Part II-Chapter 24: THE LOTTERY WINNER

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Chapter 24

The Lottery Winner
(Ó 2009)

November 11, 2000

The University of Notre Dame

South Bend, Indiana

Sherry Thornton had stood now for almost over an hour at precisely the place where David Todd had told her to meet him, by the group of trees that is between the main building on the campus of the University of Notre Dame and Washington Hall. It is in the main area of open walkways in the center of the campus, located northwest of the football stadium. A large grassy area with many pathways criss-crossing in order for the students to make their journeys to their classes easier. It is surrounded by the main building on the northern side, with its landmark gold dome atop the roof. To the western side is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Sorin Hall, and Walsh Hall, with Washington Hall and the LaFortune Student Center on its eastern side.

She was wearing the Notre Dame sweatshirt and ball cap that were given to her by David Todd, and now starting to feel a bit frustrated with the amount of time she had been waiting. After all, the way this whole meeting had been set up was a bit out of the ordinary. It came about a little over a week before; she had just left the building of the television station where she is employed as an investigative reporter as well as the weekend news anchor. She had finished up in her office and was preparing to go out for the evening. She left the building as usual, got into her car and drove her typical route home. However on this evening, just as she entered the Kennedy Expressway, she saw the emergency lights of an unmarked police vehicle directly behind her. She pulled over to the emergency lane, hoping that the car would pass her; however, it came up directly behind her and stopped.

She began to feel angry because she believed she had not broken any traffic laws, however she chose to remain calm and she began to scour her purse of her drivers’ license and then began the frantic search of her glove box and the storage bin under the arm rest for her registration and proof of insurance. She was still anxiously searching for all the items when she heard the tap on her drivers side window, when she turned she saw that whomever this officer was, he was in plainclothes, blue jeans, plain sweatshirt and a Chicago White Sox jacket to be precise. She rolled the window down slightly, and that’s when Lieutenant David Todd said to her, “You don’t have to show me anything Miss Thornton. I’m sorry but this is the only way that I’m going to be able to contact you.” He then showed her his credentials. 

“I don’t understand offi - - -” She began, and then she finished with, “Hey wait a minute, I know you, you’re the cop who- - -”

“Yes, I’m the cop who’s always on TV, you of all people should know.”

“What’s this all about?” She asked in a demanding tone.

“Listen to me,” David began to answer in all seriousness and he held out a paper bag in his hand, “take these and follow the instructions I typed for you inside. If you want to be the reporter who breaks the next big exclusive on the corrupt Chicago political scene, you will do exactly as I say and meet me at the University of Notre Dame a week from Saturday.”

“Notre Dame? But that’s a couple hundred miles away!” She exclaimed. “Why do you want to meet me way the hell over there?”

David stood and then answered, “I’ll tell you that when I see you a week from Saturday. Listen, you know who I am, you know who I have been looking for all these years, and you know all the shit he has caused. With all that, you know that this … ain’t bullshit. If you want the chance for the exclusive, take this package, and meet me there next week.” David then abruptly turned and went back to his car; he then got inside, re-entered onto the expressway and then sped away with the emergency lights still flashing.

She watched as he disappeared into the traffic, going onto the emergency vehicle lane on the other side of the expressway. She then opened the bag that David had given her. Inside was a green long-sleeved University of Notre Dame Sweatshirt in size Medium, a Notre Dame cap with the logo of the famous Fighting Irish leprechaun, and a map of the Notre dame campus. There was an area on the map that was circled; next to it written in bold red letters were the words: BE AT THIS SPOT - 9:00 AM! There were also typewritten instructions that told her that she could tell absolutely nobody about this meeting, and that she had to come alone, it also stated that she had to shred the typewritten instructions and the map when she had finished with them.

She did follow the instructions to the letter, her curiosity had peaked the second Lieutenant Todd had left her there on the expressway, and the days seemed to drag until she finally woke very early this morning, and drove the distance from Chicago to South Bend Indiana. Things began to became more curious to her when she finally arrived there, for it turned out that this was not going to be a quiet Saturday morning in small town Indiana, because this afternoon the Golden Eagles of Boston College were going to be playing a football game at the stadium to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. When she arrived early that morning, the crowd of football fans was already growing.

She looked down to her wristwatch and saw that it was now 10:15 AM, she had stood there now actually for almost two hours because she arrived at this spot around 8:30 AM, for she wanted to be early. She reached into her purse and retrieved the map that David had given her, checking it again to make sure that she was in the right place. When she looked around and saw that she was indeed where he told her to be, she stuffed the map back into her purse and said, “Shit, where is he?”

“You like football Miss Thornton?” The voice of David Todd asked her from behind the trees that she was standing a few feet from.

She was startled, and then turned to see David standing there, his expression was as if he had not a care in the world and that there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with the way this meeting had been set up. He was almost dressed as he was when she first saw him that evening on the expressway, still in his blue jeans, however he also was now wearing a Notre Dame hooded parka sweatshirt, and he had both his hands inside the large front pocket which he did to make it appear that he was keeping his hands warm. He also wore a green knit cap that had the ND logo and sunglasses, he also had a pair of binoculars around his neck, and a paper bag with cord handles from the Notre Dame gift store that he carried on his arm as well.

She kept her composure and answered nicely, “Me? Like Football? Are you kidding? I have a father, four brothers and I’m from Texas.”

“Texas huh?” David said as he came towards her, “Yeah, I hear football is basically a religion down there.”

“Well I’ve never had it put to me that way before, but I would have to agree with that.”

“Yeah … I love the game.” David said to her as he stepped up in front of her, “To me, it is the only true team sport. Not like all the others where you can have two or three guys carry a team. No, in football everybody has to be doing their job, everybody is important. One guy not doing his job in any game in the season could cost you a game, a season, even a championship. Every guy and every game is important. That’s what I love about it. I played baseball all through high school though, but I always respected and even envied the football players.”

“I know you played baseball,” Sherry said, “you were an All-State catcher for three years at your high school.”

“Oh!” David said smiling, “You’ve been checking up on me.”

“Yes I have, can you blame me? After all, I am an investigative reporter, look how you introduced yourself to me and look what we’re doing now. So tell me, why did you make me drag my ass all the way over here to discuss what ever it is you want to talk about?”

“Well, there are several reasons actually,” David answered, “first of all, we’re both out of Chicago now. There’s a better chance of nobody knowing who we both are, you know, from TV and all. Second, this is Notre Dame Football; very soon we are going to be in a huge moving crowd of tens of thousands of people who have nothing but that game on their minds. We will blend in and nobody will notice. Kind of a ‘hide in plain sight’ strategy. 

“Well, this had better be good Detective,” she now said sternly, “I just don’t do things like this unless they seem important to me. I woke early this morning, drove all the way over here, its cold, and I have been waiting for you here since 8:30.”

“I know how long you’ve been here Miss Thornton, because you see I myself have on campus here since 3:00 AM this morning, and I have been watching you for the whole time that you’ve been here. In fact, I seen you when you arrived and I know where your car is parked. I saw you arrive there and leave your car there. I’ve been around you the whole time.”

“You’ve been watching me all this time?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Why?” She demanded, “Why didn’t you just come to me the minute you saw me? Why all this, this ‘secret agent’ bullshit?”

“Because, you are an investigative reporter, and I’m making damn sure that you are keeping with my instructions … that you came alone.” David answered in an equally stern tone, he then began to look at the buildings and scenery around him, “I’m making sure that there are no camera crews that came early and has set up in any of these places on the rooftops or in the buildings, or at a distance in those cars over there or in those trees and bushes over there.” He said as he pointed to each place he spoke of. “I also looked around to make sure that you don‘t have anyone around who is tape recording our conversation with any small transmitter that may be strategically placed anywhere on your person right now.”

“How do you know that I don’t have a transmitter on me?” She asked sarcastically.

“Because if you had Miss Thornton, this would be beeping louder than hell right now.” David said as he pulled his hand from the sweatshirt pocket. He held a small device that was designed to find and warn the possessor of any out of the ordinary radio signals that were in an enclosed area or close by. It was for the detection of surveillance equipment. “It’s amazing what you can pick up at Radio Shack isn’t it? And under twenty bucks to boot.” He then handed it to her, “Here take it, it’s a present to remind you of our little rendezvous here.”

She took the detector from him and then asked, “Well, how do you know that I don’t have a small tape recorder on me now recording all of this?”

David looked at her seriously and asked simply, “Do you?”

After a few seconds of silence she answered. “No, I don’t”

“Good!” David exclaimed and then said in a humorous and relieved tone, “Because I would hate to have to frisk you. You see, I may be in enough hot water as it is after our little meeting here, but it will be nothing compared to what will happen if my wife ever finds out that I’m here alone with you right now.”

Sherry’s face had an expression of confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“Are you married?”

“No, I’m not married.”

“Then of course you don’t understand.” He said with a laugh, “You see I made the mistake of turning on the evening news on what I believe was your first night at your station some years back, and I made the mistake of forgetting that I was lying on the bed next to my wife at the time, and I made the mistake of saying aloud, ‘Oh, isn’t she pretty’ while watching the news with my wife … on the bed next to me. And … she has not let me forget it ever since. If you are ever on while I’m watching, she gives me digs like ‘Oh how pretty does she look tonight . . . DAVID!’ or ‘Are you paying attention to what she’s saying … DAVID! … or just thinking how pretty she is?’ He looked at her then said, “You probably are the reason why many married men have been forced to seek their evening news from one of your competitors. I found that I have.”

Sherry then let out a laugh and for the first time since she met him she felt trust and believed that his intentions were noble in setting up this strange and unique meeting this far from Chicago. “Well, I’m sorry if I caused you any difficulty in your marriage, I can understand why though.”

“How could you possibly understand?”

“Well, you are after all married to a black woman,” She said and began rolling her head back and forth on her neck, “a sisters’ got to do … what a sisters’ got to do … to keep her man.”

“You know my wife is black?” David asked, he then held up his finger and wagged it at her, “Say, you are an investigative reporter aren’t you?” He looked around and saw that the crowd was increasing in size by the moment. In the distance they both could hear the sound of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Band beginning to make its way to the stadium, playing the Notre Dame fight song and starting to prepare the fans for the upcoming game. “Come on,” he said and motioned to her with his head, “let’s start walking with the crowd and blend in.”

They then began to follow the crowd southward towards the stadium. They walked along the criss-crossing pathways and as they grew nearer to the stadium, more and more fans were coming around them. David looked at the crowd that was turning into a massive sea of people wearing the Fighting Irish green and gold; every now and then there would be a small patch of Boston College burgundy floating in the waves. David then began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Sherry asked.

“What? Aw nothing, I’m just thinking about a little quirk of mine.”

“Little quirk? What would that be?”

“I hate crowds, I feel uncomfortable in them. Crowds like this.” He answered as he looked around, “But, I don’t get uncomfortable if the crowds are going to a sporting event. If this were a rock concert, I’d be all jumpy telling you that I have to get out of here.”

“Why’s that?” She asked curiously.

“It has to do with what I call my ‘Woodstock syndrome’ I guess.”

“What in the world is ‘Woodstock syndrome’?” she asked in confusion.

“I was at Woodstock.” David answered.

“Woodstock? You mean the Woodstock, the big concert thing with all the rock bands. You were there? I don’t believe you; you’re too young to have gone to Woodstock.”

“That’s what my grandparents kept telling my Mom and Dad.” David answered, “I still hear them, both sets of them, yelling at my mom and dad, and ‘he’s just a toddler and he’s too young to go there’. David said smiling, “But being the flower children and rebels that they were … I should say … still are, they packed up some stuff and hitchhiked with me in tow all the way from Illinois to Max Yasger’s farm.”

“Oh my God!”

“Yeah, we met quite a few characters along the way, but nothing compared to the ones I saw there.”

“That must have been quite an experience,” she said impressed, “just think; you were involved in something that was historical.”

“Not from my viewpoint.” David said, “Yeah, ‘three days of peace and music’, yeah right! To me it was not only that, but it was three days of being in the middle of five hundred thousand people, who after a while were in dire need of a shower. Some of them naked … including my Mom and Dad, can you imagine the impact that had on my psyche?” Sherry Thornton began to laugh. “In fact, the only bath they all ever had was when the rain came during the famous ‘crowd rain chant’. And do you know what it is like to be a little kid, in the middle of all those people, who need a bath … like real bad? Have you ever been in a fog of massive body odor? And then to top it all off you have to mix in the strong pungent smell of burning cannabis. Man, just thinking about it still makes me want to upchuck.”

Sherry continued laughed when she heard his comments. They walked with the crowd for a few more minutes when she asked, “So, Detective, just what is this exclusive story that you’re going to present to me?”

David looked to their right and saw a bench by a tree that was off of the pathway that they were following, he pointed to it and said, “Let’s go over there, shall we?” She followed his direction to the bench, once they both reached there, he looked around and was secure to see that most everyone was still using all the sidewalks and pathways as they made their ways to the stadium, he then looked at her, “Please, go ahead and sit down.” After she did so, he sat down with her, placing the paper bag that was hanging on his arm between them.

He looked around their surroundings again, she then said, “Go ahead Lieutenant. Were as safe as we are ever going to be.”

“Yes, I suppose so.” He answered. He took a deep breath and began, “Miss Thornton, you are here today because you … are the winner of a very unique lottery.”

“I am? Just how did I win this so called lottery?”

Well, there did have to be some requirements.” David answered, “My partner and I, when we decided that things were just going to be too hot and difficult for the both of us, we decided that we needed some outside help from the media. But, with the way this situation has become, let’s say, sensitive and complicated we agreed on the requirements of whom we had to choose. The main requirements are this, the reporter had to be a woman, and she had to be either black or Hispanic. We then looked at all these ladies who met this agenda from all five Chicago TV stations, put their names in a bag, shook them around and drew the name. You won. Let me be honest, we chose a second and a third just in case you turn this down.”

“Why a black or Hispanic woman?” She asked.

“You’ll see why when I lay this all out to you.” David answered, “Then my partner and I played a few games of chance to see who presents this story to the lottery winner.”

“And you won.”

“No, actually, I’m the loser at that contest.”

“Loser? What do you mean loser?”

“You see Miss Thornton, if it ever gets back to the people that you are going to be getting involved with that it was me who gave this information to you, well, it could cost me my career, and my pension. There’s a lot of pissed off powerful people here Miss Thornton, people from all around the spectrum here. This vigilante, the ‘Spinal Tapper’, the ‘Bone Crusher’, the ‘Back Breaker’, the ‘Paralyzer’, whatever it is that you all call him, has left in his path a huge conglomeration of people with power who now are getting so desperate that they are willing to risk exposing themselves for what they are in order to find him and stop him, and to stop him with extreme prejudice … if you know what I mean.”

“You mean … these people may want him dead.”

“Precisely.”

“You have my attention Detective.”

“Let me start by telling you where we are with our investigation with the vigilante, it’s very short and very easy.” David said, “We are nowhere. After all these years and all the time spent working on it, we have absolutely no idea who it is that we’re looking for. I have to tell you, that at one time during the whole thing it got to a point where I thought he might have been dealing with something supernatural, like a ghost or something. But two people did see him. The rape victim of Bill Freeman and Raul Ortega, and Julian Chekov, and we all know what happened to him.”

“Yes I know, you don’t have to remind me, I’m a woman and it hurts me to even think about that.”

“Freeman and Ortega stand out though in this whole thing.” David continued, “You see, they are the only targets of the vigilante that have no connection to the others.”

“Connections? How do you mean connections?”

“Well, let’s start with the Bartholomew men then, right at the real beginning.” David answered, “When Jared was first attacked you saw how it was, sympathy coming from all directions, until the truth about him was revealed. The ‘Prince of the Midwest’ is nothing more than a low life pedophile. Turns out, Daddy Bartholomew knew about it, concealed it, and even financed it, all for the betterment of the Mitchell Bartholomew life plan. We are still seeing the aftermath of that scandal with the lawsuits and the divorce settlements. But, this is now where it all gets interesting Miss Thornton. And it gets complicated and confusing at times. I’m going to be revealing some things to you that only the police know, so answer me, would you like to take on this story?”

Sherry looked at David, saw the seriousness on his face, she thought for a second and then answered, “Yes, I believe I would like to take on this story. Continue Detective.”

“Okay then, now just do me a favor, when you do come to the parts of everything that I’m going to spill to you, when you hear it from whomever you interview in your investigation … just act surprised Okay? Like it’s the first time you’ve ever heard it.”

“I’ll do that.”

“All right then.” David said and then went on, “As you may know, some months later, after the attack on the Bartholomew kid, up in Lake County, the third target of the vigilante was attacked, a man by the name of Gregior Divic. Mr. Divic is a despicable human being; he made his living in the lowest form of way. In fact, he did so in two ways, one was narcotics trafficking, and the other was human trafficking, white slavery as it has called some places. Mr. Divic and his cohorts would lure girls from the Russia and the Baltic States, either here or in their homelands with that usual bullshit of getting them in a modeling career. Once they have them, they take their passports, money, and all other forms of ID and he sells them to these ‘gentlemen’s clubs’ or just outright to pimps. However, Mr. Divic did not have an age limit on these girls; he would get them as young as eight years old. His connections were back in the former Soviet Union and that region, who were owed money or favors from the locals there, would take these girls from their families outright, or, they would even see what they believed was a great prospect and out and out just take them, right off the street. Either way, they ended up with Divic, and he didn’t stop there … no … he would go down to Mexico and Central America, and either buys and steals them from there too. He would bring them back here and sell them into prostitution. But he had a twist; he would sell these girls virginity to the highest bidders. A girl between eight and twelve could net him anywhere from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand dollars. But, I have to say again, it does not end there … it gets worse.”

“How could it get any worse?” Sherry asked.

“Because Gregior Divic discovered something,” David answered, “something that he could get even more money for … young boys. He started doing the same thing with young boys, and that’s how the connection between Divic and the Bartholomew’s was discovered.”

“Go on.”

“Here’s one of those things that only we know about.” David continued, “The Lake County Sheriff’s were the first to arrive at the Divic house. They found him on the floor of his den, sprawled out like all the others, his spine was of course broken and he had been paralyzed. However, there was a safe in this house; it had been hidden behind a fake bookshelf, the kind you see in all those old mystery movies on TV. Inside this safe there was a dossier, filled with the names of some pretty predominant people in this area, from Wisconsin to Michigan and Indiana. These people are the ‘high rollers’ of the Divic customer base. They are the ones that Divic was selling these girls and boys virginity too. They were the first chosen shall we say, the prime customers who were always contacted first and given priority with Divic’s new merchandise. They got to ‘break in’ these children shall we say, and then Divic would sell the ‘used merchandise’ to pimps around the country.

“Yes, the dossier was inside Divic’s safe, but the safe was locked. This safe is not the combination type, it had to be opened with a key, and that key was always worn on a chain around the neck of Gregior Divic. The key was found, chain intact, neatly hanging on the handle of the safe, the secret doors that hid the safe were wide open. All there too see … like it was waiting for us … with Divic there … lying face down on the floor.”

Sherry wore an amazed expression on her face, “It sounds to me like … he wanted the police to find that document.”

“My partner and I are in agreement with that, but it doesn’t end there. The next thing, again that only we know is this, the girl that Divic kept for himself, Marsha Post, she was being held in the basement along with other women and children. They heard the commotions going on upstairs. They heard Divic being dragged back to the den; they heard his cry of pain when his spine was broken. Then they heard the footsteps of the vigilante slowly walk around to where the door to the basement was, and then they heard the thumb latch on the lock on the door turn. That was followed by the sound of the footsteps of the vigilante leaving the house through the backyard.”

“He was letting them go.” Sherry said.

“Yes, yes he was. However, Marsha was too frightened to check at first, in fact she waited a couple of hours before she was brave enough to check upstairs because of the guard dog that Divic had. Marsha did not know that the vigilante had … let‘s say … taken care of that problem for them. When she did though, she called the police. No one knows but us … that he did that … that he unlocked that door. But, it was all part of his plan.”

“His plan?” She asked puzzled.

“Yes, you see right after he left the Divic, it started to snow, and snow very hard. It was one of those famous February blizzards, about eighteen inches of snow to be exact. He left out the back of the Divic home and escaped through the forest preserve. The snowfall covered and later destroyed any trace of any trail that he may have left behind. He planned that whole thing, and I believe he planned it and executed it for that snowfall. He waited for that storm. I’ve been back to that house a hundred times, looking at it from the forest preserve tree line in the back yard. I hiked it, walked around and still can not find one trace that there was somebody even back there. It was brilliant. If that storm would have come a year later, even two years, that’s when he would have carried out that attack.”

“You’re saying that this man, this vigilante, planned this whole attack on the Divic guy just so that the police would find …”

“That dossier.” David finished for her. “He wanted us to find that file and to see those names, and the connection between Divic and the Jared is … that his … and the name of his father … were in that dossier. Turns out that Jared had been doing business with Divic for years, and Jared got his father to come over to the dark side. Divic gave Mitchell a little girl as a bonus, and he got hooked with that. I think Jared used it though to have some leverage over his father.”

“Why those sick bastards.” Sherry said in disgust.

“Yes but remember … there are other names in that file.”

“You have seen this file?”

“Yes I have … and I have seen every name in it.”

“Where is the file now?”

“Here is some more of the complicated crap that is saturating this whole case. The original file is with a certain Special Agent of the FBI, who still at this time has full charge over Gregior Divic. He is holding Divic at some federal medical facility in Missouri; this certain Special Agent has political ambitions.”

“And if you add those ambitions with the names on that dossier, well then you get some pretty wealthy and powerful backers to any campaign you may pursue.”

“Exactly right.” David agreed.

“Now you said that this certain ‘special agent’ has the quote un-quote ‘original’ file with him. By any chance do you know of any copies?”

David smiled and said, “Say, you are an investigative reporter aren’t you? Yes, there were two other copies made, however one of them was recently destroyed.”

“And the other?”

David then reached down to the Notre Dame paper bag that sat between them and handed it over to her. “You now are in possession of it … that is … if you want to be.”

Sherry took the bag and opened it to see the contents; there was a large plastic envelope that held the only copy of “The Pink Book” along with some other documents. She then looked at him in amazement and then reached inside the bag.

“Please don’t do that here,” David said, “you have plenty of time for that. You see, now I have to get into the seriousness of what this all is to you. You see, his last three attacks, they are somewhat connected also. You’ll see that after I tell you this and you see that file and those other papers. But first I need your word, this file came to you from sources unknown, I’m now one of those famous ‘un-named or anonymous sources’ as all you media folk say. Do I have your word?”

“Yes, you have my word.” She answered solemnly.

“Listen, this is dangerous shit, and it’s being done by dangerous people. Here is one more thing that no one else knows about. The last three attacks? Well, they were done on some high ranking gang leaders. These scumbags were not only paralyzed, but they had a shit load of money taken from each of them. I’m estimating somewhere between six and eight million bucks total … in cash … taken from them. I don’t need to tell ya, that that missing money has created a powder keg on the streets. These people? They want that money back, as well as those people that are connected to them, people who work on the outside of the gangs, but profit from them just the same. These people have supplied these dumb shits with that money, hoping to turn a huge profit. And you will start to see these connections when you see these papers. These are the people I mentioned before.”

“The ones willing to expose themselves?”

“Yes, and you’ll see who these people are.” David continued seriously, he leaned to her closer and said, “Ministers who use the race card to influence policy and extort, Russian Gangsters who put out a two million dollar street bounty to find him, and … politicians who force the police to use the money supplied by the good taxpayers of the city of Chicago to form a bogus ‘task force’ in order to end the reign of this man who is ‘violating the rule of law that our founding fathers brought about,’ how they now are wrapping themselves up in the constitution, and how wrong it is for this man who takes the law into his own hands and gives our fair city a black eye.”

Sherry’s eyes then widened, “You mean?”

“Yes, you’ll see when you see those papers.” David answered; he then moved back away from her and sat back on the bench. “You see Miss Thornton you’re from Texas as you say. Me? I was born and raised in Chicago. I love my hometown; to me it’s the greatest city in the world. My father-in-law? He was in the Army and was stationed over in Europe for awhile; he got to do some traveling there. One day he and I were on Michigan Avenue right as the spring was coming in. Beautiful day, blustery, white clouds, blue sky, sunny. He told me that he would put Michigan Avenue up against any major street in the world as the most beautiful, and he said that included Paris. I love the town and I love the people, but we all have let something happen over the decades that really just sickens me.”

“What is that?”

“I’m not a political person, but I have to say this is what we get for allowing one party rule in our town for all these decades. We allowed it … and we just go along with it. It’s like the corruption in Chicago politics is a tradition that we just have to live with. And I don’t like it. We accept the corruption by these assholes, and we have for so long that well, it has become second nature to us.” David then took a deep sigh and looked skyward, “Just once, I’d like to see some of them go down hard. And I don’t mean spending a couple of years at some country club prison, only to come back as some high paid consultant somewhere, or as a political expert on the news stations. No, I want hard time for them, with a hard life afterwards.”

“I totally agree with you.” Sherry said sympathetically.

“What was the last straw for me and my partner is when our new boss, the ‘honorable’, and I use that word lightly, Alderman Dorothy D. Stillwater began accusing my partner, myself, and the entire Chicago Police Department that we are all covering for a rogue cop. That we all are purposely allowing this cop to continue these attacks. She wants my partner and I too make the entire Chicago Police to the first list of suspects. I’m telling ya … this bitch is crazy.“ He then paused, regained his composure and looked to her, “Now listen, you are going to be treading some rough water here. Not only with the gang bangers and the politicians, but now with organized crime as well. This vigilante crossed a big line with what he did to Julian Chekov. His father wants blood, that’s the way it is with these crazy Russian bastards, they’ve been living this way for centuries. But, if I had to put my money on it … if or when it comes down to a skirmish between the two of them, I’m betting on the Tapper.”

“How do you mean?”

“My partner and I have seen the results of all his work. This guy, this vigilante, he very dangerous, more dangerous then all the people he has attacked and affected combined. What he does is frightening; he is extremely skilled at what he does and is just as extremely intelligent. He has planned each one of these attacks with great precision. My partner and I have also come to think that the attack on Bill Freeman and Raul Ortega may have just been a way to introduce himself … his ‘calling card’ shall we say.” 

Sherry Thornton sat silent … she was enthralled.

“Have you noticed that only the bad guys get hurt?” David continued, “Even in the situations where there are undercover police officers involved with the gang bangers, only the bad guys get hurt. That’s because he has seen and watches everything. My partner and I believe totally, that he may have even been watching us as well. That he’s also an expert on surveillance. That’s also one reason I brought you way the hell out here, because what the hell, he could be watching the both of us … here … right now.” He watched as her eyes widened and she took a quick glance around. He then said, “There is also one more thing about him that makes him dangerous.”

“What is that?” Sherry asked.

“He is totally fearless … he is not afraid of anything or anybody. Divic? Remember how I told you that the girl, Marsha Post, that it took her two hours before she would come up those basement stairs, because of that dog?”

“Yes.”

“That’s because that dog Divic had was a one hundred twenty five pound rottweiller guarding that door, trained to tear apart anyone who tried to come out of that basement. The vigilante … he took out that dog, left him alive too … I saw it with my own eyes. They had to put that puppy down. But … what he did to that mutt … Jeezuz … I can still see the fear in that dogs eyes. That guy scared the living shit out of that mutt. You just can’t imagine the strength and power this man has. He has been trained to do this, and I believe he has used these skills elsewhere. Where? I have no idea.” He then held up his hand to count on his fingers to emphasize his next point, “But I do know this, he knows how to fight … he knows how to hurt … and …he knows how to kill. He’s done it before someplace, military comes to mind. He has done this before, because he’s so good at it. However, there is one thing about him that stands out.”

“What’s that?”

“Even though he has been trained to do all this, all his targets? Well … he hasn’t killed anyone. He’s crippled and maimed them … but he hasn’t killed anyone. He didn’t even kill that dog. There has to be a reason he hasn’t done that … there has to be.”

“That is unusual,” Sherry said, “maybe he knows that if he is caught, he just doesn’t want to face any murder charges. You see, he could be afraid of something.”

“What’s that?”

“Getting caught.” She answered, “Everybody has a fear of losing their freedom.”

“Yes, they are,” he agreed, “that’s why there is this big ‘cold war’ that he’s created. The people in that book, and all the others that are going to come about, they are beating their brains out to keep all this covered up. There’s a huge shit storm out there brewing Miss Thornton and you are going to be the one to bring it on. Think you can handle it?”

She looked downward in silence for a few seconds, and then said, “Yes, yes, I’ll take it on. I can handle it.”

“I think that this is what he wants.” He said.

She turned to him in surprise. “What HE wants? What do you mean by that? You think that he wants all for this to happen?”

“Yes, I believe that. We’ve had some help with profiling this man with a good buddy of ours at the FBI. He‘s with Behavioral Sciences, and one thing that we believe about the Tapper is that someone close and dear to him has been hurt by people with this type of power, who are in these positions. He’s planned this. Every attack on some dirt bag has a connection with a higher up. It’s just that now, he’s hurt the son of a Russian mob figure, and the anger shown to us from that particular attack makes us suspicious that whomever it was that hurt him or this loved one of his, had to be involved with corruption of some sort.”

Sherry Thornton had an expression of sympathy on her face.

David continued, “And to ‘Joe Average’ on the street, the vigilante is a hero. My partner and I, we’re caught between a rock and a hard place here. If we find and arrest this man, we will be the bad guys, on the other hand, we are being squeezed by politicians in City Hall, and they will make us out to be the bad guys too. My partner and I? To those shits in City Hall … we are expendable … we can be sacrificed … and we can be the scapegoats. So my partner and I now saying, let’s give him what he wants, the Tapper, we may come out battered and bruised … but we will win the war.” 

Sherry then asked, “What do you suppose he did with all that money?”

“Frankly we don’t know … and we don’t care.” He answered, “It doesn’t matter what he does with it, he could spend it, hell, he could burn it all if he wants too. The reason he took the money is not out of his own personal greed. No. He took it because it weakens those who it belonged to, and it has contributed to all of the tension out on the street. All the bangers are eyeing each other, thinking this one or that one may have really taken it. The money is the real power here to these people. This missing cash has hurt business, business relationships and business transactions But above all, it has destroyed street credit … reputations. I also believe that this doesn’t end with some CEO, or someone at City Hall. No … this has been felt well beyond the borders of Illinois.”

She sighed, “This is very confusing and very complicated.”

“We have complete confidence in you.”

“It’s just … where do I start?”

“My partner and I suggest that you start with us.” He answered, “For one main reason, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but I have to stress to you again how dangerous some of these people are. Especially with the family of Julian Chekov. They seem just like nice Russian immigrants, but they are ruthless people. The involvement now of this so called ‘Russian Mafia’ is going to make life on the streets extremely perilous. We are talking possibly maybe of major gangland warfare. I’d rather have some bigwigs in business and City Hall go down, because it will stop a lot of unnecessary bloodshed. 

“Oh yes I couldn’t care less if they all killed each other, but as history shows that never happens. There’s always some innocent bystander or little kid caught in the crossfire.

“Start with me and my partner. Come to our office unannounced and try to ask us some questions about ‘certain things’ that have come to your attention. We will then of course give you no answers and ask you to leave. You will find our cards in that bag with all of the ways that you can contact either one of us, that way if you think you may find yourself in some trouble, or need some help with the investigation, you can call us and we’ll help you out, and set meeting up Keep them in a place where no one can find them at first, try and possibly memorize them if you can”

“Okay, I’ll do that.” she said, “Let me go over everything here, afterwards I’ll come to you, unannounced of course.”

David then stood and looked down to her, “Well then, I would say ‘see you later’ but then, you have never seen me, and we have never met me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand. It’s just, you dumped a lot of shit on me here Detective, and I have to sort this out and plan it.”

David smiled at her and said, “That’s why you are the investigative reporter, and I’m just one of a million ‘anonymous sources’ you media people have. Give me about fifteen minutes as a head start before you decide to leave.” He then turned and left her sitting there.

He disappeared into the now massive crowd that was walking to the gates of the football stadium; however, he quickly strode to an area that he had chosen previously long before he met Sherry Thornton. It was a small elevated area, just high enough and far enough to observe her undetected as she still sat on the bench where he had just left her. He looked to his watch and saw that six minutes had past. He then raised his binoculars to his eyes and looked at her. She sat there with the bag in her hand, and she then looked to her own watch. Then she looked around herself as if to see if anyone was watching her. She then reach into the bag and removed the large envelope that contain the copy of ‘The Pink Book’, opened it and then she glanced inside.

“That’s a good girl.” David whispered to himself as he watched her. He then could see her expressions of surprise and amazement as she turned the pages. She looked around herself again and then abruptly closed the file shut. She then began to look at some of the other documents that he had given her, these brought about the same emotional expressions to her face. Instead of fifteen minutes, she sat there for twenty-five. He saw her look to her watch again, this time she stood up from the bench and began to walk to the direction of the parking lot where her car was. David followed her at a safe distance behind her. She never detected him as she made her way back to her car. He observed as she opened her car door, placed the bag on her passenger seat and then sat behind the wheel, started her car, and sped off quickly to the main exit.

David then walked over to a public phone near him. He picked up the receiver and then dropped eight quarters into the coin slot. He reached into the front pocket of his jeans where he retrieved a piece of paper that had a phone number written on it. This phone number was to another public phone that was located at the huge waiting area at Union Station back in Chicago. There waiting by this public phone was Noel. David punched in the numbers and waited as he first heard the clicks and whirs, then he heard the ringing tone. After two rings he heard as the line on the other end was picked up, and then heard Noel’s voice, “Yeah.”

“Ski?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay man, she’s got everything and is on her way back.”

“She was alone?”

“Yep, she kept her word. She was totally here by herself.”

“Good!” Noel exclaimed, “Then we can trust her?”

“Yes … we can trust her.”

“How you feeling man?” Noel asked.

“You know what … I feel great … no bullshit man … I feel relieved with this. Now let’s hope we all can fuck over these ass-wipes.”

“Come on home then man.”

“I’m on my way then, she should be ten, fifteen minutes ahead of me, I should be able to catch up pretty fast. I can tail her from there just to make sure.”

“Okay then, see ya when you get back.”

“Yeah man,” David sighed, “see ya later.” He then hung up the phone and began to make his way back to his own car. Once there he then quickly got inside, started the engine and hastily made his way to the main exit and then onto the highway that would take him back to Chicago.

Once on the highway he turned on his radio and tuned into the broadcast of the Notre Dame football game. He was in good spirits with what he had just accomplished and he now enjoyed the view of the remainder of this November morning with the cool air, the leafless trees and open lands that went past him. He did catch up with Sherry Thornton’s car and he made sure he stayed behind at a good enough distance, where he would occasionally observe her through the binoculars.

He relaxed, enjoyed the drive, and listened to the radio broadcast as the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame went on to defeat the Golden Eagles of Boston College by the score of 28 - 16.

* * *

It was one of the bad days … one of the very bad days. He felt it from the moment that he had awakened …over stimulated and hyperactive. He awoke breathing heavy, he quickly sat up and sat on the edge of bed and began to rocking rapidly back and forth. He kept looking in every direction of the room, the light of the morning seemed to make him more anxious, so he stood up, went over to the bedroom window and drew the window blinds shut. He stepped away from the window and then began to pace back and forth in the room at the foot of his bed.

He constantly would rub his face … then his hair … then would rub his hands together … all the time pacing … back and forth … breathing heavy. He did so for fifteen minutes. He then looked to the hallway from his bedroom door and noticed the morning light coming from his living room. He then swiftly … yet silently stepped down the hallway and into the living room. There too the morning light made him more anxious … even angry, and there too he quickly drew the window blinds shut along with the drapes behind them. His home was now as dark as it was going to be. Except … for the candle.

He now began to pace the entire room, from one end of the room, crossing it, then into the length of the hallway, turning around in order to pace back to the end of the living room. Rubbing his hands together … rubbing his arms … massaging his face … stroking his hair. His eyes darting in every direction … his breathing heavy through his clenched teeth. Pacing … looking … breathing … sniffing the air.

Like the wolf.

 

 “It should have been me.” He whispered to himself through his clenched teeth. “It should have been me … it should have been me … it should have been me …” He began to pump his fists with every chant, “It should have been me … it should have been me … it should have been me.”


After twenty minutes of this pacing and chanting, he abruptly stopped in the middle of the living and began to speak quietly into the dark … as if there were other people there, pointing into a direction … stepping up as if here were speaking directly into someone’s face, turning and looking across the room and speaking to someone on the other side of it, “You all had your chance … you had many chances … and you could not do it … you failed … why? … why did you fail? … it should have been me … you bastards … why couldn’t you succeed? … it should have been me … damn you … damn you all … it should have been me.”

It all then started to consume him. The anger … the guilt … the blame … the rage.

The thoughts of how everything in his life was … back when he was happy … back before … “it” happened.

The thoughts of … would of … could of …should of.

He then went to the dining area and picked up a chair away from the table and placed it in front of where the candle was. He sat down in front of the lavender colored candle, stared into the flame and rocked back and forth. All the time now rubbing his hands back and forth on his upper legs. He stared into the candle flame … and then to the framed picture behind it. He then stared long and hard into the candle flame and began to whisper a chant over … and over, “I’m so sorry … it’s all my fault … it’s all because of me … I’m so sorry …I’m so sorry … please forgive me …I’m so sorry … I’m so sorry …I’m so sorry …” 

He did this for the next three hours. All the time the anger … and the guilt … and the blame … and the self loathing … would build inside him … more and more … becoming stronger and stronger.

 

He knew what he must do now to rid himself of this. He stood and went back into his bedroom, opened his closet and pulled out the footlocker there. He opened it and retrieved his black sweatpants and black hooded parka then dressed himself in them. He put on a pair of thick black cotton socks and a pair of black athletic shoes. For now he must go walk and run. Just as he has had to do many times before. To walk and run until he has exhausted all of this from his system and bring calm back to himself.

Once he was dressed, he noticed that it was already beginning to get dark outside. “Perfect.” he thought to himself. He went to the front doorway of his apartment and opened the door slightly and peered down the hallway. Nobody was around. He looked across the hall where the was a door, that was where the fire stairs were. He stepped from his apartment, turned swiftly and locked his door, went to the doorway to the stairs and slipped inside the stairwell … all without making the slightest noise.

Just as silently, he made his way down the four flights of stairs that led to the basement and storage area of his apartment building where he slipped inside. None of the other tenants happened to be there. He made his way across and went up the short set of stairs that led to the doorway that exited to the alley. He unlocked the door with his tenant’s key and stepped outside into the dark alleyway and then locked the door behind him. He looked down to the left of the alley … and then down to the right, trying to decide in which direction to go. He pulled the hood of the parka over his head and tonight he began to walk down to the right side.

 

Thus he began the only therapy that he knew of to deal with these days … these very bad days. To go out on one of his ‘stealth marches’. To walk through the alleys and dark back streets that no one ever goes through. To stay in the shadows and do so undetected. To walk and run through the dark streets just as he had done so many times before, and he would not stop until he rid himself of all the rage … of all the guilt. He would do so again tonight until this all would pass.

He did so … for the next ten and a half hours.

　

* * *

END OF PART TWO