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 7: ONE STEP AHEAD

Chapter 7

One Step Ahead

(Ó 2007)

It was now just past 11:30 AM as David and Noel drove their car into the back parking lot of Cook County Hospital. They saw the news vans of all the local stations with their satellite dishes standing fully erect.

“I have a feeling,” David said, “that we are going to be walking into ‘the Leon Robbins Show’ live.”

“Perfect,” Noel said, “just perfect.”

They parked the car in an area reserved for police vehicles and then made their way to the back entrance of the hospital. David made his way to the reception desk and asked the woman there for the office of Dr. Sean MacDonald, a neurosurgeon. 

“May I inform them that you’re on your way up officer?” The receptionist asked.

“Why you certainly may.” David answered cheerfully. As she began dialing Noel turned and looked down the hallway. There was a conference room, and by all of the moving light that was seen coming from the doorway, they both knew that that was where Leon Robbins was having his news conference.

“Leave it to Leon to know when the news has there afternoon broadcasts.” Noel said.

“Are you kidding?” David replied, “He probably has one of the note cards like all the quarterbacks have, right there on his wrist, with all the broadcast times, news reporters names, even the ratings, all right there.” He was mockingly pointing to his own wrist.

The receptionist then spoke, “I spoke with his receptionist, he’s expecting you, and he just came out of surgery, and is on his way to his office.” She then pointed in the direction of the hallway, “Take the elevator there to the fifth floor, 523-A.”

“Thank you very much.” Noel told her.

Both men proceeded then to the elevators. Noel pressed the up button when they arrived. However, while waiting, one of the news cameramen spotted them and called out, “Hey! It’s Todd and Jaworski!”

The new reporters then came out and shouted to them, “Hey David, Noel can you speak?”, “You both have a second?”, and “Would you like to respond to Mr. Robbins allegations?”

David looked to Noel, then to the reporters, and said, “Sure. Why not?” Then started to make his way to the news conference.

“Oh shit.” Noel said under his breath, knowing of David’s way dealing with the media in the past. He quickly followed behind him. They both came in to see all of the local Chicago television reporters, along with radio, and from the Sun-Times and Tribune. Leon Robbins was up on the staging area. He was a man in his mid thirties, with shoulder length blond hair and a goatee beard. He wore round “Trotsky” eyeglasses, with a burgundy denim button down shirt, gray corduroy blazer, blue jeans and running shoes.

One of the television reporters yelled from the front row, “Would you like to respond to Mr. Robbins allegations?”

“Well, that depends.” David answered.

“On what?”

“Is this all live?” David asked.

“Yes it is.” The reporter answered.

“Well, that depends on if your producers back at all your studios have their fingers on that six second delay button.”

All the media people gave out a laugh. Then the same reporter then said, “I think that they just may have Detective.”

“Well remember then, YOU told me so.” David said, his answer was followed by another round of laughter. “But, hey. I’m taking away from Leon’s spotlight here; he might be getting agitated with that.” Then he looked at Leon Robbins, “Sorry Leon. I guess I just have more charisma than you.”

Another round of laughter, then the reporter again asked, “Really, Detective, would you like to respond to Mr. Robbins allegations?”

David cleared his throat and said, “First of all I did not hear Leon’s allegations, and second if I did? I’d have to be careful walking out of here so as not to slip on all the B.S.”

Again, another round of laughter. Another reporter from on of the radio station asked, “What are both of you doing here then?”

Noel answered, “We are here to see the surgeon who performed surgery on the two suspects last night and get a progress report on there condition.”

“Detectives! Are they the serial rapist that you both been seeking for the last three years?”

David said, “Can’t comment on that people, I can only say that they are suspects.”

Then another barrage of questions, “What is their condition?” Can you confirm that they were severely beaten?”, “What about Mr. Robbins allegations that it may have been an off duty police officer that may be responsible?”

“Wait a minute!” David shouted holding up his hands, he then looked to Leon, “Was that your allegation Leon? The old ‘off-duty cop did it’ routine? You know what? These guys deserve you.”

“It’s just a suspicion of mine.” Leon said from his staging area, “And I demand that I be with you when you interview the doctor! I must make sure that you do not harass my clients.”

“Well, make sure you go through de-lousing before you come up.” David said. That was followed by laughter combined with a gasp. David and Noel then made a quick getaway to the elevator; there was a nurse who was just entering. She saw David and Noel stepping briskly in her direction, so she held the elevator for them. Both men jumped inside, and the doors began to close when Leon Robbins stopped in the front.

The doors were halfway closed and Noel then waved his fingers at Leon, “Sorry! All full dude.”

“Smooth Noel, real smooth,” David praised, “not bad for a Cub fan.”

“Been hanging with you too long I guess.” He answered, then turned to the giggling nurse behind them and asked, “Hey? How you doin’?”

Moments later the doors opened and both men stepped out on the fifth floor. They saw the sign right in front of them that pointed to the direction of sets of room numbers. David saw that they had to go left down the hall, “Too bad we can’t switch this around before old Leon gets here.”

“Knowing him? He would get nauseas because he had to go to the right for something.”

“You have been hanging with me too long; you’re learning the fine art of being a smart ass.” David said, “Guys like Leon are never happy, that’s why they try to change the world, so that everyone else will be as miserable as them. It’s how they want to fight their loneliness.”

They walked halfway down the hallway to the office numbered 523-A, the office of Dr. Sean MacDonald, a neurosurgeon specializing in spinal injuries. They entered the office to find it empty, except for the nurse in the reception area, behind a sliding corrugated glass window. They saw her image come to the window, reach down and slide it open, she was a attractive black woman with graying hair, “Yes, gentlemen, may I help you?”

David showed her his badge and credentials, “Detective Todd, this is Detective Jaworski, were both here to speak with Dr. MacDonald about the condition of the two men I brought here last night.”

“Oh, yes. Those two.” The nurse answered. David started having some of his suspicions confirmed with the tone of the voice from this woman, that the word was spreading around on who these two patients of Dr. MacDonald are, and there is going to be very little sympathy for them. “The Doctor just finished his surgery with them less than an hour ago, he should be here shortly. Would you like to wait for him in his office?”

“Why yes, may we?” David answered. She pressed a button that would unlock the entry door so that David and Noel could come in. She then escorted them to the doctors’ office. His office was masculine in décor, in dark woods and leather furniture. From the some of the pictures, the good doctor was a hockey fan, with pictures of him with the Blackhawks and autographed pictures from some of the players.

David turned to the nurse and said, “The attorney for the two suspects should be he shortly, in fact it wouldn’t surprise me if he is in your waiting room right now ready to make some demands.”

“Oh him?” She answered almost yawning, “I already had my run in with him, and I already put him in his place.”

“Really?” Noel asked, “If he starts up in here can we call you for help?”

“It would be my pleasure; do you need anything before the doctor arrives?”

“Yes,” David said, “may I use the phone real quick? It will just be a minute, and could you stall Mr. Robbins until I’m done?”

“Sure thing, just dial nine to get an outside line.” Then she left them alone in the office.

David picked up the phone, dialed nine, and then dialed the number. Noel sat in one of the chairs that were directly in front of Dr. MacDonald’s desk. Just then they both heard the voice of Leon Robbins demanding to know where the doctor and the two police officers were. David started to also hear the phone of the number he just dialed ring. Then they heard silence from the waiting area, then Leon’s voice, along with his demands again. David then heard someone pick up the phone on the other end.

“Hello Eloise, the Big Boss there?” He said into the phone. “Sure, I hold.”

Then the voice of the nurse could be heard down the hallway, it was calm, but stern, “Young man, didn’t your mother teach you any manners or etiquette? When you ask me nicely and speak to me with a civil tongue, then I’ll be more than happy to help you.”

Noel let out a laugh.

“Hey Boss, did ya get it?” David said, he was speaking to Captain Xiang, “Ya did! Cool. A uniform is on the way? OK then, thanks, we’ll let you know how it goes. Probably within the hour, OK, later.” He hung up the phone and looked to Noel, “All taken care of, a uniformed officer is on the way to deliver it.”

“This should add to Leon’s headache.” Noel said, “Unless the good nurse out there slaps him on one side of his head.”

“Speaking of which, here he comes now.” David said, and as Leon walked in, “Hey! Leon, why does it take another woman to do your mamas job?”

Leon gave them a cold look, David went to sit in the chair next to Noel. There was another chair on the other side of Noel, which he pushed an arms length away from him, then offered it to Leon. Leon then sat down in it rather curtly.

All three men waited in silence, it wasn’t long before the doctor came in to his office. He was still in his surgery room scrubs, khaki green in color, he was a young looking man considering his short hair was completely silver. It was his green eyes that stood out. He looked very tired, and he was. He had just finished the all night surgeries on Raul Ortega and Billy Freeman.

“Good afternoon gentlemen, Mr. Robbins.” Dr. MacDonald greeted them extending his hand to David and Noel, “Mr. Robbins and I already have met this morning.”

“Jesus Doc,” Noel exclaimed, “you just NOW finished with these two guys?”

“Yes I have, spinal surgery is a complicated ordeal,” the Doctor answered, “especially with the injuries these two men have sustained.”

David then said quickly, “Well, that’s what we’re all here for Doc; we need to know what their condition is so that we can make arrangements for an interrogation, and when the victims can start to identify them.”

“Leon then interjected, “Don’t give them any information on my clients doctor, I’m warning you.”

“SHUT UP LEON!” Both David and Noel said together.

“Don’t worry officers; I’m going to tell you everything.” Dr. MacDonald said, “Contrary to Mr. Robbins’s opinion of himself, he’s just a lawyer.”

“Hey!” Noel said to David pointing at the doctor, “I like this guy.”

On the wall behind then was a Gray’s Anatomy poster showing the human spine, both the back view and the side. Dr. MacDonald walked over to it and everyone turned in their chairs to follow.

“As you know,” the Doctor began, “the spinal cord is an extension of the brain. It is even covered and protected by the same three membranes that are found in the brain. These are called the meninges.” To the side of the images was a top view cut away image of single vertebrae, the doctor pointed to it and continued, “A wide subarachnoid space surrounds the cord, this contains the cerebrospinal fluid.”

David raised his hand, “Hold on one second Doc could you? I’m going to want to write some of this down.” He then reached in for his notepad and pen inside his jacket, “OK, ready.”

The Doctor then continued, “All information from the brain to the extremities goes through the spinal cord,” as he said this he pointed with his finger and had it travel up and dawn the side view image of the spine, “you could say that it is the first relay station for all our sensory information. Bladder functions, movement, sensory functions, are all dependent on information from up and down the spinal cord.” He then turned to his small audience so as to make sure to emphasize his next portion of what he was telling them, “Any interruption of spinal cord function, be it from a tumor, severe pressure, or as in these two cases, severing, long lasting or complete and permanent loss of function, below the level of the tumor or injury will occur.”

“Severing?” David asked, “Their spinal cords have been severed?”

“I am afraid so,” The Doctor answered, “and from appearances? Mr. Freeman may be the more fortunate one, however, only slightly more fortunate.”

“Meaning?” David asked.

The doctor then again pointed to the side view of the spine. “The human spine is divided into three separate regions. The cervical region for the head and neck, the thoracic region for the area of the chest, and the lumbar region for the lower back and legs.” He then pointed to and area of the cervical region, “Both men have their injury in the cervical region. However, Mr. Freeman’s injury is here,” he continued pointed to certain vertebrae in the neck area, “between the C-4 and C-5, his diaphragm muscles? There is a good chance that after initial therapy he will be able to breath on his own. However, Mr. Ortega’s injury is just one half a vertebrae higher, and it is more than likely that he will be on a ventilator for the rest of his life. The paramedics who ventilated him knew what they were doing. They may have saved his life.”

Noel then asked, “Basically what you’re telling us is that both these guys are, like, dead from the neck down?”

“Both men will suffer from Quadra paresis, yes.” The Doctor answered, “Loss of all motor and sensory functions in both their arms and legs, basically no feeling whatsoever from the shoulders down.”

Noel sat back in the chair and exclaimed, “Jesus! If you can call that saving their lives.”  

David looked up from his notepad and then over to Leon. To David it seemed that he was not only stunned, but it was as if any strategy he may have had for the use of Raul Ortega and Billy Freeman was beginning to look jeopardized. “What’s the matter Leon? We haven’t heard the sound of your voice for a whole five minutes.” He then looked to the Doctor and asked, “Well, where do we go from here doc? What’s going to happen to them now?”

“I have fused the vertebrae where their injuries are,” the Doctor began his answer, “I did this by using some of their own bone and grafted it in their cervical area. I took the bone material from their lower legs,” he said and then looked at Leon, “they won’t be using them again anyway.”

“How long will it be before we can interview then?” David asked.

“Right now they have been fitted and placed into Halo Braces.” He answered.

“Halo Braces?” Noel asked.

“Here, I’ll show you.” The doctor said, he then went to his desk. He brought out a diagram of the Halo Brace, and as he pointed to the specific parts, he explained it to Noel. “The Halo Brace has been used as the initial treatment for these types of neck fractures. The metal ring here, or ‘halo’, is secured to the patients’ skull, and these metal rods here are attached to a fitted plastic jacket that the patient wears on his upper body. This apparatus will assist to obtain complete fixation of the patients’ neck and spine. It will keep both areas completely immobile. Fortunately, they both did not have skull fractures after all, or it may have been more complicated.”

“Shit.” Noel exclaimed. 

“So how long we looking at doctor?” David asked.

“Well, with the Halo Brace alone we are looking at a minimum of three months,” Dr. MacDonald answered, “I need a solid union between the vertebrae that I performed the fusion on. Both men are also going to need kinetic therapy and will be placed in a Roto-rest bed.”

“And that is?” David asked, still taking notes.

“It’s a special bed developed for patients like this,” the doctor explained, and then produced a diagram of the device he was explaining, “both men’s bodies must remain immobilized. Even though they can’t move, we must also help prevent any type of movement to their bodies from outside forces, such as transporting them from area to area. However, the main problem with immobility is the patient developing not only bed sores, but pneumonia as well. This bed automatically moves from side to side to help in the prevention of all that.”

“Then what you are saying is that we are looking at a substantial amount of time then right?” David asked.

“With the Halo Brace and the kinetic therapy,” the doctor then looked to the ceiling as he started to calculate, “Let’s see, I must see evidence of healing, and that varies with each patient, that maybe will be a minimum of six weeks, I will give you a conservative estimate of anywhere from between three to six months, possibly even up to a year.”

Noel whistled and then exclaimed, “Whoa ho.”

There was a moment of silence, then David turned to Leon, “Well counselor, have you nothing to add?”

“No, no I don’t. Not at this moment.”

“Well, I have a feeling what I’m about to say may change that.” David said then turn back to the doctor, “I’m going to need samples from them doctor, you know, hair, from their heads, bodies, and more important, their pubic area.”

Then Leon became excited, “Wait just one minute there!”

“Also,” David continued, holding up his hand as a sign to silence Leon, “I need urine and blood, and if there is a way, skin and fingernails.”

Leon turned to the Dr. MacDonald, pointing his finger to his face, “You had better not doctor! They will need a court order for that! If you touch either one of my clients, I will have your license, I will OWN this hospital! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?” 

Just then the intercom on the doctor’s desk gave a beep, and the nurse from the front office spoke. “Dr. MacDonald?”

“Yes?” The Doctor answered.

“Could you please inform the detectives that there is a uniformed police officer here with a delivery for them?”

David raised his hand to the doctor, “Could he bring it right in here please? I was expecting that.”

The doctor nodded and then spoke into the speaker, “Yes, could you send the officer in here with that please?”

“Yes Doctor.” Then the intercom clicked off. David then got up from his chair to go into the hallway to meet the police officer. He exited through the door and met the officer half way down the hall.

“Sergeant Todd?” He asked, he was a young officer of African decent.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Here’s the documents you need.” He said handing David a large manila envelope, and then lowered his voice so that only David could hear, “You got Robbins in there?”

“Yes, we do.” David answered just as quietly, “Why? Do you know what‘s in here?”

“Sure do.” The officer said.

Then David spoke even in a lower tone, “You want to see his face when I produce these don’t ya?” David, knowing of the unpopularity of Leon Robbins among those of the Chicago Police Department.

“Could I?”

“Sure. It’s the least I could do for turning you into a messenger service today.” David looked at his name tag, “This way Officer Timmons.”

Seconds later David re-entered the office with Officer Timmons. David went back to the desk while Officer Timmons stood by the door.

“As I said Doctor, I will need those samples as soon as possible.” He said to the Doctor.

“And I said, not without a court order, and I will fight any order you try to get Todd!”

David then opened the envelope and produced two documents, “Man, just like in the movies! Just in the nick of time! The cavalry arrives! In this case, that would be Officer Timmons here.” He said while pointing to the Officer.

“What are those?” Leon asked angrily.

“Just what you wanted Leon, court orders for the good doctor here to get me the evidence that I’m requesting.”

Leon grabbed the papers from David’s hands and began scanning over them.

Noel then said, “Man Leon, the lady out front is right! Didn’t your mom teach you any manners?” Leon ignored him and kept scanning the papers. When he saw that they were indeed all in order he handed the papers back to David. Then David handed the papers to the Doctor.

“What did you expect Leon?” David asked him, “the judge to wonder what cause we have for this? They both were found less than ten feet away from a fifteen year old girl that they both just raped.”

“Allegedly raped.” Leon said in an angry tone, staring daggers into David.

“You always warned us to be one step ahead of you Leon.” David said staring back.

The doctor looked at the documents and said, “I will have everything that you need as soon as I can Detectives, and with their estimated stay with us, there will be plenty to give.”

Leon then stormed out of the office, past Officer Timmons, who had a large smile on his face, and then down the hallway. The four men stood and smiled at each other, and then suddenly they heard the voice of the nurse yelling. All four men then went down to the nurses’ station to see what the matter was. There was Leon Robbins standing almost toe to toe with the nurse.

“What’s going on here?” Dr. MacDonald asked.

“The nurse answered without ever taking her eyes off of Leon, “This gentleman demanded to use the phone.”

“Yes?” The doctor asked.

“I informed him that the pay phones are downstairs in the lobby. Apparently, my answer is not the one he wants to hear.” She said, never once backing away from Leon.

Noel laughed and said, “Hey! I like that lady too.”

“Leon!” David said, “Back away from her before she hurts you.” He then turned to Officer Timmons, “Officer Timmons! Could you please escort the counselor down to the main lobby where the pay phones are located?”

“Yes Sergeant, I’d be happy too.” He said to David, he then looked at Leon, “This way sir.” Officer Timmons then escorted Leon to the door that led to the waiting area, then to the main door that led out of the office. He opened the door for Leon, turned to everyone and said. “Good day all.” He then escorted Leon down the hallway to the elevator.

“What a pain in the ass,” the Doctor said, breaking from his gentlemanly manner, “he’s been throwing his weight around this hospital since early this morning.”

“Don’t worry about him,” David said, “he’s of the mind set where he believes lawyers are to be feared, once you stand up to him like the lady here, they show that they’re really nothing. That’s what’s pisses them off the most, being put in there place.”

 

“But getting back to where we were before doc,” Noel said, “when will we be able to talk to these guys? Not when they will be up and about. I mean when will they be well enough to speak with?”

“I would say two to three weeks.” He answered, and then he asked, “Do you gentleman believe that these two are who you have been looking for?”

David answered, “Can’t say for sure, still to early. That’s why I need all those samples. We have a lot of evidence we have to match up with that.”

The nurse then asked, “But, what is your gut feeling?”

David paused and thought for a second. Looked to Noel who shook his head in agreement, “My gut feeling is, yeah, I think it’s them. Like I said in there, they were found less than ten feet from the girl that they both had, in Mr. Robbins words, allegedly raped.”

“Besides, from what the latest victim told us, they did the same as all the others.” Noel added.

“Any idea on how this happened to them?” The Doctor asked.

“That,” David said, “is now even a bigger mystery. But, I’d like to get this one off the table for now.”

“My wife might not be pleased with what I’ve just done,” Dr. MacDonald sighed, “I mean we have two daughters ourselves, one the age of the girl you just spoke of.”

“But, that’s you job doc,” Noel said, “She must understand that.”

“Besides,” David said, “When you think about it, and you can tell her this, what you did was actually the worst thing for them.”

“Meaning?” The Doctor asked.

“Meaning that when you put it all in perspective, they would have been better off dead.” David explained. “Look at what they now are, they’re worse than dead, and you Doctor, have prolonged that. I believe that all their victims? When they begin to hear the details of the condition of those two, and how it happened? Why hell, it’s almost the perfect revenge.”

“What woman wouldn’t be happy with that?” Noel chimed in.

“I suppose Mrs. MacDonald will understand that.” The Doctor said.

 

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.”

 

Part I-Chapter 4: EMERGENCY ROOMS

Chapter 4

Emergency Rooms
(Ó 2007)

Noel has always hated the position he was in now, and he envied David at this moment. Noel now had to witness, again, the heartbreak of the vile crime of rape, especially with this one now involving a fifteen-year-old girl. He grew uneasy with every minute he came closer to the emergency room of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago. The ambulance and the victim were a little over ten minutes ahead of him.

At least he wouldn’t actually have to be in the emergency room when the doctors had to gather the evidence from Stephanie. Officer Rosario volunteered for that, after all she had established a relationship with the girl when she arrived at the scene, and the girl trusted her. Nevertheless, Noel would have to be in the room with the devastated parents. The mothers’ emotions he could handle, because you would expect that from a woman, especially a mother It was the fathers though that got to him, Noel having a little girl himself could understand.

There is a special relationship between fathers and daughters. A father is the first man that a girl falls in love with. Noel and David both agreed that a man changes the second their first daughter is born, and they’ve both seen it happen through their young adult years. They have seen it with each other. Any man who was the rowdy, partying, woman chaser type seems to change the second their daughter is born.

A man learns to respect and love women because of their mother, they later learn intimate love with girlfriends and wives. If their children are sons at first, the “macho” in a man will remain, and even the “party animal” personality. However, the second a man has a daughter, that all comes to an end, a man starts to see what his mother was teaching him, about respect for, and how it’s the job of men to protect women. When their daughter is born, men become more responsible, down to earth, and protective.

Noel asked David about that on one of the occasions when they were at a family gathering at his home. David answered, “I don’t really know what it is. Maybe when you’re looking at them for the first time, you start looking to the future, and you realize that sixteen years from now, you don’t want her to bring home any guy who’s just like you”.

 

Now, sometime in the next few minutes, he was going to be in the waiting room with Stephanie’s father and mother. Helping them to cope with the most abominable thing that can happen to a woman, but this was not their “woman,” this was their little girl. Noel thoughts now were of all of the other fathers that he had to contend with over the past few years, and the one thing they felt was that they had failed at being one. They failed to protect their little girl, no matter what the woman’s age was, in their father’s eyes, they will always be their little girl, and it will always be the little girl who was violated, not the grown woman.

However, this time it’s going to be different Noel thought, this time when facing the victims’ family, he can tell them they have the attackers in custody. “And they are really fucked up,” he told himself aloud. Something about saying that made him feel at ease. Not only are the rapists in custody, but somebody came along and “really messed them up, but for good“. Now he wouldn’t have to sit and assure these parents that he would do anything it takes to get the men who violated their daughter. He was struggling though with something inside of him. He couldn’t wait to tell the parents that their daughters’ rapists are in custody, and that they are hurt, hurt very badly. He kept remembering what the paramedics told him at the scene, that those two men would probably never be able to walk again; he unconsciously suppressed the joy that it gave him in knowing that.

He now pulled into the emergency room entrance of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and parked his car in the reserved area for police vehicles. He exited the car and walked briskly to, and then through the doors, came to the reception area and identified himself, asking where they had taken the fifteen-year-old rape victim. The hospital policy has a policy were victims of sexual assault are taken into a private room, instead of a bed in the emergency ward, where the only privacy would be a drawn curtain.

Noel came to the room where they had taken Stephanie to find Officer Rosario standing by the door. “How’s she holding up?” Noel asked her.

“She’s being a little trooper about it right now,” she said, “she’s probably in shock over the whole ordeal.”

“Have they gotten the rape kit yet?” he then asked.

“Not yet, we really just got here a couple of minutes ago”.

“Well then, you’ll be with her when they examine her and use the kit, OK?”, he asked, “plus, I have to still interview her in depth, I’ll stand outside the curtain and ask the questions through you, he’s my recorder so we can get it all down later”. 

 

“Sure,” she said, taking Noel’s mini tape recorder, “any word on those two fucking bastards”?

He saw the anger on Emelda’s face, “No nothing yet, but from what I saw, they’re pretty messed up”.

 

“I’m all broken up,” she said monotone.

“I’m twice as broken up as you”.

A woman’s cry came out from just down the hall in the waiting area, “NOOOO”!

“That must be Stephanie’s mother,” Emelda said, “She was contacted on the way over, her daddy’s down there too”.

A doctor, who was a woman, then came to the door of the examining room, “Is this the girl?’ she asked.

“Yes doctor,” Emelda answered, “I’m Officer Rosario, and this is Detective Jaworski. I’ll be in the room with you while you do the examination and gather the evidence”, she looked at Noel and then finished, “I’ll let you know when we’re ready for you, you better go to her parents now”.

“Yeah,” he sighed, “I never have gotten numb to this, I hate this part”. He turned and walked down to the waiting area. He noticed though that this time, it was different, he wasn’t as apprehensive to what he had to do now. When he came to the waiting area, Stephanie’s father had his arms around his wife; both were sitting on the sofa, her face buried into his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. He stood back for a few moments to let her cry, she deserved to. He’s been seeing this now for over three years, and like he said, this he could never numb himself to, the devastation of the loved ones, pretty soon to be followed by guilt, guilt especially from the father, brother, husband, or boyfriend. It was a self-inflicted guilt that they were not there to protect their loved one. The guilt would soon subside and change to anger. Anger at the attackers, that they chose their loved one that time for their own sick obsession or pleasure, and that they’re still out there somewhere, sitting in their home, maybe at a bar having a drink, or even worse, out looking for another girl and destroy her and her families life. 

But, Noel thought to himself that no, . . .no, . . . this is going to be different, this mother and father will have some satisfaction knowing that their little girls rapists are in custody, and they too are in an emergency room, “and they are worse off than your kid,” Noel whispered to himself, now consciously suppressing the pleasure he felt in knowing that.

He stepped toward the parents, “Mr. and Mrs. Morris?” Noel called out calmly.

Mr. Norris looked up to Noel while holding his weeping wife tightly to his chest; his own eyes were deep red from his own lament. “Yes,” he answered in a tight strained voice.

Noel stepped over to the couple, “I’m Detective Noel Jaworski, and I’m investigating the crime against your daughter”. He drew a chair by the wall and sat down in front of them, “I’m very sorry for what you’re going through, the doctors are examining her now, I have Officer Emelda Rosario staying with her during the examination”.

“It was those two animals wasn’t it?” Mrs. Morris’s muffled voice came while her face was still against her husbands chest, she turned her reddened face to look at Noel, Stephanie got her blond hair and blue eyes from her mother he thought, the blue was now accentuated from the bright red that was the white of her eyes, “I recognize you from the papers and the news, it was those two fucking animals, wasn’t it”?

Noel had a sinking feeling in his stomach as her looked back at her, “Yes. Yes Ma’am, I’m afraid so,” he quietly said to her, almost embarrassed by the fact, because another victim was now added to the list of the men he and David had been searching for.

“Why can’t you find them?” Mrs. Morris screamed, “WHY!” She then buried her face into her husbands’ chest and continued sobbing.

Noel looked at the both of them, Mr. Morris holding his wife, trying to comfort her, meanwhile looking back at Noel with a look of total agreement in what his wife was asking. Usually in the past, during these exact situations, Noel and David would try to reassure them that they were doing everything that they possibly could to find these men. Sometimes their own frustration would just keep them from saying anything at all. However, tonight it would be different.

“Well, ma’am, . . . sir, there’s a chance that we just may have,” he said to them. Mrs. Morris quickly became calm and Mr. Morris had an expression of surprise on his face.

“Explain what you mean Detective,” Mr. Morris then said in a demanding but quiet tone.

“Two men were found in the exact area where your daughter was attacked,” Noel said, “they’ve been transported to Cook County. My partner is there with them now and is going to update me on their condition as soon as he can”.

Mr. Morris then had a confused expression on his face, “Their condition?” he asked.

“Yes sir, apparently someone was a witness to your daughter’s attack,” Noel explained, “and may have took matters into their own hands,” he watched as Mr. Norris straightened up as Mrs. Norris, who had now stopped crying, brought her face from her husbands chest and looked at Noel with her deeply red face, “they were beaten very badly”.

An expression of satisfaction came to Mr. Morris’s face, “How badly?,” he asked coldly.

“Badly enough where they too have to go to an emergency room,” Noel answered, “but I can’t go into any details just as yet, I know the media and the papers are going to be getting wind of all this soon, and I have to keep things a little confidential until then”.

“You can’t give me any type of information Detective,” Mr. Morris asked, “it was after all, my little girl”.

Noel saw something different in the faces of both parents, he knew what it was, they wanted to know how bad the injuries were to the men who raped their daughter, they wanted some sort of immediate gratification, Noel felt he owed this family at least that much. Therefore, he tried to find the right way to say it. He approached both of them and kneeled down and whispered to them, “Well ma’am, . . . sir, . . .and please realize that when I say this that I don’t mean any disrespect, but from what I personally saw?, . . . your daughter is in much better condition than they are”.

Noel stepped back to his original spot and saw an expression of satisfaction on the face of Stephanie’s father, “Bad?” he asked.

Noel nodded, “Yes, . . . very bad”.

Mrs. Norris then got up from her husbands chest and sat next to him, “When can we see our baby”? She asked.

“They are doing a preliminary physical first, and then they have to gather all evidence they can from her,” Noel answered, “as I said before, Officer Rosario is in there with her, and she was the first on the scene and has been with her since the whole ordeal. If she’s up to it I have to ask her some questions, but I’m going to do it through Officer Rosario, I’ll stay behind the curtain, you both can be there with her then”.

They both nodded and sat on the sofa waiting. During this time, Noel began to question them on what time Stephanie left their home, where she was going, the name of the friend she was visiting, the direction she took to the friends’ home, and what time she was expected home. He would have to follow up on all of it later. He would have to drive down the direction that they told them, and he had to interview the friend and her family. Then the monotonous job of going to every building and every apartment to see if anyone had witnessed anything.

The nurse came into the room and then told them that could all now go in and see Stephanie. The feeling of anticipation came over them all and they then left the waiting area to go to the room where she was, it just took a few seconds.

The doctor came up to Mr. and Mrs. Morris, she told them of their daughters’ condition. Stephanie had bruises on her face, arms and legs, they were going to keep her a couple of days for observation, they were going to check for any Sexually Transmitted Diseases, from what Stephanie told her about when the last time she had her period, that there is a good chance that she would not be pregnant, but they will check for that also, and take any necessary steps then. The doctor also said that she was very cooperative and answered all questions, and that her spirits were high, but she suggested some psychological counseling soon afterwards, and that she would have the rape counselors there to be with her soon.

While the doctor was speaking to Stephanie’s parents, Noel stood behind the curtain out of view from her. Emelda handed him the evidence from the rape kit. She then turned to Stephanie and said, “Sweetie, your mom and dad are coming in, and Detective Jaworski is going to ask you questions but he will be on the other side of the curtain, OK?”

To both their surprises, Stephanie said, “It’s all right; he can ask me in here”.

“You sure you’re OK with that honey,” Emelda asked.

“Yes, but you’ll be here too right”?

“Sure sweetie”.

Emelda signaled for Stephanie’s parents to come in, the second she came into their view, all three began to cry. Mr. Morris’s large frame covered his wife and daughter both as the covered her in a large group hug. The sight of the bruises on her face was all it took to verify to her parents that this indeed was not a dream; their little girl was hurt and violated. Noel stood in the background and gave the Norris family all the time they needed, just then a petite Asian nurse came into the room and asked, “Is there a Detective Jaworski here?” she asked.

Noel turned to her, “That would be me,” he answered.

“There’s a phone call for you at the desk,” the nurse informed him.

He then turned to Officer Rosario, “That’s probably Dave, I’ll be right back. They’re going to need more time anyway.” Emelda nodded “yes” in agreement. Noel left the room and turned back into the direction of the nurses’ station. When he got there, he asked the nurse sitting in the station checking patient schedules for the phone call for him. She handed him Noel the phone and pressed the button that was for his call.

“This is Jaworski,” he said into the phone.

“Hey Ski, it me,” it was David.

“What’s your situation pard?”

“Well, to put it plainly, these two guys are really fucked up,” David said, “they both are in surgery now, the preliminaries are; you ready for this?”

“Sure,” Noel said.

“Both of them, their spines have been broken,” David began, “and from what it looks like, if they are only paralyzed from the shoulders down, they’ll be lucky.”

Noel felt a sense of satisfaction that he tried to suppress, but thinking now of the devastated family in the room just down the hall, he controlled it a little. “Jesus,” he said, “anything else?”

“Well, they both had no I.D. on them, so we’re running their descriptions to see if there are any priors. The white guy had all his front teeth knocked out, along with a possible skull fracture. The Hispanic guy also has some missing teeth, along with a dislocated and shattered jaw, and he also may have a possible a skull fracture.”

“Yep,” Noel said, “I would put that in the ‘pretty fucked up’ category.”

“These guys are gonna be he for a long while, the surgery is gonna take all night,” David continued, “and to top it all off, the news people have gotten wind of this and are starting to converge on the hospital here. I’m posting a guard here, and I’m gonna head out the back way. I’m getting a ride to the “L” from a uniform car; I meet you at the Merchandise Mart.”

“Shit, that means that those buzzards are probably going to be circling around here soon,” Noel then said.

“How’s she doing?” David then asked.

“Well, it’s like I told her dad,” Noel said, “she’s in a lot better shape then those two. I had to tell her parents that we have suspects in custody, but I didn’t go into any details except that they are both hurt bad. I don’t know; it seems that when I told them that, well, they’re taking it all better than expected; better than all the others anyway.”

“I can understand that.” David said.

“But, she tells me she’s up to answering questions,” Noel continued, “and they’re going to keep her here for a couple of days, so I’m gonna get what happened from her real quick, and then I’ll see if I can duck out a back way from here myself.”

“OK then,” David then said, “you know on second thought, I’ll meet you at the Shamrock.” The Shamrock is a small Irish tavern that they both frequent; it is located right near the Merchandise Mart.

“See ya there partner.” Noel finished, and then handed the phone back top the nurse, “Thank you very much.” Noel then went back into the room where Stephanie, her parents and Officer Rosario still were. When he got there, all the crying had somewhat come to an end, Mrs. Norris was sitting on the bed holding her daughter and rocking her back and forth.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Noel said as he came back into the room, “Stephanie, are you up to answering a few questions for me?” he asked, pulling out his notepad. Stephanie nodded “yes” on her mothers’ chest and looked at him with a slight expression of fright.

He asked her to briefly tell him what she had told to Officer Rosario up to when she was grabbed, when the more embarrassing questions came, he asked them through Emelda. He wrote them down and left the room so that she could ask her. Questions like who violated her first, and if the both came to orgasm with her. After Noel got the answers, he came back into the room.

“OK now Stephanie,” he started, “I have to ask you now about how these two men came about getting attacked themselves, you up for that?”

“Yes.” she whispered her answer.

“Was there just one man who came to help you?” he asked.

“Yes, . . . just one.”

“Where did he come from, did you see?”

“He came from the same direction that the second man came from.”

“How long was it before he arrived?”

She looked downward and said, “A couple of minutes after, - - - after, the second man got on top of me.”

“Did you hear him come up to you at all?”

“No, it, it was, - - - it was as if he appeared from nowhere,” she said now looking up at Noel with an expression of wonderment, “it all happened so fast, that’s the one thing I remember, he did everything so fast.”

She went on to describe how he kicked both her attackers with one movement of his leg, then she heard him knock the white man to the ground, and then she heard the thumping sound, followed by the grunt coming from the white man, and the cracking sound. 

“I could tell he was very strong,” she continued, “because I could feel it when he pulled the other man off of me, the weight of him just like disappeared off of me, and, - - - and when he pulled him off of me? He did it with just one hand.” She went on to tell how the dark man, threw her second attacker to the ground, again by using just one arm, then how he raised his leg and drove his heel between her attackers shoulder blades. “I keep seeing the other man’s arms and legs jumping backwards; the flopping to the ground.” she said with a far away gaze on her face. 

She had everyone’s attention, Noel looked around and he compared it to telling spooky stories around a campfire when he was a kid.

“Did he say anything to you?” Noel then asked.

“No,” she said, now pulling away from her mother and sitting up a little, “but he said something to them.”

“He spoke to them?” Noel asked in amazement, “Did you hear what he said to them?”

“No,” she said quietly, looking as if she were seeing it again, “but I heard the sound of his voice, it was deep, and quiet, kind of eerie,” she paused for a second, then finished, “then he went to the end of the alley from where he came, stopped, looked, . . . looked right at me, . . . then he . . . just started walking, . . . he just disappeared.”

It was all quiet in the room for a few seconds, then Noel asked, “And you didn’t see his face at all, you have no other description that you could give me?”

“No, he was wearing all black, he had on a black sweatshirt and the hood was over his head,” she said, “and that was spooky too, it was so dark, it was like the was no face inside the hood, it was all just a dark space.”

“But he was just big and strong looking then, correct?”

Stephanie nodded “yes”. 

Noel took a few seconds to catch up on his note writing, then when finished he asked her, “If you could have timed the whole incident from when this dark man came to when he left you,” he said, “how long do you think that he was there with you?’

Stephanie thought about it for a few seconds and then answered, “I don’t know, it was all so fast, I would guess maybe, a half a minute.”

Noel had an expression of amazement, “a half a minute!”

“Yes,” she answered, “maybe a little longer, like I said, he was very fast.”

Noel added her answer to his notes and then said as he put his pad away, “OK then, I understand that the doctors say that they’re going to keep you here for a couple of days, if I need to talk to you again I’ll come back,” he looked at her parents and added, “I’ll be sure that one or both of you are with her of course.”

“Was that your partner on the phone?” Mr. Morris then asked.

“Yes sir, yes it was”

“Are they as bad as you thought?” he asked coldly.

Noel came up to him and said quietly into his ear, “It’s even worse, but I can’t go into any details now, you understand?”

Mr. Norris then looking satisfied with what he just heard looked at Noel and said, “Thank you Detective.”

Noel then began to leave the room, “I have to go, Officer Rosario will remain here for a little while longer, up until they put you in your own room, I understand all the news people are on their way now, but their access to you is going to be prohibited,” he said and went to the door, “I’m sorry this has all happened to you, my partner and I will be in touch with you over the next few days.”

He started to take a few steps then stopped, turned back to the family, took his notepad out again, and then asked, “I’m sorry Stephanie, just one more question and I’m gone,” he paused then asked, “when the dark man left, which direction did he go in?”

“Direction?” she asked confused.

“Yes, when he back to the end of the alley, which way did he turn to walk, right or left?”

Stephanie again had it all pictured in her mind, how he stopped, froze actually, turned his body to the right, then turned to his head to the right, his head turned as if he were a robot. She could just see the dark void inside his hood as he peered at her over his right shoulder, and then . . . just stepped away.

“Left,” she said, as she calmly lied to him, “he walked to the left.”