No Stone Unturned

by C. J. Johnson

  “You need help finding something?” The security guard asked.

  Tears welled in Ciara’s eyes as she asked, “Will you help me?”

  Chapter 39

  Frankie had just gotten to work and dropped her bag into her office chair when the phone began to ring.

  “Sex Crimes Detective Thomas.” Frankie grabbed her notepad and began writing. “Are you freaking kidding me? Okay, give us fifteen. Boden and I’ll be out.”

  “What do we have?”

  “Sawyer’s at it again.” Frankie slammed her hand down onto her desk, “Fuck! This time it’s a seventeen-year-old. Rhodes is with her up on the Avenue. She’s pretty shaken up but says she thinks she can identify the guy. He’s taking her to County. We’ll meet them there.”

  Frankie’s cellphone dinged.

  “Derek or Craven?” teased Mia.

  “Hmm…” Frankie was reading the message and didn’t hear what Mia asked.

  “Hey beautiful. How’s your day going? Want to come by after your shift? I miss you. D”

  “Hey yourself. Just caught a case. Probably gonna be a long night. This weekend?”

  “Sure. Stay safe. XO”

  “Frankie!” Mia said jarring Frankie from her thoughts.

  “Yeah. Sorry, it’s Derek. He wanted me to come by after work. I told him it’s going to be a long night. I’ll put together a line up then we can head to the hospital.”

  “Mmmm. Maybe you can put a big R on his forehead so she’ll pick him out,” laughed Mia.

  “Seriously! Hopefully she can pick him out of the line-up.”

  On the way to the hospital Mia turned on the car radio and the sound of, “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black-Eyed Peas filled the car.

  Mia started to laugh, “It’s an omen!”

  Joining in the laughter, Frankie replied, “I sure hope so!”

  Chapter 40

  Frankie entered the doors of the Emergency Department with confidence, not slowing down as the waves of memories hit her. She pushed through, determined not to let them stop her from doing her job.

  The forensic nurse on-call exited the SANE room just as Frankie lifted her hand to knock.

  “Detective Thomas,” said Angela. “She’s talking to Meghan and Officer Rhodes. Her mom’s filling out some paperwork out front. I’m going to go talk to her and then I’ll be back.”

  “Thanks.”

  Frankie waited outside the door for a moment before knocking lightly.

  “Come in,” was the soft response.

  Closing the door, Frankie looked around the room and tried to see it through Ciara’s eyes. The walls of the small room felt like they were closing in around her. The exam bed was in the center of the room with diagnostic equipment flanking it. Officer Rhodes hulked over the table, looking down at the girl. The victim advocate, Meghan, sat next to her with a bag containing a change of clothes and a book on recovering from the trauma of being raped. The room was quiet compared to normal examination rooms in the ED, but it was just as sterile.

  “This is Ciara Edens,” said Officer Rhodes.

  Frankie introduced herself to the doe-eyed girl lying on the examination bed. “Thanks Rhodes. Do you have what you need for your report?”

  “Yeah, I think so, but can I talk to you guys outside for a minute?”

  Frankie and Mia looked at one another then back to Ciara. Frankie nodded and said, “Sure. Ciara, we’ll be right back, okay?”

  Frankie walked out the door preparing for the onslaught of victim-blaming statements she had heard from officers over the years. The girl was lying. The girl is a prostitute who didn’t get paid. Frankie was tired and not in the mood for any of it. Shoulder’s pressed back, she folded her arms across her chest and waited.

  “This is legit man. This poor girl was grabbed right off the street. Forced into a car. Raped in an apartment and kept all night at gunpoint. Then this morning he dumped her in an alley. I’m telling you she’s been through some bad shit,” rattled Rhodes.

  Slightly taken aback Frankie uncrossed her arms and said, “Slow down. Do you know where it happened?”

  “No. She said he took her to an apartment. I think she could identify it if we drove her by, but I figured it was more important to get her to the hospital. Did you see her face? He hit her pretty hard.”

  “I noticed.”

  Rhodes was worked up and needed to help do something. Frankie could either enlist his help or risk him unintentionally interfering. “Do you know if they had surveillance cameras at the store by where he picked her up or where you found her?”

  “I don’t know, maybe.” Eagerly he added, “Want me to go get it for you?”

  “That would be great – see what they have. If they have footage see if they will burn a disk. If they can’t, or won’t, give them my number and tell them I’ll be by tomorrow with a warrant, a disk or both. Also, canvas the area for us. Talk to local business and people hanging out to see if anyone saw anything. Be sure to write a report on whatever you find out.”

  “You got it. I’ll call you if I find anything major.”

  “Thanks Rhodes – be safe!”

  Once Rhodes was out of earshot Mia said, “Man, he was fired up!”

  “I know! I was preparing for him to say some shit about this girl, but instead he’s actually wanting to go out and try to find the guy that hurt her.”

  Frankie and Mia went back into the examination room and began the interview. After gathering all Ciara’s biographical data Frankie asked, “Can you tell us what happened?”

  Ciara took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched her fists, then exhaled. She did this a couple of times before saying, “My brother and I got into it yesterday morning so I decided to take the Metro to school. But I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk farther than I thought. This old guy pulled up and tried to talk to me.”

  Frankie and Mia listened as Ciara told them about her experience.

  “Do you remember the name of the apartment complex he took you to?”

  “I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was the one around Truman and Brooklyn. I know someone that lives near there so when he pulled in I thought maybe I could run to her place. Before he got me out of the car he told me he’d kill me if I tried anything.”

  “Was it his apartment?” Mia asked.

  “I thought it was at first, but when we got inside it looked more like an old lady’s place.”

  “What happened after he raped you?”

  “He made me lay there. He kept an arm on me and said if I moved he’d shoot me. He wouldn’t let me get up. The one time he let me go to the bathroom he followed me and stood there while I peed. He made me sleep on the floor right next to the bed. When he woke up he forced me to go back to his car. He drove around for a while then dumped me in an alley.”

  “Ciara did the man ever tell you his name? Or did you see anything in the apartment or car that had his name on it?” Frankie asked.

  “He didn’t tell me his name and I don’t remember seeing anything in the car.” Ciara hesitated before saying, “Wait, there was a plastic ID card. Like for work. I think the name on it was Alex or something like that. It was definitely an A name. And there was a big S hanging on the door of the apartment.”

  Frankie looked at Mia. A big S. Maybe for Sawyer?

  “Do you think you’d recognize him if you saw him again?”

  “Yea, I think so.” Ciara’s voice cracked, “Do I have to see him again?” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

  “We have some photographs for you to look at. Would you be willing to take a look and see if you recognize any of the men in the photos? And if you do, we need to know where you know them from.”

  Frankie pulled out a manila folder with six 8X10 photographs.

  Ciara took her time, looking at each photograph carefully. After a few moments, she took the photograph marked as #4 and said, “That’s him. That’s the guy that raped me.”


  Frankie asked, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’d recognize that face anywhere.”

  Frankie smiled at her, “Thank you Ciara. Detective Boden and I are going to go see if we can find this guy. Do you think you’d be able to take us to the apartment later?”

  “Would I have to go inside?”

  “No. We just want to have you show us where it is then we’ll take you home.”

  “Okay. Yeah, I can do that.”

  Frankie and Mia thanked her and asked Meghan to call them when they were finishing up.

  Chapter 41

  Frankie and Mia got in the car just as the unit cellphone began to ring.

  “Sex Crimes Boden. Yeah, hold on. Let me put you on speaker.”

  “It’s Rhodes. I’m up on the Avenue. I haven’t gotten any surveillance video yet, but apparently her mother has been doing her own investigation.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She has gone to a few stores and asked around. People are saying Ciara was getting in and out of cars.”

  “Shit. Did they say her specifically? Was she showing Ciara’s picture?”

  “No, they were saying a young, pretty, black girl was getting in and out of cars.”

  “Well, hell that could be anyone.”

  “I know. Do you want me to show her picture around?”

  Mia looked at Frankie and asked, “What could it hurt?”

  Frankie nodded. Aloud she said, “Yeah. Mia will send you a photo to your phone. Be sure to write all this in your report.”

  “Copy that. Did she identify the guy?”

  “Yes. Given this new information I’m going to have her parents bring her to HQ when she finishes up at the hospital.”

  “Let me know. I’ll have my reports done before I leave tonight.”

  “Thanks Rhodes. Stay safe.”

  Disconnecting the phone, she hit the steering wheel and said, “Fuck.”

  “Do you think she was working?” Mia asked.

  “Honestly? No, but her mother has planted doubt so we’re going to have to ask her about it. It did seem odd to me that he kept her there all night. I think she’s hiding something.”

  “A boy?”

  “Maybe.”

  Chapter 42

  Two hours later Ciara was sitting in the interview room with Meghan, waiting on Frankie and Mia to come in.

  “Why did they want me to come in?” Ciara asked. “I thought they had everything they needed.”

  Meghan had been a victim advocate for a long time and knew it was not uncommon for detectives to have follow-up questions. She was surprised it was this quick but didn’t think it would do any good to tell Ciara that. “Sometimes they have follow-up questions. Is there anything you forgot to tell them? Or anything you left out?”

  Ciara fidgeted with the straps on her purse. She took a deep breath and exhaled with force.

  Meghan touched her hand and said, “Ciara, if there’s anything you forgot or weren’t completely honest about, this is your chance to set it straight. I’ve worked with Detectives Boden and Thomas for a long time. They are both very understanding. Just tell them the truth.”

  Ciara nodded slightly just as the door opened.

  Frankie laid her notepad and case file on the table. “Thanks for coming in. I’m sure you are exhausted, so hopefully this won’t take too long.”

  Softly Ciara asked, “Why did you need to see me again?”

  Frankie’s voice was calm, but firm, “I need to verify some things you told us earlier. It’s really important that you tell me the truth. Do you understand?”

  Ciara nodded.

  “We have some reports of a young black woman getting in and out of cars on Independence Avenue. Is there any reason anyone would identify you as that woman?”

  Ciara shook her head, “It wasn’t me.”

  “Okay. You said you were held at the apartment overnight. Did he give you anything to eat or drink?”

  Ciara played with the lid on her bottle of water. She kept her gaze down, refusing to meet Frankie’s eyes.

  “He really did rape me.”

  “Ciara, we believe he raped you. We just want to make sure we have all the facts right before we arrest him.”

  Ciara sat in silence. Tears trickled down her toffee-colored cheeks.

  “Ci…”

  At the same moment Ciara mumbled, “He didn’t keep me at the apartment all night.”

  Frankie took a deep breath before asking, “Were you with him voluntarily?”

  “No.”

  “Can you tell us what really happened?”

  “I got into it with my brother yesterday, just like I said. I was upset when I got to school and one of my friends was leaving to go hang with her cousin and his friend. The dudes had a motel room out off of Blue Parkway and they were going to hang out, watch television, and maybe play some video games. Nothing major. I was already in a bad mood because of my brother so I decided to ditch school and go with her.”

  “What’s your friend’s name?”

  “Latonya Briggs.”

  “Do you know her cousin’s name or his friend?”

  “Her cousin is Demarco and his friend is William.”

  “What happened next?”

  “Demarco drove us to the motel and that was it. We ate pizza, played games, and watched television. I didn’t mean to stay all night but I fell asleep and next thing I knew it was like 6 AM. Demarco was getting up to go to work so I asked him to take me to school. He told me he couldn’t. He dropped me off at the Metro Stop and I took the bus to Independence Avenue just like I said before. Everything else happened the same… except….”

  Frankie waited for Ciara to finish her sentence. After a long silence Frankie nudged, “Except what?”

  “Except he didn’t force me into the car. I noticed what time it was and realized I was going to be late. If I’m late again they’re going to put me in detention. And the guy seemed harmless. He was old - like my dad’s age - so I got into the car. When he pulled out of the parking lot he told me I was stupid if I thought he was going to take me to school.”

  “What happened next?”

  Ciara told Frankie the same story she had shared at the hospital. When she finished Frankie asked, “Ciara, did you have consensual sex with anyone at the motel?”

  “No, it wasn’t like that.”

  “Why did you tell us the man kept you in the apartment all night?”

  Ciara looked from Meghan to Frankie, “I was scared. I knew I was in trouble for being out all night and thought if I said he kept me I might not get grounded.”

  “Is there anything else you need to tell us? Any other part of your statement you need to change?”

  “No,” Ciara said emphatically. “Everything else happened just like I said.”

  Chapter 43

  “What do you mean you don’t want us to arrest him?” Frankie asked, her voice rising.

  “I just don’t think you have enough Detective. None of the cases you have told me about are good by themselves. You must see the problems,” replied Jessica Moon, the on-call prosecutor.

  All Frankie could see was red. Her pulse was racing and her head felt like it was going to explode. Through clenched teeth she said, “We have a positive identification, injuries, and potential DNA evidence.”

  “You have three likely prostitutes and one teenager who admitted to lying. Her own mother thinks she was working the streets, how can I expect a jury to believe she wasn’t?”

  “We have three vulnerable women who were targeted because of that vulnerability. We have a scared teenager who lied about events leading up to the rape but didn’t change her story about the rape itself.” Frankie was furious and to add insult to injury, Moon was the woman Derek was leaving with the night he got shot.

  “I’m not going to issue an arrest warrant based on what you’ve told me.”

  “Surely you see that he’s a danger to the community, and if he rapes someone
else tonight, it’s on us.”

  “Detective Thomas, I think you’re being overly dramatic.”

  Overly dramatic? Was she serious?

  “I am not authorizing you to arrest him and if you do I’m letting you know now he’ll most likely be released. I don’t intend to issue a warrant.”

  “I’ll be in touch.” Frankie disconnected the call and yelled, “Bitch!”

  Mia looked at her and asked, “What the hell is her deal?”

  “She says we don’t have enough. That I’m being ‘overly dramatic.’ What the fuck else does she want?!” Frankie’s face was beet red. “I swear this is personal.”

  Baker stepped out of his office at the sound of the raised voices.

  Frankie told him what Moon had told her. “What the hell else do we need to do here? This is ridiculous.”

  “Give me her number. We’re on the hook if he hurts someone else. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into her,” responded Baker.

  About ten minutes passed before the phone rang.

  “Sex Crimes. Detective Thomas.”

  “Detective Thomas, it’s Jessica Moon. I still don’t agree with you arresting Sawyer tonight, however Sergeant Baker said he was going to direct you to pick him up. With that in mind, if you get him into police custody I expect all of the completed case files on my desk by 8am. I won’t make a decision without all of them being presented together.”

  “Okay.” Frankie disconnected the phone and said, “She doesn’t think we can do it.”

  “I guess she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with,” laughed Mia. “Let’s go get him.”

  Minutes later Frankie and Mia were on the highway heading south towards Sawyer’s house. She picked up the mic and said, “1061 on Metro.”

  “Go ahead 1061.”

  “Do you have a 2-person crew that can meet myself and 1064 on a residence check in the area of Gregory and Wabash?”

  “244. We can respond.”

  “Copy, 244 is out with 1061 and 1064 on a residence check at 2243.”