is now covered, and is going to wash away. If his car was even parked on one of the roads on the other side of these trees, any trace of the tires is going to be buried under the snow from the plows.” He turned to look out the back door, “Beautiful, this is just beautiful.” He pointed to the tree line where the back yard ended, and the forest began, “I believe he came from in from over there.”

David then leaned outside of the door without stepping onto the snow-covered porch. He looked up to the back wall of the house to see the large half circle widow.

“Perfect.” He said, and then came back inside. “Come with me, I have an idea.” He then walked back to the hallway and to the stairwell that led upstairs. He took the first steps up to the halfway point where the stairs then turned upward to the upstairs bedrooms and the others followed. There he stopped and looked out of the half-circled window where he saw the snow covered trees. “See that?” He asked pointing out the window, “He would have a perfect view of this Divic guy going up and down the stairs.”

David then turned and ascended the other half of the stairs to the overhead walkway and stopped in front of the chandelier and looked out the display window, the others still behind him. There he saw a similar view of snow and bare trees. “He had a great view from the front of the house also.” He said. David then stepped to the end of the walkway. There he stood at the entryway of Gregior’s bedroom and looked around. The room was very well kept except for the unmade bed.

“Here’s what I think went down” David said, turning to the others. “Like I said, I believe our guy has been watching this place for some time. In that time, he planned everything that went down here. By the sounds of it, once he was in here, he was out in ten minutes, fifteen at the most. He knew about the alarm, above all, he knew about that fucking mutt. I don’t know if he knew that the alarm is set up the way it is, but that is irrelevant, he had to get this Divic guy to somehow turn it off, and the way he did that, was through that mutt.”

 

“You think that he lured that dog outside?” Noel asked.

“Yes … yes I do.” David answered. “That’s what makes me think paramilitary, he drew the dog outside, beat the shit outta it just enough for it to make it cry out the way it did, and then he neutralized it. Apparently it worked. Divic went down to look for the dog, when he couldn’t find it; he went to go check outside. In order for him to open the back door, he had to turn off the alarm.”

“Yeah,” Noel said, “I see what you mean, and once he was outside and saw his puppy in that condition, our guy was waiting for him. Came up from behind him and punched his lights out.”

“Exactly,” David said, “and he was waiting for an opportune time. Everyone in the world has known for about three days that this storm was coming. When he saw that, the snowfall would not start until early morning, that’s when he decided to carry this out. His trail has been completely covered, and will be destroyed over time.”

“How long have you had this ‘paramilitary’ theory David?” Asked the Captain.

“For some time now,” he answered, “but, you know how these ‘serial’ things are. Unfortunately, it takes a third victim to even start to confirm things.” David then placed his hands on his hips and looked down to the floor. He then looked up at the others and said seriously, “If this guy is paramilitary? Then he’s good, real good. He’s in the elite. You all saw what he did to that fucking dog. That’s a hundred pound Rotweillier, maybe more, that’s no easy task, which tells me that he not only has great strength, be he knows how to fight, and that he’s very good at it, and not afraid too. In fact, he may not be afraid of anything. This guy? He’s fearless.”

The four men stood quiet for a moment, and then Noel said, “Which now brings us to the question. ‘Why this Divic guy?’ What attracted this Divic to our guy? What about him made him come all the way out here now to do this?”

“What made him find out about Jared Bartholomew?” David answered with questions, “Or even Ortega and Freeman?”

“I believe I may have an answer to part of that gentleman.” Stan Harwood then said. “Come follow me back to the den. I have something very interesting to show you all.”

They all then followed Harwood down the stairs and back into the den/office of Gregior Divic. Harwood stepped over to the dark mahogany desk and pointed to a couple of items resting there. One was a key on a long silver beaded chain. Next to, it was a bright pink eight inch by eleven-inch three-ring notebook.

“This key was taken off the neck of Gregior Divic. Not by any of us, but by his attacker. We found it hanging here.” Harwood stepped over to the bookshelf and pulled on it gently. It was also a secret door that hid a lockbox that was built into the wall. “It was hanging right here. We dusted it for prints as well as the safe, and then we opened it and found a lot of cash as well as that book. Take a look inside.”

Noel stepped to the desk and opened the book. He started thumbing through the pages and then said, “Holy shit! … Dave … Boss … take a look at this.”

Both men stepped over. “What is it Noel?” Captain Xiang asked.

“It looks as though it is a complete dossier on all his customers that he sold the kids too, or the ones he rented out. The customers likes, dislikes, how much they will spend, and how much they have spent. He didn’t even bother to use code names. It looks as though he has their real names and addresses in here.”

“Take a look in the ‘B’ section Sergeant.” Harwood said.

Noel then flipped the separator page by the tab with the letter B and looked at the first page. What he saw made his mouth go agape. “Holy Shit!” He exclaimed. What he was looking at was the name of Jared Bartholomew. It showed his appointments and his preferences for the types of boys that were supplied to him. There was a complete list of dates of when the boys where brought to him with the amount of cash he paid to Gregior Divic for his services.

David looked at the page, “Well, there’s the connection.”

“Take a look at whose name is next.” Harwood said.

Noel flipped over two pages, and again exclaimed, “Holy shit again!”

There was the name of Mitchell Bartholomew. It showed that Mitchell had acquired a taste for preteen girls, and Gregior Divic had supplied him with them.

“Well I’ll be damned.” David said. “Looks like old Mitch has gone over to the dark side.”

“Gentlemen,” Harwood said, “you may not know it, but what you have in your hands is a hornets nest. Look through that book and you’ll see what I mean. I’ll wager that you’re going to recognize many of the names in there.”

They proceeded to do exactly that, with each page that was turned, the more surprised they became. Names of very predominant and powerful people all in the quad state area of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Names of Chief Executive Officers of known businesses, judges, high-ranking politicians, prominent attorneys, clergy, state officials, restaurant and night club owners, just for starters. There were even those among the infamous, people with ties to organized crime. In addition, what had taken them aback, this book was not dominated with the names of men. There were women in powerful positions also listed who were shown to have not only a preference for boys, but girls as well.

“Hornets nest indeed.” Said Captain Xiang. “To call it that is an extreme understatement.”

“What’s our move on this Sheriff?” David asked, “It’s your territory here, I guess it’s your move.”

“Plus, the FBI is gonna be involved in this because of the kidnappings across state lines.” Noel added.

“They’re already involved,” Harwood said, “they’re on their way to the hospital to speak with those other kids. I informed them that Miss Post will be there later for them, we’re informing her family first.”

“You suppose their gonna want this?” David said, referring to the Pink Book.

“I do believe so. Some of those names in there? The judges? The politicians? Well, they’re federal and the FBI boys are going to want to see that.”

“What now?” Noel asked.

“Well Sergeant,” Harwood said in the cynical tone that they had quickly grown accustom to, “I’m gonna bag it, but not tag it until I get it back to my office. Where, I will make a couple of quick copies of it, just in case it gets ‘lost in storage’, if you know what I mean. I guess supplying you one of those copies as a gesture of interdepartmental cooperation wouldn’t be a bad idea also. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“I suppose that would be deeply appreciated,” Captain Xiang said, “that is if the men of the FBI insist on having the original.”

David and Noel were surprised at the Captain and gave each other a look. Usually “The Boss” was so “by the book”. To not only find, but to create a loophole was completely out of his character.

The Captain saw the expression on his two detectives faces. “Don’t you see?” He said, “He wanted us to find that book. He placed the key on the handle of that safe, with the door wide open, in plain sight to whomever would show up here. He unlocked that basement door for us either to find those kids, or for them to come up here. He wanted us to find that book, and to see those names.”

Noel, David and Sheriff Harwood nodded in agreement.

“Then let me secure the scene here,” Harwood said, “and get my deputy there to get Miss Post to the hospital. You all can follow me back to my office where we’ll get the copies made.”

“I want to check on this Divic’s condition while were there,” said David, “so I we can get some idea when we’ll get a chance to interview him.”

“Then let’s be on our way.” Harwood said, and with that the four men left the den and made their way to the front door. They stopped in the foyer and Harwood looked over to the deputy and Marsha Post, “Let’s get you to the hospital now sweetie,” he said, “Your folks have been contacted and arrangements are being made to get them here.”

“Can I speak with them soon?” She asked somewhat pleadingly.

Harwood gave her an assuring, calming, fatherly smile and said, “Sure sweetie, as soon as you get to the hospital. I’ll even make sure you talk to them before they examine you. Okay”?

Marsha smiled back, “Thanks.” She replied.

Harwood returned her smile and motioned to the other men to follow him outside. The snow was still coming down, however in a slower pace. David looked the area over, the house surrounded by the winter bare trees. 

“He was out there,” David said, breaking the silence, “he was out there watching everything. Look at all his advantage points.” 

“In a way?” Noel said, “Looking at it, it’s kind of creepy. He was here, all around. He was there, in that house.” Noel then looked at the others and said, “He saved those kids, you all know that, don’t you?”

“That doesn’t justify what he’s doing Noel,” said Captain Xiang.

“I know that Boss, but it will just make finding him more difficult.” Noel answered. “It’s who he’s attacking, and the scandal that came from Jared Bartholomew.”

“And now,” David interceded, “the scandals that are going to come.”

“Right,” Noel continued, “this guy is being elevated to ‘hero’ status. He’s going after real dirt bags. The chances of getting any help from the public are about as remote as, as ---”

“The Cubs winning the World Series.” David quickly added.

Noel turned to his partner with a sneer and said, “Any chance you get, huh?”

The four men then grew silent as they saw Marsha Post emerge from the house that she had been held prisoner in for over two years. The expression on her face showed that this must have been the first time she has breathed fresh air since her arrival there. The Deputy led her to the ambulance. The paramedics opened the back doors for her and she stepped in. The doors closed behind her, the emergency lights came on, and the vehicle slowly pulled away from the house, down the drive path, and then onto the road in front of the house. It disappeared from view.

“Well gentlemen,” Harwood said, “let me set up some security here, and then you all can follow me back to my office so we can do the things we discussed.”

David, Noel, and the Captain went back to the Explorer. Moments later, Harwood came from the home of Gregior Divic, got into his Sheriff’s Department SUV, started the engine, and waived to Captain Xiang to follow him. Soon, both cars were back on the small road that led to the Divic house. David looked from the window at the naked forest with the continuing snowfall. The thought of the man he and his partner were seeking, sitting in these woods, for God knows how long …watching. Just watching, and planning what he finally did.

“How long was he watching the Bartholomew Estate?” David thought to himself. “How long was he watching Ortega and Freeman?”