Unfinished Business. C. A. Walters Walters
off the video and audio feeds, and started researching the orderly he had seen in the video. Name, address, it was all at his fingertips, thanks to the home’s database.
This one was a real animal, a total loser who didn’t deserve to waste the oxygen of real people. The Hunter would make certain that his habit of doing so would soon come to a stop.
Now all he had to do was to study his prey, and make his plans. This one would be special, no quick death for him, he had to suffer some of the pain and degradation he had visited upon the patients he was supposed to have been helping, and the Hunter wanted to send a message to anyone who would do such a sick thing to a sweet old lady like that. A strong message…
Chapter 5
9-1-1, what is your emergency?” the operator asked. “There’s a man… a man… woods, woods, in the woods near the Borderline Convalescent Home moaning, he’s still alive! Please send help!” the caller shouted.
“I have paramedics on the way,” said the dispatcher.
“There’s some kind of thing in his mouth, oh God!!!” The caller then hung up, for whatever reason. The call had come from a cell phone, and dispatch had the number of the caller, so they could get hold of her later to ask questions.
A few minutes later, the first officers to arrive on the scene found a woman and a man waiting in the parking lot for them, looking sick.
“He’s over that way” said the woman, as she pointed to a large oak. “Straight back about sixty yards from that tree. We were just walking in the woods, and smelled something burning, so we walked that way to see what it was. Then we saw him, oh my God…”
“Okay Ma’am”, said Officer O’Malley. As ranking officer on site, he took command. “Officer Johnson here will take your statement, while these other two and I go into the woods to see what we have.”
The woman just nodded her head, and clung to the man with her, who later turned out to be her boyfriend.
As the officers made their way carefully through the woods, they began to hear low moaning sounds. It sounded as if whoever it was had long ago lost the ability to make any real effort at noise, and could only make animal like groans.
As they neared the area they were told about, they could smell something funny, like something nasty burning. As they broke into a small clearing, the source of the smell became obvious, and the officers were shocked at what they saw.
There between the trees, a naked man was tied to stakes in the ground, on his back, with his legs pulled back to his shoulders, spread wide open. But that was not what made the officers want to retch. Inserted into the man’s rectum was a metal pole, about two and a half inches in diameter. The other end of the pole, which seemed to be around five feet long, was placed into a holder, and clamped into the same holder was a blowtorch, trained on the end of the pipe. It was obvious that the torch had run out of fuel, and that was why it had stopped. The copper of the pole had turned colors from the heat, and the stench of burned flesh permeated the air. Carefully, so as not to disturb the crime scene too much, O’Malley moved toward the victim, so the scene could be secured, and the paramedics brought in.
As he got within five feet of the victim, he felt something move under his feet. Even as he jumped back away from whatever was under the leaves, he heard a whooshing noise, and out of the corner of his eye saw a tree branch fly away. There was a strange thunk in front of him, and when he turned to look, he saw that the victim’s head had been cut off. In stepping in close to the victim, he had set off a trap.
Later that day, when everything at the scene had been secured, and the witnesses questioned and released, O’Malley sat in the Captain’s office.
“Apparently, whoever did this put the victim in that position around 11:15 or so, shortly after he got off shift. Aside from the metal pipe, which you saw, his genitals had been soaked with what the lab determined to be hydrochloric acid. They were pretty much melted off by the time you arrived.” said the Captain.
“The perpetrator also had rigged the booby trap all the way around the area, so anywhere you stepped within 5 feet of the victim, you set off a tied back tree branch, which was rigged to a piece of piano wire around the victim’s neck. No matter when he was found, the victim wasn’t going to give the police any information. I’m afraid this is beyond us, boys, so I’ve called in the State police mobile crime lab.”
Everyone knew how much the chief hated turning anything over to another police entity, but he was right, this was way beyond their small force.
Later that day, two men walked into the little station, and asked for the chief.
“Whom may I say is calling?” asked the secretary.
“Detectives Wilson and James, state police major crimes division” replied Wilson.
“Yes sir, one moment please.” The receptionist spoke into her microphone for a moment, then turned back to the two detectives. “Follow me, please” she said.
“With pleasure”, thought Wilson, watching the pleasant sway of the receptionist’s rear end as she walked in front of them. Soon they came to a door with a name plaque that read, “Wilbert Thompson, Chief of Police” in old English type script.
The chief rose as they entered the room, and shook hands with the two men. He had a firm grip, but did not try to intimidate with a “strong” handshake. Wilson took an instant liking to the man.
“I’m glad to see you gentlemen, this is way beyond my little force.” We’ve never had anything quite like this before, and I hope we never do again.” said the Chief.
“I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances, chief, but sometimes life just isn’t fair.” “Now, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to hear what you have gathered from the scene.”
“Well, your people are over there right now, going over everything with a fine tooth comb. I must say, I appreciate their professionalism, no comments about our guys “messing up” their crime scene. It’s nice to work with folks like that after all you hear about inter-agency rivalries.”
“Thanks for the goodwill, Chief.” said Wilson.
“Sure, here’s what we have so far.” The Chief ran down the major points of the case as they knew them so far, the victim’s name, occupation, etc. The way he was found in the woods, the description of the crime scene. He showed them the crime scene photos he had on his computer, and gave them the files with all the information they had gathered so far.
“We’re waiting for your guys, we didn’t even let the M.E. remove the body, we figured you guys would want to check the scene first, and after he was decapitated, there was no rush to get him anywhere.”
While they were looking at the crime scene photos, and reading the reports the locals had put together, Wilson’s phone rang.
“Wilson here”, he said.
“Hey Detective Wilson, Roberts here in the mobile crime scene van. We found something interesting, I think you need to see it. We’ll be there in about five.”
“Okay, see you then.” said Wilson as he hung up and put away his phone. “My guys found something, they’re bringing it over now.”
When the crime scene van officers arrived, they were escorted into the chief’s office. There, officer Roberts produced a small evidence bag, and a clipboard. Asking Wilson to sign the chain of custody form, he handed the bag over. In it was a small thumb drive for a computer.
“We found this, believe it or not, in the strap used to hold the ball gag in the victim’s mouth. We haven’t accessed it, just bagged it and tagged it.” said Roberts.
“Good work guys, thanks.” said Wilson. “May I use your computer, chief?”
“Of course you may, here” said the chief, turning