Living in the Past, Chapter Two

It had been about a month since Sandra was approved for active duty and everything was finally starting to fall back into place again. Wells and Sandra were closing in on a suspect of a large bank robbery resulting in the death of three hostages. They were pouring over phone records and credit transactions, trying to locate the suspect when Gordon called them into his office.

                  Before rising from her chair, Sandra made eye contact with Wells. Questioning looks were exchanged and without saying a word they both concluded that neither of them were aware of why the director was calling them into his office.

                  Gordon was standing behind his desk when they entered, so Wells and Sandra positioned themselves behind the two maroon chairs.

                  “Sir,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back and straightening my spine while lifting my chin. Gordon shuffled around some of the loose papers that were floating around the desks surface before looking up and acknowledging our presence.

                  “Despite your hard and diligent work on your current case, I’m giving it to Yuens and Shelby to pursue further,” Gordon reported causing an eruption from my partner. A look of disgust and shock covered Wells’ face.

                  “Sir, that’s our case,” Wells said, his reddening face clearly displaying his displeasure. The director’s expression hardened and Wells immediately backed down.

                  “And this is my office,” Gordon responded. I could hear the grinding of teeth but thankfully Wells kept any further comments to himself.

                  “Sir, with all due respect, Wells and I have been working nonstop to catch this guy. Why are you pulling us off the case?” I asked, allowing ym confidence in myself to keep my voice from wavering under the director’s stare.

                  “Reassignment,” he stated before repositioning a manilla folder from his desk and into my hand. Throwing a look into Wells direction, I gently opened the folder, unprepared for the gruesome photos awaiting me. Pictures of several decomposed bodies accompanied a fresh corpse within the file. “It would seem that we have a serial killer on our hands, and these aren’t the only victims,” Gordon preached before handing a second folder the Wells. “Similar bodies were found in Seattle. Enough connections have been made that we are confident that it is the same killer,” Gordon continued. “I need you two to figure out who did this,” he said, finally descending into his chair. His attention was then transferred to his computer.

                  Taking the hint, Wells and I turned and began to leave the office. Wells was out before I. Halfway through the doorway, the director spoke.

                  “Oh, the Seattle field office is sending someone out to assist you with the case. Play nice,” he said, causing me to freeze in place for a second before moving on. Wells didn’t even bother stopping by his desk, instead he headed straight for my office.

                  Before I was even seated, Wells was already beginning to speak.

                  “Can you believe Gordon is taking us off the Valasquez case,” Wells hissed, tossing his folder onto my desk. “We were so close,” he said with a clenched jaw, slamming his fist onto the desk for emphasis. I sighed, leaning back into my chair.

                  “Wells, why are you looking at this as a bad thing?  Yuens and Shelby should have no problem closing that case. This means that Gordon believes we are the best team to do this job. This is a good thing Cyrus,” I said sitting forward and looking into his eyes. He thought for a moment but simply growled in response before settling back into his chair.

                  For the next couple of hours, Wells and I familiarized ourselves with the files. It looked to be about nine victims in total. Three were found in New York, the other six took place in Seattle over a year before the killer moved on to New York. Like most serial killers, there was a pattern to the murders. The victims were all females in the younger twenties. They were all blondes with high standing in their respective communities. Each victim was raped before they died, cause of death being a cut throat. I was reading the killer’s profile when Wells spoke.

                  “I’m calling it a night. If the director wants us to work with someone from the Seattle office, we might as well wait for them to get here until we start spending late nights at the office,” he said, rising from his chair and putting his suit jacket back on. I glanced at the clock, 6:30. I was late for dinner. Caroline was going to kill me. I nodded, closing the file.

                  “You’re right, I’m late for dinner already,” I said, grabbing my purse and suit jacket. Wells simply laughed.

                  “Caroline is going to kill you,” he said between his laughter and I smiled. It would seem my sisters reputation proceeds her.