Part I - Chapter 9: A PRIVATE CONVERSATION

Chapter 9

A Private Conversation

(Ó 2007)

 

Early the next morning, David Todd and Noel Jaworski were busy setting up all the video equipment needed for what would turn out to be three days of recording, and listening to, the detailed confessions of both Raul Ortega and William Freeman. However, at that same moment miles away in a diner on Ohio Street in downtown Chicago, two women were having what they at the time believed was a private conversation.

They sat across from one another in a booth, next to the window that looked out onto the street.

Romana Alexiev and Ellyian Krupskya, two women who had emigrated from the former Soviet Union. Both women had come to the United States some three years before seeking a better life after the fall of communism in their former homeland.
 

Both women worked at the same five star hotel located on Michigan Avenue. Ellyian, being from Moscow, adjusted better to the city life of Chicago. She was a beautiful woman, and being that she was fluent in the English language, she worked her way to a position at the reception desk quickly. She was also in line to be a concierge.
 

Romana was from a smaller town known as Grodno, which was near the border of Russia and Poland. She herself was an attractive woman; however, she still lacked the skills of the English language that her friend had mastered. Therefore, for the moment, she worked in the housekeeping department of the hotel.

Romana had a husband, but he was a dissident toward the communist regime and became a victim of the Soviet prison system. After the fall of communism, she tried frantically to locate him but to no avail. He was missing and presumed dead. She now had to face life alone and raise her young son by her presumed deceased husband alone. With that, she immigrated to the United States, with the determination to make a better life for her son, with the faith that if her husband by chance were still alive, he would find them both.

It was Romana’s now ten-year-old son, Nicholas, her only child, which was the topic of their discussion. Romana was very distraught, worried over the welfare and well-being of her son.3
 

The diner was very busy with the morning breakfast crowd. The air was filled with the mumbled sound of hundreds of different conversations from the patrons. However, to insure their privacy, Romana and Ellyian conversed in their native Russian tongue.
 

Tears began to well in Romana’s eyes as she said to her friend, “I do not know what to do, and I get more suspicious every moment. A mother feels these things when her child is being hurt. I am so frightened Ellyian, I am so scared for Nicholas.”
 

“How do you think he is hurting Nicholas?” Ellyian asked.
 

Romana looked to her friend with a frightened expression, her lips quivering, “I think that he is hurting him in the worst way a man can hurt a little boy.” She then looked down to her hands and they were shaking.
 

Ellyian quietly gasped, “Romana! Are you saying that, - - - you think he - - - is?”

“Forcing my son to perform sex with him, yes.”

“Romana that is a very serious accusation. His father owns MB Media, and he is in line to take it over.” 

“That is what makes this so difficult. He is a powerful man, and his father is even more powerful. Me? I am just a maid in a hotel. If I say anything, then the next thing I know, Nicolas and I will be back in Grodno within hours of my speaking out.”

“Do you have any proof Romana?” Ellyian asked, taking her friends hands in hers.

“Nicholas is the only proof I can get. But he doesn’t say anything.” She answered. “Like I told you, a mother, she knows when her child is being hurt. I know he was a happy, beautiful boy before he became involved with that man’s foundation. He now sits in his room, he does not want to go anywhere or play with his friends. He avoids talking to me. And, I know of these things from back in Russia, when the communists were in power, they believed they could get away with anything. And many of them did, the ones who are like this man, who crave little children. They got away with it there. I have seen it.”

Ellyian looked at the heartbreak on the face of her good friend, “What are you going to do Romana? What are you going to do?”

“I do not know. Right now the only thing I can do is to keep him away from that man, that monster.” Romana then began to weep, “You have seen my Nicholas. Ellyian, he is a beautiful boy. That is what everybody says to me when they first see him. They do not say he is handsome, they say he is beautiful. They say I should have photographs of him taken to show to the modeling agencies. I brought him here to have a good life. I did not bring him here to be used for the pleasure of some perverted animal.”

Ellyian stood up from her side of the booth to sit with her friend on the other. She put her arm around her and let her cry on to her shoulder, “It will be alright Romana. I do not know how, but something will come of this, I do not know what. But somehow, it will turn out alright.” She grabbed some of the paper napkins so that she could wipe her tears and clear her nose, “Here, put yourself together, it will turn out right somehow.” - - -

- - - He sat finishing his coffee with his copy of the morning Chicago Sun-Times. He was reading the main story with the headline, “SUSPECTS IN SERIAL RAPES TO CONFESS”. The small sub-heading followed, “Both suspects admit to rape spree, will stay hospitalized for ‘indefinite period’”. In the center of the page was a large photograph of detectives David Todd and Noel Jaworski. He studied the faces of both men for quite a while, and read the reports in the papers a few times.

There was another smaller story that also had his attention, “‘Dark Man’ Who Hospitalized Rape Suspects Still at Large”. There was a sub-heading that read, “Urged to turn self in”.

He was engrossed in the newspaper reports since he woke that morning, with that being the main story on the morning news on both his television and radio. He studied and listened to every word, noting that the only mention of him was of him being referred to as the “Dark Man” and the plea by the authorities to turn himself in that he had nothing to fear from them.

To him that meant that they had no idea who to look for, or any idea or clue to who the person was that had brought to a stop the terrorization of the two rapists.

However, something now distracted him from his newspaper. It was the conversation of the two women in the booth directly behind him. They were speaking in Russian. One woman, her tone worried and frightened, the other woman, trying to comfort and consol her. 

His briefcase was on the seat next to him. He picked it up, placed it in front of him and opened it. He closed his newspaper and placed it neatly inside the case. He then took from it a small pad of notepaper and removed the top sheet, and replaced it back in its proper place. He then closed and locked his briefcase and set in back down on the seat next to him.

His suit jacket was also neatly set on the seat next to the briefcase. He picked it up to retrieve his pen from the inside breast pocket. He then wrote on the piece of note pad paper:

 

 

Father -

MB MEDIA

Son- next in line

Foundation?

　

He folded the piece of paper twice and inserted it into the breast pocket of his shirt. He then reached over to get the check for his breakfast that his waitress had set there a few moments before. He stood, picked up his suit jacket and put it on. He then picked up his briefcase, left a five-dollar bill on the table for the waitress, then stepped over to the cashier to pay his bill.

He never looked over to the two women who sat behind him. He paid his bill then went to the entrance of the diner. Once outside he reached into the other breast pocket of his suit jacket to retrieve his sunglasses. He placed them on; the dark lenses concealed his eyes. He turned to the left and began to walk slowly up the street. He looked through the window of the diner as he passed by and looked briefly at the two women, one still consoling the other.

He walked up to the corner, which was La Salle Street. He stopped to turn right, but he couldn’t cross because of the red light. As he waited, the crowd of pedestrians around him began to grow. In a minute, the light turned green and all began to walk. He disappeared into the morning flow of all the other people on their way to their various jobs.

Part I-Chapter 8: THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

 

Chapter 8

The Truth of the Matter

(Ó 2007)

Over the next three weeks and one day, both David and Noel labored rigorously building their case against Raul Juan Ortega and William Robert “Billy” Freeman. David and Noel personally visited all known sixteen victims of the two serial rapists, informing them that their assailants may well be in custody. Each victim, as well as their family members, naturally became emotional with the news. The Detectives managed to uncover some old photographs of the two assailants along with mug shots of each man from previous arrests for misdemeanor crimes. As each victim viewed the photographs they broke down uncontrollably and positively identified the men as their rapists.

The sixteen victims had heard from all sources of the news media of the capture of the suspected serial rapists and were curious on what had happened to them. Noel had told them the account of Stephanie Morris, (without revealing her name because she was a minor), and her “dark man” vigilante. David told them of their current medical condition, and then produced photographs of both men in their halo braces. David asked each victim to look at the faces of these photographs also for identification. Although the faces of both suspects were still somewhat bruised and swollen, positive identifications were still made by all.

David noticed a change in the demeanor of all the victims when they learned of the demise of their attackers. He made mental note of it. They changed right before him from the depressed and introverted women that they became after their rapes into, for lack of better a term, to those of being happier and more normal.

When the subject of testifying in court came up, all sixteen victims were willing to do so, all were willing to point out their attackers to a jury, all were willing to take on their attackers attorney, none were intimidated by the fact that Leon Robbins was going to be their rapists defense attorney. In fact, and David observed this also, all women along with their families seemed invigorated and couldn’t wait to take on Leon Robbins and his clients. They were looking forward to it.

So, for twenty two days, Sergeants Todd and Jaworski put together all evidence and testimonies of the sixteen victims. They made a separate file for each woman. Each file contained the particular woman’s description of their attackers along with the horrid details of the ordeal of their rape. Each file also contained the photographs of each victim from the initial physical exam from the emergency rooms. Pictures’ showing bruised faces, arms, legs, abdomens, backs, and thighs, along with the anguished expressions of the victims. 

Each file was placed into it’s own separate file box, which each contained the physical evidence from each attack mostly from the rape kits along with the torn and shredded clothing. David and Noel both had remained in constant communication with all laboratories that were testing the bodily fluids, blood, hairs, skin, and semen samples from all sixteen victims. Checking, double checking and triple checking to make sure that each was a fit to their suspects. With each positive identification, and with each laboratory test coming back with a positive match, the optimistic emotional level and confidence of both David and Noel had reached a new high just as the victims.    

They were also waiting for the new DNA tests for positive matches, those would take some extra time, however when the results of those tests would come back, David and Noel felt that it will just be the nail on the coffins of Raul Ortega and William Freeman.

During those twenty two days also, some startling revelations were discovered about the two low level drug dealer and serial rapists. It turned out that their “hunting ground” may well have expanded beyond the boundaries of the Chicagoland area. After the capture of the two suspected serial rapists, their pictures and old mug shots were of course released to the media. Captain Xiang then began receiving inquiries from other police departments, not only from other cities in the state of Illinois, but from cities and towns in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin, all requesting for information on the two suspects now in custody at Cook County Hospital.

When David and Noel spoke with the inspectors and detectives in charge of those cases, they cooperated fully. All pictures of Raul and Billy were sent to the various police departments, and all victims in those cities also reported that the men in the pictures “looked exactly like them,” meaning their attackers.

The victims of these other towns heard of the fate of their attackers, all were willing to come to Chicago to identify them. It began to look as if Ortega and Freeman may have committed as many as twenty four rapes, and Noel added, “And, just think, there may be more, there could be a bunch out there that never even reported the crime.”

 

Both Raul Ortega and William “Billy” Freeman were now formally charged with sixteen counts of first degree sexual assault in the Chicago and Cook County area alone. However, ’sexual assault” was a term that David Todd detested. “It’s a vile crime that deserves a vile term. It’s rape! R-A-P-E! Are they trying to protect the victim? No! All that’s doing is sugarcoating it, making the violence seem not as bad as it really is, as if we all are not adult enough to take it.”

The other rapes would be handled by the other municipalities. The victims did indeed come to Chicago and positively identified both rapists.

After the charges had been filed, Captain Xiang arranged to have the first interrogation of Ortega and Freeman in the hospital in the room both men were now sharing. It would serve the purpose perfectly. The doctor had cleared them both as now fit for questioning, and there would be the medical staff right outside the door if needed.

Now for the past twenty two days everything seemed to be running like a fine tuned car. Things were falling into place, David and Noel both seemed more relaxed and upbeat. For now the anguish of the past three years was coming to an end. All they had to do now was question the two suspects, present the evidence, show them both how the odds were so stacked against them, and see if they could finally bring this whole thing to a close, maybe even save the taxpayers some money by getting confessions to avoid a costly trial.

They arrived in the room that helped to keep both suspects alive since their attack. With them they brought the sixteen boxes that held the file and evidence of each victim. They stacked them neatly against the wall on the right side of the room. 

Both suspects were in halo braces and were confined to the Roto-Rest bed that Dr. MacDonald had informed them of. As they entered the room they couldn’t help but stare at the two men. The two men, who had been terrorizing the women and girls of the Chicagoland area, and now possibly the quad-state area, for three years, were reduced to nothing but literal talking heads. Totally immobile, totally helpless, and now totally dependent on others for even the slightest basic need, even as minute as scratching an itch on their noses. They were now the absolute opposite of the monsters that they were twenty three days before.

It all started out quiet enough, the only sound being the rhythmic pulse and hissing noise coming from the artificial respirator that was assisting Raul to breath. A large rectangular table was placed at the foot of the Roto-Rest beds. The beds themselves were raised at an angle so that the two suspects could face their interrogators. One chair was placed on their side of the table between the beds. This chair was reserved for Leon Robbins. Four chairs were placed on the opposite side of the table. One each for David, Noel, Captain Xiang, and a representative for the Cook County Prosecutors Office, a petite woman named Loraine Scarpelli. Loraine was personally chosen by the Cook County Prosecutor himself because of her reputation for being a tough prosecutor on tough crimes.

“You always gotta watch out for the short ones,” David said, “they pack the biggest punch. I mean did you ever see those flyweight and bantamweights fight?”

On the center of the table was a large reel to reel tape recorder with two microphones, one pointed at Leon, the other pointed to the interrogators. Ms. Scarpelli turned on the recorder and said into her microphone, “This is Lorraine Scarpelli, Cook County Prosecutors office, with me are Captain Michael Xiang of the Chicago Police Department, Detective Noel Jaworski, Chicago Police Department, and Detective David Todd also of the Chicago Police Department. We are conducting the initial interrogation of Raul Juan Ortega and William Robert Freeman. Both are charged with sixteen counts first degree sexual assault,” David winced when she said that, “sixteen counts kidnapping, and sixteen counts first degree assault and battery. Also present is the suspects attorney, Mr. Leon Robbins.” She added in the place, date and time.

David made the mistake of believing that this first interrogation was going to be quick and easy. However, the first ten minutes of questioning in dealing with attorney Leon Robbins, felt like an eternity. With all the questions that were asked, Leon Robbins would answer with “As the council for my clients, I am advising them to invoke their right under the Fifth Amendment to protect them from incriminating themselves.”, or he would flat out tell his two clients “Don’t answer that!”

In that ten minutes time there were the beginnings of two heated arguments between Ms. Scarpelli and Leon Robbins. David was feeling the frustration also. He sat between Noel and Captain Xiang with him hands covering his face; all three men had legal note pads and pens in front of them with not one note written down. He massaged his face a couple of times. He would look to Captain Xiang and then to Noel, still with his hands on his face while observing Leon’s attempts to turn this whole interrogation into a circus.

Finally, David just could not take it any longer. He calmly stood up, set his pen down on his note pad neatly, then calmly reached over and gently shut off the tape recorder. When he did this, both Ms. Scarpelli and Leon immediately grew silent. “If you both don’t mind,” he said, “I would like to say something. Off the record. Is that OK with you Boss?”

“Fine with me,” Captain Xiang answered, “go right ahead.”

He looked to Ms. Scarpelli who said, “Sure Detective.”, and then sat back in her chair.

He then looked to Leon, “If you insist.” He said curtly.

 

“I do.” David said in a low deep tone, and then he stood up straight and backed away from his chair. He began to pace from left to right with his right hand now massaging the back of his neck. He then stopped where his chair was, placed both hands on the back of it and looked directly to Leon.

“Is this the best you got Leon?” David asked. “Is this the best defense that you have for these two guys? Because I tell ya, it’s pretty pathetic, even by your standards.”

Leon just sat looking up at David, with tight lips shut and his eyes piercing through his “Trotsky” eyeglasses.

“I mean,” David continued, “when you think about it, what are we even doing here?” He eyes went to everyone in the room. “I mean really, what are we doing here?”

No one said anything; they all sensed he was going to make a point.

“So. Leon, what’s it gonna be here, huh?” David said. “You gonna try and use the system to drag this whole thing on for as long as you can? You gonna go to trial, and if that one doesn’t go your way, then the long dragged out appeals process goes on? So that you can keep these guys here in the hospital at least?”

Captain Xiang then asked, “Where are you going with this Detective?”

“Where I’m going is this Boss,” David said in a more stronger tone, “it doesn’t matter what we do or what Leon can do, the truth of the matter is that no matter what, Leon’s two boys over there are screwed.”

Leon then tried to stop David by raising his voice with, “That will be enough Detective!”

David stepped up to the table directly across from Leon, placed his hand on top of it, leaned over and looked Leon straight in his eyes, and said very calmly yet sternly, “This is all off the record counselor, I’ll let you know when it’s enough.” He then stood back up to gather his thoughts. In a few seconds he began to speak again.

“As I was saying,” David started again, “it really doesn’t matter who wins or loses here, us, or Leon and his boys here. It doesn’t matter where they end up, free, or down in Joliet at the state pen. Because, as I said before,” David now began to emphasize his point, “the truth of the matter is that no matter WHAT! These two guys are FUCKED! Right straight UP their asses! For the REST, of their MISERABLE lives!”

Leon raised his voice right back, “Now that will be enough Detective!”

David looked then to Ms. Scarpelli and said calmly, “Sorry for my language.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “please continue.”

David then turned his attention back to Leon. “What are ya gonna do for them Leon, huh? What are you gonna do? You gonna put on one of your court room three ring circuses for them? You hoping to drag this whole thing out hoping that the public will get sick of it? As long as it’s your face in front of that camera again right?”

Leon went back to sitting still with his eyes once again piercing and his lips so tight that they were beginning to turn white.

“Even if by some chance Leon, you were to work your magic on the jury,” David said, and while doing so he moved his hands around wiggling his fingers like a magician, “and you were to get them off, the truth of the matter is, they are fucked.” He looked at the two suspects and noticed tears coming to the eyes of Billy Freeman.

“Yeah Leon,” David began again, “you’ll be the great attorney, you’ll even may run for that public office spot that you covet, but these two guys, well, it doesn’t matter where they may end up, because every morning they both are gonna be waking up to find themselves sitting in their own shit and piss.” David then stepped around to the other side of the table to stand between the two Roto Rest beds, “And it doesn’t matter where you end up. Because once again, the truth of the matter is that someone is going to have to forced to take care of you two, and they’re gonna know who you two are, and they’re the ones who will have to clean you up every morning. That is, when THEY decide when THEY can get around to it.”

David now looked at Billy Freeman, his eyes were welling up with tears and his bottom lip was quivering. David then looked at Noel, and then looked back to Billy to signal Noel to notice the emotion of Billy. He then looked to Raul. Raul looked to the ceiling trying to avoid any eye contact with anyone, but his eyes also showed some signs of tearing.

Leon then spoke, “I’m going to defend them yes, and this little soliloquy that you’re doing will be brought up I assure you.”

“So? So what?” David said. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? It don’t matter Leon! And besides, what do you got, huh? What do you got? You want to see what I got?” He stepped around the table to the neatly stacked boxes, “I have this for beginners. You know what this is? Each box is a separate file, one on each woman or girl that your two boys there beat and raped!”

“Allegedly beat and sexually assaulted!” Leon snapped.

“Whatever you wanna say Leon,” David shot back, “whatever you want to say. Because I got sixteen women here. Sixteen women! And all of them are willing to stand up in court and point at your two buddies over there and tell the world what they did to them.” David then stepped back to the table and once again placed his hands on it to speak to Leon up close, “And ya know what? They’re all looking forward to it. As a matter of fact they’re pumped up for it, they’re psyched. And they don’t give a rat’s ass who the defense attorney is, or what he has to throw at them. They’re pissed, and they can’t wait to see you all.”

Noel then noticed the first sign that Leon was nervous, David sensed it too.

“Now, guess what boys?” David said, “It seems your boys have been quite busy over the years. Seems as if they explored their passions beyond our fair city.” David then looked up to Raul and Billy, “You boys ever been to Kalamazoo? How about St. Joe and Benton Harbor Michigan?”

“Don’t answer that!” Leon shouted to them.

“Gary and Hammond Indiana? Racine Wisconsin? Milwaukee?”

“Don’t answer that!”

“How about Rockford? Aurora? Joliet, all right here in Illinois?”

“DON’T ANSWER THAT!”

David then turned to the others and laughingly asked, “Wouldn’t that be ironic if it was them that Joliet PD is looking for? Right there where the state pen is?”

Leon then looked to Captain Xiang, “I think we should bring this all to a close Captain!”

Captain Xiang then spoke, “What the Detective is saying Mr. Robbins is that ever since your clients arrest we have been getting inquiries from these other police departments, and they are all interested in your clients. Being that we are all interested in catching criminals, we have offered our assistance to the aforementioned departments, and we are cooperating fully with their investigations. The victims in each of these cities have seen photographs of your clients and are now suspects there. You should be hearing from them soon.”

David then added, “And as you know, and I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that if it turns out that your buddies over there are who everyone else is looking for? Well, they crossed state lines to commit some of those crimes, and I think that means that it’s a felony, on the feds may get involved with this.” David then stepped around to stand between the beds again, “And that means the FBI gets involved to look at those cases. I would want those guys after my ass that’s for sure.”

The room went quiet for a moment, David looking back and forth at Raul and Billy, and then around to Leon.

“Do you really think you can get them off Leon?” He asked. “I mean really, do ya?”

Leon remained silent.

“Because I’ll tell ya,” David said turning to the two suspects, “You two guys? You don’t have a friend in this town. Leon here could tell ya. The articles in the papers, and talk radio? DAMN! You should hear what the populous has to say about the both of you, and your esteemed attorney here.”

David the placed his hands on his sides, “Practically all of them believe that whoever it was that did this to you, is a hero.” David noticed Billy’s eyes bolt toward him, so David stepped over to him, but made sure that Raul could still hear him. “What he did to you two, jeez, it’s worse than prison. No matter where you go. Why hell, this guy? He gave you a life sentence of staring at the ceiling, daytime TV, and endless Cub games. Shit man, the guys on death row got it better than you.” 

David then stepped right between them at their eye level, pointed to their Halo Braces and said, “Those braces attached to your heads? Those are the closest things to a real halo you’re both ever gonna know.”

Leon then spoke calmly, wanting it to come to and end, “That will be enough now detective.”

“You’re right Leon, absolutely right.” David said now stepping back around to his side of the table, and he began to pick up his legal pad and pen, “This will be enough, because the second we turn that recorder back on you’re going to continue with your same bullshit. So I recommend that we just adjourn and go right to the trial.” He then pointed to the stacked boxes, “I’ll just make copies of all the testimonies and reports and send it over to your office Leon, and you can come by anytime to view the evidence. Hell, when all the other stuff comes in I let you come by and look. Nothing will be held back from you, we’ll cooperate fully. What say you Ms. Prosecutor?”

“I say that sounds fine to me,” Ms Scarpelli answered and she stood up to leave, “see you in court Mr. Robbins.”

David then looked again at Leon, “Hell Leon, you can’t even find someone you can sue for them over all of this.” Then he looked over to the men lying in the Roto Rest beds and said serenely, “If I had my way, I wouldn’t send you two to Joliet. No, I would sentence you both to an apartment over on Rush Street with a big bay window, so that the both of you could sit there and watch the good life pass you by all the time.”

Captain Xiang then also stood to leave, “Looks like a long drive over for nothing.”

David then said, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that Boss, in a few minutes we’ll be outside with that nice cool city air hitting us in the face. Maybe we’ll go over to the Billy Goat for a burger and brew. While were there Noel and I can discuss our arrangements for taking our wives to the Blackhawks game this Saturday night.” David then looked to the direction of Raul and Billy and asked out loud, “What are you guys gonna be doing?”

There was another quiet but intense interlude.

Then David said, “Well then, if nobody else has any other questions for these two, I say we leave and get back to some important work.”

Everyone, including Leon, was now all standing getting ready to leave, however Noel remained seated. He then announced, “Hey I have something I’d like to ask the two suspects.”

Everyone’s attention had turned to him. Ms. Scarpelli reached over to turn the tape recorder on, but Noel held his hand up, signaling to stop her.

“That won’t be necessary,” Noel said to her, “this has nothing to do with what they’re charged with. If Leon doesn’t mind that is.”

Leon looked at Noel with a little suspicion, “Your question has nothing to due with the alleged crimes or the charges against them?”

‘No, it doesn’t.”

Leon then raised his head with distrust.

“Really, Leon, it doesn’t. I swear.” Noel said assuring him.

“You’re not going to continue to berate my clients are you?”

“No, I swear it. I’m not. I’ve just been curious about something since all this happened.”

Leon thought it over for a second, then said, “OK, but if you begin insulting them I swear - - -”

Noel held up his hands, “Oh save it Leon. I just want ask you guys one thing that I have been really curious about for three weeks, and I said to myself that when you both are up to it I’m gonna find out.”

David watched his partner, he new he was up to something so he stepped behind him to get the view that he was seeing, the view of both Raul and Billy looking at Noel.

Noel then simply asked, “What did he say to you guys?”

There - - - right there, both Noel and David saw Billy’s facial expression. It was a combination of surprise and fright, his lip began quivering again, only more intense than before.

“What do you mean?” Leon asked.

Noel then informed him, “The fifteen year old girl whom your boys, and to just make you happy Leon, ‘allegedly sexually assaulted’, told me that after he attacked the boys here, he took time enough to kneel down to each one of them and say something to them. The girl didn’t hear what he said; she just said that his voice was soft, deep, and in her words, ‘eerie’.”

 

Tears were now beginning to stream down Billy’s face and his chest was beginning to hitch because he was trying to suppress his urge to cry. Raul had tears in his eyes also and he was trying to avoid any eye contact with anyone in the room.

“Hey Bill,” Noel said, “Can you answer that for me? I’m really curious to know.”

“His jaw is still wired shut.” Leon said.

“That’s OK Bill,” Noel said, “I’ll be able to understand you. If I can figure out my wife’s broken English, I can understand you.”

Billy’s breathing was now hitching more strongly, his breath was making a hissing sound from between his teeth of his open mouth. He then spoke for the first time, his words were obstructed because of his jaw being wired shut, “I can’t get him out of my head.”

All eyes were now on Billy, and Noel asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Billy’s eyes looked at him, they were wide as he said, “It’s like a record being played. Over and over and over again. I hear him. Saying the same thing. I still feel his breath. On my ear as he said it. It won’t stop. Please. Make it stop.”

David stepped back around the table and this time stood right next to Billy. David then asked calmly, with a stern and serious expression as if concerned for his plight, all the while looking at Billy Freeman, “What did he say to you Mr. Freeman? Go on, tell us. What did he say?”

Billy’s wide eyes looked right at David, and with tears now flowing down the sides of his face told David the instructions that came from his attacker. “He told me to always remember why this happened to me. To always admit to what I did. He said that he would always be watching me, and that, - - - that he could make this worse.” He then looked up to the ceiling, “I don’t know how he could make this worse.”

“Well, Mr. Freeman, I have a vivid imagination, I could suggest a hundred ways to make it worse.” David said. “So, what is it that you did that he told you to always admit to?”

“Don’t answer anything he asks!” Leon yelled.

Billy turned his glance once again to David, “Can you get him out of here?”

“Who, Leon? Your attorney?” 

“Yeshhh,” Billy said through his clenched teeth, “I can’t take him anymore either.”

“I’m afraid only you have that power Mr. Freeman.” David said to him. “Are there things that you would like to discuss to us?”

“Yeshhh,” Billy answered.

David turned to Leon, “I’m afraid you just got fired.”

Leon stood there speechless and looking dejected, “I’m going to protest this.”

“Of course you are,” David said, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

Leon then stepped up to the beds, “Are you sure you want to go in this direction?”

“Shhit man,” Billy said, “jussht go away will ya.” He then looked up to David with a pleading expression, “If I tell you everything, can you get him out of my head? I, - - - I can‘t take it anymore, he won‘t stop saying it over and over and over. Please, - - - make it stop, please.”

“I can’t guarantee you anything Mr. Freeman,” David told him solemnly, “but maybe after you tell us everything we need to know, you’ll be doing that yourself. You know that old saying about confession being good for the soul don‘t you?” He then turned to Raul, “How about you Mr. Ortega? You have things you want to discuss with us also? Blink once for no, twice for yes.”

Raul blinked twice.

“We did it,” Billy said, “we did all of them.”

Leon then stormed out of the room.

David watched as he left. He then raised his hand to Billy, “Hold on there Mr. Freeman, are you willing to confess to us everything on your own free will? Without the presence of an attorney?”

“Yeshh.”

David once again turned to Raul, “And you Mr. Ortega? How about you? Is he in your head too?”

Raul again blinked twice.

“You want to see if maybe we can help you get him out?”

Raul once more blinked twice, as he did, tears came streaming down his face.

“Well then here‘s what we‘re gonna do,” David said. “We’re gonna bring in some video equipment in here, say, early tomorrow morning, we’ll record everything. Are you willing to do that?”

“Yeshh.” Billy said. When David turned to Raul, he blinked twice.

“OK then,” David said, still in his calm, serious tone and looked to Ms. Scarpelli, “will you be able to come here tomorrow morning?”

“Sure thing, let’s say 8:00 AM?” She answered.

“It’s a date.” David said, “I say we let these two gentlemen rest up then. Noel and I will make the arrangements for the video equipment. We’ll bring it down here ourselves today if we have to. I think we all would like to finally bring this to an end.”

Captain Xiang said, “The press and TV people are downstairs. No doubt Leon is spewing his bile to them; we’ll go down together and announce we got our suspects.”

Noel nodded in agreement, “Sure. Jeez, I can’t believe it’s done.”

“Come on then Noelsky,” David said, “give me a hand with these files. We’ll go make the announcement with the Boss.” He then turn to Raul and Billy, “You two aren’t gonna back down are you?”

Billy was now crying, but managed to mutter, “N-n-no.” Raul crying also, blinked once, hard.

“We’ll see you early in the morning then.” David said. He went outside their room and retrieved a cart that he used to bring the file boxes to the room. He and Noel loaded the file boxes quickly onto the cart. After which David, Noel, Captain Xiang and Ms. Scarpelli left the room together.

They walked down the hallway together to the elevator. They all said nothing during the stroll to the elevator, or while they waited for it after Captain Xiang pressed the button for it. They all were feeling the same thing, quiet elation, suppressed joy, and victory. Yes, the whole ordeal was finally over. The women and girls of the Chicagoland area could feel relieved and somewhat safe again. There will be no trial, there will be detailed confessions for every rape, and everyone will be spared from the tirades that are cover for the secret political ambitions of one Mr. Leon Robbins.

The elevator doors opened, David entered first, walking backwards, pulling the cart until his back was against the back wall. Noel came in and stood next to him. Captain Xiang let Ms. Scarpelli enter, and then he followed. Once inside, he pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator doors shut, and then a second later they all felt the elevator begin to make its decent. 

Once two floors had passed, Noel broke the silence. He turned to David and said, “You just had to give a shot to my Cubbies in there didn’t ya?”

  Ms. Scarpelli let out a laugh.

 

Part I-CHAPTER 6: SCENE OF THE CRIME(S)

Chapter 6

Scene of the Crime(s)

(Ó 2007)

It was just past 9:00 AM, both David and Noel were running on five hours of sleep and two venti coffees of the day from the Starbucks just down the street where Stephanie Morris was heard screaming the evening before. Both were in the alleyway, standing next to the dumpster where just over twelve hours ago, the teenage girl was raped, and her two assailants paralyzed. The media circus that David was expecting, the evening before, wasn’t as bad as he anticipated. The members of the media were told the minimum amount of information, that there was a sixteenth victim, but it appeared that the serial rapists were in custody and undergoing emergency surgery at Cook County Hospital. The extents of the injuries were as yet unknown.

However, there were those who kept persisting on certain answers, even though the answers they were receiving was “No Comment”. There came a moment when David Todd had to ask them in return, “Excuse me, but what part of ‘no comment’ don’t you understand”? Captain Michael Xiang, “The Big Boss”, as David and Noel called him, referring to an old Bruce Lee movie, gave him a quick scowling glance, but understood. 

 

David and Noel both got to their respective homes at around 2:30 AM, got into bed by 3:00, awoke at 7:00, and returned to the scene of the young girls assault by 8:30. Now after over a half an hour, David was in the middle of his second search down the adjoining alleyway, in the direction where Stephanie had told Noel that the “dark man” had gone.

Noel was going over the area where “it” happened. In crimes of this nature, one cannot help but keep looking at the spot where “it” happened. This place always will now be known for what happened there the evening before. With vile crimes such as rape and murder, the places where they take place sort of have their own place in history with an invisible monument placed on them which read: “On this spot, on such and such a date, ‘it’ happened right here.”

However, this place was different, for this place had two “its”. Noel was studying the dumpster first. There was a small dent with a dried bloodspot where Billy’s head was driven into it. On the ground were some bloodstains from Stephanie, when she was being struck about her face. Then Noel looked over to the side of the building where there was another dried bloodstain, along with a minute amount of leftover hair and skin from Raul’s scalp. Samples of all were already taken into evidence.

Noel then stood and walked to the area where Billy was thrown to the ground and had his spine broken, there was still some dried blood on the spot where his face was driven into the pavement. His front teeth that were left there were also taken into evidence. He pondered over this spot for a few more minutes, then stood and walked to the area where Raul was found lying. Again, there was blood residue at this spot, only the difference here was that a couple of his molars that were found and taken as evidence.

Noel now stood back to survey the whole area, the dumpster, and the two spots where Raul and Billy were found. He took some more steps backwards where the alleyways back entrance was. His eyes went from the spot where he was standing, to the dumpster, to the wall, to the area where Billy was lying, back to the dumpster, and ending where Raul was lying naked from the waist down and with his pants still around his ankles. Noel had Stephanie’s words going around in his head, “about a half a minute,” she said.

“Nothing,” he heard David say to him, “I can’t find anything. No footprints, blood, torn clothing, nothing.”

“I can’t get over what she said;” he answered back, “telling me that the ‘dark man’ was here for only half a minute. You have a second hand on your watch?”

“Yeah, sure, why?”

“I want to try something and I want you to time me,” Noel said, then he put himself in a position as if he were going to run a race, “Ready, go!”

Noel then ran to the dumpster, made two mime kicks, then pretended to push someone to the ground, kicked downward, went back to the dumpster, then did a mime of pulling then throwing to the ground another person, kicking downward again, he returned to the first area, knelt down, then to the second area, knelt down, walked to the cross section of the alley where he first started, stopped for a couple of seconds, and then walked down the direction where David just came from.

“Time!” He shouted.

David looking at his watch smirked and said, “I clocked you at one minute and twenty-two seconds partner”.

“Ah hell,” he said, “She said about a half a minute, she kept telling me how fast he was. It couldn’t have been no thirty seconds”.

David paused for a few seconds then responded, “Unless this guy has been trained in this sort of thing, maybe even has done it before”.

“What do you mean?” Noel asked.

“I mean, there are guys out there who could do something like this as fast as the girl said, just ask Captain X,” David answered, referring to “The Big Boss” by his other nickname. Captain Michael Xiang was an American of Chinese decent. “He could tell you that a guy, even a girl for that matter, properly trained could pull something like that off with that type of speed. Captain X is a master black belt in Kung-Fu himself. He could tell you, anyone trained in the martial arts, or in the arts of war, could pull off an attack like this”.

“You mean like a ninja or Shaolin monk?” Noel asked.

“Sure, or even a guy whose in special forces, you know, the Green Berets or Navy SEALS,” David continued, “they could pull off a stunt like this”.

“That is some scary shit man”.

“But,” David said, standing up straight, “I’m going to take one more look down here, one step at a time. The uniforms are looking for anyone in the buildings who may have seen or heard anything. I got them checking the buildings on both sides here,” he said pointing down the alleyway, “my concern isn’t for any ‘dark man’ right now. I want to get all these blood and tooth samples checked out, then I want to call the other victims and arrange for them all to look at those two bozos. My gut feeling? We’re going to be batting a thousand when the other victims see their faces”.

“Plus the DNA matches,” Noel added, “with the samples we have here, and from the girl, compared with all the others? Well, it looks like it may be over”.

David nodded in agreement, “Back in a few,” he said as he started to make his third trip down the alley where the “dark man” had made his escape. He did just as he said he would, one-step at a time, looking for anything that may have been left behind by the “dark man.” Looking at the asphalt, the walls of the buildings, and the windows where someone who lived in buildings down the alleyway may have caught a glimpse of him as he strolled calmly away.

He thought to himself of why he was even looking anyway. This “dark man” had done him, his partner, the victims, and the entire female population of Chicago and the surrounding areas a huge justice. For over three years, those two dirt bags lying in Cook County Hospital terrorized them all, and what of the victims themselves? Especially those who were attacked first. All this time living the way they have, in fear, feeling humiliated, violated, scared, having their comfort and security destroyed. Some even had their marriages end, or their boyfriends walk out on them. Now that they have been caught, can they put finally find some way to put their lives back together?

David reached the end of the alley and was on the sidewalk. He looked both right and left to the apartments, homes, and tri-level homes. He looked straight ahead across the street to see the alleyway there continue for blocks. Whomever the “dark man’ was, he had a thousand ways to go after he came to this point. Therefore, David turned around and began to make his way back to the initial area. He now thought of all of the evidence that he was able to pile onto to the two men lying in the hospital. “Yes,” he thought to himself, “with all we got, quick trail, life sentences for both, move on to the next case.” He now seemed to feel some gratitude towards the mysterious “dark man”, for helping to finally bring an end to this all.

As he made his way back to Noel, He planned on going over the area one last time, check out notes, and see if the uniforms had any information to add from the people of the neighborhood. When he came up to Noel he said, “Still nothing. Anyways let’s get back to the real bad guys here”.

“Seems like we forgot about them,” Noel said, agreeing with him, “The ‘dark man’ is another case for someone else. I say we secure this area, get back to the office, call the other victims, and arrange for them to identify these two fucks.”

“Yeah, get the DNA evidence all together from the other victims along with the girl last night, and if things work out as well as I think they may, we’re gonna be the icing on the cake for those two jag offs. If they think they’re fucked up now, wait ‘til all this is over”.

They both spent the next forty minutes going over everything again in the area. They met with all of the uniform officers to collect their interviews with the people from the neighborhood. David then asked Noel, “Why don’t you get in touch with Cook County and see how our two sweethearts are doing?”

“I got my flip phone in the car; I’ll give them a quick buzz over there.” Noel said, and then left the alley to go to where their car was parked, at the entranceway where Stephanie Morris collapsed the night before. David spent a couple more minutes surveying the area, the alleyways, and then back to the dumpster where “it” happened. Satisfied that both their jobs were finished there, he then to began to leave the alley towards the car. 

As he came to the entrance, he looked to see Noel inside the car behind the steering wheel, speaking into the gray Motorola flip phone that began to become standard issue among police officers. Noel seemed a little agitated as he was speaking to whoever it was on the other end. David went to the driver’s side of the car, tapped on the window and motioned to Noel to roll it down. He wanted to hear what the conversation was all about. As the window came down he heard Noel say, “But I’m one of the arresting officers!”

There was a pause, Noel looked up to David and gave a shrug of his shoulders, then said into the phone, “I know, I know miss. Tell you what; we’ll both be down there ourselves to take care of this, OK? No, I understand. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry. Thank you very much.” He then flipped the phone shut and disconnected.

“What’s going on?” David asked.

“You are not going to believe who decided to get involved in this”.

“Who?”

“Leon Robbins.”

“Leon Robbins!” David exclaimed. “What the hell does he want with these guys? Wait a minute! That . . . was a stupid question”.

Leon Robbins is an activist lawyer. People said of him that he leaned so far to the left that he was lying down. That he was so radical, that even the American Civil Liberties Union themselves thought he was out of touch. However, Leon Robbins was always out for Leon Robbins. While people made jokes about lawyers chasing ambulances, they made them on how Leon chased news trucks and their cameras. With Leon, it didn’t matter if they were guilty or not, it was the police and society in general that was at fault. And, as long as there was a microphone, TV camera, or a journalist ready to print his statements, and more important, to spell his name correctly, he was there to let the people of the world know how much they were liable for the actions of his clients. Leon loved to hear himself speak, which was great considering what his real ambition was, - - - a future in politics.

“The nurse on the floor told me that he’s been there since seven this morning,” Noel said, “and that he is going to represent our two buddies there. He threatened the whole medical staff with lawsuits if they released any information about ‘his clients’ condition to anyone, including us”.

“So, he bullied them a little huh?” David said, “If I know Leon, he’ll have already called for a news conference there at the hospital. Let’s see, the police are at fault, these ‘poor men’ are victims of an evil capitalist society, oh, then there’s my favorite about that they had a bad childhood”.

“Who didn’t?” Noel asked sarcastically.

“Well, let’s get down there and save the medical staff. He’s probably demanding that all the other patients be moved because they are all undercover cops”. David then went to the passenger side of the car, opened the door and sat down hard. “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said as he slammed the door shut.

“Done what?” Noel asked as he started the engine.

“I shouldn’t have started thinking how easy this was now all going to be.” He said. As the car pulled away from the curb, David looked down the alley once more where “it” happened. He felt now how this placed would be marked forever. They both sat in the car quietly as they traveled towards the expressway. Soon they were both taking the onramp and on their way to Cook County Hospital. David then picked up the flip phone from the recharging rack.

“I’m gonna call the Big Boss,” He said, and began dialing, after dialing he placed the phone to his ear, “I’m gonna ask him to get something started for us before we get there.”

 

THE MAN WITH THREE NAMES - PART I - OUT OF THIN AIR

THE MAN WITH THREE NAMES

BY: SCOTT T. SCHLIEF

(Copyright 2007)

PART 1

OUT OF THIN AIR