Across State Lines

by C. J. Johnson

  Tears welled in Heather’s eyes. She blinked to keep them from falling down her cheeks. She was afraid to voice her thoughts but to herself she wondered, “Is he going to kill me?”

  “Where do you want me to take you?” Bruce asked.

  “Can you take me back to the shelter? I’m not sure where I am, so I don’t think I can walk there. Or can you at least take me by it? I can walk some of the ways.”

  Bruce nodded and then asked, “Where’s the shelter?”

  Heather thought for a minute before saying, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone the address. Can you take me by Prospect? I can show you where to drop me off.”

  Heather noticed the tape Tubby had taken off her mouth lying on the couch. When Bruce looked away, she carefully grasped it in her hand. With a barely perceptible nod, Bruce led Heather to the back door.

  Heather directed Bruce to the neighborhood near the shelter. Before they could see the gate that enclosed the property, she told him to let her out of the car, “I’ll walk from here.”

  “Are you going to call the cops?”

  Heather shook her head as she surreptitiously moved the tape that had been on her mouth from her hand to the back pocket of her pants.

  Before she got out of the car Heather turned to Bruce and said, “Thank you, Big Bruce.”

  Bruce nodded.

  Heather stepped out of the car, closing the door softly behind her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but Heather held her head high and walked away.

  Heather sat down at the bus stop a couple blocks away from the shelter and contemplated her options. She could go back to the shelter but wasn’t sure she’d be safe there. Her roommate was how she met the men who kidnapped her. She could call the cops, but Corey said he’d kill her if she did. And she believed him.

  Heather sat at the bus stop shelter until the sky started to turn gray and the first stars began to dot the sky. When she saw the drug dealers taking their positions on the corner, Heather started to get scared and walked back to the shelter.

  Chapter 5

  Night lay like a heavy blanket on the City of Fountains. The police cars parked on either side of the road reflected the glow of the streetlamps and lights from the buildings surrounding them. Detective Francesca “Frankie” Thomas stood looking out her fourth-floor office window, not seeing the scene below. She couldn’t shake the thoughts racing through her head. Or the images. The sound of the telephone ringing jolted Frankie from her thoughts, but she didn’t turn away from the window, knowing her partner would answer.

  “Sex Crimes, Detective Boden.”

  Frankie waited while Mia listened to the person on the phone.

  “Okay. Where is she now?” Silence. “Do we know where this happened?”

  Frankie turned and walked back to her desk.

  “Okay. One of us will meet you at the hospital,” Mia hung up the phone.

  “Well?”

  “Kidnap. Rape. Assault. Two jurisdictions. The other agency is en route and will meet us at County Hospital. And here I thought we were going to leave on time tonight.”

  “Is there a scene or anything?”

  “No. Sounds like there were a couple of houses and a car, but the officer doesn’t know the location of the houses, and the suspects still have her car. They have put a BOLO out for the car.”

  “Why don’t you go on home. I’ll get a preliminary statement, and we can follow up on the locations tomorrow.”

  “You sure?” Mia asked.

  “Yeah. The kids are spending the night with Sophie, so I’m in no hurry to get home. You go be with Erik. Besides, I’m on call anyway.”

  Mia smiled, “Okay. I’ll gladly go spend some time with the hubs. Why is your sister with the kids instead of Keith?”

  “He and James both had to work the next couple of nights. Sophie is just filling in.” Frankie thought of Keith while she gathered her things to go to the hospital. Keith was more than a neighbor or caregiver for her children, he was one of her best friends. He and his partner, James, helped her navigate the kids with her crazy schedule. “Keith has them again next week.”

  The detectives continued talking down the four flights of stairs to the garage exit and then said their good-byes.

  “Thanks again, Frankie. Call me if you need any help.”

  Frankie smiled, knowing Mia was being genuine and would come back to work if she called. “I will. See you tomorrow!”

  During the ten-minute drive to County Hospital, Frankie let her thoughts return to what she had seen earlier that evening. She and Mia had been at the county jail interviewing Tessa Kemp about her connection to another case. Frankie and Mia were responsible for the investigation that originally brought Tessa into custody. Tessa and another woman, Hannah Reitzell, reported a physical assault and a rape during a lawsuit they had filed against their employer. Frankie and Mia discovered Tessa wasn’t a victim but had collaborated with her friend Geoffrey Finnegan to facilitate the attack to increase the value of a civil settlement. Tessa and Finnegan were both in jail awaiting trial.

  During an unrelated rape investigation, Frankie and Mia stumbled upon two dead women in a hotel. Both of the women had a rose tattoo on the inside of their wrists. The same tattoo Tessa had on her wrist. The same tattoo as another woman found in the trunk of a car in the West Bottoms over a year before. The Intelligence Unit and FBI had been called in to work the case, and since Frankie and Mia were familiar with Tessa, they were asked to talk to her and see if they could make a connection. Tessa had clammed up as soon as they asked about the tattoo.

  When they left the jail to return to police headquarters, Frankie and Mia passed by the county courthouse. Frankie glanced over at the near-empty parking lot and watched the man she was dating, Derek Kensington, leaving in his car with a woman in the passenger seat. She couldn’t be certain but thought it was his co-counsel, Jessica Moon. The woman he had been sleeping with. The woman he told Frankie he would stop seeing.

  Frankie wasn’t sure what she should say or do with this information. She and Derek had a long history of being casual, but she had recently told him she wanted more. Derek had agreed to end his affair with Moon, which Frankie hoped meant they would be taking things to the next level. Now it seemed like he might not have ended the affair after all.

  As she pulled into the parking garage at the hospital, Frankie shook her head and said, “Get it together.”

  Chapter 6

  Frankie walked through the doors of the hospital emergency department with the confidence of someone who had been there many times and knew exactly where to go. She nodded at the security guard and told the admissions desk she was going to the forensic examination room. She navigated the hallways and found the room designated for collecting evidence in what was often referred to as a rape kit.

  Frankie knocked lightly, then opened the door. She was baffled by what she saw. The tiny room was full of people. The examination table was flanked by a police officer from Kansas City, Missouri, and another from the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s office. A detective stood next to the officer from Wyandotte County and Alex, a victim advocate from the local rape crisis center, stood next to the officer from Kansas City. All were towering over the young girl seated on the examination table.

  Frankie let her eyes scan the young woman. She looked to be about nineteen or twenty years old. Gray duct tape circled the pant legs of her torn blue jeans, and streaks of blood covered her white t-shirt. More duct tape cuffed the wrists of her hands which were clasped tightly in her lap. Frankie tried not to stare at the purple and black bruises forming around both her eyes or at the gash that dissected the left side of her face.

  “Looks like I’m the last one to arrive,” Frankie said, trying to make light of the overwhelming number of people in the room. Looking towards the young woman, she said, “I’m Detective Thomas. And you are?”

  “Heather. Heather Whitaker.”

  Looking towards the uniformed officers, Frankie asked, “Do you g
uys have what you need to write your incident reports?”

  Both officers nodded.

  “Okay, why don’t you leave Detective…” Frankie looked at the other detective with a look of question.

  “Steel” was the gruff response.

  “…Detective Steel and I to talk to Ms. Whitaker.”

  The officers quickly left the room.

  “Now that’s better. Would you mind if we sit down?”

  “Sure.”

  Frankie pulled up a chair for Detective Steel and a stool for herself. Alex sat in the chair on the opposite side of the examination table. The tension in the room lessened slightly.

  “Can you tell us what happened that made you come to the hospital tonight?” Frankie asked.

  “I was…um…raped.”

  Frankie waited to see if Heather would elaborate. When it became clear she was not going to say anything additional, Frankie asked, “Can you give us some more details?”

  Heather took a deep breath, then exhaled. When she finally began to speak, the words came out quickly in clipped sentences with very little inflection.

  “I was at this party with my friend Audrey. She told me she wanted me to meet this guy she knew, so we left and picked him up and then went back to the party. I don’t know where Audrey went when we got back. We had picked up her boyfriend Tubby too, so they were probably somewhere together. Actually, there were two guys besides Tubby at the party. I wasn’t really interested in William, even though he was pretty nice to me. There weren’t many people at the party, but me and Corey, that was the guy that I picked up, we went out to my car. That’s where he raped me the first time. In the car. I left after that and drove over to a friend’s house.

  “When I came back to the apartment, they put me in the trunk of my car and drove me around. Well, first they put duct tape on me and then they drove me around. I thought they were going to kill me. They finally took me to Big Bruce’s house. That’s what they called him, Big Bruce. Oh, and Corey raped me at the house when I got there this morning. At Bruce’s house, Tubby made me give him head. Eventually, they left and took my car. Are you going to get my car back? I really need my car. Bruce took me to the shelter. He didn’t take me all the way to the shelter, they have rules against that. He just took me to the bus stop. I finally went back to the shelter, and they brought me to the hospital.”

  Heather continued to share what happened to her with Frankie and Detective Steel. Her sentences were in rapid staccato, and the storyline was anything but straight and made very little sense. Frankie looked at Detective Steel and saw disbelief written all over his face. She hoped Heather did not notice. When Heather paused, Frankie waited.

  When she was sure Heather wasn’t going to say anything additional, Frankie asked, “Detective Steel, can we talk out in the hallway?”

  Steel followed Frankie into the hallway and said, “That girl is full of shit. There is no way things went down the way she said. She was all over the fucking place.”

  Frankie nodded in understanding and then said, “I hear what you’re saying. Her story is pretty far-fetched, but I can’t get past the fact that she has duct tape on her ankles and wrists and has two black eyes. Something happened to her. Mind if I ask her a few more questions before we leave?”

  “Go for it,” disdain dripped from Steel’s mouth.

  Chapter 7

  Frankie understood the disorganization in Heather’s statements could be a result of the trauma she experienced. But, the combination of trauma and the impulsive behavior she described could also indicate something more.

  “Heather has anyone ever told you they thought you might have a mental illness?”

  “When I was in high school, they told me I had Attention Deficit Disorder. But I didn’t like the way the medicine made me feel so I wouldn’t take it. My aunt, she’s a psychologist, she told me she thinks I have bipolar disorder.”

  Frankie nodded, alarms sounding in her head. “Do you take any medication to treat the symptoms of bipolar?”

  Heather shook her head.

  “Do you take any medications at all?”

  “Just birth control.”

  “Okay, can I ask you a few questions about what happened? We can get a full statement later, but I need to clarify a couple things now.”

  Heather nodded.

  “Who is Audrey?”

  “I know Audrey from the shelter. She is my roommate. Or she was. I don’t think I can be her roommate anymore. I’ve only been there for a couple weeks. I moved there after my boyfriend…anyway, I was moping around, and Audrey asked if I’d drive her to a party over in Kansas. She said there’d be cute guys there. She told me if I took her to get her boyfriend and drove them to the party, they’d give me money for gas.”

  “Where was the party?”

  “I know it was in Kansas, but I’m not sure what the exact address is. I can ask Audrey, but I don’t really want to talk to her. I mean, she didn’t try to stop them or anything.” Heather started to choke up, “I thought she was my friend.”

  “Which shelter are you staying at?”

  “The one near the highway. It’s a shelter for battered women.”

  Rose Brooks Frankie thought to herself. The shelter was in her sector when she was on patrol. Being one of the few female officers that worked nights, Frankie provided an escort to the facility many times.

  “Okay. You said you were taken to Big Bruce’s house. Do you know his address?”

  Heather shook her head.

  “Do you think you’d be able to show us where it happened?”

  Heather thought for a moment before saying, “Maybe. But nothing really happened there. Well, except Tubby making me give him head. But that’s it.”

  Frankie nodded, satisfied there were no identified crime scenes to process that night.

  “One more question. Did you give the officers the license plate number for your car?”

  Heather nodded.

  “Okay, good. Can you come to my office tomorrow afternoon so we can get a full statement about what happened?”

  “I don’t know how I’ll get there. I mean, they still have my car.”

  Frankie wanted to slap herself on the forehead at her faux pas. Instead, she said, “I can come to the shelter, and we can do it there.”

  “They don’t let people just come to the shelter. They said we can’t have visitors there. And I can’t give you the address.”

  “It’s okay, I know how to get there. They will let me visit you. I can get your statement there if they have a quiet room. When we finish, we can drive around and find Big Bruce’s house. Would that be okay?”

  “What time would you be coming? I have classes I have to go to in the morning, so I might not be there. Then I have to meet with my caseworker to talk about getting a job. I have a lot of things going on right now. I don’t know if I have time for all that.”

  “It would be after I come in. Probably about 330.”

  Nodding her head, Heather said, “Okay. I should be done by then. I will tell them you are coming.”

  Frankie gave Heather her business card and then asked, “Can I take a couple of photographs of your injuries for my case file?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Grabbing the camera from her bag, Frankie took several photographs of Heather and her visible injuries. If, no - when - she caught the men that hurt Heather, the prosecutor would have photographs of the injuries at their fingertips.

  While she was taking the photographs, Heather continued to talk. The details she shared were in no particular order. Frankie was relieved she was recording it so she could re-listen before writing her report. She was finishing up with the photographs when she noticed something on Heather’s forearm.

  “Heather, can you hold your hands out like this?” Frankie asked, demonstrating what she wanted Heather to do by holding her hands straight out in front of her, showing the tops of her forearms and top of her hands.

  Heather did as sh
e was asked. Frankie captured a photograph.

  “Can you flip them over now?” Frankie asked, demonstrating again what she wanted.

  Heather complied, showing the thing that caught Frankie’s eye. Frankie captured another photograph.

  Heather asked, “How am I going to get home tonight? I don’t think the bus is still running.”

  Frankie looked at the young girl and said, “The hospital will give you a cab voucher, but you have to go straight to the shelter. Okay?”

  Heather nodded.

  Frankie noticed Detective Steel did not give Heather his card or a number to call his office.

  When they were in the hallway Steel looked at Frankie and said, “I won’t be working this case. I’m leaving tonight to take care of my dad for the next few months. Give me your card, and I’ll have the detective who gets assigned to this shit-show call you.”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.” Frankie handed him her business card, “I’m going to record her formal statement tomorrow. Have the case detective give me a call, and I’ll burn off a copy for them. Or, if they get the case assigned tomorrow, they are welcome to join me.”

  “I’ll pass the word.”

  Somehow Frankie doubted Steel would do any such thing.

  Chapter 8

  Frankie sat in the police car, contemplating her next move with Derek. She thought he had been sincere when he said he ended things with Jessica, but if he had ended it with her, then who was the woman she saw in his car?

  Frankie pulled out of the parking garage and started the drive back to police headquarters. “Maybe I’ll know what to do when I get there,” she said aloud.

  The route was short and took her past the county courthouse. Frankie slowed down as she drove by the parking lot, seeing only one car left behind. A candy apple red Ford Mustang with vanity plates that read “Moonpie.” Wherever Derek was, Jessica Moon was with him.

  Frankie parked the police car and slowly walked to her old, red Jeep Wrangler. As if on cue, her phone jingled with an incoming text message.